Moon Shot

by Tara Wyatt

  As she collapsed on top of his chest, her breath coming in harsh pants, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.

  Holding her as he fell.

  Twelve

  Javi practically collapsed onto the mattress, his chest slick with sweat, his heart pounding a mile a minute, the last lingering throbs of pleasure from his orgasm still pulsing through him. With a groan, he took care of the condom, dropping it into the nearby garbage, and then pulled Aerin against him, settling her on his chest.

  “That was amazing,” she murmured, her lips brushing against his bare skin and sending little zings of awareness dancing across his nerves. “I’m not going to be able to walk tomorrow.”

  He hummed his agreement and trailed his hand up and down her spine. Her fingers wandered across his stomach, exploring. A pleasant heaviness settled in his limbs, and with Aerin curled against him, he never wanted to move. The feeling of her naked body against his, warm and sated, was heaven, pure and simple.

  But even though the remnants of his orgasm were still humming through his blood, he couldn’t shut his brain off, and it bounced back to the park this morning, when Beau had shown up for BP looking like pounded dog shit, hungover and sporting a massive hickey on the side of his neck. He’d always been a bit of a partier, but lately he’d seemed even more intense with his recreational activities and his play was suffering as a result. Javi knew there was probably some personal issue going on with Beau, and so broaching it wasn’t as straightforward as it would be if the problem were only on the field.

  “Hey, where did you go?” asked Aerin gently, tracing her finger around his nipple. “Are you tired? You want me to head out?”

  “No, no, stay. I want you to stay.” He meant that he wanted her to stay the night, but sleepovers were against the rules they’d agreed on, and he didn’t want to push her for fear of scaring her away. “Just stuff on my mind.”

  “Yeah? Like what?”

  He hesitated briefly, wondering about the ethics of discussing a player with her. But Beau wasn’t her client, and he needed someone to talk to. “I’m worried about Beckett. He’s always been a bit of a loose cannon, but lately he’s come off the rails a bit more. He seems…I don’t know. Reckless, like he’s hellbent on self-destruction for some reason. He says everything’s fine, but I don’t buy it. Something’s up with him, probably something personal. But he’s not really a sharing and caring kind of guy. He puts on this macho act—at least, I think it’s an act—which makes it hard to see the real Beau sometimes.”

  “Hmmm,” she said, walking her fingers across his chest and down his stomach. “I think you need to talk to him and be straight with him. If this were one of my clients, I’d tell him exactly what I was worried about and why so I could gauge his reaction. If I thought he was lying to me, I’d call him out. If I believed him, I’d figure out how to help him.” She levered up onto her elbow, looking down at him. “You know your guys. No one is better than you at figuring out what they need. And sometimes what these guys need—believe me, I know—is a hard, fast kick in the ass in the form of some honesty. But I think it’s up to you to be proactive in this situation.”

  He nodded and pulled her down for a kiss, loving that he could talk to someone who understood his world. Worry about Beau’s increasingly reckless behavior still pulled at him but then Aerin started kissing her way down his body and thoughts of everything except fucking her mouth left his brain.

  Aerin couldn’t even count how many times she’d stood on Javi’s front porch over the past few weeks, waiting eagerly for him to open the door. It felt like a lot, and yet it never felt like enough. Something had shifted between them, had been shifting between them ever since their hike. She’d shown him her scars and yet he was still here, wanting her. Not only that, but they talked and texted all the time, and the more she knew him, the more she wanted to know.

  She wasn’t just in danger of catching feelings. She’d caught them, held onto them, and let them burrow inside her, taking root so deeply that it was going to hurt like a motherfucker when she had to inevitably rip them out. She was breaking her own rules here, but she didn’t know how to stop. Or maybe she just didn’t want to. Everything was so good. The sex, yeah, but it was Javi. He was sweet and sexy and smart and funny and charming. He was everything she’d always suspected and feared he might be. And yet…she was feeling something bigger and brighter than that fear. Something she wasn’t prepared to name yet.

