Roman (Season Three: The Ninth Inning #7)

by Lindsay Paige

  “Lay back.” He softly orders, and I position myself in the middle of the bed as he crawls in between my legs.

  He eases off my lace hi-cut underwear and tosses them over his shoulder. He pushes my legs open and smirks before he sucks my clit hard, almost making me jump off the bed. I dig my hands in his hair pulling him closer to me. His hands snake up my stomach, pulls my bra down, and cups my breast, rolling my nipples between his fingers.

  “Roman.” I moan his name louder and arch my back as I can feel my body tighten up.

  Instead of finishing me off, he pulls his mouth off me and grabs my wrist making me sit up. “Roll onto your stomach.”

  My heart quickens knowing what he wants, and suddenly, I want the same thing. I rotate my hips, placing myself on my knees. He lightly grips my wrists and puts them on the bed; with his weight behind me, I’m flat on the bed.

  “Do you want me to stop?”

  “No,” I breathe.

  He moves my hair from around my face, kissing my cheek, neck, and tugging the jersey down a bit and nipping my shoulder blade.

  “Roman,” I moan his name.

  He sits back on his haunches and lifts my hips as I rest on my forearms. He pushes the jersey up, leaving my ass exposed to him. He rubs me lightly, and I’m still close to my release; if he keeps it up, I really won’t last long.

  “Still good?”

  “Please, Roman.” I beg for him, and I’m momentarily stunned when he slams into me. My body quickly accommodates the new position as he continues his thrusting.

  “Carissa.” He grunts my name, and it’s even more of a turn on as my hips and body meet each thrust. “Lift up,” he orders and I rise to my knees with him still buried deep in me.

  “Oh my God.” This is one position I’ve never been in, but never want to leave now. Roman’s hands reach around my body and begin to toy with my clit as he pants in my ear.

  I know by his sounds, he’s close to his release, and I’m about to spiral out of control. Just a couple more thrust and I feel it as mine hits me hard, yelling his name.

  We both collapse on the bed, trying hard to catch our breath. I roll and rest my head on his chest.

  “That was the best ending for today,” he manages to get out.

  “Ditto.” I smile up at him and kiss the side of his neck. I open my mouth to say the three little word, but stop myself before it’s too late.

  “What is it?”

  I shake my head.

  “Carissa, you were going to say something what is it?”

  “Nothing. It’s nothing.” I try to play it off, but Roman rolls me on my back and pins me with his body.

  “Say it.”

  My eyes widen, and I almost believe he knows what I’m thinking. “I don’t want to say it first. I always say it first, and it seems to ruin everything; I don’t want to ruin this.”

  Roman licks his lips and smiles. “You know I’ve never said it.”

  I nod. Roman has never been in a serious relationship before; he’s told me several times before.

  “But I guess the reason I’ve never said it before was because I was waiting for the right girl to come into my life and that’s you.”

  A lump forms in my throat, and my eyes fill with tears.

  “I love you, Carissa Rodriguez. I have for a long time. You’re the only one who has ever captured my heart.”

  I gasp. “Roman.” I choke out his name, but cuts me off as he kisses me. “I love you, too. I never knew real love until you.”

  As he kisses me again, I think my heart might explode from his love.

  ***

  MY PHONE RINGING incessantly rouses me from my very deep, very awesome sleep. I blindly reach for the nightstand and grab it.

  “Hello?”

  “Uh, Roman,” Spencer says. “Your parents are here.”

  “Fuck.”

  “Everything okay?” Carissa sleepily asks.

  “Yeah, go back to sleep. I gotta go.” I kiss her forehead, get out of bed, and start dressing. “I forgot they were coming,” I say to Spencer. “Tell them I’ll be there in a second.”

  “Will do.”

  We hang up, and I hear Carissa ask, “Forgot who was coming?”

  “My parents. They decided since I wasn’t coming home for the anniversary of my brother’s death tomorrow, they would come, see me, and catch a game. I completely forgot about all of it.” I place a knee on the bed and lean down. “Maybe you can meet them tomorrow. I planned to spend the day with you, but I can’t now. I’ll talk to you later, okay? I love you.” Without waiting for her answer, I press my mouth to hers and turn to leave.

