by Claire Adams
I wrapped my arm around her waist, holding onto her so I could lower her to the blanket. She squinted up at me, the sun in her eyes. I kissed her again, getting between her legs. I felt everything, and I felt it all at the same time.
There were a million more romantic ways I could have planned this. I had seen people wandering around earlier. We had never been found here before, but I wanted her to be comfortable. I broke the kiss, stroking her cheek. I pressed my erection into her thigh.
"I can't wait, Veronica," I said.
"Then don't."
Chapter Thirty-Six
Veronica
I closed my eyes as he kissed my neck. His body was between my legs, and he was holding his weight on his arms above me. He just did things to me, I couldn't explain it. I hadn't forgotten this, but that feeling I got when we would touch? I had missed that. I had missed this.
I lost a hand in his hair as he kissed down my chest, tugging the top of my shirt down to press a kiss on my cleavage. I giggled, feeling his stubble on my breast. He looked up at me with a smirk. He pulled down the cup of my bra and sucked my nipple into his mouth. I moaned softly. He teased me with his tongue before giving the other nipple the same treatment.
He pushed my top up and planted his lips on my stomach, kissing gown over my navel to the top of my shorts. I quivered, feeling him on the sensitive skin there. I watched silently as he undid the button on my shorts and looked up at me. I raised my hips immediately to let him undress me. The shorts came off, followed by my panties. My head fell back on the blanket as he kissed my inner thighs, sucking, using his teeth. I was already wet, on edge – waiting for that perfect moment when his tongue probed my wet lower lips and he gave me what I wanted.
I whispered his name, feeling his breath on my lips. His fingers gently parted me. I moaned as his tongue found my clit. Two fingers slowly pushed past my opening, filling me. I held my breath feeling him thrust his fingers in and out, slowly twisting them and sucking steadily on my clit.
I wanted to sink into the ground and push up into him at the same time. We had been in this position too many times to count, but I needed him now. I wanted this to overcome what I had done and what he had done, replace it with what was real between us.
The sun was warming my face, but Roman was causing the heat in my core, pooling and pulsing deep within me. He moved his fingers faster without me having to ask him, like he could sense that I was close, just knew what I needed. Just like the first time we slept together this summer – he just knew. He had my body memorized, every one of my moves and sounds. He knew just where to touch me. He kept his rhythm on my clit strong and steady, driving me wild with his fingers. I moaned, trying not to be loud. I ran my hand through his hair feeling myself mount.
My back bowed as I shuddered. He didn't stop. He licked me, thrusting faster with his fingers, making me cry out. I tried to close my legs, pushing him away. He pushed my legs apart instead, moving back up my body. He kissed my neck and jaw as his fingers still moved slowly in and out of me. I felt dazed, feeling him kiss me. His hand disappeared for a second, replaced quickly by his cock.
I reached down and wrapped my hand around his tip. My pussy dripped like he was already inside me. He groaned slightly as I cupped his sac and ran my hand up and down his length. Lining him up with my entrance, he thrust forward, slowly. I closed my eyes, feeling my lips stretch around him. The friction was delicious. I wrapped my arms around his neck, feeling his weight on top of me as he made measured and deliberate movements. Moans fought their way out of my throat with his every thrust. His lips were on my neck, my jaw, kissing me.
"Don't stop," I whispered desperately. I was unraveling. His deep, steady thrusts were pushing me closer and closer to the edge. I gripped a handful of his t-shirt, wishing he was naked. Neither of us were, but I didn't think I could feel closer to him than I already did.
Deep inside me, he made me feel beautiful and loved. I was never scared being this vulnerable with him. I felt powerful. Everything that had happened this past summer flew through my mind. All the pain and uncertainty, the joy, the laughs, to finally this: the promises for the future. The house in Miami. Years together after being apart.
Tears sprung to my eyes. I squeezed them shut, wrapping tighter around Roman. His hand wrapped around one of my legs, pushing it up close to my body so I opened wider for him. He sunk deeper, stroking hard and steady. I shuddered, feeling my walls quiver around him. He felt so good. He felt so right.
"Look at me," he growled. I did. I couldn't stop my tears then. His eyes were deep, liquid blue, like the deepest, most dangerous part of the ocean. His hand touched my face, cupping my cheek, not stopping his steady thrusts between my legs.
I choked on my words as my orgasm hit. It ripped through me, potent euphoria. I shuddered and convulsed, grabbing onto whatever part of him I could grab onto. I felt him speed up, slam into me harder and harder till he groaned, coming explosively. I wanted to say that I loved him but I didn't think that I had to. I could feel it flowing out of him. He kissed me, hard and deep as our bodies slowed and he finally stopped.
For a second, I just let myself lay there. I waited for my breath to normalize and my heart to stop pounding. I waited till the euphoric spike subsided before getting up and sliding my clothes back on. Dressed, I slid back into Roman's embrace, resting my head on his chest. I felt him rub lazy circles on my back.
"What's it like?" I asked.
"What?"
"Miami. What's it like living there?"
"Hot. A lot of people. Kinda noisy."
"Do you like it?"
