The Perfect Catch

by Shania Tyler

  I distantly heard Scotty begin to speak as I removed the phone from my ear and pressed the end call button. I wasn’t interested in whatever he had to say to defend himself. All I wanted to do was curl up on the sofa and forget about everything.

  Anger still sizzled inside me as I dropped down onto the couch and picked up my glass of wine, returning my attention to the movie that had continued to play during our argument.

  * * *

  “Johnny?” I whispered as I rolled over, feeling an arm draped over my ribs. I could feel a bare body pressed against my own, and I found myself pressing my buttocks back against him.

  “You dreaming about Johnny Depp again, sweetheart?” An oddly familiar voice hit my ear. “Because I can be your Johnny if you like.”

  I rolled over to find myself face to face with Major. His bare arms and shoulder bulged as he wrapped his arms tighter around me. My water mattress wobbled slightly with the movement, and I found myself rolling into him.

  “He’s not really my type.” I shrugged, and Major gaped at me.

  “Johnny Depp is every woman’s type, I’ve heard,” he laughed.

  “If you are so in love with him then you can go and sleep with him instead,” I giggled and in response, Major began to tickle me. His fingers upon my bare skin were like fireworks coursing through my body, and I wriggled in his arms, unable to get away from his strong grip.

  “Ahhh! Stop! Okay! Okay! I give!” I laughed loudly as he continued his onslaught of tickles to my ribcage and stomach.

  “I don’t want Johnny Depp, Ruby Bowman. I want you,” Major assured me as he came down to kneel between my legs. “I want you and this sweetness between your legs.”

  I shivered at his words as he pulled my thighs apart and began to trail kisses down my chest and stomach. My heart skipped a beat as I realized he was going down south and my cheeks began to flush as his tongue slipped deep inside my pussy. He began to lick and nibble and suck. Just as I began to feel as though my climax was coming, he reached down with his middle finger and slipped it deep inside me. Using a come-hither motion, he coaxed my climax over the edge, and I screamed as my head rolled back on the pillow. My entire body exploded with pleasure and my hands wrapped in the sheets as he continued to work my body. His free hand gripped hold of my stomach, pinning me to the bed so that I couldn’t wriggle away from his onslaught. His tongue switched direction then and began to move back and forth, hitting me from a different angle to bring me toward another climax.

  “Major! Major!” I screamed as another orgasm ripped through my body.

  By the time he was finished with me, I was a dripping mess in the middle of the bed. He sat up and smirked at me with my womanly juices glistening on his afternoon shadow.

  “God, you taste good, woman.” He grinned down at me as he pulled me farther down the bed by the backs of my knees and hovered above me. I could feel the tip of his cock bouncing close to my entrance, and I suddenly burned with the need to have him inside me. Lifting my head up off the pillows, I consumed his mouth with my own. Tasting myself on his lips caused me to only want him more, and I gripped hold of his head to pull him farther down onto me.

  “What do you want, Ruby?” Major asked in the huskiest, most sensual voice I’d ever heard. It caused me to quiver beneath him with desire and need, and I felt myself unraveling all over again.

  “I want you, Major,” I told him, still quivering. Major began to smirk again as he rubbed his cock gently against the outside of my pussy. Fire burned deep within me, and I knew the second he entered me, I would begin to climb toward another climax.

  “Be careful what you wish for,” Major whispered as he slammed deep inside me.

  I suddenly bolted upright on the sofa. My heart hammered in my chest, and my skin was slick with sweat as though I really had just been in the throes of passion with my new coach. I reached up and ran my fingers through my hair with frustration.

  “Damn it, I really do need to get laid,” I muttered to myself as I remembered the conversation Mary and I had been having earlier today about the hot men in our lives. I wasn’t attracted to Major. Well, okay, yeah, I was, but I wasn’t allowed to be attracted to Major. I was just sexually frustrated. After all, I hadn’t slept with anybody since Scotty and I had split up. That was the only explanation for it. Major was far too arrogant, far too stubborn to be somebody I would even consider sleeping with.

  I think it’s time to buy myself a vibrator. I laughed as I pushed myself up off the sofa and headed in the direction of the bathroom, hoping that a cold shower might have the right effect to get these stupid ideas out of my over imaginative brain.

  * * *

  9

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  CHAPTER NINE

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  Major

  “Hey, Major! Where you been hiding for the last few days?” Tommy, my best friend since high school asked into the phone as soon as I picked up. I had debated ignoring him as I had been all weekend, but I knew that he would only get more pissed the more I ignored him, and the truth was that after the day I’d had, I could do with talking to a friend.

  “Sorry, man, I’ve had a busy weekend,” I apologized even though we both knew that wasn’t true. I’d spent most of my weekend drinking and thinking about the drop-dead gorgeous woman I was about to be employed by on Monday morning. Lucky for me, thoughts of her had stopped me from going down my usual route of finding a woman at my local to bring home to the hotel.

  What about her made you change the habit of a lifetime?

  “So, what’s been going on then? What’s happening in Major world?” Tommy questioned, and I suddenly realized that I hadn’t even called my best friend to tell him the good news.

