My words hit their mark just like I hoped, and Wren’s shoulders shake with laughter, and that bright, beautiful smile is back on her face as she cocks her head to the side while she looks at me.
“You’re crazy.” She smiles up at me with a shake of her head. “I’m okay now. We can finish this with a kiss at home.”
Dropping my head down, I press my forehead against hers.
“Don’t you get it yet?” I ask quietly. “Whether it’s at first, or second, or in the outfield. No matter where I kiss you, Wren, I’m already home.”
When a small, sweet whimper comes out of her and she quickly lifts her chin and kisses me, I wrap my arms back around her again and hold her tightly, looking forward to all the rest of the bad I can replace with good. While silently cursing at my cock to go back to sleep, feeling Wren’s hot, sexy body all snuggled up against mine while her tongue is in my mouth.
Ending the kiss and breaking apart, I grab her hand again and start walking us toward the parking lot, grabbing my bag from the dugout as we go.
“Come on, let’s go meet Owen and everyone else up at Island Slice and celebrate.”
With my girl on my arm as we walk through the doors of the pizza place ten minutes later, spending the rest of the night sitting at a table eating, laughing, and just having a damn good time with Owen and a bunch of his friends from school who don’t play baseball, I know I’ll do everything I can to make sure that easy, relaxed smile never leaves Wren’s face.
Fucking into oblivion—bad.
Showing her she’s worth the time to take things slow—good.CHAPTER 14“Looks like he’s playing in extra innings.”“I can’t believe you got a giant movie screen to set up on the beach just for the two of us!”
“Nothing but the best for my girl. Now get over here and cuddle me on this couch after I dragged it all the way out here in the sand. The movie is about to start.”
“Did you really drag it out here by yourself?”
“Of course not. I paid someone to do it. I was just trying to impress you with how big my muscles are, but this thing is heavy, and sand is bullshit.”
“Don’t worry; I’m impressed. How did you even get a popcorn machine to work out here? Holy hell, this is real movie theater butter.”
“Sour Patch Kids, Milk Duds, Junior Mints… what kind of sweet are you in the mood for to go with that salty?”
“How about these ones right here attached to your face?”
“…”
“…”
“Fuuuck I can never get enough of your lips. Oh shit, not the ear. Don’t nibble the—Sweet Christ. Okay, ha-ha, would you look at that! The movie is starting, and you should sit right over there, and I’ll just sit way over here.”
“Field of Dreams? Why am I even surprised? Are you gonna say the words to this entire movie right along with it?”
“That would be annoying. Of course not. My father’s name was John Kinsella…”
“You’re gonna cry, aren’t you?”
“You’re goddamn right I’m gonna cry. I changed my mind. Get back over here and cuddle me.”“Owen, we need to have a talk.”
“Okay, Coach, what’s up? I know I skipped running sprints, but I was—”
“It’s not about baseball. It’s about your mom.”
“Oh my God! What happened? Is she okay?”
“She’s fine! Shit, I’m really awful at this. It’s nothing bad. It’s good! It’s really good. Well, I think it’s good, and I know your mom said she already had a talk with you, and she said you said it was good, but I really feel like we need to have a man-to-man talk and—”
“You and my mom are dating. I know. It’s cool.”
“Okay… but are you sure it’s cool? I’m gonna be spending a lot of time with her and be around a lot, and I will never disrespect you or your mother, but… you see, Owen, when a man and a woman really like each other, eventually—”
“I’m gonna stop you right there. You’re starting to make this weird. The guys are staring.”
“I don’t want to make this weird.”
“Good.”
“Great. And just so you know, just because your mom and I are dating, it doesn’t mean I’m going to give you any special treatment on the team to give them anything else to stare at.”
“Got it.”
“What the hell do you mean you skipped your sprints, Bennett? Get your ass over there and run!”
“You’re doing it again. You’re being weird.”
“You know what, just accept the fact that this is gonna be weird for a while, and I’ll buy you a car.”
“Change it to a motorcycle and we have a deal.”
“Don’t push it. Go run your sprints.“You are so bad at this.”
“I know!”
“Maybe we should just stop. Call it a night, you can go home, and we can try another time.”