Stealing Second

by Alison Packard

  “Oh, I’m in,” he assured her with a grin.

  A slow sexy smile tilted her lips as she lowered her hands, grabbed the hem of his T-shirt and lifted it. He raised his arms and helped her pull it over his head. She let it fall to the floor, then she lifted her hands and skimmed her palms over his chest, up to his shoulders and then down to his biceps.

  Her touch was as soft as a feather, yet his reaction was anything but. The roar of his heart echoed in his ears, and every cell in his body erupted with need. Still, he made no move to touch her. He clenched his fists at his sides and let her take the lead.

  Her hands retraced their path, then she tilted her head and moved her finger to touch the faded scar to the left of his belly button. A tiny crease formed between her eyes as she frowned. “What happened?”

  “I took a cleat on a play at home plate my last season with the Rangers—he got me right beneath the pad of my chest protector.”

  She winced. “Did it hurt?”

  “Like a son of a bitch. I still can’t believe it tore my skin.”

  “I’ll bet you played the next day.” She trailed her hands lower, to the waistband of his jeans, and with a quick movement, undid the button. “You always had a high tolerance for pain.”

  Not now, he didn’t. His dick ached so much from wanting her he could barely stand it. He stared at her hands and imagined her wrapping one around his cock and massaging him until he was even harder than he was right now.

  “Shoes.”

  “Huh?”

  “Take your shoes off.”

  He obeyed her command, kicking off one shoe using the opposite foot, then doing the same with the other. He shoved the shoes aside with one foot, then met her eyes. She gave him a smile, slipped a finger in one of the belt loops on his waistband and stepped back, pulling him with her toward the bed.

  His dick throbbed as she sat down on the bed, then unzipped his jeans. Impatience finally won out. He took it from there, and quickly rid himself of his jeans and briefs. When they were on the floor, not far from his shoes, he looked at her and found her staring at him with what looked like awe.

  “It’s not fair,” she said, and lifted her hand to trace the slight indentations on his abdomen with her finger.

  He drew in a sharp breath. Her exquisite face was about a foot away from his groin. The next best thing to being inside of her would be her taking him into her warm, moist mouth. His cock twitched at the thought, and he fought the impulse to put his hands on the back of her head and make it a reality.

  “What’s not fair?” he asked.

  “A body this amazing isn’t fair to the rest of us.” She stared at his erection, then tilted her head back. The desire in her eyes almost snapped his control. “I still fantasize about you. No man has ever made me feel the way you did. No one.”

  Tom bit back a groan at the thought of her masturbating while thinking of him. For as many times as he’d jerked off to images of her, he never once considered she was getting off the same way.

  “But as good as fantasies are, they aren’t real.” She lifted her hands to his thighs, then slid them up to his hips. Her light touch prickled his skin and a thrill shot up his spine. “I don’t want a fantasy anymore. I want the real thing,” she said softly, then lowered her head, leaned forward and took him into her mouth.

  He gasped aloud, and put his hands on the back of her head to keep his knees from buckling.

  “Jesus,” he muttered as she wrapped her fingers around the base of his cock and moved her hand back and forth in synchronization with her mouth while she sucked him. He looked down, just as she looked up. Holding his gaze, she took him deeper. He groaned, twined his fingers in her hair and tried like hell not to fuck her mouth like he wanted to fuck her pussy.

  It didn’t take long before Katie’s talented mouth and tongue had him approaching the point of no return. With superhuman effort, he took a step back. She released her grip on him and stared up at him, her eyes wide with confusion. The sight of her moist, full lips had him wishing he had let her finish. But as amazing as her mouth felt on his cock, there was only one place he wanted to be when he came.

  Inside her.

  Before she could say a word, he yanked her up and pulled her against him. Finally, skin to skin, he covered her mouth with his and she melted against him. How he’d lived without kissing her for so many years was one mystery he would never be able to solve.

