Batter Up: Up Series Book 2

by Robin Leaf

  In one smooth stroke, I bottomed out in the woman I love. I dropped my head back and let out a quiet, “Fuck,” and began a furious pace, almost punishing her with each thrust. I gauged her reaction to see if I was being too rough, but the blissed-out expression on her face and her noises told me she was loving it. She gripped my upper arms (yeah, she grabbed my biceps, so suck it, fucking Riley Tate) tightly.

  “Who’s fucking you, Etta?”

  She panted and whimpered.

  “Etta, I asked you a question.” I slowed my movements. “Tell me who’s fucking you.”

  “You are,” she barely whispered.

  I pulled back slowly. “Who is?” As I forcefully thrust forward, she gasped.

  “You are, Nathaniel.” My name from her mouth almost made me come.

  Grabbing her hips, I pulled her back to me hard. “You’re God damn right I am. You love it, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” she hissed through her clinched teeth.

  I felt her tighten around me, knowing that meant she was about to come. I paced my thumb on her clit and pressed down. She detonated around me. I kept up my pace, but bent my knees slightly, careful of my still healing one, but it allowed me to hit her at a different angle which I found, in my vast exploration of her body, prolongs her orgasm. Once I felt her rhythmic spasms slowing, I allowed myself to let go. I saw stars, and I know I was not quiet, but neither was she. In fact, I’m sure we were loud enough to be heard, but I had a hard time caring.

  She opened her eyes and looked at me dreamily as I still slowly moved inside her.

  “What was that?” she asked softly.

  “That was me,” I leaned in and whispered with my lips against her ear, “fucking my girlfriend.”

  She pulled her head back and smiled, raising her eyebrow. “That felt more like you were staking your claim.” She ran her hands up my shoulders to my face, caressing lovingly, all the while squeezing her muscles around my very-happy-but-tired cock. It twitched, realizing it might not get to go to sleep just yet. “Did you need to claim me?”

  I sighed. “Maybe.”

  “Why?”

  I decided honesty would possibly win me points, and with her, I had always been honest. Well, you know, except for secretly being in love with her since I met her, and for that time when I told her she had dreamed I touched her, and for what I had planned after the wedding. But why split hairs?

  I whispered, “He’s Riley fucking Tate. He’s taller, broader, dimpled, perfect, and I’m pretty sure you would run away with him if he so much as batted his ridiculously-long-for-a-guy eyelashes in your direction.”

  The smile turned into a smirk, but she lowered her voice to match mine. “No, I wouldn’t. He’s married, and very obviously loves Vanessa, who is my sister’s best friend by the way. I would never do that to her.”

  I ground my teeth. “And that’s the only reason you wouldn’t?”

  She moved her hips slowly and kept squeezing me in a way that had me fully hard again. “No, Nathaniel.” She kissed me. “I love you. Only you. I have for a long time, and I will for the rest of my life.” She started moving faster. “I never really thought I liked jealousy. This is pretty hot, though.”

  “I’m not jeal…” I threw my head back and nodded, remembering to be honest, “Yeah, okay, whatever, maybe I’m a little jealous.” I grabbed her hips to steady her and took over the movements. “Just stop touching him.” I dropped my forehead to hers. “And remember, I’m fucking famous, too.” She laughed, but stopped as I slammed against her harder. “Think you can come again?” She shook her head no. “Even if I do this?” I reached down and plucked at her clit roughly, rubbing it not-so-gently between my thumb and forefinger, another little trick I learned in my explorations. It works every time. She cried out right before she started pulsing around my cock. I watched her face, loving how I was the only one that would get to see it at times like this ever again.

  “Who made you come twice in less than five minutes, Etta?”

  She opened her eyes and whispered. “You did. Nathaniel.” She kissed me softly. “James.” She kissed me again. “Slaughter.” Then she slammed her mouth on mine, tangled her fingers in my hair, and kissed the life out of me. She pulled back to look me in the eyes. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  Five minutes later, we both tried to quietly sneak back into Brody’s living room, but we were met with raucous applause, cheers, and whistling.