"Yeah, it's different, but it's a good change. I think you'd like it, too."
"Really?"
"The beach is hardly ten minutes away. You'll be able to see the water from the apartment."
"Does your place look anything like your old one here?" I asked. He laughed. I felt it rumble in his chest.
"No. It's going to be full of your stuff," he said. He pulled me on top of him so my legs fell on either side of his body. "Would that be a deal-breaker?"
"No, you'd just have to agree to leave the decorating to me."
"Don't get mad," he said.
"Why? What did you do?"
"I let another woman handle my decorating. Rachel. She works with the team, basically helping new players find places in the city."
"You want me to move into a house that another woman decorated?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"She did a really good job," he said, teasing me.
"If she did a good job by your standards, I'm worried." I yelped, suddenly hitting the blanket. He had flipped us over. He leaned over me, holding himself up on his arms.
"Looks like you'll have your work cut out for you," he said.
I couldn't picture the place he was staying, but part of me didn't care. It sounded nice. He was selling the hell out of it, so maybe I would get there and be pleasantly surprised, but it didn't really matter, I realized. We'd be together. Wherever and whatever this place was, we'd be together, so it wouldn't matter what it looked like, who decorated it, how far it was from the beach.
"How soon do we leave?"
"You’re ready?"
"I'll go anywhere with you," I said. He kissed me softly.
"How about we have lunch first?" he asked. Oh. Oh, right, there was food. I had totally forgotten the reason we were even here. Well, talking about stuff and reconciling was the real reason we were here, but it was a picnic, and I hadn't eaten yet. He shifted off of me and handed me a sandwich.
"How were your tests?" he asked me. It was two hours before we left. Then we went back to my place, and he helped me start packing.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Roman
Six in the fucking morning. Training camp started every day at half past six in the morning. I was used to getting up before then anyway, but something told me this was going to end up feeling like boot camp. I wasn't preparing for warfare again, but I wasn’t about to kid myself that t
his was about to be easy.
Ron had still been asleep when I had left. Since I had eaten breakfast at home, I could go straight into the gym to start lifting. I had been training here for a while already, so it wasn't hard getting into a rhythm, though it was different being at the facility when it was full.
I recognized some of the guys who were coming back. I had gone through the team's roster, checking out my new teammates. The newbies were pretty easy to spot, too, especially the guys who had never made the trip to the facility before today.
Right after that was practice. I had been waiting for this. It was the first day of training, so I wasn't sure how many people we'd have watching us. I'd make sure I told Ron, in case she wanted to come. That way I wouldn't feel so bad not seeing her practically the whole day. I was lacing up my cleats, sitting in front of my locker when I heard a couple guys walking in. They were talking. One of them came over to the locker next to mine.
"Hey," I heard him say. I looked up at him. He had taken his shirt off and all the skin on his back and arms was covered in tattoos.
"Hey," I said back.
"Where'd you trade in from?"
"I got picked after the Houston combine."
"Yeah? What position?"
"QB."
"So this is your first season?" he asked, laughing a little, "Buckle up."
"That bad?"
"No. Worse," said the other guy. He wasn't tall, but he was built like a house. Stocky and muscular. "After this month, you'll see why they make us sign before camp begins. I'm Jackson, by the way. That's Andre," he said. He reached his hand out for me to shake.
"It's too late to back out now," Andre said next to me. "Hey, if you came through the combine, what was your best test?"
"Leave him alone, Dre," Jackson said.
"No, he wants to know?" I said. "42 reps on bench press."
"No shit," he said, actually sounding a little impressed. "What school did you go to?" I told him as the locker room filled up. A good number of the guys it turned out had gotten drafted right out of college, especially the ones who had gone to the bigger schools. Not many – none, in fact – had gone through a year of active service right in the middle of their career.
Practice was about two hours, the first of the day, there was another practice session in the afternoon. A month of this and I'd probably end up having everyone's name down. Hanging out literally the whole day, day after day, I wouldn't have a choice. I was ready to leave when the sun started dropping in the sky, but then they said we still had more meetings to go to. It was two more hours before I was back in the car heading home, almost ten at night.
I called out to Ron when I walked in, locking the door. I heard her voice, distant, telling me she was in the bedroom. At least I got back before she was asleep. I walked through the apartment, dropping my bag on the ground when I got to the bedroom. The bed was rumpled like she had been sitting on it. The sliding glass door of the balcony was all the way open and Ron was standing there, arms on the railing looking out at the beach. The light from the moon was reflecting off the water and all the homes along the water were lit up bright. I came up behind, wrapping my arms around her.
"Hey," I said. She spun around, leaning up to kiss me.
"Hi. How was training?"
"Good. Got to meet the team today. What did you do all day?"
"Nothing," she said smiling, "and it was perfect."
"Did you go?" I asked, pointing out to the water.
"Not today. I want us to go together."
"When we have a day off I'll take you," I said. "Did you finish unpacking?"
"Mmhmm," she said, sighing. "I'm gonna need more bikinis."
"That's why I left my card behind, babe. Get whatever you want," I said.
"Don't tempt me, Roman. I could get used to this."
