Pitching to Win (Over the Fence #1) (3 page)

O
k
, so I caved. But in my defense Owen was standing there with sweat glistening down his drool-worthy arms. They look like steel encased in tan smooth leather. And his shirt was soaked through, so much that I could see it clinging to a six…. no, make that eight, pack. It just wasn’t a fair fight.

And he had this slightly panicked look on his perfect face when he mentioned his father. All of my lady parts were yelling at me, drowning out my common sense. So I agreed to be his candy-striper. But I still had my head about me.

He didn’t have to realize that I’d crumbled with just a glance at his very tight stomach. I was mainly trying to deny how heat had pooled in my belly when I was flush against his perfect body. My lady parts had been entombed about a year ago, never being heard from again, and I couldn’t even lie to myself that I wanted the sensations down south to stop.

And he was making it clear from the get go what he wanted, not leading me on with promise of a forever, or even a right now. No hope, no chance at getting hurt, right?

We walk through the front door of my house, and I’m just waiting for the comments about how small my moderately sized abode is compared to his parent’s estate. But when I sneak a glance to my right, Owen’s face is neutral, as if he doesn’t even notice.

“You can sit there while I grab some supplies,” I motion to the kitchen table and make my way to the designated medicine cabinet in our kitchen. I grab hydrogen peroxide, cotton balls, gauze and bandages. Heading for the table, I look up and halt. And suddenly there is hydrogen peroxide running into my shoe.

Sitting backwards on a chair, with his big body slumped over the rungs, is Owen Axel. Completely shirtless. In my kitchen. I think my mouth is hanging open but I can’t seem to shut it.

“I….um...oh shit,” I mumble as I feel my sneaker becoming immersed in peroxide. Quickly kneeling down and scooping up my supplies, I make quick work grabbing at the items until a hand stills my arm, slowly taking them from me.

Cursing the gods for putting this delicious playboy in my path, I painstakingly take my time looking up.

I first make eye-contact with the indented muscles trailing down his stomach and defining his hips. Those crevices can only lead to one place, a place I’ve only been once before with one other boy.

Next, my stare roams over ripple after ripple of stomach muscle. My hand is burning to reach out and touch the skin there, but I restrain myself. Owen is built, not like a college-age boy, but more like a man. He is, seriously, one of the hottest males I’ve ever seen.

Finally I make it up to his eyes, which are now capturing mine with so much heat and amusement that I feel I might just melt into the floor and become a Minka/hydrogen-peroxide pool.

“You going to nurse me back to health or just oggle me?” Owen drawls, looking down at me with a shit-eating grin on his face.

With a ticked off snort, I amble to my feet and motion for him to sit. Starting on his back, I cover a cotton ball in solution and wipe at the nicks marring his sides and backs of his arms.

“Fuck!” He flinches as the dampness stings him.

“Oh what? The big bad baseball star can’t handle a little sting?”

“I’ll have you know I once pitched a perfect six innings with a broken thumb. So don’t talk to me about pain.”

“Fine, we can talk about stupidity. Because that seems severely stupid.” I laugh as he jumps under the sting of the cotton ball as I move to his calves.

He really does have the perfect body. He is chiseled but lean all-in-one. He has just the right amount of lankiness that I like, but muscles that make it look as if he could throw me over his shoulder and take me to his cave. My insides quiver at the thought of what he could do to me.

“Well as much as this stings like a bitch, thanks for taking care of me. You’re actually pretty good at the whole mending my wounds thing.” He flashes those ocean-colored orbs up at me from under his golden brown lashes and I can feel tingles from the balls of my feet all the way to the base of my neck.

“I’ve actually considered pursuing nursing when I start applying for college.” Wow, I really must have been mesmerized by his eyes, because I haven’t told anyone that little tidbit yet. And it surprises me even more that I don’t feel the least bit uncomfortable sharing that very personal choice with Owen.

“That’s cool,” he nods, not catching on that I’ve just given him more of myself than I ever intended to. “Any reason why? Are you like, one of those people who is really good at science and math?”

To be honest, I enjoy english and history much more, but that doesn’t mean I don’t excel in my other subjects. No, nursing is a choice that came to me after a quick trip to the ER in sixth grade. I’d cut my hand on a machine in shop class, and the school nurse had sent me to the hospital to get it professionally stitched up.

My father was working, I had a sneaking suspicion he couldn’t handle entering the hospital. A nurse named Beth sat with me for four hours, helping me through the pain. I want to be able to give others that kind of comfort. But I’m not about to tell Mr. MVP Pitcher all that.

“I’m actually like, one of those people who is really good at school in general. That’s what us mere mortals must do to get by when all-star athletic skills are not bestowed upon us.” And my sarcasm is back to save the day.

I finish bandaging the last cut and walk towards the cabinets to replace the supplies on their shelves.

