And then the room erupts. Kev and Tim are on their feet, and Finnegan and Scotty start dumping champagne over my head. My agent leans against the wall with a smile and starts to say something, but I have to find my center. My gravity.
I look to Olive and pull her down on my lap. “What just happened,” I ask, leaning my forehead against hers.
She rubs her hand down my cheek. “You got drafted by Detroit, Bax.”
“We’re going to be together,” I whisper, pulling her hand into mine.
“Always,” she tells me, and she pulls me in for a kiss as I see the flash bulbs pop around the room.
EPILOGUE
Baxter
I pace around the apartment anxiously, waiting for Olive to get home from her clinical. This is my one day off before I’m on the road for a week and I’m missing my girl so much I could scream. The past two years have been rough, between my schedule and Olive’s. She’s working with a really prestigious shoulder study and has been following the baseball team around while she works with their pitching squad.
Of course, baseball’s schedule is basically the opposite of pro football. She’s busy during my down time and I’m barely here in season. But we’re making it work. At the end of the day, we come home to each other, or else we call each other. There’s a lot of love in my house, and this is the first time I can say that.
I have a whole speech worked out for what I want to say to Olive when she walks in the door, but when it opens and she steps in, shaking out her ponytail, I forget my words. The light catches her and her hair fucking glitters as it falls around her shoulders.
Her work uniform—khakis and a polo—isn’t anything particularly sexy, but when I see her curves I just can’t hold myself together anymore. I cross the room in just a few steps and I pull her into my arms.
“Wow,” she says when she breaks the kiss. “You’re intense today.” She tries to back away, like she’s going to slip into the room and shower before we get dinner. But I don’t want to let her go.
“Olive,” I breathe, and I pull her back in. My lips close on hers and I’m telling her I want to be with her, I want her forever and longer than that.
“I love you, too,” she tells me as I tug her shirt free from her waistband. “Oh!”
I sink to my knees on the carpet in front of her and yank down her pants. “I want you,” I tell her.
“You’ve got me—oh!” She kicks her feet to step free of her pants, and before she can readjust, I hook her behind the knees and lower her to the floor. “You tackled me!” She squeals, giggling. I’m so hard, I’m convinced all the blood has left my head and is flowing directly to my cock. The anticipation of today has affected me more than I thought.
But I can’t focus on that now. I worry about getting these clothes off of Olive and getting her skin beneath mine. Now.
As I tongue her stomach, she purrs and digs her fingers into my hair just how I like. My scalp tingles as she massages my head, but my work is lower down. I edge down her body, dragging kisses and nipping at her with my teeth while she squirms beneath me.
“I love you,” I tell her, gently parting her legs with my thumbs. When I’ve got her spread open, I moan, dipping my tongue inside her peachy folds. I get a taste of her nectar and I worry that I’m going to come in my pants and spoil this whole thing.
“Bax,” she moans. “Feels so good.” There was a time when I only heard those words in my secret fantasies. When I never thought I could risk telling Olive how I feel because I might lose her. I had no idea how much bigger my world would grow when I finally took the leap, finally let myself be honest with her.
I slide two fingers deep inside her, just the way I know she likes it, and I lap at her clit until her walls clamp down on my hand. “That’s a baby one,” I tell her, kissing her thighs while her breath slows.
“Are you making fun of my orgasm?” She starts to prop herself up on her elbows, but I shake my head.
“Not making fun. Just reminding myself I’ve got work to do,” I say, shucking my own pants and shirt.
Fully naked, I settle in between Olive’s legs and just feel her nipples against my chest for a minute while I decide my next move. She reaches in between us for my dick and as she rubs it along her wet heat, I realize she’s feeling this need as intensely as me.
“I want you all day,” she tells me. “And I can’t have you.”
She nips at my neck. I love when she bites me, even when I’m sore from practice. “I sent you a pic,” I tell her, grinning. “Shoulder porn.” I like to make sure my own arms wind up in her camera roll alongside all those baseball shoulders she spends the day with.
She nods. “I know you did, and that made me just want you even more.” She tugs at my armpit hair, making me yelp, and I draw back.
From up on my forearms, looking down at her, I can see her. I can see her face loving me, and not much else. “You are the best thing to ever happen to me,” I tell her.
I watch as the blush creeps up her cheeks, along her chest. She smiles. She’s still not used to having
