The Screw Ball (Indianapolis Lightning Book 3) Read online

  “When I saw you pull out my T-shirt, it made me think of how much I love seeing you in my clothes,” I tell her, tugging her closer to me. I sit down on the edge of the bed, positioning her between my legs. “That thought flashed forward a few years to you in my T-shirt, stretched over a belly, to a little girl with both of our features.”

  “That’s quite the active imagination,” she says, running her hand through my hair before her hand comes down to cup my cheek. I turn my face, kissing her palm.

  “It might be a dream, but it is one that I want with you,” I tell her honestly.

  “Me too,” she says quietly. If the room hadn’t been quiet, I would have missed her confession.

  I look up and see tears falling down her cheeks. I quickly wipe them away. “Don’t cry, baby,” I tell her, pulling her into my lap. “I know that all of those things are down the road. We don’t have to rush anything. Hell, it’s only been a few months, but knowing that we’re both working towards the same end goal is a good thing, right?”

  “Yeah, you just keep amazing me, Lucas. I’m so glad you picked me,” she says, cupping my cheek. I pull her back on the bed with me and we lazily make out, no need to rush things along.

  “You’re the amazing one,” I tell her. “I had an idea earlier tonight.”

  “Oh yeah, what’s that?” she asks, shifting so we can more easily see one another as we talk in bed.

  “What would you say to us moving in together? We’re already at one another’s places most nights of the week, and to be honest, I hate it when we end up not together at night.”

  “Yes!” she exclaims. “I don’t care how we make it happen, but my answer is yes.” She smiles and I pull her in for another kiss.

  “I don’t care about the specifics, either. We can keep your place, keep mine, pick a new place altogether. Just as long as I get to come home to you every night, I’ll be a happy man.”

  “We can decide that in the next few days. There are things I like about both of our places, but there is also something exciting about starting a new chapter of our lives in a new place.”

  “You just tell me where and I’ll be there,” I tell her, kissing her once more. I snake my hands up under my T-shirt that covers her body, finding her tits bare, but her nipples already hard as I roll them between my fingers.

  “Someone not so tired, all of a sudden?” I ask, sitting up to pull my shirt off over my head.

  It doesn’t take long before we’re both naked and I’m sinking inside her heat. I make love to this woman, the last woman I ever plan to be with, the one that has completely snagged me and turned my life around, making me long for the domesticated life.

  Twenty

  Carmen

  “I can’t believe today has finally arrived!” I jump up and down, the excitement getting to me as I wait for Zach, Heather, and Simon to get here. Their flight is due to touch down any second now. Zach was finally given dates for his leave, and while we completely missed getting to be together over the holidays, I’ll take any time I can get with my family.

  “Calm down, babe.” Lucas chuckles next to me, where he’s sitting on the bench outside of security at the airport. I made him bring me here thirty minutes early. No way was I going to risk traffic or an accident making me late to see my brother, sister-in-law and nephew. He gets to see his sister any time he wants, I only get the few weeks a year the military says my brother can be away.

  “Calm, I can’t be calm,” I tell him, bouncing on the balls of my feet.

  “You crack me up,” he says.

  I watch the screen that shows all the incoming and outgoing flights. As the screen updates, their flight flips from landing to on the ground and I about lose it again. I know that it will still be at least ten minutes, if not more, before they are actually off the plane and out of security, I just can’t contain my excitement.

  “Babe, look at this place,” Lucas says, handing me his phone. We’ve still been deciding what we’re going to do, but have been leaning towards buying a place.

  “Oh, I love it,” I tell him as I flip through the pictures.

  “It’s in the same neighborhood where JJ and Derek live,” he says. “JJ sent me the listing, as it just went up today.”

  “Do you want to go look at it? I think listings in that neighborhood go pretty fast,” I tell him.

  “Yeah, I can shoot a message to our realtor,” he says, as I watch the people as they are streaming out of security, hoping that three of them will be the people I want them to be.

  “Done. She’s going to reach out to the listing agent and get a time set up.”

  “Perfect. Can you send me the listing?” I ask.

  “Already did.” He smiles up at me.

  “Excuse me, ma’am.” I hear a voice behind me that I’d know anywhere. I spin around so fast, almost knocking into my brother. I launch myself into his arms.

  “Zach!” I cry. “You’re here!”

  “We made it!” he says. “Missed you, sis.” He squeezes me a bit tighter before setting me down. I pull my sister-in-law and nephew into a hug, taking Simon from her arms and kissing his cheeks once we break apart.

  Once I’m done hugging and kissing my family, Lucas stands behind me and I get the formal introductions out of the way.

  “Lucas, this is my brother Zach, his wife Heather and their son, Simon. Family, this is Lucas Black.” Lucas and my brother do the whole handshake, half hug, back slap routine, before Lucas gives Heather a quick hug. She’s a hugger and I warned him of that. He smiles down at Simon, who just looks him over with some big eyes, not really sure what to think of him.

  We head to baggage claim, Lucas helps my brother collect their suitcases before we head to the rental car counter. I offered to let them use my car, but they insisted on renting one of their own, just as they insisted on renting an Airbnb for the week. They didn’t want to impose and wanted space with Simon to just relax, plus have the ability to cook and not eat out for every meal.

