Chapter 12
Ranger
I shouldn’t be doing this. I shouldn’t be carrying her in my arms down the hall and into the bathroom. I shouldn’t be sitting her on the edge of the sink and turning on the shower, keeping my hand on her thigh the whole time. I shouldn’t be picking her up and putting her in the shower and stepping in behind her, pulling her body against mine so I can feel her against my chest. And I definitely shouldn’t be soaping up my hand and washing her body. This is close. Intimate. This is the opposite of what I should be doing, which is getting dressed and getting the fuck out of here.
She turns in my arms, wrapping her hands around my neck. Looking at me with a shrewd eye.
“You look like you’re constipated.” She smirks at me.
“You are so fucking annoying,” I reply, but there’s no heat behind it.
“It’s one of my many talents.”
She runs her hands down my neck and over my shoulders toward my arms. I stiffen when her fingers pause on the tattoos that cover up my scars. She doesn’t say anything. Just leans forward and kisses my shoulder, which got the brunt of the wreck. When she moves on, her hands trail down my arms to my wrist, my palms, and finally my fingers, moving along before I can grip her hands in mine. She moves to my chest, her fingers lightly tracing those tattoos as well, which cover more scarring.
I turn her around because it’s too much. She’s too close. And it’s now too quiet. I lean down to her ear and kiss the shell.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
With no words, she leans her head back against my chest and we stand under the water in peace for a few minutes.
Once we’ve finished cleaning up, we step out of the shower. She hands me a clean towell to wrap myself in and grabs another one for her. Her hair is a wild, wet mess of curls. She disappears into her bedroom, returning a minute later in a pair of sweatpants that are almost comically big on her. I wonder if they’re an ex’s and feel my blood boil over the thought of it. She paired them with a white tank top. No bra. Her nipples are poking through the fabric. And thank God for small favors.
“I’m hungry,” she announces. “I’m going to order a pizza. Would you like to stay and eat with me?”
I’m answering before I even think. “Of course. As long as there’s pepperoni.”
Shit. She was giving me an out. Another one. I should have taken it, but I didn’t. I follow her into the living room, where I drop my towel and get dressed right in front of her. She’s not sly about watching me, either.
With the pizza ordered, she selects a corner of the couch and pulls a pillow over her lap. I take the time to look at her. She’s not wearing that fake smile right now. In fact, she looks almost contemplative. The pain I can usually catch in her eyes is missing as well, and I feel a thud in my chest at the thought that I’m the reason.
“Want to watch TV while we wait on the food?” she asks, patting the couch next to her.
“Like Netflix and chill?” I ask, taking a seat much closer to her than I should.
She laughs, handing me the remote. “I’m hungry. Background noise will keep you from having to talk. I’m just trying to be nice.”
“Bullshit,” I cough into my hand, a smile I can’t keep hidden making an appearance.
I take the remote and pull up ESPN. Spring training games are on, and Diamond Cove is playing tonight. I feel like this is a test, but I’m a guy, and we watch sports. To my surprise, Elle starts rattling off baseball stats for the team. Call me impressed.
“Have you met Carter Bailey yet?” she asks. “Lottie’s brother?”
“Yeah, but didn’t talk to him much. He was pretty protective over Lottie tonight, not talking to anyone but her and Tiny’s family.”
“I don’t blame him,” she replies. “He misses his sister.”
“Do you know him?”
“I’ve been in the same social circle as him since he was selected in the draft. My brothers know him better than I do, but yeah, we know each other. Even went on a date once. Figured out pretty fast we were not couple material. Imagine my surprise when Tiny shows up with a girl, and it’s Carter’s sister.”
The thought of her on a date with another man shouldn’t be any concern of mine, but it is. I don’t like it. Her dating someone else or how I feel about it. Suck it up, Cross, you can’t give her what she needs and she will find a man who can one day. Right?
“You think the team will make it this year? That they can go all the way?”
“I hope they can, but Carter’s shoulder was pretty torn up last year. I worried he wouldn’t be able to return this year, but so far, he’s been hanging in there. And Montez and O’Leary have really stepped up their game to make up for any shortcomings the team has. If they could add some depth to the pitching roster and give Carter some more days off, that would be a great benefit to the team. The bottom line is Carter only has a few more years left in his arm, if he can stay injury free.”
“You think he’ll come back here when he’s done?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he’ll get offered some great job coaching and go where the offers are. Besides, I don’t think his wife would willingly step foot in this town. It’s too…plebeian for her.”
“Not a fan?”
“Not after she hit on my brother and wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
Well, that’s an interesting tidbit.
When the pizza arrives, my awe for this woman doesn’t go away. Without taking a breath, this little bitty woman scarfs down half a large. By herself. For as long as I’ve been out of the game, even I know most women don’t do that.
“So the art on your back?” I ask when I’ve finished my half.
“You designed that?”
“I did.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“Thanks. It represents my family.” The tattoo is of a tree, almost like a tree of life, with branches coming out of a wide trunk at the base of her spine, the roots continuing down over the top swells of her ass. “Each branch…”
“Represents a kid. The trunk is Mom and Dad.”
“That’s why one of the branches splits, it’s you and Tiny.”
“Yep.”
“Why are there no leaves?”
“So I can add to it as the family grows. If it ever grows. I thought Moose might give me a leaf representing a future, but that didn’t quite work out, and I had to cover it up.”
“The dead leaf on your hip.”
She nods but doesn’t go into details about who it was for.
“How about your artwork?” she asks, nodding to my ink.
“Barbie did most of mine. She’s pretty good.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m better.”
“Maybe I’ll let you ink me one day.” She smirks my way.
The thought of her in my chair immediately makes my cock stir to life. Abort! Abort! Do I listen to my internal alarm bells? Fuck no.
“I don’t know if you could be quiet long enough,” I challenge.
“Probably not. Think you could handle that, big boy?”
“You know, you wouldn’t be the first girl in my chair trying to get some from me.”
“Oh, of course not.” She rolls her eyes.
I lean in close. “You would, however, be the first to have actually gotten some.”
Her cheeks heat, and the blush looks delicious on her, but she kills it when she opens her mouth.
“Want to tell me about Vanessa now?” I stiffen, my fight-or-flight kicking in. The only thing keeping me sitting here is the way she spit her name, like she’s already angry for me.
“Not really, but you’re going to make, aren’t you?”
“I’m going to try.” She smiles, putting the pillow down and crawling over me so she’s straddling my lap. “See, I figure I could trade you.”
“What do you want to trade for?” I ask, gripping her hips and pulling her onto the ridge of my cock.
“Well, I could trade you sexual favors for information.”
“Is that right?”
She leans in, running her nose up my neck before nipping at it and soothing the sting of her teeth with her tongue. She kisses up my jaw to my ear, sucking on the lobe before whispering, “Start talking, big boy. Let’s see how far we get.”
As she strips off my clothes, I tell her about Vanessa. As she undoes my pants and pulls them down my legs, I tell her about my brother. As her hand grips my hardened cock, I tell her about the night of the accident, something I haven’t really talked to anyone about other than maybe Sarge. But he knows all.
And when she puts me in her mouth, I don’t care about Vanessa anymore. Or my brother. Or what’s happened or why I don’t talk to my family. I focus on the feel of her mouth around my cock until I can’t take it anymore and need to feel her. I pull her up and over my lap, ease inside her, and let her ride me to completion.
All I can think is that I need more of this in my life. She might be bad for my health, but dammit, I can’t seem to stay away from her, and I’m realizing that I don’t care.