CHAPTER 34 Cassie Fields
Morning Swim
I laugh at something in the movie he put on for us after the sex before we start dinner, and I feel him gazing at me, so I glance over at him.
“What?” I ask.
He shrugs. “Nothing. Just…I like the sound of your laugh. We’ve spent so much time being serious, and…I don’t know. It’s been a rough year between finding out about my family, then the blockbuster trade followed by the ACL tear. I don’t even know who I am half the time anymore, but you make it easier. I guess I’m just used to everything in life being so serious all the time. You make me want to lighten up a little.”
My chest warms at that. It was a sticking point between Alex and me, I think. I lost count of how many times I told him to lighten up, and it was always as if even love wasn’t enough for him to listen.
But maybe he never really loved me. How could he when he was cheating on me?
I still have no idea how long that was going on for, but I imagine it was longer than I ever would’ve thought .
My phone starts to ring, and I pull it out of my pocket to see Lily is FaceTiming me.
“Give me a sec, okay?” I tell Tanner, and he nods as if he gets it—he shouldn’t be in this video. I pick up the call, and I say, “Hi, Lilypad!”
“Mama! We got ice cream!” She holds up her cone, and I laugh for her even though my chest tightens inside.
The cone is both large and candy-coated, which means Alex is trying to do things that please the kids. I hope that’s what it is even though it feels very much like he’s trying to be the fun dad he didn’t bother being when he had me as a safety net.
“Wait, are you at Tanner’s?” she asks.
My eyes widen as I stare at my child. I can’t lie to her, but I also don’t want her dad to know where I am since presumably he’s within earshot. I clear my throat.
“That’s Tanner’s couch. I remember.” She says it so resolutely that I know I’ll never be able to tell her it’s not.
“Yeah, he needed a little extra work today, so we’re just finishing up. I better get back to him, but you enjoy that ice cream!” I tell her. We exchange I love yous before we end the call.
“Extra work, huh?” Tanner teases as he elbows me a little.
“Their dad never let them get ice cream when we were married. The only time we got it was when he was working late and I decided to treat them,” I say, clenching my jaw.
“I’m sorry. That’s shitty. But on the bright side, the kids get ice cream, and he’ll have to deal with the sugar high.”
I giggle as I try to imagine the very impatient Alex dealing with one of Lily’s epic tantrums, and I guess karma will come for him if he had any sort of ill intentions when it comes to giving treats to the kids.
We make dinner together, we eat out on the deck overlooking the city with the ocean in the distance, and we make love—this time with me on top as he drives me to yet another orgasm that feels like it was even stronger than the last one.
It’s really the perfect evening, and it feels like our weekend is just getting started.
He wakes up before six and has breakfast ready for me when I saunter down from his bedroom shortly after he does, and we enjoy yogurt and granola before we’ll have to get started on today’s therapy sessions.
“Morning swim?” he asks me, and the gleam in his eye tells me exactly what sort of swim this is going to be.
“I’d love to,” I say since I haven’t showered yet, and he heads outside, strips naked, and lowers himself into the pool.
I laugh as I watch him, and then I decide to step out of my comfort zone and do the exact same thing.
After all, my swimsuit is all the way upstairs in my overnight bag, and I’m pretty sure his plan is just to get me out of it anyway.
His patio might be up on a hill, but it’s definitely private. I dive into the water and send up a big splash, and when I come up from the water, he’s grinning at me. As I come up out of the water, I hope I look like some sort of mythical sea creature. I’m sure I at least got the creature part right.
Regardless, this is definitely the way to wake up on a Saturday morning. It’s just easier this way since we’re both going to end up naked anyway.
It only gets better from there.
Tanner swims over to me and grabs me into his arms. He hugs me to his chest, and I wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist as I angle my head down to catch his lips with mine. He hugs me close, and it’s perfect here in his arms.
He grabs onto the back of my head and deepens our kiss. This connection we’ve formed is freaking addictive .
He reaches beneath us and shifts me down a little at the same time as he slides his cock into me. I hold on tight for the ride as he bounces me up and down, the water only helping our movements as it rushes around us.
