Roman (Season Three: The Ninth Inning #7) Read online

  I slap his shoulder. “Shut up. I’m trying to have a serious conversation with you.”

  “Yeah, about ice cream.” He continues to smirk.

  “Look, if you want to just make this about sex and the occasional outing, fine. I was trying to get to know you.” I sigh deeply, almost pouting.

  Roman’s attitude quickly changes. “I’m sorry. You’re half right, by the way. I don’t do a lot of relationships, but it doesn’t mean I’m an ass either. No, I was totally unaware of the list of ice creams girl have; however, I’m glad I know what to purchase you at the end of this date to celebrate.”

  This time I do push out my lower lip and give the best puppy dogs I can. “And here I’d hoped for sex.”

  Roman roars with laughter this time. “Oh, you’ll get that too.” He holds my hand and kisses my knuckles.

  “Before all that happens, how about you tell me why you started playing baseball?” I’m getting to know him and, obviously, baseball is his first love.

  “Heath and I played as kids, and I just loved it. He played, but I think after a while he did it because I did. He always seemed to be my shadow.”

  Talking about his brother hadn’t been on my agenda. “That’s sweet you two bonded over baseball.” What else am I supposed to say? “May I ask how he passed?” I don’t want to drag down our mood.

  “Motorcycle accident. He and some friends were racing, and he lost control.”

  His mood is quickly somber, but I didn’t want to lose the fun we were having. “Well, I’m absolutely full now.” I pat my belly.

  “Ready to head back to the hotel?”

  I nod, and my body tightens up anticipating the night to come.

  When we walk into the room, I quickly grab my bag and go to change in the bathroom. I wouldn’t say I have the most sexual experiences. I’ve only been with three guys, but sometimes, you want to work out a fantasy, and I think Roman will play along.

  Once everything is in place, I grab my phone and make way to him. He looks hot as hell sitting on the end of the bed, shirtless and belt undone. It’s as if he’s waiting for this as much as me.

  “Holy fuck.” He glances up at me.

  I look down at my navy blue babydoll nightie. “Do you like?” I do a twirl for him.

  “I do but it’ll suck when I rip it off of you.” He stands, but I stop him.

  “I wonder if you’ll grant me a small indulgence?”

  Roman tilts his head. “Okay.”

  “I’m certain you’ve done this a hundred times, but I want to do something for you. Something I’ve never done before with a guy.” I can hear how low my voice is, suddenly feeling nervous.

  Roman grins. “What is it?”

  I lean down and whisper, “Do you trust me?”

  He nods, and I step back. I turn on the music app, finding the perfect song: TLC ‘Red Light Special’. Roman’s eyes grow wide, knowing what’s about to happen.

  I begin to sway my hips, dancing seductively in front of him. He starts to runs his hands up my thighs, but I grab his wrists.

  “No touching.” I put them behind his back.

  I continue my dance, slipping out of my very tiny G-string, but leaving on the babydoll. I nip and lick at him, but never touch his lips. I push on his chest to lay him down on the bed, and I begin to work my down to the top of his jeans. He’s so hard; I’m surprised he doesn’t unzip himself.

  I’d only given one other blowjob in my life. But I don’t count it since Dane went soft as I did it. I thought I’d done it wrong, and I’m hoping it doesn’t happen this time.

  Roman moans my name as I take his tip in my mouth. I’ve seen a few porns to know the mechanics of doing this, and I’m hoping for the right combination. Considering the sounds Roman is making, he’s either a good actor, or I’m doing this correctly.

  He digs his hands into my hair as he controls the thrusts. I moan in pleasure, feeling all of his hardness in my mouth.

  Just as the song is about to end, Roman, in one swift movement sits up, pulls my mouth off him, grips my shoulders, and tosses me on the bed.

  Soon, I’m seeing stars as Roman sends me up in the stratosphere.

  “It’s two bedrooms, one bath, open floor plan.” The old man, also the manager, opens the door to the vacant apartment.

  “Wow,” Abigail and I say at the same time. I’m thankful she came with me; although, I’m sure she found it strange when I called her to go apartment hunting with me.