  With a low growl, he slipped his tongue into the tempting heat of her mouth, and skimmed his palms down the gentle slope of her back to cup the sweet curve of her ass. His fingers dug into her soft flesh and he pulled her even closer. His erection nudged into the vee between her thighs, and although it wasn’t exactly where he wanted to be, it was enough for right now.

  Her arms tightened around his neck, and almost as if she was able to read his mind, she wrapped her legs around his hips as he splayed his fingers over her buttocks and lifted her.

  Breaking the kiss, he moved to the side of the bed and deposited her on the smooth white sheets. While she moved to the center of the bed, Tom grabbed the foil packet from the nightstand and within seconds had unrolled the condom over his erection.

  He turned toward the bed, and the passion burning in Katie’s eyes as she looked up at him just about sucked the air from his lungs. Something that felt like a vise tightened around his heart, and he had to force himself to breathe. Until this moment he hadn’t realized how empty his life had been without her in it. He couldn’t go back to that life. This would not be another last time with Katie. It couldn’t be.

  “Tom?”

  The husky need in her voice chased away all coherent thought. She spread her legs in silent invitation; he climbed on the bed and crawled over her. His cock nudged against her soft folds as he braced his hands on either side of her. She lifted her hands and placed her palms on his chest, then slid them to his sides and lightly caressed his rib cage with her fingertips.

  His skin sizzled everywhere she touched, and although he was dying to fuck her, he forced himself not to sink into her warm sheath. He searched the perfection of her face, and his gaze zeroed in on the beauty mark at the corner of her mouth. It was still the sexiest thing on her body, which, considering how hot her body was, was saying something. He pressed his mouth to it, just as he had so many times in the past.

  “Kiss me,” Katie murmured, with a note of impatience in her voice. Her breath warmed his jaw, then she slightly shifted her head to capture his lips with hers. Within seconds, the tentative kiss turned hot. He parted her lips with his, and at the exact same moment he plunged his tongue into her mouth, she flexed her hips and he instinctively buried himself into her moist heat with a single hard thrust.

  Her gasp turned into a long satisfied sigh as he withdrew nearly all the way out of her tight wet pussy, and then thrust into her again, only deeper. He did it again. And again. And again, until all that mattered was Katie’s breathy sounds of pleasure, the sharp sting of her short nails raking over his back, and the feeling that after so many empty, lonely years, he’d finally come home.

  Seconds later, Katie tensed, then let out a long shuddering moan. He felt her pulse around his cock, and satisfied that she’d found her release, he finally gave himself over to the orgasm he’d been staving off.

  When the last vestiges of pleasure faded from his body, he buried his face in her neck and breathed in her delicate scent. For the first time in more years than he could remember, he felt completely content.

  He had no clue what would happen tomorrow, or the day after that, but he did know that now that he had Katie back in his arms, there wasn’t a chance in hell he’d ever let her go.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Lying on her side, Katherine awoke with an odd sense of déjà vu. For a moment she was confused, then memories from last night washed over her and she smiled. Tom was the reason for her current state of bliss.

  It wasn’t just the way he’d made love to her that filled her entire b
eing with happiness. It was the way he’d tucked her snugly against his body, like he had to touch her even while they slept. It was the steady beat of his heart against her back, his breath warming her neck, and the protective arm he’d flung over her waist.

  She opened her eyes to find the room imbued with a hazy golden glow. The source, no doubt, was the early morning sunlight filtering in through the partially open curtains. Other than the steady cadence of Tom’s breathing, the only other sound in the room was the faint rush of water running through the pipes, indicating that the guest in the room next to hers was using the shower.

  Her gaze sought the digital clock on the nightstand. Five fifty-two. Thank God. She still had another two hours before she had to shower, dress and deal with—among other things—the fallout from Ava’s announcement and the continuing media frenzy over Trey’s criminal investigation.

  During her tenure with the Blaze, she’d been on countless road trips. To many people, traveling with a Major League Baseball team might seem exciting but, fear of flying aside, road trips got old fast. And they were far from glamorous. She’d tossed and turned on more than one lumpy mattress, laid her head on dozens of overstuffed pillows, bathed in cramped shower stalls and one time stood in a parking lot in her robe and slippers for two hours after the hotel the team was staying in received a bomb threat. But when it came to having sex on a road trip, well, that was about the only thing that hadn’t happened.

