Playing for Kinley (Cruz Brothers Book 1) (30 page)

Kinley

Oh my God
. It felt like I’d been run over by a truck. But in a good way, which wasn’t even possible.

I think Parker destroyed me.

He had been an animal last night, taking me over and over again until we both collapsed in sheer exhaustion with two serious cases of jelly limbs. And I was feeling it this morning. He’d not only ruined my mind for other men, he’d ruined my body, too. I couldn’t imagine anyone else touching me the way Parker had and I didn’t want to. I never wanted to experience that level of intimacy with another man, ever again.

Only Parker.

The bed next to me was empty when I woke up but not devoid of Parker’s smell. I smiled and buried my face in his pillow, comforted by his scent that made me feel warm and safe somehow. I finally pried myself out of bed, moving slowly as I worked the stiffness from my body, and grabbed one of his t-shirts to slip over my head before going downstairs.

The smell of fresh coffee perked me up and made me move just a little bit faster. I found Parker standing at the stove like he had been the morning after the Drunken Wedding, as I’d come to refer to it. The scent of bacon hung heavy in the air, and I glimpsed French toast as I passed him on my way to the coffeepot.

I heard him drop his spatula and felt him approach me. “Mmm…good morning,” he murmured against my hair, as he wrapped his arms around me from behind. “New rule: When you’re in my house, you either wear nothing but my clothes or nothing at all. Underwear not required, nor preferred.”

I chuckled lightly and set my full coffee mug down before turning to face him. “And what about you?”

His nose kissed mine, nuzzling into it in an Eskimo kiss. “I don’t think your clothes would fit me.”

I gave him a quick peck on the lips and replied, “Well, then how about we go with the ‘nothing at all’ for you? That would provide some pretty powerful temptation for me to do…
all sorts of things
.”

His body froze and I grinned to myself. He grumbled something I couldn’t quite make out before saying, “We’re definitely going to negotiate the particulars of that later. For now, how about we explore that ‘all sorts of things’ idea.”

Next thing I knew, he was picking me up and setting me on the counter, pushing himself between my thighs, spreading them farther. He gripped my waist, his hands sliding down my body and going underneath my shirt until he found bare skin. His eyes immediately flared and sought mine when he felt my naked flesh. No underwear.

“I see you’re already one step ahead of me,” he purred, his voice as rich as smooth whiskey. “Didn’t get enough last night, did you?”

I pulled him closer, dying for his mouth to take mine. “I always want more of
this
,” I said, emphasizing the last word as I planted my hands on his ass.

He groaned into my neck, heating my skin with the sensual kisses he trailed from my jawline to my collarbone. “Good answer.”

When I couldn’t take the torture any longer, my fingers flew to the waistband of his sweats and pushed them down as far as I could reach. Parker got the hint and shoved the front down enough to expose himself to me. I couldn’t take my eyes off his long, thick erection, already impossibly hard and seeking entrance to by body.

I wrapped my hand around him, alternating between gripping the base and caressing the tip, the contrasting sensations of rough and gentle clearly driving him to the brink. He gripped the edge of the counter as I worked him over, his head thrown back in ecstasy as he thrusted himself into my demanding hand.

“Put me in you, baby,” he panted. “I can’t take it anymore.”

I scooted to the edge of the counter and brought his length closer. As soon as his head touched my slit, he didn’t hesitate. He immediately plunged inside, driving deep and wasting no time as he began to push harder. He held onto me tightly, controlling my movements as both of us crested the same wave. It was raw and fast and exactly what we both needed.

His lips crushed mine as he released inside me, leaving the taste of his passion in my mouth. I followed right behind him, his fingers on my clit sending me straight over the finish line. Our mouths pulled away as we fought to catch our breath. And consciousness began to creep back in.

We hadn’t used a condom.

Shit.

I was on the pill and as I thought about it, it probably wasn’t the right time in my cycle for a surprise like that anyway.

Parker seemed to know exactly what I was thinking. “I know. I’m sorry I didn’t use anything. I promise I’m clean. You just felt so damn good like that. With nothing between us.”

I hugged him to me, kissing every inch of exposed skin I could find, loving the feel of him against me, holding me like he was. Promising in his own way that he would always take care of me the best way he knew how.

“It’s fine,” I told him. “I’m on the pill, and I wanted it like that, too.”

His face softened with relief and he gave me another hard kiss before pulling away and going over to the stove to flip the pieces of toast he had in a skillet. “Breakfast is pretty much ready. I’ve got to leave in about,” he said and looked over at the clock on the microwave, “fifteen minutes probably.”

“Where are you going?”

His head whipped around, shooting me a confused look, and then it morphed into one of understanding. “Sorry, I forgot tell you. I’m going to meet my brothers, Mickie, and the kids for breakfast. I would have invited you, but since they don’t know about us that might look a little odd.”

I shook my head. “No, don’t worry about it. You need time with your family. You’re those kids’ hero, you know.”

He looked down at the ground sheepishly, which wasn’t a common occurrence with Parker. He was one of the most humble people I knew and praise and compliments like that had always made him uncomfortable. I knew he liked hearing them, but he didn’t know what to do with them.

“They worship anyone who’s on TV these days,” he replied.

“Oh, no. Leo was bragging about how his uncle was going to be in the Hall of Fame. Said you were going to be better than Mike Schmidt before you retire.”

Parker laughed and shook his head. “That kid sets some high standards. Although he probably doesn’t have a clue who Mike Schmidt actually is. Most likely just repeating something he heard on TV.”

“Still, it’s pretty sad that a four-year-old knows more about baseball than I do.”

