Page 14 of Hard Hitter

When she pulled out of the hug he was struck by how beautiful she was up close with her blonde hair whipping around underneath his baseball cap. He liked her wearing his hat. It made him feel like she was his. Just as he registered this last unexpected thought, Rae planted a kiss on his cheek and whispered, "Thank you."

Quinn thought his heart must have stopped. His voice caught in his throat and upon realizing that he'd failed to respond he gave a quick and indistinct nod. She turned to face the guys and let out a triumphant cheer for herself, pumping her fist in the air. As he watched her walk over and pick up the discarded bat, he knew. It hit him with a resoundingthudin his chest. He was falling for his best friend.

Chapter 7

Four days. Four painfully long days had gone by and still Raelyn could not seem to get a grip on this sudden onset of sexual frustration. Every night since Friday she'd ended her days with a glass of red wine and seven minutes in heaven with a new selection from her pleasure box- yes, that's code for a discrete hidden box with an assortment of sex toys. On her morning drive to work she told Amira she was considering getting a pair of vibrating panties for the workplace. She even dressed more feminine, with form-fitting dress pants that cut off at the ankle, a low-cut top, and heels. What kind of physical therapist wears heels to work? Clearly it was a not-so-subtle cry for attention from any male partner who could give her some sort of sexual release. Just one earth-shattering orgasm that wasn't self-induced. Was that really so much to ask?

Amira and Raelyn parked next to each other in the shared parking lot and walked around their vehicles to greet each other in person. Amira handed Raelyn a grande sweet-cream cold brew, as was her routine on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

"No Harry today?" Amira looked around and noticed the furry friend missing.

"Camille picked him up this morning," said Raelyn. "Her kids want a dog, so I'm letting them borrow him so they can get a feel for the responsibility of it. I'm having lunch with her and my mom today though, so I'll bring him back with me."

"That was nice of you. Also, I brought you these," Amira said, shoving a stack of magazines into her friend's arms.

With a quizzical expression, Raelyn looked down at the top magazine. She saw the signature redMen's Healthlogo and the black letters, bold and capitalized "HARDER, FASTER, STRONGER." Raelyn read the next headline out loud, "Quinn Casey's secret to bed-breaking sex: How and where she wants it." She glanced up at Amira, "How charming."

The picture on the cover was of Quinn, shirtless in his white baseball pants, one arm hanging by his side, the other grabbing his shoulder, looking at the camera with his famous handsome-devil grin. Raelyn looked back up at Amira after taking a few too many seconds to appreciate how fine he looked in those pants, "What am I supposed to do with this? Break my own bed?"

"If you do, let me know and I'll give those secrets a try," Amira said with a grin. "I didn't think it was a coincidence that your sexual frustration kicked in the same day you see his picture and talk about the last time you guys almost went out. I figured a visual might help with that perfect orgasm you're looking for."

"That's thoughtful," Raelyn rolled her eyes, "but he was my friend. I'm not going to go old school and stare at a magazine cover with his face on it to get off."

"You weren’treallyjust friends though, were you?" Amira asked with a knowing smirk. Now really wasn't the time to unpack that particular box. Raelyn gave her friend an incredulous stare and Amira added, "There's a whole photo shoot I think you'll like, actually."

Clearly she wasn’t getting the point.

"Whatever, I'm not taking these.” Raelyn tried to shove the magazines back to her friend but Amira ducked inside her Mercedes and grabbed her own coffee in one hand and put her phone to her ear in the other.

"Oh, no! My hands are full and I really need to take this!" She winked and laughed as she turned and headed toward the women's center, shouting a quick "Love ya, bye!" over her shoulder.

Raelyn groaned and threw her head back in frustration. Her car keys were tucked away in her purse and she didn't see a way to get themwithout potentially losing her caffeine supply, so she let out a dramatic and loud sigh, then headed up the walkway to her office. Struggling to do the math on how she was going to get her building key without dropping anything, she was relieved to see a man sitting on the bench outside her office door. He had his head down looking at his phone, and his right arm appeared to be in a sling.

Already regretting the heels she was wearing, though they admittedly made her ass look amazing in these pants, she called out to the man on the bench, still bustling up the walkway, heels clacking, “Excuse me, do you think you could hold onto these while-"

"Rae?" The man looked up and his eyes went wide when he saw her.

Holy shit, it's Quinn.In one stunned moment she was registering the familiar face, and in the next she dropped all the magazines- no, all theQuinn Casey sexmagazines!- all over the sidewalk. She stared at him in disbelief. Okay, were her sexual fantasies really getting that bad? Not that she fantasized about him...ever. She must've been gawking long enough to be weird because Quinn was walking toward her now. He smiled, then bit his bottom lip looking shy, as if trying to bite back a wider smile.

Damn, that was a good look on him.

"Quinn…" she stared up into his golden brown eyes, absolutely hating the way her pulse was betraying her by increasing so rapidly. "What are you doing here? In Traverse City, I mean...obviously you're at a physical therapist's office-my office, obviously- because of your arm...but you're, ya know, back. Here. Home."

Girl, stop babbling, you are not a star-struck bimbo. You two are old friends. Kind of.

"Uh, yeah," Quinn let out a little laugh. "I'm back. For therapy. For other things, too. But I came here for you- to see you, I mean. As a doctor. In a professional capacity." He attempted to smooth his hair over, and the familiar gesture eased Raelyn. He was always trying to smooth down his unruly hair, but it had a mind of its own. It alwayshad. "Actually, I didn't know this was your office. Chris gave me the address yesterday, so I'm just as surprised as you are."

Leave it to Chris Watson to try and play match-maker. Raelyn remembered the last time he tried doing that when they were in college- that night had been a disaster.

Quinn was now looking down at the mess of magazines on the ground. He bent down to pick one up and smirked as he glanced at the cover. He cocked an eyebrow up, turning the front of it to face her, "Some of your favorites?" Another shirtless Quinn smiled at her from the glossy cover.

Raelyn paused, mouth open as she struggled to come up with an explanation that had absolutely nothing to do with her adding these to her new wine-and-pleasure box nightly routine. “I was taking them to my friend, Amira. She’s a gynecologist and needed examples in her office of people with sex addictions and the diseases that may come with such an affliction.”

Quinn snorted, “Uh-huh, well I can assure I’m perfectly clean, so you might want to find a new example.” He tilted his head to the side as though studying her, “Was that just your way of fishing for information in case something happens here? I’ll show you all my medical records, test results, whatever you want.”

Raelyn scoffed, squatting to finish picking the rest of the magazines up, "Not all women turn to mush when they see baseball studQuinn Casey, you know." She said his name in a mock-dreamy tone. Of course she would never admit how much her own legs were currently feeling like Jell-O under his intense gaze.

Letting out a quick breath of laughter, Quinn helped her pick up the last few magazines, stacking them and grabbing the pile with his one- notably large- free hand. He shook his head, "Oh, I know. The one woman impervious to my charm is the only one that's ever mattered."

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