  I go to Roman’s building last. I know the guys are still out of town, and it’s safe to go over without running into him. Although, I can’t wait until he’s back in town. I truly miss him.

  Our last night together was spectacular. I’m still sore, in a good way. We didn’t talk as much as I’d hoped, but there’s still time for that part.

  As I continue to walk through the amazing apartment. I have to live here. It’ll be perfect for me. Plus, it’s not too far from work…or Roman.

  “If you want it, you just have to give me a check and sign the paperwork.” the old man gruffs.

  I want it, but I only have half the money. “Abigail, do you mind giving us a minute?”

  She nods. “I’ll be in the hall.”

  “Sir, normally I’d never do this, but my brother is Hector Rodriguez of the Angels. I’m sure he’ll loan me the additional money I need if you could just give me until tomorrow. The team comes back today, but I’m not able to get it in the bank till morning.”

  He looks at me strange as if the information I’m giving has caused me to grow a third eye. “Okay. You have until four tomorrow.”

  I thank him and then head out to the hall with Abigail. I tell her how excited I am about possibly moving in here when she brings up that Roman and Spencer live in the building.

  “Really?” I try to play dumb.

  She starts to say something else, but the phone dings. “Oh, Felix is home. The team landed early.”

  My heart skips a beat. It means Roman is home too. “I bet Hector flew to New York then.”

  “How come?”

  “Zoey’s show is tonight in New York.” I smile. She and her aunts left yesterday. I wanted to go, but I can’t take off work at a job I just began.

  “That’s right. How could I have forgotten?” Abigail shakes her head.

  We ride the elevator down, and the entire time I’m hoping I can see Roman tonight. My wish is somewhat granted when the doors open, and he’s standing there with Spencer. They’re both in suits, with rolling suitcases behind them.

  “What are you doing here?” Roman looks panicked. “I mean, you two don’t live here.”

  “Hello to you too, Roman.” Abigail jokes and we step out of the box.

  “I was here looking at an apartment on the fifth floor.” I say and watch Roman’s eyes light up. “I just need to see if Hector will loan me the rest of the money.” I’m not sure why I said it, but just as I finish Roman speaks up.

  “I’ll give it to you.” He quickly shuts his mouth and closes his eyes, realizing what he blurted out. “You know since you’re like family to us, being Hector’s sister and all.” He tries to recover.

  I glance at Spencer who seems confused before he looks at me and his eyes grow wide.

  “I think we’re going to be heading out.” Abigail grabs my hand and drags me out the door and out to my car. “A piece of advice,” she turns to me. “If you don’t want your brother to know, make sure Tanner doesn’t know. He can’t keep a secret.”

  I nod, unable to say anything.

  “And you two are totally cute together,” she adds, making me laugh.

  Now, I just need to figure all this out before Hector finds out and kills us.

  ***

  “YOU’RE FUCKING HECTOR’S little sister?”

  “What makes you say that?” I have to give him props for waiting until we get into our apartment before saying anything.

  “Oh, come on. There’s no reason for you to loan her money unless you
’re fucking her, especially when she can just get it from Hector. You jumped on that way too fast, man. What are you even thinking? Hector’s going to kill you.” Then his eyes widen. “She was the girl in your bedroom? No wonder you got pissed when I said it in front of Hector.” Spencer shakes his head. “You’ve lost your ever-lovin’ mind, Roman.” Before I can speak, he says, “I guess it would be in bad taste for me to make a bet with you on how bad it’ll be when Hector finds out?”

  I throw a pillow from the couch at him. “Are you going to be able to keep your mouth shut or not?”

  “Of course. I’m not about to become part of Hector’s fury when he finds out. I’m playing dumb. It does feel kind of cool that I’m like the first to know. I never know anything first.”

  I glance away from him, hoping he won’t notice my avoidance because he definitely isn’t the first to know and honestly, it’s starting to make me feel uneasy at how many people do know when the one person who should is still left in the dark.

  “Oh, come on! Who else knows?”

  “Blake, Sofia, Colby, Ariella, probably Abigail, and possibly Zoey.”

