"I'm not giving into him." I narrowed my eyes and turned to face her. "He's not getting back into my life."
"How about just into your body?" She wagged her eyebrows and gave me a sexy smile.
"No. I can't." I turned around to find him watching me with the same interest I watched him with. "He'll fuck me up for sure."
He smiled and mouthed. "What?"
I shook my head and gave him an ugly look before turning my back to him. "He denied me a million times in high school. Fuck him."
"I'd fuck him. For sure." She turned and pressed her shoulder against mine. "Maybe a release would be good." She leaned around the front of me. "It would be healing."
"Or damning." I walked over to the bar. "Whiskey please."
"And Coke?" The bartender offered a smile.
"Just whiskey. A double shot, please." I stiffened as someone moved up next to me. Lance. "Thank God." I let out a long sigh. "I thought you were Danny."
He chuckled. "I see you're both up to teasing each other from across the room. Dad would be proud of you. Your poker face is on tight."
I nodded, took the drink and kicked it back, finishing it in a few long gulps. "Another." I handed it to the bartender. "No more ice, please."
I downed that one too and growled at the burn. I wasn't hoping to get drunk, but a buzz wouldn't hurt anything.
"Alright, lush. Come on." Lance took my forearm and led me back toward one of the many bedrooms in our dad's mansion. We left the door opened and walked to the bed where pictures were laid out. "I'm going to put some of these on the slide show at the next ball game. Which do you like most?"
I licked my lips and leaned over, picking out two I loved. "These."
"Lance. You needed me, man?" Danny's voice surprised me.
I glanced over my shoulder and stifled a groan. Fuck the man was a god. With so much liquor in my system, I'd have to be careful. I'd be on my knees trying to fit his enormous cock in my mouth if I weren't careful. Memories raped my insides, and I jerked back around and picked up a third picture.
"Here. I'm out." I started to walk out, but my brother grabbed my wrist. "There are more. Just stay here for a second and I'll get them."
I turned to hear him explain to Danny about the pictures too. He walked out and closed the door behind him.
Danny turned toward the door as it clicked shut and back to me. "If you wanted to see me, all you had to do was say so, Terra. You didn't need Lance's help."
I laughed hatefully. "As if." I turned back to the bed. "My brother still has some lofty hope that you'll be a part of our family."
"And you?" He moved up beside me, his mere presence causing my insides to ache.
"That ship sailed a long time ago." I refused to look at him. I couldn't. I knew the minute I did that I would sink into his arms and let him have anything he wanted from me.
"You have no idea what you do to me." He brushed a long string of hair off my shoulder.
I jerked around and stepped toward him. "Don't touch me again."
"Because you like it too much?" He closed the gap between us and passion boiled in his gaze.
"You have no clue what I like. I offered myself to you and you refused me." I laughed sardonically. "But you fucked a zillion other women, didn't you, Daniel McAdams." I moved back and took a sharp breath. I was going to break down. "The world's sexiest bachelor is back in my life, ladies and gents. He can't get to home plate with the girl he loved, but he'll swing that fucking bat for any other horny bitch in the stands."
"Terra." He reached for me, but I jerked my arm away.
"I'm leaving. Tell Lance I'll be in my bedroom."
"Don't go. I'm serious." He walked toward me as I turned and walked to the door.
"Stay away from me, Danny. I won't tell you again. You didn't want me then, and I sure as fuck don't want you now."
13
Daniel
Two Weeks Later
"Alright. You ready for this? Keep your head outta the clouds and make this shit happen tonight, McAdams." Our pitching coach, Rick, gave me a stern look as I walked out of the bathroom into the locker room.
"Got it, coach." I walked past him, not really in the mood for him singling me out. I'd do what I did best, which was pitch. That's what the fuck they paid me to do, and I'd do it.
Rodriguez walked up and clamped his hand down on the back of my neck, leaning around and smiling at me. "Word on the street is that you used to date our new owner."