He looked over his shoulder and winked at me. “He grew up around me, my brothers, and Clay. How could he
not
know more than you?”

I laughed. “True. So, why are you cooking breakfast if you’re going out to eat?”

He looked back at me with a blank expression, as if the answer were obvious. “It’s for you. Figured you’d be hungry, and I didn’t want you to have to scrounge my pantry for cereal that probably went stale a month ago.”

He shrugged like it was no big deal. But it was in fact a
huge
deal, for me. He cooked for me when he knew he wasn’t going to eat any of it? He did it solely for me because he wanted to make sure I ate something?

I had never been with a man who was this selfless.

I didn’t even know that kind of man still existed.

“I love you.”

I blurted it out and couldn’t take the words back. Didn’t even want to. I needed him to know that, wanted him to be aware of how deep my feelings for him ran. After all, I didn’t say those words lightly, and he was the only man I’d ever wanted to say them to.

His entire body stilled and then he slowly turned around to face me. His face was hard and his expression was serious, his chest rising and falling with his deep breaths. “Do you really?” he whispered pleadingly, hopefulness evident in the question.

I nodded and he closed his eyes as if in relief. He gave a short laugh and opened them again to look at me. “Christ, Kinley.” I was about to panic and then his whole face lit up. “I love you, too. I’ve always loved you. All these years apart, I never stopped.”

I blew out a heavy breath and fell into his arms when they suddenly came around me, cocooning me into him. Time hadn’t broken our connection. My bitterness over the past hadn’t overrode my true feelings. This was how it should have been all along, but we couldn’t go backwards now, only forward.

This was love.

This was real.

Always had been real and always would be.

##

My good mood was impenetrable the rest of the day. I’d eaten breakfast and lounged around Parker’s place until he returned from seeing his family. We took a shower together and went for a walk around his neighborhood, holding hands the entire time, talking about life. We ate a quick lunch together before he had to leave for the field. I’d spent the rest of the afternoon doing work on my computer, hardly able to concentrate with images of our nocturnal activities from the night before running on a continuous reel inside my head.

The Red Sox won their game that evening, and the guys were in such a good mood, they all wanted to go out for drinks afterwards. I could tell Parker had been conflicted with wanting to take me home and have another sex marathon but also wanting to have fun with his teammates.

So, I made the decision for him and here we sat at a low-key—yet busy—downtown bar. A majority of the team ended up coming out, a lot of them bringing their wives or girlfriends, so I wasn’t the only woman. Parker had been introducing me to everyone left and right, making my heart swell that he was so eager for everyone to know me. That he was proud to have me by his side.

“I got to tell you, Kinley,” the guy I remembered as Corbins said. “I don’t know what you see in this guy, but I’d be happy to pick up his slack for you anytime you want.

He seemed like the goofball of the group, always joking around, busting everyone’s balls. It was funny because that was how I usually saw Parker. Around my family, he was always the playful one, making everyone else laugh. But around these guys, he was one of the older ones and he acted more reserved. He still had everyone cracking up with his sarcastic wit, but you could tell that he often let the younger guys have their fun instead of taking the spotlight for himself.

I laughed at Corbins while Parker glared at him. “Trust me, he’s the complete opposite of a slacker,” I told him. “There’s nothing to pick up.”

The catcher Moberly choked on his beer, almost spitting it out as Parker just gave me a dark smirk, those chocolate eyes holding promises for later.

Corbins smiled at me in a way that said he approved of my response. “We’ll see.” He stood up and leaned over in Moberly’s direction. “That goes for you too, Ava.” He hooked his thumb at her husband. “You get bored with Old Man River here, you give me a call.”

Corbins dashed off with a laugh before Moberly could get him in a headlock. Ava caught my eyes and smiled. We had talked throughout most of the night and I really liked her. We actually had quite a bit in common and she seemed to have the sweetest heart, which you could tell from the amount of stories she told about her kids and the pictures she pulled up on her phone.

She had also provided me with some valuable insights as to what it was like being with a major league baseball player. “I won’t lie, it took me a little while to get used to it,” she confessed. “Between the games themselves and the press conferences and the practices, I felt like we didn’t have a lot of time together. And the season seems like it lasts forever sometimes. But we eventually found a way to work with it all that best suits us.”

The guys were wrapped up in conversations about the season and the rest of the teams in their division, so I felt like I was able to be candid with Ava without alerting Parker to my concerns. Plus, five minutes with the woman and you already felt like she was your best friend.

“Yeah, this is all still pretty new to both of us, so I’m sure it’ll take some adjusting,” I said. “I travel a lot with my job, too, so it already feels a little chaotic at times.”

She nodded and sipped at her glass of water. “For a while I didn’t think I could do it. I wanted a father for my children who was actually around and there when we needed him. But I eventually came to my senses and realized that he’s the best father to them I could have ever asked for. He said something to me back then that changed the whole game for me.”

“What was that?”

She smiled, her eyes gleaming with love as she looked at her husband. “He said one of the main reasons he loved me was
because
I wanted a family. That he was sick of always getting approached by women who only wanted him for a night, to say they’d hooked up with a pro athlete, you know? But he wanted a wife, kids, a home. He wanted me because of that—and because he loved me, of course—but he didn’t want me to leave him for the same reason. As in, leave him because I wanted a family and I felt that he couldn’t give me one. Said it wasn’t fair to him that I would just assume that. That changed my perspective on things pretty damn fast.”

I sat there with wide eyes, looking over at Moberly with newfound respect. You didn’t often meet men who would freely admit those things to you. “I’d say so. It sounds like you guys fit together perfectly.”