Page 64 of Wild Card

I smashed my lips together…then let out a heavy sigh.

“I’m falling for you. When I look at you, you’re not just some girl I like. You look like you’re already mine. My heart knows it, my dick was on board from the first time we met, I just…I had my reasons for why I wanted revenge, but if it means I might lose you, I can’t.”

She lifted her hand, cupping my jaw and rubbing her thumb along my lips.

“Don’t hurt me, Decker. I may seem tough, but my heart is made of glass, the beautiful kind someone worked hard to create with the sand and memories of the most painful moments of my life. It will shatter if you don’t handle it right.”

I leaned into her touch, staring into her green gaze. I felt a little pinch in my chest at the things I was still holding back from her, but we had to take all this in stages, one step at a time.

If I told her what I was hiding from her all at once, she wouldn’t even give me a shot. No, I needed to convince her I’d keep her safe, her and her heart. I might not have been perfect, but I’d be consistent.

Instead of replying with words, I leaned down and carefully pressed my lips to hers. I wouldn’t hurt her, not when doing so would kill me in the process.

Chapter Twenty-Two

“You need to square your shoulders.”Decker stared down at me from under the bill of his Devils hat. He stood on the white rectangle in the middle of the dirt mound, gripping a baseball in his left hand.

I eyed the size of the ball and lowered my shoulders.

“Wouldn’t it make more sense to start me off on a softball, or maybe a tennis ball?” I winced at the overhanging sun, wishing there were a few trees around the field. Why weren’t there trees? How fun would that be to run and play ball through a fun forest? These guys were missing out on an awesome opportunity.

I could see the smirk ghost along Decker’s jaw. He wore jeans and one of those baseball shirts like fromThe Sandlot. In fact, this whole look with a pair of high-top Converse looked like one of those cute kids all grown up. It had been two weeks since that night in his bedroom when I asked him to be careful with my heart and he promised me he would.

Well, he hadn’t promised, exactly, but he had kissed me. Then he kept kissing me. I told him we weren’t having sex, because I honestly wasn’t ready to. I needed to know he was serious about me…about us. He did however wake me up with his head between my thighs and his teeth raking over my thong. I surrendered to an early morning orgasm courtesy of his expert tongue, and when he was ready to finish, he mentioned something about a fantasy and asked that I sit on my knees while holding my breasts together so he could come on my chest. Looking up into those eyes blazing with lust and need while he fisted that throbbing erection…it was a sight I’d never forget.

There was something so insatiable about his hunger for me that lit me up. I’d never craved someone like I craved him. I’d never woken up wishing I were still in bed with someone, never nearly burst at the seams when someone showed up at my door or asked if I wanted to learn how to play baseball. This was all new and terrifying, but I loved it and didn’t want it to end.

“You’ll do fine with the baseball, just remember to keep your eye on it. I’ll go really slow.” Decker brought my mind out of the gutter and back to the lesson he was trying to give.

I did as he said, thankful Juan and Hillary weren’t here to see this. They’d never let me live it down.

I watched as he brought his knee up in that traditional pitcher stance and, true to his word, lightly tossed the ball toward the plate I was hovering over.

I watched it sail toward me, and as it got closer, I became increasingly nervous. Regardless of how slowly it moved, it was still headed straight for me. Nerves rattled my insides as I closed my eyes tight and swung with all my might.

“Babe,” Decker droned in irritation.

I opened my eyes. “Did I do it again?”

“Yes, you closed your eyes again. You have to keep them open.” He ran over to grab the ball even though it was closer to me.

“Maybe we should switch spots?” I offered, but he only swatted my ass, smirking while he ran back to his perch on the mound.

We repeated this process a few more times over the hour before he finally gave up in need of sustenance. On our way from the field, I grabbed my purse and checked my cell. There was another text lingering on my screen, like there had been a few times in the last week. I’d responded to each of them, but as time went on, it was starting to feel strange that he was still doing it.

Elias: Party girl, when you coming back to watch me practice?

That was one I hadn’t responded to yet because it felt flirty.

Elias: We’re having a team party this Friday night, want to come and check it out?

I hadn’t brought up my article to Elias yet. We hadn’t really talked at all since that night we went out. Everything with Decker had felt like such a whirlwind, and I was merely responding to texts but wasn’t encouraging any future hangouts or anything. That said, here was this golden opportunity to attend a card game, right as I was on the tail end of finalizing my article. I would be an idiot to pass up the chance to go with a guide.

Biting my nail, I turned to Decker and decided to bring it up. We hadn’t officially given each other a label, but we’d made confessions in his bedroom about him falling and me asking him not to break my heart. That had to essentially mean we were dating, right? He called me babe now and always tucked his hand in my back pocket when we walked or looked at books at the bookshop, plus we were physical in some capacity every single day. His mouth was either devouring my pussy or attached to one of my breasts, and I in turn had essentially turned into a Hoover vacuum with how frequently I was going down on him. I mean, that was definitely relationship material…borderlineseriousrelationship material.

Right?

“Hey, so I wanted to talk about something with you…but I wasn’t sure how,” I hedged, keeping my eyes on the ground while we walked. His arm hung over my shoulders, and my arm was around his waist. It was one of my favorite positions.

---