"Oh yeah?" I'd been trying like a mother fucker not to think of Terra over the last two weeks. She'd made her move to Seattle with Lance's help, and they'd gotten a few other guys on the team to pitch in, but she hadn't wanted me there. It stung like a bitch and left me wanting to fuck her up emotionally. Did she think she was the only one who lost out on something all those years ago? What the fuck had she been running from when she high-tailed it down to Oakland? Me? Well, fuck her too.
"He's right man." Another pitcher moved up on my other side. "Tell us about her, Danny. Was she as sexy back then as she is now?"
I hesitated, not wanting to talk about her like a piece of meat, but what did it matter? I was hurt over her words and pissed at myself for not grabbing her and shutting her up with my tongue down her throat. I knew what she needed, and yet I refused both of us.
I should have locked the door and fucked her senseless. She wanted me to... without a doubt.
"She's always been a beautiful girl." I opened my locker and pulled a few things out.
"She means something to you, man?" Rodriguez asked.
"If she does, you need to get over that shit." The other guy laughed as Jeremy walked up.
"Cut him some slack, dick-hats." He pushed them away.
"I don't need slack." I shrugged. "We dated back in high school for a short time but it wasn't nothing to write home about. She wouldn't even put out."
"Guys. This is Terra Harmon. I think most of you know her from Martin talking so much about his baseball-loving daughter." Joe's voice filled my ears, and by the tone of it, I knew he and Terra had heard my comments.
Shit.
I turned to find her in a pair of jeans and a Seattle t-shirt. Her breasts were just a little over a handful, but her ass was way more than I could handle. I loved it. Fuck me. I loved her.
"She wanted to come down and talk to you guys for a few minutes. Give her your attention, or I'll have your balls removed before you jog out onto the field." Joe gave everyone a stern look, but his eyes narrowed when he came to me.
"Firstly, thanks for everyone who attended my father's funeral." She stepped farther into the center of the group and locked eyes with a few players. "It meant the world to me, and I know my father would have been pleased and proud of all of you."
I could almost see them swooning as she moved around the room. She had no clue how much power she had over all of them. It was a million times worse for me.
"I am taking over the team as my brother Lance wants to help cure a rare disease instead. He's into saving lives, and I'm into making them better." Everyone laughed but me.
She moved back and reached up, flinging her long dark hair over her shoulder. I could almost see the fucking boners rising in everyone's pants. It was beyond disturbing and the caveman in me wanted to fling the teasing little bitch over my shoulder and spank her ass all the way to the shower.
Who did she think she was? Making me look like an idiot in front of my guys?
She went on to talk a little more about the structure of the team and keeping things the same. Her speech was well put together and had she been anyone but my dream lover, I'd have listened to every word and decided she was probably better than Martin for us. But she was my girl. My lady. My future wife and the girl I wanted creaming on my cock every night.
To watch the fuckers around me falling in love with her was almost too much.
"We're going to be late," I barked out, looking like the asshole I felt like.
"We have three more minu
tes." Alan gave me a look and turned back to Terra. "Go ahead."
The light in her eyes died a little. "Any questions from anyone?"
Rodriguez stepped up, and my stomach turned sick as he glanced back at me and smiled. "I hear you used to date McAdams over there. Poor thing you." Everyone laughed, and I almost drowned in embarrassment. "You guys aren't still together, right?"
She locked eyes with me, and I knew it was going to be downhill from there. "No. We were really more like friends back then. It was nothing to write home about." She shrugged. "He tried and tried to get me in bed, but I was a prude." Everyone laughed again. "I still am."
My heart sank. It was me who was a prude back then and her that had tried to get me in bed a million times. The coldness I felt coming off of her reminded me that I didn't know the woman in front of me. Not even close.
I rolled my eyes. "She's an ice princess, boys. Respect her and you'll be fine. Anything else and she'll drink you dry." I turned my back to the group as everyone let out a few sounds of surprise.
