The Screw Ball (Indianapolis Lightning Book 3) Read online

  “He hasn’t said anything specific, but from the few comments he has made, I think he’s tired of the single life. He’s one of those guys that really wants to settle down and have a family, but it just hasn’t happened for him yet.”

  “Poor guy,” I pout on his behalf. “He’s such a nice guy and deserves to find a woman that will make him happy.”

  “Yeah,” Lucas agrees. “Maybe it will happen on this trip,” he says, pointing to where Matt is down at the water, talking to a woman and what looks to be her young son. From this distance, I’d say he’s probably five or so, based on his size, if I had to guess. I watch as Matt crouches down to the kid’s level, the smile that instantly fills his face is noticeable, even from this distance. The kid hands him his ball and Matt steps back some to toss it back to him. We both watch the interaction for a while longer. I almost feel like I’m snooping, so I pull my e-reader out of my beach bag. I get lost in my current smutty read for the next hour or so.

  “Want to take a walk?” Lucas asks, pulling me from my book.

  “Sure, let me just finish this chapter,” I tell him, wanting to know what happens.

  It only takes me a couple minutes to finish. I slide my device back into my bag, then slip into my sandals that I’d kicked off earlier. I put my cover up in my bag and sling it over my shoulder. “Can we stop at the room so I can go to the bathroom, first, and so I can drop this off? I don’t really want to carry it on our walk.”

  “Of course,” he says, leaning over to kiss me, then takes the bag from my shoulder and carries it for me. We walk up the beach hand-in-hand and straight to our room. After we both use the restroom quickly, I grab two of the water bottles from the mini fridge, downing one before we’re even walking back outside.

  We walk along the sand, away from the main part of the resort, allowing us to walk where there are less and less people the further down the beach we go. I’d never have imagined, six months ago, that I’d be walking along a beach like this with a man that I’m quickly falling in love with. “Stop here,” Lucas says, pulling me to be in front of him, the water and sun behind us. Being late in the afternoon, the sun has started to set and the colors it is creating are just breathtaking. He angles us just perfectly and snaps a picture of us.

  “Let me see,” I tell him as he turns the phone so I can see the image. I love it. The background, the way he’s holding me, the way he’s looking at me like I’m the most important thing around. It makes this growing connection feel so real and like it might be something.

  He kisses my cheek as we stay in this spot, turned now so we can look out over the water and watch the sun as it slowly sinks closer and closer to the water. “I could get used to watching this every night we’re here,” he tells me, tightening his hold on me as his chin rests on my shoulder.

  “Me too, it is just so peaceful.”

  We slowly start to head back towards the resort, stopping once we reach the beach area to look for Matt. We don’t see him, so we head back for our room to change and get ready for dinner.

  The resort has multiple options with both indoor and outdoor restaurants. Since it’s been such a laid-back day, we decide to just grab food at the outside bar again. They’ve got a live band setting up to play, so we snag a table and settle in for the evening.

  “Can I get you something to drink?” one of the servers asks as she stops at our table.

  “I’ll take a Corona,” Lucas tells her. “And I’ll have the raspberry cosmopolitan,” I tell her.

  “Right away,” she says before returning to the bar top to put in our order.

  As soon as she sets them down on our table, I snatch mine, taking a sip of the fruity drink. “All good?” she asks, watching me.

  “So good,” I tell her, taking another one before I set the glass down.

  “Just flag me down if you need anything else.”

  “Thanks, will do.”

  “You going to let me get you drunk tonight?” Lucas asks, his hand finding my exposed thigh.

  “Maybe, are you going to sex me up tonight if I’m drunk?” I ask, batting my eyelashes at him.

  “Red, I’ll sex you up anytime you want, all you’ve got to do is ask.” He smirks.

  “Hmmm, I like the sound of that,” I tell him as the music starts up.

  We finish off our dinner and two more rounds of drinks before we join the growing crowd as they dance around while the band plays cover hit after cover hit. A little bit of everything that’s on the radio, to please everyone’s tastes.

