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  My index and middle fingers slid into her with hardly any resistance.

  “So wet for me, baby.”

  She nodded and her eyes fluttered closed.

  I sped my fingers up and her ass started to buck against my hand. My free hand fisted her hair and I turned her head so that I could see her face. “Look at me when you come on my fingers.”

  She opened her eyes and I watched them as I pumped my fingers in and out of her. Her body shook and her walls tightened around my fingers.

  “Fuck, Ethan!”

  “I love hearing my name when you come for me.”

  She convulsed harder after hearing my words until her body was stiff as a board for a brief second. She gasped, “Oh my God.”

  I unbuttoned my jeans and freed my cock. Settling in behind her, I positioned it against her pussy and teased it around the edges. “You’re not done yet.”

  She started to say something and I gripped her shoulder and shoved inside of her.

  “Fuck!” She flattened both palms against the wall and let out a long exhale.

  I dug my fingers into her hips and yanked her into me as I pistoned in and out of her. Wet smacking sounds echoed through the room and commingled with her moans. It was heaven and fueled my thrusts as I fucked her as hard and as fast as I possibly could, unable to control myself.

  Being inside of Jenny Jackson was so perfect—it all felt so right, everything about it. I watched her nails claw against the wall as her moans grew louder and the sounds started to vibrate from me hammering into her.

  I reached up and gripped her over the collarbone and her head tilted back, allowing me deeper access. My load started to build in my balls and they tightened. I wasn’t going to last that much longer. Her pussy was too hot and snug, the friction too intense.

  I slid my hand up the nape of her neck and into her hair before balling it into a fist.

  “God, I love when you pull my hair.” Her words were sharp and she struggled to get them out.

  I leaned over her and pulled her up so that she was almost upright while I continued to fuck her with everything I had.

  My free hand slid down around her and circled her clit.

  “Are you going to come on my dick?”

  She nodded furiously against my hand, which was still in her hair.

  “Good. Say my name when you do it and try not to scream, because I’m about to fuck you harder than you’ve ever been fucked in your life.”

  “Shit!”

  I took a deep breath and rammed her with everything I had. She started to scream and I took my fingers from her clit and stuck them in her mouth. Her body shook each time I collided with her and she sucked her wetness from my fingers. I pulled them from her lips and covered her mouth with my palm as I fucked her relentlessly and she screamed my name into it.

  She clamped around me and I shoved in as far as I could and let loose, emptying my cock into the depths of her. “Fuck,” I groaned as she spasmed around my shaft. Her tight pussy squeezed on me, milking every last drop.

  Tiny goosebumps ran down the backs of her arms.

  I kept myself buried as far as possible until finally sliding my semi-hard cock out of her. I couldn’t remember ever coming that hard in my life.

  I let go of her mouth and hair, and could see her ribs expanding and contracting with each deep breath she took. She turned around and her eyelids fluttered before opening.

  “That was—”

  “I know.” I caressed her cheek with my hand and it flushed with pink.

  “How did you—”

  “No idea.” I panted and chuckled a little bit.

  “I think you’ll have to do that again. After I recover of course.” She smiled.

  “Oh, I will. I promise.”

  —

  After the baseball date and hot locker room sex, I drove us back downtown near the office. She kept asking what we were doing, but I told her it was a surprise. I parked the car and got out to open her door. She followed me toward the road.

  I reached down for her hand and took it in mine before walking across the street. The way it felt was just—right. There wasn’t a better explanation for it. Everything about her and me seemed perfect.

  When I was with her, I was happy. When we were apart she was all I thought about.

  We strolled down the sidewalk in the middle of the afternoon on a workday. Suits came and went and cars roared in both directions.

  “So, do you want to do something tonight?” I glanced at Jenny.

  “I don’t know. I really need to spend some time with Kelsey and Dad.”

  My jaw tightened a little. Why doesn’t she invite me to come hang out with them?