He continues to kiss me, our mouths pure magic together as our bodies find a quick rhythm. He breaks from our kiss to lean his head into the crook of my neck as he groans.
“Goddamn, you feel so fucking good.” His lips are against my neck as he continues to angle into me in his pool, and all I can do is simply hold on and enjoy the ride. “Oh fuck, fuck, fuck,” he groans, and I feel him starting to tighten beneath me, which sends my own body into a frenzy.
“Oh God, Tanner, yes,” I moan into his ear as I squeeze my arms around his neck, and my body starts to convulse all around him.
He groans as he shoves into me, and I'm not sure I'll be able to look at this pool again without thinking of the way he is giving me so much pleasure in this beautiful moment.
He continues to pump into me well after both of us have climaxed. In the past with Alex, he’d pull out, roll over, and go to sleep regardless of whether I got mine. But with Tanner, I feel like I never want him to let go. I’m ready to go again.
It’s like I’m insatiable. That’s never happened to me before because I've never been with someone who knew my body so well.
He is still inside me as his lips move back to mine, and he kisses me slowly, sensually, his tongue firm and confident against mine as he gives no indication that he's trying to rush through this moment.
He drops his lips from mine and moves them toward my ear to whisper, “I'm still so fucking hard for you, Cass. ”
He continues to pump into me with those words. I lean my head back, the sun warm on my skin as he fucks me slowly right here in his pool.
“Oh God,” I moan. “Don't ever stop.” He leans forward to suck one of my tits into his mouth, and I arch my back to give him easier access as I keep bouncing up and down his inexplicably still hard cock.
I don't know if it’s the water or what's going on, but as he continues to move inside of me, my body starts to unravel again for him.
I claw at his back as I fight my way through the second climax of the morning, this one more brutal than the first.
“Goddamn, you’re so fucking gorgeous when you come,” he murmurs as his eyes study me. “I want to make you come over and over just so I can watch it.”
My heavily lidded eyes fall onto him. “I'm not going to fight you on that one.”
His lips lift into a small smile before he shifts me up and pulls out of me.
I groan with obvious dissatisfaction that he left, but I know we have to get moving since time is running short this morning.
“We have half an hour until we need to get started,” he tells me.
He gets out of the water first and grabs a couple towels. He hands me one to dry off before we head inside, and I take a quick shower. I meet him in the family room before our work session begins, and he kisses me one last time before nine fifteen hits.
And then we both get down to business, as if a switch flips for both of us at the time we typically get started together. We work hard on exercises and stretches until lunch. We take a quick lunch break, and then we head back in until two forty-five, and as soon as our session ends, it’s a repeat of last night .
Snuggling on the couch to a movie. Laughing together as we munch on popcorn. Making dinner together. A glass of wine for me, a glass of tequila for him.
Sex.
So much sex.
Moaning and climaxing, coming and kissing.
Laughing and talking.
I’ve never felt closer to a man in my life. It’s as if he anticipates everything I need without me needing to say a single thing, whether it’s something to eat or the way he touches me or asking about the kids just when I’m missing them.
It’s pretty much the perfect weekend. The only downside is that it has to end. We have to snap back to reality, and reality sort of begins as we wind down our session on Sunday afternoon.
The San Diego Storm is playing the Sunday night game, and I can sense the shift in his mood as we get closer to game time.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I ask quietly, and he twists his lips.
“I should be out there, you know?” he says.
I nod and press my lips together. “You should be. But you’re here with me instead, and we’re going to get you healthy. You’ll go back stronger than before, Tanner.”
His eyes shift to the ground as he nods sullenly, and we watch the game together snuggled under his covers in bed.
He talks me through the plays and teaches me about the game, and I listen with rapt attention to the passion in his voice as he shares pieces of himself with me—the same way I’ve been sharing pieces of my own passion as I help him heal.
If we need to look for something good in all this, it’s that it’s giving us a chance to blossom and grow.
We just have to be careful about making sure nobody finds out about us.