I feel him before I hear him behind me. Electricity zips up my spine as he makes contact with my skin, his hand brushing my hair over my shoulder, giving him a better view of my back and neck.

“Would you like me to show you just what kind of skills I do possess?” Owen breathes against my skin. His lips are so close to the curve in my neck that my flesh physically aches. “I absolutely love your sarcastic mouth. Its refreshing. But I think I’m going to love shutting you up a lot more.”

He’s running just his pointer finger up and down the inside of my right arm that now hangs limply at my side. My other hand grips the counter for support, I didn’t think I’d be able to stand without it. We stand there, his naked chest so close to my back, his breath running goosebumps down my neck.

The only point of contact is that one finger, stroking slowly up and down my skin, sending sizzling jolts straight to my core. I have never been more turned on in my life. What the hell is he doing to me?

My breaths come in short puffs, I was nearly panting with...what? Anticipation, fear, desire? All of the above? The whole time I keep my gaze straight on, trying to be as still as possible yet willing him to make the next move. My head wages war with my body to put an end to this. After what feels like years, I hear the tiniest shift, and then warm, rough lips plant a soft kiss on the skin under my ear.

I go crazy. My skin feels like its on fire. I am burning up from the inside out. He holds there for a few seconds and I let out a soft moan. As soon as the sound leaves my lips, Owen whirls me around and pins me to the counter, dipping his head and looking me straight in the eye, almost asking for permission, before he swoops in to capture my lips.

I’m powerless. At first I just stand there, letting him feast on my mouth and run his big hands up and down my body. There are so many sensations, emotions that I had never felt before, coursing through me.

He kisses me like a starving animal, and I am only too happy to stand there and be his prey. Lust, hot and raw claws through my core and up to my breasts, where I can feel my nipples tighten into hard beads.

When his tongue pushes through my teeth and laps at the roof and sides of my mouth, I ignite. He’d lit the match and set off the fireworks that had laid dormant in my body for so long.

Fisting my hand in his soft brown locks, I pull his head to allow myself a better angle. I slide my lips over his and match him breath for breath. I want to taste each inch of his rough mouth, lips and teeth. I want to be able to replay this moment over and over in my head with exacting precision.

He smells like the woods after a thunderstorm, musky and damp. I hadn’t kissed many boys, okay, I’d only ever done this with one other person, but I knew as I watched him kiss Allison all those years ago that kissing Owen wouldn’t be normal.

He knew what he wanted and he was taking it, and I was taking what I wanted right back. My body was acting of its own accord, as if telling my brain to take a hike.

I was taking Chloe’s advice. Owen Axel didn’t want me to be his girlfriend. He wasn’t making romantic gestures to try and get me into bed. He’d been honest in his actions and insinuations from the start.

And if he wanted me for my body, I could want his right back. I would have to get back on that horse, literally, someday. I deserved this. So when Owen grabs my hips and ass, hauling me up off the ground, I wrap my legs around his waist and surrender my body.

I
know
I’m taking this way too fast. I should slow down, take my time. Or better yet, I shouldn’t have even kissed her. Minka is the type of girl I should take out on a date, get to know, before I attack her like some horny gorilla.

But I couldn’t help it. She was like a bone being dangled in front of me. All I wanted to do was have her. I couldn’t get my head straight.

She didn’t resist when I’d begun to seduce her, more as a Hail Mary pass than anything. But she’d leaned into my touch. And when I heard that sexy little sigh bubble up from her throat, I was a goner.

I blacked out, went blind. I couldn’t touch her, everywhere, fast enough. There was so much I wanted to taste and feel and suck and lick. I was a parched man and Minka was water.

So here we are, sprawled on the couch with her writhing under me as I bite gently into her sexy, slim neck. Her skin feels like silk wrapped in velvet. I wish I had more hands so I could cover every inch of this beautiful girl.

Her legs are wrapped like a vise around my waist, bringing my engorged dick to rest on what it now knows must be the happiest place on earth. I can barely hear her hot groans because the blood pulsing through my veins is drowning out all sound. I think my heart is about to explode, and I know I should stop, but I can’t seem to. My hands have minds of their own as they skate over her hot flesh and reach under the hem of her shirt.

My fingers explore the tight, quivering skin of her stomach as they move upward, and I think I may just cum in my pants before she ever blesses me with the pleasure of making it all the way to her tits.

Focus, Owen, this isn’t about you right now. I want to see Minka come undone, its the thought-up image that has been playing on a loop in my head for the past 24 hours. Bringing my head up, I let my heated stare roam her face, and dammit this was a bad idea if I wasn’t trying to bust yet.

Her eyes are the color of deep melted chocolate, and hooded as if her body can’t handle the pleasure. Her hair is a mess of curls haloed around her head, and quiet moans are coming from her perfectly shaped mouth that is swollen a cherry red from my kisses.

