Home Run Baby: A Sports Romance

by Tabatha Kiss

  “See you there,” I tell them.

  Junior and Eliza walk through the quad and I pause, expecting to feel that envious stab in my gut but, for the first time, I feel nothing.

  “John…”

  I look to Rose and I realize why. “Yes?”

  She stands in front of me and wraps her arms around my waist. “I’m so proud of you,” she says, popping up on her toes to kiss my nose.

  I kiss her back, embracing her tight. “I bet you never expected to date a real pro football player, did you?”

  “Oh, it was a common fantasy, I won’t lie,” she chuckles.

  “Oh, yeah?” I kiss her again. “What other fantasies did you have?”

  Rose pulls away, smiling wide. “We can talk about those later. We should get going.”

  She takes a quick step towards the parking lot but I reach out to stop her.

  “Wait…” I pull the black robe over my head and cradle it in one arm, happy to finally take it off. “Not yet.”

  Her face tilts. “What?”

  “Come with me.”

  I grab her hand before she can say another word and lead her with me towards Prism Hall.

  Chapter 28

  Rose

  “John, where are you taking me?”

  “It’s a surprise.”

  “John…”

  He squeezes my hand a little tighter. “Patience, Rose.”

  “The last time you said the words it’s a surprise, I found myself in the middle of the woods in a sex van,” I point out.

  He pauses with his hand on the door to Prism Hall. “Well, when you put it that way, it’s a little creepy.”

  I laugh as John holds the door open for me. The halls are completely deserted; not a single sign of student life as the spring semester has already met its end. Everyone down to the janitorial staff is on vacation, leaving the place oddly quiet.

  John doesn’t drop my hand until we reach the chemistry lecture hall. He spins around and walks backward down the stairs towards the front. “So, you remember this place?”

  “Of course, I do,” I chuckle.

  “For a whole semester, you taught general chemistry in this room.”

  “I did.”

  “Monday-Wednesday-Friday,” he continues, tossing his robes over his seat back in the front row, “for thirteen weeks, I sat in this chair and I watched you teach.”

  “You did.” I study his face, trying to predict his point.

  “That’s almost forty hours, Rose.”

  I sigh. “Okay…”

  He takes my hand again and walks me to the desk. “I spent forty hours in this room, doing everything in my power to resist the temptation to bend you over this desk.”

  I raise a brow. “Well, when you put it that way, I’m surprised you even passed the class.”

  He leans in and guides me back against the desk. “Oh, it was hard,” he nods. “In more ways than one.”

  I chuckle as his lips graze mine. “So, why exactly are we here now?”

  “Simply put...” He crushes his lips on mine, planting a hard kiss on me that ignites my core. “I’m not leaving this school until I fuck your brains out on this desk.”

  I kiss him back and his hands crawl down my body towards my skirt. “Oh, really?”

  “Come on, Rose…” he whispers in my ear. “Don’t tell me you never thought about it just once.”

  “Maybe,” I say, biting my lip as he kisses beneath my ear.

  “There I was,” he says, raising my skirt. “Sitting in the front row, watching you, listening to you. You wanted me to stand up and walk over here, didn’t you?”

  He reaches between my thighs and I breathe deep.

  “You wanted me to fill that sweet, tight pussy—”

  “Somebody could walk in here…” I say.

  “I better fuck you fast, Ms. Hawthorne.”

  I reach for his belt, overwhelmed with pulsing desire as he hooks his fingers into my panties beneath my skirt.

  It’s been months since we’ve stood in this room together. I’ve almost forgotten what that urge felt like; watching him sitting there, staring at me, feeling the wetness pooling in my panties as I thought about us later in the TA office. That forbidden, taboo rush has long since left our relationship but I feel it taking me over again.

  And I like it.

  “John,” I sigh, pushing his zipper down, “did you bring a calculator?”

  He chuckles against my lips. “Back pocket.”

  I reach around him and slide my fingers into his pants pocket, feeling the square, velvet box hidden inside.

