27. Chapter 27
Chapter 27
I can’t believe I forgot a condom earlier today in the shower. What a rookie move that could have easily landed me in the dog house. I’ve never done that before—forgotten a condom. Not even with Alex, even though I had believed her when she told me she was pregnant. Not only have my parents drilled into me the importance of safe sex as a teenager, especially with them being teen parents, but also as a professional athlete. You rubber up at all times. Yet, the thought didn’t even cross my mind earlier in the shower. What’s even scarier is the fact that I’m not worried. Not that I’m not worried that Hannah is gonna get pregnant; what surprises me is not worrying if she does end up telling me she’s pregnant. The thought of not being afraid is what almost had me freaking out in the shower. And for a split second, a heartbeat, I was disappointed that she’s on the pill. I know I’m not ready to be a father yet, and she’s not ready to be a mother either—she’s made that pretty clear—but the thought of raising a family with her . . . having a little Hannah running around my feet . . . fills me with warmth. A warmth I’ve never felt before; an almost comforting sort of warmth which has me pulling Hannah’s sleeping body tighter to me, brushing her hair away from her face.
We’re finally laying in bed after a long day of travel and sex that left me with shaky legs for an embarrassingly long amount of time—damn that woman can bring me to my knees. Figuratively and literally. The thought of how she told me to get me on my knees for her in the shower will forever be able to get me hard instantly. That, followed by some fun in the pool with the rest of the gang, had us getting to bed fairly early since we have plans to hit the beach in the morning. After the beach, we have an afternoon Major League Baseball game before a BBQ and drinks here by the pool in the backyard.
Walking out after our longer-than-necessary shower, I was expecting some ribbing from our friends, especially Lacey—that girl has a mouth on her. What I wasn’t expecting was Levi to hold up his beer at me with a wink and a shake of his head. I was expecting him to not be impressed with the fact that Hannah and I were giving this a shot and not being shy about it, but I was pleasantly surprised to see him okay with it, considering the warning he gave me when Hannah first moved in with him.
Yawning, I look at my phone and see that I’ve been basking in Hannah’s sleeping form for longer than expected; it’s already past midnight. The girls plan to have us leave the house around 9 a.m. to “ get the perfect spot on the beach ”—whatever that means—but they already have our bags packed and by the door. They have the day planned to the minute.
Leave the house at 9 a.m. Stop for coffee and bagels.
Beach from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Change at the beach and head to lunch.
Lunch from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Stadium at 3:30 in time for the 4 p.m. start.
It’s safe to say that tomorrow should be an interesting day.
The alarm rings bright and early the next morning, waking me up at 7 a.m., courtesy of Hannah not wanting to be late, like the beach was going to be going anywhere this morning. Her joy is palpable, radiating from her face, at the idea of going to the beach. Her joy was infectious and had me following her with giddy excitement at doing something completely mundane. Maybe it was the fact that she was going to be able to cross quite a few things off her list in the next few days. Deep down, I’m hoping this joyful, happy energy is in part because we get to spend the day together. I can never get enough of her, whether that be just hanging out on the couch reading, or watching sports highlights as she writes, or watching her play with Hagrid. Everytime she comes over she has some sort of new toy for her. I swear the damn thing likes Hannah better than me at this point in their relationship. My favorite thing though, is waking up in the morning with her curled into me. It’s the perfect way to start the day, waking her up by slowly running my hands in her hair. Knowing that no matter what, my day is going to be great because I get to call her mine.
Slowly starting to run my fingers through her hair to wake her up, I’m surprised she’s not already awake. I thought for sure she’d be waiting for the alarm to ring with how excited she was to hit the beach, but no, I get the privilege of seeing her eyes open first thing in the morning.
Softly dropping a kiss to her forehead, I whisper, “Pretty Girl, it’s time to wake up.” Running my fingers down her back, I feel her breathing change as she cuddles deeper into my side, telling me she’s starting to wake up.
“Mmmm,” she moans, stretching, “is it really already seven?”
“It’s seven-thirty actually. You looked so peaceful sleeping that I figured I could let you sleep an extra thirty and we could just cut in on time by showering together.” This earns me a throaty laugh and a soft squeeze of the peck.
“Fine, but no funny business, we don’t have time,” she says in a warning tone, as she untangles herself from my hold, making me laugh. She knows damn well that she’s not getting out of that shower without coming at least once; there’s no way she can be naked in front of me without my hands all over her.
