by Debra Elise
“I need you to make me come. Now!”
Maverick placed his hands on either side of her opening and did the most delicious thing. He rubbed both thumbs with equal pressure, in, out, and around her. When he sucked her clit again, she grabbed the sheets and held on tight. A million lights burst behind her eyelids. She floated and then her body stiffened and spasmed in a dozen heart-stopping moments. She was going to die from pleasure right then and there.
Her whole body shivered and she held on to Maverick’s head while he continued his on slaught. God, that was the best orgasm of her life. Actually, after it was all said and done, it was more like three or four orgasms, bursting one right after the other. She was wrecked and energized at the same time and she wanted more of him. She never wanted it to end.
When she rolled over to her side to watch him as he rose up to lie next to her, he stroked her still trembling body. He gently pushed her onto her back and placed that hot, hard body over hers and entered her slowly, inch by inch.
The intensity she’d noticed before had returned. His body vibrated with each thrust. She whispered his name over and over as he began pounding into her body. With each stroke she came closer to another orgasm.
“Not yet. I’m going to make this good, for both of us,” he whispered in her ear.
“It’s already been good for me. Several times.”
“I know, and I want you there again, when I’m inside you. Now, turn over and put your sweet little ass in the air for me.”
She didn’t hesitate. Even though he’d already brought her higher than she’d ever been with his tongue, she excitedly turned over and did as he asked. Eager for him to be back inside her, she wiggled herself closer to his cock. “Is this how you want me, Mav?” Looking back at him she grinned. With her hair falling in her face, she didn’t care how she looked. She wanted him inside her now.
He shocked her by swatting her bottom. The sting was sweet and added to her excitement.
“You know exactly how I want you. Anyway I can, baby.” He guided himself into her wet pussy and rocked her fast and hard, the tip of his cock finding her G-spot. She screamed his name and went lax as the orgasm overtook her. Electric sparks spread through her body as he continued thrusting in and out.
His body spasmed as he came inside her. She didn’t care if she ever moved from this spot again. This was heaven and as he collapsed on her body, still hard inside her she couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began.
One thought played over and over in her mind as she drifted off to sleep.
How was she ever going to walk away from him? Oh my God. What if . . . what if she didn’t want to?
Chapter 25
Kelsey had woken him before the crack of dawn to drive her home. In a daze and without having the conversation he’d planned, he dropped her off but not before he made plans with her for that evening.
He drove away and consoled himself with the knowledge that she had unresolved issues with her mom and that the reason she refused to spend the whole night with him had nothing to do with him personally. Besides, as out of it as her mom seemed last night, he didn’t want her to worry about Kelsey.
Since he was up, he’d decided to meet Luke at the clubhouse gym, his catcher’s home away from home.
The rest of the day was filled with pitching practice and a team meeting where everyone was updated on the situation with Maverick’s now identified stalker. No one acted out of character or guilty when Syndi’s name was mentioned, but that didn’t mean much to Mav. If someone on the team was helping her, it would eventually come out.
Now he was late and wanted to make sure he’d picked up whatever mess he’d left behind that morning before Kelsey showed up for a night in. She’d actually agreed to spending time together without an audience and he wanted it to be memorable. Damn, he had it bad. He never cleaned.
Since he started playing pro ball, he’d never had a girlfriend. He never stayed with anyone long enough to forge a real connection. He felt certain Kelsey cared for him and not his money or fame. He wanted them to be a real couple, not one made up for the press.
Mav finished cleaning up the condo, changed into some sweats, and managed to open her favorite wine before he heard a knock at the door. Not bothering to check the peephole, he answered the door to see Kelsey. She stood there with red-rimmed eyes, arms wrapped around her waist.
“Hi, sorry it took me so long to get here, but I . . . ah, something came up.” She swept past him and stopped short and began shaking.
Hell, had another photo been released? “Kelsey. Look at me. What’s wrong?” He walked up behind her and ran his hands down her arms. She was so cold. “Here, sit down. Let me get you a blanket. You’re shivering.”
She let him guide her to the couch without a word. Worry rode him hard. “Hey, there. Talk to me.” He eased her down, took a knee, and tipped her chin up. “Babe, whatever it is, we’ll handle it.”
Tears hung on the edges of her lashes. She struggled to keep it together, but whatever had put her in this state, was too big to hold in. She covered her face and sobbed.
Mav did the only thing he could. He gathered her in his arms and held on as her body shook and tears flowed down her beautiful face, soaking his shirt. His heart ached to think someone or something had caused the woman who’d changed his life such heartbreak.
“Kelsey, please, you’re going to make yourself sick. Take a deep breath,” he whispered into her ear. “That’s it, baby. Nice and slow.” With that she lost it again. The sobs racked her body so hard, he thought she’d pass out.
He scooped her up and strode into his bedroom. He laid her gently on the bed, removed her shoes and stretched out next to her. Maverick gathered her close, and guided her head onto his shoulder.
Willing her to calm, he rubbed slow circles on her back. He’d do whatever it took to erase the despair he saw on her face. He willed her to be okay. Kelsey hiccuped a few times, tucked her fist under her chin, and burrowed into his chest.
