Fair Catch (Love and Sports Series) (34 page)

             
“Listen, I’m sorry if what I said offended you.” Wow an apology, Lexi never thought she would ever hear such a thing come out of her coach’s mouth. “But I care about you and I want to see you reach your potential and shacking up with a guy right out of college is not meeting your potential. You are smart and a leader, you need to take those traits and make something of yourself. Don’t sit in someone else’s shadow.”

             
Lexi was about to explode. She was so angry her entire body felt like it was being attacked by fire ants. She was itchy, fidgety and ready to pop her coach in the mouth. She took a deep breath and said, “I’m so sick of people telling me to not live in someone else’s shadow. What is so wrong with wanting to be in a relationship with someone and supporting them while they accomplish their dreams?”

             
“There is nothing wrong with that, but what about your dreams Lexi? What do you want?”

             
Lexi opened her mouth to answer but nothing came out because she couldn’t think of what her dreams were. All she ever wanted was to play softball at one of the highest levels and since softball was no longer an Olympic sport, college was as far as she was going to go. She had no other goals or dreams.

             
How pathetic. Lexi shook her head in disappointment. She was ashamed of herself for not wanting anything for herself. What if she never fell in love with Jake? What would she be doing? Would she be heading back home to a broken family? Lexi felt tears starting to well up in her eyes and she took deep breaths to hold them at bay. She didn’t want to cry in front of her coach.

             
Deep green eyes, a sculpted jawline and an adorable chin cleft came into her mind making her feel instantly at ease. Thank God for Jake, she thought. If it wasn’t for him she would have nowhere to go, she would be nothing. At least with Jake she was a part of something, something big. She wasn’t living in his shadow like everyone said, no she was his main source of support. She took great pride in being his number one fan.

             
“Lexi? Are you going to answer me?”

             
Lexi put her brave face on and turned toward her coach. “Please tell Texas thank you for the opportunity but I already have committed myself to Jake. I’m sorry if that’s not what you want to hear coach, but it’s what I want.”

             
With that she left her coach and went back to her seat on the bus. Once Lexi sat down she watched her coach bury her head in her hands and rub out the tension that must have built up during their conversation.

             
Lexi tore her gaze away from the disappointment she instilled in her coach and checked her phone. She had a text message from Jake.

Jake: Meet you at your place, baby. I love you and can’t wait to see your fine ass.

              Lexi grinned and sent a quick text message back to him to let him know she would see him soon. Why on earth would she give up such a sweet man for a job that was so uncertain? She was doing the right thing. She and Jake were going to have a fantastic life together and they were going to show everyone how wrong they were.

                                                        ***

              Jake opened the door to Lexi’s apartment and watched his little blonde goddess run up to him and throw herself into his arms. He wrapped himself around her, grabbed her bag with his spare hand and dragged her in the apartment. He plastered her against the closed door and took ahold of her lips. She was so soft and sweet, he couldn’t get enough of her. She weaved her hands through his hair and opened her mouth to him so he could explore the sweetest thing he had ever laid his tongue on. He would never get enough of her.

             
She pressed her body against his and moaned quietly into his mouth. He felt himself go instantly hard and was about to pull her shirt off when she separated their embrace. She looked up at him with water filled eyes. He cupped her face and gently stroked her jaw with his thumbs.

             
“Hey, what’s wrong?” She shook her head and laid her forehead on his chest. He brought her chin up with his hand and asked again. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

             
She let out a sigh. “I just missed you.”

             
“I missed you, too.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in even closer. “That can’t be why you’re going to cry though. Tell me.” He led her to the couch where he sat down and pulled her onto his lap. She snuggled in close, causing his heart to melt.

             
“I just had a rough conversation with coach on the way home from the airport. She was mad that I turned down a job to be with you.”

             
Job? When did that happen? Jake had to shake his head from confusion.

“Wait, what?”

              “Texas University offered me a coaching job but I said I didn’t want it because I was going to be with you. Coach didn’t agree with that decision and gave me a hard time. When I saw you at the door just now it just brought that conversation back to mind.”

             
Jake didn’t know what to say. She turned down a job to be with him. He never even thought of Lexi getting a job, he just assumed he would support her. He didn’t really want her working anyway, he wanted her to be able to relax and enjoy herself.

             
“Do you want a job?” Jake asked a little hesitant to hear the answer.

             
She looked at him. “Well, I guess wherever you end up I’ll try to find something.”

             
“But do you want to work? You know you don’t have to.”

             
“Jake, I need a job how else am I going to afford anything.”

             
Jake laughed at the absurdity of her comment. “Babe, I’ll have plenty of money to cover whatever you need.”

             
She was genuinely shocked by his statement which made him love her even more. She wasn’t expecting to be supported by him like any other woman would have. She actually thought she was going to get a job so she could earn her keep. He laughed again.

             
“I’m not just going to be a freeloader.” She crossed her arms in defiance.

             
“You’re not a freeloader, you’re my girlfriend and I want to support you. I don’t want you to have to work. I want you at my side, cheering me on and visiting me while I’m on the road. Now how are you going to do that if you’re working a nine to five job? No, you’re all mine, my personal assistant.”

