Balls: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (A Cruz Boys Novel Book 1) (17 page)

Four.

Five.

Her tightness milked me dry.

Sweat beaded on her chest and rolled down the curve of her gorgeous tits. A little puddle of sweat gathered in her belly button.

My last small spurts seeped into her.

Whoa!

I was empty. Completely drained and out of gas.

I gently lowered myself on top of her making sure to keep most of my weight on one arm. I bit her lower lip and her eyes flickered open in response.

“Oh. Hi,” she said. “Am I dreaming?”

“If this is dreaming, I don’t ever want to wake up.”

“I didn’t know it could be like that,” she said.

“I didn’t either.”

It was true. It had never been like this. This was deeper by a cosmic mile. Alex was everything I’d ever wanted in a woman. She was
it
for me.

She lifted her head and ran her tongue over my lips.

“I want more,” she whispered.

We were
so
made for each other.
 

“Me too.”

Alexis

We had three hot nights together when Leo said he wanted to take me on a special surprise date the following evening. I couldn’t imagine a better way to spend our time than in each other’s arms, but he insisted so I finally agreed.
 

I swiped on a thin layer of lip gloss and smacked my lips to even out the coverage. It wasn’t the over-the-top sparkly lips kind (though I liked that too). It gave a hint of moisture. A subtle signal of sexual vitality for the opposite sex.

That’s what scientists said anyway.

My signals were all for Leo.

I looked in the bathroom mirror and judged myself ready for our big date. I had a silk halter top and jeans on. Leo said we were going more casual this evening.

I’m sure there was a hint in there but I couldn’t see where it might lead.

I turned to Megan in the living room.

“How do I look?”

It was always good to get confirmation.

She squinted her eyes and combed over me with an appraising look.
 

“I’d fuck you,” she said. “I’ll do it right now. Get over here.”

She held my imaginary hips above hers and pumped up off the couch.

“Megs, you seriously need a man.”

She rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it. My koochie feels as dry as old parchment paper. If I don’t get some soon, it’ll disintegrate into dust.”

I grimaced.

“Your descriptions are way too visual,” I said. “Thanks for that.”

“Just doing my job. Someone’s got to be the lonely spinster holding down the fort.”

“The fort will hold up fine without your able arms. Sign up for a few dating sites already!”

“Yeah, I probably should. But it feels so pathetic. Am I right?”

“No. Not at all. Everyone’s doing it these days. It’s our generation’s malt shop.”

Her brows batted up and down. “I could go for sucking on a straw or two,” she said.

“You need to get laid.”

“Tell me about it, Sister” she said. “Enough about my tragic total lack of man-action. What about you? What’s this big surprise Leo’s got in store tonight?”

I stared in the mirror, touching up the gloss that crept over the edge of my lip line. I shrugged, carefully so it wouldn’t cause my hand to slip.

“If I knew, it wouldn’t be a surprise,” I said. “All I know is that he’s excited about it.”

“He probably wants to claim your butt tonight. That equates to love or something for guys. Are you packing lube?”

“Gross! Shut up!”

She laughed and was clearly pleased with my response.

“What? It’s no big deal,” she said. “He wants to tap that ass, and frankly, I don’t blame him.”

I saw her in the reflection making lewd, emerald eyes at my backside.

“Do you have a penis I don’t know about it?”

“I wish. At least then I’d be getting some.”

Someone knocked on the front door.

“I’ll get it!” Megan said as she jumped up to answer it.

She threw the door open and Ms. Pickering stood there holding Fifi with trembling arms. It seriously didn’t look like a safe perch for the little white poodle.

“Alice, I ran into your weatherman downstairs,” she said. “Him and his sidekick. They’re bringing up some packages for me. He’s a fine catch, even if he’s terrible at making sure my Fridays are sunny. I don’t like walking Fifi to the groomers in the rain.”

I almost mentioned that, one, weathermen didn’t make the weather. They reported it. And two, that Leo wasn’t a weatherman in the first place.

But it didn’t matter.

She called me Alice half the time, after all.

Leo walked up behind her carrying a huge box. His biceps strained and his face was tense with effort.
 

He looked gorgeous.
 

