My eyes widen and I nod toward Val, who just chuckles.
She rolls her eyes and loudly whispers, “He knows we had sex last night. It’s not a secret.”
Val turns his head to her. “How was it?”
She answers with a moan before saying, “In-fucking-credible. I came so many times.”
Val winks at me before saying, “I had some pretty in-fucking-credible sex myself.”
He and Gemma high-five.
I can only shake my head. “You all have a weird relationship.”
They both laugh, and then Gemma sighs. “Wait until CJ gets here. He’s the biggest freak of all of us.”
We spend the day eating food and watching football. Seeing the three of them interact in such a familiar, casual way, oddly puts me at ease. And Val and CJ are, in fact, awesome guys.
Chapter
Thirteen
SEVEN WEEKS LATER
GEMMA
“Oh god, yes. Don’t stop.”
I cling to Trey as his body moves inside mine for what we both know will be the last time for a long time.
He whispers into my lips, “I’m going to miss you. I love you.”
I whisper back, “I love you too,” before our lips lock again.
Yep, I’ve completely fallen in love with Trey DePaul. We haven’t spent a single night apart in the past seven weeks. Almost all the evenings have been at my house in Philly, but I took the past few days off and am at his place in New York City. It’s a magnificent penthouse overlooking Central Park. It looks like it belongs in a movie.
He needed to come home to pack before he flies to Florida for a month of spring training, the unofficial kickoff of his season. We’ve ambiguously agreed to see each other when we can throughout the season. New York City and Philly are onlyninety minutes away from each other. He’ll travel down during his one day off every other week, and when they have home games on the weekends, I plan to travel up. It’s not ideal, but it will have to be our normal for the long, seven-month season.
We lay there in the aftermath, desperately clinging to each other. I rub my cheek on his now smooth face. He shaved last night per his team’s requirements. “I love your scruff, but I equally love it when I can feel your soft face on mine.”
He nuzzles into my neck. “I love everything about you.”
Except that I won’t move to New York for him. He doesn’t need to say that out loud for me to know he’s thinking it. We’ve had plenty of disagreements about this topic over the past seven weeks, but I’m not budging. We’re still relatively new. I’m not making any rash decisions. Yet.
I’ve been to his place a small handful of times throughout the past two months. I noticed on this trip up here that he’s made some changes. He cleared out the second closet in his bedroom. He also filled the second vanity and shower in the bathroom with duplicates of all the shampoos, conditioners, lotions, and just about every product that I use. All are color-coded to my specifications.
His alarm begins to ring, and he squeezes me tight. “I don’t want to leave you.”
I run my fingers through his hair and try to savor the feel of his naked body on mine. I breathe, “I know. Trey, if things…feelings change for you, I need you to be upfront with me. Separations sometimes change things. I know women must throw themselves at you all the time.”
He lifts his head and looks at me like I’ve got three eyes. “Have you not heard a single word I’ve said to you in the past few months? There is no one else. There never will be. I’m in love with you. We’re end game. When the logistics finally work out, we’re getting married. I don’t care how long I have to wait.”
Tears sting my eyes. I’m left without words, so I simply nod.
He wiggles his dick over me. “Besides, you’ve marked me as yours.”
I smile through my unshed tears. My Christmas gift to him was replacement jewelry for his dick piercing. It now has a “G” charm on it.
I joke, “You could always find a guy named Gary. That could work too.”