  I freeze in place. “Uhh…”

  John stands tall and reaches behind him to take the box from my trembling fingers. “Rose…”

  “John…”

  “I love you,” he says, staring into me with unblinking eyes. “I didn’t know it at the time but I loved you the moment I saw you in this room.”

  I gasp as he opens the box and the diamond ring shines inside. “Oh, my…”

  “I made some mistakes,” he says. “But I’m happy I did because they not only made me realize who I really was but also who I needed to be for you. I needed to be more. I’m going to spend the rest of my life making sure you get everything you deserve.”

  “Man, you word so good,” I sigh, my pulse racing.

  He laughs and takes the ring from the box. “And I lied to you before.”

  “About what?”

  “I didn’t spend all forty hours thinking about this.” He gestures to the desk. “I spent some of them imagining you walking towards me in a white dress.”

  I smile as he slides the ring on my finger.

  “Rose Hawthorne, will you marry me?”

  The diamond glistens between us. It drifts in and out of focus for me as tears build between my eyelashes.

  “Rose?”

  I look up at him, swallowing the happy lump down my throat. “Yes,” I answer. “Yes, I will marry you, John.”

  He cups my face and kisses me. I throw my arms around him, never wanting to let him go again and he returns the tight embrace.

  “I love you,” he says, kissing me again.

  “I love you, too,” I breathe, passions building inside as my hands crawl down his body. “Okay, we are really going to need a calculator here…”

  He takes a condom from his other back pocket before fishing beneath my skirt again to pull my panties down to my ankles.

  I laugh, losing myself in total ecstasy. He’s just as floored as I am, kissing and touching me as I spread my knees wider for him.

  “Johnny,” I moan, feeling his cock press against me.

  His lips curl and I sense the pleasure on his breath as he lays his hands on my hips and thrusts deep.

  He fucks me slowly, taking his time penetrating me with every inch of him and I’m practically mewling on him by the time he’s all the way inside. My toes curl, my spine twitches. My body delights in his and I wrap my legs around his waist to keep him.

  I lie down on the desk and John takes me harder, pounding and grinding me until I want to scream. He reaches down to cup my breasts; his fingers gliding down my curves and every piece of me he touches catches fire.

  “Ms. Hawthorne…” he whispers, grinning at me.

  I laugh. “I loved it when you called me that.”

  “I know.” His eyes flick around the lecture hall. “I suppose it’d be Mrs. Kirby now.”

  My back arches. “Say it again.”

  He leans forward. “Mrs. Kirby.”

  “Oh, take me now,” I tease.

  “Turn around.”

  I sit up and he takes a quick kiss from me before I spin around and bend over. He’s back in me in seconds, grinding me harder than before from behind as he whispers in my ear.

  “I’ve wanted this for so long, Rose…”

  I moan, unable to speak.

  “Your body, your mind.” He digs his teeth into the flesh of my neck, biting down as his primal urges ove
rwhelm him. “Be my wife.”

  “Yes.”

  “My everything.”

  Tensions break in me and I tumble towards climax as he tilts my face back to kiss me.

  “I love you, Rose.”

  I come hard, biting my tongue to keep my screams from echoing throughout the damn building.

  John thrusts me one more time and stops, gripping my body as he lets himself go. I feel him surging inside of me, groaning softly into my ear.

  “I love you, John,” I say against his lips.

  He laughs, his hands still roaming my body.

  The door at the back of the lecture hall swings open. “Hey! Who’s down there?”

  “Shit!” John whispers.

  I slip off the desk, quickly bending down to grab my panties off the floor while John rushes to zip up his pants.

  “Hey! You two!”

  John snatches his robe off the chair and grabs my hand as we rush for the side exit.

  “Oh, god…” I mutter.

  We sprint down the hall hand-in-hand until we make it outside and we keep running through the quad.

  John looks back at me and winks. “It was worth it.”

  I laugh so hard, I can’t speak.