  We take a seat back at the table when the band takes a short break. Lucas had flagged down the server on our way over, so she takes our order for another round, plus two bottles of water. With the sun down, it is no longer hot, but still warm out, but add in the alcohol and it is still easy to get dehydrated.

  “I wonder where Matt wandered off to this evening,” I state, we haven’t seen him since we left the beach this afternoon.

  “No clue, but he’s a big boy and can take care of himself,” Lucas replies.

  “I know, I just hope he isn’t regretting coming with the two of us. We can be a bit nauseating,” I tease him. I love the fact that he’s comfortable being open with his feelings towards me around his friends and teammates. It makes me feel like that is how things would be if our relationship became public.

  The band strikes back up about ten minutes later, and we head back out onto the dance floor for a handful of songs.

  “You ready to turn in?” Lucas asks as we sway along to a slow song. He holds me tight, and I love this feeling of being in his arms.

  “Yeah, take me to bed,” I tell him before pushing up on my toes and kissing him.

  I follow behind him as he leads the way back to our room. Once inside, he makes sure the doors are locked and then his attention is on me where I’m sitting on the edge of the large bed.

  I track his every move as he closes the distance between the sliding glass door and the bed. He stops just inches in front of me, his button up shirt open and his abs exposed to me. The sun-kissed skin has my mouth watering as I think about the pleasure his glorious body can bring mine.

  “What do you want tonight?” he asks, hooking a finger under my chin and lifting my face up to look at him. “Slow and tender or fast and hard?” he asks, his eyes lighting up at his question.

  I bite my bottom lip as I think over it. I don’t miss how his eyes track the movement of my lip and I know that it drives him crazy, he’s only told me at least a dozen times.

  “Fast and hard the first time, then slow and tender later,” I tell him, knowing damn well that his rebound time is impressive and he’s always up for multiple rounds if I am.

  “That’s my girl,” he says. I watch as his shirt hits the floor, followed by his shorts and boxers, which leaves him naked in front of me. His cock is already hard and standing proud. Just seeing it has my mouth watering. I lean forward before he can make a move and lick the tip with my tongue before I suck him into my mouth. The velvety smoothness of his skin against my tongue has my panties wet in no time. I wrap my fingers around the base of his cock as I bob back and forth, taking him as deep as I can without choking.

  Lucas collects my hair, holding it out of my way as I suck his cock. I tug at his balls with my free hand, loving the moans and half-spoken curse words falling from his lips as I bring him pleasure. While sucking cock isn’t my favorite activity, I’ll gladly do it every once in a while, knowing that he gets such enjoyment from it.

  “Red,” he grits out, tapping my cheek. “I need you to stop, or else I’m going to come,” he says as he pulls back. I frown up at him once his cock is free from my mouth.

  Before I can say anything, his mouth captures mine in a searing kiss. His arm slips behind me and moves me up the bed, until I’m spread out in the center of it. He breaks the kiss, hovering over me as he takes his fill of me underneath him.

  He sits back on his haunches and unbuttons my shorts. I lift my hips, making it easier fo
r him to pull them and my wet panties down my hips and off my legs. While he’s doing that, I pull my shirt off, my bra coming off shortly after and all ending up in the pile on the floor, along with his clothes from earlier.

  “You are so fucking beautiful,” he says, his fingertips ghosting up my torso.

  Just as I surprised him with the blowjob, he shocks me when his mouth connects with my clit. The way his tongue circles it, then flicks the bundle of nerves, has my body arching off the bed. He slides two fingers inside, quickly finding my g-spot as his tongue never leaves my clit. It doesn’t take him long before I’m falling over the edge and my first orgasm is bringing me immense pleasure.

  In my hazy state, I somewhat comprehend that he slides up the bed, lying beside me as I recuperate from the intense orgasm. We’ve long since had the birth control talk and don’t always feel the need to reach for condoms.

