Page 26 of Sliding Into Love
Ivy wondered how gentle he would be if he touched her… elsewhere. And then her dreams from the night before returned in a flood of images.
Rough hands touching and teasing. Soft, full lips burning a path over her skin. A deep voice rumbling in her ear as a dark-haired man moved over her. Her cheeks burned hotter as her thighs clenched, but she silently scolded herself, wondering if it would be a mistake to let him into the life she’d built for herself and her kids.
But Ethan had been so kind to Jase, that despite how uncomfortable he seemed around her, she thought maybe…
Derek would know what to do. She should text him.
Except her fucking phone was dead, so Ivy headed upstairs to borrow a charger. Lily answered the door and retrieved the cord with a knowing smirk.
“This isn’t about the job. You’re all red. What gives?” Lily asked, dangling the cord in front of Ivy’s nose.
“Well…” Ivy began, “Jase was texting Ethan, and he got so excited about the game, and I thought he might want to text Ethan after the game.”
“It’s for Jase, huh? Damn, that’s shady, blaming it on him,” Lily chuckled.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Ivy looked away from her friend’s dark, scrutinous eyes that saw straight through the lie.
“Uh-huh. I saw Ethan Ford, and I saw youlookingat Ethan Ford. You looked like you wanted to climb him like a tree. He’s definitely tall enough,” Lily said, arching a brow.
“I donot!It’s just that he was so sweet with Jase and Janna. But he was kind of weird around me.”
“Maybe you should get to know him.” Lily shot her a feral grin. “I hear a great way to do that is to—”
“Bye, Lil!” Ivy called over her shoulder as she slammed the door closed. “How’s the game going?” she asked Jase as she reentered her apartment.
“It’s okay, but not great. We’ve only got a two-point lead, and the Raiders have caught up every time we get a run.” Jase didn’t turn away from the screen.
“How’s Derek playing?”
“Pretty good.”
“And Ethan?”
Jase wouldn’t read into her ulterior motives in asking about Ethan; he was Ethan’s biggest fan, after all.
“Ethan’s doing great! He’s had a couple of good hits.”
As the final inning began, Ivy took the borrowed charger into her room and plugged her phone in before plopping down on the couch beside Jase. The camera caught a good angle behind Ethan, showing again how broad his back was. He gave the bat a couple of loose practice swings, then squared up his feet and shoulders, readying himself for the first pitch. The pitch was called a strike, and Ivy held her breath as Ethan reset his feet, tapped the bat on his shoe, shook his shoulders, and lifted the bat. After a breath, he settled deeper into his stance, and not that Ivy was looking, but the camera angle perfectly caught how well those white pants fit. Her mouth went dry, and she thought about sinking her nails into his asswithoutthe tight white pants. The next pitch was a foul; so was the third. The fourth went right beneath the shortstop’s glove, allowing Ethan to make it to second base.
A player Ivy didn’t recognize stepped up to the plate, but she stayed in her seat to watch him bat. The first baseman caught the second hit, and Jen stepped up to the plate. The camera caught her steely gaze as she rolled her shoulders before jamming the batting helmet over her platinum hair. She was a lefty, so the camera caught her face as she swung, and it was a terrifyingly beautiful thing to behold as she hit her first pitch out between center and left. Ethan made it to third; Jen made it to first. Derek batted fourth, and he hit what Jase called a sacrifice fly, allowing Jen to run to third and Ethan to make it all the way home. Ivy’s excited shrieks turned to gasps of shock as she watched it happening as if in slow motion: the other catcher didn’t move out of the way fast enough, and as Ethan’s legs slid toward the plate, he angled his upper body, as if in an attempt to avoid the collision. It worked, barely, except the angle twisted his leg in an unnatural direction, and pain crossed his sharp features as he skidded to a stop.
He didn’t stand, and Ivy pressed her hands to her mouth in horror, unable to look away from the screen.
It took a few moments for his teammates to notice since they were congratulating each other for the win and not him for scoring the winning run, which Ivy found odd. After a few seconds delay, Derek jogged toward him at the same time the umpires gathered around Ethan’s prone form. A staff member jogged toward the knot of people, squatting beside him. Eventually, a stretcher appeared and EMTs loaded him on it. A cold pit formed in Ivy’s stomach as she watched the stretcher carry him away.
I have three swear words left? How bout fuck, fuck, and fuck.
Yes,please, Ivy thought.Wait what?
It was a glorious, sunny day, flitting between spring and summer, never choosing between the two, and Ivy walked with Janna and an anxious Jase to a nearby park.
Fuck is my favorite.
Is it your favorite?
It’s my favorite. I think I said that already.
You’re so pretty.
