by S. E. Rose
It’s not overly crowded but there are a fair amount of people sitting at the sushi bar.
Kent hands me a menu and I peruse it looking for my favorite rolls.
I make my selection and set it down.
“Wow, you already know?”
I nod.
A waitress comes over and we both get green tea and I order my favorite, miso soup, a shrimp tempura roll, and a salmon roll with cucumber and avocado.
“That’s it?”
I nod. Kent proceeds to order eight rolls and my mouth drops open.
“Did you just order the whole menu?” I ask after the waitress walks away.
He laughs. “No, but I’m hungry. Practice always gets me hungry.”
“I can see that. I just want you to know that this isn’t a sushi eating contest or anything. I can’t possibly eat that much.”
“No worries, I am good for it. I like to eat.”
“Oh, do you?” I ask him with a smirk.
He grins at me. “Why yes, I do.”
I blush, I’m terrible at flirting, what am I doing?
Kent doesn’t continue the flirtatious banter because a kid comes up and asks for an autograph and photo. Kent obliges and sweetly talks with the kid for a few minutes. The parents thank him just as our sushi order arrives.
“Does that happen a lot?” I ask him as I dip my sushi in the soy sauce.
He shrugs. “Yeah, I suppose. I’m used to it. Plus, I love it when kids come up to me. Those are the real fans, the ones that look at you like you are a superhero. I can never say no to them.”
I turn away and try to stop the smile from forming on my face. Why does he have to be so sweet?
Chapter Seventeen
Once we’re back at his house, I grab a box of belongings that I had stuffed in one of my suitcases.
“You want help?” Kent asks as he walks into the room.
“No, I got it.”
He doesn’t listen and crosses toward me to help me lift the giant suitcase on the bed. He does so with a thud.
There’s silence for a moment. And then I hear it, the buzzing.
“What’s that sound?” he asks, searching around the room.
Oh. My. God. Mortification sets in fast. “Oh, nothing. Thanks,” I say quickly as I try to usher him out of the room, but being the wall of muscle that he is, he doesn’t budge. He slowly unzips my bag. I pray to all the gods of embarrassing moments to spare me, just this once. But as he flips the lid of the suitcase open, the mystery buzzing noise becomes completely self-evident.
Kent picks up Mr. Bombastic. Mr. Bombastic was a gift from my friend, Kayla. One of my many friends that I haven’t seen in a long time because of my ex-boyfriend. Mr. Bombastic had seen me through some tough times. But now as Kent, the Ken doll giant perfection of a man, is holding it, I’m completely and utterly speechless and also really embarrassed.
Kent smirks and hands me my vibrator.
“I think this might have gotten misplaced,” he says. He holds on to it, so as I go to grab it, I can’t.
“Let go,” I whisper.
“Any other surprises that I should know about?” Kent asks as he looks around the room.
Kill me now. My face heats, and I shake my head. “I think that’ll do it for today.”
“Well, you know where I am if you need any help…you know, with anything,” he says with a wink and walks out of my room. I turn off Mr. Bombastic and sink onto the bed. Why me?
Kent
I can’t stop smiling remembering the look on Tabby’s face when I picked up her vibrator. Total mortification. What I wouldn’t do to use that toy on her and make her scream my name…I shake my head. I gotta stop thinking about her that way.
Friend, Kent, friend. I repeat the mantra in my head several times as I throw on some swim trunks. I call up to Tabby on my way to the pool.
“I’ll be out in the pool. Get your ass down here,” I yell.
“Just a minute.”
I walk out back and dive into my pool. I swim a few laps until a motion on my right pulls my attention from my stroke. I tread water as I look over at Tabitha in a string bikini. Holy fucking shit. If God himself carved the perfect woman out of stone, it wouldn’t even come close to her. She awkwardly tries to cover herself.
“Don’t you dare,” I practically growl, and she freezes with her arms crossed in front of the most fucking perfect pair of tits that I’ve ever seen.
“I…” She trails off, her vulnerability only makes her more attractive.
“You’re beautiful, Tabitha,” I say to her. “Don’t hide yourself.”