  He opened the door, wearing nothing but a pair of low-slung sweatpants, and her mouth went dry. It didn’t seem to matter how many times she’d had him, she always wanted more. With a wolfish grin, he reached out and took her hand, pulling her against him and kissing her hungrily.

  “Fuck, I missed you,” he murmured against her mouth before kissing his way over her jaw and down her neck. She tilted her head, giving him better access.

  “I was here three nights ago.”

  “I know. Like I said, I missed you.” Her heart beat fiercely in her chest, a tremble coursing through her. It was then that she noticed the tie wrapped around his hand, the end of it dangling free from his fist. He followed her gaze and smiled, closing the door behind her. Without a word, he led her into his bedroom, her blood heating and her core pulsing with every step.

  “Take your clothes off and get on the bed,” he said, his voice taking on that low, rough edge that always made her lose her mind. As she undressed, she kept glancing back at the tie, a nervous thrill shooting through her and making her hands shake. Once she was naked and on the bed, he knelt over her. “Raise your arms.”

  She hesitated, and he laid a hand on her chest, right between her breasts, a reassuring weight. “Do you trust me?” His eyes searched hers, and she nodded.

  “Yes.” She was surprised at how quickly the word fell from her lips. At the fact that she completely meant it. She trusted him with her body. Maybe even with more. To show him, she raised her hands, swallowing as he tied her hands to the headboard with the tie.

  He tormented her, kissing and biting his way up and down her body before finally spreading her wide and devouring her pussy, licking and sucking and kissing until she came hard against his mouth. But he didn’t stop, only retreated briefly, kissing her thighs, sucking at her outer lips before returning to her still pulsing clit. Before long, she was coming again, her hips bucking, her arms jerking against the tie. The fact that she was restrained and spread for him only made it hotter. She was vulnerable, but safe with him.

  “There’s two,” he rumbled against her stomach, drawing circles around her belly button with his tongue. “How many more can you give me before you beg me to untie you? Before you beg for my cock?”

  “Oh, fuck,” she whispered, her legs shaking as he pushed them nearly to her shoulders and gave her a deep kiss, his shoulders pressed against her thighs.

  The answer was three.

  “This is the best episode of the entire series,” said Aerin as she curled into Javi. They sat nestled together on her couch, the “Slap Bet” episode of How I Met Your Mother playing on TV. She wore a pair of PJ shorts and Javi’s t-shirt, which was too big for her but perfect because it smelled like him, and he wore a pair of Longhorns jogging pants, his gorgeous chest bare. He’d been gone on the road for the past five days, and after practically tearing each other’s clothes off and having sex on the couch, she’d suggested they have something to eat and take a little break. Round two wasn’t a question of if, just when, and so, she told herself, trying to justify this flagrant breaking of the rules, it was perfectly fine to snuggle on the couch and watch TV while eating popcorn.

  “Eh, I don’t know. ‘Slap Bet’ is good, but is it as good as ‘The Playbook?’”

  Also, it turned out they shared a love of HIMYM. She wasn’t sure if that made this breaking of the rules better or worse, but decided she was enjoying herself too much to question it.

  “Please. ‘Slap Bet’ is iconic. It’s part of the cultural zeitgeist. ‘The Pl
aybook,’ while funny, is low hanging fruit.”

  “But it’s more real. ‘Slap Bet’ is funny, but it’s pure slapstick. ‘The Playbook’ shows Barney trying to get over Robin. The heartless man finally had his heart broken. There’s character growth there. There’s no character growth in ‘Slap Bet.’”

  She aimed a playful grin in his direction. “Yeah, but there’s no slapping in ‘The Playbook’.”

  “Doesn’t pathos trump slapping?” He leaned closer, nibbling on her ear. “Then again, you do like a good spanking, so maybe you’re just prejudiced.”

  She pulled the popcorn bowl into her lap as heat exploded through her. “Fine. We can watch ‘The Playbook’ next if you promise to take advantage of said prejudice in the near future.”

