Spring Training (12 page)

Aaron couldn’t say why it was so important to him to reconnect with her. He’d only really known her for a couple of days, but he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind since then.

“Oh there you are! Hey! You brought Alex? Oh, man, why didn’t you tell me he was coming? No wonder you’re staying at a hotel.”

Alex? He’s here?

“I’m surprised, all right.
Sure
I’m glad to see him.” He pulled out the ‘sure’ sarcastically. “I just hate that you love him more than me.”

What the
fuck
?

“I know, I know, love is like a flame, yada, yada. Hey, I’ve gotta go. I’ll meet you after. Come to the apartment.”

No, no.

She apparently argued against that too. “Okay, dinner. How about Seifert’s? Go get a table, and I’ll get there as soon as I can. Wish me luck. Bye.”

Aaron was stunned. Teri had brought Alex here? And she loved him? He went cold. Maybe the guy
had
already been in her life prior to their meeting, even though Emery hadn’t known about it. After all, he hadn’t known about Teri’s brief interlude with Aaron. How long ago did they get together?

He was burning with questions, but wasn’t sure how to ask Emery what he needed to know without giving away his interest. Fortunately, Emery was his usual chatty self.

“Can you believe Ma brought that loser along without telling me first? I thought it was weird that she said she’d stay at a hotel this time. For a while, I was afraid that maybe you guys didn’t get along last time or something. She told you about him when she was here, right?”

His memory of their time together was taking a beating, along with his pride. He didn’t really want to hear more, but Aaron didn’t even have to respond and Emery forged ahead.

“Of course she did, she’s always going on and on about him. Fucker. They’re really tight. Well, we are too, we have the baseball thing. But he’s more like her, kinda serious and studious. Into art and history and all that shit. He’s always dragging her out to galleries and museums.”

Aaron felt ill, and he was definitely done listening. He hadn’t even known she was into that kind of stuff, but then again, they hadn’t done much talking. He walked away, but found himself zeroing in on her in the stands, and sure enough, the tall, dark-haired man next to her had his arm possessively around her shoulders. As Emery had called him—
fucker.

The game was a close one, and Aaron was thankful for the distraction. Emery played a fantastic game, going three for four at the plate and having a spotless defensive game at third. Every time Aaron looked up into the stands, Teri and the guy were hanging all over each other, so he’d finally stopped looking.

What the hell was he doing anyway? He should’ve headed back to the team weeks ago.

Yeah, you were just hanging around waiting for Teri to show back up.

Well, that’s obviously not going to happen anymore.

Time to get back home and get back to work. Rehab was going fine here, but he needed the atmosphere of his own team to motivate him. He approached Coach. “Hey, you got a sec?”

* * * *

Teri watched as Aaron gave her—she thought—yet another cold look. Maybe it was just conceit that made her think she was the object of his interest among the thousands of people in the stands. Or maybe wishful thinking. She sighed.

Oh, come on,
her inner critic scolded.
He made it very clear that he had lost interest in you when he told you not to bother to come to his room that night. Must’ve been the memory of the very clear view of your old lady body in the shower.

That brutal experience didn’t help her get over her crazy hot, immediate and lasting attachment to him. Time and distance hadn’t done the trick either. The past month had been the longest she’d ever gone without seeing Emery in his entire life. She’d justified it to herself and to him by telling him the partial truth, that he needed to learn to do things for himself and stand on his own two feet without her to bail him out. He had really come around and had earned a spot on the roster of the club’s AAA team, only one step below the Majors.

Without the need to avoid Aaron, Teri didn’t know if she would have thought to separate herself from Emery like that, so she had him to thank for helping to straighten Emery out, in more ways than one. Her need to see Emery had finally beaten out her pride, and she’d planned this trip, hoping to get the chance to get Aaron out of her system somehow.

Teri sighed again, and Alex rolled his eyes. “You sound like you’ve sprung a leak.”

She shot an irritated glance up at him.

“Seriously, Ma. Just chill. You’ll get a chance to be with him soon. I know you’ve really missed him. It hard to be apart from someone you love.”

For a minute, she froze, her brain translating that to mean Aaron. Because she
had
really missed him.

