Crown's Chance at Love (6 page)

“May I?” his deep voice resonates and I tilt my head in a little bit of confusion as he steps in closer, his big strong body next to me, his scent making my mouth water. The mix of his cologne, coffee and something else is mouth watering good, I just want to put my face in at his neck and breathe in. Geez! What the hell is wrong with me?

I look up at him and he smiles, his hands moving slowly as his fingertips touch the side of my face in such a sweet way, that it tugs at my heart.
When was the last time a man touched my face
? I think as I feel warmth flutter over my cheeks, I realize I am blushing, and want to groan at how juvenile my reaction to him is. The back of his fingers caress the skin on my left cheek as his other hand reaches for the top of my head and he hands me my sunglasses. I close my eyes,
of course! Could I be any more of a nerd?
Why would a man like this ever be interested in me? He would more likely be interested in twenty-something year old college girls like George Clooney. He had that cocky type air to him.

“Thanks.” I mumble out and look down for a second to regain my composure.

***

Mike

Had I lost my mind? I had caressed her face, her skin feeling like silk, made me ache to hold her. My mind filled with thoughts about what the rest of the skin on her body would feel like. It was like I couldn’t control myself with her. I can tell she is embarrassed and I should let her go on her way, but I’m a bastard. I want to hold her, know what it feels to have her pressed against me and never let her go. I had never, in my almost forty years felt this way. Even with having been in a relationship with Holly for ten years, I’ve never had this draw to a woman. Figures I would feel this attraction to the one woman who, if she knew the truth about how I was to blame for one of the worst things that has happened to her, she would hate me.

“I should get going, if I want to be able to catch a little bit of his baseball practice.” She says, her voice soft, bringing her hand out for me to shake.

She is going to leave. Then I won’t be able to talk to her or get to know her. Trying to come up for a reason to keep her around I blurt out, “What would you do differently?”

She looks confused, “I’m sorry? What would I do differently with what?” she asks, her eyes have that look again, like they are filled with mischief and it adds a special brightness to them.

“The 5K, you obviously did your homework, you knew we were tired of the same year in and year out, what would you do differently?” I ask in a lame attempt to keep her near me, even if only for a couple minutes longer.

“You really want to know?” she asks curiously.

“Yeah.” I say trying to keep my face as emotionless as possible.

She looks down at her watch and unconsciously bites her bottom lip. I can see her inner debate about being able to make it to her son’s baseball practice and talking it out with me, so I give her a chance to do both.

“It’s a nice day today, if you want we can talk at the park during his practice?” her eyes meet mine in surprise and I smile. I like that look. I like the idea of being able to surprise her; that on its own is another red flag that I seem to need to ignore today.

“Yeah, if you don’t mind terribly, the park is only like five minutes from here.”

“Sounds good, I’ll drive us, and drive you back, let’s go.” I say as I put my hand on the small of her back and she looks up at me, stirring something in me that I am not sure I want to even try to define or think about, but at that moment I know it’s something I will remember for the rest of my life. I lead her over to my black Range Rover and open the door for her.

***

Sabrina

He is driving us to Mark’s practice? How the hell had he caught me off guard so easily? He shuts the door behind me, and I lean over to unlock his door. He gives me an almost smile and he mutters a shy
thanks
. I give him directions on how to get to the park. We sit in silence as Mumford and Sons plays in the background. It’s not awkward or uncomfortable. His driving is soothing, which is saying something, since everyone teases me about being the worst back seat driver.
“Baby you have to relax, I promise I will get us there safely
” Sean’s voice in my head and I smile, he always used to tease me about how horrible I was when others drove. I look over at Mike and he looks at me and I smile and look away out the window. It’s weird because with Mike I’m calm. No nerves about his driving.
I’m not going to read too much into it,
I think to myself.

We get to the park and go over to the bleachers. I try not to look at him, but the way his large frame moves is so graceful I can’t seem to look away. We sit on the bleachers and watch the team practice.

***

Mike

“That’s him, over on first base.” She points out as she looks at the baseball diamond. He is a tall lanky kid with lighter brown hair than his mom, but there is a little bit of a resemblance.

“He looks like you. How old is he?”

“Twelve, almost thirteen. Do you have any kids?” she asks as her gaze falls back on my eyes, something in the pit of my stomach tugs at me.

“No. Not Yet”

“They change your life… completely.” She says softly, the look on her face sweet, gentle, loving.

“So tell me about your other two. What are they like?”

“Well let’s see… Penny is nine now. She is slowly becoming more girly. Before she was a total tomboy, but recently pink and purple has slowly been invading her room and wardrobe.” She says smiling, “I think it has something to do with this new boy in her class.” She laughs and I smile, enjoying her talk.

“Chris is six. He is really sweet, a bit shy, the most serious of the three. He eats, lives, and breathes football. This will be the first season he will be able to play Pee Wee Football, so he literally has a countdown. I think he is the only child that instead of asking to be read Dr. Seuss books, he wanted me to read him books on the sport.”

“Really?” thinking I would probably like this kid.

“Yeah, he loves it. Football season starts don’t ask him to do a thing on a Sunday… and he is only six, I can only imagine how he will be like in ten years.” she smiles.

“They sound great.” I tell her, my hand goes to her hand on the bleacher and I squeeze it gently, really enjoying the feeling of her hand in mine.

She looks at me, her big brown eyes warm and soft and kind.

“They are. I mean don’t get me wrong they can be hell on wheels at times, but at the end of the day, I don’t know what I would do without them. They give me purpose.”