"Enough out of you McAdams!" Alan yelled my way.
I lifted my finger in the air and got my stuff out of the locker. I ignored everything until I heard some of the guys laughing over me throwing her haughty ass under the bus. The conflicting emotions inside of me were almost too much. I should have beat my own ass for being such a jerk.
"You got her, man. Shit," Rodriguez moved up beside me. "She must have fucked you up good back in the day. You just served that shit up on a silver plate...."
The guys around me whooped and hollered like a bunch of apes.
I turned around, being who they expected me to be and grabbed my cock. "She couldn't handle this shit back then, and she sure as fuck couldn't handle it now."
"Yeah. Who does this lady thinks she is?" One of the younger guys moved into the center of the locker room. "She doesn't know nothing. I'd teach her a few lessons. Did you see how juicy her ass was?"
I turned back to my locker, hating myself.
"Hey. What are you doing right now?" Gary barked at me as he moved up beside me. The noise in the room behind us hid our conversation.
"She started it, old timer. You know that."
"And you're a grown-ass man. Where's your respect for Martin, boy? You think he'd want you to turn this goddamn team into a bunch of horny teenagers over his daughter? You're not the man I thought you were at all."
"Gary." I turned to face him as he popped me in the face with the back of his hand.
"No. You don't get to talk to me. Fuck you for that." He turned and walked off, leaving me to feel more dejected.
"What the hell was all of that?" Jeremy walked up and stood in front of me as I stewed in self-pity.
"I don't know." I pulled my shirt over my head and tucked it in. "Terra is my high school sweetheart. She's pissed about what didn't happen back then, and I'm pissed about what did. I thought seeing her at Martin's funeral would clear things up and maybe mend our friendship, but all I could think about was fucking her until she submitted to me."
He nodded. "She's got an ass just like you like."
I popped him in the chest. "Shut the fuck up."
"I see that smile." He winked and grabbed his glove. "Come on. Let's put this shit down and hit the bars. You can find someone else to worship your cock tonight, dude. There are a million women waiting to do it."
Sadly enough I didn't want a damn one of them. I wanted the one I couldn’t have.
14
Terra
Two Weeks Later
Fuck Danny McAdams with his perfect body and sexy smile. I hadn't seen him shirtless in seven years, and yet seeing him that way a few minutes ago had my nipples budding, my pussy contracting like she had a mating call out for him.
It was disturbing on far too many levels to think about. He'd been sexy back in high school and early college, but nothing like he was now. Thick muscles covered his chest and stomach, and tight tanned skin stretched across them. The tight white boxers he'd been sporting left nothing to the imagination, and I knew the other guys in the locker room had to be jealous.
It was all I could do not to stare at him when I walked into the room. It was good to see he was being a total asshole. That's about the only thing that would keep us apart. Him. It had always been him pushing me away, refusing me the warmth of his love. Good. Seemed things hadn't changed. I liked consistent. I could live with it, or so I told myself.
"Terra." A deep voice called after me. Gary.
I turned and offered him a kind smile. "Hey there. Good to see you."
"Terra. I'm sorry about the way-"
I held up my hand and shook my head. "It's not for you to deal with, Gary. I'm a big girl and I've been in a lot of locker rooms. I've dealt with things that would make Danny's comments seem like a nursery rhyme." Where part of my comment was true, the rest was a lie. I had been through more than my fair share of shit over the last seven years, but nothing cut as deep as his words did. It was because, on some level, I still loved him. There was a small smidgen of hope that we would find resolution and be together.
"I know, but it's Danny." His eyes filled with sorrow. He knew our story as best as my father had. Danny, Lance and I had been a part of the team's lives since they all started years before. Gary had been one of the only ones on the playing field that stuck it out with my father.
"And Danny is just another player to me now." I shrugged and reached out to squeeze his shoulder. "Get out there and do what you do best."