I keep my gaze on her as I slowly reach my hand up over one of her breasts and gently roll her nipple between my thumb and forefinger. Her head snaps back into the couch cushion, and her mouth forms a silent O. She’s so responsive, and its all I can do to hold back from tearing her clothes off and sinking into her.

I alternate between her breasts, slowly rolling the nipples and bringing them to stiff peaks. I am getting even harder, though I didn’t think it was possible, but apparently this girl can get me stiffer than a steel beam.

Minka’s making mewling sounds when I finally remove my hand from her top and venture further down her body. I don’t think she’s paying attention until my hand breaches the band on her tight spandex running shorts and comes to rest over her underwear, directly on top of where her clit is pulsing beneath my fingers. She is staring at me wide-eyed, and I wink at her before rubbing right where I know she needs it.

Her hips rear off the cushions and she lets out a throaty yelp, and my cock practically tears open my shorts with how bad it wants to replace my hand right now. I keep my pace, slow but steady and with just enough pressure, and I can see Minka’s eyes rolling back in her head.

“Tell me Minka, has a guy ever made you cum before?”

Her eyes flash with raw desire, and she pushes into my fingers as I pose the dirty question, and begins to speed up the pace. She’s riding my hand and its the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. She is completely letting go, and its adding to my ego that she’s letting me see it.

Her pace is frantic now as she grips my shoulders, grinding my hand harder into her sweet mound. With my free hand, I thrust into her shirt and tweak her hardened bud, an action that causes nonsensical moans to burst from her lips. I continue my perusal of her body as she gets more and more worked up.

Finally she stills in my arms, her eyes drawn together in an almost painful expression, before letting out the sexiest fucking sound I’ve ever heard. I stroke her through her underwear as she rides out her orgasm, watching her sweet face tighten and then melt into bliss.

I change my position on top of her, ready to sink so deep into her that she forgets her own name, when I realize just what I’ve forgotten.

Condoms, fuck. I may be a cocky son of a bitch sometimes, but not a big enough one that I bring protection just in case I come across a willing female during my workouts.

Looking down at her, all I can think of is getting myself as close as humanly possible to every part of her. I knew I had to ask, no matter how presumptuous.

“Listen sweetheart, that was one of the hottest things I’ve ever experienced in my whole life, and I want nothing more than to fuck you into next Tuesday. But, since I didn’t anticipate the afternoon taking this kind of turn, I don’t have any condoms on me. Do you—”

Minka’s whole body turned to ice before I could even get the rest of my question out. She stiffened underneath me and her eyes went wide with what I could swear was fear. What the fuck? With the speed of a panther, she is up and off the sofa, adjusting her clothes and hair while giving me a look that could burn the Ozone.

“You need to leave. I should have never let things get as far as they did…..but, you have to go.”

Wait what? I stand there, baffled. Her reaction took a minute to sink in.

Maybe she didn’t want to take it to that next level. Duh, you horny idiot, you had all but attacked this girl you barely know. I wanted to smack myself in the head. “Shit, I’m sorry, Minka. I shouldn’t have assumed you were on the same train of thought. Uhh…..we don’t have to have sex, let me just uh….stay. We can talk…..or I’ll uh...make you food.”
Smooth, bro.

“As if I’m going to try to let you charm your way more into my pants. I know your type, and I don’t want anything to do with it, get out,” She demands, throwing me the shirt I’d discarded earlier and practically pushing me to the door.

“I don’t get what's going on, did I hurt you?” Suddenly aware that this could be the problem, I do a quick inspection of her. She looks ok to me, better than ok. Her cheeks are flushed and glowing, and her hair floats wildly around her face, making it look like I’d just laid her down and had my way with her for hours. Fuck, she was perfect.

“Oh don’t give yourself so much credit, Axel.” She laughs off my question, but her movements are off.

She’s trying too hard to come off snarky. “Maybe I just didn’t like the skills you had to offer. Maybe I don’t feel like being the trophy you bring back to your friends. Or maybe, hey I bet this is a new one for you, I have values! Sorry to put the kibosh on your summer entertainment, but this won’t happen again.” She opens the door, pushing me out onto the front porch.

Anger simmers deep in my veins and begins spreading through my body like wildfire. Before she can slam the heavy oak slab in my face, I plant a hand in the middle and shoved hard, the door hitting the inside wall with a harsh thud. I crowd into her space, my large body looming over hers, making her look small and helpless.

“It sure seemed like you were enjoying my skills, or do I need to remind you how hard you were riding my fingers? Keep lying to yourself honey, it’ll only make that need you try to smother grow stronger. I’ll just leave happily knowing that tonight, when you’re writhing around restlessly in bed, its the feeling of my hands you won’t be able to get off of your skin.”

And with that, I grab the door handle, slamming it shut so hard behind me that it almost cracks the frame.