Chapter 26
CREW
“Briggs, look at this.”
I’m steps away from entering the team bus when Gus holds up a picture of Addie and Apollo. “Why does that not surprise me at all?”
“The boy is down bad. And he hasn’t even hit puberty yet. I don’t know what that says about me and my future as his father, but fuck, dude.”
I chuckle. “Easy. I’ll tell you…Tenley birthed another you, my brother. Good luck with that.”
I’m not sure how it happened, but Addie got Apollo to come to her six-year-old little girl’s book club. Now, that’s comical.
The picture says it all—he was bribed and likely hypnotized by my daughter’s convincing skills and cuteness. She knows how to make anyone and everyone bend to her will. Kindly, but strategically, even for her age.
Apollo is seated on a blue school chair next to Addie, along with five other girls from Addie’s grade, sharing and talking about their book of the month. Apollo looks fucking clueless as to what’s even happening, eyes only on my little girl.
I’m in deep shit with those two when they’re older. I love Apollo like my own, but if he’s anything like his father, I’m toast, and one trip closer to a jail cell.
“I blame my son-of-a-bitch father for that one,” Gus snarls comically as I follow behind him onto the bus. I’m glad he can laugh about it now.
“He really was a piece of shit.”
“The absolute worst.” It takes me a second to realize that wasn’t August’s voice. It wasn’t anyone on my team, either. There’s no gravel or grit to it…only a feminine softness I can’t mistake.
One that has rung through my soul and rebalanced my equilibrium with her kindness and care alone. And woke my cock up from a never-ending slumber, if I’m being technical.
Junie baby.
One step forward leads me to my usual section; the luxurious fabric of a black-and-white two-seater no longer has room for two, only one more. Because there’s my girl, grinning up at me like she owns the place.
Not far-fetched, given it’s more of my heart she’s got hold of.
“Doc.” I cheese down at her, instantly admiring how dressed down she looks in her black-on-black sweat set. “To what do I owe this visit?”
“I had time.” She smiles, hugging her knees and patting the seat next to her. “Want some company for the night?”
Is that even a question?
Without hesitation, I throw my backpack in the overhead compartment and reach down to kiss her before taking a seat. My arms are around her in seconds, pulling her into my chest and nuzzling my face into her hair. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
We’re not that far from Atlanta, playing a team just outside of Jacksonville this weekend.
I don’t know why I didn’t think about inviting Juniper down with the team.
It’s Hilary’s weekend with Addie, and I guess I figured since it’s a Friday, Juniper typically works a little later, so she doesn’t have to work over the weekend.
Tonight was the last game of the series, and we go home tomorrow, but chillin’ with Juniper tonight in my suite and taking our time getting back sounds much better than what I had planned.
“I hope it’s okay that I just showed up. Gus may have helped get me on here beforehand.”
I look back at my best friend, his head already perched over the seat in front of him. He looks at me with a thumbs up and blows a kiss. Fucking idiot. I shake my head and turn back to Juniper. “He’s more helpful than he looks,” I tease, squeezing her closer.
“You know…” she draws out. “They really feel like my friends now, too. I wasn’t sure I’d find that moving here.
As soon as I called Tenley and told her I wanted to surprise you, August literally had a plan set out in minutes.
He was so excited for us to get time alone together, Crew. It was adorable.”
I kiss her forehead, holding my lips steady for a moment.
Breathing Juniper in is what steadies me.
I love that she’s found a community through my community.
It only confirms how great a village I really have.
“I think deep down he’s just glad I found someone I care about. It’s been a long time coming.”
“And I’m glad it’s me,” Juniper whispers back, not a trace of hesitation in her voice. “I think we deserve some alone time. Don’t you think?” Ten words and I’m ready to storm off this bus with her ass thrown over my shoulder.
The rest of the team piles onto the bus, and Juniper gracefully greets them with hellos and how-are-yous. But one mention of alone time with her has my one-track mind reeling.
I want her all to myself tonight.
No friends. No work. No masking our feelings. And no Addie.
I love that little girl with every fiber of my being, but kids are cockblockers, and there’s no other way to say it.
Tonight, I get my girl. And by the way Juniper’s hand traces the inside of my thigh, I know without a shadow of doubt that it’s not innocent. Nothing about the starved look on her face is. It’s deprivation at its core.
And it mimics mine.
