Page 73 of The Shake Off

Marnie walked through from the front of the store, her arms laden with clothes which were swiftly relieved by a store clerk, and hung in a dressing room lest they wrinkle. The staff in here were far too efficient for their own good, although not efficient enough to have refreshed the glass of champagne they’d handed me when I sat down.

“Statistically speaking,” Marnie began, “he has been pitching better since you guys started sleeping together. Therefore, it’s the logical conclusion, unless there’s another variable we don’t know about.”

“We’re not…” I stopped talking, because I was about to say I wasn’t sleeping with Ace.

While we might be the only ones currently shopping in this particular store in Greenwich Village, the staff were hanging onto our every word, and I’d rather not discover my news in the next edition of Page Six.

Also, I couldn’t exactly deny it after I confided in them at brunch that I’d had sex with Ace six times in the past two weeks, seven if you counted what happened in my office. I tried not to cringe at the wanton harlot I’d become, or the way my pussy convulsed whenever I thought about him – which was far too often, or whenever he texted me – also far too often – or whenever I looked up his latest game reports – not even admitting to how much I’d done that.

Every morning I’d woken up, looked at him sleeping soundly, and stopped myself from tracing my fingers over the curves of his muscles. Every morning I made a promise that time had been the last time. But then he’d send me a text and I’d cave, or, like two nights ago, he’d turn up unannounced, and I’d have to let him in before any of my neighbors saw.

At least I’d made him promise not to turn up at my office again, which I was taking as a win.

I don’t even know how it happened; how I’d gone from a very average one-night-stand which I had no intention of repeating, to possibly the best sex of my life with the same person over and over again. In the morning, I’d leave to go to work and he’d go to the stadium, or wherever it was he went first, then later he’d either rock up on the mound and throw a couple of balls or watch from the bench while he was rested, but he’d always be back at my place before I’d have a chance to get through my late-night episode of The Golden Girls.

The better The Lions played, the more fired up he was when he arrived.

Yesterday, I barely managed to close the front door before he’d ripped my panties to one side and began eating me like his life depended on it. Every fantasy I’d ever had about Ace was coming true. If I kept a diary with my deepest, darkest secrets, I’d swear he’d been reading it.

“You’re dressing room is ready, ma’am,” the store clerk said and smiled at Marnie.

“Thank you,” she replied, trotting off into the open stall, but she clearly wasn’t done adding to our conversation, unfortunately. “He threw two clean innings yesterday.”

I groaned, though it wasn’t as loud as it should have been, given this conversation. I already knew about his clean innings because he’d told me as his hand inched into my panties. He’d described every last detail excruciatingly slowly while he curled his fingers inside me, adding more and more pressure until I was screaming for release. “Thisis how I curl them around a fast ball,” he’d said.

I shouldn’t be finding baseball this sexy.

“You’re making me sound like I’m one of those little green goblins at the bottom of a rainbow.”

“You mean a lucky charm?”

“Semantics!” I shot out.

Beulah dropped down next to me on the ottoman, and another store clerk ran over to take the clothes she’d brought out with her.

“Can we wrap these for you?”

“Please,” Beulah nodded, and leaned into me as the clerk walked off. “You could say no to him, you know.”

“What?” I placed my empty glass down on the floor, I’d given up on having it refilled. I guess if I wasn’t spending thousands, I only got one drink. “Like you did when he kept turning up to your office to ask about PlayStation and got my number instead?”

“Yes,” she winced. “Sorry about that. I honestly didn’t think you’d mind. If I’d known why he wanted your number in the first place I wouldn’t have given it to him, but he seemed so sad, and he’s very persuasive.”

I chuckled. “I’m fully aware of how persuasive he is.”

“Is that why you’re buying those?” She tipped her chin down toward the bra and panties folded in my lap. The very sheer black bra and panties that I happened to notice as I walked in, and thought would make a good addition to my underwear drawer.

“Coincidence,” I grinned.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Is Ace really that bad?” asked Marnie, walking out with only one pair of jeans from the approximately seventeen she took in with her. “I’ve always thought he’s pretty fun. He makes me laugh anyway. Or maybe that’s more to do with how much he annoys Jupiter. He’d probably be fun to hang around with for a bit.”

My eyes widened at the thought of spending time with Ace outside of the bedroom. “God no. We don’t hang out. We have sex. We barely even talk unless it’s to do with… you know, sex.”And baseball, I nearly added.

“And the sex is bad?” She frowned, looking almost as confused as I felt.

“No, that’s the problem. He’s excellent. It’s like overnight, he suddenly became an expert in all things regarding the female anatomy, because he believes it’ll make him better at pitching. Thank God they’re leaving for an away stretch tomorrow. My vagina needs a rest.”

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