His blue-gray eyes were cast a shade deeper by the fitted black cashmere sweater and black pants. The fabric accented his hard lines in the most delicious way.

“Where would you like it, Ma’am?” he asked.

“I haven’t had a moment to think,” she said. “Let’s unpack it in the living room and then we can try a few different arrangements to see what works.”

Leo smiled at me from behind her back.

“Sounds good.”

A boy walked up behind Leo carrying a couple of smaller packages. He had an adorable riot of brown hair and ears that were a little big for his head.

“Alex, this is the Josh I’ve told you all about,” Leo said. “He’s my favorite eight-year-old on the planet.”

Josh beamed.

“Hi! It’s nice to meet you, Alex,” he said. “Wow! You’re smokin’ hot! Leo said you had him wrapped around your little finger and I can see why!”

“Sport!” Leo said. “You’re violating the code of the brotherhood! That was classified between-the-boys information.”

Josh grimaced and his face tinted pink. “Sorry! It’s just that, well, she’s super hot!”

I laughed and shook his fingers that weren’t supporting packages.

“Nice to meet you.”

Ms. Pickering was already in her apartment.
 

“Let’s go boys,” she said. “Don’t keep an old lady waiting. Lord knows I might go at any second.”

“You look like a Summer flower to me,” Leo said. “Stronger and more beautiful for having survived the Spring.”

Ms. Pickering turned to me with an arched brow. “Alice, don’t let go of this one. Are you keeping him sexed up?”

I choked on a reply while Megan giggled hysterically.

Ms. Pickering waved us off.
 
“You’ll learn when you’re my age. A woman’s got to use her honeypot while the taste is still sweet.”

Josh’s eyes opened wide.

Leo pursed his lips tight, doing his best not to bust out laughing.

“Where did, ahem, you want these, Ma’am?” he asked.

After Leo and Josh sorted out Ms. Pickering’s packages and said goodbye, they joined Megan and I in our apartment.

Leo kissed me and acted like he had every intention of going further, but I ended it before we had a reason to be embarrassed.

I glanced at Megan and she practically had drool dripping from her lips. I was going to have to set her up with a date in the near future. Leo could probably help, but I wasn’t sure I trusted his teammates with my best friend.

“Did you bring the package?” Leo asked Josh.

“Oh, be right back!”

He ran out the open door and the patter of his receding footsteps echoed down the hall. He returned a minute later with a long box in his arms. He passed it over to Leo.

“Thanks, Sport.”

Jake held out his hand and I shook it to make our introduction official.

“It’s nice to meet you, Josh,” I said.

“You’re boobs are awesome,” he said with a look that hinted at his approaching adolescence.

Leo cuffed him on the back of the head. “Back off, bro. She’s mine.”

Josh grinned like the little boy he was. “Sorry! This is my first date.”

“You’re not on a date,” Leo said. “I am.”

“Speaking of our date,” I said, “what are we doing?”

I honestly didn’t know because I had no idea an eight-year-old would be joining us.

Leo turned to me with a broad smile. “This is for you,” he said as he handed me the long box.

I examined the outside. The box had an elegant, silver embossed sticker that said
Margaritas, Barcelona’s Finest Florist
.

Flowers?

Didn’t I specifically tell him I was allergic?

Leo grinned. “Open it.”

I peeled open the package and didn’t find what I expected to find.

It didn’t contain tulips, or flowers of any kind.

It had a bright blue helmet.
 

“What’s this?” I asked.

“It’s a bike helmet,” Leo replied.

“And why is it a bike helmet?”

“Because it’s time you learned how to do something an eight-year-old can do!”

Josh furrowed his brows.

“She doesn’t know how to ride a bike?”

“I don’t,” I said. “And I don’t plan on starting tonight.”

“Come on!” Leo said. “This is Life Skills 101 thing. Besides, I’m a great teacher.” He turned to Megan. “Help me out here, Megan. She should be able to do this, right?”

Megan nodded. “I’m in your corner, Sister. But you really should know how. It’s kind of crazy you don’t.”

I might’ve put my foot down and flat refused, but then I realized it was another perfect media op for Leo.

