Page 10 of Baller's Surprise Baby

“That was the year I kissed Elly Brewster.” Everly doesn’t answer, but her twinkling eyes are still fastened on me, so I go on. “But it wasn’t till I was fifteen that I got to see a girl naked and get my game on.” I swear her cheeks turn fuchsia as she averts her eyes. Clearly flustered, she clears her throat lightly. I watch her pick up her drink and take a gulp before murmuring.

“Fifteen!” she murmurs.

“How old were you?” I’m dying to know. I can’t stop thinking of what it would be like to touch her, but she nearly chokes on my question, and if I thought her eyes were big before, now they’re saucers.

“What kind of question is that?!”

“It’s an honest question,” I can’t help laughing a little. Instead of turning away, her eyes are still locked on me. I suspect she’s half tempted to know more, so I tease her along.

“Come on Everly, tell me you’re not a virgin.” At this, she jerks forward and snatches at a napkin in a coughing fit. Luckily, I’ve got lightning reflexes and gently rescue her wine glass before disaster can strike in the form of a red spill. She sputters and I lean toward her, utterly enchanted, gently patting her back until she seems to settle. When she catches her breath, I don’t want to pull back. I’m loving this intimate moment, dying for more, so I stay right there when she tilts her head up, just inches from me.

My eyes drop to her lips as I murmur softly, “I bet you could show a man a good time.” There’s the sound of a tiny moan in the back of her throat, and she stays right there, studying my face. For several seconds we breathe each other in, endless possibilities in that gaze. Everything about her is so inviting, and I will her to want me as badly as I want her. When she eases back and clears her throat I’m not prepared for her next line of thought.

“So, uh…what happened to Ms. Locker Room?”

I give her a puzzled look. “Excuse me?”

“You know,” she gestures in the air before tacking on, “your girl. The one I found you with before the first photo shoot.” She leans away from me into her seat and I try to assess her reaction. It’s a parry, not a strike, but if experience has taught me anything, this is tricky ground, and I need to play my cards right.

“Maddie and I dated awhile back.”

“Oh! It has a name,” she mutters into her glass as she seems to settle even further into her chair. I squint at her for a second. If anything, I tend to think emotion is better than indifference, so I decide to take this as a good sign.”We cross paths from time to time, but we haven’t dated in a couple of years. When we saw each other at the photoshoot, well… reconnecting felt natural, but that’s all it was. I haven’t seen her since that day.”

“I see.” Everly scrutinizes me as if trying to decide what to believe, and I can’t help but laugh.

“Scout’s honour.” I hold up two fingers. She squints her eyes at me despite her dimples making a reappearance, and I’m about to speak again when a voice over the intercom interrupts my line of thought.

“Good evening, this is your captain speaking. It seems that we’re running into a bit of bad weather, and we will need to reroute the flight to Phoenix. I apologize for the inconvenience.”

I close my eyes and sigh. Great. Not only am I joining the team late, but I’m also delayed another night and the game is tomorrow. A glance at Everly confirms the moment has been broken, and we both pick up our phones and start zipping out messages.

When we land at a private airport outside of Phoenix, it’s raining hard. Luckily the team assistant has a car waiting for us, and we both grab a bag to make the trip to the nearest hotel.

Everly hops into the vehicle and then turns to me in the darkness of the backseat.

“Trina texted that the Mavs coordinator got me a hotel reservation along with you.”

“Perfect.” I respond. “We’ll head over together and then ride back in the morning for the next flight.”

It’s not a short drive into the city since we landed at a private airport well outside of town. At nearly midnight, we walk up to the front desk of an upscale Marriott and ask for our reservations. The night clerk doesn’t seem particularly enthused at having a midnight arrival and he takes his time getting us checked in before he hands over the keycards and explains how to get to Room 3001.

“Excuse me?” Everly leans forward politely on the counter. “Did you check us both in? What’s my room number?”

The clerk stares at her with mild irritation. “It’s 3001.”

“Oh, okay then. What’s his number?” She points her thumb at me over her shoulder and I hand her the keycard I had just taken by accident thinking it was mine. But the clerk is still staring with that same look. When he finally answers, I’m one hundred percent sure there’s been a mistake.

“3001 is the number of the room on your joint reservation.“ We both stare at the clerk in consternation.

“There must be some mistake. They would never book us a joint reservation.” I speak at the same time Everly does.

“We’ll need another room.”

But it doesn’t matter. The clerk just shakes his head at us before holding out the same paperwork and keys for a second time.

“I’m sorry. It’s the last room available due to a concert in town. Everyone is booked up, and no one is going to be able to prep a room for you on this late notice. You’re lucky we have something ready.”

I turn to Everly and see the shock in her eyes. It’s midnight. My team coordinator is asleep and if what the clerk says is true, there’s no getting around this.

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