Rounding Third

by Michelle Lynn

  “I’m sorry.”

  He shakes his head. “No need to apologize. I didn’t ask you to join me for some sex conquest. If I wanted that, I’d be in the cave, having a threesome.”

  I cringe.

  He chuckles. “Yeah, you’re not really the type.”

  A warmth spurs my stomach with his compliment. “No.”

  “Your Lynch’s though.” He nods in the direction of where Crosby snuck off from.

  My eyes follow his directive, only to find Crosby and Kendra back from wherever they went. Crosby’s back is along the section where the rock sneaks out like a ledge. Kendra’s pressed to him, but his eyes are burning toward me.

  Our eyes catch and lock. He’s not happy, and a vein twitches in his neck, showing he’s about a minute from going ballistic.

  “Should I be worried that he’s killing me with his eyes?” Derek asks.

  I tear my gaze from Crosby’s.

  Two can play his game. My only assumption is that Crosby knows about the deal I made with my parents. Damn if Ariel doesn’t have a huge-ass mouth.

  “No. He’s innocent. Plus, he’s busy.”

  Derek smirks. “I came over because I didn’t like it that he was all up in Kendra’s shit, but I’m thinking there’s more I don’t know.” His hand extends over our designated rafts and grazes along my arm. “I’m more than willing to play the game.”

  I freeze. “We have a history.”

  His fingertips brush slowly along my arm, but no goose bumps follow.

  “Get your hand off her.”

  My body tenses, surprised he made it over so fast.

  “Why? She can make her own decisions,” Derek baits.

  I smile over to Derek.

  “Crosby, I thought we were leaving.” Kendra cozies up to his side, her eyes on me the entire time, waiting for me to react.

  Crosby’s arm flies up in the air, and Kendra’s hand is thrown off in the process. A small elation floats in my stomach. Sure, now, my body is ready to have a response.

  “I’m only leaving with Ella.” Crosby’s eyes stare at me as he picks up Derek’s hand and removes it himself.

  “I’m not going anywhere with you.” I sink under the water and swim away.

  Of course, my foot is grabbed a second later, and I’m being pulled toward him. I rise to the surface and splash him in the face. He blinks a few times, and his hands grab my waist, his fingertips dipping right under my waistband. I wiggle and hit, but he holds me strong.

  “Go home with her, Crosby. Kiss her, undress her,” I say.

  “Stop it, Ella,” he seethes through his teeth. “Don’t make me jealous.”

  I stop and tread water in place, making sure the seriousness is shown on my face. “Go home and fuck her.”

  His whole body tenses, and the only thing that moves are his eyes on me.

  “Ella,” Ariel sighs.

  “Crosby, cool down.” Spencer swims up next to him.

  We both hold our hands up in the air to our siblings.

  “This is between us,” I say.

  Crosby nods in agreement.

  “You’re coming with me.” He grabs my wrist, but I wiggle and pull until I’m free.

  “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  I swim away, and this time, he doesn’t grab my foot. Instead, he swims alongside me, and when I’m about to climb out on the other side of the quarry, he plops up onto the rock, blocking me. I look around for another way out.

  “Shit,” I mumble.

  “Nowhere to go,” he says, a devilish smile on his face.

  I search every inch, but even if I were a professional freehand rock climber, I’d be stuck.

  “What do you want from me?”

  “How could you do it?”

  Bingo. Damn Ariel.

  “We’re not talking about it. Just go back to Kendra, and like I said, fuck her. Work me out of your system.”

  “Is that what you want?”

  Of course not.

  “We have no choice.”

  “Is that what you want, Cinderella?” His voice lowers. He only refers to me by my nickname when he’s nervous.

  “It doesn’t matter, Crosby. Sometimes, people don’t get what they want. We have to deal with it.”

  I walk the length of the rock, believing there has to be somewhere to escape him. Then, I remember when I was here my freshman year. Brax dragged me here, demanding I have fun. One of his friends cornered me, and I was able to get out and find my way to the road. Thankfully, that time, Jen had driven, and she left her keys in the car. I catch sight of the man-made stairs. I’d have to swim and gain distance ahead of him though.

