Anything but Minor (22 page)

“You’re fucking beautiful,” I whispered as I walked over to her and gripped her delicate neck. I wanted all of it gone, the dress on the floor, the lipstick stain on my cock, her neatly pinned up hair a sweaty fucking mess. I moved to untie her dress and heard her protest.

“Rafe, no!”

“I was kidding,” I lied.

“No, you weren’t and we don’t have time,” she said as I kissed the sweet spot between her shoulder and her neck. “So you’re telling me,” I pushed out as my dick grew unbearably hard, “no?” I used one finger and slid it from her neck over her tight nipple and past her waist as I nipped at the soft skin below her ear. I began to lift her skirt as her chest rose and fell and her neck tilted slightly.

“Yes, I’m saying no.” She reared back from my lips, her mouth still close to mine, her red lips my undoing. I knelt down before her and lifted her skirt to her waist and pulled her panties down to her thighs. I smirked when she unknowingly gripped her dress and held it up to help me out. I slid my finger between her thighs and found her wet. She looked down at me with lips parted as I brushed her clit over and over in beckoning.

“Rafe,” she hissed as she closed her eyes and opened them to watch me, fascinated.

With one hand, I spread her and leaned in to slowly lick her.

“Oh my God,” she whispered as her legs began to shake.

“Still a no?”

“No.”

“Okay,” I said as I backed away and she gripped my hair tightly and brought me back to her soaked center. “No, not no. Yes!” I dove in, tongue and fingers, until she could no longer handle it and her legs gave out. Quick to react, I gently placed her on the floor and resumed my lapping. Her taste, her moans, her pleas all fueled me to keep going, so I did. I licked her a thousand times, and if she wouldn’t have come, I would have stayed buried and tasted her a thousand more. I made my way up her body as she lay defeated beneath me, a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead.

“I’m a mess now. Thanks a lot.” I went in to kiss the ruby red lips that started it.

“Don’t you dare, Rafe!”

“Didn’t I just teach you
not
to say no to me?”

“No.”

Not the answer I wanted so I kissed her until I got it.

Forty-five minutes later, I grabbed a glass of champagne for each of us as I made my way to our table. I always got invited to different events around the city and had always turned them down. Alice had seen the invitation on my counter to this one in particular and asked me about it. When I saw the hope in her face, there was no fucking way I could say no. Alice did that to me. Whatever got her excited, whatever made her happy, became my next move. I was in unchartered territory and it was through sheer fascination of her.

The woman was a tumbleweed when it came to her next move. I’d caught sight of a ukulele in her bedroom last week and had a horrible time not breaking down hysterically as she awkwardly strummed it while I showered. She was doing everything in firsts and seemed to have no limits. If she was curious about it, she wanted to experience it, and I found myself jealous of all the time I had to spend away from her. My last two-week stint away, she’d reported that she went on a nine-hour road trip alone to D.C. just to see the cherry trees blossom. I would have been uneasy if I hadn’t gotten a dozen photos every three minutes with a “Did you know!” text. Half of them I’d saved to my phone and studied over and over until I could make it home.

Jesus, I was in deep.

She’d already planned a deep-sea fishing excursion while I was at my next series of away games. The thing was, I wanted to do these things with her, and she seemed unaffected to go alone. I wanted to protect her, from whatever, and she seemed to not want or need any protection for herself. I set down the glass of champagne in front of her as she chatted with Andy at our table.

“Doll, you look beautiful,” he said to her with a wink.

“Thank you,” she said with a slight blush. “And you,” she said as she looked up to me with a grin and grabbed her champagne. “I’m off to the ladies’ room.”

“Don’t get lost.”

I meant that
seriously
.

I looked over to Andy as he scanned the crowd and then looked back at me.

Our relationship remained changed despite our tussle in the dugout, and I’d been using Alice as a buffer. If I went to his bar, Alice was with me. I tried to do it on the nights Kristina didn’t work, but Alice had insisted we go a couple of times to keep her company. It was starting to wear on me and so was Andy’s indifference. I felt the anger start to build as he sat without a word. Fed up and ready to wash my hands, but knowing it would hurt Alice to leave, I spoke up, anyway.

“Fuck you,” I said under my breath. Andy’s eyes shot to mine. “Seriously, fuck you.” I stood to meet Alice when Andy gripped my arm.

“Chill out, man. I was just about to eat shit and apologize.”

I pulled my arm away and gripped his shoulder. “You keep eating that shit.”

“Alice has been talking about this all week,” he warned.

“I don’t know why I haven’t told her...this bullshit is between you and Kristina. I was better off not knowing.”

“I can say it in Spanish if you didn’t get it the first time. I’m fucking sorry,” Andy pushed out. “Sit down, cabron.”

“He just called you an ass,” Alice pointed out to me as she sat next to Andy with a wide smile.

“And what do you think of me?” I asked seriously but with a playful wink.

“Honestly?”

Shit.

“Is there
any
other way with you?” I asked sarcastically. She laughed. I studied her neck and the whisper of blonde hair around her shoulders. Andy leaned in, enthralled, and I was sure he was waiting for a punchline only Alice could deliver. I braced myself. She studied me closely, and I began to regret my question.

“I think you’re the most beautiful man on the planet. I think you’re a superior athlete. I think you play dumb a lot to keep from having to explain yourself. I think you’re passionate and considerate. I think you’re an amazing lover. I think you’re all heart on the ballfield and have a guarded heart off it.” I swallowed hard as I realized the whole table was listening. She looked around and noticed as well, and I felt her slip in her resolve only slightly as she downed the rest of her glass and looked dead at me. “I think you’re incredible, Rafe Hembrey.” She continued to stare at me for a reaction as I sat completely...fucking...stunned.

