Balls (Cruz Boys #1)

by Danielle Slater

  “Tell me about it, Sister” she said. “Enough about my tragic total lack of man-action. What about you? What’s this big surprise Leo’s got in store tonight?”

  I stared in the mirror, touching up the gloss that crept over the edge of my lip line. I shrugged, carefully so it wouldn’t cause my hand to slip.

  “If I knew, it wouldn’t be a surprise,” I said. “All I know is that he’s excited about it.”

  “He probably wants to claim your butt tonight. That equates to love or something for guys. Are you packing lube?”

  “Gross! Shut up!”

  She laughed and was clearly pleased with my response.

  “What? It’s no big deal,” she said. “He wants to tap that ass, and frankly, I don’t blame him.”

  I saw her in the reflection making lewd, emerald eyes at my backside.

  “Do you have a penis I don’t know about it?”

  “I wish. At least then I’d be getting some.”

  Someone knocked on the front door.

  “I’ll get it!” Megan said as she jumped up to answer it.

  She threw the door open and Ms. Pickering stood there holding Fifi with trembling arms. It seriously didn’t look like a safe perch for the little white poodle.

  “Alice, I ran into your weatherman downstairs,” she said. “Him and his sidekick. They’re bringing up some packages for me. He’s a fine catch, even if he’s terrible at making sure my Fridays are sunny. I don’t like walking Fifi to the groomers in the rain.”

  I almost mentioned that, one, weathermen didn’t make the weather. They reported it. And two, that Leo wasn’t a weatherman in the first place.

  But it didn’t matter.

  She called me Alice half the time, after all.

  Leo walked up behind her carrying a huge box. His biceps strained and his face was tense with effort.

  He looked gorgeous.

  His blue-gray eyes were cast a shade deeper by the fitted black cashmere sweater and black pants. The fabric accented his hard lines in the most delicious way.

  “Where would you like it, Ma’am?” he asked.

  “I haven’t had a moment to think,” she said. “Let’s unpack it in the living room and then we can try a few different arrangements to see what works.”

  Leo smiled at me from behind her back.

  “Sounds good.”

  A boy walked up behind Leo carrying a couple of smaller packages. He had an adorable riot of brown hair and ears that were a little big for his head.

  “Alex, this is the Josh I’ve told you all about,” Leo said. “He’s my favorite eight-year-old on the planet.”

  Josh beamed.

  “Hi! It’s nice to meet you, Alex,” he said. “Wow! You’re smokin’ hot! Leo said you had him wrapped around your little finger and I can see why!”

  “Sport!” Leo said. “You’re violating the code of the brotherhood! That was classified between-the-boys information.”

  Josh grimaced and his face tinted pink. “Sorry! It’s just that, well, she’s super hot!”

  I laughed and shook his fingers that weren’t supporting packages.

  “Nice to meet you.”

  Ms. Pickering was already in her apartment.

  “Let’s go boys,” she said. “Don’t keep an old lady waiting. Lord knows I might go at any second.”

  “You look like a Summer flower to me,” Leo said. “Stronger and more beautiful for having survived the Spring.”

  Ms. Pickering turned to me with an arched brow. “Alice, don’t let go of this one. Are you keeping him sexed up?”

  I choked on a reply while Megan giggled hysterically.

  Ms. Pickering waved us off. “You’ll learn when you’re my age. A woman’s got to use her honeypot while the taste is still sweet.”

  Josh’s eyes opened wide.

  Leo pursed his lips tight, doing his best not to bust out laughing.

  “Where did, ahem, you want these, Ma’am?” he asked.

  After Leo and Josh sorted out Ms. Pickering’s packages and said goodbye, they joined Megan and I in our apartment.

  Leo kissed me and acted like he had every intention of going further, but I ended it before we had a reason to be embarrassed.

  I glanced at Megan and she practically had drool dripping from her lips. I was going to have to set her up with a date in the near future. Leo could probably help, but I wasn’t sure I trusted his teammates with my best friend.

