Fair Catch (Love and Sports Series) (17 page)

             
“It was just a small piece, or should I say big piece.” Both the girls laughed as the horn buzzed for the end of the game. Lexi shot out of her seat and walked quickly in between cheering fans. She had to get out of there. She felt like she couldn’t breathe.

             
Lexi made the brisk walk to the half wall where she was supposed to meet Jake. She sat down on the edge and thought about what she was going to do. Was she strong enough, brave enough to dabble in a possible relationship with a man who dabbled with almost every girl in the athletic department? Every time she was working out in the weight room or was at a party or in class she could risk running into someone who had possibly been with Jake. Then there was the fact that he was extremely experienced and she had only been with one other person.

             
Not that she was ready to jump his bones right away. She would be putting that off for a while. She wasn’t going to give her entire body up to Jake until she knew for sure his intentions. She once gave her body to someone who didn’t appreciate her. She didn’t want to go down that road again. Given Jake’s track record, she was going to make him earn the privilege of sleeping with her, of owning her body.

             
She felt like she was going to hyperventilate from thinking about what a risk it was for her to get involved with someone like Jake. She didn’t have the typical support system one usually received from their family so what if something did happen to her? What if Jake ended up breaking her heart? It wasn’t like Margo and Parker were there for her right now. They couldn’t look past their own noses to notice anyone else in the world.

             
Worrying thoughts of Jake scattered through her mind as she waited for the man in question and she must have been thinking for quite some time because she almost didn’t notice the strong presence walking toward her. She looked up and saw Jake smiling as he got closer to where she was sitting. His hair was wet from a shower causing Lexi’s hand to want to run her hand through the wet strands. He was wearing jeans and a light blue polo shirt. He looked good, and he smelled good.

             
“Hey babe, you look hot.” He straddled her against the half wall and placed both his hands on her waist. “What a game huh?” She had a hard time responding because all she could think about were the girls behind her planning their moves on Jake right in front of her. Jake was too in tune with her because he noticed her sour mood. “Hey, what’s wrong?” He said while lifting her chin so she had to look him in the eyes, his beautiful light green eyes.

             
She shook her head. She felt so embarrassed to tell him, but if she was going to give their relationship a shot, which she didn’t think she could walk away from, she had to express her concerns.

             
“I’m sorry, I’m being rude. You were amazing tonight.”

             
“I don’t care about the game. What’s wrong Lex?”

             
“I, uh, I don’t know if I can go to the party tonight.”

             
“Why? I thought you wanted to.” He looked as if she just broke his heart, she felt terrible.

             
“I do, it’s just. Ugh, at the game there were two girls behind me bragging about how they were going to approach you tonight, and you know, offer themselves up.”

             
Jake laughed causing her to swat him in the chest. “It’s not funny.”

             
He chuckled a little more before he answered her. “So since these girls said they were going to ‘offer themselves’ up to me.” He said while making quotation marks with his fingers, “Then I’m automatically going to sleep with them?”

             
Well when he put it like that, he made her feel stupid. “It’s not just that Jake, almost every girl around here has a story about being with you and if you want this to work between us you have to think about how hard it’s going to be for me to hear all those different stories.”

             
Jake pulled her in tight and wrapped his warmth around her. She rested her head on his chest and breathed in his scent. She reveled in the fact that he felt so safe, even with all the doubts in her head as to why being with him wouldn’t work, she still felt so safe with him, like he was home.

             
He kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry that my idiotic past is going to haunt you. If I could take it back I would, but I can’t. You’re just going to have to trust me, trust that you’re the only girl I’m interested in. Can you do that? Can you put your faith in me?”

             
She looked up at his pleading eyes and she thought about how, yes, she could trust him. Even though he treated women like crap in the past, she believed Jake and she believed his intentions were pure. She truly believed that he had changed…for the better.

             
“Yes, I can trust you.”

             
He squeezed her harder and kissed her on the head again. “You don’t know how happy that makes me feel.” He lifted her up so she was positioned better on the cement half wall making her almost face to face with him. “Now, I just have to tell you how hot you look tonight.”

             
Lexi felt her skirt hike up to an almost inappropriate level but for some odd reason she didn’t care. She wrapped her arms around Jake’s neck and brought him in closer. He placed his hands on her hips once again, sending chills down her legs.

             
“You look pretty good yourself. Now about that game, you really were amazing. You and Mason make such a good team.”

             
“Thanks. I can’t tell you how great it feels to have you cheering me on in the stands. I haven’t had a little cheering section since my parents died. To have you there, watching, means the world to me.”

             
Lexi heard about Jake’s parents dying in a horrific car accident his freshman year, but never thought he would ever really talk about it, at least not so soon. She caressed his neck with her thumb and said, “I’m glad I was there to support you.”

             
He changed the subject quickly. “So, you ready to go?”

             
“Yes, but I need to do something before we go” Jake nodded and pulled away to let her down but she wrapped her legs around him and pulled him back in. She brought her lips to his and kissed him. At first she felt him stiffen up from her boldness but then he wrapped his arms around her and brought her in closer.

