Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Rochelle
“And this,” Hunter says holding out his arms as we walk into a room overlooking third base. “Is the best seat in the house.”
Dressed in his uniform, my mouth waters as I take him in.
His black pinstripe baseball pants hug him perfectly, and I can’t help my stare which stays a little too long south of his waist. My thighs clench remembering the sensation of his impressive length pressed against my lower stomach earlier.
My eyes rise and slowly meet his. I hungrily drink in his broad chest and shoulders in his black jersey.
His hat pulled low, mischief lurks in his eyes as he comes a few steps towards me.
His black socks pulled up to his knees are all I see as my gaze drops to his feet.
“They’ll kick you out of heaven for having thoughts like that, Angel.” He whispers, causing me to look up and meet his stare. “But, damn what a way to fall.”
His mouth captures mine and he greedily pushes me up against the wall. His hands find my hips and he strongly pulls me tight against his frame. As if my body knows just what to do, my right leg rises and wraps around his thigh pulling him closer.
I’ve never been so bold. Never ventured sexually as far as I am letting myself go with Hunter before.
But my body craves his touch. My soul only feels complete with his pressed up against me.
I let myself go nowhere I’ve ever ventured before, and don’t think about my worries or anxieties as I fist his jersey in my hands and take his kiss like a fiend.
His lips break from mine. He groans my name. His mouth finds my neck and he begins to kiss, nip, suck on my flesh in a way that has my lower belly feeling like I’ve ridden a roller coaster too many times. Wetness quickly pools between my thighs. My eyes widen from the addictive sensation.
“Fuck, I want you so bad it hurts,” Hunter hisses out as if in pain. His lips take my ear in between his teeth. The stinging nip of his bite mixed with the sensation of his erection grinding against my pelvis makes me grow dizzy.
“Is this too much?” He asks shyly as his hands rise and his large palms brush against the side of my breasts. Breathlessly, he pants, “I can stop.”
But I don’t want him to.
I want his mesmerizing touch on my skin. I want his addictive mouth all over my body. I want him to take me places I have never been before.
“Don’t,” I pant, as his tongue slips across my collarbone. The sensation takes my breath away. “Don’t stop.”
“Mercy,” he groans as his thumb brushes against my nipple sending a charge straight to my sex. “It would take a miracle to get me to stop now, Angel.”
His mouth finds mine. He anxiously sucks my breath into his lungs, leaving me delirious from the way his tongue dances with my own.
His hand drops between us, and he brushes his thumb across my clit.
I jolt, sucking in a sharp breath. He smiles against my lips, brushing teasingly against my center again.
“Do you know how fucking sexy that is,” he asks, as his free hand fists my hair, pulling my head gently to the side.
His fingertips between my legs continue their taunting caress, and my wetness thickens.
“How your body reacts, wanting me just as bad as I fucking want you. It’s my fucking kryptonite, Angel. ”
“You want me?” I desperately ask.
I never thought of myself as desirable. As something any man could want. But Hunter…the way he takes control and forces me to see just how much he’s smitten with me, it gives me hope that maybe I’m not so unworthy after all.
“Angel,” he whispers, pulling back and staring deep into my eyes.
“What more can I say, do, hell show you,” he trusts his length up against my inner thigh.
I moan, closing my eyes and drowning in the thought of what it would feel like inside me.
“What is it going to take, for you to see what I see?”
My eyes open. “What do you see?” I ask, as his forehead lowers, and he rests it against my own.
“My whole damn world staring back at me, and hell if I can go on living without it.”
“Hunter!” A voice calls from the doorway. I start to back away, embarrassed we’ve been caught, but Hunter holds me tight, making me stay in his arms.
“Yeah!” he asks, never breaking our eye contact
“Coach is calling for us to meet him in the locker room.”
“Tell him I will be right there,” Hunter says. His teammate walks off, leaving us alone. Hunter kisses me tenderly one last time before easing away.
He pulls his hat down low on his head and smiles, making me a puddle at his feet. “Now, don’t go running off during the seventh inning stretch,” he warns before turning and walking towards the door.
“Hunter!” I call out, not ready to be without him just yet after the way I just let him take me in his arms.
He turns and waits for me to respond. When I don’t, his sexy grin cocks up one side of his face. He gives me a reassuring wink that succeeds in building the confidence that was just slipping through my fingers, before tipping his hat, and walking out the door.
* * *
Tied game, bases loaded, extra innings and I’m a nervous wreck.
Anxiously, I stare at Hunter’s form crouched low behind home plate from my perch above the field.
The box filled with people after Hunter left, but I took to the corner of the room, found myself an empty seat, and secluded myself for the better part of one of the best games I have ever seen live.
The ball is thrown, the umpire yells "ball," and the crowd groans.
“Come on,” I hiss under my breath, then look up as three sorority girls stare at me before breaking out in giggles and rolling their eyes in my direction.
I shake off the way their stare makes me feel and focus back on the game.
Hunter gives the ump a signal and I watch as he rises from his spot behind the plate and jogs out to meet the pitcher at the mound.
The coach is quick to follow and soon the three of them stand in the center of the field, gloves to their mouths, discussing how in the hell they are about to get themselves out of this pickle and take the win.
Hunter stands in the middle of the field in his gear with his mask pushed back on his head and I swear I have never seen a man look sexier.
He turns and looks in my direction, and I would bet money his eyes land on mine before he looks back at the two men in front of him.