  “Did you bring the package?” Leo asked Josh.

  “Oh, be right back!”

  He ran out the open door and the patter of his receding footsteps echoed down the hall. He returned a minute later with a long box in his arms. He passed it over to Leo.

  “Thanks, Sport.”

  Jake held out his hand and I shook it to make our introduction official.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Josh,” I said.

  “You’re boobs are awesome,” he said with a look that hinted at his approaching adolescence.

  Leo cuffed him on the back of the head. “Back off, bro. She’s mine.”

  Josh grinned like the little boy he was. “Sorry! This is my first date.”

  “You’re not on a date,” Leo said. “I am.”

  “Speaking of our date,” I said, “what are we doing?”

  I honestly didn’t know because I had no idea an eight-year-old would be joining us.

  Leo turned to me with a broad smile. “This is for you,” he said as he handed me the long box.

  I examined the outside. The box had an elegant, silver embossed sticker that said Margaritas, Barcelona’s Finest Florist.

  Flowers?

  Didn’t I specifically tell him I was allergic?

  Leo grinned. “Open it.”

  I peeled open the package and didn’t find what I expected to find.

  It didn’t contain tulips, or flowers of any kind.

  It had a bright blue helmet.

  “What’s this?” I asked.

  “It’s a bike helmet,” Leo replied.

  “And why is it a bike helmet?”

  “Because it’s time you learned how to do something an eight-year-old can do!”

  Josh furrowed his brows.

  “She doesn’t know how to ride a bike?”

  “I don’t,” I said. “And I don’t plan on starting tonight.”

  “Come on!” Leo said. “This is Life Skills 101 thing. Besides, I’m a great teacher.” He turned to Megan. “Help me out here, Megan. She should be able to do this, right?”

  Megan nodded. “I’m in your corner, Sister. But you really should know how. It’s kind of crazy you don’t.”

  I might’ve put my foot down and flat refused, but then I realized it was another perfect media op for Leo.

  “Fine, I’ll do it,” I said. “Where are we going?”

  “To Las Ramblas,” he said. “It’s the straight, long, and flat. Perfect for a beginner.”

  I grabbed my phone and texted Ed to grab his gear and meet us there in thirty minutes. If I was going to have to go through the humiliation of learning to ride a bike at age twenty-four, I was at least going to get some usable media clips out of it.

  I mean, what could be cuter? The Bad Boy Lion of Spain riding on a tandem with his girlfriend next to boy who meant so much to him. It had viral Twitter explosion written all over it.

  “Shall we?” Leo asked as he held out his arm.

  “I’m game,” I said.

  Josh held his arm out to Megan.

  “If you’re looking for a date tonight, I’m available.”

  She winked at him. “That’s a tempting offer, but I’m afraid we’re generationally incompatible.”

  “No problem,” Josh said as a grin broke out on his face, “I’m around if you change your mind.”

  Megan blew me an air kiss. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” she said.

  “That leaves just about everything on the table,” I said.

  “That’s the idea.”

>   Leo hooked his arm around my waist. “I promise to bring her back… eventually.”

  “I won’t wait up,” Megan said.

  We exited the building and I saw two bikes leaning up against the building. A long one with seats and pedals for two and a smaller one presumably for Josh. Guarding them was the gang of local toughs that I usually avoided at all costs.

  Leo slapped high-fives with each of them.

  “Thanks, guys,” he said.

  There normally intimidating snarls were totally transformed. They looked like puppies begging for more attention.

  “You got it, Leo!” one said.

  “Anytime, man!” another said.

  Leo held the shoulder of the one that looked like the leader.

  “Listen, can you do me a favor?” he said.

  “For The Lion of Spain?” the guy said. “Anything.”

  “Keep an eye on my lady here. Her roommate and the old lady I walked in with.”

  “Consider it done,” the guy said.

  “Thanks, man. I’ll drop by with a few jerseys to pass around,” Leo said.

