Strike (Completion Series) (6 page)

I captured his hand and moved it to my mouth. I flicked my tongue out and tasted the hint of salt mixed with
a unique flavor that I’d never forget, even if I lived to be a hundred. His indrawn breath was loud inside the car. I released his hand, got out, and walked to my front door. I didn’t look back.

Bitsy was
already asleep when I got inside. Jon was on the couch holding tightly to his phone. “Are we keeping them?”

He knew me too well. Hell, maybe he didn’t
, because it had never occurred to him that I’d commit a felony for money. It was a good thing that he didn’t know to what extent I’d go to in order to keep my siblings safe, or my sister’s cat from suffering.

“I don’t know how long Reed’s good intentions will last
, but we can keep them until he stops paying for the service.”

Jon
gave me one of his rare smiles. “We have unlimited everything, including the internet. Reed says the phones can be used as hotspots and we can connect to the internet on a laptop.”

“Did you tell him we don’t have a laptop?” I already knew the answer.

“I may have.”

“This is not good
, Jon. Nothing is free.”

“You seemed to think stea
ling those baseballs was free. You could have gone to prison, Jaycee. What would we have done if it was someone other than Reed who caught you? Just because Big Jim said he would pay money doesn’t mean he would have.”

My heart stopped.
I’d left the buyer’s name out of my confession to Jon because it was too dangerous. “What the hell do you know about Big Jim?”

Jon’s face took on a stubborn look that I’m sure matched my own.
“I’m not stupid. He’s the local fence. Everyone takes their stolen shit to him. I heard what he was offering for the balls too.”

Terror kept my heart from beating. “Did you tell Reed?”

“No, he didn’t ask.”

I could finally breathe. “Don’t
say a word to anyone, Jon. Bad things happen to people who cross Big Jim.”

I went to bed after that
, but had trouble falling asleep. Don Gato usually settled down beside Bitsy and me. I missed that stupid old cat. I rolled so my back was to Bitsy. Reed said he would move the trailer to his property just in case. I sighed. I was a fool to even consider working for him, much less moving in. But Jon knew who Big Jim was. I was a fool not to consider it. An insane, undersexed fool.

I
finally realized my fingers were between my legs pressing against my clit. Oh God. I jerked my hand away. I was in bed with my six-year-old sister. There was something seriously wrong with me and that something had gorgeous blue eyes.

***

I’d promised Dwaine I would take the morning shift and work a double on Friday to make up for missing yesterday’s shift. I got Jon and Bitsy off to school and a few minutes later, I heard the engine I knew so well.

You
’ve got to be kidding me. This was stalking.

“Don’t you have
, like, some kind of practice or something?” I said as soon as I threw open the door.

He wore jeans today. Ripped, faded jeans
that made my mouth water. They weren’t overly tight, but his shirt was. I could see each defined muscle outlined by the blue material. The shirt matched his eyes. What the hell was wrong with me?

“You need a ride to work and I have an appointment with my trainer in thirty minutes
, so let’s hurry.”

“I didn’t tell you I was working.” My panties were growing uncomfortably wet
just looking at him. This was completely unfair because he probably had some blonde bimbo over last night and didn’t need to masturbate. Argh, why did thoughts like that cross my mind whenever he was near? He turned me into a lunatic.

He
gazed up and down at my orange uniform. “Dwaine gave me your schedule. I called to give him your cell number.”

“You did not.”

“Yes…I did. You didn’t want him having your cell number?”

An insane lunatic.
“Oh go ahead and play the sweet and innocent all American boy. You only called him to get my work schedule so you could stalk me.”

“I won’t deny it.” The small upward tilt
to his lips grew into a full grin. “I just can’t get your great tits off my mind. Can I have a good morning kiss?”

“You are such an egotistical jerk. There is no way I’m giving you a kiss.”

“Okay, have it your way, but I think we’re both the losers here.”

I stormed to his car and got in. He started the engine
, but didn’t pull out. I turned and looked at him. His eyes ran up my orange clad legs to my waist, moved up further, stopping at the part of my anatomy he liked so well before continuing to my lips and staying there.

“What?”

