Page 138 of Hard Hitter

With a smirk and a playful yet forceful shove, she rolled Quinn onto his back and landed on top of him. Her hair spilled over her shoulder onto the pillow next to his head. He smiled up at her and she knew all he saw was her. She only wished he realized he did the same to her.

“I love you, Quinn.” She got lost in his golden gaze again as she spoke, “I know we’ve made our mistakes. We’ve pretended to be just friends, we’ve said and done things we regret. I never should’ve shut you out years ago, after graduation. Something so small, so...trivial, had hurt me so badly, and I was absolutely terrified that you had that kindof power over me. The ability to hurt me like that, even if you never meant to.

“And the way I reacted Thursday night...it was childish. I knew better, but I just...the ‘what if’ was so petrifying I couldn’t face it.” She looked down where her fingertips were trailing along his chest, then back up again with a swallow. “I can’t believe we got another chance, and I just don’t want to hold anything back this time. I’m so in love with you, and I don’t know if it just happened this summer or if it’s been there since we were seventeen or thirteen or seven. But I do know that I want you...for as long as you’ll want me.”

Quinn’s serious stare broke into a playful grin. “That’s a long time, my littlechouette.”

Giggling, Raelyn replied, “Probably still not long enough to teach you decent French.”

“Probably not,” Quinn laughed as he cupped the side of her face with a large hand. Their lips met, soft and slow, melting into each other.

Within minutes, their kiss turned to frenzied grasping and moaning as their bodies moved with one another. Quinn flipped off the light and they kissed and felt and made love in nothing but the moonlight shining through the window. Laying on his chest afterward, listening to the sound of the steady rhythmic thumping of his heart, Raelyn knew without a doubt thatthiswas what she wanted above all else. She’d known she wanted him, and she wanted to finally get her chance to see what this could be. Less than two months had gone by, and never would she have imagined that it would come to her this hard, this fast.

She could fall asleep just like this every night, here or at her house or a random hotel in a strange city after a ball game. His strong, muscled arms holding her, lightly tracing his fingers along her bare skin. This was it.Hewas it. She was completely, entirely where she wanted to be.

Chapter 35

“Run! Run to third- go, go!” Quinn shouted over his familiar hometown baseball diamond. They were back in Michigan for two more days, then Rae was making her big move with him to Los Angeles. Quinn had been helping coach one of the local teams after Rae had mentioned her patient asking if he’d be able to stop by and see the team. It was the last game of the summer season before school started and his team, The Pirates, were officially undefeated.

Quinn watched as Avery Aimes slid into third base.

“Safe!” the referee called out, and Quinn pumped his fist.

The kid was good. Rae had told Quinn about his injury last spring when he’d taken a fastball to the wrist. It had healed up really well and he was back in the game as if he’d never left. In any case, the injury hadn’t stopped the kid from running bases like the Flash.

“I’m seriously considering adopting that kid,” Quinn said to the coach who also happened to be Avery’s father.

Mike Aimes let out a bark of laughter, “Yeah, I might have to fight you on that one.”

“He’s gotta be getting scouted already, right?” Quinn asked, watching Avery stand up and brush his pants off a little before turning his attention to where the next batter was stepping up to the plate.

“Oh yeah,” Mike nodded, “he’s got some options. Mississippi, Louisiana...Arizona.”

Quinn smirked. “I am partial to Arizona.”

“Ball!” The umpire’s voice rang out and Quinn refocused his gaze on the player up to bat.

He’d only been working with these kids for a little over two weeks and he’d already found himself getting attached. He wanted to come back and watch them play during their school seasons and was trying to figure out how to get some sort of VIP experience set up in LA or with the team here. They held baseball camps for kids, but they weren’t cheap. Quinn supposed he wouldn’t mind footing the bill to give some of these kids an experience like that.

He knew some of the boys on the team just played to keep busy, stay active, and be social. But there were also some like Avery who reminded him of himself in ways; their focus and dedication, their readiness to take any instruction or constructive criticism when he offered it. For some of these boys, the sport was part of them, embedded in their identity.

The Pirates beat the Wildcats 8-5 after a strong last hit with loaded bases had earned them three runs. Quinn stood back and watched in delight as the mob of black and red uniforms jumped up and down on the field together, celebrating their undefeated season. He couldn’t help thinking of his final championship game in high school, celebrating with his team and then getting his first mind-blowing kiss from Rae.

Looking around the park, he noticed the familiar faces in the stands who had come to watch after Quinn had pestered constantly, telling them they needed to come see his amazing team. It was true he was proud of his team and was grateful for having taken part in their season, but there may have been a different motivating factor to having everyone here at the park where he, Chris, Jett, and Rae had played so many games.

He scanned the crowd, seeing Rae’s parents standing up, and Chris, Victoria, and their little girl, Sophia. Brody and Amira had come to show their support, too. Even his mom had come out to watch the game and was sitting next to Sandra. He may not have been playing, but he still felt his chest swell at the thought that his mom had finally made it to one of his games. He grinned when he saw Jett sitting on the bleachers next to Zoey. Jett was smiling as he spoke and Zoey had her head thrown back in laughter.

“Hey Coach,” Rae said as she slid her arms around Quinn from behind and bit playfully at his shoulder.

Quinn spun around, wrapping his arm around her as she kept hers circled around his torso. She wore a plain white t-shirt and a dark blue athletic skort with her usual Converse on her feet. A timeless look on this woman, honestly. Her hair was down and resting over her shoulders. “Look,” he nodded toward Jett and Zoey with a smirk, “what do you think of that?”

Rae followed his gaze and found the smiling couple. “I think if she’s into centaurs, she’ll be thrilled,” Rae replied, one corner of her mouth tugging up in a playful grin.

“Centaurs?” Quinn questioned, brows scrunched as he looked down at Rae. “Those are the half-man half-horse...wait,” he stared, incredulous. “How the hell did you find that out?”

“Accident,” Rae giggled. “I tried to look away, but I had to keep doing double and triple takes to confirm that was in fact what I was seeing. I was in shock.”

“Youhadto?” Quinn pressed, skeptically. When Rae simply shrugged, he sighed, “Great, now I’m competing with JettfuckingMiller. Who would’ve thought?”

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