ALDRICH
CAMP ENDED WITH everyone feeling like this season was going to end far better than the last one did. I felt good, my body felt like it was in the best shape it had been in and I allowed myself to be positive. Chris played well and it looked like he was going to make the roster. Team cohesion was a big thing but it was still fuck that nigga Lucky. Couldn’t even lie I was hoping his ass wouldn’t make the cut to 53 but even if he did I wouldn’t give him anymore energy. If he lost his rabbit ass mind and approached Ling with anything less than respect all bets were off and all hands would be laid.
I had a pep in my step even if it was late as fuck knowing that I had Ami and Ling waiting on me. My house felt full of life, whereas my townhouse never did. Yeah, it was peaceful, a place of solace where I could leave the persona ofMoneyat the door and just be Dinero from Canyon Country whose ancestors came from Mississippi. But here? I’d become a lot more. A man, a father, someone who was doing his best to be better despite what he’d endured.
And it was looking like I’d found someone to love me and my baby.
Maybe Ant was right about the best blessings coming from tragedy.
“Hey, Aldrich.”
Sterling was waiting by the side door for me as soon as I opened it. I made her take the parking bay closest to the garage and didn’t want to be bothered with trying to maneuver aroundher car with these bags so I parked outside. She reached for the duffle on my shoulder and I took her hand, kissing her palm before I pulled her close to me. Sterling should’ve known I wasn’t about to have her carry this shit because I’d refused to let her help me load the car when I left.
I leaned back looking her up and down and noticed she had come to the door in just a team t-shirt and some sleep shorts. I knew it wasn’t mine because she was wearing the lady’s design and I wish she’d gone through my drawers. Her hair was down and curly and she looked good as fuck being this relaxed in my house.
“Damn, I’m still Aldrich? I’m not baby?Cariño?Tu bebé?”
She bit her lip and grinned devilishly. “No sabía es querrías que te llamara de esa manera.”
Her being able to speak Spanish was a surprise because she hadn’t said a word to me. Her thinking that I wouldn’t want her to call me a pet name let me know I was going to spend tonight stroking some confidence into her. “Sabes Española?”
“Verdad que no leíste mi currículum?”
“I didn’t read your resume at all. But damnmi tesoro,you sound so good.” Her eye widened as I called her my treasure but that’s how I felt about her. I dropped all my bags in the entryway and would get to them later. Right now I need to have a talk with the beauty who changed my life since the second she walked through the door.
“If you think my Spanish is something you should hear my French.”
“French too?”
“Oui, ma chérie.” She smirked like she knew those words had gotten my dick rock hard and she wouldn’t be wrong. My nose flared and I had to inhale slowly before I damn near attacked Ling at the door.
“Let’s go check on Ami real quick before we put each other to bed.” She smiled before glancing down at my dick so she could see exactly what she’d done to me. There wasn’t an ounce of shame so I let him bob hello because hell he missed her too. “Freaky ass girl, come on.” I grabbed her hand and laced my fingers through hers. There was an intimacy that I never realized that came with holding hands. When you’re young you do it hoping to move on to the next thing. When you’re older and fucking you take it for granted as just something to do. But when I re-examined with Doc and myself how I wanted to move with more intention, this was what I meant. Touching with intention and feeling the connection on a deeper level. Of course, that was easy with Ling cause I was feeling her but it also made it that much more special.
She tugged me to her and led me toward the side of the house where our rooms were. She went straight to Ami’s room and I walked right up to her crib so I could see her. I always thought people talking about their heart swelling was some shit that was made up. But looking in my baby’s face and seeing how much she’d grown since I’d been gone had my chest feeling like it would crack open with love.
I leaned over and kissed the top of her head wishing I could pick her up. I knew Ling would kill me if I did, so I just gave her one last look and backed away. When my eyes landed on Ling I knew we were going to be up for a minute. Framed in the doorway she was watching me with a smile of pure adoration on her face. I walked toward her and tugged her into the hall behind me because I felt damn near desperate to get closer to her. I pulled Ami’s door halfway closed behind me and tugged Ling to me and picked her up.
“Aldrich!” Even when she was trying to keep her voice down I could hear the panic and surprise in her voice. I knew she’d still been keeping up with her workouts without me because herthighs in them shorts were still like I liked them but were even more defined than before I left. I bent down to kiss her since I was carrying her bridal style and walked her toward my room. We were about to spend the rest of the night making memories.
“You bet not wake the baby, Ling. Acting like you don’t know your man squats over five hundred pounds. Carrying you is light work.”
Her eyes glazed over and I saw the lust in them. We made it to my room and I wasted no time laying her down on the bed. My hands went to my hem and I yanked my t-shirt over my head. Her eyes studied my body and I was even more bronze than normal. That Texas sun had cooked my ass despite the extra-strength sunblock I’d put on. I wasn’t about to be a fool and end up like some former players who ended up with skin cancer lesions needing to be removed. I loved myself far too much to let that happen and I had too much to live for. Especially now.
Sterling brushed her hands over my chest, her nails slightly scraping the flesh as she admired my body. My skin pebbled, goose bumps rising all over me as I watched her perfectly manicured fingers track their way across my skin.
I was trying to go slow with her, not just for my sake but for hers too. She was probably wondering a thousand different things in her head and I wanted to silence them with more than my dick.
My lips connected with hers and her pliant flesh yielded to me almost immediately. Like she was submitting to me without hesitation. It was something that I could get used to but submission wasn’t all that I needed from her or for her.
I could feel my dick starting to leak the deeper my tongue forged ahead within her mouth. She confidently met my touch with her own and I relished the feeling of each bump of her tongue and the smoothness of her teeth. My senses were heightened and I somehow felt an equal amount of excitementfrom this kiss as I did when I felt her nails scrape down my chest and land on my dick. He bobbed up to meet her having waited weeks to feel her again. I knew after our first time together Sterling’s body was the one haven I wouldn’t ever want to leave.
I broke the kiss feeling like my body was going to overheat from the sensations her hands were giving me as she slowly started to stroke my dick. I kissed my way down her neck needing to give myself a minute to let my mind reset before I came too quick.
Her soft moans as my hands explored her body encouraged me to keep moving. I kept waiting for Ami’s cockblocking ass to make noise like she did the last time, but baby girl must’ve wanted a playmate because she was sound asleep on her monitor.
“Your skin is even softer than silk. And tastes like heaven.”
“Aldrich—”
