Hard To Fall (Sliding Home Book 3)

by Elizabeth Perry

  Of course, he’s no Brock. At least, not yet.

  But he has the potential to be great, which for Brock, is not a good thing.

  I, of course, don’t mention this, because that’s about the last thing that he wants to hear right now.

  I want to feel sorry for the guy, but I just can’t.

  He brings this shit onto himself, and honestly, after our whole conversation before the game, my sympathy for him is lacking.

  “He doesn’t want us to lose, asshole. He was tripping over the idea that we might. But he’s also sick of your shit. So, honestly, if we were to lose the blame lies on you. Not on coach.”

  Eric Wayne is about the only one who has zero issues cutting right to the chase.

  Up until Eric reunited with his high school sweetheart and got married, he was Brock’s right hand man. The two of them got into countless pots of hot water together, usually initiated by Brock of course, but either way.

  The two of them were thick as thieves.

  “Oh, fuck you, Waynsie. Coach is just uptight.”

  Jake snorts.

  “You left the team dinner, after flirting hard core with Ry’s kid’s teacher and went to a strip club, where you bought lap dance after lap dance and put it all on fucking snapchat. He’s not uptight. He’s just sick of your shit.”

  Brock rolls his eyes.

  “Wrong.”

  We all cut our eyes at him as he shrugs.

  “Well? You are. I didn’t buy a single lap dance. The ladies all gave them to me for free.”

  Everyone groans.

  Brock opens his mouth, surely to talk more of his normal shit talk, when the door opens and all our attention snaps to the sound.

  Or maybe it’s not the sound. Perhaps it has everything to do with the woman who just walked through the door.

  Because, damn.

  Isabelle’s eyes are down as she shuts the door behind her, but every other set of eyes in this room are directly on her.

  Her hair is wet, and she has a towel wrapped around her waist, ending just underneath her breasts.

  The small triangle top strains to hold all of her in, and I swear that in this moment, I’ve never wanted a bikini top to fail more than I want the straps to suddenly just snap off hers.

  An unwelcome feeling washes over me as my eyes become glued to her chest, and as Brock whistles, my attention suddenly shifts.

  She blinks once as her eyes connect with all of us, just sitting here and staring at her.

  And then she screams.

  Her hand flies up and clutches her chest, letting that towel drop from her body and land on the floor.

  “Oh, my God! You guys scared the crap out of me!”

  I open my mouth to apologize, but all the words get stuck in my throat as my eyes adjust to the rest of her.

  My mouth waters as I stare at her endless legs, letting my gaze work its way up until I land on her perfect ass, on full display in her very small bikini bottom.

  My pants become uncomfortably tight, and all the blood leaves my brain, traveling down to a place that I should not be noticing Isabelle’s body.

  But fuck me.

  I’ve obviously already noticed that she was a fox, but I hadn’t quite anticipated what was lying underneath her clothing.

  I’m in serious trouble here.

  Alarm bells are blaring inside of my head as my dick suddenly takes over.

  A million dirty thoughts fill my mind as I sit and just stare at the woman in front of me.

  A gentleman would stand up right now and hurry to her side, helping her pick up her bag that happened to fall.

  Except I’m not feeling very gentlemanly right now. In fact, I’m feeling a lot like a high school boy who just saw boobs for the first time.

  This seems to be my new norm whenever I’m around Isabelle.

  By the time my brain reconnects with the rest of my body, I finally manage a full thought. And by the time that I do, Brock is already out of his seat and helping her.

  “Seems like Jamesy should have warned you there, doll. It’s not nice to scare such a beautiful woman.”

  “Oh, he doesn’t owe me an explanation. This is his suite, after all,” I hear her reply as Brock hands her back her towel, which she quickly wraps around herself.

  “Thank you so much for helping me pick up my things.”

  “Anytime.” Brock smiles at her. “I always do my best to be a gentleman.”