  Spencer shakes his head. “How did you two even get together?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Normally, no, but since this is more interesting than normal, then yes.”

  I take a deep breath. “We may have hooked up at Colby’s party last season. Colby caught us afterward; that’s how he knows. Then we met up after Heidi had the baby.”

  “And now you’ll have easy access since she’s moving into our building. When do you plan on telling Hector?”

  I clear my throat. “There’s nothing to tell right now.”

  “Bullshit. You’re fucking his baby sister.”

  “Exactly! Don’t you think he’d rather hear there’s something more serious and solid going on instead of that?”

  Spencer’s silence is bothersome. After a few loud beats of silence, he says, “Wait a second. Are you telling me that you are sleeping with a teammate’s sister and you don’t know if it’s serious? You are insane! You don’t start something like that unless you’re pretty sure it’s going to work out.” His mind turns to baseball. “You better hope this doesn’t hurt us as a team, Roman.”

  “It won’t; and I didn’t mean that I wasn’t serious about her. Just that things aren’t quite that serious with us right now.”

  He just shakes his head. “You better hope it gets serious. Probably the only thing that’s going to save you from Hector is if it’s serious and his sister is insanely happy.”

  “Thanks for relieving the pressure,” I say sarcastically.

  He laughs. “You’re the one who volunteered to get yourself into this mess.”

  That’s true. Let’s just hope it doesn’t bite me in the ass when it’s time to let Hector in on my little secret.

  Unfortunately, we don’t get the next day off, so we all show up at the stadium for practice. We’re in the locker room, getting ready, when Hector walks over to Spence and me. For a moment, I tense and send a wary look to Spencer because Hector looks so serious.

  “I need to talk to you guys for a second,” Hector says.

  Okay. He means both of us, so that has to be a good sign.

  “What’s up?” I ask.

  “Apparently, my little sister is moving out. The good news is that she found an apartment in y’alls building.”

  “Oh yeah, we ran into her yesterday as she was leaving,” Spencer tells him.

  “Oh. Carissa didn’t mention that. Anyway, I just wanted to let y’all know she would be there, and I was going to tell Carissa if she needed anything, y’all would be available to look after her and help.”

  Spencer claps a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t you worry, Hector. We’ll be sure to keep a close eye on her and help if she needs us.”

  “Yeah, we don’t mind,” I add.

  I can see Colby from a few stalls over, shaking his head.

  “Good. That makes me feel better.” He still seems bothered that she’s moving out, but he doesn’t say much else.Blake coming into the room distracts Hector. “Yo, Grumpy! You’re late.”

  Spencer gives me a look, but I shake my head. I already know what he’s thinking; I’ll obviously be keeping a very close eye on Carissa. I don’t need him saying that out loud in the locker room, though.

  Eventually, we all make our way out of the room. We stretch and do a few warm-up exercises, expending more and more energy as we progress. Luckily, I’m able to focus solely on what we’re doing and nothing else. Baseball has always been an escape, even after my brother died, which is kinda odd since we often played together.

  Back in the locker room, Tanner walks over to Spence and me. “Hey, let us single guys go out. I’m thinking strip club and Big Blue. I need to pick up a woman before our game tomorrow.”

  “Didn’t you hang out with us enough on the road trip?” I ask. This is going to be tricky. I’m not single, but it’s not as if I can advertise that.

  “Nope. Y’all coming or what?”

  “I’m in,” Spencer nods.

  “Um, yeah, sure. I’ll go.”

  “Thanks for sounding excited, Roman. If you don’t want to go on the hunt with us, you could always refer me to that girl you were with the other day. Everyone could use some Tanner lovin’.”

  I glare at him. “I’m not subjecting her to any Tanner lovin’, especially because I might want to sleep with her again, and I’m not sharing.”

  Tanner’s brows rise. “Oh, going back for seconds. Must’ve been a really good fuck, and that’s all I’ll say since you’re obviously still touchy about this particular pussy.” He turns and walks away before I can slap him upside the back of the head. “See y’all at the strip club!” he shouts loud enough for all the other guys to hear.

