Well that was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done—pun intended. Walking away from what would have been an explosively perfect afternoon of naked pleasure now seems like it was one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done because my balls are so full, I’m sure they are literally blue at the moment. My cock can’t seem to stay down and keeps straining against my jeans every time Addison brushes against me, whether it’s her hand or her arm against mine.

It’s the start of the seventh inning and even though I enjoy watching a ball game as much as the next guy, all I can think about is touching her naked body and tasting her.

“Here, try this,” Addie says, dipping her giant pretzel in some sort of thick cheesy sauce. “You haven’t been to a ball game until you’ve had a ball park pretzel.”

“That’s what you said about the hot dog.”

“That too,” she says, popping the bite into my mouth.

“Mm. That’s actually quite delicious,” I say as I bite down on the warm doughy treat.

“I know. That’s why I bought it.”

I reach for another bite but she pulls it away and says, “Nah uh. The rest is mine.”

“What? You’re a bit of a tongue tease, you know.”

Addison bursts out laughing, then shrugs, and says, “I’m not an anything tease. I just have stronger feelings about this pretzel than I do about you at the moment.”

Gasping, I pretend to be offended. “Now I’m glad I didn’t succumb to your advances earlier because I know you were just going to use me for sex.”

Her mouth full of pretzel, Addison covers it with her hand while she tries not to laugh. When she recovers and swallows, she says, “It’s true. I just want you for your body.”

Our fun is interrupted by the sound of a man’s voice coming from the aisle. “Addison?”

Her face falls when she looks up to see who it is.

“Addison, it is you. Nora told me it was you but I thought she was wrong.”

I turn and look up at him, seeing that he’s a well-put together older gentleman. He smiles at me and holds out his hand. “Phillip Cooke.”

“Henry Walsh.”

“I know who you are,” he says, his tone easy. Looking back at Addison, he says, “How do you two know each other?”

“We go to school together.”

“Huh. Wow. Where are you going to college anyway?”

“Harvard Law actually,” she says, her voice devoid of enthusiasm.

“No kidding! Good for you. I always knew you’d make something of yourself.”

“I’m trying.”

From the way she’s glaring, I’m wondering if I should tell this man to feck off.

“Sounds like you’re succeeding. Well, I’m going on a beer run. You and Henry should come down and say hi to Nora and the kids.” He gestures to a blond woman who is sitting several rows down with three teenagers, all of whom are staring.

“Yeah, maybe we’ll do that,” Addison says.

“Okay, great,” he says. “Listen, since you’re living so close now you really should come by for dinner some night. Prince Henry, too.”

Addison’s voice grows tight. “I’m pretty busy with school and work, so…”

Phillip nods, a look of understanding crossing his face. “I guess the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree, hey?”

“Well sometimes the tree punt kicks the apple out of his life when the apple is three and she ends up living in a trailer park with her junkie mother and has to claw her way out of poverty so she learns to work really hard.”

Phillip sighs, then runs his tongue over his teeth, looking very put out. “Okay, maybe some day you’ll change your mind about me.”

“Could happen, say if someone invents a time machine and you go back and decide not to abandon your daughter.”

He stiffens a bit, then looks at me and says, “Nice to meet you, Henry.”

With that, he jogs up the steps and out of sight.

Addison sits quietly next to me, blinking back tears. I take her hand and give it a gentle squeeze. “Your father?”

Nodding, she says, “That’s his preferred family down there. The ones who matter to him.”

“What an arsehole.”

She laughs a little through her tears, and I pull her to me and give her a kiss on the lips. “You want to get out of here?”

“Can we?”

“Of course.”

***

Dusk is starting to fall as we walk along the streets of Boston, hand in hand. Addison is quiet and hurt and I hate like hell to see her like this.

“Do you want to get some dinner?” I ask.

“I’m not really hungry, but I’ll sit with you if you want to eat.”

“No, I’m not hungry either.” I guide us into a small park surrounded by trees that have yet to drop their red and yellow leaves. Finding a bench, I sit and gently tug her hand so she’ll join me.

As soon as we’re sitting, I put my arm around her shoulders and pull her to me. Addison rests her head on my shoulder and after a minute, I can tell by her jagged breaths that she’s crying. Pressing my lips to her head, I kiss her, then rub my hand up and down her arm, wanting her to feel that I’m here for her.

“Sorry,” she says, lifting her head up. “We were having so much fun and now…”

“Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault your father’s a total prick.”

“I just wish he wouldn’t affect me like this. I should be used to it by now.”

Shaking my head, I say, “I don’t think anyone would ever get used to being tossed aside by their father.”

She lets out a deep sigh, then says, “I suppose not. I just wish we hadn’t run into him. You had this wonderful day planned out and now it’s ruined.”

“It’s actually a good thing it happened.”

She lifts her head and gives me a questioning look.

“Not that I want to see you so upset, I don’t mean that. I mean this has given me a chance to see firsthand who took away your ability to trust and it’s made me even more determined to prove to you that not every man will let you down.”

“When you talk like that, I want so badly to believe you,” she whispers. “You have no idea how much I wish all of this could be real.”

“It is real. It’s more real than anything I’ve ever known.” I lower my mouth to hers and wait for her to kiss me.

She does as I hoped, but this time it’s a kiss of love, of pain, of understanding. We stay like this, holding each other as I try to kiss away her sadness. The sun goes down leaving us in the dark and the air cools down, causing her to shiver.

She touches my face with her hand. “I don’t want to go home tonight.”

“Good, because I don’t want to take you home.”

“Can we go back to your place?”

“I have a better idea.”