             
Her entire body lit on fire and she felt her toes start to tingle. She slightly opened her mouth granting him more access into her mouth and he took advantage of it. He worked her lips until she didn’t think she could take it anymore without bursting with joy. He didn’t let up though, he kept diving in for more. Her hands found his chest while one of his hands was on the back of her neck and the other one was working dangerously up her leg. At that moment she decided to pull away.

             
They both were breathing heavily and when she finally opened her eyes to look at him, his eye lids were heavy and he looked almost dazed. Lexi took her hand and brushed her thumb against his cheek. “Congratulations on your win big guy.” She hopped down from the half wall and started walking toward his Jeep.

             
He finally caught up to her, twisted her around and caught her in his arms. He lifted her head up and kissed her again. This time he was more frantic, as if he couldn’t get enough of her. She matched his desperate need to be closer and wrapped her arms around him. She opened her lips allowing him to slip his tongue in hers and explore every surface of her mouth. A dull thud started to pound in her body and she could feel the excitement taking place all the way down to her toes. This was getting out of hand. If she didn’t stop him now she could foresee herself having an orgasm in the middle of the parking lot.

             
She pulled away and swatted him on the arm. He rubbed the attacked spot and said, “What was that for?”

             
She pointed at him and said, “Don’t get fresh.” Then she chased her sentence with a smile over her shoulder and waited for him to unlock the door to his Jeep.

             
He gently pushed her up against the Jeep and said, “You are slowly going to be the death of me, babe.” He gave her a quick peck and opened the door for her. She was smiling and more pleased with herself then she should be.

                                                        ***

              Jake was still reeling from Lexi’s surprise attack on his lips when they arrived at the football house. The last thing he wanted to do after Lexi kissed him was go to a football party. Instead, wanted to take her back to his place and practice their make-out skills some more. The moment her lips hit his he knew he wasn’t going to ever let Lexi go. She was it for him. It was like their kiss sealed the deal for his future. He couldn’t say that to her, though because she still was very much skittish around him but what he did notice was she started to give in and warm up toward him. The way she touched him, looked at him and of course kissed him, he knew she had feelings for him.

             
“Are you just going to stare out the windshield, or are we actually going to go in?”

             
Jake chuckled. “Sorry, I was just thinking about earlier. You know we don’t have to go the party.”

             
Lexi gave him a skeptical look. “Nice try big shot, you just want to go back to your place and make-out.”

             
“You read my mind.”

             
Lexi rolled her eyes and got out of his Jeep. Well a guy could try, he thought. He met her at the front of his Jeep and looked down at her beautiful blue eyes.

             
“You ready for this, babe?”

             
“More ready than I ever will be.”

             
He took her hand in his and led her into the house. Almost everyone was already drunk and having a good time. Jake was confused about how all the guys got to the party before him but then again he was kissing Lexi out in the parking lot for a little bit.

He went
to the back of the house, out to the patio where he knew he could find Mason and Brooke. On their way back he made sure to grab two beers from the fridge.

             
A drunk freshman stopped them and said, “Jake, you were the fucking man tonight.”

             
“Thanks.” Jake said as a whiff of the freshman’s intoxicated breath smacked Jake right in the face. “Maybe you should lay off the beers for a little bit.”

             
The freshman didn’t acknowledge Jake instead he was eyeing Lexi which was starting to make Jake’s blood boil.

             
“What do we have here?” The freshman started toward Lexi and Jake couldn’t take it any longer, the guy needed to be taught to look a girl in the eyes, not her breasts. Jake pinned the freshman up against the wall with his forearm resting against his neck.

             
Lexi screeched and put her hands over her mouth. “Don’t you dare look at her like that. You hear me?” Jake tightened his grip and the freshman nodded his head. Jake let him go and said, “Call a taxi and get back to the dorm before I let coach know you are a drunken idiot, he will have you running fifties until your legs fall off.” The freshman nodded and scurried away like a dog with his tail between his legs.

             
He turned to see if Lexi was alright. “You ok, baby?”

             
She had her fists on her waist. “Was that necessary?”

             
“Yea, he was eyeing you like you were a piece of meat he was about to bite into.”

             
“I can handle my own Jake. I don’t need you slamming poor freshmen against the wall for me.”

             
Jake could tell she was mad at him but he didn’t care, he would do it again. That was what he was there for, to protect her. He wasn’t going to let some drunken idiot go up to her and stare at her like she was his personal prize to look at.

             
Jake grabbed Lexi’s hands. “I’m sorry that I stepped in, I know you can handle yourself but I want to take care of you.”

             
Jake saw understanding in Lexi’s eyes but she still tried to sound tough. “Fine, but for God’s sakes, don’t take it out on freshmen. You practically made the poor guy pee his pants.”

             
Jake chuckled and brought Lexi into his embrace. “Well that taught him to stare at my woman.”

             
“We’re back at that? You’re woman?”

             
Jake kissed the top of her head. “Like it or not babe, you’re mine now. Once you kissed me, you signed up to be stuck with me.”

             
“That was a pity kiss.” She said while playing with his shirt collar.