Resisting Roots (Lotus House Book 1) (17 page)

“Yeah, but you know
me
.” He pointed to his chest. “The me I want to be. The me I can be for you. The me that shows up every day for private lessons. The me that takes care of your yard, texts with your brother daily, and the me that just told Ma that you and the kids would be attending our family Thanksgiving dinner this week. Does that sound like the type of guy you can’t trust?”

Each and every word hit me like a brick. One by one, they knocked the wind right out of my sails. I sucked in a harsh breath, the tears coming faster. “No,” I croaked.

Instead of filleting me for being a jerk and not thinking the best of him, he surprised me. He grabbed me by the hand and tugged me to his chest. He caressed my cheek, wiping away the tears that wouldn’t stop falling. “Babe, I’m going to be there for you. I’m doing everything I can to be the kind of man you’d fall for.”

A choked sob left my chest. “But why?” Him trying to be with me made no sense. Not in this lifetime, not in any lifetime. Girls like me did not get guys like him to change their ways.

“Isn’t it obvious?” His eyes were a brilliant green and gold when he smiled softly, his nose almost touching my own. “I’m falling all over myself for you, gumdrop.”

I clenched his shoulders as I held on. “You could have anyone. Any woman in her right mind would chase after you. Why would you want to be with someone who’s struggling, crawling with debt, and has more responsibilities than you should ever have to deal with?”

He chuckled and rubbed his nose along the column of my neck. “Babe, because none of those women are
you
. They don’t make me want to work hard to be whole. They don’t make me feel as though I’m on cloud nine even when the world is falling down around me. And they sure as hell don’t make my heart squeeze tighter when I catch a tiny glimpse of their smile across a room.”

His words wiggled their way into my heart and made it jackhammer against my sternum.

“And”—he bit down on my earlobe, sending a streak of hot need to settle between my thighs—“they don’t make me as hard as stone thinking about a single kiss. That’s what you do to me. You make me a mess of need and want. All the time. And best of all, you don’t even realize how devastatingly gorgeous you are inside and out.”

H
er voice cracked
as she held me close, fingers digging into the muscles of my back. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry about kissing another man or sorry about assuming I wasn’t all in with this relationship?”

She sniffed and wiped her nose against my hoodie. If anyone else had done that, I would have thought that was disgusting. Not with my gumdrop. I wanted to be the man who was there for her, and I had no idea when or how everything that defined who I was or the life I’d led had changed.

“Both.” She sobbed into my neck, her tears warm on my skin against the Bay Area wind.

I dragged my hand up and down her back, massaging the tension I found there. “Hey, look at me.”

Genevieve shook her head against my neck. “Too embarrassed,” she mumbled.

I forced her back a foot, cupped both of her cheeks, and tilted her head up with my thumbs under her chin. Twin tears raced down her pale cheeks. I wiped them away before they reached the edge of her perfect pout.

“Hey, I know you’re sad about your dad’s car, but there’s another option.”

She tilted her head to the side and bit down on her bottom lip.

“Allow me to pay the taxes.”

Her dark eyes went as round as silver dollars. She shook her head and tried to step back. “No way. Not at option. We’ll be fine. We’ll sell the car, pay two years’ worth of taxes, catch up on the utilities, and have enough to buy something reliable and good on gas in the meantime. We’ll be fine, but thank you for offering.”

“Gumdrop…”

She placed two fingers over my lips. “No, Trent. I’m not your responsibility.”

“What if I want you to be?”

And that right there was the first time in my life I’d ever felt the desire to protect and care for a woman. Money, help with Rowan and Mary, anything. I wanted to be the man who took care of things for this incredible woman.

Genevieve rolled her eyes and backed up, though she couldn’t go far. I’d wedged her up against the Mustang and used my body mass for leverage to keep her there.

“No.” She fiddled with the hair at the nape of my neck, swirling it around her fingers. “Neither of us is ready for that. Let’s just enjoy what we have. Okay?” Her eyes pierced mine as she focused all her attention on me. As if the world around us no longer mattered.

I slid my hand down to cup a hearty amount of ass cheek. “Gumdrop, I think we just made up after our first fight.” I grinned and leaned more against her body. “Are the kids home?” Cupping both of her round ass cheeks, I squeezed and ground my hardening shaft into her softness.

She mewled, bit her lip, and shook her head.

“Let’s get you home then.” I pulled back, walked around to the driver’s side, and opened her door. “I’ll follow you.”