“Twenty minutes, and it’s just you and me.” I grab her hand and place it over my aching cock. The bus moves, and the lights are dimmed—no one is paying attention. “We lost our game, and while normally I’d work it off in the hotel gym, tonight, I get to do you instead. I’d hardly count that a loss.”
Hazy blue eyes glance up at me. “Good,” Juniper deadpans, fire and lust evident in her low voice. “Tonight, I can be whatever you need, Crew. I want it all.”
Be careful what you wish for, Doc. You just might get it.
“You trying to kill me?”
“Far from it, actually. Why? Feeling on edge, Suburban Daddy?”
I blink, still unsure if the sight before me is real.
“Hanging off the cliff by a fucking fingertip, baby.” I let my gaze follow the length of Juniper’s body.
Long black hair in messy waves rests across her shoulders delicately, cat-eye glasses resting along the bridge of her nose, while the slender frame I’ve longed to appreciate well beyond an hour, leans beautifully bare against the doorframe.
Her full tits are peaked and ready for me.
I bet her pussy is soaked already, and I can’t wait to find out.
Goosebumps scatter across her stomach in a way that has me ravenous to soothe them with the heat of my touch.
But the thing that makes me want to growl like a fucking madman and mark her skin with my name is that damn jersey hanging off her like a second skin.
My jersey. The same one I gifted her with my name on the back and her name stitched along the sleeve. Whoops, already branded her.
At this very moment, she’s no longer Addie’s doctor, my friend, or the new woman in town—she’s mine. Mine for tonight, and hopefully a hell of a lot longer.
The Crew and Juniper, Hugh and Lavender, doctor and patient we were a month ago, is all a fucking wash. We’re real, and it’s time we started acting like it.
I’m all but bouncing in place, the legs of the coffee table underneath me rattling with my anticipation to move. I need to touch her. I need to be inside her. But the inward battle of appreciating the view wins for now.
“Do you realize what you just started, Doc?”
Her back arches slowly, pebbled nipples standing at attention. Ma’am, yes ma’am. At your service.
Juniper knows she’s a tease just like she knows I’ll take her bait. Her right foot kicks against the frame of the door while her hand finds its place at the top of her clavicle. I can’t move. Can’t speak, watching her fingertips dance across her glass skin.
She glistens. Her touch drifts down her chest and stops when it makes contact with her nipple. “I think the question is…” her voice whispers, calm and steady. “Can you handle what’s to come? I’ve got some demands I’m prepared to make.”
This just took a turn for the fucking better.
“Speak, Juniper. Tell me what you need. You already know I’ll give it to you.”
I can tell she’s had a plan from the very beginning, and knowing this is something she wants—and has wanted beforehand—makes my cock ache that much more.
As if my words sprang on her confidence, Juniper grips both tits and speaks. “I need you in less. At least give me something pretty to look at while I degrade you.”
Long gone is the sweet new doctor from Nashville. Welcome home, Doctor fucking Wilde.
I’m on my feet in seconds with my T-shirt flung over my head, completely disregarding the radiating elbow pain from tonight’s game just so I can please her. I’ve never wanted to please anyone more.
Juniper’s eyes flutter closed with unfiltered want as I inch closer. But again, it’s clear she has a plan that doesn’t include me making any decisions. “Stop,” she directs, fingers still touching herself, and I’ve never wanted to be a pair of hands more in my life.
I don’t speak. Frankly, wouldn’t dare if it meant disrupting whatever’s about to happen.
“Not touching me is killing you, isn’t it? Your cock looks painful.”
I glance down. “Maybe you should come help a guy out.”
She shakes her head slowly, a sly smirk cresting her lips. “I could…but I’m not. In fact, there’s something I want you to do for me.”
“Anything.”
At this point, I’m shaking. The edging is doing more to my composure than I expected, and I just want it to end so I can feel her.
I wait for her to speak as her hands trace the length of her toned stomach before stopping just above the mound of her pussy. One hand lifts above her head and rests along the doorframe while the other begins its pursuit of the fucking promised land.
But just how Juniper always seems to surprise me with her kindness, she also does with her self-assurance. There’s a sexual poise to her. I know my cock won’t survive tonight when she lifts one leg and places it against the opposite doorframe, revealing her pussy in all its perfection.
Swollen. Damn near quaking. The hunger stirs deeper in my chest. “Let me have it,” I growl, desperately trying to respect her role right now, but my willpower quickly crumbling.