  “That’s awesome!” one said.

  “So cool!” another said.

  They turned and ambled off toward their usual perch below the broken street lamp at the corner.

  I turned and stared at the tandem bike.

  “Helmet, first,” Leo said. He put it on my head and adjusted the fit until it was snug.

  Now that I was here about to do it, I wasn’t so sure.

  “Don’t worry,” Leo said. “I’ll be the balance and the power. All you have to do is enjoy the ride.”

  Well, when he put it that way.

  “I’m putting my life in your hands, Leonardo Cruz,” I said.

  “That’s all I ever wanted,” he said. The tenderness in his eyes took my breath away. He meant it. It was as if he was saying the sky was blue. It came across as self-evident truth.

  My heart squeezed in my chest and, for the millionth time since meeting him, I wondered at my luck.

  At my destiny?

  Josh grabbed the smaller bike.

  “Do you seriously not know how to ride a bike? I mean, you’re a grown-up!”

  I was not going to let a precocious eight-year-old make me look like a three-year-old.

  “Give me a week to learn and I’ll leave you in the dust!”

  “You’re on!” he shouted as he took off down the street.

  “Stop at the corners and wait for us!” Leo shouted.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know!” his voice echoed down the street.

  Leo settled me onto the back seat and took his place at the front. He held the bike steady as I lifted my feet to the pedals.

  It tilted a nano-inch and I squealed with terror.

  “You’re fine,” he said. “I’m not letting you go anywhere.”

  “Don’t let me fall, Leo!”

  “Never.”

  We started slow and, after we’d gone a few blocks, I started to feel more comfortable. It wasn’t so hard. We made it to Las Ramblas and I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I carefully teased it out of my back pocket and saw that Ed was ready to go down at the roundabout with the statue of Christopher Columbus.

  Perfectly picturesque. Ed had a good eye.

  “Let’s go see the Columbus statue,” I said as we pulled into the bustle of tourists and locals enjoying the evening.

  “Sure,” Leo said.

  We arrived and circled around the roundabout as Ed stood on the sidewalk with his camera on his shoulder. His eye was stuck to the eyepiece and he gave me a thumbs up as we passed him the first time.

  “Let’s go around it a few times,” I said.

  Leo saw Ed recording and laughed.

  “Always on the job, huh?” he said.

  “Somebody has to be,” I said.

  Josh stopped as the light turned red. Leo and I pulled up next to him.

  “Hey, Sport,” he said as he reached across and pulled him over in a hug. “How about we get a snack and then some ice cream for dessert?”

  “Yes! And then a churro after that!”

  Leo laughed. “We’ll see.”

  The light turned green and we continued on for another couple of loops. Ed captured it all.

  Awesome.

  Leo pulled up to a stop next to Ed.

  “How did we look?” he asked.

  Ed tucked the camera under his arm.

  “It’s sickly cute. People are going to love it.”

  “Thanks, Ed. You rock, brother,” I said.

  “Just doing my job, while I still have one.”

  “Haha, very funny,” I said. “You can thank me later.”

  He rolled his eyes. “I’ll consider it. Well, you guys have fun.”

  I was about to tell Ed what to do with the footage when he held his hand up.

  “And I’ll get this to Editorial ASAP. We’ll get a few clips ready for posting by tomorrow.”

  “I owe you one, Ed,” I said.

  “Don’t I know it,” he said with a nod.

  “See you later,” Leo said and started the bike back up Las Ramblas. “I’m so jealous,” he said as the buildings slid by. Josh rode up ahead a little ways.

  “Of what?” I asked.

  Maybe he missed the thrill of first learning how to ride. It was more terrifying than thrilling to me. But Leo certainly had an appetite for danger that I didn’t share.

  “Of your seat,” he said.

  “What?”

  “I wish I was your bicycle seat right now. If I was, I’d be one big tongue.”

  My insides squirmed. They were perpetually squirming around him. I couldn’t believe what came out of my mouth next.