  I hated myself for being frustrated with the question I was asking myself. Maybe she needed space. Maybe she didn’t want to bring a strange guy into her dad’s world right now. I was sure she had her reasons but I couldn’t stop myself from feeling the way I felt.

  “No worries.” I gripped her hand firmer and pulled her closer to me.

  “What are you going to do?” She looked at me.

  I shrugged. “Maybe do some work or see if Matt wants to hang out. I don’t know.”

  She looked down at the sidewalk. “I really want to do something with you. I promise. I just—it’s tough trying to manage things at home and us. I need some time with Dad, mostly.”

  I checked three times for cars before leading us across the street.

  “Oh, this place looks familiar.” Jenny scanned the area.

  It was the park where we’d had our first kiss. All the feelings rushed back from that moment. The way she felt on my lips and the way she’d looked after I’d kissed her. I remembered the moon shimmering across the water and the heat wave that rushed over me when I touched her face. It was perfect. Then I remembered what happened after—the yelling, her dad. Would she be able to handle what I was about to ask her?

  Anxiety shot through my body and my stomach was in knots. Was her father’s situation going to be too much for us to overcome? What about when he died? Because it was coming whether we liked it or not. Fuck it. I wanted her more than anything and we would make it through whatever happened. We had to. It was me and her. That’s how it was going to be.

  We walked side by side down to the water, slowing with each step until we both stopped and gazed out beyond the riverbank. I turned to face her and squeezed her hand.

  “I want to ask you something.”

  She looked nervous, almost scared. “What is it? Is everything okay?”

  I grinned. “Yeah, everything is fine.”

  Her stranglehold on my fingers loosened. “Okay.”

  I ran both my hands up her arms, to her shoulders. It was a little awkward, almost like what you would do to scold a child. I was fucking it up.

  Goddamn it, Ethan.

  “Oh my God, are you firing me?”

  I swear she looked like she might cry.

  I laughed. “God no. I’m sorry.” I couldn’t stop chuckling and I released her shoulders. “I’m a bit nervous and doing this all wrong.”

  Jenny laughed. “Ethan Mason is nervous? Did you hear that, world?” She turned to the city when she said it and then looked back at me.

  “Look, here’s the thing—” I fidgeted. I never fidgeted. “I’m just gonna say it.”

  “Please do!”

  How did she always make me grin like an idiot?

  “Jenny?”

  “Yes?”

  It seemed so elementary school, but I’d come too far. I had to know. “Will you be my girlfriend?”

  The corners of her mouth turned up to a grin. She stared at me for a few seconds too long. So long I started to regret asking it.

  I looked away. “Sorry, it just felt like it needed—”

  “Yes, you idiot.”

  I whipped my head back to her. “Yes?”

  “Yes, of course I will!”

  I palmed each of her cheeks and kissed her the same way I did that first ni
ght when I’d tricked her into a date, and it was perfect.

  Chapter 19

  Jenny Jackson

  Three weeks.

  In the three weeks since we’d started dating, my life had completely changed. Ethan and I had been to four baseball games, three movies, fourteen dinners, and I’d lost count of how many times we’d had sex, including in the locker room of a Major League Baseball stadium. So much sex. All kinds of sex. Rough, dirty sex. Slow, intimate sex.

  We were officially “dating” even though we did our best to hide it around the office. Still, people took notice. Ethan was like a completely different person. He was still punctual, methodical, and expected quality work from everyone, even me. But the insults were less, the intensity and stares had nearly faded away.

  Dad was doing better, getting stronger. The doctors said not to get our hopes up, but we’d hear little things like, “I’ve never seen that before,” or “He’s doing better than most patients do.”

  Things were definitely going great, and yet a hint of anxiety ran through me. What if I was getting too caught up in everything? What if I was allowing myself to be too happy? I was building a house of cards with my emotions, and they were going to get knocked down sooner or later.

  “Jenny.”