  “Well, I guess you could say I’ve gotten some good news.” I found myself rubbing my fingers through my hair, suddenly self-conscious on what I was about to tell him. He was sure to be pissed. The Houston Buckskins were the worst rival of his own favorite team, but the truth was I didn’t care where my job came from as long as I was in the game.

  “Well? Do tell? You didn’t get one of your hookers pregnant, did you?” Tommy asked mockingly.

  I couldn’t help but laugh at the joke.

  “What about that would be good news?” I pulled open the door on my truck, leaving work behind for the evening.

  “Well, I always imagined you would make one hell of a good daddy,” Tommy laughed. “Besides, I’ve been dying to be an uncle.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure the kids would love Uncle Tommy teaching them all about ice hockey and drinking,” I laughed as I found myself imagining it. I then quickly shook my head. Kids had never been in the cards for me and that wasn’t changing any time soon. I needed to find a woman before that could happen anyway, and I wasn’t even in the market for one just now.

  “Don’t forget the skills of picking up the hottest girls,” Tommy reminded me, and I laughed all over again as I climbed up into my truck.

  “Oh, I mustn’t forget that,” I rolled my eyes and slammed the truck door closed.

  “Well then, go on,” Tommy insisted. “Don’t keep me hanging too long. What have you got to tell me?”

  “I’m guessing that means you haven’t seen the news today?” I remembered my picture being splashed all over the page and couldn’t help but feel a small wave of anger. The press loved to portray me in a negative light no matter what I did to try and remedy the situation.

  “No, I haven’t, but this must be something big if it’s in the news, so come on! Out with it!”

  “I’m coaching the Houston Buckskins.” I closed my eyes and flinched as I braced myself for the onslaught Tommy was about to give my ears.

  “Oh, my god! That’s fucking great news!” Tommy’s words shocked me more than I ever believed possible.

  “Who are you and what have you done with my best friend Tommy?” I demanded as I scowled at the phone. Never in
a million years had I expected Tommy to be pleased with the fact that I was coaching the Houston Buckskins.

  “No, really, man. I’m pleased for you.” Tommy sounded genuine, and I still couldn’t believe it. “You deserve to finally get a break, and I’ll be glad to get my old friend back again. We should go out and celebrate.”

  “I’m not sure I feel up for that tonight,” I replied with a sigh. After the crap Wills and some of the other guy on the team had given me, all I wanted to do was go home and get an early night ready for it to all begin again tomorrow.

  “Oh, come on! You’ve been waiting for this day a long time. Come and have a drink with me!” Tommy insisted. “You are already in your truck. Just head over and we’ll go out.”

  “How did you know that? Are you spying on me?” I glanced around even though I knew that Tommy would be nowhere near.

  “Oh, come on, you slam that truck door of yours like a bull in a china shop.” I could imagine Tommy rolling his eyes at me. He’d always had a go at me for not being gentler with my truck.

  “She’s a big girl,” I told him as I stroked the steering wheel of the truck that had been my baby for so many years. “She can take good care of herself.”

  “Not if you go ripping the door off its hinges,” Tommy laughed, and I knew we were both imagining me as the Hulk ripping the door away from the rest of the vehicle. “Come out with me and celebrate. I won’t ask you again.”

  “Fine, but just for one and then I need to head home and get some rest. It’s going to be a long week,” I sighed.

  “Careful, Major, you are starting to sound your age,” Tommy laughed.

  “Don’t be such a cheeky shit, Tommy. You are older than I am, remember.”

  * * *

  “How’s business?” I asked Tommy as I slipped onto the bar stool opposite where he was stood behind the bar. “The drunks keeping your till full?”

  “Of course, they are,” Tommy replied as he filled up a pint glass and placed it on the bar in front of me, “First one is on the house.”

  “Well, then, I guess tonight is free because I’m only staying for one, remember?” I reminded him as he began to pour himself a glass.

  “You can stay for one here and then we will move on to the next bar,” Tommy told me and then he turned to the bartender who was working farther down. “You and Sam okay to close up for me tonight?”

  “That’s not necessary,” I said before the pretty little brunette got the chance to reply. “I am not going anywhere with you tonight.”

  “Oh, come on, I’ve had a long week, too, you know. You’d be doing me a favor,” Tommy insisted. “I need a break from this place.”

  “You mean you need a break from Jean,” I laughed. My best friend was so under the thumb it was unbelievable. He pressed his index finger to his lips and hissed between his teeth in a gesture for me to be quiet.

  “Shh,” he warned me. “She might be listening.”

  He glanced around the room jokingly as though his missus might jump out from the shadows at any moment.

  “We both know she’s probably off at the salon getting her nails done.” I rolled my eyes at him.

  “And that’s exactly why I need a break,” Tommy insisted. “She’s been spending so much money lately I’ve been working this place all hours to keep it coming in.”

  “Maybe you should cut her off. More money for you that way,” I joked, knowing that there was no way he would ever do such a thing. Jean was the absolute love over his life, and I had never seen him so happy. The smirk on his face told me everything I needed to know how their relationship was really going.