He just gazed at me and I swear his eyes smoldered. I couldn’t clench my thighs any tighter, but somehow I avoided having an orgasm in the seat.

He dropped me off
outside of Tasty Burger without a kiss, but sat watching my ass until I entered the front door. How do I know he watched my ass? It’s what I would have done.

It was a busy day and I never had time for a break.
The sound of the heavy metal music almost had me jumping out of my skin. The damn jerk had programmed his music into my phone as his ringtone. I refused to think of the simple thrill I got just because I had a cell phone to answer, much less him on the end of the line.

“The vet says we can pick up Don Gato. He’ll be on meds for a week
, but he’s mostly out of the woods.”

I wanted to cry
, but managed to strangle out, “Okay.”

“Can you get off thirty minutes early?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have school tonight?”

“No.”

“Did I do something that made you angry so you can only use monosyllable answers?”

That made me smile. “No.”

“Can I take you to dinner?”

Bigger smile. “No.”

“Let me rephrase that. May I take you, Jon
, and Bitsy to dinner?”

I hesitated and the click
in my ear told me the call disconnected. He’d hung up on me and I hadn’t given him an answer. It would have been “no,” but I knew he took the pause as a “yes.”

He arrived
at exactly four-thirty wearing the same clothes from earlier, hair neat and tidy. I kind of wanted to see a sweaty post-workout Reed Tyler, but should have known he wouldn’t stay that way all day. I wanted him hot, sweaty, and much closer. And this wasn’t a good line of thought.

He pulled
the car out onto the street and, without looking at me, asked, “How was your day, dear?”

“That’s a joke
, right?” I refused to smile and give him the satisfaction.

“I’d actually like to know.”

That broke my heart because I believed him and deep down we both knew this couldn’t continue.

“Why are you doing this
, Reed?”

He still wouldn’t look at me. “Let’s discuss that after dinner tonight.”

“You know my answer to dinner was no?”

“You wanted to say
yes. Jon and Bitsy deserve a dinner out even if you don’t. We’ll have fun and afterward you’ll say thank you.”

I clos
ed my eyes. I wanted him so badly and in all honesty, I wanted his life—money, nice car and home, and not a care in the world. I was a horrible person. He was a nice, rich, and talented professional baseball player, a dream come true. A little fling with me would barely be a memory in a few years. Strike that, a few weeks.

I changed the subject
. “Don’t you have any friends you hang out with?”

“Yes and
most are my teammates. In a little less than two weeks we’ll be in each other’s back pocket for six weeks during spring training. Right now, we’re taking a break from each other. After spring training, the season starts. When we travel, we’re back to shared rooms and living like we’re in college dorms.”

I couldn’t help my snide reply
. “The big baseball man shares a hotel room with other players.”

N
ow he did look at me and his eyes sparkled. “Just one roomy. I’m not that big yet, baby, but I will be.”

“You are so full of yourself.”

He remained quiet after that, though his music wasn’t. I needed to remember to change his ringtone, but I had to figure out how. The only cell phone we ever had was my mom’s flip phone that she paid minutes on. The contraption Reed gave me did a thousand different things, maybe a million. I’d worry about it later.

Don Gato looked so much better. He rubbed against me on the examination table
, but then went to Reed and proceeded to be almost indecent. Reed chuckled and picked him up. Somehow, that damn cat knew who saved his life. Reed carried him to the car and Don Gato stayed in his lap the entire drive to the trailer.

We walked inside and Reed handed the cat over to Bitsy. She cuddled and kissed him until he finally jumped away and walked to his food cabinet.

Reed looked at Jon, who was in full Goth mode—black makeup, fingernails, and clothes. It didn’t faze Reed at all. “Would you guys like to go out to dinner?” he asked Bitsy, completely aware he was playing dirty pool.

Of course
Bitsy wanted to go and she jumped up and down. Jon just nodded. I changed clothes in the bedroom while Bitsy chatted Reed’s ear off. I could hear every word.

“Your car
’s really loud. Does it go superfast?”

“Yes
, it goes fast.”

Her young mind jumped from one thing to another quickly, which
Jon and I were accustomed to. “Have you read Harry Potter?”

“No
, I haven’t.”

“You should. We’re almost finished with the third book. Do you have a mom and a dad?”

