Page 18 of Pretty and Loco

“Come here, please.”

I slid off the side of the bed and stood in the bathroom doorway. Her eyes met mine through the steam of the glass, and then she slid the door back.

“What?” I asked.

“Are you going to join me?” She asked, biting her lip.

I stared at her.

This woman was going to be the reason Greg had a stroke at forty.

“You know I have somewhere to be.”

“I didn't ask you that.”

She smiled and kept staring at me.

I knew I should have turned around, gone back into the room, and waited for her to finish.

Instead, I stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind me.

If the way she sucked my shit was an apology for how she just tripped on me, then I accept it. As soon as I slid the door closed, she dropped to her knees. Afterward, I held her up against the wall, slid inside her, and got lost there. By the time that we came out of the shower, another hour had passed, and I didn’t have much time to make it to my meeting.

“Fuck.” I said, looking at the clock.

I went to the closet, grateful I'd had enough sense to prepare the night before. I pulled out the clothes I had packed and started getting dressed. I hurried to throw on the clothes so that I could get on the road.

Once I was finished, Leah had already put on her dress, fixed her hair, and was waiting for me in the living room.

We walked out the door, through the garden, to my truck.

“I’ll see you later,” I said, leaned down, kissed her quickly, and got in the truck.

“Will you?” she asked.

I gave her a look that made her laugh.

“See you later. Don’t drive like a psychopath,” She finally said before turning, and I waited for her to get in her car.

“I got it,” I said before pulling out of the resort like a bat out of hell.

In a sense, this is what I meant by not wanting the distraction. I can’t blame Leah because again, I’m a grown-ass man. Nobody asked me to invite her, nobody made me have breakfast, nobody forced me into the shower. Those were all my decisions.

But decisions come with consequences. One of mine was that I spent the night in Napa Valley, so I wasn’t late to the meeting and was somehow still going to be late to the meeting.

I sped down the road to make it on time. My agent had gotten me so many deals that I could barely keep up with them all. It was the abundance that I had been working for, so I couldn’t complain. Too many players would kill to be in my position, and I knew that. Because just one year ago, I wasn’t here.

That’s why I took the business side seriously. None of it was guaranteed. One injury, one ball, could change everything. The business would last for years after I took off a uniform.

I made it there without a minute to spare, hopped out of the truck, and went inside.

“Hello, Mr. Sanders. We’ve been expecting you.” The receptionist said as she stood.

“Rocko is fine,” I said.

She smiled, then walked me down to the meeting room, where Greg and the brand representatives stood waiting for me.

Greg looked like he wanted to curse.