  We part ways at the airport, they have to go check into their rental, with plans to meet back up in about an hour for lunch.

  “Hey, babe. Shawna just texted that she could show us the house at three, think we can make that work?”

  “I think so, if anything, Zach and Heather can come with us.”

  “Sounds good, babe, I’ll let her know.”

  “Dang, this place is sweet!” Zach says as we walk through the large house.

  “It is, I really do love it,” I say.

  “So, what do you say, babe?” Lucas asks, coming to stand next to me in the kitchen.

  I look at him, then close my eyes and try to picture us here. I can see it. I can see the happiness we can fill this place with, the memories that will surely come. The holiday and fun times with friends and family. The hopefulness of kids one day filling the halls and empty bedrooms this house has. “I think we should do it,” I tell him, feeling butterflies take flight in my stomach at the thought of finding the perfect home for us.

  “Shawna,” Lucas calls out to our realtor, and she comes back into the kitchen.

  “Yes,” she replies.

  “We’d like to make an offer,” he tells her and her smile brightens.

  “Great!” she exclaims. “Let me grab my tablet out of the car and we can go over all of it now and then I can send the offer off before we even leave the property,” she says, and hustles out of the kitchen to grab her things.

  We stand around the kitchen counter as she goes over the offer paperwork, filling in the specifics that we request. Outside of the price we offer, we ask for the standard inspections and for a thirty-day close. The listing agent had told her that the sellers were hoping for a quick closing, as this house was being sold in a divorce and they wanted things finalized quickly.

  Once the paperwork is finalized, I take one last walk around the place, snapping a few pictures so I can start to brainstorm ideas on how we’re going to decorate this large of a house.

  �
�I can’t believe the two of you bought a house today!” Heather says as we enjoy a glass of wine after dinner. We’ve got Simon in the living room while the guys clean up since we cooked.

  “I know, it all happened so fast,” I tell her as I hand Simon another toy.

  “I’m so happy for you, you deserve it. He seems really good for you,” she says, nodding her head in Lucas’s direction.

  “Yeah, I wasn’t so sure in the beginning, I actually kind of hated him when he was first called up to the team. He was such a pain in my ass. Always doing stupid shit that was getting him bad press, and I was always having to clean up his messes. Thankfully, he laid low for a while and then I started to see the real him. He’s definitely grown on me. How’s life on base?” I ask.

  “Ugh, I’m so ready to be back stateside,” she says. “I know Zach is going to be a career military man, and I completely support that decision, but I just want to be back in the States. I want to be where I can easily jump in the car or on a flight and be around family in a few hours. While I’ve made some great friends on base, it still isn’t the same as being here and getting to come see you, or going home and seeing our parents. Plus, I feel like everyone is missing out on getting to watch Simon grow up.”

  “How much longer until he should get moved?” I ask.

  “Hopefully within the next eighteen months, but that isn’t a guarantee.”

  “Can he put in a request to where he’s sent next?”

  “That depends. They’ll usually tell him three bases that have openings for his rank and job classification, and he can rank them in order of his preference. It does not guarantee that he’ll get his top choice, but it is almost always one of those three.”

  “I don’t know how y’all do it, but I have every ounce of respect for you that you do.”

  “Thanks, we make it work, and I know that he loves the work, so it makes it all worth it at the end of the day.”

  We both turn toward the kitchen after the laughter that spills from it. I love knowing that my brother and Lucas as getting along so well together.

  “Did you have a good time with Zach?” Lucas asks as we lay in bed together.

  “Yeah, it was a great week. I can’t believe they’re already gone,” I tell him, a little sad that our time together is already over.

  “He was a cool dude. We got along great,” he says.

  “Yeah, he told me a few times that he approved of you, so you must have made a good impression on him.”

  “Damn straight I did. I know what it’s like being the brother. I was protective of Tiffany just the way Zach is protective of you.”

  “I just hope when they get back stateside it is somewhere close by so we can see each other more.”

  “Why don’t you plan a trip to go see them? Could you go when we’re at training camp?” he asks.

  “Maybe. I usually go for parts of it, or am available to fly out if I’m needed there.”

  “I’m sure Carly could handle things for a week for you, she seems pretty capable.”

  “She’s great and she’s going to go far in her career. I’m lucky to have her on my team,” I tell him as I snuggle in a little closer.

  “Are you coming to the inspection tomorrow?” Lucas asks. The sellers accepted our offer on the house within hours and things have moved forward quickly.

  “Do I need to be there?” I ask. “I hadn’t really thought about it, to be honest with you. With everyone here, I was more focused on spending time with them.”

  “Only if you want to. I figured I’ll go so that if the inspector finds anything, I can have him show me so that I can make sure it gets taken care of.”

  “That’s probably a good idea.”

  “Are you going to start packing up your place?” he asks.

  “I guess I should start doing that, huh.” I laugh. “We’re going to have such mix matched things, at first.” I laugh, thinking over what I have and what Lucas has at his place.