She sighs. “I’m…I mean…I don’t normally wear bikinis in front of people I just met, but it’s the only bathing suit I have that doesn’t smell like smoke still.”
I pull myself out of the pool and she watches me. I know I look good but that’s because I spend way too many hours working out each day for my job. I take pride in my body, it’s my job to take care of it. I stand before her, water dripping down my skin. I take her hand and walk over to the hot tub, turning on the jets. I lead her into the water, and she sighs with contentment.
“I don’t think I ever want to leave this tub. This feels great,” she says, closing her eyes and leaning against the side.
As I submerge into the bubbling hot water, watching her natural beauty, the urge to kiss is so strong that I can’t stop myself. Almost in a trance-like state, I feel the magnetic pull toward her. I’m inches away when I hear someone yell.
“Wuz up, fucker?”
I stand up and step back, looking around as though I’ve gone crazy and am hearing voices. To my great disappointment, I see my two good friends, Ward Snare and Amery Walsh, standing on the deck. Then I look beyond them and see that Nate Thalen and Lyla Perkins are there, too. Of course, they’d choose tonight to all come over for a swim. They have their own pools, but my hot tub and pool are the biggest, so by default my house is the hangout place.
“Who’s that?” Tabitha asks. I look down and her eyes are wide as she stares over at the foursome standing on my deck.
“You guys ever heard of a phone?” I ask them.
“Uh, fucker, we texted you like five times. Then figured you decided to go back to the city, so we were just gonna crash here. We were all down at the pub tonight,” Ward says as he starts stripping.
I watch as Tabitha’s eyes nearly pop out of her head while mine just roll. Fucking Ward. Ward Snare is my shortstop and he’s like a brother to me, but he is also built like Thor and the women and men alike ogle him everywhere we go. However, he’s a claimed man. He’s been with Nate for a couple of years now. Nate was Lyla’s best friend and when Lyla started to date Amery, it wasn’t long before Nate and Ward hooked up. Nate’s more like your super fun party guy next door. The two of them totally complement one another and also look like they stepped off the runway. Amery, a former player, who now scouts for our team met Lyla on a flight. They kept bumping into each other and one thing led to another. They are a cute couple, like sickeningly cute, but fun. I’m usually a fifth wheel, but the four of them never make me feel like the odd man out.
“Hi,” Lyla says to Tabitha as she pulls off a sundress. All four of them are in their underwear instead of bathing suits. Tabitha’s eyes couldn’t be any wider if she was a cartoon character.
“Uh, hi,” she says, but her face still shows shock.
“I’m Lyla. That’s Nate, Ward, and Amery,” she introduces the pack.
They all wave at Tabitha.
“Tabitha,” she manages. I realize then that I’m standing directly behind her, even though we are inches apart, I can feel the heat radiating from her body and I know she’s got to be blushing.
“Nice to meet you. Sorry, we didn’t know you had company, KJ, or we would have partied over at our house,” Lyla says sheepishly.
“It’s OK. Tabitha is the photographer that I’m working with for the charity event. Her studio and apartment had a fire, so she’s staying
with me,” I explain. Ward gives me a knowing look and I give him a “shut the fuck up” look.
“Well, you picked the right client to stay with. Kent’s house is da bomb!” Ward says to her as Amery hands him a beer from my outdoor kitchen. Yeah, yeah, my outdoor kitchen has a full wine and beer fridge. I mean, why wouldn’t you have one?
“Anyone else?” Amery asks. We all shake our heads as he immerses himself into the hot tub.
“So, you’re a photographer?” Lyla asks.
Tabby nods.
“Mostly people or do you do other stuff?”
“Mostly people, but…” She looks around shyly, her cheeks turning that telltale sign of pink that I’m beginning to crave. “I also enjoy doing cityscapes and urban decay.”
Lyla squeals with excitement. “OMG! I love that type of art.”
“You ready for this week?” Amery asks me as the girls launch into their favorite local photographers.
“As ready as I can be,” I admit. I’m a bit nervous. We haven’t made it to the World Series since I’ve played, so this could be huge for our team.