"That's what I want. This is home now."
"Give me a few more months. It'll grow on me," she said, smiling. She was taking this well, better than I could have hoped. We had landed last night and I hadn't been with her most of the day, but she seemed fine. I hoped it would continue like that. I didn't want her to regret coming here or feel homesick. I had to train, but it was my job to make sure that she was as comfortable and happy as possible.
"Maybe it'll be better once you start school?"
"Hm. Maybe. I'm going to visit the campus tomorrow. It looks like a cool place, but only one way to find out for sure."
"I wish I could come with you."
"I know you would if you could," she said, rubbing her hands over my biceps. "You're busy. I have to get used to that."
"It's not going to be like this all the time," I told her.
"I know what I signed up for. I get it," she said. I didn't want her to think that I had asked her to come here just so I could ignore her. I wanted her to be able to start school so she had something, too. So she wasn't just here for me and my job.
"Have you heard anything from them?"
"Just confirmation for the campus visit," she said. "I hope it works out."
"It will," I said, surer than I felt.
"Fingers crossed. I just got here. I'd like to be able to stay."
"I'd like that, too," I agreed, kissing her. I could get used to coming home to her. Even if she wasn't there when I did get home, it would be good knowing that she would be soon.
"Are you hungry?" she asked.
"Do you want to order something in?"
"No," she said smiling. "I cooked."
She was in the kitchen when I joined her ten minutes later. I had been up in the morning to get to the facility before she had gotten up, so I had just eaten a bowl of instant oatmeal standing by the sink before leaving. The dining table I had told Rachel I'd never use was all set up. Two place settings, a bowl full of salad, and dishes I was certain I hadn't seen in my life.
"Do you need help?" I called into the kitchen. She asked me to get the salmon out of the oven. We were eating it with baked potatoes and pasta salad.
"Are these new?" I asked when she walked into the dining room.
"Some of them. You didn't have anything that could go in the oven," she said. "Is this okay?"
"You know you don't have to cook, right?"
"I want to. Especially now before I start classes and might not be able to anymore." With her around, at some point, this place would start feeling like home. I poured us both some water as we sat down. I definitely wasn't complaining if what she wanted to do was cook dinner every night. I liked it. That was a good thing. It would probably save money on restaurant food anyway and her cooking was good. It would just take getting used to.
This was a change for both of us, even if it was a good change. I didn't want this to feel like work for her, like she was trapped. I had already had some time to get used to this place. Now it was her turn.
"Do you have any idea about your course load this semester?"
"Nope," she shook her head. "I might be looking at some course repeats because there's a chance not everything transfers, but I might be able to ask during the campus visit."
"Don't take too many," I said.
"Why? So I can be here every night before you to cook dinner?" she asked slyly.
"No. Because you're in a new city. Why would you spend all your time studying? I know you've always wanted to be near the water."
"I also want to get all this book learning done off top so I can take some time off," she said.
"You just spent all of the summer in school. You can take it easy this semester."
"We'll see," she said shrugging.
"Are you happy?"
"I'm excited. I never thought I'd be transferring out. Finishing my degree somewhere else."
"I am, too," I said, honestly.
That had to become my new priority. Making sure this was the right move for her, for us. I needed to make sure that whatever was happening, it was what she wanted and there was nowhere else she would have rather been. It was a tall task, but I was up f
or it. I already knew what it was like to be without her and nothing, nothing would get me to go back.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Veronica
I rolled onto my back and stretched my arms out. I could feel a breeze, like the balcony had been left open. I opened my eyes and squinted around the room. It was still pretty dark, save for the early morning light from the sun rising. My arm stretched across the bed, not even touching Roman. It was a big bed, but I knew he was up already.
I leaned up on my elbows looking around the room. The bedroom was empty, but the light in the closet was on. I could hear rustling and movement in there. He must have opened up the balcony. It wasn't cold. It was sort of nice since it was so warm here anyway, but it had woken me up.
When he had told me that training camp was starting, I thought I had had an idea what that meant. I had not because my guess had not included the almost 6:00 a.m. start times. The facility was really close to the house, but he still had to be there early. This wasn't college ball anymore. This was a multi-billion dollar industry, and he had signed a contract. This was his job. I lay back on the pillows.
"Roman?" I called. His head popped out of the closet. His hair was wet, and he didn't have a shirt on yet.
"You don't need to be up yet, babe. Go back to sleep." I slid out of bed and found a t-shirt on the floor. Mine from last night. Roman had peeled me out of it after dinner when we came to bed. I slid it on and walked out to the balcony. The wind coming off the water was fresh and cool. Maybe I'd go to the beach today.
"This woke me up," I said, coming back inside and sliding the door closed.
"Sorry about that," he apologized coming out of the closet. It was huge in there, like a whole other bedroom attached to ours. One side was for my stuff and the other was for his. He had told me that I could get basically whatever I wanted on his card, and he needed to be careful for the day that I actually took him up on that. With a closet that big, the challenge he presented me with was obviously to fill it. I walked up to him and hugged him around the waist.
"You don't have to leave now, do you?"