"Alright, but I think Alan should talk to him." He moved back and tilted his hat to me.
I held my tongue. Alan didn't need to talk to Danny. I did. He could act like a cocky bastard anytime he wanted to, but it wasn't going to happen in my dugout, my locker room, my bullpen or on my goddamn team. He'd be off the team so fast it would make his head spin.
"You coming?" Alan glanced back at me as he paused on the stairs.
"Right behind you." I nodded and followed him up. Danny and I would have to get over our shit. Neither of us were kids. We had a baseball franchise to take to the World Series, and we would do it together. I had to remember that I wasn't the only one hurt by our breakup. Or maybe I was, and some part of me wanted to protect him from me.
Why the hell didn't you kiss me the other night?
My body ached at the idea of him picking me up and pressing me to the wall of my father's bedroom. I knew how good it felt to drown in Danny's aggression, and the passion etched into his eyes that afternoon after the funeral was intense. I'd have opened myself up and given him my virginity and anything else he wanted. I'd downed liquor like a fish in water in hopes of him coming on to me. It was a great excuse the next day.
But no. He'd acted like a dick and stood his ground. Much like he had in the locker room. Fine. I could call it over before it started too. Fuck it.
"You alright?" Alan moved back and opened the door to the owner’s box. "You're breathing a little hard."
"I'm out of shape." I walked in and shook the hands of the guys taking up a few chairs. Alan and I both knew I wasn't out of shape, but there was no need in being truthful. Danny had my heart racing, my palms sweating, my anger rising sharply. Bastard.
After talking about how great my father was to everyone, I found a seat and leaned forward, focusing my eyes on Danny. He looked like sex incarnate in his baseball uniform. He had to have on a cup, but the thick bulge at the front of his uniform still looked so damn good. I wasn't going to make it around him. One of us had to go. Maybe talking to my scheming-ass brother would help. He could help me think about how to separate myself from the desire to dive back in the past and fix everything as if none of it had ever happened.
It was a pipe dream for sure.
"Yes!" The guys around me jumped up. Danny had caught a ball the batter hit hard as hell. I stood up, my pulse racing a little. It could have hurt him so easily. He glanced up to the box and lifted the ball, smiling. Cocky bastard.
I dropped back down.
Maybe it should have hurt him.
One of the older guys moved over to sit beside me. "Your father was a good man, young lady." He folded up his newspaper and laid it down on the small table in front of us. "Tell me how you plan on filling his shoes."
"I'm not sure that was ever the plan." My eyes caught the story on the front of the paper. It was about me and the upcoming downfall of one of the greatest baseball teams of all times. My father's. I forced myself to look away from it and turned to stare into his condemning gaze. "I'm going to pick up where my Dad left off and apply the rules he taught me my whole life."
"And she's not alone." Alan moved up behind me, gripped my seat and leaned over a little. "Frank, you know as well as I do that an owner is important, yes, but the GM, the coaches, and the players make the team."
"I guess." Frank stood, glanced down at the paper, back at me and walked away.
"Don't mind him. He's stuck in the 1930's." Alan walked around to take Frank's seat as I picked up the paper. "And don't mind that either."
The room erupted again, jumping up and shouting for joy as Danny shut down the inning with no runs.
I read the article, diving into my own doubts so deep that I wasn't sure how to get back out. It started with touting the greatness of the late Martin Harmon but very quickly moved into his poor decision to hand over the team to his daughter, not that his son was any better.
"Wow." I leaned back and continued to read. Not only was I not capable of running a team, but I was a woman. "A woman for god sakes." I put the paper down and gave Alan a look. "It's going to be an uphill battle, isn't it?"
"It is, but I think the more you hang out with the guys and let them see you as one of them, the better." He shrugged. "They all go to Margarita's for food and drinks after the game. We'll go. Stick close to me and I'll make sure they behave."
Captain Hotness: A Single Father Bad Boy Novel Page 38
