Page 56 of Honey Undone
We celebrated wins at the Hollow. Free drinks, live music, and crowd control crowds. Frat parties were like that, but one hundred percent worse.
“I’m thirsty,” I said to him after a while and he nodded, turning me around in his arms and pointing me toward the kitchen. Once we got there, it wasn’t so horrible. There weren't as many bodies, and I knew most of the players hanging around and a few of them introduced me to their partners. I was talking to Dean Tucker when Jensen’s hands started to roam again.
I gripped his fingers in mine as they spread out over my stomach, stopping him before he made the fabric of my shirt ride up too much. “We’ve had a few pre-season games but our season opener is next week,” I said to Dean when he asked me if we were playing. “Stop it,” I whispered to Jensen who feigned innocence with his lips on my shoulder.
“No,” he responded quickly and continued his assault on my already warm skin.
“Lucky us,” Cael Cody smiled from his perch on the counter.
“I can get you tickets, I’ll send them…” my sentence turned into a yelp as Jensen’s fingers found my hip again. “I’ll send them over to Dansby House.”
Dean laughed, clearly very accustomed to dealing with Jensen’s antics and went back to talking to the people around him. I turned my head and my nose brushed against Jensen who was resting on my shoulder watching his friends pour shots.
“You’re a nuisance, I’m trying to get to know your friends,” I said to him and his eyes flickered to meet mine. “What’s gotten into you?” I asked him.
“Just happy,” he said, surging forward to steal a kiss. “I need to run up to grab something from the Nest, come with me?” He asked, and how could I say no to that face.
It took us forever to get out of the house, every person that saw him stopped us to congratulate him on the game and with each conversation I could see his patience wearing thin. The next guy that approached him got a scowl and a quick “yup” before I was gently tugged out the front door into the fresh air.
“I didn’t think it was possible to get that many people in a house?” I laughed as we started across the grass to a path.
“That’s not even a big party,” Jensen said, relaxing a bit the further we got from the noise.
“How far is Dansby House from here?” I asked him, looking at the path. It was dark and I wasn’t exactly a fan of it.
“Ten minutes tops,” he said.
“Let’s make it five,” I challenged, stepping back from him. “And it goes all the way up to the house?”
His lips curled into a smile, nodding slowly as his hungry eyes raked over my body.
“I’ll race you,” I said. “If you beat me up the hill you can have the jersey back.”
“Oh, I’m going to have that jersey by the end of the night regardless of a silly bet from a beautiful girl.” Jensen stepped forward and I stepped back away from his grasp.
“It’s okay to be scared to lose to a girl,” I said, teasing him a little as I stretched out my calves, “fragile male egos.”
Jensen scoffed, “you aren’t going to insult me into racing you up the hill in the dark.”
“Just say you’re a coward then,” I said, pushing him a little further and I could see him cracking.
“I’m not a coward, and I can beat you in a foot race but it’s pitch black outside and I don’t want you getting hurt,” he argued gently but I wasn’t having it.
“Says the baseball player to the rugby player,” I laughed, “if anyone is made of glass here, it’s you, baby.”
“Don’t,” he swallowed tightly. His entire body pulled under the moonlight, his muscles hardened beneath the thin fabric of his t-shirt.
“Don’t what?” I giggled realizing what it was that got him all tense, “call youbaby?”
“That’s—” he stepped forward again, his neck red. It was clear to see that it was affecting him. I loved the shade of pink his cheeks turned being called it and I started backward. “Adeline.” His voice was low and warning.
It wasn’t going to stop me though, I took off running before he could stop me.Sprinting. I knew I had a decent head start when it took another two minutes before I heard his footsteps pushing up through the path behind me. Twigs snapped behind me and it only fueled the urge to move faster.
Sure baseball players were fast, but I had spent my entire career running to avoid getting caught by someone bigger than me, stronger than me. I sprinted over a hundred yards every single practice, this hill… in the dark was child's play.
I controlled my breathing and it wasn’t until I popped out the other side of the path into the backyard that he caught me. His arms wrapped around my middle and hauled me over his shoulder like I weighed nothing.
“I win,” I giggled when his hand flexed tightly around my thigh. “You should do more cardio,” I teased, giving up fighting against his restraints and letting him carry me up the back steps into the house.