  “Alright.” I stand up as the other guys groan.

  “Brock, I think that it’s past your bedtime. Isabelle, I’m so sorry for scaring you, and I’m even sorrier that this jackass was the first one to hop up to help. I’m ashamed of myself.”

  Brock is still busy staring at Isabelle, which does not sit well with me. I just can’t stand the thoughts that I know are going through Brocks mind.

  Because I’m having the exact same ones.

  “Nice to see you again, Isabelle.” Both Jake and Eric nod in her direction before slipping out of the door. Eric grabs Brock by the ear before tugging him along with them, leaving just Isabelle and I alone together.

  “I’m so sorry, Isabelle. They just stopped over. I didn’t know that they were coming, otherwise I would have warned you.”

  “Oh, Ryan, please. Don’t apologize. This is your suite after all, so you don’t owe me an explanation. I’m just sorry for making such a scene.”

  She blushes fiercely before turning towards her bedroom.

  Before I can even realize what I’m doing, I’m reaching out and grabbing ahold of her elbow.

  The feeling of her bare skin against mine causes every nerve ending in my body to fire, and all of my thoughts again become one big jumble.

  The only thought that I can even focus on is the intense need to touch her.

  As if she reads my mind, a soft gasp leaves her lips, and her eyes widen as they lock with mine.

  “Ryan…”

  Her voice trails off as my mouth opens, but not a single word leaves me.

  I just stare at her, totally frozen in place. Fuck me, this woman is so beautiful. Her huge brown eyes stare back at me, and as much as I want to let my eyes roam down to her pouty lips, and of course, that perfect fucking chest, I can’t seem to pull my eyes away from hers.

  I’m not sure what’s going on with me, or why I can’t seem to shake this spell that I fall under whenever I’m close to her.

  All that I know, is that when it comes to Isabelle, I’m totally fucked.

  Finally, she clears her throat and takes a step back.

  “I think that I should turn in.”

  I nod, still unable to speak.

  “Goodnight, Ryan.”

  My eyes never leave her. I continue to just stand there, staring at her retreating figure, wondering what in the hell has come over me.

  Yet, as she shuts the door behind her, and I hear the distinct click of the lock, I know exactly what has come over me.

  My body fucking craves her.

  I want to feel her wrapped around me in a way that I’ve never felt before.

  I’ve never felt such an intense urge to claim a woman, and there is no getting around it.

  I need to have her.

  It’s a damn good thing that Isabelle locked her bedroom door, but I’m not sure that even a lock is going to be enough to keep me away from her.

  The ping of my phone breaks me out of my trance. I glance down at the screen, seeing Brock’s number in bold print.

  He texted me one single word, but it was enough to get my blood boiling.

  Dibs.

  Yeah, right, fucker.

  I don’t think so.

  Chapter Nine

  Isabelle

  “You survived your first week of baseball. How do you feel?”

  My palms are sweaty, and I feel like I’m about to pass out, if I’m being honest here. But Ryan isn’t looking for the whole truth.

  He simply wants me to say that I enjoyed being his nanny this week, which, hon
estly, I did.

  I got paid a lot of money to hang out with Isaac, and to teach him the same things that I would have taught him in the classroom.

  It didn’t feel like work at all.

  The job was fine, but I could have totally gone without all of the sexual tension.

  I didn’t bargain for this, not one bit.

  I mean, sure. When I took this job, I knew that working with Ryan would be a bit tough, simply because the man is so smoking hot.

  What I didn’t anticipate, was that he may also feel the same way about me.

  Talk about turning up the heat.

  Two days ago, I wanted to kill the guy, after what I witnessed at his game, and then of course, the way that he talked to me.

  But, I also have to weigh in the fact that he was only so angry because he was jealous.

  I’m sure he’d never admit it, but no man reacts the way that he did unless he’s gotten a taste of the jealousy monster.

  I wouldn’t have given it much more thought, but then, last night happened.

