Page 94 of Force Play

“It doesn’t mean I want to hear about your past partners.”

“Yeah, well, ditto. But I think you need to know this. Or maybe I just need to say it to move on. You know, stop letting it hold me back. For us.”

“Proceed,” he says through gritted teeth, only loosening his hold a fraction.

“Other than Bri, I’ve kept things casual. Our relationship was too new to be serious when I moved. The guy I dated in college was an athlete. Everyone knew him and he loved being revered. He was always throwing up high fives when he walked around campus. It was hard not to get sucked into his charismatic personality when he set his sights on me. Eventually, I stopped fighting it and for a while, things were good. Then my mom’s cancer came back. I needed him, or I thought I did. But he didn’t want to stop having a good time to console his girlfriend—didn’t understand why I wasn’t in the mood to go out. I brushed it off. Told myself he worked hard and deserved a chance to blow off some steam without having to deal with my trauma.”

“Fucking asshole. You were devastated, and rightfully so. ”

“Oh, it gets worse. I’d just come out to my friends on campus before we started dating and was upfront with him about my sexuality.”

Dom’s jaw is clenched so tight I swear I hear his teeth crack. I bring my hand to his face and stroke along it, weaving my fingers into his hair.

“He didn’t seem to care at all, just kind of shrugged it off. It was too easy and I should have known better. I was stupid.”

“Uh uh,” Dom chides.

“You don’t even know what happened.”

“I know you, and you are not dumb. You trusted the wrong person because you’re a good person.” His lips brush the inside of my wrist.

“I gave him years of my life. I thought he was the one, but he waited until my mom was in hospice to tell me I wasn’t the kind of girl he saw himself marrying. Dating the bisexual girl was a fun experiment for him—I was a notch on his bedpost, a game. See if you can get the queer girl to date you, maybe she’ll let you have threesomes. A fucking joke for him and his buddies.”

“What the hell.” The vein on the side of his neck pulses angrily, but I have no anger left to give Jensen. The piece of me he’s held onto for so long is mine again, and it’s so damn freeing. Dom erased so many of my scars without even realizing it. Pressing my lips to his, I kiss him softly until the tension eases from his body.

“It’s fine—I mean it’s not, not even a little, but he doesn’t hold any power over me anymore. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. He was a selfish prick. From how he broke my heart when I needed someone the most, to how he treated my sexuality as a game. But he doesn’t get to cloud my judgment where you are concerned. Not anymore, because you’ve shown me you’re nothing like him.”

“Give me five minutes alone with him,” he grits out.

“Someone needs another kiss.” Dom doesn’t even crack a smile at my attempt to ease the tension radiating off of him. “I can’t help you with that. I have no clue where he is or what he’s doing. He transferred schools the next year. Poppy cleansed him from my phone and socials. Not that I wanted to check up on him after what he did, more to protect me from an ambush when I opened my apps.”

“You said he was an athlete at Lakeside?” I can see him mentally cataloging the players he knows trying to put the pieces together.

“Mhmm, but I don’t want to talk about him anymore.” Reaching over I grab the dessert box, Ronnie watching my every move. Taking a bar, I bring it to my lip and bite off the corner, chewing it slowly. The groan doesn’t so much slip out, as I let it fly free, distracting Dom from his worries the same way he’s done for me. Out of the corner of my eye I see the brown and white paws scooting closer. “You should try this.” I hold it in front of him to take a bite. The set of his jaw eases as I bring the bar to his lips.

Hit bites the corner, his eye never leaving mine. “Already tried it.” He drags his gaze down my body, setting me ablaze little by little. “But you know what I’m dying for a taste of?” His cock swells between us, and I don’t have to use my imagination to figure it out. This man would live between my legs, never coming up for air if he didn’t have to play baseball.

“Are you getting hard watching me eat dessert?” I try to keep my tone light, but the effect he has on me with just a glance is devastating. And the smile that tilts up the corner of his lips when I stumble over my words just makes it worse.

“My favorite treat is sitting in my lap, moaning obscenely. What do you think?” His hands smooth up my thighs, thumbs hooking in and tracing the juncture where my thighs and hips meet. Next to us, Ronnie groans and buries her face under her paws.

I swallow, my throat suddenly dry. “That we should finish lunch and break land speed records to get home.”

Chapter 35

Dom

Fucking perfect, that’s what Indie is and I’m livid that someone treated her the way her ex did. He’s a prick, and I’d like nothing more than to be the one to put his head through the outfield wall. Indie might have succeeded in temporarily distracting me, but it doesn’t negate how angry I am on her behalf.

At least the view is phenomenal while I stew. Each step Indie takes in front of me makes her ass bounce. She hops over rocks and roots, picking her way down the narrow trail back to the car. Honestly, the rhythmic bouncing is the only thing keeping me from losing my shit. I’m not a fighter, but fuck, if I thought she’d tell me who hurt her, I’d be ringing his bell as quick as I could charter a flight to find him.

Indie seems completely unbothered. Like getting it out was enough to heal the damage he did. I’m pretty sure she would have sprinted back if it hadn’t been for her recently healed ankle. This gorgeous girl could have anyone she wants, and she’s picking me . . . and my tongue. But after that rare heart to heart, it feels like we are both finally on the same page. Her page is much more relaxed than mine after our conversation, but I’m glad to bear the burden. She deserves the break.

“Careful,” I warn when she skids around a corner. I lunge forward, my hands landing on her hips and tugging her back into me to steady her before she can lose her footing. Her contagious laughter echoes through the trees, and she gives me a look over her shoulder that’s so happy it makes my chest squeeze. “You’re fucking stunning.”

Only two things are stopping me from tossing her in the backseat and burying myself inside her. The dog watching us creeps me the fuck out, and a rushed car quickie isn’t what I’m after, not when it feels like her walls are finally down.

“Is it just me or was that drive back lo-longer?” Indie sputters when my lips find the spot on her neck that makes her eyes roll back in her head. She’s pressed up against the wall in the entryway to my house as I let my hands roam over her, mapping out the way she feels in my arms.

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