On the Sideline (BSU Football #3) - J.B. Salsbury Page 0,58
by.” He leads me into his room, and closes the door. “He seems happy though.”
“That’s good,” I say as he slips his fingers under the straps of my bathing suit and peels them off my shoulders. His mouth lands on my neck and he trails kisses down my throat. “I wonder why he wouldn’t bring her by though.”
He hums against my skin.
“Do you think he’s embarrassed? Or maybe he’s with someone you wouldn’t approve of?”
Another neutral hum.
“Oh, what if he’s gay!”
His mouth freezes on my collarbone and he pulls back slowly. “Any chance we could put a pin in this conversation about my brother and his sex life? It’s killin’ my moonbathing boner.”
“Fair enough.” I unlace the top of his swim trunks and walk backwards, pulling him with me to his bed. His sexy smirk is something I always feel in intimate places. I lean in and kiss him and we manage to undress each other without looking.
He sits on the edge of his bed and pulls me to straddle his lap.
“Condom,” I breathe against his lips.
“Come home with me for Spring Break.”
I lean back to gauge his expression.
He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “I don’t want to be without you for two weeks, and I think you’d love the farm. There’s a lake at the edge of our property full of all sorts of slimy things—frogs, snakes, lizards…” He trails off when I don’t respond and kisses me, soft and sexy. “My parents are dying to meet you. I hate the idea of you spending even an hour with your bitchass family and—”
“You had me at slimy things.” I slide my hands over his shoulders and lock them behind his neck. “I’d love to go to Tennessee with yo—”
His mouth meets mine with a hunger that makes my head spin.
I break the kiss and hold my finger over his lips. “I should probably warn you, there’s a good chance I’m going to fall in love with your family.”
He kisses the tip of my finger. “I’m banking on it.”
Loren
“Just touch it!” Bex, looking cute as shit wearing a pair of my old waders, thigh-deep in the lake that butts up to my family’s acreage, holds out a slimy salamander.
“No way.” I shake my head. “I don’t want it.”
She tilts her head and blows curls from her high ponytail out of her face. “Look how cute she is.” She shoves the creature at me again, making me flinch.
“Bex, honey,” my mom says from her spot a few feet away, holding her own lake demon. “What kind is this?”
Bex walks to her and squints through her glasses. “That’s a marbled salamander. A male. See the silvery white bands there? Females are gray.”
“A boy?” My mom holds him up to eye level. “I’m gonna name you Thomas.”
I roll my eyes and Bex smiles big and mouths, I love your mom.
I mouth back, I love you. “Now put that thing down so I can kiss you.”
“Why don’t you come make me,” she fires back with a smirk.
“Go on now, Thomas.” My mom releases her new friend into the pond. “Go back to your family.” Her eyes lift to mine and she smiles. “Just hold the salamander, it won’t hurt you.”
“I don’t want to, mom. Hard pass.”
“Don’t mind him, Bex.” She dips her head, searching around knee deep in her waders for her next victim. “He’s always been a bit of a sissy around snakes and such.”
“You don’t say,” Bex says, laughter in her voice.
“She knows, mom.” I shake my head thinking bringing Bex to the farm was a big mistake. “But thanks for talking me up.”
“He’s great with the horses and pigs, even chickens.” She swipes at the water and misses. “Aw hell.”
Bex giggles and releases her salamander. “He’s come a long way with my snakes. He no longer insists on staying six feet away from their enclosures at all times.”
“As much fun as this is to sit here and listen to my two favorite women discuss my weaknesses, I think I’ll go help dad scrape chicken shit off the coops.”
My mom’s eyes widen. “Language, son.”
“Mom, you just said hell—”
“Loren.”
I sigh. “I apologize. Chicken poop.”
Bex pushes up her glasses to hide her smile and I can’t wait to get her alone to kiss her. The whole point of bringing her out to the lake was to get her alone, but my mom was so excited about the idea of herping she invited herself along.
I was right when I told Bex my family was going to love her. From the moment we walked in the door my parents haven’t left her alone, both have been fighting for her time, and frankly, I’m feeling they like her more than me. And I don’t blame them one bit. She’s as loveable as they come.
“Your dad said I should be able to find a rat snake around the barn.” Bex makes another scoop and pulls a black salamander from the water. “Oh, he’s cute.”
“Lemme see.” My mom and Bex lean in together to fawn over the thing.
“You ladies and your reptiles.”
“Amphibians.” Bex smiles at me so sweetly, yeah… I’m gonna need to kiss her now. “Not reptiles—whoa, what are you doing?”
I’m calf deep in pond water and I pull her into my arms, amphibian and all, and kiss her softly. “I’m kissing my girl.”
Her eyes shift to my mom and my grin widens. “Momma, I’m gonna be kissing my girl for a bit. You don’t mind, do you?”
“You go right ahead.” She swipes at the water and brings up a salamander. “I’m going to name you Sharon.”
I gently pluck the salamander from Bex’s hand and release him.
“You touched him,” she says in awe.
I wipe my hand on my jeans and grip her hips to bring her close. “The things I’d do to get at those lips.”
Her hands slide up and lock behind my neck. “I really love it here.”
“I can see that. The country suits you.” I push loose hair off her face. “Could you see yourself growing old here?”
Her expression falls and her lips part.
“With me?”
“I…” She shakes her head, not as if she’s saying no but as if she’s trying to shake things up in order to understand my meaning.
“Don’t freak out.”
“I’m not freaking out.” She’s totally freaking out.
“Just something to think about. No pressure.”
She licks her lips and takes a deep breath. “Do you see yourself here, you know, after you graduate?”
I brush my lips against hers. “I see myself wherever you are. And seeing you here just feels good. Feels right.”
“It does, doesn’t it?”
“My whole life feels right with you.” I kiss her slowly, making love to her mouth right there in a lake surrounded by God knows what. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she says in a way that makes me want to carry her back to my bedroom and keep her there until morning. “Can you take me...”
…to bed.
“…to the barn to hunt for snakes?”
I burst out laughing and kiss her one last time before I take her to the barn and help her look for snakes.
The things I do for love.
Also by JB Salsbury
The Fighting Series
Fighting for Flight
Fighting to Forgive
Fighting to Forget
Fighting the Fall
A Father’s Fight
Fighting for Forever
Fighting Fate
Fighting for Honor
The Final Fight
Uncaged: A Fighting for Flight Short
Jack & Sadie
The Mercy Series
Ghostgirl
Saint
Standalone Novels
Split
Wrecked
Love, Hate, & Rock-n-Roll Series
Playing by Heart
Skipped a Beat
Face the Music
Strike a Chord
BSU Football Series
Breaking Defenses
Hail Mary
About the Author
JB Salsbury is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her husband, two sassy daughters, and her boxer dogs.
Her love of good storytelling led her to earn a degree in Media Communications. With her journalistic background, writing has always been at the forefront, and her love of romance propelled her career as an author.
She spends the majority of her day behind the computer where a world of battling alphas, budding romance, and impossible obstacles claws away at her subconscious and begs to be released to the page.
For more information on
her books, or just to say hello, visit JB on her website, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.