  “Damn, you two. Twice?” Emily asked. Etta blushed and buried her head in my shoulder. “No, you don’t get to be embarrassed about that. You fucking own that shit. Besides, it sounded like it was earth shattering.” She held up her hand to Etta. “Way to go, Eddie!” They both giggled and slapped hands in this elaborate, twin-only handshake thing.

  It was so good to see them getting along again.

  “I’m jealous,” Vanessa whined. “Riley won’t take me like that anymore, ever since I became so gargantuan with two times his devil’s spawn. And here I am, big as a friggin rhino, horny like one, too, all the time…”

  Riley silenced her with a kiss. “I’ll see what I can do later,” he said quietly in her ear, but we all heard it.

  Brody, who looked like he needed a change of subject, walked around the couch and clapped Tater on the shoulder. “So, are you ready for a lifetime with my cousin, Tater? That’s a long time with this one.” He pointed to Emily. She stuck her tongue out at her cousin. “And come to think of it, something I’ve always wanted to ask… is your name really Tater?”

  The normally laid-back Tater seemed to grow uncomfortable. “No, it’s a nickname from childhood.”

  Emily came in to save her betrothed. “He’s used it in his job because people remember it. There’s only one Tater.” She smiled and snuggled into Tater’s side. “Everyone wants a Tater Tattoo.”

  He smiled down at Emily and whispered something in her ear that made her blush.

  “But why Tater? Do you just really love tater tots?” Vanessa giggled, as she laid down on her side, her head on her husband’s lap, while he rubbed her lower back and butt with a tennis ball, something Etta had told him to do.

  “His real name is Keaton,” Kaelyn provided. “He uses his nickname because he wants to distance himself from our father and his business.”

  “Oh, yeah? What business is your dad in, Tater?” Riley asked.

  Tater looked around the room, very sheepishly and mumbled something under his breath.

  Everyone looked to one another to see if anyone heard what he said.

  “Hotels.” Kaelyn rolled her eyes. “Our dad owns the Pelican Resorts and Casinos.”

  “Wait. Your dad is Tristan Cartupeli?” Brody asked, and he seemed angry.

  Kaelyn glared at him. “Yes,” she answered. She shot her eyes at Tater and relaxed her expression. “Our last name is actually how Keaton got his nickname.”

  “How do you go from an Italian last name to a potato?” Vanessa quipped.

  All eyes landed on Tater, but Kaelyn answered for him.

  “One of the guys Keaton went to school with had a mother, who was rumored to be some mail-order bride or something. She was from one of those L countries right next to Russia, Lithuania maybe? When she met Keaton, she told him kartupelis meant potato in one of the languages.”

  “It’s Latvian,” Tater amended.

  “So his friends started calling him Tater. I always hated that nickname. I wish he’d use what I called him.”

  Brody asked about drinks, effectively ending that conversation. Someone changed the subject, but I watched Emily. Based on her expression, the news of where Tater originated, both his nickname and his family, wasn’t news to her. So that was good. Starting a marriage without full disclosure would not be a good thing. I felt the need to look out for Emily, since one day soon, she would be my sister-in-law.

  Hopefully soon.

  Really soon.

  ***

  “Are we going to see the naked m
en now?” Vanessa yawned to Riley as he picked her up off the couch. She fell asleep about an hour ago while Riley was massaging her butt.

  “No, Nessa,” Riley told her. “We’re going back to your dad’s.”

  After Vanessa fell asleep, everyone decided that we could forgo the parties. Emily admitted she only agreed to the strip club because Vanessa wanted to go, and the guys didn’t care one way or another about playing poker. Someone made the joke about how getting old sucked, but I was looking forward to getting Etta home and doing some more hands-on learning of her body.

  “Awwww, but I want to go see the hot guys dance and get naked. I didn’t get to do it before our wedding. In fact, I’ve never seen a male stripper, and after that book Emily made me read about that really hot one, I wanna see some peen. Wasn’t that his name, Em, Peen?”

  “Yeah,” Emily answered. “I love that book, but his real name was Keane.”

  “Yeah, I loved it, too. He was funny and hot.”