“You find your focus?” Ward asks me. This time, he’s being serious.
“You having performance issues?” Nate asks.
Ward punches him in the arm.
“Ouch!” he says.
I roll my eyes. “I’ve just been in a rut this season. Trying to get my mojo back.”
“Well, I know a great way to get your mojo back,” Nate says with a waggle of his eyebrows as he glances over at Tabby.
Ward punches him in the arm again.
“Nate, fuck off. We’re trying to have a serious conversation here,” Ward says to his boyfriend. Yep, Ward definitely wears the pants in that relationship, but Nate seems oblivious to it.
Ward leans in toward me. “You do seem…more focused this week,” he admits.
I shrug. “I’m…it’s been a good distraction,” I say to him.
“Maybe that’s all you needed,” Amery adds, saving me from having to explain myself further because honestly, I don’t know what I’m doing with Tabitha yet.
Nate leans toward me, his eyes over on Lyla and Tabby.
“You want Lyla to get intel?” he asks.
I nearly choke on my saliva. “Uh, no, thanks. It’s all good.”
Tabitha
I try to stop looking over at Amery, Ward, and Nate, especially Ward. I’ve never seen a man like that in real life, ever. I mean, Amery, Nate, and Kent are all amazing looking, but Ward…well, I hope I’m not gawking at him.
“Don’t worry, I used to stare at him all the time, too,” Lyla whispers in my ear. I blush.
“I can’t help it. I mean, I know he’s not into the ladies and he’s with Nate, but…dear god…” I trail off as I peek over at him again.
Lyla giggles. “Trust me, I know. And you haven’t seen him stark naked…I can never un-see that.”
My eyes widen because the outline of his package beneath his wet black boxer briefs leaves little to the imagination.
“Yeah, he’s like that everywhere,” she says sighing. “Not that I can complain.”
Now she blushes as she glances over at Amery. His head turns to meet her gaze, and he smiles at her. She blushes more.
“So how long have you two been together?” I ask.
“About two years or so.”
“And…?” I ask.
She laughs. “We’re getting there. Things have been busy for us, but we definitely are it for each other.”
“That’s nice to find someone you want to be with forever.”
“It is. I mean, there are days that I want to kill him, but I wouldn’t give him up for the world.” She glances over at Amery and practically swoons.
I laugh. “So, how does everyone know each other, again?” I ask, looking around the giant pool-sized hot tub.
“Well, Nate’s my best friend. I met Amery on a plane and then Ward and Nate met through us and I met Kent through Amery and Ward.”
“That’s nice…I mean it’s nice to have a group of close friends. Do you all live out here?”
She nods. “Amery and I live close by as does Ward. I think when the Moores adopted them both into their clan, it drew them to buy properties out here. All three of them like getting away from the city, especially in the off-season.”
“Do they both have apartments downtown?”
“Yep. All in the same building.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I get down there sometimes. I mean the next few weeks, I’ll probably be down there full time because if they make playoffs, then Amery will want to stay near the stadium. Hey, we should meet up, I mean…are you staying out here?”
I shrug. “I…I don’t exactly have it planned out that far yet. My landlord said another unit should be available soon and my brother also has a place in the city. Kent’s offered up both of his places, but…I don’t know. I mean, I just cleaned some of my clothes today, so I haven’t figured it all out quite yet.”
Lyla places a hand on my arm. “I’m sorry about the fire. That sucks.”
I sigh. “It does. I’m still waiting for the fire department’s report. One of the guys thought it might be arson, which is just crazy.” My mind briefly goes to my crazy ex-boyfriend, but I dismiss it. He’s crazy, but I don’t see him starting fires like that.
“Well, if you need anything or just want a friend, I’ll make sure to get you my number before we leave tonight.”
“I’d like that.”
Lyla is cool and easy to talk to. I don’t have too many friends, mostly thanks to my abusive ex-boyfriend. I thank god that Brix talked me into leaving him after he slapped me one night. Who knows what would have happened next?
“You OK?” Lyla’s voice brings me out of my thoughts.
