“You?”
“No. I did manage to eat before the game, and I think I’m over the food poisoning,” I explain as we pass the lobster roll truck. “But I’m not going to risk anything and ruin another night with you.”
“There’s going to be a night with me?”
She is staring up at me, a purely fake look of innocence on her beautiful face. I grin. “I need to finish what you started in my bedroom last night.”
She smiles at that. It’s warm and inviting and so sexy it makes all the blood in my body move south. Before I can throw her over my shoulder and drag her out of here like the caveman she’s somehow awakened in me, Carla and Tessa are standing in front of us. “They’re doing an adult jump in the bouncy castle!” Tessa exclaims gleefully and grabs Zoey’s hand. “Come with!”
Zoey looks up at me. “Bouncy castle with me?”
“After sushigate? No. Besides, I’m saving my energy for later,” I explain, and Carla rolls her eyes.
“Okay. More bounce room for us!” Tessa exclaims, and she starts pulling Zoey away, with Carla in tow.
I look around and find Levi and Duncan taking pictures with two fans by the dart game. I make my way over there as the fans walk away. Duncan grins at me. “Great carnival. Best one we’ve done so far. I bet you’re raising a shit ton of cash for ALS.”
“Yeah, Dixie went above and beyond.” I nod and I feel a swell of pride. As a sister she can be as annoying as being locked in a dark closet with a mosquito, but Dixie is incredible at her job, and an incredible daughter. I know she went out of her way on this, not only to impress Thunder management but because it’s about our dad.
“Let’s head over to the beer tent,” Duncan suggests, so we start walking toward the tent at the end of the parking lot. “We can grab a cold one and then walk over and watch the girls in that inflatable boob bouncer.”
“It’s a kids’ toy, Darby,” Levi reminds him.
“Yeah, but when my girlfriend’s in it, it’s a boob bouncer,” Duncan replies. “Her tits look great when they bounce too. Trust me.”
“Oh, I will, because I’m not about to look and find out for myself.”
“You can look; just don’t touch,” Duncan replies as we reach the counter for the beer tent. “What’re you boys having? It’s on me.”
Levi orders a Molson but I shake my head. “Not drinking tonight. Don’t want anything to interfere with my plans later.”
Both Levi and Duncan lookstunned by that statement, and I can’t say I blame them. I’ve never turned down a free beer in my life. And one is not going to affect me, but I have never wanted to be stone-cold sober more in my life. If I’m finally going to be with Zoey I want to be in control of every minute of it so I can sear it into my memory forever. It’s going to be great sex. It’s going to be sweaty and sexy and dirty, and the only thing I want clouding my brain is an orgasm. Since I seemto have stunned them both into silence, something I should get a medal for, I keep speaking. “And about later tonight, I don’t want it to be too much later, so I’m probably going to sneak out of here once Zoey is done bouncing.”
They grab their beers as Duncan pays the guy behind the counter.
“So you can get to a little private bounce session?” Duncan asks and starts thrusting his pelvis like some horny middle schooler.
Levi slaps one of his notorious captain’s scowls on his face. “There are fans and kids around, you moron.”
Duncan immediately stops thrusting his hips but starts wiggling his bushy red eyebrows. I look past Duncan and his spastic eyebrows and over at Levi. “Can you cover for me? If anyone asks why I left, say it’s the lingering food poisoning I had last night.”
“You really did have food poisoning?” Duncan asks, incredulous.
“Yeah. Spent half the night on my bathroom floor.”
He shakes his head and lets it hang in defeat. “You play better than me evenwhen you’re poisoned. The universe is cruel.”
“I’m better than you. Deal with it.” I pat his shoulder condescendingly but with a joking grin. “If I wasn’t sick, I would have been able to finally get Zoey naked, and then tonight I wouldn’t feel like I’m on the verge of a life-threatening case of blue balls.”
Levi smiles at me. It’s an honest, real smile, so it looks foreign. He hasn’t given me one of those in forever. “Go. I’ll cover. There’s only about an hour left anyway.”
“Thanks,” I say, and the smile I give him in return feels way more comfortable than the ones I’ve been giving him lately.
We’re in front of the bouncy castle now, and through the clear plastic wall I see Zoey bouncing away and squealing with laughter with Carla, Tessa and a couple other wives and girlfriends. Her hazel eyes are bright, her normally pale skin pink from exertion and her lips pulled wide in a blissful smile. She sees me and somehow that smile grows, and all of a sudden it’s hard to take a deep breath. Shit.
She makes her way to the edge of the bouncy castle, and I walk over to meet her. She drops onto her perky little ass and half slips, half jumps out of the castle, giggling the entire time. I reach up and grab her waist as she does it to make sure she doesn’t fall down. Her shirt lifts when she slips off the castle so my hands touch the taut, warm, smooth skin of her waist. Her slender fingers grip my biceps as she lands on her feet smiling, laughing, euphoric. It’s as if her mood is contagious. I feel this tidal wave of happiness because of this giggling, breathless, beautiful woman, so without thinking, I press her into the side of the castle and kiss her. Hard. Long. Deep.
My fingers press into the spaces between her delicate ribs as her fingers grip tighter to my arms and the inflatable castle behind her gives just the right amount against her back, allowing me to press my body into hers without crushing her.
