Stalked By the Shortstop (The Diamond Serpents #1)

Chapter 1

Darkness enveloped me where I sat.

The stillness of the night trickled into the room with just a sliver of moonlight leaking through a crack where the two blackout curtains didn’t seem to connect. Almost like the sizes she ordered hadn’t been sewn right.

Just a smidge too small.

I didn’t dare do anything but breathe as quietly as humanly possible.

Taking in the room slowly, I cataloged every single detail I possibly could in the darkness.

A pretty, square bottle of perfume, one I knew the notes of all too well.

I’d ordered a bottle online like a creep after all, spraying it into the pillows at my dorm before I jerked off every fucking morning and every damn night like some kind of savage thing that couldn’t control himself.

But that was nothing new.

Since seeing my sweet little bird, something inside of me had sparked to life.

Something dark. Animalistic. Primal. Feral.

A monster I didn’t know lurked inside of me.

I breathed in deep trying to control the wave of emotions that rolled through me anytime I thought about how I’d changed this last month.

I hardly recognized myself in the mirror when I dared look at myself.

A noise down the hall snapped me out of my self-deprecating thoughts.

I kept taking in the room, not worried in the least of someone coming in.

That prickle of fear of getting caught that would get my heart racing just two weeks ago when I got ballsy enough to break into a room that wasn’t mine had started to fade away.

I started to thrive off of it. My monster was getting too brave and cocky for his own good.

The corner where this reading chair sat in the small dorm room worked great to hide in the shadows.

Unknowingly, she had put it in the darkest spot of her room.

The hamper called my attention, forcing me to focus on what I was doing, reminding me of where I was.

My fingers ached to tap against my knee.

To get up and take the few steps it would take to reach it and take something from it.

Anything, as long as it belonged to her.

When the thought of taking something of hers first popped into my head, the damn thing had been empty, since she’d just done laundry a week ago.

Something I knew because I’d been down there at the same time.

An aisle away from view, washing my own clothes.

Not because I’d needed to but because I’d been following her.

I shook the thought away and noticed how full it was getting. I bit the inside of my cheek until copper tinged on my tongue. That’s when I saw it—hot pink lacy material peaking through the lid.

Could those be panties?

A bralette?

I knew it wasn’t lingerie.

My girl was solely focused on her classes.

She didn’t date. She didn’t flirt. She was determined to earn her teaching degree and make a difference in the world.

And as good and sweet as she was, I kept getting distracted by that fluorescent fabric.

That particular shade of pink quickly rose the list of my favorites as I imagined what it would look like against her tanned ski.

Fuck! My mouth watered and lungs ached to reach in there, grab the fabric that was tempting me so damn badly, and bring it up to my nose for a good whiff. Let it engrain itself into my DNA like its owner had unknowingly imprinted herself onto me.

A rustling sound made my head turn to look at the sweet, slight form on the bed. My lips twitched and tried to curve up into a smile. She rolled to the other side, giving me a view of her face now. She is so damn pretty.

Yup, I’d lost my ever-loving mind. I was not just in my little bird’s room like some goddamn lunatic. I was there while she slept.

I knew how fucking crazy it was. Breaking and entering put everything I had ever worked for on the line.

The sheer disappointment that would hit my parents if I got caught and the news caught wind of it would be extreme.

I could see the headlines now. Star division one shortstop and legacy of Cal Lucas booked and arrested for stalking.

But then again, dear old gramps had had his obsessive qualities to him, too, hadn’t he?

Hmm... maybe this shit is genetic? Maybe my own dad had gone a little bonkers once or twice before getting stuck with my mom.

Or after? Because if I knew anything, it was my parents’ own marriage wasn’t stable.

They’d hooked up. They’d never come right out and said it, but it was more than likely a one-night stand that had landed her knocked up with me.

And he’d been stuck.

But this wasn’t that. Not even close.

I watched dark lashes fan over my little bird’s cheeks. Her chest rose and fell slowly. Calmly. Somehow, it soothed my soul just watching her rest. A soul that was at peace at the sight of her.

She moved, her foot twitched, and little lines formed between her brows. I leaned forward, wishing I could go to her. Soothe out the lines. Fix whatever bad dream she was clearly having. I knew what was going to happen before it happened. She gasped and her body jolted.

And her eyes opened.