I smile and nod. “Yep. Just a lot on my mind.”
“I bet. So, do you like baseball?”
I bite my lip, and Lyla bursts out laughing. “Really?”
I shrug. “I don’t know much about it. The Moores just started teaching me. It’s fun so far.”
“I love baseball. I’ll be at all the playoff games when they make it.”
“If we make it,” Ward interjects.
We look over at him.
“When,” Lyla says confidently.
Kent punches Ward’s arm. “Come on, man. Head in the game. We ‘are’ gonna do this.”
Everyone in the group gets quiet and stares at Kent with various levels of shock. I raise an eyebrow.
Amery claps. “That’s more motherfucking like it!”
“Fuck yeah!” Ward agrees with a grin.
I have no idea what is going on, but I grin at Lyla. She leans and whispers, “I think you’re a good influence on our boy, here. He needed a little mojo, and it seems like he’s starting to get it back.”
I still have no idea what she’s talking about, but I feel like there’s a much bigger story there and probably one best told to me by Kent.
“Polar plunge!” Ward suddenly screams. I jump as he, Nate, and Amery grab a laughing Kent. They pull him out of the hot tub and toss him into the pool.
Lyla and I laugh hysterically as Kent shrieks from the shock of the cold water before all three guys jump in after him followed by more shrieks.
Lyla is doubled over when Amery pulls himself out of the water. “Oh, don’t think you two ladies are getting away without joining us,” he says with a devious grin. Lyla flies out of the hot tub and starts running toward the pool house.
“No running by the pool!” Kent calls out as he pulls himself up out of the water. I swear to god, all sound disappears, and time slows down as I watch him leisurely lift his body from the pool. His arm muscles are insane and ripple with each movement. He shakes his head and his wet hair flies in every direction, water droplets spraying around him. His eyes are on me like a feral beast as he stalks over to me. He’s enormous from his position, and I can’t help shrinking more into the warm water.
“Oh,
no. You don’t get to escape the fun,” he says as he reaches down, and I try to swim across the short distance of the hot tub, but he’s too fast. He grabs me under my arms and hoists me over his shoulder in one fell swoop. I slap his ass.
“Put me down!” I yell, but my laughter gives away the fact that I’m not serious. His hand swats my behind, and he leaves it there. I admit I sort of like his enormous hand clutching my rear end. It’s a little barbaric, but there’s something primally sexy about it. And that’s my last thought as Kent tosses me into the pool.
The shock of the cold water nearly stops my heart, and I splash around at the surface gasping for air. I reach out for the edge of the pool, and instead, I find a warm, hard body. My eyes fly open, and I sigh with relief when I see Kent’s face in front of mine.
He’s grinning like a little kid. “You OK?”
I roll my eyes. “Yes, you ass.” I slap his chest.
His chest shakes with laughter. “Come on, the polar plunge is a time-honored tradition.”
I groan. My teeth chatter from the cold water.
Kent notices, and I’m suddenly enveloped in a giant bear hug as he rubs my back.
“The pool’s heated. You’ll warm up in a minute. I promise.”
“I-if I-I g-get a c-cold, s-so h-help m-me,” I stammer as I tremble against him. He’s unbelievably warm for someone who just jumped into a freezing cold pool.
After a minute of his hand rubbing my back, I begin to warm up slowly, I melt into his chest.
“Is Tabitha going to make it?” Amery yells as I hear a giant splash followed by cursing from Lyla.
“You suck!” Lyla screams after she emerges from the water.
“Ly, it takes one to know one,” Nate quips with a laugh.
I feel water rain down on my back, and I turn my head to see Nate and Lyla splashing each other. Ward jumps on Nate and Lyla jumps on both of them and pretty soon all six of us are in an epic water fight, which only intensifies when Amery breaks out water guns from the pool house.
I’m not sure how long we play like kids, but after a while, I feel myself getting sleepy. I stifle a yawn, but Kent sees me.
“Guys, I think we need to call it a night.”
Everyone looks over at a clock hanging on the outside of the pool house. It’s nearly dinnertime.