  “Instead of moving all our furniture in and then possibly back out, why don’t we just both sell off our things and go buy new stuff that we pick out together. Doesn’t that sound like a better idea?”

  “It does, we just hadn’t talked about that yet and I wasn’t sure how much more money you wanted to drop right now, seeing as how you wouldn’t let me help with the purchase price.”

  “Babe, we’re good. I’ve got enough money in the bank to cover it. My signing bonus was more than enough, and we can fill it up with lots of furniture and we’ll still be good. Quit worrying about money. Before long, you’re going to have to get used to the zeros in my bank account.”

  “I still feel weird that you’re paying for everything,” I tell him.

  “I’m paying for everything because I want to, and I hope that, sooner or later, it won’t be considered my money or your money, but ours. Isn’t that what we’re working towards here?” he asks, cupping my cheek and placing a soft kiss at the corner of my mouth.

  “Yeah, it just still wigs me out sometimes.”

  “I can accept that, as long as you quit worrying about it.”

  “I’ll try,” I assure him.

  Epilogue

  Lucas

  8 months later

  It has been about seven months since we closed on our house and moved in together. Life has been crazy during those months. Tiffany and Brad had a little girl a few weeks ago. Another full season has flown by, this time, we made it to the World Series and won! I still can’t get over the euphoric feeling of hoisting that trophy up. A dream come true.

  “Hey, Red,” I greet Carmen as I walk into her office. She’s still the sexiest woman, and the way she leads a press conference or meeting with her employees makes me love her even more. She’s not afraid to take control of the situation and turn it to work the way she wants it to.

  “Mr. Black, what can I do for you?” she asks, biting that fucking bottom lip on purpose because she knows what it does to me.

  “I’ve come to pick my girlfriend up; I’m whisking her away on a tropical vacation and she told me to be here by eleven,” I tell her.

  “Well, well. Sounds like she’s a lucky lady.” She plays along, coming around her desk and standing a foot or so away from me. I close the distance, then tug her until there isn’t any space between our bodies. I tilt her head up, then drop mine to capture her lips.

  “Let’s go, I’ve got plans for you,” I whisper against her lips.

  “I like the sound of that, but it better not be anything that hits the headlines,” she says, and I’m sure she’s thinking back to this time last year when we went on vacation and our pictures were posted everywhere, thus taking our relationship public.

  “I’ll attempt to be on my best behavior.”

  “I’ve heard that before.” She rolls her eyes at me before stepping away to grab her things. I smack her ass as she walks away, and get a death glare over her shoulder.

  “Don’t worry, Red. I’ll be slapping that ass later tonight.” I smirk as her cheeks pinken.

  “Don’t be so crass,” she whisper hisses, looking around to make sure no one is within earshot.

  “Get your ass moving and we won’t have to wait until tonight,” I tell her and mentally calculate how much time until we need to be at the airport.

  Unlike last year when we booked a last-minute vacation down in the Caribbean, this year, I planned a special getaway to one of the places Carmen has told me all about as her most desired vacation spot. This year, we’re going to the Maldives. We have one of those bungalows that is out over the water. We can jump right into the crystal-clear water from the deck and swim all around.

  “I still can’t believe that we’re going to the Maldives!” Carmen says once we’re both settled into our first-class seats on our first flight. With time zones included, it will take us over thirty hours to arrive, so insisting on the first-class seats was necessary. This first flight isn’t horrible, as it is just to Philadelphia, but our flight after that is ove
r twelve hours in the air. We need comfort for that one.

  We finally make it to our destination, and I can see why Carmen has had this place at the top of her bucket list. It is like nowhere else I’ve ever been. The water is so clear, you can see the sand like it is above the water.

  We’re shown to our bungalow, the amenities pointed out, as well as told who to call if we need anything. The resort has concierges on call twenty-four hours a day to aide us with anything we might need.

  “Can we get something light to eat?” I ask before the attendant leaves.

  “Of course, anything in particular?”

  “What do you have that is fast? I think we’re hungry and tired,” I tell her honestly.

  “We can do a charcuterie board with an arrangement of meats, cheeses, and crackers.”

  “That will be perfect,” I tell her before she exits the room.

  I find Carmen out on the balcony, looking out over the water. I stand behind her, boxing her in against the railing as I place my arms on it, and my chin on her shoulder.

  “It’s so much more than the pictures depict. Thank you,” she says, placing her hand on my cheek.

  “Of course, even if it was a bitch to get here.” She laughs as she relaxes into my embrace. “I have them bringing us something to eat.”

  “Good, I’m starving.”

  “I figured, then maybe we can relax in the hot tub before bed?” I suggest. We timed things almost perfectly, with arriving in the evening. Hopefully with a good night’s sleep, we’ll wake up feeling refreshed and then we can have the rest of our time here to really relax and enjoy the place.

  I hear the tapping of someone at the door, so I step away, immediately missing the feeling of her body against mine. I open the door and find the concierge there with a large platter. I let her in, and she places it on the two-person table in the room. I pull some cash from my wallet, tipping her generously for bringing this to us so quickly. “Thank you,” I say before she turns to leave.