  “Wait.” She reaches out and grabs my wrist. “That’s tomorrow? Why didn’t you say anything?” Her lips form a little pout that I want to kiss away.

  “We’ll talk about it another time. I need to go.”

  She frowns, but doesn’t object as I leave. My parents are sitting in the living room with Spencer when I walk into my apartment. They stand and hug me, Mom extra tight.

  “Sorry I wasn’t here; I had to run out real quick,” I lie. “Just let me take a quick shower and we’ll go out for breakfast.”

  Spencer narrows his eyes at me before I walk toward my room, probably not happy that I’m leaving him with my parents again, but he’ll get over it. At least by spending the day with my parents, I can give them time to get used to the idea of me having a girlfriend and that they’ll meet her tomorrow. Plus, this will allow us to get all the mourning over Heath out of the way before then.

  I frown as I realize how that sounds, but what can I do? This time every year, my parents nearly behave as if they just heard the news of his death. Mom will break down in tears at least four times. Dad’s eyes will water, and he’ll look away each time. They’ll remind me that they don’t like how far away from home I am and that I can’t visit except for during certain times of the year. We’ll relive all of Heath’s great moments, grieve over what he could’ve accomplished, and think about how our lives would’ve been different had he not died.

  It’s what happens every time my parents decide to visit me because I can’t visit them. I never look forward to it. I loved my brother. I miss him. But this ritual is why I’m glad I can’t go home every year. It’s too sad, too stuck in the past. I don’t think Heath would be particularly happy about this either. He’d want us to move on and not make it a yearly event to miss him.

  Ten minutes later, I’m out of the shower, dressed, and all set to go. Spencer looks relieved. Mom looks like she’s cried, so he probably asked why they were visiting. That’s all it would take for Mom to burst into tears.

  “Ready?”

  “Yes,” Dad answers as they both stand.

  They ride with me to a nearby diner, only music playing in the background. Once drinks are served, Mom gives me her gentle smile. “What’s new with you, Roman?”

  “Nothing, really, except that I have a girlfriend.”

  “And she’s okay with your job? Since you travel so much, I mean,” Mom says.

  Deep breath, Roman. I can’t believe that’s her first question. “Yeah. Her brother is actually one of my teammates, so she understands what it’s like. You could meet her tomorrow at the game if you want. Her name’s Carissa.” Without exactly meaning to, I talk for the next twenty minutes about Carissa, only pausing to order and take bites of my breakfast.

  “So, did y’all want to meet her tomorrow?” I ask.

  Dad nods. “You’re in love with her.”

  I grin. “Yeah.”

  “Of course, we want to meet her,” Mom tells me.

  And that is the last thing said about my life. Mom turns the focus to Heath as I pay the bill and as we head back to my apartment. Spencer made his escape while we were out for breakfast. It doesn’t take me long before I’m wishing I could make an escape myself. They like to wallow in their grief; I don’t. That’s seriously all it comes down to.

  I entertain them for a while before they head ba
ck to their hotel. The moment they are gone, I hop onto the elevator to see Carissa. My excited grin fades a little when Hector answers the door instead.

  “What? Not happy to see me, Roman?” he teases.

  “Not really,” I laugh. “What are you doing here?” I ask as he moves to let me inside.

  “Carissa found a lizard and needed someone to get it out. She thought you’d freak out, so she called me.” He grins.

  “Yeah, right. Hey,” I say to her as she walks into the living room. “You have a lizard problem?”

  She gives me a quick kiss and launches into her story. “I was cleaning and decided to open the window since it seemed nice out. One of those little bastards got in! Me and lizards don’t get along. At all! I would’ve called you, but I knew you were with your parents.”

  “Your parents are in town?” Hector asks.

  “Uh, yeah.”

  An awkward silence follows my less-than-thrilled answer.