  “If you were my bicycle seat, I’d ride you all night long.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Leonardo

  We spent every night for the last three weeks at my place.

  In bed.

  The room service guy bringing meals was the only face we saw from seven in the evening to seven in the morning.

  So much for being out in public working on my image.

  Screw it.

  I didn’t care much in the beginning, and I didn’t want to share Alex now.

  In my bed, she was mine and mine alone.

  It wasn’t all stacks of unlimited awesome though. On our last few times hanging out together, Josh was acting weird. I thought he could tell something was changing in me. He could tell my feelings for Alex signified a new major player in my emotional landscape.

  He wasn’t used to the competition because there had never been any.

  I broached the topic last week but he shut me down cold. There was no way I was gonna break his heart, but he had to understand I had enough room in my life for both of them.

  He needed time to adjust. He’d get there.

  I’d never give up on him.

  Practice was another area in my life feeling the burn of Alex’s and my time together. We were like a band. Every performance got better as we figured out how to play together. And we practiced our harmonies all night long.

  It was unbelievably good.

  And utterly exhausting.

  I hadn’t slept more than a couple of hours each night. Between lack of sleep and the acrobatic exertion of claiming Alex night after night, I was seriously depleted.

  And depleted wasn’t where you wanted to be when you were preparing to lead your nation to victory in the biggest sports spectacle in the world.

  A better choice would’ve been restraint.

  With Alex, I was no good at that.

  Turning down another round of Alex’s long legs wrapped around my waist required a level of self-restraint that I didn’t have, had never had, and was pretty sure would never have.

  Plus, why the hell would I want to do that?

  So, yet again, I dragged ass at practice, paying the price.

  The hard heat of the afternoon sun beat down on Camp Nou stadium and all of its occupants.

&
nbsp; Me, specifically. It singled me out. I felt it.

  Even dragging ass was a tall order. I was more like a shuffling corpse at this point.

  Coach didn’t miss it. And he hadn’t missed any of the preceding days either.

  “Pick your feet up, Cruz!” he shouted from the sidelines.

  If only he knew how heavy they were.

  He turned to the assistant coach and said in a voice clearly intended to be heard by every last person in the stadium, “It’s like I’m watching a fucking slow motion special effect.”

  Rodrigo jogged by and slapped my ass. “Get it into gear, Lion. That elephant wants to stomp your nuts.” He laughed and headed off toward the play building further up the field.

  I covered my eyes to block out the searing light. I needed a solid ten hours sleep and then I’d be as good as new.

  But Alex was coming over tonight and I didn’t see that happening.

  “Are you on drugs, Leonardo?” Coach yelled. “Get over here!”

  Rodrigo glanced over his shoulder and threw a gruff laugh my way.

  I flipped him the bird. The bastard.

  I jogged over, ready to get my butt chewed because he wasn’t wrong.

  “You’re moving like you’re in water!” he yelled. “Are you too good to give a shit at practice?”

  He pointed behind me toward the field. “Get your ass moving or you’re gonna find it warming the bench.”

  A hot geyser of rage burned in my belly.

  Who did he think he was talking to?

  Without me, this team had no chance of taking on the Cup. I bit back fiery words that fought to spill out. I did an about-face and loped back into the ongoing play.

  The thing that pissed me off the most was that he was right.

  Rodrigo passed me the ball, and I turned in a fluid sweep towards the opposing goal. The predictable fire of the finish flared in my gut. I sprinted towards the goal with the ball never far from my foot.

  Our best defender rolled forward to intercept me. I juked left, tapped the ball right, and then cut hard to follow it. I left him in the dust.

  His best wasn’t good enough when I was on my game.

  But I’d let the ball speed ahead a little too far.

  I struggled to catch up as the goalkeeper ran out of his box, intent on cutting me off. We met at the ball at about the same time.

  He dove for it, and I reared back and tried to drive it through his outstretched arms and into the goal.