Page 108 of Stealing Home

“You should check and see if I’m ready then,” I taunt him.

The thrill of the forbidden nature of this location, as well as watching him play the best game of baseball I’ve ever witnessed has me vibrating with need for him. When his hand slips down my stomach and dips between my thighs, I whimper.

His wet hair flops in front of his face, and I rake my fingers through it so I can continue looking into his eyes. “I love you,” he tells me. I’ve heard those words from him many times now, but this time there’s an intensity and an urgency I’ve not picked up on before.

“So much,” I reply to him. With my hand still in his hair, I pull his mouth to mine. I love when he takes over, but his dominance isn’t all we are.

Scott holds back, letting me guide the kiss. My tongue flicks the seam of his lips, begging entrance. He opens for me, and I take over. My tongue plunges into his mouth, stroking against his, until all we are is this point of contact, his lips responding to mine, firm against my soft ones.

He groans into my mouth and lifts me up. My legs wrap around his waist, and it’s my turn to groan as he pushes inside of me. His arms cage around my head and he pulls back enough so we lock eyes on each other.

“They’re probably on their way back,” he warns me.

I squeeze him tighter, my arms, legs, and deep inside of me. I realize the fantasy of being caught is just that, a fantasy. I like the idea of it, but this is something I don’t want to share with anyone else.

“Then let’s hurry,” I say and rock against him as much as I can using the slippery tile wall for traction. “This is just for us.”

“Always,” he swears, and his mouth takes mine again. We move against each other frantically, clawing, and climbing until we finally go over that crest and come together.

Steam fills up the shower room, fogging windows and creating a false sense of privacy. That image dissolves as the sounds of voices grow closer. Scott quickly turns off the water and hands me a towel.

“Get dressed quick, or we’re going to be caught after all.”

We each grab our clothes and throw on what we can as we run out the back of the building laughing.

38

Scott

On Friday,I get back to the apartment later than usual. Harlow already ordered a pizza for us, and has a ridiculous movie queued up, ready to watch. She’s still trying to find one that I won’t watch with her. Someday she’ll realize that with her is the only place I want to be, no matter what is going on around us.

Being alone with her is a welcome reprieve after all the attention I got on campus the last two days. If I had a celebrity status on campus before, the way they are treating me now is insane. I’m not sure how famous people deal with this. I feel watched everywhere I go, and this is only a small taste of what life would be like if I were to go pro.

“Long practice?” she asks me after I flop down next to her on the couch.

I groan. There’s not a muscle on my body that isn’t sore. “I guess I slacked off a bit more than I realized. Of course, I hadn’t really planned on playing again.”

“The game was all anyone talked about at the café the last couple of days. We could hear some of their conversations even back in the office. You’ve got the whole town pretty pumped up.” She says it like it’s just an observation, but I know there’s a lingering anxiety that I’m going to change my mind about entering the draft.

“I’ve been stopped more times on campus by people I don’t know the last couple of days than the entire three years I’ve gone here combined. I don’t understand what people find so appealing about having all this attention. The only thing I want is to cuddle with you under that fuzzy blanket and ignore whatever movie you’ve picked out for us tonight.”

She hums, and moves closer to me. “That sounds good, just you and me—” My cell phone rings, interrupting her. “And apparently whoever is calling,” she mumbles.

I grab my phone off the coffee table, and groan when I see the caller ID. “It’s my dad.”

Low waves me off. “Take it. I think I see the pizza guy coming up the stairs anyway.” I answer the phone, and she goes to grab our dinner.

“Hey dad,” I sigh.

“Damn, son, don’t sound too excited to hear from me. You might hurt yourself,” he tries to joke.

“Dad,” I say through clenched teeth. “It’s been a long few days. Low and I are about to start a movie and eat pizza. I don’t have it in me to verbally spar with you right now, so whatever criticism you wanted to lob my way, how about we save it for another time, yeah?”

He exhales loudly into the phone. “I don’t like how things are between us.”

“I don’t really know what to tell you. I’m not leaving Harlow just because you don’t like it. So you can either figure out a way to come to terms with it fast, or get used to us barely talking.”

“That’s actually why I’m calling. I’m ashamed of how I behaved when you were both here. I didn’t give her a chance, and I see she’s important to you. Your mom and I are coming to your game tomorrow, and we’d like to have dinner afterwards. All four of us,” he says.

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