  “Well, Hector, thank you for saving me from the little green monster, but you can go now. I’ll be sure to stop by and check on Zoey tomorrow.”

  “She still isn’t feeling well?” I ask.

  Hector shakes his head, and I can tell it’s bothering him.

  For some reason, I think of my bet with Spencer. “Is she pregnant or just sick?”

  “She hasn’t mentioned feeling pregnant,” Hector dumbly says. “Wouldn’t it occur to her or something?”

  “Maybe grab a test on the way home,” Carissa practically orders him. “Then, you can at least rule it out and make her go to the doctor Monday if she still doesn’t feel well. Or,” she nearly shouts with excitement. “Does she already know? She didn’t drink the other night.”

  Hector tilts his head at his little sister. “Don’t you think my wife would tell me if she knew she was pregnant?”

  “Maybe she’s waiting until she knows for sure.” Carissa plants that idea in his head. She’s excited over possibly being an aunt and for all we know Zoey has some sort of stomach bug.

  “How about I go home and talk to her? I’ll call you if you’re going to be an aunt, don’t worry,” he promises her.

  She squeals a little with excitement, kisses his cheek, and pushes him out the door. Then, she turns to me. “Wouldn’t that be awesome? I really hope she is, and it’s not as if they haven’t been trying since they tied the knot. I’m so ready for this.”

  I laugh and tug her into my arms. “Don’t you think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself here? Nothing has been confirmed yet.”

  “We’ll know for sure soon,” she grins. “How’d it go with your parents?”

  “Fine. And you could’ve called me anyway, you know. I would’ve gladly come to catch the lizard for you.”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t want to interrupt anything.”

  I lead her to the couch where we take a seat. “You wouldn’t have interrupted anything.”

  She’s quiet for just a second. “You don’t sound like you’re happy to see them, Roman.”

  “I am.” Mostly.

  She acts as if I hadn’t spoken. “Is it because of your brother?” she asks quietly.

  “No,” I quickly answer. He’s not the reason. Carissa watches me, waiting for me to spill. When I don’t, I’m not surprised by the words that come out of her mouth.

  “Then what is it? Because it’s something. Or is there some reason why you don’t want to tell me? The girl you supposedly love.” She gives me a look with her puppy dog gaze.

  My lips quirk into a smile. “You’re pulling out all the stops, aren’t you? No wonder you always get your way.”

  Her own smile disappears. “I do not always get my way.” I’m thrown off by her quick jump to defensiveness for a moment before remembering some of the things Dane has texted her.

  “Hey, I was joking.”

  “Just tell me what’s bothering you.” She reaches for my hand and holds it in her lap.

  “It doesn’t really matter. It’s the way things are, and I deal with it. I can’t tell them how to grieve or how to remember him or anything like that. It probably isn’t unhealthy for them to do it, so it’s fine. I just don’t like it for myself. I mean, I don’t need to dedicate an entire weekend to him. I think about him throughout the year and miss him then. I just… I don’t know.”

  “I wish I could help.”

  “You always help.” I lean over to kiss her cheek. “You get to meet the lovely people tomorrow. We can either grab breakfast or you can just meet them at the game. Only thing about that is I can’t introduce you or be there with you. Whichever way you want. If you want to meet them that is.”

  She smiles. “Of course, I do.”

  “Good. Now, what should we do while waiting to hear back about the possible baby news?”

  “I’m starving. Come help me cook.”

  “By help, do you mean supervise?”

  She laughs. “Yes.”

  “I love you.” Already, I feel better than I did earlier. All thanks to this girl. I’m glad Hector has come around and has accepted the fact that we’re together. I want to be with her until the end of time. I want to make her happy. I want to officially meet her parents. I want to be with her and eventually build a life with her.

  “I love you, too.” And I’m one extremely lucky man because of that.

  ***

  I HAVE THREE students in front of me. I hated geometry in high school, so I understand their frustration. I like how I work with numerous kids of all different stages. Right now, I have three girls in front of me who are all sophomores in high school. They’re all currently at the same foster center and seem to be good friends.

