Page 19 of Caught Looking
After a minute of lying there waiting our breath to return, Yariel carefully pulled out. Once he’d taken care of the condom, he came back to bed, and covered us with the blankets and slid behind me.
“How do you feel?” If I didn’t know him like I did, I’d never be able to hear the worry in his voice.
I smiled as he ran his hands possessively over my arms. I pushed my ass back and put my hand on his thigh trying to reassure. “I’m a little sore and kind of tired, but I’m good. Really good.” I almost left it there, but I knew what he wanted to hear. “I have no regrets. I love your kisses, your body, your mouth, your dick, and I am officially claiming them all.”
“Good.” That satisfied rumble in his chest was starting to become my favorite sound.
I turned around so we could be face to face for the last part of my speech. He looked so young like this, his hair a little mussed and his eyes soft. So much like the boy I’d met that school morning long ago. I reached out and ran a hand over his face, traced his lineup with the pad of my finger. “I know you’re scared you’ll lose me, baby. But you won’t. This is just a new version of us.” And because I wasn’t anything if not extra…“One with lots more perks.”
He still looked worried. “I can’t lose you, Hatuey, but I also don’t want to be the cause your fam—”
I kissed him to stop whatever was coming out and shook my head, brushing our lips together. “Nobody is losing anything. We’re fine,” I assured him as I shifted back into my little spoon position. “Let’s sleep, baby. We’ll make plans in the morning.”
Within seconds I heard his breathing change as he fell asleep, and I stayed up a little longer, thinking about the future.
Chapter 12
Saturday
Yariel
“You know I’m going to want you in my bed every night, right?” I asked as I pushed the button that opened the blinds so we could see the sun come up. Most days I didn’t have much use for the excessive amounts of money I made playing professional baseball. But being able to see the sunrise on the water with the love of my life in my arms was pretty fucking perfect.
“That’s great, because I plan to be in your bed every night,” he said smugly as he shifted trying to get closer. Hatuey had always been pretty touchy with me, but as a lover he was more of a lamprey. At the moment he was fully draped across my chest. The grin on his face so wide he looked like he was squinting. “I mean, I have to make up for lost time. And I’m hoping to be an expert on all things Yariel’s privates by the end of the off-season. I’m counting on a lot of sleepovers. I’m already regretting the plan to go home for a couple of days—I wish you could come with me.”
I stiffened at his words and then tried hard to relax my body, knowing he’d notice. “I can’t. I have to report for all the pre-spring training stuff, and—”
He tipped his head up, and his smile had something in it that gave me pause. It was that smartass look he usually reserved for when he had something up his sleeve. “I talked to my dad yesterday.”
This time there was no relaxing my body, because this was the conversation that could end everything.
“Oh?” That was all I could manage even though my head was swirling with questions.
“Yeah,” he said, then pressed a kiss to my chest, which he was using as a pillow. When he looked back up, he had that impish smile again, and I was really close to throttling him, because love of my fucking life or not, Hatuey could be a real shit.
“Can you please tell me?” My voice shook, and that finally made him look a little less smug, but still he took his sweet fucking time.
“He just got this really weird look when he saw me watching you with the kids yesterday and then got all cryptic and asked me if I knew he loved me no matter what or something along those lines.”
It took me a moment to process what he’d said, but when it finally landed the relief was almost debilitating. “He said that? I—”
I shook my head, not sure how to say the next part, but I knew that for this to really be real, I couldn’t keep that secret. “Remember that night that we kissed?” That was a stupid question, but still I had to ask it.
“Yes. Of course I do,” he said, eyes focused on me. Hatuey never shied from the hard conversations.
“He saw us. He was upset.” I paused, not sure how to say the rest. Worried that he’d think I was accusing his dad when I understood why he’d done it. “I promised him—”
He angled his head to the side, his eyes worried but not surprised. “You promised him what?”
I closed my eyes, feeling the misery that had come back again and again since this week. “He thought you didn’t know what you wanted. That you were worried about me leaving, so you kissed me because of that. He didn’t want any opportunities for you to be impacted because of me.”
I had my eyes closed still and my heart was beating so hard in my chest I could hear the blood rushing in my ears. But I felt his hands on me, warm and strong as he talked. “He probably had good reasons to worry back then, but I still hate he said that to you.”
I opened my mouth to protest, scared I’d done what I feared and caused a potential rift between Hatuey and his father, but he kissed me again. And it was a firm, languid kiss. Like we had all the time in the world and absolutely nothing to worry about.
“I hate that you’ve been holding on to that for all this time.” That was said with another brush of lips, this time on my neck, and the whisper of his warm breath on my over sensitive skin made a shiver run all the way through my body.
“Hatuey, this is serious,” I protested weakly, as I gave him even more access to my neck.
