The Home Court Advantage (4 page)

“I’m not mad at you at all.” Adam smiled brightly. “In fact, I think you’re fucking hilarious. If you weren’t dating Braden, I’d go out with you myself just for the entertainment.”

“Well, she is dating Braden, so find your entertainment elsewhere,” Braden said and moved over, patting the loveseat beside him. I went over and sat down and it was as if Bruno just magically knew somehow that Mommy and Daddy were sitting together. (Which meant double team petting.) He came flying around a corner, hurtled himself back into the room like a missile, stopped short, and slid ten yards on his ass to arrive at our feet and beg us to pick him up, which Braden promptly did. Bruno was a very enthusiastic animal and Braden was a doting doggie daddy.

While Braden petted Bruno, I petted Braden, running my fingers up and down the hard muscles of his inner thigh. Bruno was blocking what I was doing from sight, and I could sense that Braden was enjoying it, so I teased him a little by moving a bit higher periodically as we watched the game. At the time I didn’t realize
how much
he was enjoying it.

“So how was Pittsburgh?” Jessica asked during a commercial break. Braden and Adam had just returned from a conference there the night before.

“First night was just introductory stuff and a cocktail party,” Adam said. “The keynote speech was okay. The party was pretty good although Braden wanted to leave early because he missed Gabrielle.”

“Oh, poor Braden,” Mark teased. “What had it been? A whole ten hours?” Adam and Cameron laughed. Braden just glared.

“The next day,” Adam continued, “we did our presentation, went to a couple other presentations, and then Braden wanted to leave early because, you guessed it, he missed Gabrielle. Apparently he can’t survive outside of her for more than a day.”

“We had done all the important stuff!” Braden argued. “The third day was just more bullshit. I didn’t want to go to any more lunches or dinners. I can eat here.”

“One
month
!” Mark laughed. “Jesus, Braden, you went down like the fucking Titanic, man! Dating for four weeks and you can’t make it two whole days without her.”

“Six weeks,” Braden corrected. “I don’t dick around when I know what I want, and I want to be with her.” Braden and I smiled at each other stupidly for a minute.

“I guess you
don’t
!” Cam muttered with a laugh. “I have to admit I kind of admire that.”

The game came back on and we watched another inning. My fingers brushed up against Braden’s boy parts a little more and I realized that it wasn’t just his muscles that were hard. I had gotten him excited right here in the middle of Game Night! Something about that felt very sexy and I liked having the power to do that to him. At the next commercial break Adam picked up the conversation again.

“Do you think your parents are going to be okay with you getting engaged so quickly?” he asked Braden.

“My dad proposed to my mom after six weeks and they’ve been happily married for thirty years. He said that he just knew and he didn’t want to waste his time.”

“What about your parents, Gab?” Jess chimed in. “Your dad’s pretty protective; do you think he’ll be okay with it?”

“You’re kidding me, right? My father’s biggest fear is that I’ll die alone with a bunch of cats.” Bruno yipped. “He’ll probably ask Braden what took him so long. Incidentally,
he’s
definitely a guy who doesn’t dick around when he knows what he wants. That’s why he’s a CEO.” My fingers traveled up again and rubbed a little harder.

“Gabrielle, can you help me in the kitchen? Excuse us for a minute,” Braden said, sounding a little hoarse. He got up, put our yippy dog down, and took my hand, gently pushing me in front of him off into the other room. Bruno trotted along after us. The layout of Braden’s apartment was very open but there was a wall that obscured part of the kitchen from those in the TV area.

“What’s up?” I teased. He backed me up against a black granite counter, out of view.

“I think you know the answer to that. You’re driving me crazy. I can’t wait until tonight,” he said in a low voice. “I need it now.” Uh oh. I had gotten him a bit more excited than I realized. As much as that turned me on, he couldn’t be serious, could he? I looked at him carefully. He looked flushed, he was breathing quickly and his eyes were dilated. He could be serious.

“What do mean you need it now?”