             
Lexi smiled and lined his jaw with her finger. “And what exactly are the job requirements as your personal assistant?”

             
Jake looked up to the ceiling and thought about her question for a second before answering. “Well, I guess you would be required to sleep naked, with me of course, provide me pleasure when I need it and allow me to touch you whenever I need to. Of course, the occasional shared shower and rub down would be necessary.”

             
She playfully swatted his chest and got off his lap. “You’re disgusting. I’m not going to be your sex slave.”

             
“I didn’t say anything about sex.” He said with a grin.

             
She shot him a look that said “Nice try buddy.”

             
“Can I at least get the sleeping naked thing?”

             
Undressing, she ripped off her shirt and pants, exposing her cute ass and amazing breasts and walked toward the bathroom. “I’ll give you occasional shared showers which starts now so you better cash in.”

             
As he chased her into the bathroom, he thought about how grateful he was that they were both on the same page when it came to their future and she wasn’t getting swayed by her overbearing coach. If Lexi ever changed her mind about what their plans for after graduation, Jake wouldn’t know what to do. He had the ring all picked out for her and was already planning how he was going to propose. Everything just needed to go as planned so he could secure the future he never knew he wanted but knew now he couldn’t live without.

                                                        ***

              Lexi woke up to knocking on her bedroom door. She lifted her head and looked over at Jake who was sound asleep. She hated how he was such a heavy sleeper but she loved how he looked when he was sleeping. His jaw was lined with some morning stubble and his hair was all askew in a bad boy kind of way. His bare chest was screaming for her to be touched but instead she reluctantly got out of bed to answer her door. She threw her robe on so she didn’t flash whoever was asking for entrance and opened the door. Margo stood in the doorway, her hair half in a ponytail half not and she had sleepy eyes.

             
“You have a visitor.” Came a groggily morning voice.

             
Over Margo’s shoulder, Lexi saw her mother sitting on the couch. Panic instantly set in and Lexi didn’t know what to do.

             
She leaned into Margo and asked, “What is she doing here, how did she get in?”

             
Margo leaned in ever further. “I was making coffee and she knocked on the front door. I thought it was ok to let her in since she is your mother. Now stop being ridiculous and go give her a hug, she looks good.”

             
Margo was right, her mom did look good. Lexi tightened her robe and packed on the courage she needed to face her mother. It’s not that she didn’t want to see her mom it was she didn’t want to see her mom if she decided to go back to her dad. Lexi couldn’t handle it if her mom was here to tell her she was back with her dad. Also she wasn’t quite ready for her mom to meet Jake.

             
“Hey Mom, what a surprise. What are you doing here?”

             
“Can’t I come to see my daughter without being questioned?” She pulled Lexi into a hug and held on longer than usual.

             
“You look good mom, have you lost weight?”

             
Her mom did a little spin in the middle of the room while plastering a big smile on her face. “I’ve lost fifteen pounds and counting, thank you for noticing.”

             
“Wow, that’s great.” There was an awkward moment of silence between them because Lexi wanted to ask what she was really doing here but couldn’t muster the courage. She wanted to know if her mom was going back to her dad. Instead of being a grown up, Lexi just looked down at the floor and played with the carpet with her foot.

             
“I’m not going back to him.” As if her mom could read Lexi’s mind. Lexi shot her head straight up to look at her mom. She was completely genuine with her statement which made Lexi want to jump for joy.

             
“You sure, Mom?”

             
Her mom nodded. “Yes, I came here to celebrate.”

             
“Celebrate what?” The question came from a low sexy male voice. Both Lexi and her mom turned around to see Jake bare chested, wearing a pair of sweats and rubbing his eyes. Lexi turned to face her mom who looked as startled as a mother could be when they saw an almost naked man walk out of their daughter’s bedroom in the morning.

             
Completely oblivious for a second, Jake finally took in the situation and processed who Lexi’s early morning visitor was. He smiled, walked over to Lexi and wrapped an arm around her waist while holding out his other hand.

             
“You must be Mrs. Knox. Now I know where Lexi gets her good looks.”

             
Lexi’s mom blushed, actually blushed and shook Jake’s hand. “Please call me Maria and you are?”

             
Hurt flashed through Jake’s face but he quickly recovered. “I’m Jake Taylor and awfully fond of your daughter here.” He gave her a gentle squeeze. Lexi’s mom looked at her with confusion and slight disapproval. Lexi could tell she didn’t quite approve because her mom always had a crease between her eyes when she wasn’t on the same boat as Lexi.  Completely uncomfortable, Lexi shifted in place trying to avoid her mom’s gaze.

             
“Nice to meet you, Jake.”

             
The air was much too tense for Lexi’s liking, so she tried to break the tension by bringing the conversation back to why her mom was in her apartment. She cleared her throat. “So mom, what are we celebrating?”

             
Her mom looked between the two of them and grabbed her purse that was on the coach. “I can see that I interrupted something here, I can come back later when you two are more…decent.”

             
Lexi had never felt more embarrassed in her life. “Mom, please don’t go. Uh Jake was just getting ready to leave.” She elbowed him in the ribs and said, “Weren’t you?”