My heart soars thinking and hoping for things it shouldn’t.
Anxiously, I shift in my seat and wait for the game to continue.
“And you are?” A voice calls from my side. I turn and lock eyes with a bleached blond sorority girl that would put Malibu Barbie to shame.
“Excuse me?” I ask.
“Well, I couldn’t help but notice, I’ve never seen you at one of these games before,” she bats her fake thick eye lashes. “It’s not like Hunter to bring around trash. Just wanted to make sure you knew how to get back to where you came from before we have to throw you out instead.”
“Excuse…”
“Are you stupid, Honey?” She laughs, propping a hand on her hip. “Because don’t make me repeat myself. Who are you? And how much longer are you planning on staying?” She throws her hair over her shoulder and rolls her eyes. “Seems like you’ve got eyes for Hunter.”
I shake my head no. She huffs and rolls her eyes. If only she’d find some manners back there in her thick skull we might actually end this conversation before it has the chance to get any worse.
“Hunter Alexander! The catcher.”
I know who she is talking about but her attitude has me completely thrown.
“Just so you know,” she leans in and I hear yelling in the stands making me know a play has just been made, and it isn’t the one everyone was hoping for.
“I was here long before he pulled you out of whatever dumpster he found you hiding in,” she looks me up and down with disgust before continuing.
“And I will be here long after he gets tired of you and throws you out like all the others.”
I shake my head, trying to keep up with this conversation, her insults, and why someone like me could make her feel the way she evidently does. Like a threat just blew in, and she is hell-bent on making it leave the way it came.
“I’ve warmed his bed many nights. I know what he likes, and how he likes it. And hell if I will stand around long enough to see a tramp like you take what is mine.”
“Tiffany,” one of her friends shouts. She turns and her friend gives us a motion like it is time to leave. I look back out at the field and notice the stands are emptying, the game was lost, and the players have left the field.
Glancing back Tiffany’s way, I sit up a little taller, take a deep breath, and say, “I think it’s time you leave.”
She laughs, before coming a step closer and pointing her perfectly manicured nail in my face. “Don’t think this is over, trash.”
“My name’s Rochelle.”
She gives me a sinister smile before backing away.
“Tiffany.” She laughs. “Remember that when he screams my name while he’s fucking you. I’ll always win, Rochelle. It would take a whole lot more than some girl from the wrong side of the tracks to make me lose what’s mine. And he is mine.”
She turns to leave and my heart breaks. It’s just like I feared, I don’t belong here.
I never will. It’s better if Hunter understands that now before anything else is done or said.
Tears prick the back of my eyes. I will not break.
Not here. Not now. But it’s a battle I lose, as one tear slowly falls.
Just like I fear I’ll lose the battle when it comes to Hunter and my heart.
* * *
I am not sure how long I’ve been sitting here. The room is empty. The stadium is clear. Sitting with my thoughts, I stare out at the open field and keep my eyes locked on the bright lights as I attempt to block out all that was just said.
Determined to never feel this way again, I rise from my seat and turn to make my way towards the door.
I stop dead in my tracks when I see someone in the shadows.
Adrenaline races through my veins until the figure comes into the light.
He doesn’t smile. He doesn’t say a word.
He walks a few steps forward as if he knows everything I am feeling and our connection will be all I need to erase it.
I back away at first. Needing space. It has been a long time since someone made me feel the way that girl just did.
Getting bullied was a normal occurrence in my youth, especially right after we moved, but it has been a few years since then.
As I started to put myself through school, I purposely avoided people so I never had to feel the way she made me feel.
As a matter of fact, I don’t think anyone has ever made me feel worse.
When I start to take another step back, Hunter shakes his head, and I stop. My eyes well up with tears, but just before my face falls to the floor his hand cups my chin and makes me hold his stare.
“You don’t get to feel like this ever again, Angel.” He whispers as he stares into my soul. “You’re mine, and I protect what’s mine.”
“But…” I go to rebuttal but he shakes his head.
“And I’m yours,” he says, bringing our hands up and lacing them together over his chest. “Only yours.” His free hand lifts and brushes a strand of my hair behind my ear. “Wouldn’t you protect what is yours?”
I think back to what Tiffany said and worry I am getting in over my head. My breathing quickens as he comes a step closer until we are toe to toe.
“One of the guys told me where I’d find you.”
I glance away, afraid he’ll see too much. The fear, sadness, hesitance in me to trust him and whatever this is building between us.
I start to say, “I’m sorry about the game…,” but he cuts me off.
“He also told me what she said.”
A tear falls down my cheek. What she said? She only said what we all know is true. We can’t ignore facts any longer.
“I don’t like to feel that way,” I confess, as I slowly open up to him, allow him to see me vulnerable and stripped down to nothing. I can face the facts, I’ve faced them all my life. It’s time he does as well. It’s better that way. For the both of us. Before we go any further.
“I’m sorry, but...”
“No, I’m sorry.” He pulls me in, and kisses the top of my head. “It won’t happen again. I won’t let it.”
He pulls me tighter and I want to believe him.
It could work, couldn’t it? I want to trust him, trust my heart, and not listen to the world or my conscience just once in my life.
This could be different - because he is different.
Right?
“You hungry?” he asks.
My heart dares to hope. Lifting my head I grin, “Starved.”
Laughing he backs away and says, “Rest assured, Angel, I won’t stop tonight before quenching your appetite.”