“Do you mean after their dad left the picture?” I ask bravely.

She frowns, and turns to face me.

She looks at me, I almost feel like she can see through me, and I wonder what she is thinking.

“Yes and no. Honestly from the moment I became a parent I felt centered. I think overall they gave me purpose. I don’t know if that makes any sense?” she says, her eyes soft and loving. No hint of sadness or anger in her voice. I just want to grab her in my arms, something about her makes me want to protect her, hold her near me.

“Mind me asking what happened to their dad?” I ask and she looks away, biting her lower lip slightly.

“Umm… we aren’t together anymore.” She says staring out at the baseball diamond.

“So is it that Mrs. Edwards and you are not ready yet for the pitter-patter of little feet yet?” she asks.

“No Mrs. or anyone really.” I say trying not to smile. She wants to know if I am with anyone, and I know I’m a bastard, but I kind of like the fact that she wants to know.

“Really?” she asks sounding surprised and I laugh. “I mean, you just seem really put together, I would have thought some girl would have taken you off the market.” Right as the words leave her lips, I can tell she hadn’t meant to say those words out loud because her cheeks turn to the prettiest shade of pink, and I can’t help but laugh again as she covers her mouth with her hands and her eyes go wide.

“I just mean…” she tries to explain but I shake my head.

“No I understand what you are saying. I’m hot.” I say giving her a full smile and she laughs, and somehow we have scooted closer to one another. When we quiet down I look at her.

“I was engaged for a long time but for some reason we both kept moving the date. It was like we both knew it wasn’t right, but didn’t know how to walk away.” I say honestly surprising myself that I would openly admit what happened with Holly and me.

“Who walked away?” she asks looking out at the kids playing baseball.

“She did. She met someone, and she was torn up about the feelings she was having. We had been together for almost a decade. She fell in love with him. Before she crossed any lines, she came to me, we broke things off. Couple of months later they were married. Now they have a set of twin boys and they are completely right for one another. Holly and I were really close, more friends than anything else. I think we both afraid of losing that friendship if we broke it off.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m happy for her. I’m glad we were able to stay friends, maybe not as close as we once were, but life goes on right?”

“Yeah it does, but sharing your life with someone for that long, to have it end and see her with someone else, must not be easy.” She says smiling as her hand goes on mine, her small delicate fingers blanketing mine. I don’t move my hand. I look at her, feeling a warm buzz flows through me. Need and hunger hits me and the front of my pants tightens as my dick starts to get hard. I want her, shit.

***

Sabrina

“So tell me what you would do differently with our 5K?” he asks almost too formal sounding after what we had just shared. Maybe I had crossed a line by placing my hand on his, but I had had this overwhelming need to touch him. I took my hand off of his hand and sat a little straighter.

“Honestly, I would change it up to a 5K Mud Run and Music Festival. Costs would be a little higher, but with social media promotion, some local news media feeds, you would be evening out costs with more participants, and hitting a younger demographic, therefore…”

“Extending the interest of the event for years to come? That’s good. I like it. Let me talk to the committee.”

“What do you mean, like to suggest it to Spark?” I ask and he looks a little surprised, “I mean its fine, I can get you a list of locations and contacts I made so they can talk to them and try to lock in the rates I was guaranteed.” I spout out surprising myself. Why would I help Spark out?
To have another chance to talk to him and then maybe get naughty together!
The bad girl in me yells.

“You would do that?” he asks his eyes narrowed, making him look even more freaking rugged and sexier than before.
Damn it Sabrina, cool your jets!
I yell at my hormones.

“It’s a great cause Mike, why wouldn’t I? I mean life isn’t all about business, right?” I say looking up at his eyes, eyes that are so freaking blue that I want to just swim in them, hoping to God that it wasn’t written all over my face how attracted I am to him.

***

Mike

She said my name, and my dick instantly got even harder. Fuck. What is it about her? Before I am able to answer, I hear a kid yelling
Mom
and she looks up at the boy she had pointed out earlier. Except now he is standing at the bottom of the bleachers, with the closer view I notice he looks a lot like her.

“Hey Mom.” He says as he looks at her and her face lights up.

“Mark, this is Mike. He works for Edwards Automotives, we were talking about the MS 5K.”

“Oh cool, did she tell you about her mud run idea?” he asks excitedly, and I like that she talked about work with him and that he remembered because he was paying attention.

“Yeah, it sounds pretty great.” I chime in, trying not to get too lost in my own thoughts.

“It is. We did one as a family last year for my cousin’s school district to fundraise for their school’s music and arts department. It was awesome!” he says happily.

“Practice over Bud?” she asks.

“Almost”, he says as he is chugging down water. “We still have twenty minutes, but Cody wants to know if I can go over to his place after because we have a paper due next week.”

“Can you work on it this weekend?” she asks.

“No. We have the tournament in Santa Monica remember? His mom is taking us.”

“That’s right. Tell Pam I’ll drive you guys for the next one ok?”

“Ok, so can I go?”

“Yeah, just be home by nine.” She says and he comes over hugs her and she kisses the top of his head, and surprisingly he lets her.

“Okay mom see you later, it was nice meeting you Mike.” He says waving goodbye with a smile on his face, as he heads over to where his team mates are meeting back up.

“Bye Mark” I say, and I look at her. She is staring out towards the field, her eyes following her oldest son as he heads over to where the coach is now talking to the team and she slightly sighs. Her expression is soft and loving, but shadowed by something else, something sad, and for some reason this tugs at my insides a little.