Out of Bounds (Reedsville Roosters #5) (13 page)

“Sorry,” Gary whispered as he thrust his hips forward once more and released his load in Dean’s hand.

“You said it wouldn’t take much.” Dean slowed his pumping and then dragged his thumb across the top of Gary’s leaking head.

“Why’d you do that to me?”

“You needed me to.”

“I would have been all right taking care of myself.”

“You seem to be doing a pretty awful job taking care of yourself in all areas of your life. You needed me to touch you.” Dean turned him around and slid his arm around Gary’s waist. He cupped his ass and groped what little bit of flesh was there. “Didn’t you?”

“You’re the one who got me so hard in the first place. Putting Lo on the screen in front of me like that.”

“Her idea.”

Gary watched the tip of Dean’s tongue pass over his lips, and suddenly wanted to taste it. He hadn’t kissed him yet.

Why haven’t I?

He gulped. “Yeah?”

“I thought you were supposed to be seeing if I’d respond to you and not the other way around.”

“I guess I can’t keep any secrets around you two.”

“Nope.” Dean leaned in and gave Gary that taste of his mouth. “And you shouldn’t try.”

Lo was surprised to see Dean standing in the doorway of Gary’s motel room at two o’clock on Thursday, but there he was—leaning against the frame and smiling at her.

“What are you doing here?” The only reason she wasn’t taking running leap at him was because she was holding a hot coffee, and she’d paid four bucks for the little cup at one of those questionably legal roadside coffee shacks. “You said you’d leave the door open.”

He pushed away from the door, took her overnight bag from her, and bent down for a kiss.

“Ugh, I missed your smell,” she said.

“You did?”

“Had to throw your pillows off the bed. The scent was driving me nuts. I kept waking up confused, thinking you were there.”

“Well, here I am.”

“Yes, there you are.”

She stepped into the room, sipping her latte, and looked around for Gary. No sign of him.

Dean shut the door and then deposited her bag atop the luggage rack.

“You didn’t answer my question,” she said.

“I’m off the hook as of today.”

“What does that mean?”

“Means Gary has a spot on the team and that he’ll have to lean on Charles and Marcus to keep Cameron away from him. I think they’ll do their best. They try hard to understand him. They’re not going to let anyone poke at him.”

“Is that what it all came down to? That dick Cameron?”

“No, I think Wallace finally figured out that a lot of the problems Gary has stem from interactions other players would probably be able to shrug off easier.”

“But since Gary is Gary…”

“Yeah.” Dean canted his head and waved her over to where he sat on the dresser’s edge. “Come here.”

“Why?”

“Just because.”

“Oh. I see.” She set her coffee down and stepped into the gap between his feet. “I like
just because
.”

“I…
missed
you, Lo.”

“I’m glad you missed me. And I’m glad you told me.”

“I figure if Gary can get away with some of the outlandish shit he says, I can tell you simple truths.”

“Tell me some more simple truths.”

“Well.” He pulled her closer and hooked his chin over her shoulder, rubbing her back—fortunately not in those small circles that always managed to turn her into a rocket ready to launch. “I love you more than anything. How about that one?”

“Tell me some more.”

“The way you laugh makes me smile. I love hearing you laugh. I hate that you stop sometimes because you think I don’t want to hear you.”

“I’m loud.”

“I like that you’re loud. When you’re not, I think something’s wrong.”

“Okay,” she said quietly. She was going to do her best to accept his words. If Gary could trust her and Dean—in spite of all his issues—she could certainly trust her husband telling her what she needed to hear. “What else?”

“When you get together with your friends and you’re all telling stories, I sit there waiting for you to talk again. I like hearing your cadences change and the words you pick to express yourself. I hate that you think that if I don’t talk back that my silence is because I’m not interested.”

“That’s the way conversation works for most people.”

“I just want to listen. Talking to Gary is easier for me. I don’t have that self-consciousness about how he’ll respond. Maybe because I’ve never had another man tell me I’m boring.”

“You’re not boring.” She gave his sternum a little pluck in a
how-dare-you-say-that?
sort of way. “You build things with your own two hands and are so adventurous with all those foods I put in front of you on the table. No boring man would willingly endure that much spice.”

“My mother always told us that if we were going to complain, we could starve.”

“But you actually like it.”

“Because you do, and you cook for me. You don’t have to cook for me, but you do.”

“Of course I have to. How else would you eat?”

“I know all the takeout places near the house. After we got married, they called worried because they never saw me anymore. And then they saw you, and they understood better than I could tell them.”

