Bryant
WITH A FULL count on the board, I step out of the batter’s box and take a deep breath. We’ve got this game in the bag. We’re up by three in the top of the ninth inning. We can do this. We need to keep our shit together for one more inning.
Stepping back into the box, I put my weight on my back leg and wait for the pitch. I’m not swinging unless it’s perfect. It’s a split second from release to bat, but I know as soon as it hurls my way that it’s the perfect pitch.
Crack.
My arms vibrate when the ball connects with my bat. I toss it to the side and full sprint toward first base, my eyes never leaving the ball. When it drops into the lower stands behind right field, I slow to a jog and swing my eyes to the woman I know will be there screaming for me.
And sure as hell, there she is, jumping up and down and screaming my name. When my eyes connect with hers, I wink. Gracie starts slapping her mom’s arm and pointing to the big screen, and when I round third headed for home and look up, Layne’s smiling face is on the TV with a huge heart around it and my number scrawled across it.
Well, I guess there is no question about who the mystery woman is that I’m dating anymore.
When my foot hits home plate, Conor picks me up and starts jumping up and down. He’s such a goofball.
My home run brings our lead to five, and I cross my fingers we can hold them off. Dunn strikes out, bringing NY up for their last at bat of the game.
Ramirez hits a home run with no one on base and one out on the board.
Smith hits a pop fly to center field, bringing the outs to two.
Garner hits a single, but an error on the play gets him to second.
When Chappman steps up to the plate, our outfielders back up and ready themselves. Chapp has the most home runs in the league right now. The man kills the ball.
As soon as the bat connects, I know it’s a pop fly and so does he. Dropping the bat and his head, he saunters toward first.
Third out.
The Smoke wins game five.
I’M SURPRISED TO see Layne, Gracie, and Mandy standing in the tunnel when we file out of the locker room over an hour later. Layne throws herself into my arms and hugs me tightly.
“Nice game, Bryant,” she says into my chest.
“Thanks, baby,” I reply, kissing the top of her head. It’s weird that this seems so natural. That she seems to fit into my life like she was meant to be there.
Gracie high-fives Conor as he walks up, but when his eyes connect with Mandy standing next to her, he freezes. Mandy smirks at him and then holds her hand out.
“Mandy,” she says, looking down at her hand and then back up at his face, which is still frozen.
“Earth to Conor,” I say, laughing, before smacking Conor in the back of the head.
“Sorry,” he mumbles out, taking her hand in his and shaking it gently, but not letting go and continuing to stare at Mandy, who is now laughing.
“Nice to meet you, Conor,” she says sweetly, batting her eyelashes and making Conor’s face turn red.
What in the actual hell is happening? I’ve never, in all my years of knowing Conor, seen him react this way to a woman. He’s always so self-assured and cocky. Mandy has him basically speechless, and I’m loving every second of it.
Mandy steps toward him and places her hand on top the one he has a death grip on her other hand with. She gently rubs her hand over the top of his and he lets her go, taking a step back and shaking his head.
Dude’s got it bad.
I mean Mandy is hot, but she’s also crazy. But so is Conor, so they’re probably a match made in crazy town.
“Well, let’s head back to the hotel, shall we?” I ask, trying to break the awkwardness that Mandy and Conor are causing. “Stanley can fit us all in the Yukon.”
Making our way to the VIP exit, I’m not surprised to see Stanley has pulled up as close as he can get to the building, the door open and ready for us to get in. There are cameras everywhere, and security has been set up.
Guess it didn’t take long for the tabloids to get word of the possible girlfriend sighting at the stadium. They’re everywhere.
Before we step out into the frenzy, I bend down to Gracie.
“Hey, sweetie. I’m going to pick you up, okay?” I tell her. Her eyes are huge at seeing all of the people out there waiting for us. “I want you to put your head down on my shoulder and turn your face toward my neck, all right?” and she nods.
I pick her up, and she wraps her little legs around my waist, burying her face in my neck. I think she’s scared, and it breaks my heart we haven’t had a chance to talk to her about this yet. I can tell by the look on Layne’s face she’s freaking out a little. Shifting Gracie to one side so I can hold her with one arm, I grab Layne’s hand with my other as she pushes the door open and the flashes begin.
Stanley rushes us to the SUV, keeping his body between the reporters and Gracie. When I glance back, Conor has Mandy’s hand and they are running out right behind us. Once we’re all in the vehicle and the door is shut behind us. Gracie jumps off my lap and stares out the window, her eyes wide with excitement.
“Wow!” she exclaims loudly. “That was crazy! Why are all those people screaming questions and wanting to know who we are?”
Apparently she is not scared, and it causes us all to burst out laughing, and I’m so thankful she isn’t freaked out by this.
Layne tucks into my side and chuckles as Gracie waves to all the people on the other side of the black glass. I don’t have the heart to tell her they can’t see her through it, so we watch her enjoy the craziness on the other side.
