Page 28 of Nailed at Home Plate

“First rule: Connection.” That earned me another cocked brow. “Second: Oral Communication.” I watched as her brows turned to furrow together. This was not going well. “I think we have the first two well in hand.”

“Well, now.”

Damn, that sarcasm of hers.

This was my time-honored system. Even though the guys in my life razzed me about it, I always stuck to it. If I was going to sleep with a woman, it had to meansomething.

“So that just means I can take you out. Courting is the next one.” Was that the flicker of a smile on her lips? Even though it sounded so antiquated, it was better than the word “dating”. I liked to think I was more distinguished than that. “Then…kissing.”

“I think you went out of order there a bit, Slugger.” A full-blown smirk blossomed on her lips.

I knew it was unusual, this list is what I did for me, for the women I brought into my life. It had never steered me wrong. Cady, on the other hand, didn’t look completely convinced.

“So…your so-called rules are a load of COCK.”

“I, no…what?” I sputtered. She really didn’t say what I thought she just said.

“Connection, Oral Communication, Courting, and Kissing. C-O-C-K, cock. Your rules spellCOCK.” She gave me a curious once-over. “You really haven’t thought this through, have you?”

If she fucking said cock one more fucking time, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hold myself back from doing something I wasn’t completely sure she was on board with yet. But of course, it was Cady who would be the one to upend my carefully crafted set of standards.

“I certainly have. And since we’ve already made it through C and O…” I paused as her eyes made their way back to lock with mine. “And well, K,” My voice softened. “Courting is next. And…I’d like to take you out to dinner.”

“Dinner...?” She hesitated.

“I want to show you that my intentions can remain strictly…respectable.” Her face twisted and I sighed. I was fucking this up so bad. I had to turn a hot as fuck moment utterly cringy. “If I’m being honest, I’m a bit rusty in all of this. I had a long-term girlfriend back in San Diego, but we broke up because of the trade. It’s…been a few years since I’ve done this stupid song and dance.”

Cady’s eyes flashed in surprise. As she took the time to consider my request and overload of information, I gently lowered her back down to the floor. Maybe I messed up my only shot–

“Okay. Fine. Dinner. We’ll see if we can tolerate…whateverthis is.”

Putting my hands up in surrender, I tucked them into my pockets to show her that this outing would beas innocent as she wanted it to be. But it was also to subtly adjust my dick to a position that I could more easily hide my, finally softening, hard-on as I slowly pulled away from her.

“Great.” I let out a breath of relief. “There’s something I need to do before we go. Just…give me a second.”

“For what?”

“Because I need to shower and change my fucking boxers.” I grumbled out and avoided her gaze. I didn’t wait another moment to see her reaction. Instead, I opened my locker behind her, grabbed a fistful of clean clothes, and headed off to the shower room.

Catch

BRETT YOUNG

Iwasn’t going to be able to tolerate not jumping Jamie’s bones. Especially when he left himself wide open at home plate. In the Sillys’ locker room of all places. I was pretty damn sure that I actually made him cum in his pants. Just with our first kiss. That fact had my ego inflated as big as a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. And that smug bitch was in no mood to deflate in this lifetime.

It was as if every fantasy of mine came true in that one heated moment. Despite our attitudes towards each other, that kiss was flaming hot. It was going to takedaysto air out my downtown.

There was something in that kiss. A flicker of something deeper, something that was ready to consume my very soul. The feeling scared me to no end. I couldn’t. We couldn’t.

He’s a major leagueplayer. Which meant he was completely out of my league. No matter what sort of COCK-filled rule system he had, he could have been blowing smoke up my ass. Because there was no way the man of my fantasies had kissed me senseless, ejaculated in his pants, then asked me out to dinner.

After all that heart-pounding excitement in the locker room, I found myself staring at him in utterdisbelief across a restaurant table. Jamie seemed more at ease. Did that kiss change something? Did it mess everything up? I was so sure that the man loathed me. Especially after that disastrous one-on-one practice today.

“Something on your mind?” Jamie’s voice pulled me from my tumble of thoughts as I mindlessly swirled my straw in my diet soda.

“I’m not sure which one to address first. You left me with a lot of shit to process.”

“If it's about what happened in the locker room, I’m–” I cringed. Because of course he was sorry. Shit like that was always a mistake.

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