  As we head toward the parking lot, Spencer asks, “So, how are you going to explain the strip club to your woman?”

  “I need to explain it to her?”

  He chuckles. “If she asks what you’re doing tonight, what are you going to tell her?”

  “That I’m out with the guys.”

  He just shakes his head. We go our separate ways, and I find myself hoping she doesn’t ask. What girl wants to hear that her… What am I? Her boyfriend? Her fuck buddy? Her friend with benefits? I guess if she finds out about the strip club, I’ll find out which of those things I am. Neither a fuck buddy or friend with benefits will care. Honestly, I don’t feel like going, but unless she wants to hang out tonight, I can’t get out of it.

  With that in mind, I text Carissa.

  Me: How’s your day?

  Carissa: Good so far. Yours?

  Me: Not too bad. Whatcha doing tonight?

  Carissa: Moving into the apartment.

  Me: Need help?

  Carissa: No, Hector is already making Felix and Blake help.

  Damn. There goes that.

  Me: When are you inviting me over?

  Carissa: When are you taking me out again?

  I think about my schedule.

  Me: Sunday?

  Carissa: Then you can come over after that. :)

  Me: Can’t wait. Have fun moving.

  Spencer and I kill the few hours before we have to meet Tanner by eating and playing video games. For some reason, I can’t get what Spencer said out of my head. Eventually, I have to tell Hector. But how?

  Yo, Hector. I’m bangin’ your sister. Hope you don’t mind.

  Definitely not.

  Hey, Hector. I’ve been dating your sister since the season started. That okay with you?

  He’s probably more overprotective of her since he found out about that prick, Dane, too. That won’t work in my favor. There obviously won’t be an ideal timing to this, so it’ll have to be planned or just happen. Am I supposed to tell him alone or with Zoey and Carissa nearby? Would he actually hit me? The only reason I could ever see Hector throwing a punch at someone is when it comes to his family. So, it could happen, I guess
.

  “Are you even paying attention?” Tanner asks, snapping his fingers in front of my face as the girl in front of us twirls on her pole.

  “Don’t worry about what I’m doing.”

  My phone buzzes in my pocket, so I pull it out to see a text from Carissa.

  Carissa: You’re at a strip club??

  Ah, fuck. How’d she find that out? I suddenly feel like I’ve been caught red handed committing some crime. Like the cops busted in with bright lights, shining them on me while I try to steal something, and I’m frozen like a deer in the headlights.

  Me: Yeah, Tanner wanted to go out.

  Carissa: You told me Spencer pressures you into bets/gambling & now Tanner pressures you into strip clubs? You might want to kick their asses for all the pressures! LOL

  Me: That or grow a spine haha. All moved in?

  Carissa: Yes, but there are still boxes everywhere from the stuff I’ve acquired while I’ve been here, and I’m too tired to put stuff away.

  Me: Want me to come over and unpack while you lie on the couch and boss me around?

  Carissa: I would like to see you tonight; however, you’re with your friends and that’s cool. I’m not very pretty right now either.

  Me: You’d look better in your “not very pretty” state than the strippers. Give me a few, and I’ll be on the way.

  ***

  I’M RUNNING THROUGH my new apartment shredding off my flannel pajama bottoms and holey white t-shirt. Thank goodness, I already had a shower as I toss my frizzy hair into a messy bun. I open three different boxes until I find a pair of dark black leggings and a red tunic to pair it with.

  I slap on some lip-gloss, but he’s already knocking on the door before I can put on mascara. Damn. I hope I don’t look too plain, I think as I pad over to the door.

  When I open it I’m taken aback. “You must not have been at a very fancy strip club if you wore jeans and a t-shirt?” Although, he looks fucking hot.

  “Tanner picked it; what’d you expect?” He gives me a peck on the lips and walks in.

  “Well, the stories Abigail tells me about the kid, he’s just that…a kid.” We’re standing in the living room, and there are boxes on top of boxes from all the new items I’ve bought. This is too big of a challenge this late of the night. “Want to start in the kitchen?”