  “What can I say?” Tommy shrugged. “I love her too much to cut her off.”

  “You keep that shit away from me,” I told him as I placed my index fingers in the shape of a cross in front of me. “I don’t want to be catching the love bug.”

  “Oh, come here and give us a kiss!” Tommy leaned forward and pouted his lips together in a kissy motion, reaching for my wrists to pull me toward him.

  “So not cool, bro!” I warned him, and we both began to laugh.

  “Yes, I can look after the bar for you,” the bartender interjected as she passed on her way to fill out a drinks order. “Please, take him out, Major. He has been driving us all up the wall lately.”

  “See, how can you say no to the pleading of such a lovely woman?” Tommy asked, and she rolled her eyes at him.

  “What would your beloved think of you flirting with your staff?” She winked at him, and I laughed along with the running joke that they had been going on for some time.

  “We both know you are just jealous that you can’t have all of this.” Tommy gestured down to himself and I smirked. Yes, Tommy was a good-looking guy, but he definitely was clumsy when it came to the ladies. It was a miracle he’d even managed to snatch a catch like Jean.

  “Don’t make me sick,” Jessie laughed, and she faked a gagging noise. “Too late.”

  “Don’t worry,” I sighed. “I’ll get him out of your hair for a little while.”

  Suddenly the laughter that had begun to infect me left me with the urge to continue the night and I wasn’t so ready to go home.

  “Great! Looks like I’m off duty then!” Tommy took all of two seconds to skip around the end of the bar and prop up a stool beside me, “So then. Tell me about your first day. I heard the Buckskins have a hot as hell GM.”

  And there it was. Ruby suddenly flew back into my mind, and I could imagine her curvy body all over again. I closed my eyes for a second, imagining her bending over in front of me as she had to sign the contract first thing this morning. Her butt cheeks bounced in my vision, urging me to reach forward and give them a good spanking.

  “Well? What is she like?” Tommy questioned me again, and I felt his elbow in my ribs.

  “She’s average.” I shrugged my shoulders, and Tommy looked at me with a raised eyebrow. I instantly knew I had said the wrong thing.

  “From what I’ve heard, she’s smoking hot and everybody wants her.” Tommy looked at me with a concerned look. “You aren’t swinging for the other team now, are you?”

  “Never, I’m all about the hens,” I assured him. “But she’s my boss, and I am not going to comment on her appearance.”

  “So, she is hot as hell,” Tommy determined from my words. “When are you going to bang that?”

  “I don’t mix work and pleasure, you know that.” I shook my head although the images of it had been running through my mind all damn day. I just couldn’t seem to get Ruby Bowman out of my brain.

  Just then, I felt my phone begin to buzz in my pocket and my heart filled with dread. I groaned as I pulled the device from my jeans and saw the name that flashed up with the text.

  “From your reaction, I’m going to guess that’s Shauna still messaging you?” Tommy asked, and all he needed to do was look at my face to know that he was right. “So, it wasn’t bad enough that she got you fired from your last job? She just can’t leave you alone now either.”

  “She keeps apologizing and asking me to meet up with her for a drink.” I shrugged.

  “You aren’t going to do it, are you?” Tommy gaped at me.

  “Do I look desperate?” I scowled at him and shook my head. “I have never gone there, and I never will go there. I don’t need any more angry quarterbacks on my tail.”

  “Glad to see you talking sense.” Tommy slapped me on the shoulder and pointed to my glass. “Down that so we can move on. I hear the bar down the street has got a singles night on.”

  Just what I needed after a long, hard day. A bar filled with single women. This night was beginning to sound better and better. I grabbed my glass and began to chug it down. Tommy cheered me on until I had finished the entire thing and slammed the glass down on the bar. “Careful with that or you’ll be paying for it.”

  “We both know you break more glasses in here than any of the customers.” I laughed, remembering the last time Tommy had gotten so drun
k that he had climbed up on the bar with his glass in hand and began to dance around. It was safe to say that the glass hadn’t remained in his hand for very long before it shattered as it hit the corner of the bar.

  “Let’s do this!” I told him as I pushed myself up from my stool and began to make my way toward the door. Tommy rushed to finish his own pint before he quickly began to follow on his shorter legs. Oh, how I loved making him run after me. It was something he’d been doing since we were boys in high school. It never got old.

  * * *

  10

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  CHAPTER TEN

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  Ruby

  “Keep your hair on!” I yelled down the phone at my best friend, who was so obviously pissed at me for forgetting that we were supposed to be going out tonight. I’d climbed out of the shower to hear my phone ringing on the bed where I’d thrown it after waking from my overly real dream.

  “Ruby, you promised to come out with me,” Tessa whined, and I struggled not to groan at her. It was the truth. I had agreed to go out with her, but I agreed to go out with her all the time and never actually made it. Sure, that made me feel like a shitty friend, but the truth was I just always seemed to forget. Work always came first in my book.

  “I know, I know,” I sighed. “Why don’t I meet you there in half an hour? I just need to dry my hair, put a little makeup on, and get dressed.”

  “You promise you are coming and you aren’t going to fall asleep on me again?” Tessa demanded.