A sick thrill of excitement shot through me. My heartrate started to slowly rise, faster and faster, but I didn’t move. I didn’t even breathe. Will she see me? Will this be when she finally notices me? If she does, how will she react?

From the first time I’d snuck in, she’d woken up hard, almost startled like some kind of bad dream had her in its clutches. But she never saw me. More times than not, she rolled over, hit her pillow, and went right back to sleep.

Tonight felt different, though. She shifted, her eyes slightly open as they stared at the clock on her nightstand before she turned around and sighed, a sound I knew would be replaying in my head, again and again, once I was back in my own dorm.

She squirmed and then did something she hadn’t done in the last couple of weeks of my nights sitting in the darkness. She rolled over onto her back and kicked off the blankets. And just like that, my mouth ran dry.

Bone dry.

I’d been respectful until now. Mostly. I’d even shut my eyes one night when she’d taken care of herself under the covers. Shit, the sounds I’d heard that night were still the most erotic thing I’d ever heard in my life. Just the reminder made my already hard dick start to pulse with need.

Her legs were toned and tanned under the silver glow of moonlight streaming into her room.

And she wasn’t wearing anything but a pair of sage-green panties and a white tank top so damn threadbare I could make out the dark circles of her areolas from where I was.

The tips of her pretty, little nips stood at attention, and I started to salivate.

No, not me. The animal inside of me.

Holy fucking shit, was that what she wore every night? Panties and a tiny top? This whole damn time?

Heat washed through me, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to shut my eyes this time if she moved her hands down between her legs. Shit, I wasn’t sure I could even fucking think in that moment.

Her hand dropped to her belly as she softly scratched her delicate skin, pushing the tank up and giving me the perfect unobstructed view of her stomach. Flat with the cutest little belly button I’d ever seen. Then she sat up, and I froze.

Fuck. Getting cocky was definitely going to get me arrested.

It felt like her eyes roamed the room for an eternity.

Every second felt longer than the last as I waited for her to notice me.

She thought she was alone. Her two -bedroom athletics apartment looked much like the one I was in.

If she screamed, her roommate, some soccer player, would rush right in and I would get caught.

But I was ready.

Ready to jet over to her, cover her mouth with my hand, and pray my little bird would let me explain.

It felt like forever until her gaze caught the corner where I was sitting.

I wasn’t sure if the room was dark enough to hide me away or if the fact she’d just woken up and wasn’t wearing her glasses would somehow save me from getting caught and messing up any chance I would have to somehow making the future I’d been daydreaming about having with her since that first time I’d seen her at that damn coffee shop a reality.

Her eyes stayed on me for a moment until she yawned and lay back down.

It wasn’t until her breathing had changed, became shallow and heavy, that I let myself relax even a little bit. That had been close. When she started to snore softly, I got up.

I should have left right away. That was the sane, smart thing to do. But sanity had checked out about seven weeks ago.

Temptation not only got the better of me, I let it rule me.

I slowly approached the side of her bed and squatted down on my haunches.

Like this, I had a better view of her. The beds in these dorms were raised, thankfully.

With my own six-foot-three height, it still made me too tall for it to be at eye level, but it was doable.

Jesus, she was pretty. Breathtakingly beautiful. A natural beauty. I hardly ever saw her put on more than Chapstick.

If I wasn’t sure the flash of my phone camera would wake her up, I’d snap a picture.

It was so rare to be able to get this close to her.

The only times I dared to go there were when I was about to leave and I was positive she was sound asleep or when we were stuck in bigger crowds on campus.

Pushing through, I’d go right up to her, close enough to brush the side of her arm with my hand as I forced myself to pass by and act like everything inside of me wasn’t yelling bloody murder at me to toss her over my shoulder and run away with her.

There was a pretty constellation of light freckles smattered under her cheeks, a few on the bridge of her nose.

Real ones, not like the kind some girls like to draw on nowadays.

I wanted to touch her cheek so fucking badly.

To run my hands up and down her body until she begged me for more.

My teeth mashed down hard. I needed to be cool.

“Sweet dreams, little bird,” I whispered into the night, kissing the spot on her pillow right next to her hand before standing to my full height and carefully making my way out of her room.

But not before snatching the lacy pink material from her hamper and slipping it into the front pocket of my jeans.