  He must sense that I’m ready for more, as he rolls me under him and hooks my leg up over his hip. I tug his face down to my own, kissing him as he thrusts into me, filling me completely up.

  “Fuck,” he says against my lips. “You’re so tight tonight.” He slowly thrusts a few times, easing us into a faster pace for a few minutes. I tap against his chest and he slows, pulling from my body. I instantly miss the fullness that we just had, but I know that I’ll have that feeling back as soon as we switch positions. “What do you want?” he asks, and I push him to the edge of the bed. I roll onto my hands and knees, aligning myself on the side of the bed so he can enter me from behind. He does so, and thrusts in hard, filling me up. His thrust is hard enough, his balls smack forward and hit my already sensitive clit.

  “Yes!” I cry out. “More,” I tell him, as I can feel my orgasm building once again.

  With one hand on my hip and the other on my shoulder, he pounds into me. Every stroke of his cock has my body inching closer and closer to that epic release that it is building toward.

  “I need you there, Red,” he grits out, and I can feel his cock swelling inside me, his own release on the cusp. I reach down and circle my clit, adding the stimulation needed to have me cresting over the edge. I can’t keep myself up, and collapse onto the bed, Lucas still thrusting as I clamp around his cock like a vise. The feeling of his own orgasm hitting him is overwhelming, as he also collapses onto me and the bed.

  “Damn, Red. What did you just do to me?” he asks a few minutes later, still attempting to catch his breath. He’s pulled out of me, and rolled to the side of me, half on the bed and half off of it so he isn’t crushing me.

  “I could ask the same of you,” I tell him, running my fingers through his hair. I pull him in for a quick kiss, not caring that we’re both a sweaty mess.

  “I love you,” he says, the words so easily slipping from his lips. I still, not really sure if he meant to say them just now or if it is the orgasm talking.

  He watches me for my reaction, and I can’t help it, tears spring to my eyes as I pull him in tighter. “I mean it, Red. I love you,” he tells me again.

  “I love you, too,” I tell him as I softly cry into his neck.

  “Then, why the tears?” he asks, cradling my face as he pulls me back so he can look at me.

  “Because I don’t know why. You came out of nowhere, were a pain in my ass, then threw the biggest screw ball by being the world’s sweetest man when you swept me off my feet and showed me who the real Lucas Black was. Not the one that the press wanted people to believe you were.”

  “I told you I’d prove them all wrong. You just had to give me a chance.”

  “And I’ll admit that you were right, and I’m glad that I did just that,” I tell him honestly.

  “How about we go clean up and take a shower, see where the rest of the night leads us,” he suggests, his hand connecting with one of my ass cheeks as he gives it a squeeze. I love how comfortable I am with him.

  I roll over in bed, the sun is coming into the room around the corners of the curtains. My body is sore, but oh so worth it. Lucas’s stamina puts mine to shame. I don’t know how I’ll ever keep up with him.

  Much like at home, I reach for my phone. I stiffen at the number of notifications on my home screen. I quickly unlock my phone and sit up in bed. Once my phone is unlocked, I go to my texts, first, as I have a large number of those, mostly from Carly.

  Carly: Ummm not to alarm you but call me ASAP.

  Carly: Carmen, I know you’re on vacation, probably sexing it up with that sexy man of yours but CALL ME!

  Carly: Fine, just check social media. I’ll wait for you to come up for air to tell me what you want me to do.

  Carly: Seriously, how much sex can the two of you be having? Pictures of you two on the beach and on the dance floor from last night are EVERYWHERE. Hope you weren’t trying to keep this a secret after this trip.

  Carly: At least nothing bad is being said, everything so far has been positive, so that’s a plus!

  “Shit!” I say.

  “What’s wrong?” Lucas stirs next to me, rolling over to face me. He rubs his sleep-filled eyes before pushing up to sit with his back against the headboard. I can’t help but take in the scrape marks my nails left in his skin last night. Oops.

  “Well, we’re public now,” I tell him, turning my phone so he can see the string of texts from Carly.