  Until last night.

  Maybe it was destiny that Tom was the first man she’d broken her unwritten rule for. After all, he’d been the first boy to kiss her, her first lover and her first heartbreak. And for a few years after she left Texas, he’d been the first thing she thought about in the morning and the last thing she thought about at night.

  Despite the familiarity of making love with him, a span of seventeen years had passed since they’d been a couple, and in many ways she and Tom were very different people from the two teenagers who’d fallen madly in love with each other. But after last night, she couldn’t deny that the attraction that brought them together initially was still there, and as potent as ever.

  Was that attraction enough to bridge the years that had separated them? Was the knowledge their parents had manipulated them into breaking up enough to rebuild what they once had? Or was that love gone forever, decimated by time and circumstance?

  Tom stirred behind her. The steady cadence of his breathing changed, and his arm tightened on her waist. His morning erection nudged decisively in the crevice of her buttocks as he nuzzled her shoulder with his warm mouth.

  “Good morning,” she whispered.

  “Mornin’,” he said, huskily. “Please tell me it’s not time to get up.”

  The slight pleading tone in his voice caused her to smile. “It’s not. At least it isn’t for me. What time do you usually meet with the coaches?”

  “Nine, when we have a one o’clock start time.”

  “Then you’re fine. It’s almost six.”

  He exhaled a sigh of relief. “You’re not sorry about last night, are you?” he asked, after a few seconds.

  “No.” She shifted on the bed and turned to face him. With his tousled hair, slight stubble and eyes still clouded from sleep, he looked deliciously sexy and extremely kissable. “Not at all,” she assured him. “If there’s anything I’m sorry for, it’s that I was too stubborn to talk to you before last night.”

  A wry smile quirked his mouth. “You know, all of this could have been avoided if we’d had cell phones back then.”

  “You’re right. I could have called or texted you from the hospital instead of asking my father to do it.” She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t recall any of our friends having cell phones back then. My father had one, but he hated it and rarely used it.”

  “And there was no way we could have afforded one. Even though my father was paying child support, Mom had a hard enough time paying for our landline.” He lifted his hand and caressed her shoulder. The gentle touch of his fingers sent a shiver over her body. “I still remember how relieved they both were when I got the letter that my partial scholarship had been amended to a full ride.”

  “When did that happen?” She frowned.

  “Right after I got to UT. The scholarship committee contacted me and said there was some sort of clerical error and their original letter got sent out with the wrong information on it.”

  “That was some error. Can you imagine if they’d never caught it?”

  Tom shrugged. “I’m just glad they did. More for my parents’ sake than my own. After the divorce, Mom and Dad only spoke to each other when it pertained to me and Sheila. But Dad never shirked his responsibility when it came to us. He was all set to get a second job to make up the difference. I’m grateful he didn’t have to do that.”

  “Do you think your father knew your mom lied to me?”

  Uncertainty flickered in his eyes. “I’d say that’s unlikely, considering the cause of their divorce, but I’ll find out when I talk to her. I need to know why she would do that to me. To us. She knew how much I loved you.” He searched her face with a gaze so tender her heart turned over. “I’m glad we were finally able to talk about the past and be completely honest with each other.”

  “Me too,” she said, ignoring the sudden tightness in her chest. So she’d omitted one important detail. It didn’t matter now, and what good would it do to burden Tom with the knowledge that she wasn’t the only thing he’d lost all those years ago? No. Some things were better left unsaid.

  “Are you hungry?” she asked, forcing a smile. “We could order breakfast from room service before you have to go to the coaches meeting.”

  “Oh, I’m hungry.” His wicked grin made her stomach flutter. “But not for breakfast.”