  His voice still sent chills up the backs of my arms, still made the tiny hairs on my neck rise.

  I spun around on my chair. “What’s up?”

  The eyes, the mouth. They never got old.

  “I have a project for you.” He leaned down and spoke directly into my ear. “It’s real this time, I promise.”

  I giggled when his breath tickled my ear. I’d never giggled in my life. Ethan Mason turned me into a lot of things I wasn’t before, and now I was a freaking giggler.

  “What is it?”

  “Salvatore is a free agent at the end of the year. I need a valuation for him. I want to know exactly what he’s worth when I go in to negotiate his contract. The GM in Boston is a real asshole, but he’s good with numbers.”

  “Shouldn’t be a problem.”

  “Good. I have a meeting there next week.” He leaned down again and I could practically feel his smirk in my ear. He whispered, “You look hot as fuck in that skirt. Do a good job on this and I’ll bury my face in what’s underneath it.”

  Filthy. Filthy-mouthed boy.

  I crossed my legs at the ankles and squeezed my thighs together. His dirty mouth always heated me up in all the right places, and he knew it. Asshole. Sometimes I think he did it just to torture me all day, so that I’d jump on him as soon as I got to his place. It worked. I had to give him that.

  I glanced at the clock, and it was four-fifteen. Salvatore would have to wait until tomorrow.

  —

  I got to the bar at a quarter after five and Kelsey waved me over. She had purple streaks in her hair and wore a tattered The Who shirt. We looked like polar opposites. Like an agent meeting with a rock star client. Sometimes, for fun, we just pretended that’s what we were when people were around.

  “Hey! Is this for me?” I grabbed the mug of beer on a coaster and started drinking it before she could answer.

  “Actually, that was here when I sat down.”

  My eyes widened but I kept drinking because I’d already gone too far. I finally sat the glass down. “Seriously?”

  Kelsey grinned. “No, I’m just fucking with you.”

  “Ass.” I grabbed a few peanuts and annihilated the shells to get to them. “God, I don’t think I ate at the office today. I can’t remember.”

  Kelsey’s eyes were trained on my hands shelling peanuts like a machine. “You’re a mangirl. You really are.”

  “So what’s going on?”

  “Oh no, not me first. My life is the same and boring.” She waggled her eyebrows. “What’s new with you? And don’t give me some stock chitchat answer either. We both know what I want.”

  I leaned back and shook my head. “Oh, you want to know about my work? Well—”

  She smacked both of her hands down on the table. My beer shook around in the glass. “Cut the shit, lady. You know better than to keep me waiting.”

  I chortled. “I mean, nothing much more than what you already know.”

  “Nice.” She slowly nodded for emphasis.

  Everything about Kelsey was always animated. It’s just the way she was. I loved it.

  “He asked me to do a valuation for one of the top players in the league.”

  Kelsey’s eyes glazed over. “You and your baseball stuff, I swear. Though them boys in the tight pants—hot.”

  I hadn’t thought about Ethan in a baseball uniform, but I think if I’d seen him in one my panties would have disintegrated.

  “How’s Dad today?”

  I’d been planning everything with Ethan around Dad’s schedule. Of course, Dad tried to shove me out the door every chance he got, and of course Ethan told me to go and hang out with Dad every second that he was awake.

  I’d found a pretty good balance between the two and seemed to make it work.

  “He’s good. Just being an old stubborn ass like usual.”

  “Good. If he’s feisty it means he’s feeling okay.”

  “Right. I’ll get worried the day he says he doesn’t want to watch baseball.” Kelsey took a sip of her scotch and swirled the glass.

  “Yeah, that’s pretty much the litmus test right there.”

  “How are you doing with it?” She set her drink down.

  “With what?”

  “Nope, no playing stupid. Sit up straight. We have to have an adult conversation for a minute. Your ass is all up in the clouds and now you’re playing dumb.” She pretended like she might get up from her seat.