  If I wouldn’t have been the one to pull away and hustle off to my bedroom, I have no idea what would have went down between us.

  Ryan James had stared into my soul with fuck me eyes.

  And I about caved.

  Now, here I am, in incredibly close quarters with him yet again, letting his sexy heat wash all over me.

  If we weren’t on an airplane, just about ready for takeoff, I think that my body would spontaneously combust.

  But, since my anxiety has now kicked in to overdrive, I’m not as focused on wanting the man.

  Right now, I’m focused on survival.

  In fact, I’m about to totally lose my shit.

  “I, ah. I can’t answer that right now.”

  “Oh, fuck.” He turns his large body towards me.

  “I forgot. You’re afraid to fly, right?”

  I squeeze my eyes shut, hoping to ward off the humiliation that is surely written clearly across my face.

  There’s no use. It’s totally obvious.

  “Isabelle, it’s ok.” His voice is low and soothing as he places his hand on my back and pats me softly.

  “It’s going to be alright. You have nothing to worry about.”

  “No? Nothing to worry about? How about dying in a fiery crash, if this thing runs out of gas or something? How about feeling my stomach drop as the plane plummets towards the ground right before we all go up in flames?”

  “Jesus.” He chuckles, before shaking his head. “You’ve put way too much thought into this.”

  “Of course, I have. That’s what I do. I’m an overthinker. An analyzer. And I need to be in control, which of course, I’m not when I’m riding as a passenger on the plane.”

  “Would you prefer to fly it?” He raises an eyebrow, while trying like hell not to let his smug smile break loose.

  “Smart ass,” I mumble, before griping my hands together.

  “I’m just saying. I saw the pilot when we boarded, and I can totally take him. So, if you’d be better of flying instead of riding…”

  I glare at him so hard that his words trail off.

  “You were supposed to laugh.”

  “I can’t laugh right now. My nerves are wound too tight. God, I hate this. I’m sorry, Ryan, but I need to stop talking and focus on my breathing now.”

  I squeeze my eyes shut after buckling my seatbelt. I lean back in my seat and prepare for the inevitable.

  “Have you always been like this on a plane?”

  “Yes. I know that it’s ridiculous and embarrassing, and I’m sorry for that. I just can’t help it.”

  “I don’t think that it’s either of those things. Everyone has their fears. It’s fine.”

  “You’re too kind. My ex-husband used to get really angry about it, which of course made my anxiety skyrocket. I know that I’m ridiculous. I just can’t help it.”

  “Your ex sounds like a tool. How do you usually get through flying?”

  “Well, I used to just bury my face in my husband’s chest. But when I flew here, I kept breathing really fast until I passed out. By the time I came to, I was already in the air. That worked too.”

  “What the fuck,” he mutters, before lifting his armrest.

  “You are not going to pass out. Come here. I have a perfectly good chest for you to bury your head into.”

  I bite my lip before opening one eye and staring at him.

  He does have a great chest, but well, that’s the biggest problem.

  If I bury my head in his chest, I may never take it back out.

  As I’m debating which is the lesser of the two evils, the plane begins to taxi down the runway. A little screech leaves me, and before I can even realize what’s happening, his hand is at the back of my head, pushing me into him.

  His smell surrounds me, taking my mind off my fear and causing all of my focus to shift the fact that my face is squished against his rock-hard abs.

  And, trust me.

  It is not a bad place to be.

  He pulls me tightly into him, and his hand moves to my head. His fingers gently rake through my hair, as he softly tells me that everything is going to be ok.

  This man.

  I don’t even know what to make of him.

  All that I know, is that it is going to take everything that I have not to fall for him.

  “Oh my god. You have to fill me in on everything.” Arielle’s eyes are way too full of excitement for my liking.

  I simply ignore her and turn my attention back to the menu that I already know by heart.

