The Ninth Inning (The Boys of Baseball #1) - J. Sterling Page 0,56
you,” I said, sounding more than a little smug.
“You were right.” She nudged me with her arm.
I sucked in a breath before asking if she was ready for the next part of our date. She nodded with a beautiful smile, and I drove off with one place in mind.
I drove all the way to the top of the parking structure, which was thankfully empty, before cutting the engine.
“You brought us here?” she asked as she looked around, her voice sounding more than a little shocked.
“Yeah. It’s kind of our place, right?” I said because I had always associated this structure with her. It was where we’d stayed up all night together and talked about the kinds of things that I never talked about with anyone. “It reminds me of you,” I added, and she looked at me, a soft half-smile appearing. “I come here when I need to get away from it all.”
“I honestly figured you brought all the girls here.”
“All the girls?” I asked, thoroughly confused. “What girls?”
She rolled her eyes and gave me an annoyed huff. “Don’t act like you’ve been some sort of saint this whole time. I know you’ve slept with other girls besides me.”
It was a subject I really didn’t want to talk about but only because it led to knowing what other guys she had slept with, and I couldn’t fucking stomach hearing that answer. Not when I had tried so hard to keep that stuff out of my head. Not when I wanted her to only be mine.
“I’ve never brought any girl here. Hell, I’ve never brought any girl anywhere. Only you.” I reached out to cup her face and was grateful when she leaned into it instead of away from it. “It’s okay that we’re here?” I asked because, now, I was suddenly unsure.
She let out a slight laugh. “It’s okay. Maybe I’ll stop hating it now,” she said, and I opened my mouth in shock.
“You hate our parking structure?”
“Uh, yeah. You broke my heart, Cole. I had to hate anything that reminded me of you,” she said as if that explained it all, which, in a way, I guessed it did.
It was just that I had never hated anything that had to do with her. And this parking structure, which held memories of us, had become my solace. It was where I went to when I needed peace and quiet. I found it ironic that she’d avoided the one place that I kept coming back to.
“Time to make you love it again,” I said before reaching around into the backseat and pulling out some blankets and pillows I’d stashed there.
“What’s all this?” she questioned as I got out and went to work on setting up the blankets and pillows in the bed of my truck.
She quickly joined me, and I lowered my tailgate and hopped up, reaching for her hand. When she gave it to me, I pulled her up with little effort.
“Sit with me?” I said as I pressed my back against the pillows, propping them up and moving them to get comfortable.
She sat in between my legs, scooting until her back was flush with my front, and leaned into me.
“Your hair smells so good,” I said as I breathed it in. I almost couldn’t believe that I had her in my arms again.
“This is nice,” she said as her body relaxed.
I was hard as a rock and only getting harder. I wanted Christina in more ways than one but knew it wasn’t the right time. My dick really needed to get the memo and take it down a notch.
“Thank you for giving me a chance.”
She turned, her body angled awkwardly toward me, and I knew she wanted to say something, but she stopped herself. Cupping her cheek, I pulled her toward me, my tongue instantly searching for hers. She moved into me, turning all the way around so that her legs were wrapped around my waist. It definitely didn’t help in the dick-hardening part of things.
“You’re killing me,” I said as I continued kissing her, loving the way her lips felt against mine, grateful that she hadn’t tossed me out of her apartment when I showed up there last night.
Has it really only been a handful of hours since I declared my feelings for her? It felt like so much longer, and I knew it was because we had years of history lingering between us.
Breaking the kiss, I ran my fingers through her hair.