“Sex. I need sex. I’ve moved beyond amorous and now I’m into really horny. Stage three is physical discomfort and mental anguish. Just letting you know.” His eyes dropped to my lips.

“I knew
what
you meant but we have company!” I whispered back. He was stunningly sexy-looking when he was aroused like this, and I headed for stage two with a bullet myself, but come on, during Game Night? I just thought I was building anticipation for tonight when they all went home and we were alone.

“Just a quickie to tide me over until later.” He ran his hands over my hips. Oh, that felt nice. While my brain was still saying, “sex isn’t a spectator sport,” my cha-cha was starting to come around to his point of view. My brain was still ahead though. At least for the moment.

“Braden, you don’t do quickies.” My eyes went to his lips and I started to feel flushed.

“We got off together in ten minutes in an interview room at the courthouse once.”

“That was different. There was a whole other level of pressure involved there. And there are logistical problems. We would have to walk past them to get to the bedroom.” I knew that if Braden and I just strolled off toward the bedroom together it wouldn’t be really difficult to figure out where we going. That could be kind of awkward when one had guests.

“We’ll say we’re going to the bathroom.”

“Together?”

“So we’ll say we’re going to have sex and we’ll be right back. Honesty is the best policy anyway.” He obviously knew he was going to have to work harder to convince me, so he upped his game and leaned in to start kissing his way up my neck. His lips felt so good against my skin. He gently nipped me with his teeth and a bolt of heat shot straight to my lady bits, which were now firmly on his side.

“It’s rude to have sex while you’re entertaining,” I said throatily. I was sinking fast and we both knew it. He was going to have me down on the kitchen floor in another minute.

“Mm hm?” I guess that was the best he could do with his tongue in my ear.

“Oh God. Okay, but give Bruno a treat first because he’s making me nervous.” We both looked over at our Chihuahua who was sitting happily watching us, panting and wagging his tail. Braden quickly grabbed a doggie bacon strip out of a cupboard above my head and leaned down to give it to Bruno, who ran off with his prize, as was another one of his habits.

“Now where was I?” Braden muttered, going back to business. “Business” being introducing my earlobe to oral play that was usually reserved for my lower regions.

“Ahh!” I whimpered quietly. “I hope you have a permit for that tongue.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled his mouth to mine. The tongue in question began tracing delicious little circles on the roof of my mouth and I made a contented sound and arched my back to press my chest tightly against him. I wanted to haul him to the floor with me and have my wicked way with him. So much for good manners. Emily Post would be so disappointed.

He groaned and grabbed my bottom to pull my hips tightly against him too. The now very
big
bulge pressing into my belly told me that my baby was rock hard and ready to rumble. I started rubbing against him shamelessly and I was about to suggest we head to the bedroom while we still had some good judgment left, when I heard a phone ring and Adam call out.

“Pizza’s here, Braden. You going to get it or should I?” It sounded like Adam was getting up. Braden broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against mine in breathless defeat.

“I’ll get it!” he called out, sounding a bit tense.

“Poor baby,” I said with a giggle. “I hope this doesn’t lead to stage three.”

“Laugh it up. You’re not going to be able to walk tomorrow. The quickie option is off the table. I’m going to bang you so long tonight they’ll send out a search party for you,” he said, pulling his shirt down over the evidence of his healthy maleness and heading off to get the food. I didn’t know what in the hell I was laughing at. I felt more than just “warm” myself at that point and I probably looked like I had just jogged a few dozen miles. I splashed a little water on my face before grabbing some plates out of the cupboard and napkins out of a drawer. I had a feeling that we were going to have a night of volcanic sex later and I wondered if I should try to get cardiac clearance.

Braden brought the pizza back and we all grabbed a piece and sat down to eat and watch the game again. The teams were evenly matched and there was plenty of excitement, shouting, and cheering. I wasn’t a really big baseball fan, but now that I knew most of the rules, it was much more entertaining. Did you know that those guys weren’t actually translating things into sign language, by the way? Those were secret signals they were using. Tricky, huh?

“Any interesting cases this week?” Mark asked during another commercial.