  “There’s nothing to tell. Our hotel was nice, the games were pretty cool, Isaac is a really great kid…”

  “Boring,” she interrupts, before nudging me hard. “That’s not the stuff that I meant. You stayed in a room with the guy, right? What does his chest look like? Did you happen to see him naked? Is his penis really that big?”

  “Arielle!” I glare at her. “Oh my god. Ryan is my boss. I did not look at his dick, alright?”

  “But you saw his chest. Please tell me that it looks as good in person as it does on the billboards all over town.”

  I grimace. Of course, it looks as good, better, even. But letting my mind drift to any naked part of Ryan is not good.

  The man inspires a tidal wave of emotions inside of me, all ranging from lust to pure disgust to something else completely. Something that I can’t quite put my finger on.

  Every emotion has one thing in common, however.

  Trouble.

  “Yes, his chest looks great, alright? But that’s as much as I saw. He was busy playing games and staring at half naked women at the ball field.”

  “What?”

  I frown.

  “There were all of these women, who kept chanting his name while flashing him their boobs. He was staring at them.”

  She wrinkles up her nose for just a second before raising her eyebrow and smirking at me.

  “You sound jealous.”

  “I’m not jealous!” I set my menu down before leaning across the table. “I’m disturbed. It was disturbing. Those women give all women a bad name. Like we’re nothing more than a set of boobs and a vagina.”

  “You sure sound jealous.”

  I glare at her before snatching my menu back.

  “I don’t even know why I bothered to come and visit you at work tonight. I can’t even believe that I actually missed you.”

  “Oh, please. You’re only getting pissy because I hit the nail on the head. You have a thing for the guy. Just admit it.”

  “I’m not admitting anything, because it’s not true.”

  “He’s hot.”

  “There are a lot of hot guys in the world.”

  “He’s famous.”

  “I’m not big on the spotlight.”

  “He has a big dick.”

  I cut my eyes at her.

  “Still yet to be proven.”

  “Well, you have plenty of time to figure that o
ne out. You leave with him again tomorrow, right?”

  All that I wanted was one day.

  One stinking day to get my mind right, and to get my mind off of Ryan.

  Arielle is obviously not going to let that happen.

  Coming here, to her restaurant was a bad idea. She’s not going to let me be.

  “Yes, I leave with him tomorrow. And no, I’m not going to be doing any dick investigation.”

  “Yeah, right.” She smirks at me before signaling to my waitress. “We’ll see about that. Enjoy your dinner, sis. Try the hot dog. I can tell you’re feigning for a big, fat, wiener.”

  Have I ever mentioned how much I hate my sister?

  So freaking much right now.

  Chapter Ten

  Isabelle

  “I hope that you don’t mind the accommodations,” Ryan tells me, as we pull into the driveway of a brick ranch house. “I just figured this would be easier on Isaac. He has a bunch of toys and his own bed here. Plus, the selfish part of me is sick of sharing a bed with him. Kid resembles an octopus when he sleeps.”

  “It’s fine.” I nod, before swallowing hard.

  My sister has totally poisoned my mind. The only thing that I have been thinking about since I woke up today is getting a look at Ryan’s penis.

  See what she has done to me?

  Ugh.

  As my head was buried in Ryan’s chest during takeoff and landing, I had kept my eyes open and had stared right there.

  And while the bulge was present, and telling of some girth in that area, still.

  I couldn’t really tell, and now it’s the only thing that I can think about.

  Thanks a lot, Arielle.

  “I’ve got a pool and a hot tub, although, the pool’s not open yet. The hot tub is open for business, though.” He smiles at me, and my knees get weak.

  “You’ll still have your own bedroom and bathroom, and the kitchens stocked.”

  I just nod.

  “We won’t have to follow the itinerary for anything besides the game schedule too, which is nice. Coach is always really lenient with us when we’re in our hometowns.”

  I nod again.

  “Alright.” He grins, before turning off the engine. “This is home for the next five days.”