“Excuse me. I think I’ll go get another champagne.” She moved to get up as Andy and the rest of the men at the table followed suit. I fumbled to keep up as Alice turned back to look at me with a smirk and eye roll. “But, you are no gentlemen.”

My chest expanded in that moment, and was full of her—full of Alice.

“If you
aren’t
in love with her,” Andy said in a whisper as we resumed our seats and we both watched her walk back to the bar, “you’re a fucking idiot.”

Oh God, what did I just do?

There should be some sort of electric muzzle or shock system available for women who have no filter. I’d just practically told Rafe and a table full of men that I was in love and damned close to worshipping him.

And it wasn’t far from the truth.

No matter how much I wanted to be that cool, calm, and collected woman at times, I just couldn’t swing it. At the bar, I ordered champagne. I stood with my glass and stalled for time. Maybe he’d already forgotten about it, or maybe he wouldn’t even care.

“Want to dance?” a tall man in a tuxedo jacket with a red tie asked. It only took a moment for me to see it was Rodriguez, Rafe and Andy’s teammate. I was relieved at the invitation. Any time I spent away from that table was a blessing.

“Yes, thank you,” I agreed as I took his hand. Rodriguez had the perfect athletic build and moved gracefully across the floor. I followed pretty awkwardly, but he was patient. Canopy lights graced the high ceilings of the hotel ballroom, and aside from the candlelit dinner tables, the room was littered with red and yellow balloons. The fundraiser was put on to raise money for the little leaguers of Charleston to upgrade the current sports complex. It seemed the whole team had been invited and quite a few had shown up. I was so busy studying the room around me that when Rodriquez spoke up, I almost jumped.

“What were you doing alone at the bar?”

“Just getting some champagne,” I answered absently. When the crowd parted slightly, I looked toward our table and caught a glimpse of Rafe. His eyes were cold, deadly, and his fists were clenched on the table. Andy was rapidly speaking to him in his ear.

“I...better get back to my date.”

“Let Rafe sweat. He deserves it, I promise.” I looked up to see a genuine smile on his face. “And why is that...?”

“Benley,” he answered.

“And why is that, Benley?”

“Well, I was going to get married, but now I’m not.”

I looked back at Rafe, confused, and then at Benley. He seemed nice enough. I didn’t get that vindictive vibe from him at all, yet I knew something was up. Rafe stood suddenly as Andy gripped his arm, still speaking to him urgently.

“I don’t understand. Why would...oh.”

“Yeah,” he whispered as he looked down at me. “She wasn’t as innocent as I thought. But you seem...different.”

Suddenly, I knew the reason Rafe treated Rodriguez like a disease. It wasn’t poor sportsmanship. It was utter human stupidity.

“I am different,” I snapped as I studied Rodriguez closely. “You want to ruin his night, possibly his relationship. I’m not an idiot. This isn’t my battle.”

Rodriguez gripped my hand and kissed it as Rafe approached. “You deserve to know what type of man he is,” he said, and for the first time, his accent came through. He stared down at me, thick black hair, dark eyes, and began to move again.

“What he did, is not who he
is
,” I whispered to an unaffected Benley. “Just like what you’re trying to do
now
probably isn’t you.” I looked over to Rafe as he closed in, blinding fury written all over his face. “I think you’ve made your point.”

I pulled away from Benley and stopped Rafe only a foot away.

“Dance with me,” I implored as Rafe stared past me at Rodriguez with murder in his eyes.

“Rafe,” I said with my hand on his chest. His face remained stone as I pulled his arm around my waist and clasped our hands.

“Rafe,” I begged in a low whisper. He finally looked down at me with the same hatred in his eyes as he began to move and gripped my hand tightly.

I felt him began to relax as he broke eye contact with me and started to roam the room with his stare.

“You’re dancing with me. The least you could do is look at me,” I scolded as his posture remained tight.

Still furious, he glared at me and I let out a deep breath. “Fine, we won’t dance.” I let go of his hand as he pulled me tighter to him and regripped my fingers.

“Let it go, Rafe,” I muttered as my whole body tensed at his grip on me.

“What the fuck did you think you were doing, Alice?”

I slowed my feet, stunned. “What?”

“You knew I didn’t like that son of a bitch so you were...what...trying to play matchmaker? Kiss and make up?”

“No, I—” My face went up in flames as my anger grew. “He asked me to dance, I said yes. I didn’t know you didn’t like him. Well, I did to a degree, but I didn’t know why.”

He lifted a brow, his jaw set as he looked over me. “I saw the look you gave me when he told you. I saw that fucking look.”

“So, I looked at you?” I asked, baffled. “You screwed a man’s fiancée and
I’m
the bad guy?”

Rafe gripped my hand and led me off the dance floor. Andy was waiting with my purse.

“Take her home,” he hissed and Andy nodded.

“What?” I asked, confused. “No,” I protested as Rafe began to walk out of the ballroom. Andy followed close on my heels as I went after him. I caught up with him in the parking lot.

“The hell he will, Rafe. You brought me. You’re taking me home!”

Rafe stopped in his tracks, his keys in his hand as Andy spoke up. “Alice, doll, listen to me. It’s no problem.” I glared at Andy and turned my attention back to Rafe. I circled his stiff body and faced him head on.