“I have a mom, but my dad died last year.”

“My mom died too
, but I don’t know my dad. Jaycee told me he had a different life and he wanted to live it. Do you have sisters and brothers?”

Oh, she broke my heart. Why
I couldn’t just say her father was a good-for-nothing jerk was beyond me. Jon’s and mine were no better.

“No sisters or brothers. It’s just me.”

“Do you live in a house or a trailer?”

“I live in a house.”

“We’re going to live in a house someday. A big one and I’ll get my own princess room.”

“You want to be a princess?”

“Yes, I’ll be Cinderella and have glass slippers. Do you have any pets?”

“Nope
, but someday I’d like a dog.”

“Don Gato doesn’t like dogs. He doesn’t like cats either, well…sometimes the lady cats. He likes those sometimes. Do you have any kids?”

Oh God, I needed to save him even though he deserved her six-year-old brain and all its tricky turns.

I walked out
, interrupting Reed’s answer and received a relieved look for doing it. “So where are we going for dinner?” I asked.

He looked at Bitsy. “Well
, Cinderella, where would you like to go?”

Her grin over Reed’s Cinderella reference was priceless. “Pizza,
” she said, jumping up and down.

“Pizza it is. I know just the place. Are you okay with that
, Jon?”

Jon
shrugged. “Sure.”

I
sometimes brought home food from Tasty Burger as a treat, but we rarely had anything we didn’t cook. I decided to accept this gift and try to enjoy myself.

The pizza place had games with flashing lights, screaming kids, and harassed
-looking parents. Reed, who seemed overwhelmed by Bitsy’s earlier questions, had no problem playing games like a kid and putting tokens in the machines as fast as they could use them. Jon mostly stayed back watching Bitsy closely. He watched Reed too, and I knew he was having just as much trouble trying to figure him out as I did.

“This is the best pizza in the whole wide world,” Bitsy said after she finished her first slice
, sauce smeared across her mouth and pure joy in every word.

After we finished eating,
I watched her and Reed play more games. It started getting late and I hated to ruin the fun, but we still had homework to finish.

“Play a round of foosball with me and then we
’ll go.” There was a gleam in Reed’s eye, the carefree kid in him evident.

I had to fight rolling my eyes.
“I don’t know how to play foosball and I thought you were the baseball man.”

“Come on
, I’ll show you.” He took my hand, pulling me up from the bench seat.

I’d seen people looking at him and I think a few knew who he was
, but no one approached us, which I was thankful for. Reed dragged me over to a game table with a bunch of rods with painted weeble-like characters hanging down. I’d seen tables like this before, but had no idea it was called foosball. Reed gave me the rudiments of the game and Jon offered me advice, which really surprised me. He’d thawed considerably during the past few hours. Jon’s special instructions didn’t matter, though, because Reed easily kicked my ass. He had the glee of a twelve year old as he played and proudly celebrated with “woops” and “yeahs” when he scored.

“There, take that.”

The ball shot past my dual blockers and the game was over. Bitsy clapped when Reed’s arms went into the air. I cocked an eyebrow at him because he was acting so stupid, but he didn’t care.

My
damn heart melted.

Reed
took us home and came inside without asking. Sitting on our old lumpy couch, he watched while we did homework and then listened to me read two chapters of Harry. I tucked Bitsy into bed after she gave Jon, then a surprised Reed, a goodnight kiss on the cheek. Don Gato jumped on the bed and snuggled in with her.

I
turned off the light and walked from the bedroom.

“Your sister and I are going outside to my car to talk,” Reed said to my brother.

Jon looked back and forth between us before turning his fifteen
-going-on-father gaze to Reed. “She has to work in the morning and she’s doing a double shift. Don’t keep her out too long.”

I could tell Reed fought a smile
, but he assured Jon we wouldn’t be long. I rolled my eyes at my brother, but he ignored me.

Reed opened the passenger door and
I sat down. He walked around, got in, turned on the ignition, adjusted the heater, and got back out of the car. He opened my door, putting his hand out. I had no idea what he planned, but I indulged him. He turned me around, sat down in the passenger seat, and pulled me onto his lap so I faced him with my legs hiked up. He tucked my bent legs around his hips so I straddled his lap.