It doesn’t take long after we pull away from the stadium for Gracie to crash in Layne’s lap. She’s got to be exhausted after all the excitement of the game and aftermath. When Stanley notices all the reporters in front of the hotel, he makes a loop around the block and pulls into the employee only parking garage. He goes several floors up before we see an attendant standing near the entrance elevator to the hotel waving. Stanley pulls up and the man opens the door for us.
“Sorry about the reporters, Mr. Nash and Mr. McLoughney. Unfortunately, we can only keep them so far away from the building. You’ve been authorized to use this entrance until they either leave or your stay with us has concluded.” The man is in a suit but doesn’t have a nametag like the rest of the employees at the hotel I’ve run into.
I hoist Gracie’s sleeping body up into my arms, and she doesn’t even stir, causing Layne to laugh. The sound makes me feel a little better about the worry on her face.
I stick my free hand out for him to shake, which he does before introducing himself as Samuel Hermann, the hotel’s operations manager.
“Thank you, Mr. Hermann. We appreciate your help,” I reply.
“Please call me Sam, and feel free to contact me should you have any other problems while you are here,” he retorts, pulling a business card from his pocket and handing it to me.
We make our way to the rooms, Conor deciding to follow us instead of going one floor up to his own room. I have a feeling he’s going to be following Mandy around like a puppy dog with the way he can’t take his eyes off her.
Once inside, I follow Layne into the room she and Gracie are sleeping in. She pulls the covers back and removes Gracie’s shoes before I lay her on the bed and Layne pulls the covers up over her.
“She can sleep in her clothes tonight. I don’t want to wake her,” she whispers close to my ear, causing me to shiver, and her to smirk.
I grab her hand as we leave the room and head back out into the living room… where we find soft core porn happening on the couch.
“Ahem,” I clear my throat loudly, causing Conor to pull his hand out of Mandy’s shirt and her to jump off his lap. “Don’t mind us.” I laugh out.
Conor stands up with a very visible hard-on, which makes Layne blush and turn the other way.
But leave it to Mandy to make the whole situation even more awkward. “Dude, pull your shirt down and cover your boner, for God’s sake.” Conor looks down and smirks, before pulling his shirt down and trying to cover it, which it doesn’t.
“All right then,” Conor starts. “I’m gonna head back to my room I think. Mandy, would you like a tour of my bedr… I mean, suite?”
Mandy looks at Layne, waggling her eyebrows before she grabs the hand Conor is trying to hold his shirt down with and smiles. The girl has no shame.
“Conor,” I start, but he shakes his head and I shut up.
“I know, dude. You don’t have to remind me,” he growls before heading toward the door, Mandy in tow. “At least she can have a happy ending,” he grumbles, causing me to laugh.
“Wait, did he just say what I think he said?” Layne barks out a laugh when the door shuts behind them.
“Oh, you heard him all right.”
My hand wraps around her upper arm, and she almost goes limp in my arms when I pull her back into my chest and wrap my arms around her waist.
Bringing my mouth to her ear, I whisper, “Baby, someday, I’m gonna give you a happy ending like you can’t even imagine.” Her body shivers as my breath skates across the skin on her neck.
Pulling her hair to one side, I place soft kisses on the skin below her ear and trail them down her shoulder to her collarbone, before the moan that comes from her brings me back to reality.
I can’t get us both riled up, and I sure as hell can’t give her a happy ending with her daughter only a few feet away in a room with the door open.
She must feel the change in my body because she turns in my arms and wraps hers around my neck.
“We’re not doing this until we both get a happy ending,” she whispers against my lips.
I press my forehead against hers and take a deep breath.
I kiss her lips one more time before telling her good night and heading to my room.
We should have been heading home tomorrow for a day of reprieve before game six, but we got word earlier this afternoon that Denver is getting hammered by this storm and the airport is shut down because of it and they’re expecting the storm to hover over Colorado for three or four days. So, game six will be here in New York, but they’re treating it as if we are home team. This should be interesting.
Since we have a day off tomorrow, I’m trying to devise a plan to take Layne out for the day. She just doesn’t know it yet. A day alone with her sounds about perfect.
MY BODY IS on fire. Throwing the covers off, I swing my legs over the side of the bed and head for the sink to get a drink. The clock on the table says it’s only 10:00 p.m. but that can’t be right because I didn’t fall asleep until after eleven.
I fill a glass with water from the tap and gulp it down, quenching the dryness in my throat. Placing the glass in the sink, I turn back to my room and stop dead at the sight in front of me.
Standing in the doorway between our suites is Layne, in nothing but a short silk nightie. Her hair is piled high on her head in a messy bun and she has these little reading glasses on that I’ve never seen before. She looks good enough to eat.