But do I love him? Could I have fallen that fast?

“Mom?” Alex gave her a concerned look. “You okay?”

“I’m okay, Alex, just thinking.”

I have to see him, then I’ll know
.

As soon as the game was over, she was on the phone to Emery. “Hey, hon, why don’t you ask Aaron to come along to dinner with us?”

“I already tried. He said he just wants to go home.”

She thought fast. “I’m sure that Alex wants to see where you’re living.” Alex gave her a startled look. “We’ll meet you over there instead of at the restaurant. But, uh, don’t tell Aaron we’re coming. I want to surprise him.”

Alex’s enquiring look had turned penetrating and suspicious and, judging from the silence on the other end of the line, she would bet a million bucks Emery had an identical expression on his face. Really, it would’ve been one of those comical ‘twin moments’, but for the adrenaline racing through her system at the thought of seeing Aaron face-to-face again.

“Sure, Ma. Sounds good. See you there.” Emery’s voice was unnatural, so Aaron must’ve been standing right there. Her heart beat fast as she said goodbye.

As soon as she hung up, she held a hand up. “Don’t even start, Alex.”

“Uh-huh.”

Chapter Fourteen

Teri felt like she was about to jump out of her skin as they finally pulled into the condo complex to find both Emery’s and Aaron’s vehicles there ahead of them. Alex was driving, silent except for glances that spoke volumes. He pulled in near Em’s truck and parked, turned resolutely toward her, with an expression she knew brooked no argument.

“Okay, Ma. I get that you don’t want to talk about this, but there’s no way I’m walking in there completely blind. Give me something to go on here.”

Teri took a deep breath. Might as well just tell the truth. “I think I might’ve fallen for Em’s roommate.”

With that, she got out of the car and, before she could change her mind, headed toward Aaron’s building. She heard the murmur of Alex’s voice behind her and she stopped at the bottom of the stairs, turning in time to see him putting his phone in his pocket. It only took Alex’s long legs a few more moments to catch up with her, but he simply gave her a hard side-hug and walked up the stairs with her to the door, trailing her inside when Emery let them in.

“Hey.” Her normally chatty son was seemingly at a loss for words, eyeing her in disbelief. Alex had definitely given him the low-down on her bombshell.

She gave him a hug. “Great game, Emery. I’m so impressed. You’ve really been working hard, haven’t you?”

Emery shrugged and walked over to greet Alex.

“Hey, bro, nice game.” Alex ruffled Emery’s hair. “Jeez, it’s going to be as long as Ma’s soon.”

“Fuck off.” Emery finally smiled, gave in to a rough hug then turned with Alex as they heard a voice behind them.

“Did I hear a knock…?” Aaron trailed off and came to a dead stop at the sight of three of them.

Teri’s pulse spiked as she drank in the sight of him, just out of the shower with his hair finger-combed and few stray droplets of water still trickling down his neck. He looked delicious, and memories of their shower, their other times together and the promise of more, flooded through her.

Aaron’s expression flashed from anger to confusion as his eyes flicked back and forth between the boys and Teri. “This is Alex? Alex is your son?” He sounded surprised, but there was a deeper emotion there she couldn’t put her finger on.

“Yeah, he’s my other half, literally,” Emery joked.

Alex elbowed him. “You mean your better half.”

Em shoved back. “Ha, just because you shoved your way out first—”

A brief scuffle for supremacy broke out, the boys’ traditional way of saying hello, but Teri and Aaron only had eyes for one another.

“Uh, we’re going out.”

“Don’t wait up.”

The words barely penetrated, but the slamming of the door brought Teri to her senses at last. Realizing the boys had gone, she finally found her voice.

“Hi, Aaron.”

“Hi.”

She searched his face for something, anything to give her a hint as to what he was thinking.
C’mon, girl, just put it out there.
“I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” He took three big strides, then she was in his arms, their lips coming together with a month’s worth of deprivation. She poured everything she was into making love to his mouth, showing him without words how she had dreamt of and hoped for this very thing.

She couldn’t get close enough and gave a frustrated hop. Aaron caught her ass in his hands as she wrapped her legs around him. Oh, shit.