  * * *

  Tom’s pulse accelerated at the flare of heat in Katie’s eyes. With a low growl of want, he slid his hand to her nape, pulled her forward and kissed her. His dick, already at half-mast, hardened considerably as she opened her mouth and met his tongue with hers. Within seconds, the kiss exploded into a sensuous tangle of lips and tongues, and everything faded away except for the sound of his heart pounding in his ears, and the raw desire throbbing in his groin.

  Just when he thought he might spontaneously combust, Katie broke their kiss and, with a quick motion, dispensed with the sheet and light blanket covering them. She kicked at it, then put her palm on his chest and forcibly pushed him so that he fell back on the bed and was staring up at her. Christ almighty, she was something. With her hair tousled from sleep, and her full, moist lips slightly parted and underscored by that sexy-as-hell beauty mark, she was easily the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on.

  “I’m hungry too.” She traced her fingers over the whorls of hair that spread across his chest, then followed the sparse trail to his abdomen. As she neared his groin, his cock throbbed and his balls tightened with a need that would have dropped him if he’d been standing. His breath jammed in his throat and, at this moment, he wanted her to take him into her mouth more than he wanted the Blaze to get to the post-season.

  “For you,” she said huskily. His heart slammed against his ribs as she got on her knees next to his hips and stared at his rock-hard erection.

  It seemed like hours, but it was probably only seconds before she bent over him. Her silky hair brushed his stomach and thighs; the mere touch of the soft tendrils against his skin sent a jolt of heat right through him. Instinctively, he lifted his hand to the curve of her back and arched his hips, seeking the warmth of her mouth.

  She didn’t make him wait. Her lips closed over him and she took him deep. Unable to contain it, his low rough groan filled the room and mingled with the erotic sound of her sucking him. His blood pumped furiously through his veins as she wrapped her fingers around the base of his erection and used both her hands and mouth to stimulate him.

  It didn’t take long before his body was demanding release, but he forced himself not to let go. He
’d fantasized about this for far too long for it to be over so quickly.

  In an effort to prevent himself from going over the edge, he slid his palm along the soft skin of her back, then over the curve of her ass. He slipped his hand between her legs and found her creamy and slick with her own need. Unable to resist, he explored the soft wet folds of her pussy. She whimpered and went still. A heartbeat later, she returned to driving him crazy.

  She was wet. So wet. An image of what he’d done to her last night on the table flashed in his mind. She’d tasted so sweet, and she smelled so good it was a miracle he hadn’t ejaculated in his jeans when he was going down on her.

  He groaned silently at the thought of tasting her again. Right now.

  Withdrawing his hand from between her legs, he curled his upper body slightly and put his hands on her hips. Katie lifted her head and turned to look at him with a question in her eyes.

  “Brace your hands on the bed,” he said, then eased her up and over him when she complied.

  “Tom,” she whispered, her voice slightly shocked, but filled with arousal as he lowered her until her knees hit the bed on either side of his head. “What are—?”

  “Suck me. Now,” he commanded, in a low urgent voice. He groaned as she sheathed him with her mouth. For several seconds, he stared at the most intimate part of her while he absorbed the sensations of her milking him with her mouth and hand.

  God, she was beautiful. Her pussy—flushed a dark pink—shimmered with moisture. Her folds were swollen and open. Open for him. Unable to stop himself, he pressed his face to her flesh and inhaled her womanly scent.

  She quivered against his mouth. He gave her a long lick, then his tongue circled her clit with slow, leisurely strokes. She moaned and swirled her own tongue around the crown of his penis, mimicking his actions.

  Time slowed as they continued to feast on each other. Their mutual sounds of pleasure filled the room and intensified the ache throbbing in his groin.

  Tom skimmed his palms over her hips and stroked her satiny smooth back. Pulling his mouth from her, he closed his eyes and focused solely on her warm, wet mouth sliding up and down his cock. Her hair brushed over his thighs, and her taut nipples grazed his stomach. All his senses were on overload. What they were doing was so damn hot, and felt so fucking good, he didn’t have a prayer of holding out for much longer.