Forty-five minutes later, we’re meeting the others in the kitchen where they’re already working on their first cup of coffee for the day.
“Are we ready to go?” I ask, grabbing an orange juice from the fridge.
“Yeah, we’re waiting for you guys . . .” Lacey starts before JJ gives her a look.
“Yeah,” Levi agrees, “I didn’t know you had such a pair of lungs there HanHan.” He hides his smirk behind his coffee mug, making me choke on my orange juice. Fuck that hurts. Turning towards Hannah, I see her glass of water frozen halfway to her mouth and her face and chest matching the red bikini I know she’s hiding under her pink sundress.
Meeting my eyes, I see complete horror in Hannah’s, as I try to think of anything, absolutely anything, to say to break this awkward silence that Levi has thrown us in, but I know my eyes mirror the horror in Hannah’s. I’ve never been shy about my conquests, or anyone hearing these conquests scream my name, but Hannah’s pleasure is mine and mine only. Nobody should have the privilege to hear the way her breath hitches when I kiss behind her ear, or the way she moans when I flick my tongue against her nipple, or the way my name sounds leaving her mouth when I slip two fingers into her slick pussy while sucking on her clit, just like I did in the shower not long ago. All those sounds belong to me.
“At least someone is getting some this weekend,” Lacey says, breaking the silence and turning Levi’s cocky smirk into a look of hurt, then frustration.
He quickly stands up, abandoning his coffee mug on the kitchen island, making his way to the door saying, “Since you guys are ready, how about we make our way to breakfast before all the good spots are taken at the beach?” Not waiting for an answer, he grabs the cooler they apparently packed this morning before making his way outside.
With an eye roll, Lacey gets up and says, “Looks like King Levi has spoken, so we might as well join him outside.” Clearly, my read on those two is off. I was ready to bet some serious cash that they had something going on, but I guess I was wrong. I should probably tell them that there’s a pull-out couch in the basement.
“Lace?” JJ asks. “What was that about?” Putting the question we were all thinking out into the world.
“Nothing you need to worry about, J,” she says, but we all hear the dejection in her voice.
“All right then, let’s go to the beach!” Hannah says, clearly feeling the waves of disappointment falling off of Lacey. Grabbing my and Ellie’s hand and dragging us to the front door, she shoves bags in our hands, letting JJ have a minute with his sister.
“Thank you,” I tell Hannah, pulling her in and kissing the top of their head.
“For what?” she asks, confusion marking her face.
“For giving JJ a minute with his sister. I know if Sadie ever said that nothing was wrong, or that I shouldn’t worry about it, I’d want a few minutes with her. Every big brother knows we need to worry when we’re told not to worry.”
And just like that, I fall in love with her a little more. No sense in pretending that I’m not already in love with her. I was halfway there when we went horseback riding.
My compliment makes her blush. “You seem to always be thinking of others, Han,” I say, opening the back passenger door to let her in the car before putting her bag in the back, since it seems Levi called shotgun. Not three minutes later, JJ exits the house with an arm thrown around a smiling Lacey.
Hopping into the driver’s seat, I nudge Levi with the back of my hand, sending him a “you good” look, to which he just shakes his head and looks forward.
The entire day is awkward. At breakfast, everyone has to play musical chairs because Lacey makes it clear she doesn’t want to sit next to or in front of Levi. At the beach, one of us always needed to be with them, afraid of what hell would break loose if we were to leave them alone for thirty seconds.
Every time, Levi gets too close or tries to help or talk to Lacey, she makes some kind of snide comment that I can’t hear but clearly upsets Levi since he just looks skywards and shakes his head before leaving her alone. I’ve tried asking Hannah what the problem is with those two, but she says Levi won’t spill because it’s between him and Lacey. When she asked Lacey, she said, “I’m not the one with the problem, Levi is, so ask him.” Which I can respect. I wouldn’t want someone in Hannah and I’s business, but at the same time, they’re ruining what is supposed to be my first beach getaway with Hannah. She’s supposed to be having fun crossing stuff off her Bucket List, but instead, she’s playing babysitter between Levi and Lacey. Hopefully, the baseball game is interesting enough to keep their attention instead of letting knives fly at each other’s expense.