  Javi let out a small growl and pounced on her, sending the bowl flying, scattering popcorn everywhere. “Oh, I promise. You’re going to have the most perfect handprints on this gorgeous ass.”

  He was a man of his word.

  Javi watched Aerin climb onto his bed on all fours, naked, her chest still flushed from the orgasm he’d just given her with his mouth. Unable to wait any longer, he sheathed himself in a condom, gripped her hips, and plunged into her from behind, feeling her ripple and stretch around him. Welcoming him with a long, loud moan.

  This was the third night in a row they’d spent together. The third night in a row he’d rushed home after the game to meet her at his place and spend the next few hours fucking her, laughing with her, holding her.

  He pulled all the way out and then slammed back in, unable to hold back. Because of the boundaries they’d agreed on, he couldn’t claim her, not in any real, lasting way, even though he wanted to. So he’d take what he could. He’d fuck her hard and deep, trying with his body inside hers to show her everything he was feeling.

  Trying to make her realize that maybe she was falling for him too.

  Aerin had watched a lot of Longhorns games from the premium suite in Dell Park. She’d been in this exact box probably at least a dozen times given that she represented a handful of players on the team. But tonight she was having a hard time focusing on the game and on her guys out on the field. She should’ve been watching Hunter and Santiago, but instead, her eyes kept roving back to the dugout and Javi, looking gloriously sexy in his uniform. Every time she looked at him, her heart did this funny kicking thing and her stomach dropped like she was on a roller coaster. She did it again and again just to see how many times her body would react to him.

  She hadn’t found the upper limit yet.

  Tearing herself away, she paced to the back of the suite where there was a full kitchenette and helped herself to a bottle of water from the fridge. She returned just in time to see Dylan McCormick send a ball careening into far right field for a two run home run. She cheered along with everyone else, her eyes once again wandering to Javi, watching him clap Dylan on the back as he returned to the dugout, a wide smile on his face.

  The team was on a hot streak, winning the past eight games in a row. If they won tonight, they’d officially be on the biggest winning streak in MLB so far this season. As she sat back down, she realized that she wanted that so badly for them, and not just because she had players on the team, but because she wanted that success for Javi. She wanted it for him so intensely that she was tense with it.

  Well, shit. She hadn’t just caught feelings. No, it was far worse than that.

  She was falling for him.

  “Welcome back to the Dallas Longhorns postgame show. I’m Wayne Hopkins, and with me, as always, is Ron Whittaker. With their 5-1 win over the Angels tonight, the Longhorns have now put themselves at the top of the AL Central division.”

  Ron nods enthusiastically. “Not only that, but they’ve now won nine games in a row, making them the winningest team this first month of play.”

  “We were hoping they’d accomplish big things this season after flirting with the postseason last year and giving fans a taste of what might be to come. Let’s go down to the field, where Jake Landon is standing by with Longhorns manager, Javier Flores.”

  The camera cuts to Jake, wearing a suit and holding a microphone, standing in front of the dugout with Javi. Jake flashes a wide smile at Javi, clapping him on the shoulder. “Tell me about tonight’s game,” he says easily.

  Javi grins. “That was, hands down, Connor Slate’s best start, maybe of his career. The calls weren’t going our way, and definitely not Connor’s way, but he showed some real mental toughness out there tonight.”

  Jake nods. “At the plate, you had your challenges and still managed to dig deep and get some hits. What impressed you the most tonight?”

  “The resilience. Even when we were getting beat at the plate and the calls weren’t going our way, mentally we stayed in the game and that paid off in the sixth inning, big time.”

  “What are your thoughts on Santiago Alvarez, the team’s new catcher?”

  “He and Slate really clicked tonight. The Angels have a tough lineup, and they worked their way through each guy, one by one. He’s good, man. He’s really good.”

  Jake shoots Javi a sly smile. “But not as good as me, right?”

  Javi claps him on the shoulder, winks, and heads back into the dugout to join the team in the clubhouse. Unfazed, Jake turns back to the camera.

  “He said yes. The mic just didn’t pick it up. Ron, Wayne, back to you.”

