Chapter 5
— Remmy —
Barely five minutes later, the women’s bathroom door slammed open, making me jolt with fright as I searched through my clutch for my lipstick. With a hand pressed over my racing heart, I spun toward the rude arrival.
“What the hell, Scout?”
Oh, the irony.
He strode into the bathroom without a care in the world and pointed an accusatory finger at me. “You were the woman in the bathroom with Holly back in Portland. At the restaurant.”
I smirked and slow clapped. “And he remembers. But I see you haven’t kicked the habit of barging into women’s bathrooms uninvited.”
A squeak left my lips as his chest connected with mine. With a sharp tug on my hair and a primal growl, Scout forced my head back, pulling another breathy gasp from my lungs.
Without warning or hesitation, his mouth claimed mine in a punishing kiss that had me clinging to his shoulders. The demand of his lips and urgent lash of his tongue ignited my arousal. As of that moment, one way or another, I vowed to make Scout finish what he’d just started tonight.
He pinned me against the bathroom counter with his hips and silently ordered me onto the counter top with a demanding tug from his uninjured hand under my ass. My ankles anchored together on his lower back, and I thrust my chest higher as the tension we’d been building all afternoon finally came to a head.
“You owe Ella a dance,” I panted on a stolen breath.
“Already done, honey.” Scout held off reclaiming my mouth long enough to growl, “That’s where I had the epiphany. Thank Christ because you’d been fucking with my head all day.”
I eased back until my shoulder blades hit the mirror behind me, and my knees bent higher as Scout prowled up my body, engulfing it with his muscular torso. The friction from his belt buckle pressed in just the right spot. I shamelessly rubbed against it, adding fuel to the fire already burning in his dark eyes.
“No longer, Remmy,” came his low-toned declaration as I pulled him back to my mouth again.
In the background, the bathroom door banged open, bringing a clatter of high heels and girly laughter, then gasps and more tittering as their footsteps retreated from the room.
Scout righted himself, looking rather bashful. “Uhh...” His eyes dropped to my cleavage as his tongue rolled across his lower lip, looking totally fuckable. “Sorry, that got a little out of hand.”
“I’d be disappointed if it hadn’t.” He helped me off the counter and hovered as I tugged my dress into place. “Moment got ruined through. So, are you free later?”
The way his lopsided grin tugged as he looked up from under his eyebrows had me grabbing either side of his collar and hauling him back in. His fingers bit into my curves. Mine raked through his hair. The hungry grunt could have been from either of us, but the gasp as he roughly grabbed my ass through my dress definitely came from me.
I was the kind of gal who was in it for a fun time, not a long time. Mostly because once guys found out what I did for a living, they either couldn’t handle it, or they got perverted. I’d come to terms with that, and the ones who ghosted me didn’t deserve my time and effort anyway. But someone like Scout who had an incredibly public career? Tonight definitely meant nothing more to either of us than good ol’ fashioned banging at a wedding.
Scout pulled away, eyes wild, though I remained pinned in place with his hips. “About these plans for later?” he panted.
I kept a hold of his collar. “What about them?”
“No rainchecks or rescheduling.”
Surprise had my eyebrows snapping skyward. “Hey, if we’re not fucking tonight, then that’ll be on you, not me.”
“Oh, we definitely are,” he stated, low-toned and attention focused on my mouth. “I just don’t want it to happen in a bathroom. I want room to spread you out and take my time. Not a bathroom quickie.”
Promises and anticipation sent shivers down my spine. They pooled impatient and low in my belly, demanding the ache between my legs be taken care of. I rubbed my thighs together while grabbing Scout by the lapel again.
“Sometimes you need to take what you can get.” Smirking, I spun back to face the sinks.
He eyed me through the mirror as his free hand smoothed up and down the curve of my waist. With his blatant erection pressing against my ass, he swept my hair to the side and ran his nose up the side of my neck. I shivered. The shudder ricocheted throughout my body, arching my back and tipping my head backward until it rested on Scout’s shoulder.
“Fuck, you smell incredible,” he hissed, inhaling deeply as if snorting crack lines from my skin. “Shiver again for me, honey.”
“No,” I stated on a breathy exhale, purely because I couldn’t let him think I’d bow to his demands so easily.
His chuckle vibrated across the tender skin just under my earlobe. “I like a challenge,” he whispered. Featherlight fingers grazed their way up my inner thigh, teasing under the edge of my dress. My treacherous thighs opened a little, gifting him with a preview into later. As Scout’s fingertips brushed against my underwear, he bit down on the tender area beneath my ear, then licked the spot to soothe it. And despite wanting to control my reactions, another shudder quaked through my body.
Scout smirked and shifted his arm to wrap around my waist while his restricted one remained wedged between his chest and my back.
Our eyes automatically locked through the mirror again.
“Do you shudder when you come, Remmy?”
I grinned coyly. “That’s for you to find out later.”
A rumble vibrated against my back as he groaned. “You’re really going to make me go back out there, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am. And when we finally get to a room later, you’ll be so hungry for me, you won’t know what part of me to touch first.”
Smirking at his impatient growl against my neck, I dug through my clutch, continuing the search for my lipstick. My lips were almost as much of a train wreck as what Holly’s had been.
While I reapplied the red stain to my lips, Scout swept my hair to the other side. He peppered kisses along the fresh curve of my neck, hand smoothing up my ribcage.
“Mmm, I can’t fucking wait to have you,” he murmured with a thrust against my ass.
I snickered, pausing with the lipstick. “So the cool, calm, and collected baseball star is impatient and needy. I don’t do needy men, Ace,” I teased.