  “Fine.” I stopped fidgeting and put my palms down on the table. “I’m doing okay with it. I’m just worried that—never mind, it’s stupid.”

  She reached over and smothered one of my hands with hers. “It’s not stupid. What are you worried about?”

  I blew a wayward strand of hair out of my face. “That, I don’t know, that things might be too good right now. Is that dumb?”

  “No. But, I mean, you’re allowed to be happy while he’s sick. You know?”

  “I know, it’s just—I’m scared that I’m going to let myself be too happy, and it’s going to make the crash worse. Because the crash is coming at some point. We all know it.”

  “So you think that if you’re too happy, it’ll make you more miserable when your dad dies? But if you’re already miserable, it’ll make you less miserable?”

  “I told you it was dumb.”

  “No, no, it’s not dumb.” She gripped tighter on my hand. “Here’s a bit of wisdom from the math dummy over here though.”

  I started to protest her calling herself a dummy and she shushed me.

  “You’re going to be miserable no matter what. You will hit rock bottom of misery whether you’re on the ground, or up in the clouds. Don’t you think it’ll be easier to fight through that with Ethan by your side?”

  “You’re a lot smarter than you think, you know?”

  She took her hand off mine and grabbed her scotch, ignoring my question.

  “But what if I’m elevating Ethan on this pedestal right now? And, like, he’s really just some flash-in-the-pan moment in my life? Every time I look back on Dad’s death, it’ll be a reminder of how stupid I was to include Ethan in all of that.”

  “You’re doing what you do right now. So just stop it. You’re doomsday scenario–ing everything.”

  I sat there for a second. “I do that, don’t I?”

  “Mmhmm. And it’s absurd, because you have this crazy gift to find the truth in everything. It’s why you play with those silly numbers all day. Then you come in here and do this shit.”

  I glanced around at all the empty pub tables, and the half-empty bar. It was slow during happy hour today. “Okay. You win.” I held up my beer. “No more scenario-ing.”

  We clanked glasses.

&n
bsp; “You know ‘scenario-ing’ isn’t a word, right?” I asked.

  “Fuck that. It is now.”

  Chapter 20

  Ethan Mason

  “All right, I’ll let you know how it goes after.” I hung up with Jenny.

  I strode up Yawkey Way next to Fenway Park. It was always hard to return to Boston. I’d obliterated my elbow while we were playing Boston College. I’d always loved the city before then. Regardless, Fenway was a cathedral, and stadiums like this reminded me that I was still connected to the game.

  I’d gone over Jenny’s notes on the flight. It was like she knew exactly what I was looking for. Every number was in the right place and easy to read. Valuing baseball players wasn’t an easy task. It was tough to find signals within the noise. At the end of the day it all broke down into one statistic, WAR, wins above replacement. Boston had a robust sabermetrics group. Many clubs were on a revenue-driven model versus a run-driven model. It was about how many dollars the player could bring in for merchandising, endorsements, ticket sales. Boston was about winning, so it was tough to sell them on the economics beyond what happened on the field.

  I walked into the office with the general manager and his assistant. Before they sat down, I got right to it.

  “A hundred and twenty mil over eight years, weighted of course with injury riders, etcetera. That’s the offer we’re after.” I grinned my ass off at the silver-haired bastard sitting at his desk.

  Negotiations were war, and he was the enemy. Once the papers were signed, we could be friends again.

  He looked over at the assistant GM and turned back to me. His eyebrow quirked up a second. Something was off. It wasn’t right. My gut told me if he made a counter that I should rescind the original offer, but I’d been over Jenny’s work. Not as thoroughly as I normally would, but it was perfect. I trusted those fucking numbers.

  “That’s a little more than we were thinking, Ethan. How about one ten?”

  Salvatore was a poor kid from the Dominican Republic. He’d have been happy with a tenth of this contract. I always asked for more than we wanted. Truth be told, a hundred million was our bottom. Jenny and I had just earned the agency an extra one point five million dollars.