She nodded and fumbled into the seat. I slammed the door and beat feet to the Maserati.

While driving like I was Jeff Gordon, I dialed my agent and informed him I was going to be at least two hours late for my meeting. He was rightfully pissed off, but nothing would prevent me from making amends properly with Genevieve.

I slid my car right behind hers and beat feet it out so that I was opening her door before she could even turn off the engine. Luckily, she had already hit the garage door clicker, so I knew we’d be alone.

Once I tugged her out of her car, I pinned her to the hood of the vehicle and put my hands all over her. She gasped as I turned her around and pressed her front to hood. Thank God we didn’t have far to go getting here from Lotus House. The top of the hood was just cool enough not to burn her sweet tits as I pressed her down. I ground my crotch against her ass while kissing the back of her neck, trailing my tongue down the white expanse.

With greedy fingers, I dug my hands under her tank, arching her upper body while pushing her sports bra up far enough to free her breasts. Her nipples instantly became erect for me. She sighed as I plucked and elongated each nub to my satisfaction.

“Love your tits, babe. When I’m done fucking you on the hood of your dad’s car, I’m going to suck on them until they turn into sharp little burning points. Would you like that, gumdrop?” I bit down on the ball of her shoulder and licked the indentations I left. I loved marking her, leaving my imprint, showing any man within an arm’s length that this woman was taken. Owned. Loved? I shook my head, forcing those thoughts to dissipate and be replaced with carnal desire.

“Oh, God, Trent…”

She was panting as I pulled down her tight yoga pants to her knees. Her legs were held together, and I knew it was going to be a tight fit, but that’s exactly how I wanted it. Needed it. Her pretty, pale ass was stark against the royal blue of the ’Stang. I gripped her ass, leaned down, and bit into one then the other fleshy cheek.

Her body jerked, and she moaned as I licked around the bites. With both hands, I spread her ass cheeks as far as they could go and licked her from clit to anus and swirled my tongue around and around her tight pucker. She jolted and cried out while I flicked the tiny rosette, spread her wider, and fucked her hole with my tongue.

Genevieve pushed her greedy pussy against the warm hood. The wetness slipping against the metal as she ground her clit on the hard surface sent a tingle of want straight to my balls.

“You ready to be fucked, gumdrop?”

“God, yes!” she cried out, her body arching.

Yoga chicks. Hottest thing ever.

It took all of two seconds to drop my drawers and wedge my fat cock between her wet lower lips. The fit was brutal and so goddamned tight, but my girl took everything I had all the way to the hilt. Once I was all the way in, I leaned over her body and pressed my hips against her, which pushed the crown of my cock more intensely into her center.

“You like me deep inside?” Nothing felt better for me than being imbedded in her heat.

“So good…” She sighed.

“Oh, babe, this is only the beginning. You want more?”

“Yeah.” Her voice was but a whisper as she planted her hands on the hood of the car.

I pulled back my hips, licked my thumb, and rested it right over her rosy hole. “Take all of me. Every. Thing. Inside.” I slammed my hips into her at the same time I plunged my thumb into her backdoor.

She howled, arched, and came in one thrust. One fucking thrust. Jesus. The woman was a goddess.

Genevieve convulsed around my cock, her lower half tightening to ball-lifting proportions. The pulses alone were enough to set me off, but I held strong, wanting nothing more than to fuck her into oblivion.

When she calmed down, her breath left her in little pants. That’s when I removed my thumb, gripped both sides of her hips, pulled out, and thrust back home. So damn deep.

Heaven.

She moaned, and it spurred me on. Digging my fingers into her hips, I held on for dear life and fucked the living daylights out of my woman. Hard. Fast. Unrelenting in my desire to have her come all over my cock again.

She called out with every thrust. Every retreat made her whimper for more. My mind was in a daze. Each pore, nerve, and sensation was centered where I plowed into Genevieve’s tight sheath. The wet suction of our mating echoed in the empty garage until the little nonsensical words she always said when she was lost to her pleasure started up. Christ! I loved hearing her lose her mind.

“Breathe…”

“Inside…”

“Hot…”

“Gonna…”

“Ummm…”

I wanted her with me, milking my cock when I lost it.

Leaning forward for more leverage, I clasped my hands over hers and intertwined our fingers against the hood of the car. She gripped my hands, screaming as her entire body went rigid with tension, the impending orgasm about to rock her into next week.

