The Sweetest Game

Page 11

She looked up, her eyes meeting mine. “You scared me a little. Not a lot. But still.”
I leaned my head into my hand and wiped at my eyes. “I’m so sorry. Kitten, please. I needed to feel like a man because I felt so useless on the ball field. I wanted to dominate something, but I didn’t even think about how it would make you feel. I just wanted to make myself feel better. ‘Cause I’m a selfish prick.”
“I just need a little time, okay? I love you and we’ll be fine, but I need us to go slow right now,” she suggested and my dick ached.
“Absolutely. We’ll go at your pace. Whatever you want. I’ll do whatever you want.” I pulled her against me and hugged her tight. She probably couldn’t breathe, but I needed her to be that close to me.
“Thank you. We should probably get out there.” She smiled and I pushed up from the floor before reaching for her.
“I really am sorry,” I whispered against her ear before hugging her again.
“I know. Just talk to me, please. You can’t get like that. I can’t get like that. It doesn’t work for us when we don’t talk.”
“I’ve never dealt with this before,” I admitted and she nodded against my chest.
“I know. But we’ll deal with it together. We’re a team, remember? You told me that. It’s you and me against the world, Carter.”
“For fucking ever,” I said before covering her mouth with mine and pouring all my love for her into that kiss. She moaned and her body relaxed against me. We’d be okay. We just needed a little time.
When we finally left our bedroom, Melissa and Dean were sitting on the couch watching some chick flick. He had his arm around her and she was leaning against him.
“Figures you’d grow a vagina the second I leave you alone,” I teased and Dean breathed out a sigh. “What the hell are you two watching?”
Dean shoved a fist in the air. “My brother’s back!”
“Are you done being an asshole, Asshole?” Melissa chirped in my direction.
“Are you done being a cock tease to my brother, Cock-Tease?” I chirped back.
Cassie’s hand landed hard against my chest. “Jack! Leave them alone.”
“I was planning on it, until you shot me down.” I threw her a glance and flashed a smile in her direction.
“Crash and burn, huh, big brother?” Dean asked.
“I wouldn’t talk if I were you,” I warned.
Cassie cleared her throat. “Enough with the dick measuring. Jeez.”
Melissa turned her head around. “Oh my God, go put a shirt on,” she shouted at my ripped chest. “Wait! Get over here.”
I knew she wanted me.
I sauntered over to where they were lying on the couch and she reached for my pecs. “Hey, keep your hands off the goods, lady,” I teased.
“You wish.” Melissa rolled her eyes and grabbed at my necklace. “She gave you her key?”
I sucked in a breath and pulled the key from her grip. “Yeah. The night I got hurt.”
“Pretty cool,” she said with a smile.
Cassie closed a drawer and yelled out, “Can we order dinner in? I’m starving. Unless you guys wanna go out? I’m sorta spent, to be honest, but I could rally.”
That was my girl, always putting everyone else’s wants and needs above her own. I knew she was exhausted after everything we’d been through, but she’d still go get all dolled up and head out for the night if that was what my brother and her best friend wanted to do.
I shot Dean a look that said I’d fucking kill him if he made her go out. Thank God he could read my mind.
“I’d rather stay in,” Dean called out while holding my gaze. “We can go out tomorrow. Is that okay with you?” He glanced at Melissa.
“I don’t care what we do. I’m comfortable right here.” She leaned her tiny body into his and sighed.
He winked at me, then shouted, “Order in!”
Note to self: Remind Dean to never fucking wink at me again.
It’s Just Sex
The next morning I woke up to Cassie sleeping on my chest. My left arm was pressed against her back, which I figured was a complete waste since I couldn’t feel her skin through my cast.
She’d initiated sex last night and I let her control the pace. I figured she’d make me wait weeks to earn back her trust in the bedroom, but thankfully she wanted it just as badly as I did. After apologizing with my tongue until she came in my mouth, I entered her slowly, making sure nothing I did would remind her of the other night. It didn’t take long for her body to give itself over to me and for her mind to follow. Thank God.
No matter how much hurt and pain we’d caused each other in the past, the fact was that we were in it for the long haul. We trusted each other. Sometimes we lost our way, but we always found our way back. I never wanted that to end. And I never wanted to be the cause of it again. I hated that I scared her. What kind of asshole scares his wife during sex?
I tangled my good fingers through the strands of her long hair, surprised at how soft it always felt. She stirred against me. “Morning, babe,” she said against my chest.
“Morning, Kitten.”
Her head shot up from my chest, leaving it cold and empty. “Oh my God. Do you remember what we heard last night?” She covered her mouth to stop from laughing too loudly.
I had forgotten. “We don’t know what we heard.”
“Oh, bullshit! You know as well as I do they were totally having sex in our guest room!”