  “That’s not true. We can have it all.”

  We both know he doesn’t truly believe that.

  I tilt my head, and his eyes divert to the water. He’s distracted.

  I dive in, not coming up for air until my lungs burn for oxygen. The stairs are in my sight, and I’m almost there, but his arms wrap around my waist. He flips me around, pulling me into his wet and hard chest.

  I punch his shoulders and kick his shins. “Let me go!”

  “Never.” He places his arm under my arms and swims us away from my getaway, like I’m a drowning victim and he’s my lifeguard.

  He dips us through an opening in the rock, and we pop back up in a small cove.

  “I’m not sure—”

  He places his finger over my lips.

  “Answer me. Do you want me to move on? Do you want me to take Kendra home and fuck her, claiming her as my own?”

  A small amount of bile rises in my throat.

  “Answer, Ella. You’re quick to toss our happiness aside for others. This is your choice. I’m not playing any more games. Right here, right now. Do you want me?”

  His hands land on my hips, and he pushes me against the wall with his own hips. My breathing staggers, and my heart pounds.

  Lie, lie, lie.

  “Yes,” escapes my lips, a little breathless, if I’m being truthful.

  His lips press to mine, and he rocks into me, his hardness pressing into my stomach. He doesn’t wait for me to open, but instead, he snakes his tongue through the parting of my lips. My legs climb up until they are securely wrapped around his waist. A low growl erupts from the back of his throat, but I swallow his tortured pleasure with my mouth. Our tongues slide, our teeth knock, and our heads each swivel from side to side, uncontrolled and ravishing.

  My body’s normal hum with his nearness turns carnal. It burns hot now, wanting him, needing him, demanding him.

  Crosby brings my arms up, capturing them above my head, as he closes our kiss, and his lips travel down my jaw and neck. My legs tighten with every swipe of his tongue.

  “Relax, baby, we have all the time,” he murmurs close to my ear before his teeth nip.

  He thrusts into me. The fabric of my swimsuit is too thin but too thick at the same time.

  “More,” I beg.

  His lips smile on my skin.

  His one free hand reaches behind my neck, untying the string. My top falls down, revealing my breasts.

  His eyes feast on them. “I’ve missed these.”

  His large hand cups one, and he bends down, encasing it with his mouth. I inhale a sharp breath, and my back arches, pushing into him. I need more, anything, just more.

  “More.”

  He slides me over, and with his hands molding to my hips, he hoists me up onto a ledge.

  My hands press on the rock above my head, but he grabs my two legs, yanking me to the edge of the rock. His fingers graze under each side of my swimsuit, running along my pussy, and my hips fly off the concrete.

  He slides the wet fabric over, and his finger moves down, painfully erotic, slowly circling my clit. “You asked for more?” he asks.

  “Please,” I plead shamelessly. My hips rotate in circles, and my head tips back.

  “Look at me, baby,” he says.

  I lift my weak neck to look at him.<
br />
  He’s gorgeous, and my body zings and tingles from my lips to my toes.

  “You want my mouth?” he asks.

  I nod.

  “Say it.”

  “Yes,” I answer.

  He smiles. He licks his lips. His head dips down, and his palms press my thighs down. “Wait,” he says.

  A moan releases from me when his tongue never reaches my clit.

  “Cros,” I implore.

  He hooks his fingers on either side of my bathing suit, pulling it down my legs and placing it on the ledge.

  “I’ve waited too long to have these legs wrapped around my face again.”

  At first, his tongue flicks my clit, and then his tongue slowly lowers, following his finger’s path from moments ago. My hands grip his hair, and my thighs tighten, feeling his stubble on my thighs.

  My hand smacks the rock, and my other hand moves to play with my nipple. I need the release he’s been building up in me. Slowly, level by level, he layers my orgasm.