  “We’ll go see strippers after you have those babies,” Emily promised. “The strip clubs are better back home, anyway.”

  “I’ll dance for you,” Riley told Vanessa, then he lowered his voice. “And I’ll even show you my peen.”

  “Aww, that’s sweet, Tate,” Vanessa sleepily, but loudly, said. She apparently failed quiet voice in kindergarten. “Oh, how I do love your peen, though.” She yawned. “Hey, if they ever made the movie, you could play Keane, except he’s a lot younger than you. Oh, and then there’s the whole you-can’t-dance thing. And he takes off his clothes, so everyone would see your tushy. That would make Gram so happy, but not your momma, and certainly not me. That ass is all mine.” She smiled lazily at her husband.

  I turned to look at Etta and followed her eyes to Riley’s ass. Great. Now, I was looking at Riley’s ass. Fuck. Wouldn’t you know, he has a great ass. More gravy for the Riley-Tate train.

  I slipped my arm around her and pulled her to me. “Do I need to remind you again who brought you here?”

  She looked up at me and smiled devilishly. “Yes, you absolutely do.”

  Twenty Eight

  January 14, this year

  Etta and I both got in the car and stared out the windshield. Neither of us spoke for about two minutes.

  “Welp, that happened,” she said, the first to break the silence.

  “Yep,” I agreed.

  I started the car and backed out of the space. “We just need to focus on the other things that happened today, Etta.”

  She snorted, “Nothing… nothing will ever erase the sight I just saw, Nathaniel. NOTHING!”

  I chuckled. She shot me a glare.

  “Do. Not. Laugh.” I tried, really tried to hold it in, but I couldn’t. I laughed out loud. “Stop it, Nathaniel!” It was one of those moments where the more I tried to stop, the harder I laughed. “There is nothing funny about this!”

  Since my eyes were blurry with tears, I had to pull over. I wiped my eyes and turned toward Etta, who was still glaring at me.

  “Oh, c’mon, Eddie,” I crooned. “You have to laugh about it. It’s all in how you look at it.”

  “You did not just catch your parents en flagrante dilecto at your sister’s wedding, Nate. If you did, I bet you wouldn’t be laughing.”

  “They weren’t naked, Etta…”

  “My mom’s boob was exposed!”

  “But your dad’s head was blocking it.”

  “And my dad had his hand… and my mom’s hand was…” she shuddered. “The image is psychologically damaging, Nate. Seeing it… much less hearing… ugh. The words coming out of my mother’s mouth…” She closed her eyes and shook her head.

  “Jesus, Etta, we really didn’t see much of anything. Just be glad your parents still get it on.” I smiled. “And be glad that Emily called us to get the bag she left and not Miles.”

  “Yeah, thank God for that small favor,” she deadpanned.

  “I’m surprised they didn’t hear us come in.”

  “I’m just really glad the bag was right next to the door.” She relaxed her posture, seeming to finally get that it wasn’t the end of the world.

  “Yeah, I’m just glad we didn’t interrupt them.”

  “NATHANIEL!” She chortled and swatted my arm. “EW!”

  “What? Your mom was in the zone. I would have felt bad for cock blocking her.”

  “OH MY GOD! Nate! Do not ever refer to my mother getting cock blocked ever again.” She was fighting a smile. “I really can’t think of her that way.”

  “Well, if you were raised with Tammy, you’d have a different view on parental sex. As a kid, I walked in on so many inappropriate moments… and when I turned ten and figured out what the noises from their bedroom were, I started wearing headphones.” Her mouth dropped open. “Parents are human, Etta. It’s good to know yours are still sexually active in their fifties.” I winked at her. “It gives me hope for our future.”

  “Yeah, well, I was raised in a conservative household. My mom gave us the speech with the mechanics of sex, but she couldn’t even use the proper terminology. She used words like ‘flower’ and ‘tallywacker’ to describe what she called ‘naughty bits.’ Then her advice was ‘but remember, good girls don’t ever do that sort of thing.’ That was it, so Mom probably thinks Emily and I are still virgins.” She shuddered again. “Seeing her like that… it ruins the wholesome image of my mother.”