  Epilogue

  Four Years Later

  Rose

  “You will be expected to know the difference between cations and anions. Many of you mixed those up on the last quiz, so make sure you get that straight for the exam on Monday.”

  My students stare at me from their seats scattered around the lecture hall, their eyes occasionally dipping to look at my body. Little did I know how much that semester as a TA would be training me for this. John Kirby, sitting there, staring at me, paying more attention to my pencil skirts than the lectures themselves.

  Unfortunately, this is going to keep happening more and more as my belly swells. I’m only twenty weeks pregnant but you’d think I was already a giant mutant by the way they’re looking at me right now.

  My hand gravitates to the little pooch protruding out. It’s a strategic move; equally designed to swing their attentions back to what I’m saying but also a sweet comfort for me. I’m carrying life inside of me.

  Correction: Lives.

  “Also, schedule enough time to read over chapters one through five again before then. Pay really close attention to the practice problems at the end of each chapter — you just might see one or two literally copied and pasted onto the exam.”

  The back door swings open, drawing the attentions of a few students. The whispers and shoulder nudges begin immediately and before I know it, the entire lecture hall turns in their chairs to look back at him.

  I guess it’s not every day a professional football player just waltzes into a university chemistry class.

  John sits down in an empty seat in the back row, purposefully smirking at me as the spotlight above his head grows brighter and brighter.

  “Okay, guys, let’s break early for today,” I say, speaking louder to combat the growing swoons of my students. “I’ll see you all on Monday. Please bring your own calculators and scrap paper for the exam!”

  The class lets out a few celebratory hoots as they stand up and I take a moment to sit down and rest my feet.

  John waits in the back with his hand raised, purposefully flashing his new championship ring while accepting the various handshakes and high-fives as the students pass by. He’s so adored around here, I get the feeling some students enrolled in my class just on the off-chance he might show up every so often.

  Once it’s just the two of us, he stands up and heads towards the front. I furrow my brow, glaring at him as he marches towards me.

  “You were supposed to meet me in my office,” I say.

  “But this was way more fun.”

  I deepen my glare.

  “Oh, come on,” he laughs. “You just dismissed them early on a Friday. If you weren’t their favorite professor already, you are now. These stuck-up Ivy League kids need a little excitement once in a while.”

  I slide a hand over my belly again without thinking. “Maybe you’re right.”

  “Of course, I am.” He extends his hand to help me stand up. “Now, come on. I want to get another look at Alexander and Benjamin in there.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry…” I tease. “I can’t hear you over the obvious heartbeats of Dana and Ramona.”

  He shakes his head. “Nope. Sorry. They’re boys.”

  “I’m pretty sure they’re girls, John.”

  “Why?”

  “I feel girls...”

  “That’s not science.”

  “Women’s intuition and motherly instinct transcend science.”

  He scoffs. “No, they don’t.”

  “Okay, then. What makes you so certain they’re boys? Hm?”

  “Hey, I planted them with my seed,” he argues. “Those are my boys growing in your womb garden.”

  I wince. “Stop calling it that.”

  He laughs and throws my bag over his shoulder. “Let’s go.”

  ***

  “Go ahead and make yourself comfortable, Rose,” Dr. Jones says. She smiles wide and offers a kind nod to John as we step into the ultrasound room. “I’ll be right back and then we’ll get started.”

  “Thank you,” I say, sliding into the chair and putting my feet up. I let out a long sigh, relishing in the moment to relax a little. Only twenty weeks in and I’m already exhausted all the time. I can’t imagine what it’ll be like when my girls are finally here.

  Yes, John. We are having girls.

  I raise my shirt to expose my belly as John sits down by my right side with a permanent smile etched onto his face.

  “They’re boys,” he whispers, reading my mind.

  I open my mouth to argue but the door bursts open.

  “Did I miss it?!”

  I grin at Daisy in the doorway. “Nope, you’re just in time.”

  Dr. Jones walks in behind her and smiles. “Daisy, it’s nice to see you again.”