I growled into her ear, “Love fucking this hot body. All mine, Genevieve. Gonna fuck you forever.” I breathed out harshly, my hips slamming into her ass until I lost all rhythm and finesse, focused solely on the goal of release.

“Oh, my word…”

Her pussy put the lock-down on my cock, forcing my dick to pulse and release in heated bursts deep within her.

When we both could breathe again, she groaned. I must have been heavy as shit with my weight on top of her like a sack of beans.

“Sorry, babe. Shit.” I lifted up and pulled out.

The second I did, our combined release started dripping down her leg. That was new, and sexy as hell. I’d been very careful before. Here, in the spur of the moment, I’d not thought to wrap my shit. I’d always covered myself before I sank into the sweet heat of a woman, but with Genevieve, I lost myself in her.

“What the hell is that?” She moved from the car.

I watched in utter fascination, my dick getting hard, raring to go again, as I appreciated how a piece of me had been inside her and still was only now leaking out.

I plastered my back against hers and cupped her from behind. Then like an alpha asshole, I rubbed our combined essence into her lips and fingered her, wanting more of me to stay inside her. I’d never in my life had such a reaction. Hell, I’d never come in a woman before Genevieve, and now that I’d had a taste of bareback, I’d hate going back to using a rubber.

“It’s us, babe, and it’s fucking sexy as hell,” I gritted through clenched teeth as she fucked my hand. Always wanting more, my girl. Christ. A sex goddess hid behind her quiet and calm exterior, one I loved bringing to the surface. This woman was quickly becoming my entire universe.

“What?” she screeched and pushed back, releasing my hold on her sweet pussy.

“Babe, relax. Don’t be embarrassed. I think it’s dead sexy.”

She pulled her pants up in a hurry. “I hope you think a baby is dead sexy because I’m not on the pill!” Her voice was shrill and panicked as she ran into the house.

I stood there, glued to the spot, my hand wet, my dick air-drying, and my shorts around my ankles as the words “baby” and “I’m not on the pill” spun on repeat in my mind. Like a broken fucking record.

Baby.

Not on the Pill.

Baby.

Not on the Pill.

Holy fuck. What have I done?

I
might have well become
an Olympic sprinter for how fast I hobbled up those stairs and banged on Genevieve’s locked door. I turned the handle, but it didn’t magically open.

“Gumdrop. You open this fucking door!” I winced at the sound of my own voice. It was the tone that screamed desperate.

“Just go away.”

“The hell I will. You open this door, or I’ll break the fucker down.”

“You wouldn’t!”

Turning, I targeted my shoulder, pivoted on one foot, pushing my weight back, and hammered forward. The wood door rattled on its hinges.

“Oh my god! No. Don’t break my door! I can’t afford to fix it!” She fumbled with the lock.

The second it opened, I tagged her around the waist, brought her to my chest, and walked her backward to the bed until her thighs hit. Then I plopped us both down on the comfy bed.

Genevieve wiggled until her legs were spread and my form rested snuggled between them. Funny, that’s exactly where I wanted to be anyhow.

“Let me go, Trent!”

Her bravado was losing steam the longer she struggled. I held onto her hands at the wrists and planted them next to her head.

“No way. You are not running from this. I admit, I was lost in the moment. I fucked up.”

She snorted and made a gurgling sound deep in her throat. “And how many times has that happened before me? Huh? Do I need to get tested?” The tears she was trying to hold back were pooled, making her eyes seem like glittering ebony rocks.

I lifted my eyebrows toward my hairline. “Are you implying that I’m a manwhore?”

She stopped struggling. “Are you admitting that you aren’t?”

I thought about all the women before her. Hell, there were several I probably couldn’t even name, let alone remember all the debauched things I’d done with them, but not once, not
ever
, had I gone unwrapped. It was a cardinal sin.

“No, I wouldn’t lie to you like that. I’ve been with my fair share of women.”

She pursed her lips together.

“Okay, I’ve been with more than my fair share, but gumdrop, none of them hold a candle to you. And not one of them had all of me. I wore a condom with every woman I’ve ever been with. I swear on all things holy. Hell, I swear on my career, the only thing before you that ever meant anything to me.”

I crossed my heart with one hand. “May I never be able to hit another baseball if I’m lying. God strike me now!” I rose and hit my chest. “You don’t have to worry about diseases. I’m clean. Just had a physical last week. The team has to get them regularly, and the coach called for testing to make sure I was keeping up with my promise of limiting the drink and not putting anything up my nose or in my veins that wasn’t made straight from the man upstairs.”