  “Jesus, Etta, you can still think of her as wholesome.”

  “Nope. Now all I can think is that my wholesome mother is really a dirty, dirty slut.”

  I bust out laughing. She stared at me for a moment, but I could tell she was fighting a smile. She turned away from me, but her shoulders started shaking. I knew she had joined me in the laughing.

  “C’mon, Eddie,” I chuckled. “Let’s go deliver this bag and tell Emily what we saw.”

  “Oh my God,” she wailed. “Now THAT sounds like a plan!”

  ***

  While Etta delivered the bag to her sister, I opted to stay in the bar of the hotel for a quick drink. After all I had been through today, I needed one.

  Etta sidled up to me, placing her head on my shoulder.

  “Are you ready to go home?” I asked her.

  “God, yes,” she sighed. “I’m so ready for this day to be over.”

  Etta wanted to drive home since I had a pretty stiff double at the bar. After buckling our seatbelts, I said, “You know, this wedding was rather eventful. Walking in on your parents isn’t even in the top ten list of fucked up things I had to deal with today.”

  “Really?” I nodded. “Hang on, this I gotta hear.” She adjusted the mirrors, backed out of the space, and pulled onto the street. “Okay, go.”

  “First, someone thought it would be a good idea to give Miles his first cigar when he was hanging out with the groomsmen this morning.” Her eyes got wide. “Yeah. I had to take care of him when he got sick, which he almost did on my shoes, and I had to hide him from both Emily and your mother while he recovered.”

  “He’s only thirteen! I’m gonna kill him and whoever gave it to him.”

  “Trust me, he was punished enough. He learned his lesson. Miles didn’t snitch on who it was that gave it to him, and no one fessed up. Tater took care of it, though.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Okay, I guess.”

  “Next, a woman fainted at my feet. It scared the crap out of me, until she came to and admitted she did it because she realized that Riley Tate would be escorting her down the aisle.”

  Etta hid her smile. “That must have been rough.”

  “It was. But since I kept giving him shit about that woman fainting, Riley encouraged me to usher Vanessa’s eighty-year-old grandmother, who promptly groped my ass in a church full of people.”

  Etta gasped and covered her mouth. “Oh, Nathaniel, that’s fucking hilarious.”

  “Sexual harassment is no joke, Etta. Someone needs to tell her she can’t go around grabbing asses.”

&n
bsp; Etta rolled her eyes. “Yeah, okay, but you had to be flattered.”

  “Hang on, it gets better. She told Riley in front of everyone in the church that my ass is tighter than his.”

  She giggled. “That was nice of her.”

  I grinned. “Yeah, that was cool.” She giggled again. “Then I had to separate Brody and Kaelyn, which is why you ended up walking down the aisle with Brody instead of Miles. I think Kaelyn was about to throat punch him before I stepped in between them. Seriously, Etta, you need to talk to him, better yet, ask him over for dinner, so we can get the story about the two of them.”

  She nodded. “Yep, I’ll call him Monday.”

  “Good, because after watching them the other night and all day today, I gotta know the story.” I smiled. “Next, Dugger…”

  “Is that Tater’s best man?”

  “Yes, and let me tell you, he comes by the nickname honestly. I’m wondering if he has something wrong with him.” She raised her eyebrows in question. “Babe, you don’t want to know. Just be glad he didn’t prove why he got the name during the ceremony. Anyway, he forgot the ring in the groom’s room, so he asked me to hurry and get it for him. When I turned the wrong corner, I caught the photographer’s head up the skirt of the wedding planner.”

  “But they’re both…”

  “Yep, I got to witness a little girl-on-girl action, live and in color.”

  “I was going to say married… to men.”

  “Nothing like a little switch-hittin’ cheating going on in the house of the Lord, huh?”

  “I’m quite sure that’s a pretty big no no. And I’m not sure how I feel about you watching that.”

  I laughed at her narrowed eyes. “Relax, I didn’t see any good stuff. And I didn’t stick around to watch, either. I mean, I might have under totally different circumstances, but I was on a mission.”