Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
L andon
It’s Thursday morning, and when I say morning, I mean the sun isn’t even up yet.
I’ve hardly slept at all. We have an away game in New York this weekend.
The team flies out at two this afternoon.
This is the first time in my career that I don’t want to go.
Sure, there have been times I’ve dreaded the flight, but never this.
I’m lying here with her in my arms, and the thought of not seeing her for four days is killing me.
I’m going to miss her.
I think back to all the times I gave my teammates shit when they would talk about missing their wives or girlfriends—Trent, especially when he and Luna first got together.
It was fun to get him all riled up, but now he just lets it roll.
He doesn’t give a fuck what we say, and now I get it.
I finally understand how he feels leaving her behind.
And to add to that, she’s pregnant. I don’t know how he does it.
I place a kiss on her bare shoulder, and she stirs. “Landon?” Her voice is raspy with sleep.
“Hmm?”
“Why are you awake?”
“Just thinking.”
She rolls over to face me. The room is still dark, so I can’t see her, but I can feel her gaze.
“Anything you want to talk about?”
“Not unless you want to hear me whine about missing you?”
“You’re gonna miss me?” she asks, her voice sugary sweet.
“Hey.” I lightly smack her ass. “You could at least pretend you’re going to miss me, too.”
“I am going to miss you. Who’s going to keep me warm at night?
” I can hear in her tone of voice that she’s teasing me, but the thought of another man getting to be with her like this, like we are in this moment, amps up my worry.
Things have been great, but I’ve been here.
Can she do this? Is she really willing to stick with me being gone all the time for my job?
I love my job, football is who I am, but Tessa… I love her, too.
“That’s my job.” I pull her impossibly close. “Fuck, Tess, why’d you have to go there?”
“Hey.” She wraps her arm around me and gently strokes my back with her soft hands. “I was just teasing. There’s no one but you.”
“I know that. It’s just even the thought of losing this, losing you to someone who can be here all the time, it guts me.”
“I didn’t mean to upset you. I was just teasing. Of course, I’m going to miss you. I miss you when you’re at practice and I’m at the shelter. I don’t know how I’m going to do with not seeing you for four days.”
“I’ll call you as much as I can.” I’m already thinking about staying holed up in my room just so I can talk to her.
I requested to room with Trent this time, and he agreed.
I don’t even want to be around the single guys on the road.
It’s not the temptation, but the rumors.
I want to stay as far away from that shit as I can.
I don’t need the press posting anything that could shed a bad light on me while I’m on the road.
This is going to be hard enough on our relationship without the added drama and rumors that the leeches bring.
“Don’t feel like you have to. I’ll be here waiting for you, and I’ll be watching you on Sunday.”
“Come with me.”
“You know I can’t do that. I can’t leave Autumn alone at the shelter. Besides, I can’t just call her and ask for time off without notice. We’d need time to schedule volunteers.”
“I’ll pay for someone to come in and cover for you.”
“Thank you, but no.”
“I had a feeling you would say that.”
“It’s sweet, but you’re going to be away a lot. It’s not just this one weekend. This is our life, and we need to learn to deal with it the best we can. We need to get used to being apart.”
“You could quit and travel with me,” I offer. She thinks I’m kidding, but I’m dead serious.
“Then I’d be traveling alone. You have all your team stuff you have to do. I won’t get to see you much anyway.”
“I’ve never dreaded going away for a game until now.”
“Chin up, Number Eighteen,” she says playfully. I know she’s trying to lighten the mood. “I’ll be here, holding down the home front.”
Her words spark an idea. A crazy one, but it makes me feel better. “Stay at my place while I’m gone.”
“What? That’s crazy. Why would I do that when I have a perfectly good home right here, you know, the bed you’re sleeping in?”
“I know whose bed I’m in. I just want to know you’re there. That you’re in my space, in my bed, even if I’m not in it with you.”
“Okay. If it means that much to you, I’ll do it.”
“Thank you.” Moving in, I press my lips to hers. Softly, reverently, I try my best to show her what she means to me.
Everything.
My hands roam over her hip and up her side. I palm her breasts, running the pad of my thumb over her nipple. We slept naked last night. I wanted her body next to mine. I wanted to feel her skin, memorize the feeling. Turns out, that was a good idea, because now clothes are not a factor.