  His nose is rubbing along my clit as his tongue explores the rest of me. A roar muffles in me, and his hands grip my ass, stopping on the outside of my thighs, as he practically suffocates himself inside me. His tongue starts moving fast, rolling against my clit.

  “Don’t stop,” I say, my chest heaving.

  He shakes his head against my pussy, continuing to devour me. His eyes peer up to me a few times, spurring his motion. I become even more uncontrolled and unglued.

  Finally, a small burst explodes within me before his hand reaches up. His thumb rolls my nipple, and my body becomes weightless, rising to new heights. I jolt a few times once I come, and he backs up, his eyes on me the entire time.

  “Enough?” he asks.

  “Not even close,” I say, my body already reenergizing for him.

  He chuckles. “You always were hard to please.”

  I sink into the water, my arms reaching around his neck. “We don’t have anything.”

  “I’m good. Don’t worry about me.”

  My hand slides down the front of his suit, and his dick is rock hard, tenting his swimsuit.

  “That’s not true. You need to take the spot on the rock.” I eye him.

  His knuckles brushes along my cheek. “You don’t have to, baby.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  He stares at me for a while.

  Our love continuing to burn deep and pure.

  My hand explores down his trunks, and I stroke him. His head falls back between his shoulders, and his Adam’s apple bobs, as though he’s concentrating on anything but coming. I circle us around, and he props himself up onto the rock, wiggling his shorts down.

  My eyes look for an edge for me to kneel on. Not finding one, I push up onto my forearms, and my head is completely over his dick. I look into his eyes, hoping my seductive eyes show him how bad I want him.

  “You want my mouth?” I turn the tables on him.

  He nods, his teeth dragging along his bottom lip.

  “Say it.”

  A smirk emerges on his face, and his hand reaches out to caress my cheek.

  “Yes, baby. Suck my cock.”

  “Love to,” I say.

  I take my right hand and grip the base of his dick. Then, my tongue slides up his length before I lightly blow and then cover my whole mouth around it. Quickly, I deep-throat him as my fisted hand jerks him.

  His hand winds in my wet hair, gripping the ends, the more I suck.

  “Oh…Ella,” he moans, only spurring my own arousal again.

  If I could maneuver somehow, I’d move my hand down and get myself off at the same time.

  Five minutes later, my scalp is tingling from his hard grasp on my hair. Seeing his drowsy eyes from coming hard is enough for me to beg him to let me repeat the act. Crosby being cocky is sexy, Crosby being loving is adorable, but Crosby right after he’s come is immortal.

  I prop up onto the rock, the two of us super close due to the small space.

  “We need to talk, El,” he says.

  I knew this time was coming. I hoped we wouldn’t have to, but of course, Crosby’s not usually one to let things go.

  “I’m sorry,” I say. “It all seemed like a good idea at the time.”

  Now, I sit here, less than twenty-four hours after the deal with my parents, unable to get close enough to Crosby.

  “I shouldn’t have flirted with Kendra to make you jealous. It just…it hurt.”

  Oh, his honesty. I forgot how honest of a guy he was.

  “Well, your plan worked.”

  He chuckles. “Jealousy was drowning you. But the King move wasn’t cool. I need to talk to him.”

  I pat his stomach. “No, you don’t. He knew what was going on.”

  “You never go after another player’s girl.” He shakes his head, pulling me closer. “I want to talk to your parents.”

  “No.” I vehemently shake my head. “No, no, no.”

  “I’m not going to see you behind their backs.”

  “Why not?”

  I can imagine my dad. There’s no way.

  “El, do you see us with a future?”

  “Yes, I hope.”

  “Then, I need to talk to your parents.”

  His hands pulling his suit back up and tying it, he sinks down into the water. Reaching over, he grabs my bottoms and holds them out for me to put my legs through.

  “There’s no arguing. It’s happening.”

  Oh, shit.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Crosby

  I’m upstairs on my computer with a grin so wide that nothing could knock it off as I remember Ella’s mouth on me when my Instagram alert dings. I’ve been tagged.