Genevieve closed her eyes, and the tears fell. “That doesn’t prevent pregnancy. Trent, I don’t know if I can handle one more mistake or life-changing event.”

The tears fell, and I kissed them away, tasting her salty tears for what they were. Regret.

That feeling hit my gut hard. The last thing I ever wanted was for her to regret any of our time together. Sure, we’d been fucking around, but it didn’t mean it wasn’t special. Every time with Genevieve was special. Unique. The best I’d had, because it meant something. With her, it wasn’t always about getting off. It was…
more
.

I rubbed her nose with mine. “Hey, no crying. We’ll figure it out. Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it.”

She scoffed. The woman had the audacity to scoff at me. “Yeah, and what happens if I end up knocked up, and you’re off to away games?”

Petting her cheek, I looked directly in her eyes. “I’m not going to deny that this possibility scares the hell out of me, but I’m also not going to stress about something we can’t control. If you end up pregnant, we’ll be parents. End of story.”

She groaned and let her head fall into her hands. “I’ll have to think about that.”

“There’s nothing to think about. I will take care of what’s mine, and just like I intend to help with the car, I’ll make sure you’re provided for.”

She groaned. “Not this again. You’re not giving me money to pay for the house to save the car. It’s over. That boat has sailed. I’ve got the car listed already.”

“Without talking to me?” I cringed and sneered. Not my best moment, but I had a lot being thrown my direction. Her losing the house. Selling the car to save the house. Rowan and Genevieve getting screwed in the deal while losing one of their family heirlooms. The slipup with the condom, and the potential that my swimmers could be digging their way into her cervix right now. Somehow, that thought didn’t scare me as much as it should.

Genevieve tried to push against my chest, but I was far stronger than she and I held her fast.

“Don’t,” I said.

“Don’t what? Freak out? I’m freaking out. You’re acting like my mate, not the man I date.”

This time I scoffed. “Gumdrop, I
am
your man. The only guy in your life. Get used to it. It’s not changing any time soon.”

“And if I get pregnant?”

The thought of her rounded with my child made my dick hard. I knew she could feel it when she arched and pressed her hips into the steely length.

“As you can feel, the idea has possibilities.”

She sighed and pouted. Seeing her pout was by far one of the highlights of my day…aside from the ’Stang fuck.

“You’re a pig,” she groaned.

I took that as her way of saying she’d forgiven me. She was no longer attempting to escape. If anything, she was pressing into my shaft as it came to full mast.

“I’m going to take you again. We had another fight.”

“Is this how it’s going to be every time we have an argument?” She moved her lips into a small smirk.

I lifted her tank, divested her of her sports bra, leaned forward, and sucked a fat pink nipple into my mouth. “God willing,” I groaned and bit down on her nipple.

She moaned, shivering underneath me as I went about making her forget everything that had happened today—the fight at the yoga center, our disagreement out on the curb, our heated discussion after the condom slip. Everything. Only problem was, I had left my bag downstairs. After I made her come around my lips, I lifted her hips to fill her full of my cock once again, and I didn’t even blink that I wasn’t wearing a condom.

That time, I soaked up every glide, squeeze, and intense pressure of being inside my woman bare. When I gripped her hips and pushed her thighs up toward her armpits, I pressed my cock balls-deep, forcing every inch of my dick as far as possible until I bumped right up against her cervix.

Rooted deep, I let it all go.

I
t had been
a week since our double condom slip. If I hadn’t known better, I would have believed Trent was trying to get me pregnant.

“Sweetheart, can you pass the potato casserole?” Richard, Trent’s father, asked as he piled his plate full of the most succulent-looking turkey I’d ever seen.

Usually, Rowan, Mary, and I headed over to the St. James household for Thanksgiving where Amber and her grandmother, Sandra, made us dinner. It was never a traditional turkey. Last year was prime rib. They liked to change things up, so when Amber said they were going on a Mexican cruise for the holiday, I wasn’t surprised. They went where the wind blew them, making their holidays more fun. Amber might have even told Mrs. St. James that I’d been invited over to the Foxes’ for Thanksgiving. She was always worried that we wouldn’t have somewhere to go. This year, I was officially having a family dinner with my
boyfriend’s
parents.

