Chapter 1
My and Dex’sHappy for Nowlasted a month.
It was an amazing month, don’t get me wrong. But still, I have this horrible sinking suspicion that Karma is out to get me. Again. And right now, Karma is a sneaky, conniving, heartbreaking little bitch. And I can’t stop the freight train of its full power heading right toward me.
I knew being in a relationship took work, but seriously, this is ridiculous. At first, it’s all easy. Lovey-dovey, holding hands, sex on every surface and in every which way, easy. But after a while, the real world breaks in and that rose-colored love bubble you think you’re safe inside just pops.
And just like last time, it all begins at a baseball game.
Not a real major league baseball game like before, but a pathetically planned company game with our fiercest competitor, Metropolitan Magazine. This debacle was the brain child of our editor-in-chief atUPCLOSEmagazine, the evil yet brilliant, Gail Talbert. She told us all we’d be out of jobs if we didn’t show up to, and I quote, “wipe the field with their talentless staff.” Rain or shine, she warned, and right now the sky overhead is gray and threatening.
It’s the fifth inning and we’re losing fifty-six to three. I believe the game started heading south in the second inning when Julia stopped to pet a cute puppy and the other team just skipped around all the bases laughing at her. In response, Nate, her fiancé (and my once upon a time obsession), threw his glove in her direction and had a mini meltdown near third base. Three innings later, there’s another batter up and Julia still hangs over the half-fence scratching at the head of a little French Bulldog. She keeps yelling over her shoulder reminding everyone she was in an accident five weeks ago and just got her cast off and shouldn’t even be playing. Nate is having an all-out tantrum.
I’m watching all of this from the back seat of Dex’s car, my face smashed up against his blacked-out window and our bodies a tangle of limbs. Ten minutes ago, we snuck off the field feigning a bathroom break, but what we really needed was our hands on each other. This is how it’s been for the last four weeks.Four, blissful, orgasmic, toe-curling weeks.
“I just need a kiss,” he whispers against my neck as we continue our climb into the backseat. “Need to feel you.” Between us there always seems to be this weightless, unending desire. Neither of us feels we could get enough of each other, our minds or our bodies. I lean in and kiss him, slow at first, until all we could hear is our breaths, heavy with want, filling the small space.
“Okay, I lied,” he murmurs, pulling up my shirt and pushing down the front of my bra to free my breasts. “I want more than a kiss.” His words not only build an ache between my thighs, they squeeze and knead at my heart. I barely remember my life without this man, in my head, in my body. I don’t want to remember a time when he wasn’t here. His mouth is on my nipple, sucking, teasing, tasting. I wonder if he feels the way I do.
It’s getting hotter in the car, our panting mixes with the heat of the day and the back of my neck begins to perspire making it all the more arousing. Fat drops of rain start to splatter against the back windshield, not heavy, but enough to blur the game and everything outside. He slides my pants down, and I face away raising my bottom in the air, no explanation. He doesn’t need any. He knows what I’m asking for.
He frees his erection from his pants. I watch over my shoulder as it presses against his jeans until his zipper is open and it bobs out, hard and thick. His hand grips around its girth, and I push myself right over him and he slides inside me with a low sexy moan. It’s so hot it feels like we’re melting together. “Jesus, Jane. This is intense.”
I know what he means. Him inside me is incredible. He’s so big and thick I’m already so close to coming, it’s embarrassing. His fingers press into my hips and his thrusts shift steadily from long and slow to hard and fast. Each stroke deep and wet. Each time he whispers my name it’s like some sort of soft reverent prayer. I never want it to end.
Dex presses his chest to my back and bites softly at the skin on my shoulder. His arms wrap around in front of me and one hand finds its way expertly between my legs to rub his fingers over me in quick hard circles. My knees instantly go weak and my orgasm slams through me like a nuclear bomb. His orgasm follows mine, deep and trembling. My eyes well from the emotion, my body liquid and warm.
He pulls me back and lays me across his chest. His heart drums fast beneath my cheek. For a while we sit in silence with just the slow tapping of raindrops hitting against the roof of the car. His fingers rub gently over the crook in my arm, barely touching my skin yet sending goose bumps across my flesh.
“Sometimes I think none of this is real,” his lips whisper into my hair.
I want to agree with him, but I keep quiet in case he says more.
He takes a slow deep breath. I can feel his lungs fill with air. “It’s so easy to be with you. Sometimes it scares me.”
I lift my head and meet his gaze. “It scares me too.” My voice is no louder than a sigh.
We stare at each other for a moment and only break contact when lightning brightens the skies outside and thunder rumbles through. The corner of his lip curls up and he shakes his thoughts away, “Come on, let’s get back to the losers before Gail pitches a fit.”
I want to say so much more to him. I want to tell him all the crazy things I feel, but I’m afraid I feel them too much and too fast. I don’t want this to end. I don’t want to frighten him away. So, I stay quiet and put my clothes back into place and smile like I’m not dying to tell him I think I’m falling in love with him. I press my lips in a tight line so the words don’t vomit out, and we climb out of the car and walk through the soft drizzle, back toward the ballfield.
Every step we take I scream in my head, ‘I loveyou,Iloooooveyou. Let’s get me a white dress and knock me up.’
Oh my God, I can’t say that to him. He’ll run. I clench my fist to my mouth for insurance; if I say the words out loud, I’ll punch myself in my face and pretend I’ve been possessed by some teenaged love-obsessed demon. Yeah, that’ll work.
I don’t realize we’re at the dugout until I trip over someone’s feet and tumble over to the bench pretending I did it on purpose. Julia giggles into her hands and Nate rolls his eyes. I’m desperate to flip them both the finger, but I’ve been trying hard to lessen the animosity between us all. The idiots aresupposedlygetting married, and I have Dex. I win in the scenario because Nate and Julia both can’t keep it in their pants, they can’t even keep a conversation going together.
“Well, what do you have to say about it?” Gail demands, shoving her body in front of mine.
I blink up at her. “Uh, think about wha—”
“Were you even listening to anything I just said?”
Did she not notice we’ve been missing for the last twenty minutes? I glance up at the others. All of them are suspiciously looking down at their muddy sneakers.
“No, sorry. What were you—”
“Where were you? Dex? What were you two up to?” Gail spins around and pins her bird-like gaze on him and jabs her tiny little hands on her waist.