  After spending a full hour with them, they seem to be catching on. “Miss Carissa, who’s the hottie talking to Mrs. Felicia?” Jamie asks.

  “Who?” I turn to see what the girls are talking about and I see Roman and Felicia standing by the door. “Well, girls, that would be my boyfriend.”

  “Shut up,” the say in unison, making me giggle.

  “It’s true. I have a life outside of these walls.”

  “If he was inside my walls, I wouldn’t leave.” Shary remarks, making the girls laugh, and I smile deeper.

  “Okay,” I calm them down. “You ladies need to finish your problems.”

  “He’s coming over.” Carrie whispers, and the girl pretend to look down, but they’re actually staring a hole through Roman.

  I do my best to stifle a laugh a laugh as I stand to greet him. “Roman.”

  “Carissa,” he says formally.

  Carrie gasps. “You’re a baseball player. Miss Carissa you’re dating an Angel.”

  I smile down at her. “Yes, Roman does play for the Angels,” I confirm.

  Jamie stares me down. “All this time you’ve been teaching us all this junk we’ll never use in life, we could have been gossiping about you dating Mr. Baseball-Hottie.”

  “Girls.” Felicia cuts them a look. “Let’s act like an adult.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” the girls say, hanging their heads.

  “I just spent the last three minutes trying to convince him you three have never been to an Angels’ game and how visiting the field might help in your math endeavors.” Felicia smirks when the girls pop their heads up.

  “Are you kidding?” Carrie is the first to gasp. “We can go to a game.”

  “Actually,” Roman speaks up. “Geometry is a close component to baseball. I can get you girls on the field, and Miss Carissa can go through theories with you.”

  If a small breeze had come through at that moment, the girls would have fallen over. They are in complete shock.

  “We can go on the field?” Shary’s eyes tear up.

  “I will make it happen, I promise,” Roman tells them sincerely.

  “I’ve never been to a game.” Jamie looks as sad as the other two. It’s hard to take in sometimes; these kids really have nothing.

  “I promise as well. I’ll make sure you girls get to go.”
I don’t care who I have to beg. “You three work on those problems, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  When Roman, Felicia, and I walk out to the hallway I almost cry myself. “Carissa, thanks for that. I asked Roman to help me out. Those three girls are having it tough right now.”

  “How so?” Roman asks Felicia.

  “Older kids don’t get adopted often. In about two years, those girls will be out on the street all on their own,” she explains.

  “Why?” Roman questions.

  “Once they turn eighteen, the state no longer takes care of them. They have to leave the center, even if they haven’t finished school,” I tell him. It’s something I’ve learned since I started working at the center.

  “Really?” He’s in shock. “I had no idea.”

  Felicia shrugs. “Lots of people don’t know this. Listen, I know you have to run, but thank you, Roman. I owe you one.”

  He smiles. “Please, you owe me nothing.”

  She nods at me before heading off toward her office.

  “Are you ready?” He looks down at me.

  “I’m a little nervous.”

  “It’s just my parents.” He acts as if this is no big deal, but he obviously has no idea how big of a deal this is. Men.

  “I’ll be right back.” I walk to the lounge and grab my purse and things from my locker before going back out to him.

  He holds my hand all the way to his car. It was nice when he dropped me off this morning. It feels so natural for him to do things like that for me. On our drive to his parents’ hotel, he tells me all about practice. Apparently, Tanner has a new girl and thankfully, Roman spares the major details about his sex-filled stories.

  “Have you heard from Dane?”

  “Thankfully, no. I’m hoping the restraining order scared him.” I sigh. “I’m glad you’re home this week.”

  “I like when we have home games like this.” He smiles and parks his car outside the hotel.

  “Oh my God, are they your parents?” It’s a really dumb question because Roman’s father looks almost identical to Roman, except his hair is thinning. “I thought we would meet them inside.”

  “Carissa, calm down, babe. It’s not like you’re meeting royalty.” He shakes his head and steps out of his car, and I do the same, trying to be graceful.