“A few,” Braden answered, pulling me closer to him and nestling me in his arm. I loved it when he nestled me. It made me feel wonderfully small and girlie. I had learned my lesson earlier, and Bruno, who was eyeing up my pizza suspiciously, was the only one who I was petting during the later innings.

“I’ve got a really fun one with Gabrielle coming up,” Adam said with a smirk. “It involves a young man who, shockingly, may not be terribly bright. I’m afraid that I’m going to have to make her life a bit difficult, but I’ll try to be gentle. “

“Don’t worry, Captain Ego. I can take it.”

“Well, alright then! Bring it, baby!” he taunted.

“Don’t call her baby,” Braden warned. “Only I get to call her baby.” He reached up and stroked my hair possessively. It didn’t bother me when Braden got possessive. In fact I was perfectly happy to let him claim his territory on a nightly basis.

“Uh oh. Are other guys
allowed
to argue with Gabrielle?” Mark teased. “What’s going to happen when it’s Adam getting her all fired up instead of you?” He could be such a pot stirrer. He really was like a naughty schoolboy sometimes.

“He can get her all fired up as long as she works off her adrenaline with me,” Braden said. “And as long as I can watch her get all fired up.” He gave me a slightly lecherous look.

“I think I saw that movie on cable last night,” Cam joked.

“Yeah, that sounds pretty voyeuristic,” Adam noted with a laugh.

“And your point is?” Braden asked, dropping his hand back around my waist and stroking my ribs. The looks he was giving me clued me in to the fact that he was still somewhere in the vicinity of the really horny stage. He very subtly moved his hand a little higher and brushed the underside of my breast, giving me a wicked smile. Oh boy.

The game was tied and the Phillies were up to bat with the bases loaded and two men out. Suddenly the batter hit it straight into left field and the runner on third headed home. Everyone’s attention was riveted to the game and they all started yelling and cheering. Braden decided to take that opportunity to get to first base himself, squeezing my breast and pinching my nipple in just the way that he knew drove me wild. I almost moaned but I caught myself. The Phillies scored and Braden gave me a cocky grin, content in the knowledge that he had scored too. He dropped his hand back down and began stroking my ribs again. I guess that he had proven to me that two could play at that game.

“Oh by the way, Gab, do you want me to take that client in that gang case you got hauled into?” Mark asked me, turning away from the TV again for a moment.

“Why? There’s no reason I can’t handle it just because it’s a gang case. My client’s not a shooter. I think he’s just charged with theft.”

“Let him take it anyway, Gabrielle,” Braden said, sounding unhappy. Anyone in a street gang was potentially a violent criminal, no matter what he was charged with. He hated it when I had to represent the violent ones, mostly because I had to be locked in with them alone to interview them. His fears weren’t completely unrealistic, even though incidents were rare.

“Why, Braden? I can handle it.”

“Because I care about your safety.”

“Gee thanks,” Mark said with a laugh.

“Not that …” Braden said hurriedly, glancing up at him.

“It’s alright dude. I’m not your fiancée.”

“Braden. I have to do my job just like you do,” I said gently.

Just then the game came back on and everyone turned their attention back to the TV, but I could sense that we weren’t done discussing this subject. It was the one real source of potential conflict that we had. If I was going to do this job, though, I was going to do it like everyone else did. I didn’t want any special treatment because I was the daughter of a very rich man or the fiancée of one either, for that matter. The Phillies eventually won six to four and our friends got up, stretched, and got ready to go. Cam offered to take Jess home and before they left I pulled her aside for a little strategy session and pep talk.

“Remember what you told me,” I whispered.

“Never try to wax your own hoohah?”

“Not that!” I rolled my eyes. “Just flirt with him and see what happens.”

“Okay, but I have a feeling that what will happen is nothing.”

“Just try it,” I said with a sigh. We said goodnight to all of them and as the door closed, I grabbed the stack of dirty dishes and darted into the kitchen to start filling the sink. I had been enjoying our little back and forth teasing game and it was my turn again now.