“Maybe they were just playing Monopoly. With their mouths,” I suggested with a smile.
She snorted. “Remind me to ask Melissa how Dean plays Monopoly because it sounded like she was really enjoying it.”
“That’s ‘cause he’s a Carter,” I said matter-of-factly.
“You guys are good at board games?”
Smartass.
“I’m good at everything. Who knows what Dean’s good at.” I rolled on top of her, pressing my hard-on against her.
“No way! I need to shower.”
“Let me get you dirty first,” I whispered against her ear, taking the lobe into my mouth and sucking.
“How about you come clean me off instead?” She wriggled out from under me and the sight of her naked body caused my dick to throb even more.
Shower sex isn’t the same when you have a saran-wrapped cast on your good arm. But I powered through it because I’m a team-fucking-player.
When I walked into the living room awhile later, my brother was already at the table eating cereal. Smiling to himself. He looked like a complete asshole.
“Someone get some last night?” I gave his back a hard slap and he turned to smack my arm away, but missed.
“A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell,” he responded before spooning another bite of food into this mouth.
“You know,” I said as I sat down across from him and poured cereal into my own bowl. “Sound really carries in this place. I never knew that before last night.”
He choked on his cereal. “You don’t say?”
I handed him a napkin. “Oh, I do say. I say very loudly and very scream-like,” I teased.
Cassie entered the room and sat down next to me at the table. She gave Dean a sweet smile and asked, “So, how was Monopoly? It sounds like you’re a really good player.”
I fucking lost it. I laughed so hard I almost spit food across the table. When Melissa finally came out of the guest bedroom, I noticed my little brother’s smile grow wider. As she neared, his eyes lit up and he reached for her. His fingertips barely grazed her exposed skin before she angled her body away and picked the seat farthest from him. I only noticed all this shit because I was paying attention, not because I’m a pussy or anything.
“Are you serious right now?” Dean asked her, his tone instantly angry.
I sat up straighter, finding myself intrigued. The idea of my brother standing up for himself impressed me.
Melissa’s eyes narrowed as her cheeks reddened and she looked away. “Don’t do this here, Dean.”
“Don’t do what? Are you just going to pretend like nothing happened last night?”
I knew it.
Of course I knew it.
“I didn’t say that,” she said in an indifferent tone.
“So, what then? We’ll just go back to being ‘friends,’ or whatever the fuck we are?”
Cassie cleared her throat and I gave my brother a swift kick under the table. He glared at me, his cool facade slowly unraveling. Melissa stayed quiet, avoiding any eye contact as Dean looked back and forth between her face and mine.
He shoved out of his chair, almost tossing it into the wall before grabbing his cereal bowl and throwing it a little too roughly into the sink. The sound of it breaking echoed throughout the apartment and his eyes grew wide. “Shit. I’m sorry, Cass.”
I looked down at my cereal and shook my head. Little brother couldn’t even be mean when he was mad.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. It’s only a dish,” she said, walking away from the table and over toward him.
Dean lowered his chin and stared at the floor as Cassie wrapped her arms around him and squeezed. He hugged her back for a second before pushing her away and jumping to his feet. “I need to get the fuck out of here.”
“Hey!” I shouted and Dean stopped midstep. “Don’t fucking push my wife like that. I will hit you, I don’t care who you are.”
My temper flared as he stalked into the guest room and slammed the door. Right on his heels, I knocked hard on the door, causing the knuckles on my good hand to ache immediately. “Dean?” I shouted and turned the knob without waiting for a response.
I stuck my head inside the room and when my gaze met his, I could see in Dean’s eyes that he was falling apart. “I’m taking you out.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yeah. You are.”
My brother’s response made me laugh. “I’ll call Matteo. He’s coming too. We need a guys’ day.”
“We’re best friends with the guy who kissed your wife now?” Dean’s sour comment caused me to sharply inhale.
“Don’t be a dick. He still works for us, doesn’t he? If I didn’t trust him, he wouldn’t be anywhere near Cassie. Plus, he’s married and has a baby on the way. And he knows my forgiveness was a one-time deal. He tries any of that shit again and I’ll fucking kill him.”
Walking into the kitchen, I pulled Cassie aside and kissed her sweet lips. “Kitten, I’m going to take Dean out. Talk to your friend. Find out what the fuck her deal is. This shit between them needs to stop.”
“No joke. I feel so bad for your brother. I’ll talk to her. Or at least, I’ll try.”
“I love you.” I kissed her cheek.
“Love you too.” She smiled and I wanted to kick myself for ever being mean to her.
My cell phone beeped soon afterward, letting me know that Matteo was waiting downstairs. I shouted to Dean, “Let’s go. Matteo’s waiting.”