She attempted to pull away, and he followed with his lips, swallowing part of her words. “Stop, your shoulder—”

“’S’fine, been rehabbing. Kiss me back.”

Teri moaned into his mouth as she obeyed and felt her world tilt around her as he whirled around and strode down the hall to his room, kicking the door closed behind them then deliberately lowering her to the bed and covering her with his welcome weight.

“Yes, yes,” she mumbled encouragement, as he slid his lips along her cheek to the hollow of her jaw.

His voice reflected his need, gruff and hoarse. “We need to talk.”

“Talk later, this now.”

“No.” He reluctantly pulled away to half-recline next to her, reaching behind his neck to gently remove her hands. “You have to know something before this happens.
If
it’s going to happen.”

It was like a dash of cold water, the way he sounded as if he was confessing something. She stopped fighting to hold him and gave him her full attention, patting his chest with her hand. “Okay, Aaron. What is it?” She was proud of how reasonable her voice sounded, considering all the emotions whirling about inside her.

His green eyes pinned hers. “I’m going back to my team this week.”

Teri was torn. On the one hand, he was moving away, but on the other…

“That’s great news. Your shoulder must be doing better.”

He stared at her. “It is. Teri”—he frowned as he clarified—“you know that means I’ll be leaving here. Within the next couple days.”

Her heart swelled at his uncertain look. She continued to stroke his pecs, tracing the swells of muscle before gently smoothing over his troublesome shoulder.

“I know. And apparently you’ve forgotten I don’t have a problem traveling.” She arched her brow. “Especially when it comes to baseball.”

“Mmm.” Aaron tackled her and rolled them over so she was astride him. “You did that thing with your eyebrow again. Why does that turn me on?”

“Oh, only my eyebrow turns you on?” Teri rolled her hips against his, delighted by the hard ridge she rode.

“
Even
your eyebrow turns me on. Every part of you does.” He pulled her down into a hug, nuzzling her neck. “You are the sexiest, most loving woman I’ve ever known. I’m so glad you’re—” Aaron stopped and froze.

Teri rose up just a bit to meet his gaze. “I’m yours. If you want me,” she finished for him, deciding to go for broke. “I can’t believe I fell in love with you in two days.”

Her world tilted again as he reversed their positions with stunning speed. “Tell me again,” he demanded.

She couldn’t dream of playing coy. “I love you, Aaron.”

“Oh, God, Ter, I love you too. I was going crazy trying to figure out what went wrong and I couldn’t stop thinking about you. It’s been a hellish month. Don’t you ever keep us apart that long again,” he added fiercely.

“Hey,” she began to protest. It wasn’t just her fault.

But he went on with barely a pause, “And I won’t do anything stupid like imply I don’t want you in my bed. God, I was an idiot that night. What was I thinking?” he bemoaned. “We could’ve has this”—he thrust against her—“for the past month. Damn it.”

“Let’s not waste any more time. Strip.” She gave him a push and they both got naked in record time, Aaron landing atop her again. God! The feeling of his warm, bare skin anchoring her to the mattress was heavenly. Then they were kissing again, rocking together, needing to connect on the most basic level, to sate their need, but also to reassure and build a foundation.

He nibbled and licked his way down her body, concentrating for a long while on her breasts, which seemed to have a direct connection to her clit, every tug and suck translating itself into a growing need for him to get down there, damn it, and soon. As if reading her mind, he slid lower and slowly, deliberately parted her folds, running his tongue through her wetness then upwards. Teri watched as he spread her own moisture with his tongue, laving her clit along each side repeatedly then taking it in a hard suck, which had her throwing her head back helplessly. He punctuated the suction with a flick of his tongue, then the next draw had her coming. With his hands gripping her hips, she surrendered to the waves crashing over her.

“I have to get inside you.” Aaron groaned, then crawled up to cradle her head in his hands. “Do we have to worry about birth control? I’m clean—I haven’t been with anyone since before my injury last fall. But I have condoms if you want to wait for proof.”

Teri touched his face as warmth spread through her, loving his serious concern, but had no intention of having anything between them this first time.