He continued stroking her hair and waited. “I’ll be here when you’re ready to talk. I’m not going anywhere.”
She loved the feel of his body next to hers. Out of every reaction possible, he chose to comfort her, not pepper her with questions or worse, ask her to leave. Some guys couldn’t handle tears. Raw and spent, she was helpless to put up a fight any longer where her feelings for him were concerned. So she let go and fell all the way. She couldn’t pretend what she felt for this man was only physical.
She loved him. And because she did and could finally admit it to herself, she was able to share with him what had brought her to tears and heartache. Funny how dramatic events made everything else crystal clear. She was in the one place where she knew she’d be safe, be taken care of, maybe loved.
After a few more minutes of being caressed and soothed, she told Maverick what had happened after he dropped her off before sunrise. He held her a bit tighter as the day’s events poured from her.
She’d found her mother passed out. Liquor bottles and pills spread out on the guest bed, her lips blue, her skin deathly white. By the time the paramedics had arrived, she wasn’t sure her mother was still breathing but they found a pulse and transported her to the local hospital.
After they had pumped her stomach and rehydrated her too thin, alcohol-abused body, the doctor came out and discussed options with Kelsey. Options that would have been drastically different had she arrived home a half hour later.
The thing was, this wasn’t the first time her mom had tried to overdose. It was the first time Kelsey had been strong enough to not baby her mother and believe it would all work out.
It hurt. It hurt to know her mother didn’t love herself enough, or Kelsey, to get help. And now it was up to Kelsey to force her mother to get help or . . . she couldn’t think about the “or” right now.
“She’s in the hospital until at least tomorrow. But I told her not to come back to my place. I’m done with her until she gets clean.
I can’t keep . . .”
Maverick took her hand, twining his fingers through hers, and kissed her fingertips. “I know, Kelsey. You can’t force someone to change.”
He pulled her in closer, if that was possible. She began to slowly relax her tight muscles and let the heaviness of the past few hours melt away.
“And, Kelsey, next time something like this happens, you call me. Promise?”
“Mav, the press would’ve found a way to twist the truth of why you were seen at the hospital. Your reputation can’t take a hit like that. Not right now.”
“Okay then, if you have any more issues like this with your mom at least promise me you’ll call Lara or Noel?” Maverick asked.
“Okay, I promise.”
She marveled at the rightness of the moment. Born from desperation she’d found strength and hope for the first time in a long time. And all in the arms of a man who had turned out to be nothing like her father.
“Do you want to know why I’ve been so resistant to calling what we have a real relationship?” Kelsey asked.
“Maybe now’s not the right time, sweetheart.”
“I think it’s the perfect time.” Kelsey stayed silent for a few moments more. “My mother was nineteen when she met my father. One day a friend convinced her to go over and watch a minor league baseball game in Spokane. They sat down next to the home dugout and giggled and preened for the players as they came out and took their turn at bat. But Mom, she only had eyes for the pitcher.”
“Apparently she had caught his eye as well, and after the game my mom and her friend hung around in the parking lot with a bunch of other girls hoping to talk to at least one of the ballplayers. My father and a couple of his teammates spotted them and came over and introduced themselves.”
“He laid it on thick with her, or so mom tells me. She thought it was love at first—for both of them. He was two years older, handsome, and charming. He seemed to have a bright future ahead of him. She was starstruck and desperate to get out from under her parents’ strict religious beliefs. He managed to get her tickets for all the home games that season, and they spent their time partying and in bed. They’d been dating under two months when she discovered she was pregnant.”
Maverick remained silent. She couldn’t fathom what he was thinking right now. But she needed him to hear this.
“So, he did the right thing and married her. Looking back, I think it would have been better if he’d left her then because when he did leave, it was ugly. It happened when I was about one. My mom caught him with another girl after she went looking for him one night at his favorite bar. She lost it and started screaming at him and attacked the woman he was with.”
She paused to regroup. She wasn’t sure she could finish.
“What happened, Kelsey?” Maverick asked.
“She was given probation and I lived with my grandparents for a while. She begged my dad to stay.”
“But he didn’t,” Maverick said.
“No. And I didn’t see him again until I was nine years old.”
“Damn, Kelsey. That’s rough.”
“Anyway, all I really knew about my dad was he played minor league baseball and that was something I could share with him. When I was a teenager he started working with an East Coast club, and the visits became fewer until I finally got smart and realized he’d never be a typical dad. I haven’t spoken to him since college, and if I never saw him again, it would be too soon.”
Maverick didn’t say anything and Kelsey was too drained to worry about what he was thinking. She hadn’t discussed her father with anyone before and it felt strange to think of him now. She had pushed all thoughts of him firmly out of her mind.
Maverick shifted so he was on his side, face turned toward her. “I’m sorry, Kelsey, that you had to go through such a rough upbringing. Unfortunately, there are men, hell, boys really, who play around with women when they’re on the road. I’m not saying it’s okay, but when you’re on the road away from home a lot, well . . . and even with a beautiful wife or girlfriend to come home to, some of them get caught up in the hero worship and the easy, no-strings-attached hookups that are found wherever they go.”