Dark eyes lifted to meet my reflection, but his mouth stayed on my skin. “Make an exception. You won’t regret it.”
The heat from his palm coming to a stop beneath my breasts penetrated my dress. And the press of his erection against my ass had me taking my time reapplying and perfecting the striking red on my lips.
Once done fussing with my makeup, I craned my neck rearward. “Am I presentable?”
Intensity rolled off him in waves. The way he stared at my mouth, combined with the lazy roll of his tongue across his lower lip had me holding my breath waiting for a response.
It came gritty and low. “More than.”
Then he leaned in and ran his nose up my neck. My chin lifted, encouraging him the entire length to where he nipped playfully at my jawline. “Can’t wait to make you unpresentable again, Remmington.”
I shivered. “No one calls me Remmington.”
“It’s your name though, I’m assuming?”
“It is. But only when I was in trouble.”
His wicked smirk sparked fire in my belly. “So, often, then?”
Sassily brushing from his space, I didn’t so much as glance back as I crossed the women’s bathroom. “Know me before you judge me, Ace.”
“Oh, I plan on it, don’t you worry, honey.”
His hand hit the edge of the door before I had it completely open, and we emerged from the bathroom shamelessly together with his warm hand pressed firmly to the small of my back.
No one seemed to notice our arrival into the dining hall where the wedding festivities were in full swing. No one, that was, apart from Bastian and Mercedes, who were sharing a joke between cousins. They both looked up as Scout and I entered, and I swore I lip-read, “I beat they just fucked,” from Bass.
Merce’s mouth dropped open with scandalized laughter. She slugged Scout on the left arm as soon as we were within reach.
“Ol’ Gats strikes again, eh?” she teased.
Scout laughed and wrapped her in a tight, one-armed bear hug, plus pressed a rough kiss onto the top of her head. I ignored the unwelcome pang that cut through my chest. Mercedes had just gotten married for fuck’s sake, and my cousin grew up with Scout. They’d known each other their entire lives. Hung out after school. Partied together. The spike of green within my ribs had no business being there.
“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about, Merce,” Scout said with a snicker.
“You always went for the badass girls. Be careful, Remmy will eat you alive,” she teased, grinning up at him.
A wicked smirk quirked his mouth. “And what if I’ve already eaten Remmy alive?”
“Ugh!” my cousin yelled, trying to twist out of his hold. “And you’ve had your vag-juice lips in my hair! Remmy, you whore,” she crowed through her laughter.
I threw my head back and laughed too. Then harder when Bass threw up his hands and declared, “Nope. I’m fucking out.”
“Oh come on, Merce. I was just having a little fun with him. Look how innocent he looks,” I cooed, pointing at Scout.
Mercedes’ dark eyes twinkled. “Trust me, Rems, Scout Gatlin is not innocent.”
Said human rubbed his chest while grinning. “I’m a picture of innocence. You on the other hand…” He aimed a finger at Mercedes.
She playfully slapped his hand from the air. “Hey, what happens in the Falls stays in the Falls.”
Weirdly, despite the hilarity of the conversation and all the jibes we threw at each other, something passed between Scout and Mercedes. It was nothing more than a fleeting beat, but enough to subtly shift and sober the air around us.
I opened my mouth to ask what the fuck just happened but was interrupted by our friendly whirlwind, Ella.
“Scout! There you are. C’mon, I demand another dance. Let’s go!”
She grabbed Scout by the bowtie and towed him from our circle, whether he wanted to follow or not.
Ella grinned over her shoulder at me and winked. “Don’t worry, you still have dibs for later.”
As shocked as I was, I actually fucking liked her. “And don’t you forget it, girlfriend.”
I snickered as her and Scout danced toward the direction of the group of guests already partying in front of the live band, then turned to Mercedes when she nudged my side.
“Scout likes you.”
“Well that’s a bonus since we’re fucking later.”
My cousin snorted with humor, undisturbed by my brazenness. “No, I mean, he likes you likes you.”
I waved her off. “Nah. I’m just the latest toy for the night. Neither of us are looking for anything else.”
She tipped her head from side to side and hummed. “I’ve known Scout for as long as either of us can remember and trust me when I say I recognize that look on his face. He’s an open book, Rems, especially when you know how to read him.”
Mercedes tucked into my side when I slung my arm around her shoulders. We dipped our heads together and watched him from across the room. We’d always been like this, me and Merce—more like sisters than cousins since we became teenagers.
“I can’t believe you never introduced us when we were younger.”
I felt her laugh vibrate against me. “On purpose. He was such a player back then.”
“And still is, no doubt,” I drawled.
“Hmm. Yeah, I dunno now. He seems more settled. Still cocky with an ego the size of Texas, but he’s different now,” she said, barely loud enough to be heard over the music, as if she was talking to herself.
“Well, he’d better not be different for tonight, because this bitch—” I pointed to myself “—isn’t looking to be tied down. Not in the marital sense,” I added in a low voice.
Merce’s laughter rose above the music, and she hugged me tightly. “When you’re wrong, I’ll be the first in line to tell you so.”
I hugged her back, then playfully shoved her away. “Go find your husband before I catch marital cooties.”
She laughed while flicking my boob. “Too late.”
Happiness welled in my chest as she sauntered away with her arms raised high, hips swaying in time to the music. Beckett came out of nowhere and scooped her into his arms. The joyful laughter that left my cousin’s beaming smile landed right on my chest, and for the first time in my life, I found myself wanting a little of what she had.