“You’re welcome, honey.”
She linked her arm with Garrett’s, but ran into Max and Manny in the hall. She started to pull her arm away, but Garrett held her hand, keeping them firmly linked together.
Max’s lips stayed compressed tightly together. Manny grinned.
“That ended up good for everyone, but it would have been easier if you’d have just come and talked to me about all of it,” Manny said.
Garrett shrugged. “It was Alicia’s deal I was more worried about. I needed to protect her.” Garrett looked over at Max, who shrugged.
“We don’t arbitrarily dump our best therapists, Garrett,” Max said. “We’d have found a way to work it out. We’ll see you tomorrow, Alicia.”
Shocked, Alicia could only stare dumbfounded as Manny and Max walked away.
“So, he likes you.”
“Apparently. Or he was just blowing smoke up my ass.”
Garrett laughed. “I don’t think Max hands out compliments all that easily.”
“I have no idea. This has been a nightmare. Let’s go home.”
“Your place or mine?” he asked.
“I don’t care.”
“I have an idea. How about we take this relationship public?”
He took her to Charlie Gitto’s on the Hill. She had a ridiculous amount of penne primavera, and he had steak and pasta. They both had the most wonderful glasses of Chianti, and by the time they left, Alicia was full.
“I need to walk,” she said.
The night was cool, but she didn’t care. Garrett wrapped his arm around her, and they strolled around the block a few times.
“It does feel good not to worry about someone seeing us together.”
He stopped and pulled the edges of her jacket closed, then pressed a kiss to her lips. “I love you. And you don’t have to worry about being seen with me anymore. Unless I get demoted or can’t pitch.”
He said it with a laugh, but before they could resume walking, she laid her hand on his chest and stopped him. “You do realize I don’t love you because you’re a famous ballplayer, right?”
“Yeah. You love me in spite of it.”
Now it was her turn to laugh. “You’ve got that right.”
When she felt like she had sufficiently walked off the enormous meal she’d eaten, they climbed back into the car. She expected they’d head to either her place or his, but she was surprised when he stayed downtown and pulled into valet parking at the Lumiere, a hotel and casino.
He took her inside, and though it wasn’t quite like Vegas, bells were ringing, cards were being dealt, and she was ready to play.
They hit the poker room, and Garrett fronted her some money. Four hours passed before she realized it. She and Garrett both did well. She was several hundred dollars up and ready to stretch her legs, so they wandered around, played a few slots, and, unfortunately, lost money.
“I think I’ll stick with poker,” she said.
“I agree. You’re a hell of a lot better at poker than you are at slots.”
She laughed and tucked herself against Garrett’s side. “Thank you for taking me out tonight. I’ve had a great time.”
“Oh, the night isn’t over.” He led her to the front desk, showed his ID, and was given a room key.
When they walked off, she looked up at him. “We have a room here?”
“We do. And bags are being brought up. I asked Savannah to pack an overnight bag for you. I hope you don’t mind. I figured however this thing turned out today, we’d need an overnight getaway, just the two of us.”
“I don’t mind at all. Thank you.”
The room was a suite, overlooking the St. Louis Arch and the riverfront. It was beautiful and spacious, and she loved it. What she loved the most, though, was being alone with Garrett and no longer having to worry about anything other than being in love with him, spending time with him, and then going to work and doing her job.
She liked the simplicity of it all.
“I like this chair,” he said, referring to an overstuffed chair sitting near the window.
“Do you? And why’s that?”
“I think because I’d like to see you holding on to the arms of that chair while you’re bent over.”
Her body warmed at the visual. “Would you like me to keep my dress on, or take it off?”
He came over to her and pulled her against him, kissing her thoroughly until that warmth she felt turned into a full-blown heat explosion. He raised her dress over her butt, smoothing his hand over the red silk panties she’d chosen to wear today.
He peered around her. “Oh, dress definitely off. Turn around.”
She turned and he unzipped her dress, drawing it off her shoulders. He kissed each shoulder, then pulled her ponytail holder out, moving her hair to the side so he could kiss her neck. She shivered, goose bumps breaking out on her skin.
“Cold?” he asked.
“Definitely not cold. You make me hot.”
He drew her dress down her arms and over her hips until it pooled on the floor, leaving her in her heels and underwear.
“Oh, yeah,” Garrett said, cupping her breasts, teasing her nipples through the flimsy silken fabric.
Alicia leaned back against him, watching his hands as he played with her. They were so large they dwarfed her breasts. She put her hands over his and pressed in, loving the pressure. He drew the cups down and brushed his thumbs over her sensitive nipples.
“I like you touching me.”
He rolled her nipples with his thumbs and forefingers. “Like this?”
She gasped. “Yes. More. Harder.”
He gave her nipples a light pinch, and she rubbed her butt against his quickly growing erection.
“And I like that,” he said. “I love when you rub that sweet ass of yours against me. Bend over, Alicia. Grab on to the chair.”