That was definitely not something I had ever thought I’d be doing. Even so, I couldn’t say I wasn’t excited about it, and Rowan and Mary were even more so. Getting to spend the holiday with his idol was a high point for my brother. Over the past couple months, I’d tried to make sure they didn’t get too attached, but it was useless. Idol status was reigning high for Rowan, and when Trent and his mother attended Mary’s last recital, both of them bringing her flowers, he’d pretty much sealed the deal on her affection. Mary was a goner.

As for me…as much as I wanted to keep my heart to myself and protect it from breaking, I could no longer deny that I had serious feelings for the wickedly hot baseball player. He’d been nothing but committed to me and my family since day one, and his family…gah… They were unbelievably kind—loving, comforting, and most of all…inviting. Rowan, Mary, and I had felt very welcome in their home and enjoyed a few family dinners to date, this one being the biggest. In my opinion, if a woman spent a major holiday with her boyfriend, it signified a new level of their relationship. The tipping of the hourglass, so to speak.

“Here you go, Mr. Fox.” I handed over the dish I’d brought.

Richard frowned. “I told you, sweetheart, to call me Rich or Dad.” He waggled his eyebrows at Trent.

I laughed as Trent’s eyes widened, and he looked down at his plate.

“Now, now, don’t freak out, my boy. Although, we’d be delighted to expand our family.” Joan Fox gave Trent her own unsubtle hint.

Trent coughed and drank a huge gulp of his beer. “Ma, Dad, really. Stop. Can we just enjoy one meal without you hinting at me marrying Genevieve and having her barefoot and pregnant by the year’s end?”

A hunk of turkey caught in my throat, and I choked. Trent patted my back hard, dislodging the chunk. I hacked it into my napkin and stood.

“Um, I need a minute. If you’ll excuse me.” I hopped up as though my seat were on fire.

“Look, now you’ve done it. You choked her out,” Trent growled.

They were excited. Heck, I was too. I’d not been with anyone this long since Brian, and it felt good. Better than good. It felt real. I only hoped it would stay that way during the season. Trent was not going to leave his job, nor would I want him to give up something he loved. If we were going to continue having a relationship, we’d need to talk about the away time and everything in between. Of course, we still had the giant weight of not knowing bearing down on us. My period was due in a week. Every day that got closer, I prayed we’d dodged a bullet. However, I wasn’t sure Trent was on the same page. I’d had to ask him to use a condom every time we had sex.

In the meantime, I had an appointment scheduled with the gynecologist to get on some birth control immediately. If my guy wanted to go bare, I’d have to be the one to make it a reality. He seemed unconcerned about the fact that I could very well be pregnant.

Once I freshened up and came back to the Thanksgiving meal, I felt a lot better. We ate, joked, talked about the plans for the rest of the year, and I announced that I’d sold my dad’s car. According to Amber, who’d handled it for me while I worked as many hours as possible and spent my free time with Trent and the sibs, she found a buyer who willingly paid the full fifty grand. As awesome as that was, it still made me sad.

When we got back to the house, the car would be gone, and with it, another part of my father.

D
eep
into the awkward push-up, I let out a long strained breath. “How much longer?” I gritted through clenched teeth. People who thought yoga was all about being Zen and relaxed, finding their inner selves, were in for a rude awakening.

“Thirty more seconds. You can do this, Trent.”

I groaned and kept my body held upright in a push-up position. The tops of my feet held my legs firm against the yoga mat while I arched my back. The upward facing dog position should have been a cakewalk, since it didn’t directly force the leg into the lunges she had me doing earlier. Unfortunately, the thighs, quads, butt, and calves all had to be tightened to protect the lower back. I lifted my chin and attempted to breathe, following along with her loud breathing pattern. She did the audible inhale and exhale so I wouldn’t forget to breathe, but it was damn hard to keep up when holding the upper half of my body aloft and my legs were on fire. “Okay, slowly bring the knees down, and then rest your chest between your thumbs.”

In this position, I had my ass in the air and looked like an inchworm. I shook my head. “These positions get weirder and weirder, gumdrop.”

Genevieve giggled. “All right, big guy, relax the belly to the mat and rest your cheek to one side. Give your body a moment. We’re about to go into guided meditation.”

“Thank Christ!” I scowled and turned my other cheek to the mat to relieve any fluttering tension in my neck from the seventy-five minutes of hardcore yoga she’d put me through. The woman said it was restorative, and I believed in working hard to get solid results, but today’s session had kicked my ass. Probably because I’d been up all night, scouring the Internet, trying to figure out what to get her for Christmas.