  “And that’s a bad thing?” he asks, quirking his brow at me.

  “No, I just kind of figured we’d get to announce it on our own. I should have been thinking ahead that this place might be a private resort, but that doesn’t mean that we’ve got complete privacy.”

  He grabs his own phone from the nightstand, unlocking it and tapping on the screen a few times. “What are you doing?” I ask, just as my own phone pings in my hands. I look down and see that he’s tagged me on his Instagram and Twitter profiles. I open the notification and see that he’s posted the picture he took of us last night while we were on the walk. The one that I instantly fell in love with.

  I read over the caption twice, the words melting my heart just a little bit more. Enjoying paradise with my love. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, I’m off the market and couldn’t be happier. Love you, Red.

  “Really, you had to call me Red?” I ask, quirking a brow at him.

  “No one knows why I call you that.” He smirks, and I can feel myself blush. He leans over and kisses me; morning breath be dammed.

  I pull away, knowing that I need to at least reply to Carly. Bless her for trying to warn me and take care of things for me.

  Carmen: Sorry for missing all of your texts! I don’t know why I didn’t think ahead to this happening, but we’re rolling with it. Go look at Lucas’s Instagram. He just made an announcement on his page. Kinda sweet if you ask me. {winky face} I guess I’ll keep him.

  Carly: Damn, girl! You guys look so happy. And DAMN! That look he’s giving you says he could eat you alive. That man is S-E-X on legs. You are one lucky woman.

  Carmen: I won’t argue with that. Thanks again for everything! I’m going to go back to being on vacation mode. Let me know if anything else happens.

  Carly: Will do! Bring some of that sunshine back to me! I desperately need it!

  I click over to my social media pages, checking to make sure that nothing bad is being said. Some of the comments aren’t always the nicest. It amazes me how some women will tear down other women in the comments when guys post pictures of their girlfriends or wives. So much for women supporting women. I know that I can’t let their petty comments get to me. They don’t know me, hell, they don’t even really know Lucas, they just think they do. Before closing out, I decided to post the same picture to my own page, tagging him back in it. I don’t quite copy his caption word for word, but the sentiment is there.

  Nineteen

  Lucas

  I look out the window, the snow-covered ground greets us as we touch down, back home from a week away in paradise. The vacation was a much-needed time away. It solidified my feelings for Carmen, hell, I tol
d her that I loved her, and we made our relationship public.

  “Where are we going tonight?” I ask as the plane rolls toward the gate.

  “I’m not super picky,” she says, and the idea starts forming in my mind that maybe we should broach the subject of moving in together. We spend most nights with each other as it is, then the week together has me realizing that I don’t want to be away from her at night. I’ve grown accustomed to having her in my arms in bed. Waking up with her every morning. I don’t know that I can go back to not having that.

  We grab our things, walking off the plane and out to my car. We both packed fairly light, only taking a suitcase each that could fit in the overhead bin. It wasn’t like we needed much for clothing. We spent most of the time in bathing suits or shorts and tank tops.

  I drive us to my condo, both of us making our way upstairs quietly. I think we’re both tired after traveling today, plus all the fun we packed into the last few days. Not to mention, just how tired you can actually come back from vacation. It’s late by the time we get here, the darkness settling in all around us.

  “I’m going to take a quick shower before bed. I still feel all grimy from the morning on the beach followed by the flight,” Carmen says. I watch as she grabs some clean panties and one of my large T-shirts she loves sleeping in. I can’t say that I hate seeing her in them, and it has my mind rolling forward a few years and what our life together could be like with a few kids running around. I can picture it now, a little girl with her mother’s eyes, my nose, and a smile that will have me wrapped around her little baby finger the moment she’s born.

  “What are you thinking about?” Carmen’s voice pulls me from my daydream. I shake my head and blink twice as I look at her, my T-shirt hitting just above her knees.

  “You, us,” I say, my voice a little gritty.

  “And?” she asks, rolling her hand in a motion, asking me to continue.