  “Hey, Dr. J!” she greets. “How’s life treating you in front of the stirrups?”

  John deflates and looks at me. “What is she doing here?”

  I wince. “Did I not tell you she was coming?”

  “No, you did not.”

  “Whoops.”

  Daisy slides over an empty chair and sets it on my left. “Excuse me, halfback,” she says as she plops down into it. “I’ve been through this before, so I know more than you do. Also, Rose and I share DNA. These babies are as much mine as they are yours.”

  “Yeah, that’s not how any of that works.” His brow furrows with confusion and he looks at the doctor. “Right?”

  Dr. Jones shrugs as she snaps on her gloves. “Okay, let’s take a look inside, shall we?”

  John takes my hand and squeezes tight. He winks at me; one final, silent way of telling me he’s right but I know he’s wrong.

  Daisy snatches my other hand and grins across my exposed belly at John, squeezing my hand even tighter than he is and I suddenly feel like I’m about to be torn apart like a wishbone.

  Dr. Jones slathers my belly with gel and readies the wand. I look at the screen and take a deep breath, biting my lip as butterflies wreck my insides. John kisses my hand with excitement in his eyes, barely able to contain it as his toe bounces up and down on the floor.

  “Okay…” Dr. Jones sets the wand against my belly and shapes instantly flood the screen.

  I squint, trying to make out what’s going on but it looks more like a paranormal crime scene than a uterus, so I just sit back and wait.

  “Penis!” Daisy flails at the screen. “Sorry, but that was totally a penis.”

  John chuckles. “Do you always get this excited when you see one?”

  “Oh, shush,” she snaps back.

  “Is she right?” I ask Dr. Jones.

  She nods. “Yep. Looks like we’re having boys!”

  John pumps his giant fist. “Yes!”

  I feel a stab
of bittersweetness. “Man, my instincts suck. I could have sworn they were girls…”

  He lays a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Hey, now you know that you can always trust my instincts. John Kirby will never steer you wrong.”

  Daisy rolls her eyes.

  “Uh-oh.”

  The three of us stare at Dr. Jones, our necks twitching in her direction so fast they could snap.

  “Okay, Doc,” Daisy says, “I’m usually not one to tell people how to do their jobs, but I don’t think uh-oh is the kind of thing you should say when you’re looking inside a belly full of babies.”

  “Well... it’s a good uh-oh, not a bad uh-oh,” Dr. Jones says. “I misread the ultrasound last time.”

  My heart sinks. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean…” she smiles, “you’re having triplets. Not twins.”

  “Triplets?!” Daisy gasps.

  I look at John’s sagging face, his jaw slacked open in silent shock as he stares at the screen.

  My eyes fill with tears. “Are you sure?”

  Dr. Jones adjusts the wand, tilting it to show a better angle. “Looks like she was hiding behind her brothers…”

  I clench John’s hand. “She?”

  “Yep. Two boys… and a girl.” She points at the screen. “Right there.”

  I lean forward as the third form takes shape. “Whoa…”

  Daisy shakes my shoulder. “We’re having three babies!”

  “Uh-huh…” I try to say something else, something more intelligent, but my tongue speaks only gibberish.

  Triplets. Three babies. Two boys. One girl.

  Oh, my god…

  John smiles at me. “May I have a moment alone with my wife, please?” he asks the room.

  Dr. Jones slides out of her chair. “Sure. I’ll give you a few minutes and then we’ll try and narrow down that due date.”

  John glares at Daisy.

  Finally, she sighs and lets go of my hand. “Fine. I’ll be right outside.” She plants a quick kiss on my forehead, lets out a happy squeal, and follows the doctor out.

  As soon as the door latches closed, John darts forward to kiss me. His body rumbles with laughter and I see a few tears growing on the edge of his eyes.

  I punch his shoulder. “I told you I felt a girl!”

  He smiles wider. “I will never doubt your women’s intuition or your motherly instincts ever again.”