He took her breath away. She held on to the arms of the chair while he swept his hands over her rear, worshipping it with the lightest of caresses. When he gave it a light tap, she gasped and half turned to look at him.
“Hurt?”
“No.”
“More?”
“Oh, yes.”
Her pussy tightened when he gave her another swat, and when he drew her panties down to her thighs and spanked her again, still gently, she felt naughty.
“I love seeing you like this. It makes me hard.”
She looked at him, her pussy quivering with delight at this unexpected turn in their sex play. “It makes me wet.”
“I like you wet and quivering for me.”
She did. He swatted her again, this time a little harder. She cried out, but it was in pleasure, because he smoothed his hand over the spot, then bent and kissed her where he’d spanked her.
“You’re so hot with your smoking red panties pulled down and your butt red where I’ve spanked you. I had no idea you’d like that.”
“I didn’t, either.”
“Is your pussy wet?”
“Yes.”
He slipped his hand between her legs to cup her sex. She nearly died from the ecstasy of his touch.
“Yeah, you’re wet.” He tucked two fingers inside her and used his thumb to swirl over her clit.
“Oh, God,” she said, throwing her head back as he began to fuck her with his fingers. And when he tapped her butt with his other hand again, her pussy clamped around his fingers like a vise.
“You do like that, don’t you, Alicia?”
She couldn’t answer, because he was going to give her an orgasm if he kept doing that. “Spank me. Rub my clit and spank me. I’m going to come.”
He did, and oh, dear God, it was too much. She climaxed on a wild cry, bucking against his fingers, hoping he’d hold her right there because it was so damn good she didn’t want it to stop.
The waves kept rolling while Garrett tore open a condom wrapper. Then he was behind her, inside her, holding on to her hips as he rammed into her with one glorious, hard thrust.
She heard him groan as he seated himself fully inside her, and she was still throbbing from the aftereffects of that amazing orgasm. He stilled, and she knew he felt her.
“God, Alicia, you feel so good.” And then he began to move inside her, taking her there again so quickly she wasn’t sure she’d be able to remain standing. Her legs trembled as he withdrew, then thrust, smoothing his hand over her back, then leaning over her to nip at the nape of her neck.
She loved this animalistic, out-of-control, passionate side to him. She loved everything about him. And when she thrust back against him to draw him deeper inside her, he groaned, dug his fingers into her hips, and slammed into her, his balls slapping against her as he gave her what she asked for.
She reached between her legs to rub her clit, needing another climax, needing to feel her pussy grip him in that tight fist again.
“Alicia,” he said, his voice going taut with tension as he neared the edge.
“Come inside me, Garrett. Make me yours.”
She climbed onto her knees on the chair and lifted her butt up. He used his fingers to swipe her juices onto her anus and teased her there.
“Oh, yes,” she whispered. “More.”
He lubed her butt and inserted a finger into her ass while he fucked her. She rubbed her clit, and the sensation of his finger inside her anus and his cock in her pussy sent her over the top.
“Make me come,” she said. “I need to come again.”
Mindless with pleasure, she was a bundle of nerve endings, each tuned into the riotous pleasure he gave her.
Out of control now, Garrett fucked her deep, and when she felt him nearing the end, she let go, screaming at the orgasm he gave her. He yelled out when he came, too, and they rode the crest together.
He pulled out and turned her around, pressing his lips and body to hers, wrapping her in a cocoon of hazy afterglow.
“Will it always be like this?” she asked, brushing her lips against his.
“Like what?”
“So . . . intense. Lovemaking with you burns out a few of my brain cells every time.”
“Yeah, I know. And yes, it’ll always be like this.”
She loved his confidence.
They showered, dressed in their sweats, and climbed in bed. Garrett ordered room service dessert and coffee, then they settled in among the many pillows to watch a movie—some romantic comedy that Alicia had seen probably twenty times, but Garrett claimed to have never watched before.
He took some foam from her cappuccino and made a moustache on her face. She giggled and grabbed her napkin to swipe it away, but not before she made him a goatee from the last of her foam.
“Oh, I like that goatee on you. You should grow one.”
“Will I get more sex with the goatee?”
“Maybe.”
“Then consider it done.”
She laughed.
He stared at the TV. “You like this mushy stuff, huh?” he asked as he fed Alicia a chocolate-covered strawberry.
She savored the chocolate and strawberry mixed together. “Totally.” She took a sip of her cappuccino. “You don’t?”
He polished off the last of the cheesecake, then set the plate aside. “Not saying. But I’ll bet he ends up meeting her at the train station, even though he told her he was going to take that job in Europe.”
She sat up. “You have seen this movie before.”
“No, I haven’t. I’m just guessing. Isn’t that the way all these kinds of movies end? Boy meets girl, they have a hot romance, both determined they’re not going to fall in love, but by the end they realize they can’t live without each other, so they find a way to make it work?”
She lay back against the pillows and rubbed her feet against his. “Sounds a lot like our story.”
He looked over at her and entwined their fingers. “If the person you fall in love with is worth it, you’ll move mountains to make it work.”