Page 35 of Stolen Bases

Yes, I counted the days.

After overhearing Romero say he was going out with some old teammates, I booked it home to eat dinner instead of eating at the facility. I need a minute alone to figure out what the hell I’m doing.

If I take Talia out of the equation, her brother is still a problem—he and his personal vendetta against me. I’m the one who should hate him after the shit he pulled in college.

Instead, here I am trying to make things work with him for the team. For Talia.

She agreed to hang out and get to know each other as long as her brother doesn't find out.

So far, our time together has been innocent, but for how long? My feelings for her are friendly with a whole lot of “let me kiss and fuck you all night long” mixed in.

I doubt that’s going to go away anytime soon.

Spending time withher is risky as fuck. If Romero were to catch us, shit could get real bad, real fast.

For her, for me … for my team.

Today was bad enough. His trash talk was never-ending while we were out doing field work. I’m out there hustling my ass off with the guys, and he’s off running his mouth with his typical “daddy can’t help you out here, Miller” shit.

Where the hell he came up with that, I don’t know.

What I know is, it’s getting old, and it’s becoming a problem in the locker room too. Some of the other guys are getting uncomfortable. There’s also been some noise about the rookies talking and taking sides. There are no fucking sides. I just want to play. I want to win, and I can’t do that on my own. We have a meeting with Anson in the morning, and I am not looking forward to it.

I know last night’s brief run-in with Romero was the factor in his shit attitude this morning. I kept things cordial in the kitchen, but there was no masking the way I stared at Talia.

Okay, fine. I was eye-fucking the hell out of her. I couldn’t stop picturing her in that tiny green bikini. The triangles barely covered her nipples and pussy, tempting me beyond belief.

She’s a fucking knockout with all those hourglass curves of hers.

Plus, she’s smart and witty, and I truly enjoy talking to her. I know this sounds lame as fuck, but she just kind of … gets me. She puts me at ease in a way that allows me to be myself around her.

I’m so fucked. Here I am, pining after a woman whose brother hates my fucking guts. Why, of all the women out there, did she have to be the one to spark with me?

Staying away from Talia would be the smart thing to do. Too bad for me that I’m a fucking idiot and so is my dick. We both want her.

Fuck, I have to stop.

Forcing my defeated body to move, I climb out of the car and make my way inside. It’s quiet except for the low hum of the airconditioning unit running. The lights are off, and a hint of flowers and honey hangs in the air.

Talia.

As I take in a huge breath of her fresh scent, my body relaxes and my heart rate evens out. Gone are the worries of the day. If I’m lucky, I’ll be seeing her tonight after whichever of her reservations she used.

I push open the door to my room, and the sound of paper fluttering beneath me catches my attention. I pick up the small, folded paper with my name perfectly handwritten across the front in a cute, loopy flourish.

I can’t stop myself from smiling like a loon at her perfect writing.

She got my message this morning. I don’t know what came over me when I wrote it and stuck it under her door. I just knew I had to let her know I was thinking about her. It also was safer to flirt with her on paper than in person. She’s been good at shutting me down. This way, I knew she couldn’t.

But her returning the note? She just opened up a whole new window of opportunity for me to climb through.

I try to picture her face as she opened the note and read that I dreamed about her and that fucking chocolate ice cream.

Seriously, my dick was so fucking hard when I woke up that I thought I was going to die from the pain and blood loss from my brain. I had no choice but to whip my dick out and jerk off in bed before leaving for my early morning run. It took me seconds to come; I blew my load all over my stomach to thoughts of pulling her soft raven hair and slapping her juicy ass as I ate her from behind.

I eagerly flip open the note, excited to see what she wrote back.

Thank you for the ice cream. I really enjoyed it. It was so delicious I licked the spoon clean.

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