“Fine, I’ll do it,” I said. “Where are we going?”

“To Las Ramblas,” he said. “It’s the straight, long, and flat. Perfect for a beginner.”

I grabbed my phone and texted Ed to grab his gear and meet us there in thirty minutes. If I was going to have to go through the humiliation of learning to ride a bike at age twenty-four, I was at least going to get some usable media clips out of it.

I mean, what could be cuter? The Bad Boy Lion of Spain riding on a tandem with his girlfriend next to boy who meant so much to him. It had viral Twitter explosion written all over it.

“Shall we?” Leo asked as he held out his arm.

“I’m game,” I said.

Josh held his arm out to Megan.

“If you’re looking for a date tonight, I’m available.”

She winked at him. “That’s a tempting offer, but I’m afraid we’re generationally incompatible.”

“No problem,” Josh said as a grin broke out on his face, “I’m around if you change your mind.”

Megan blew me an air kiss. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” she said.
 

“That leaves just about everything on the table,” I said.

“That’s the idea.”

Leo hooked his arm around my waist. “I promise to bring her back… eventually.”

“I won’t wait up,” Megan said.

We exited the building and I saw two bikes leaning up against the building. A long one with seats and pedals for two and a smaller one presumably for Josh. Guarding them was the gang of local toughs that I usually avoided at all costs.

Leo slapped high-fives with each of them.

“Thanks, guys,” he said.

There normally intimidating snarls were totally transformed. They looked like puppies begging for more attention.

“You got it, Leo!” one said.

“Anytime, man!” another said.

Leo held the shoulder of the one that looked like the leader.

“Listen, can you do me a favor?” he said.

“For The Lion of Spain?” the guy said. “Anything.”

“Keep an eye on my lady here. Her roommate and the old lady I walked in with.”

“Consider it done,” the guy said.

“Thanks, man. I’ll drop by with a few jerseys to pass around,” Leo said.

“That’s awesome!” one said.
 

“So cool!” another said.

They turned and ambled off toward their usual perch below the broken street lamp at the corner.

I turned and stared at the tandem bike.
 

“Helmet, first,” Leo said. He put it on my head and adjusted the fit until it was snug.

Now that I was here about to do it, I wasn’t so sure.

“Don’t worry,” Leo said. “I’ll be the balance and the power. All you have to do is enjoy the ride.”

Well, when he put it that way.

“I’m putting my life in your hands, Leonardo Cruz,” I said.
 

“That’s all I ever wanted,” he said. The tenderness in his eyes took my breath away. He meant it. It was as if he was saying the sky was blue. It came across as self-evident truth.

My heart squeezed in my chest and, for the millionth time since meeting him, I wondered at my luck.
 

At my destiny?

Josh grabbed the smaller bike.

“Do you seriously not know how to ride a bike? I mean, you’re a grown-up!”

I was
not
going to let a precocious eight-year-old make me look like a three-year-old.

“Give me a week to learn and I’ll leave you in the dust!”

“You’re on!” he shouted as he took off down the street.

“Stop at the corners and wait for us!” Leo shouted.

“Yeah, yeah, I know!” his voice echoed down the street.

Leo settled me onto the back seat and took his place at the front. He held the bike steady as I lifted my feet to the pedals.

It tilted a nano-inch and I squealed with terror.

“You’re fine,” he said. “I’m not letting you go anywhere.”

“Don’t let me fall, Leo!”

“Never.”

We started slow and, after we’d gone a few blocks, I started to feel more comfortable. It wasn’t so hard. We made it to Las Ramblas and I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I carefully teased it out of my back pocket and saw that Ed was ready to go down at the roundabout with the statue of Christopher Columbus.

Perfectly picturesque. Ed had a good eye.

“Let’s go see the Columbus statue,” I said as we pulled into the bustle of tourists and locals enjoying the evening.

“Sure,” Leo said.

We arrived and circled around the roundabout as Ed stood on the sidewalk with his camera on his shoulder. His eye was stuck to the eyepiece and he gave me a thumbs up as we passed him the first time.

“Let’s go around it a few times,” I said.

Leo saw Ed recording and laughed.

“Always on the job, huh?” he said.