  Thirteen

  Aerin rolled over in bed, frowning into the darkness. She pried her eyes open only to let them drift closed almost immediately. But then she heard her phone buzzing from her nightstand and reached over to grab it with a sigh. A quick glance at the clock on the screen showed her it was nearly 2:00 AM, but it wasn’t a client calling with some kind of emergency. It was Javi. Her frown deepened as she swiped her finger across the screen.

  “Hey,” she said, her voice creaky with sleep. She’d gone to bed over two hours ago, but she never had the luxury of turning her phone off. Client emergencies could—and did—happen at all hours.

  A swirling cacophony of voices and music greeted her and she winced, sitting up in bed and shoving a hand through her sleep-tangled hair. “Hey!” he shouted, his voice bright.

  “Where are you? Is everything okay?” she asked, swinging her legs over the side of the bed, already jumping into action.

  “Yeah, everything’s fine. But—” The rest of his words were cut off by a chorus of loud, male cheers and whoops.

  “Javi, I can’t hear you at all. Go somewhere quieter.”

  “Okay, hang on!”

  A shuffling sound came over the phone as gradually the music and the voices died away. “Fuck, it’s cold out tonight,” he muttered, his words ever so slightly slurred.

  “So, what’s up?” she asked, drawing a circle on the rug beneath her bed with her toe. “Where are you?”

  “I’m at a bar called…damn, hang on…The Lakewood Tavern. We’re celebrating! Shit, you should’ve come!”

  “That’s great, Javi. I’m really happy for you guys. Still doesn’t explain why you’re calling me at almost two in the morning.”

  “Is it late? Fuck, I guess I lost track of time.” Despite her irritation at being woken up, she had to bite back a smile at how adorably drunk he was. IguessssIlosssstrackuhtime.

  “Sounds like you’re having a good time.”

  “Yeah. Listen, listen, listen,” he said, the slur getting a bit heavier. “I need to tell you something.”

  “Okaaaaay…” She drew the word out, wariness spiking through her. Whatever was about to come out of his mouth was probably bad. Very bad. Drunk people did not make good choices this side of midnight. In fact, maybe she’d be better off just hanging up and turning her phone off before he got the chance to lob whatever grenade he was readying.

  “Aerin, I really like you.”

  She closed her eyes, excitement and dread warring inside her. “You mean you like sleeping with me.”

  “Well, yeah, I like sleeping w
ith you, although I’ve never actually slept in your bed and you haven’t slept in mine, but that’s not really relevant right now. But yeah, I like sleeping with you and I like talking to you and I like you. A lot.”

  Aerin scrubbed a hand over her face, waiting for the usual fear to slam into her. Waiting for the desire to hide under the covers to rise up, waiting for her heart to kick into high gear. But it didn’t come. Instead, there was a feeling of absolute breathlessness. It was hope and giddiness and excitement. But with it was a kind of trepidatious doubt, because she’d learned the hard way that fairytales weren’t real. And everything about Javi seemed too good to be true.

  “Aerin? Are you there?”

  “Yeah, sorry, I’m here. Just processing.”

  “Okay. I just really wanted to tell you. This is more than sex for me, and I need you to know that. I like you. You’re so pretty and sexy and smart and you used to drive me so crazy but I think I kinda always liked it? Because I kinda always liked you? I don’t know. I don’t know. But I’m at a point now where I can’t just say nothing. Because I like you and I wanna date you and I’m really hoping you feel the same way.”

  Her hands tingled as images of a possible future flashed through her mind. Dates and sleepovers and cheering each other on professionally and lots and lots and lots of amazing sex. She touched her face, wondering why her cheeks hurt, and she realized it was because she was grinning like a freaking idiot because he’d simply told her he liked her.

  She cleared her throat. “I, um…I’m a little unsure what to say, Javi. Can we talk about it tomorrow? When you’re a little less drunk?”

  He laughed. “I’m not just saying this because I’m drunk. I’m saying it because it’s true, and I’m telling you on the phone because you can’t murder me if you’re pissed.”