“Aw.” Lo put her forehead against his chest and slid her hands down the back of his shorts. She’d missed having the small pleasures of touching him where she wanted. Of having him touch her, too, and hold her. Nothing else mattered when he was holding her.

“Gary should be back soon,” Dean said, rubbing her back some more. “They had a short practice scheduled for today so they’re not all tired out for tomorrow’s game.”

“Mmm. Is he allowed to leave? For dinner or whatever? You must be sick of pizza.”

“Yeah, pizza’s getting pretty high up there on the list of things I could do without for a while. We’ll find out the new curfew time Wallace set when Gary gets in.”

“Okay.” She gave his ass one more yearning squeeze and then moved to the bathroom. “I’m going to freshen up.”

___

No sooner had she closed the bathroom door did Gary step into the room with his cleats tied across his shoulders as always and a big smile on his face.

Whatever he’d opened his mouth to say fell off as his attention floated toward the bright yellow leather bag perched atop the rack.

Dean canted his head toward the bathroom door. “Lo.”

Gary shut the outer door in a hurry and got rid of his cleats. “She all right? What was her mood like?”

“Fine.”

“You sure?”

Dean shrugged. “What were you expecting?”

“I don’t know. I’m not always so good at reading folks’ intentions. I think everything is fine one moment and the next, they’re yelling at me for something I did because I misread the situation.”

“Lo’s usually very clear about her intentions. She’s not really the kind of woman who’ll leave things open for interpretation.” He pointed to Gary’s cross-trainers. “Take those off. And come here.”

Gary nudged his shoes off by the heels and then stepped into the gap between Dean’s legs where Lo previously had been.

“You don’t need this.” He grabbed the bottom of Gary’s shirt by the hem and lifted it over his head. “Get rid of the shorts, too, and whatever you have on under them.”

Gary obeyed, but with his brow furrowed. “Wanna tell me what’s going on?”

“You need a shower.”

Gary snorted. “Yeah. No kidding. Water’s on the fritz at the field again. Sprinkler contractor dug into a pipe or something, and now there’s no water pressure in the locker rooms.”

“When Lo comes out, you go in and clean yourself up.”

“For dinner?”

“Yeah. That, too.”

“Want to let me in on the plan?”

“No plan. Just playing things by ear.” Dean gave one of Gary’s ears a tug to accentuate the point.

“God forbid you think too much, right? As if I’d find some trouble to get into if you tell me things.”

“As if you wouldn’t know how to find some on your own.”

Lo stepped out of the bathroom, and Gary immediately took her place, blowing a kiss at her as he walked past.

“Well, hi,” she said.

He closed the door, and she looked and Dean and crooked her thumb toward it. “Did you know he was naked?” she asked.

Dean nodded slowly.

“Did you have anything to do with that?”

“Maybe a little something.”

“I see.” She smoothed her hands up the front of Dean’s shirt—wrinkled, because crispness hadn’t mattered given his job description—and then grabbed him by the collar.

“So, just how much naked Gary have you seen in the past few days?”

He shrugged. “Not as much as you might think.”

“No hanky-panky while I was pining away at home?”

“Nope. Nothing you don’t already know about.”

“I can’t believe how well-behaved you are.”

“Not well-behaved.” He let her unfasten his shirt buttons, making her pause briefly so he could kiss the backs of her wrists. “Just wanted you to see.”

“Ah.” She continued unbuttoning one-handed, and he kept kissing up her free arm. “What am I going to see?”

“Whatever you want. You’ve always been the better director. I figured you’d have some ideas.”

“I’ve got a few. If I were more confident about my energy level, I’d suggest we’d start by pushing the beds together, but we’ll make due with one queen bed.”

“Mmm. Yeah. A bigger bed sounds nice.”

She pushed his shirt off his shoulders and down his arms, then gave it a toss toward the laundry pile. “Who gets the middle position, anyway? I can’t decide if that’d be a good spot or a bad one.”

“Depends on what you want, I guess. If you’re on an airplane, the middle seat is arguably the worst, but being squeezed between two people you’re attracted to probably isn’t the worst thing that’ll ever happen to you.”

She tipped her chin up and grinned at him. “I like when you talk, Dean.”

“Shit, I hope so.”

Lo pushed up onto her tiptoes and pursed her lips, so he gave her the kiss she was obviously seeking.

He loved her kisses—the way she teased and titillated with the tiniest flicks of her tongue and how her hands searched his body as she explored his mouth.