  Jen and Ella are cooking dinner for the guys as a thank-you for letting them stay here for two weeks. Ella’s attitude toward the move has turned positive since this past afternoon. I’m fairly sure the access to my mouth is on the pro side now. Not that I’m bragging, but she came, screaming.

  Tonight…tonight is the night we’ll seal us up. I bought a box of condoms right before moving up here, and I need to pop open that box before my balls turn blue.

  Instagram pings again. There’s a comment from some girl, and I have no idea who it is. Before I can see what the hell I’ve been tagged in, ten more ‘likes’ ping.

  “What the fuck?” I say aloud to myself.

  “Exactly my thought.” Ella stands in my doorway.

  Flour has been wiped down the legs of her yoga pants. My mind won’t stop asking if she has anything on under them—

  “Crosby!” she yells.

  I focus back to her eyes.

  She’s holding up her phone. She saw the Instagram pic. Fucking great.

  “What?” I disregard my own phone and walk toward her.

  Her finger hovers over the phone. “Should I ‘like’ it or not?” Her voice screams anything but a casual question. There’s an accusatory tone.

  “What is it?”

  I hold my hand out, but she backs up.

  “You haven’t seen it yet?” she asks, her finger circling the phone in a teasing motion.

  “What is it?”

  “My guess is, you already knew about that spot before you snuck me into it. Tsk, tsk, Crosby, two girls in one day.”

  She holds the phone up in the air, and lo and behold, it’s me and Kendra. It was right before I left her in that spot, topless and still in heat for me.

  “I didn’t.”

  “According to this, you did.” She waves it in the air.

  “You know me.”

  Her eyes pierce into me, long and hard, trying to see the truth.

  “I do. I saw you go around the corner with her, Crosby.”

  “You also know I was back almost immediately,” I counter, my blood boiling at this Kendra girl.

  “Squash it,” she says. She tucks her phone in the waistband of her pants. She reaches the door and turns around. “I won’t be made a fool. That’s one. Don’t put yourself in positions lik
e that.”

  “Hey.” I walk over to her, grabbing her hand and pulling her into my arms. I shut my door and back her up until she’s trapped.

  “The dinner is going to burn. Jen’s tongue is probably halfway down Saucey’s throat right now.”

  “It can wait.” I look at this amazing girl who never lets petty shit get between us. She’s once in a lifetime. “Kiss me.”

  She smacks my chest. “You kiss me.”

  I don’t answer, but I press my lips to hers. The gentleness gets replaced with a rush of hands and mouths colliding. I pull away, purposely leaving her in a state of want before tonight. My forehead rests on hers, and our eyes peer up through our eyelashes.

  “Thank you for trusting me.”

  She nods, and her hand brushes along my cheek. “Just don’t ever give me a reason not to.”

  “I promise.” I’d engrave that on a stone. Hell, I’d brand myself to show her how serious I am. I will never hurt her again.

  “Now, I need to finish the dinner. Brax’s fingers won’t stop picking at the food. Not to mention, you’re probably up to one hundred ‘likes’. Squash it, Cros,” she repeats before leaving the room.

  I grab my phone off my desk, and she’s wrong. We’re at five hundred. What the fuck? I don’t even know half of these people. What a dickhead move, going into that cave with Kendra. To say she took it bad when I left her to stop King’s hand from moving along my girl’s skin is an understatement.

  I pop my head into Brax’s room. Empty.

  I open my bedroom door, knocking on Oliver’s. Empty.

  My last resort is Saucey, and I fear what I’ll interrupt, but I need Kendra’s number, so I knock.

  “Come in,” he says.

  I walk in, closing my eyes, pretending to feel around.

  “What the fuck are you doing?”

  “I like my eyesight, and I can’t be blinded by the image of you fucking Jen.” I pretend to touch every surface, and a wad of paper hits my nose.

  “She’s not here.”

  I open my eyes and am surprised by, first, the cleanliness, and second, no girl.

  “I need that Kendra girl’s number, the one from today.”

  “Instagram?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Been there. Ella see?”

  “Yep.”

  “She giving you hell?”