He stroked her cheek and rubbed his finger on her lips. “It means a lot that you trusted me. To tell me what’s been holding you back.” Kelsey closed her eyes and sighed. His touch, even this light and comforting one, set her nerve endings humming.
“I’m not your father, Kelsey. And I know that my past with women hasn’t been stellar, but I’ve always been up front with them. I’ve never promised a commitment, then turned around and cheated. For that matter, I’ve never made a commitment to anyone. I’ve never wanted to. Until you.”
Kelsey smiled. “Maverick, you do have a way with words. That may be the corniest, most clichéd line out there, but I’ll take it.”
He grinned and stole a kiss, then another. Deciding the words could wait, he demonstrated with his body how committed to her he had become.
Chapter 26
Maverick woke up early and began packing for the trip to Peoria, Arizona and the Outlaws’ first spring training. He was disappointed Kelsey wouldn’t be joining him until the last week of March. She thought it would be a good idea for the public to see him on his own and how committed he was to the team.
He still had his doubts about her staying behind with Syndi on the loose. But he felt better knowing T.S. had increased security around the stadium. Mav also hired a private security company to patrol Kelsey’s neighborhood at night. He wasn’t taking any chances. No one would be hurting those close to him ever again.
She’d continue to work with the media and make sure the local community knew by his recent efforts that he considered Pineville his home now. Kelsey had received permission from Sam Davis over at the Children’s Club to let the newspaper come in and take a few photos of Mav working with the children as long as the kids’ names and faces weren’t shown.
He’d spent a couple more days there hanging out with a group of the older boys, playing cards and talking about life, and bad versus good choices. Ian had been there, and hung on his every word. Maverick wanted to know more about his home life and why a bright kid like him needed the services of the club, but he wasn’t allowed to pry. But if Ian told him on his own, then maybe he could help him out somehow.
He’d been surprised when Sam had said it would be okay if Maverick wanted to take the kids out for pizza and games at a local event center. He and another counselor had tagged along and the kids had a blast. It was one of the best days Mav had had in a long time.
Kelsey assured him she would stay in touch with the kids and pass back and forth any questions the kids wanted to ask him during training. He also made sure they knew if they wanted to tweet him, he’d answer as soon as he could.
He finished packing. He had one more session to go to with Dr. Sloane. They’d decided together to switch to a once a week session and he’d call her from Arizona. Driving over to her office, he’d thought about how hard she’d worked with him to get him to come to terms with what was really holding him back.
Admitting his problem was psychological had been tough. Growing up, his family had been close but his dad was a firm believer in not talking about your feelings. If something went wrong, a guy pulled himself up and dealt with it. No hugs or kisses to make the hurt go away.
He’d been told over and over again to “man up.” But Caris had made him realize that it was okay to have feelings and best to not hold them in, and talking to those that mattered the most to you when you were hurting was not a sign of weakness. Maybe he should ask his dad to join him in a session or two. The worst his dad could do was say no.
Dr. Sloane, or Caris as she now let him call her, welcomed him at the front desk. She didn’t have any other clients that day so her secretary was off.
“Hi, Maverick. How is everything?” She was dressed more casually than he’d ever seen her. She seemed less intimidating. He’d first come to see her as a c
lient but now felt a friendship was developing, and he wanted to ask her if she’d attend the first home game with Kelsey.
“Hi, Doc. Things are going really well.” He followed her into her office and sat down.
She raised an eyebrow when he called her “Doc” but didn’t say anything. He studied her a bit more closely and wondered if she had a boyfriend. He’d have to ask Kelsey. He thought she and Luke might hit it off. His buddy had a worse track record than he did picking women, and maybe the “opposites attract” thing would work out with them.
“Keep looking at me like that, Maverick, and I’ll tell Kelsey. What’s going on in that hard head of yours?”
“Oh nothing. I realized I’ve never seen you with your hair down or in civilian clothes.”
“Civilian clothes?”
“Yeah, jeans, blouse. Flats. You’re shorter today than I’m used to seeing you.”
Caris grinned at him. “Well, sorry to disappoint, but on my days off, I keep the heels and business suit locked away. Now, what should we talk about today?”
Maverick’s smile faded. Not because he didn’t want to talk to her, but because he had to think about what there was left to talk about. Over the last few weeks of spilling his guts to her, he had nothing left.
She rarely interrupted him when they had their sessions. And when she did, it was often with a question and not an opinion. Today he wanted to know what she thought. About him. About everything.
“Caris, I realized I’ve been waiting for a lightbulb to go off. Or to hear you tell me, ‘Mav, you’re cured!’ But maybe that’s not how it works. Right?”
She smiled and nodded.
“No comment?”
“Maverick, I think for all you’ve been through, you know that there is no cure. There are better ways to handle the pressure and stress you’ve put on yourself because of choices you’ve made, or uncontrollable events such as Connor’s death. My goal was to show you a better way to react to stressors in your life and from listening to you now, I believe you’re well on your way to getting there.”