I watch her face as she takes in my naked body before her eyes meet mine again. Her nipples are pebbled under the silk, and I can see the pulse in her neck is rapid.
We take steps toward each other, stopping when we’re about a foot apart.
Layne takes her glasses off and tosses them on the couch beside her before pulling the elastic from her hair and letting it fall down onto her shoulders.
Jesus, she’s beautiful.
When she reaches down to the hem of her nightie, I close my eyes, afraid I’m going to lose my mind if she takes it off and I can’t touch her.
When I open my eyes back up, she’s still got her hands on the hem but starts to pull it up slowly when she knows she has my attention again.
My breath catches when the silk slides over the top of her hips and I see she is naked underneath. I lick my lips and raise my eyes to hers again when she stops right below her breasts.
“Take it off, baby. I want to see all of you,” I croak out, my voice thick with need. I couldn’t stop myself even if I wanted to right now. I’m desperate for her.
She never takes her eyes from mine as she lifts the nightie over her head and drops it at her feet, her gorgeous body now fully on display to me.
I reach my hand out to her and she takes it, allowing me to pull her body into mine. I kiss her gently, but the kiss quickly becomes fevered. It takes less than a minute of her mouth on mine before I’m lifting her up and walking her to my bed.
Laying her down, I walk to my wallet on the dresser to grab a condom, and when I turn around, the sight in front of me almost causes me to lose it.
Layne has her hands at her breasts, pinching her nipples and writhing around on the bed. I watch as one of her hands slides down her stomach toward her heat, and my breath catches when she makes contact with the most intimate part of her.
A shuttering breath releases from her and she moans my name, continuing to make little circles across her sensitive skin.
I kneel on the bed in front of her, sheathing myself quickly. Leaning down, I take her mouth in a fiery kiss that almost takes my breath away. Layne runs her hands up and down my stomach and chest several times before reaching down between us, taking hold of what she wants, causing me to stiffen even more in her hands.
When she begins to rub herself against me, I’m afraid I’m not going to make it much longer. She places me at her entrance and…
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
I shoot up out of bed, my chest heaving.
Son of a bitch.
I throw on the pair of athletic shorts on the end of my bed and try pushing down my raging hard-on. It’ll be a surprise for whoever is banging on my fucking door.
Looking through the peephole to find Conor’s more than irritating smile has me wrenching the door open with a scowl.
Conor takes one look at my tented shorts and barks out laughing. “Now who needs to cover their boner?”
“Fuck you, dude. You woke me up seconds before I was about to…” I trail off when I see Mandy walk in behind him.
“Dude. Really?” she says, gesturing in the direction of my crotch.
“You’re in my room,” I basically growl. “And I can’t help it. But now that you’re here, I’m sure it will shrivel right up.”
She laughs like I didn’t just insult her.
Glancing at the clock, I know I need to get my ass in gear if I’m going to spend the day with Layne. I need to get Conor and Mandy on board with watching Gracie though.
“Hey,” I bark out quickly. “Do you think you two could keep your hands off each other long enough to watch Gracie today so I can take Layne out for the day?”
“As much as I adore that little girl, I can’t,” Conor says with a scowl. “I wish I could actually, but my brother flew in a few days ago and I haven’t seen him yet. For some odd reason, he’s staying at a hotel on the other side of the city. I’m heading over there in a few minutes.”
“I got no plans, Slam,” Mandy says in an overly sweet tone. “But what do I get out of the deal?”
“Name your price,” I respond without hesitation.
She places her fingers at her chin and looks up, scrunching her face up like she’s in deep thought. “I want a massage in the spa downstairs before we go home, and a lifetime supply of Patron.”
“Done.”
Mandy jumps up and down, squealing.
“I gotta jump in the shower,” I grumble as I make my way to the bathroom.
“Take some lotion in with you,” Mandy hollers after me, chuckling.
“Conditioner works better,” Conor follows up.
Right, real fucking comedians.
If Conor slept with Mandy last night, I’m gonna punch him in the nuts. He’s in an awfully good mood to have not gotten laid last night.
After I shower and throw on my clothes, I knock quickly on Layne’s door. Gracie opens it a second later and grumbles something about missing her ponies to answer the door.
Not a morning person. Got it.
Layne is in the bathroom putting makeup on and she smiles when she sees me walk in.
“Hey, I’ve got plans for us. Mandy is gonna hang with Gracie today, and I get you all to myself.” She turns to me with a puzzled look.
“What are you up to now, Mr. Nash?” she purrs.
“Nope, it’s a surprise. Dress for comfort.”
I head back to my room so I can finish getting ready. When I reach the front door, I watch as Conor grabs Mandy by the back of the head and kisses her like it’s the last time he’ll ever see her.
Hmm. That escalated quickly. Mandy skips over and flops down on the couch beside Gracie, stealing a piece of her donut, which gets her a death glare.