My lips travel to her neck, and she tilts her head, giving me the space I need to devour her. “Lie back,” I say, moving to hover over her. She’s now on her back, and I can feast on her. Take my time showing her what she means to me and how much I’m going to miss her.
Settled between her thighs, my cock throbs as it rests against her belly. Staying on course, I capture a hard nipple in my mouth, nipping, sucking, and licking, driving her crazy, all while tweaking the other with my thumb and forefinger. I don’t have enough hands. I want to touch her everywhere.
Her breath hitches when I take her nipple between my teeth. With kisses between the valley of her breasts, my mouth moves to the other, and my hand takes over, gently caressing the one I’m no longer soothing with my tongue.
“Landon,” she says breathily. Her hands are buried in my hair, and her chest is rapidly rising and falling.
“Yeah, baby?” My voice is thick with my desire for her.
“S-Stop teasing me,” she pants.
Letting her nipple fall from my mouth with an audible pop, my lips head south.
“Not teasing. Enjoying you? Yes. Loving you? Hell, yes.” I trace a path with my tongue over her quivering stomach, and I don’t stop until I reach her pussy.
I kiss just above where I know she wants me.
Hell, from the grip she has on my hair and the sounds she’s making, it might be a need at this point.
“Four days,” I say tenderly. “Four days without you, Freckles.” I’m done talking. It’s time to show her. Moving further down the bed, I position her legs over my shoulders, kissing her inner thigh. My index finger glides through her pussy. She’s wet and ready, but I need more time.
“Please,” she begs, her hand grappling for my hair to hold on as my mouth hovers over her clit. “Oh, God,” she breathes when she feels my hot breath.
With my tongue, I make small circles, causing her hips to rise off the bed, and her grip on my hair tightens. Her need only fuels my desire. Pulling away, I blow gently on her sensitive bud, and she squirms beneath me. I’m salivating. I can’t tell if it’s her or me that’s coating my chin.
“Mmm,” I hum.
“D-Don’t stop, please,” she pleads.
One hand works up to her breast to play with her nipple, while the other slides one, then two fingers inside her. In tandem, my tongue and my fingers fuck her. She’s pulling on my hair. Her grip is firm, and her moans of pleasure have precum leaking from my cock. I need her to come.
Now.
My tongue presses harder, flicking her clit like it’s my job while my fingers piston inside her.
Her walls begin to quiver, telling me she’s close.
I’m ready to come with her taste on my tongue and from feeling her body’s reaction to me.
I fight it as I bring her over the edge.
She cries out as her body convulses, and I drink her in. Everything she gives me, I take.
When her body finally relaxes into the mattress and her hands fall beside her on the bed, I slowly slide my fingers out of her, licking them clean.
Carefully, I remove her legs from over my shoulders and resume the same path I took earlier—trailing kisses up her body until I reach her lips.
She kisses me back without abandon, her tongue battling with mine.
Ripping my mouth away, she whimpers. I reach over into the nightstand and grab a condom, tearing it open with my teeth and sliding it over my cock.
“Hurry,” she murmurs.
Not needing to be told twice, I position myself at her entrance and slide home.
Nothing has ever felt more like home than being connected with her like this.
Nothing ever will. Lowering my weight onto her, careful not to crush her, I take my time pushing in and pulling out.
Over and over, I slowly make love to her.
It’s perfect because all I want to do is slow down time. I want this moment to last forever.
“You okay?” she whispers. The room is starting to lighten as day breaks, and I can see her eyes watching me with worry.
“I’m perfect.” A few more lazy strokes are all it takes for me to lose my control as I come inside her. I still and then relax, sated. “I’m sorry.” I kiss her nose. “That was supposed to last a hell of a lot longer.”
She giggles. “It was torture. You teased me. But everything about this moment is faultless. I wouldn’t change it for anything. This is how we should always say goodbye.”
“Why did you have to mention that?”
“Because I need to get up and get moving to head to work, and you have to pack.”
“I don’t want to go.”
“Of course, you do. It’s going to suck, but Landon, you love this game. Football is your life, so you’re going to miss me. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
“I don’t know that I could grow any fonder of you than I already am.”
“Come on, you. Let’s shower.” Tossing off the cover, she climbs out of bed, and I watch her until she disappears into the bathroom.
Fond of her indeed.