Page 87 of The Third Baseman

I found him again, and couldn’t stop the moisture leaking from my eyes and down the sides of my face. His lips touched mine, so tenderly it nearly ripped my heart out. I held on, not blinking as he slowly, carefully, pushed inside me, and I thought I might lose my mind at the sensation of him stretching me out; the bite of pain, the tightness, the way he fitted perfectly… like we were made for each other.

“Shit, this is… you okay?” he gritted out.

I nodded, and reached up to wipe a trickle of sweat from his forehead; he caught my hand in his and brought it to his lips.

“I’m gonna move now, okay?”

His mouth captured mine again as my fingers found the base of his neck and pushed into his hair. He was being so careful. The pair of us were shaking. His tongue moved in unhurried strokes while his hips slowly thrust, matching the same pace, and completely overwhelmed me.

Soon, it wasn’t enough.

I could feel him tremble, feel how hard he was trying to hold back. But I wanted more. My hips acted of their own accord, taking what I needed, meeting him stroke for stroke.

My spine had become a corkscrew.

A vein I’d never noticed before was pulsing in his neck. He was losing control, and it was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.

“Do you think you can come like this?” he asked, scooping my ass into his hand and lifted me higher. That movement alone pushed the pressure to breaking point. He was pushing something; a switch had been flicked.

Every atom in my body was burning. My synapses were shooting haphazardly under the surface of my skin.

I’d had orgasms at Jupiter’s hand before, but nothing prepared me for the tsunami which hit and crashed through me until I was convinced I’d died. But it wasn’t over. Jupiter offered me a kiss of reprieve, and thrust into me one final time, muffling a loud cry against my lips. I breathed it in, breathed him in, as my chest threatened to give way.

And just like that, I’d lost my virginity to Jupiter Reeves.

His head was still nestled in the crook of my neck when I realized he was speaking, and I tipped my head to the side so I could hear him better.

“I learned something today.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, in one of your books. Jupiter is the protector planet, so I guess my job is to always protect you.”

“Yeah? I need protecting, do I?” I teased, making him laugh, and his dick twitched inside me setting off a torrent of mini aftershocks.

“Nah, I think you’re tough enough to handle yourself, but I just like the thought that I can.”

Another heartbeat passed and he eased out of me, moving away for what felt like the longest second. I closed my eyes until I felt him next to me, pulling me tight against his chest.

I didn’t think it was possible to relax further, but then his finger began circling my belly button. “I think I love you, Marnie Matthews. I’ve never felt like this about anyone before, like my heart could burst at any second. The only other time I feel this alive is when I’ve got a bat in my hand and I’m running bases.”

It was the first time those words had passed his lips. I’d been waiting to hear him say it first, because I already knew that’s how I felt; that I loved him. But to hear him finally say it…

I wasn’t sure if I could even speak, but he heard my breath catch.

After a minute, he pointed up to the sky. “You know how people say stuff is written in the stars? Do you think we are?”

I watched them twinkling above us, one shooting across the sky. “Written in the stars?”

“Yeah,” he whispered as he dropped a kiss on my head. “That we belong to each other. I’m yours, and you’re mine.”

I didn’t reply, just nuzzled into his chest. Something had shifted in the last thirty minutes and my mind was elsewhere.

I was beginning to realize how close the draft was.

How far Boston was from California.

And what I was going to do about it.

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