“Perfect,” he said in his low
, rough voice that made my panties wet. He closed the car door, shutting us inside a small, dark world that consisted of only the two of us.

“You’re nuts. Are we going to do it in the car?” I teased.

“No, but we’ll experiment in the car. I’m back to being sixteen years old, horny as hell, and ready to fuck you wherever I can find privacy. But I’m not doing ‘it’ in the damn car. Now kiss me.”

I could feel his erection
growing. Leaning forward, I licked his lips with just the tip of my tongue.

He tried to capture my mouth
, but I moved back.

“I’m not in the mood for teasing
, Jaycee,” he growled.

Neither was I
, but I wanted just that little taste first. His hands held my hips, fingers splayed around my waist. I wanted his hands on my breasts, but decided another kiss was more important. I pressed my lips against his. He opened his mouth and groaned. I set the pace and, like a good boy, he didn’t move his hands higher or lower. I didn’t think I liked his good boy side.

“Why do you taste so good?” I asked when I could find the strength to move away slightly.

“I always think the same thing about you, but I haven’t tasted what I really want. Yet.”

The good boy was leaving
, because his hands moved slightly so his fingers encompassed my ass cheeks. His palms tightened and my panties grew uncomfortably wet. I couldn’t help squirming against him.

“I can smell how much you want me.”
His voice was so damn sexy and the car only magnified his rumbled words.

I
moaned against his lips. He drove me completely crazy and we were back to mixed signals again. When he didn’t plan to have sex with me, he used words to turn me on. But when we had the opportunity, he stayed away.

“You’re driving me
insane, Reed.”

“And you think it’s different for me.” He lifted
his hips, pressing harder against me.

“That’s not fair.”

His grip tightened almost painfully on my ass. “Move in over my garage. Help me around the house. Switch your brother and sister to another school and I promise I won’t stop you from leaving if it doesn’t work out. I’ll rent you a house or an apartment.”

One hand wrapped into my hair and he took control of the next kiss. He tasted every
part of my mouth and I think I understood exactly what fucking him could be like.

He let me come up for air and I opened my
heavy eyelids. “I don’t want you to hurt me, Reed, and I’ll hate you if you hurt my brother and sister.”

“I won’t give you a reason to hate me.”

I still didn’t get what he wanted from me and the decision was overwhelming. Should I take a chance or not?

“Say yes.” He kissed my throat
, running his tongue across my skin and taking little nibbling bites that drove me wild. He didn’t play fair.

“Yes,” I whispered and he rewarded me with his mouth again.

I rubbed against him, need building between my thighs so powerful that my clothes hurt my skin. My wet panties burned against my clit. His knee rose up slightly between my legs, causing more friction as I rocked against it.

“Let go
, Jaycee.”

Oh
, God, he knew.

“Let go
,” he whispered.

I did. My toes curled and my legs shook. My pussy quivered against him
, wanting more but taking only what he gave. My head went back as he lowered his knee and jerked the center of me closer to the center of him. I cried out, the sound amplified in his car. Before my orgasm was over, embarrassment crashed in. I tried pulling away, but he wouldn’t let me.

“That was beautiful
, baby.”

I buried my head in his shoulder. “I can’t believe I did that.”

“I want you doing it over and over.”

“
I’ve seen the size of you; it’ll kill me.”

I felt his chest shaking
with laughter. “It won’t kill you, baby.”

I moved my hand over the long
, hard ridge beneath his jeans. His indrawn breath made me smile, my embarrassment forgotten. I arched my body away so I could feel his entire length.

He breathed into my ear
, his voice rough. “It’s a little messier for me to do what you just did and I need to make it home.”

I pressed down harder. “What will you do when you get home?”

“Take a long shower,” he said in a husky rumble.

“
A cold one?” I’d always heard that worked for men.

“No
, baby, it’ll be hot, with my hand where yours is.”

Oh
, God, he just talked about masturbating, and I was so out of my league. He took both my hands, threading his fingers through mine, tipping me away from him.

“I want you moving in this weekend.”

I’d said yes when he had me at a disadvantage. Reed Tyler didn’t play fair.