Her fingernails left pleasurable stings in their wakes as she dragged them down his nipples, and then she put her mouth where her fingers had been.

Licking, sucking, nipping at the hard nubs as she slid her hands down the front of his shorts and unerringly found his erection. She’d always had a knack for gauging the angle of his hang.

“No substitution for that,” she said, giving his shaft a squeeze.

“I’d hope I’m not so easy to replace, and certainly not by something mechanical. You should get rid of that, by the way.”

“Why?” She tugged him by the cock toward the bed. “I might need it again.”

“If I ever have to go away again, you could just wait until I get home.”

She flopped back onto the bed and kicked off her flip-flops. “You really can’t expect me to not have an orgasm ever unless you’re around.”

“Yeah. That’s exactly what I expect.”

“Oh,” she laughed. “I see. Did you develop a bossy streak while I was away?”

“I’m the same as I’ve always been. Just saying aloud what’s been in my head.”

“I’d like to be in your head.”

“Analyze me later,” he said. Lo was wearing some kind of stretchy skirt made out of sweatshirt material he’d never seen her in before. Made her legs look sexy as hell, but he wanted it off. In the past, he might have asked her to take it off or just waited.

He gave the skirt a forceful tug, pulling the garment off her and her panties halfway down in the process. “Jesus,” he uttered at the sight of her.

“Hey!” She pressed what she hoped was a punishingly cold foot against his chest, likely at his blaspheming, making him hiss.

“Sorry.” He nudged her foot away. “You’re so fucking hot.”

Her panties were lacy little things that’d been held up by flimsy ties at the sides. They were panties
meant
to be seen. “Are those new?”

“Maybe.” She gave a little wriggle and put her hands casually beneath her head. “You like them?”

“Mm.” He got on his knees to show her just how much. He kissed up the insides of her thighs. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d tasted her, or even just looked at her. They were always so go-go-go, which was nice most of the time. The orgasms were always amazing, but he wanted to slow things down every now and then, too. He wanted to enjoy his wife, and not just devour her.

“I figured, why save all my good panties for porn?” she said.

“I hope no one was staring up your skirt while you were on an airport escalator or something.”

She shrugged and gave his chest a little tickle with her big toe. “So some guy goes home and rubs one out because he saw a bit of ass cheek—more power to him.”

“I should probably be more angry of the idea of random strangers rubbing one out after they’ve seen your bits.” He kissed the seam between her thigh and shaved snatch and skimmed a finger along her slit.

“
Mmm
. But?”

“But they can’t have you. Not really. They can look at you, but I’m the one who’s here. I get to taste you.” And he did, just a lick. “I get to touch you, fill you.”

“You’re still wearing a few scraps of clothes, so the party must not be fully underway yet.” Gary stood near the bathroom door, grinning and fondling the knot that held the towel at his waist.

“Oh, no,” Lo said. “We’re still in the party warm-up phase where we make small talk and compliment each other about our attire.”

“You mean what little attire you have left,” he said. “Nice shirt, by the way.”

Lo’s shirt read
¡Dominicana!
in silver foil lettering.

“I like to consider the shirt a warning sign for stupid people, you know?” She wrapped a leg around Dean’s neck and rubbed his back with her other heel. “I like to let them think all the stereotypes about Latina women are true, and that way, the only ones who approach me are the ones who just want to tell me how pretty I am before they scamper away.”

She gave him a grin that showed every possible tooth.

“Is that what you did, Dean?” Gary asked. “Did you tell her she was pretty and then scamper away?”

He sighed and closed his eyes. “Yeah, there might have been some scampering. I don’t know if the first thing I said to her was all that intelligible, though. I’m not even sure I used real words.”

“You used words, baby.”

“I did?”

“Mm-hmm. Told me I smelled like a piña colada.”

Dean rolled his eyes and hid his face against her thigh. “No I didn’t.”

“Yeah, you did. And I asked you if you wanted to drink me before telling you to peel more potatoes. You turned so red.” She giggled and ran a hand through his hair. “It was cute. I wanted to take you home and cuddle you to death.”

“I don’t think anyone’s ever wanted to cuddle
me
to death,” Gary said.

“Probably because of that mouth of yours. Come here.” Dean straightened up and waved him over.

When Gary was close enough to grab, Dean tugged at the knot of the towel and let the drape fall to the floor. “Party has a dress code.”

Gary folded his arms over his chest and cocked a hip. “I see. And obviously, the bouncer was falling down on the job, because the policy has been unequally applied.”