Player Loves Curves Box Set #4-6 by Hope Ford
Neil
As soon asI get into town, I go straight to her apartment. I’ve knocked, I’ve pounded, and she hasn’t answered. Her car is not in the parking lot, so I know she’s not here. I’m sitting outside her apartment with baby throw-up on my shirt, waiting for her to get home when a neighbor opens their door and recognizes me. He opens the door wider and looks at the television and then back at me. “Hey, aren’t you Neil Fox from the Mavericks?”
I nod my head at him. “Have you seen Naomi?”
He grabs a stack of envelopes and a set of keys off the table. “No, she’s visiting her mom.” I watch as he walks to Naomi’s door, unlocks it and walks in. He leaves the door open and I see him set the mail on the counter before filling up a cup of water. He smiles at me as he walks around the house. “Thanks for the reminder though. I almost forgot to water her flowers. Hey, aren’t you supposed to be at a game?”
Stunned, I watch this man walk around Naomi’s apartment and all I feel is pure jealousy. I try to keep my voice calm. “Yeah, but I have something to take care of. So you have a key… to Naomi’s apartment?”
He smirks at me. “Yeah, so I can water her plants.”
I nod my head at him. “Okay, so do you know where Naomi’s mother lives?”
He nods his head and dumps water on another plant. “Yep. Are you the reason she was crying when she left here yesterday?”
Fuck! Just knowing that kills me. “Yep, but I’m going to fix it.”
He turns and looks at me then, measuring me up. He must see something he approves of, probably the desperation in my face. “She lives on 421 Holbert Street. Just down the road. But just so you know, I’m going to give you a five-minute head start, but I’m going to call her and warn her you’re coming.”
“Fair enough. Thanks,” I tell him, before I turn and sprint to the parking lot. Fuck! I don’t have my car and I let the cab leave. I put the address in my phone and it says it’s a ten minute walk. I take off running in the direction of her mom’s house.
I run up the driveway and before I knock, I try to catch my breath. I’m bent over, raggedly breathing when the door opens. “Neil?”
I lift my head and look straight at Naomi. Damn, I’ve missed her.
I try to speak, but I’m still trying to catch my breath. She motions me inside and says something about water. When she comes back I’m standing in the living room and she walks toward me, holding it out. I take a big swallow and set it down. A group of women come through the doorway and they’re all staring at me, but I don’t care.
“Naomi, part of what I love about you is that you liked me without knowing who I was in baseball. I don’t want easy women who care nothing about me. I want you. I missed a game, rushed back and didn’t even stop to change my vomit-covered shirt because you’re more important to me than all of that.”
I take a step toward her and she starts to speak. But I stop her. “And if that’s not enough, all you have to do is tell me what I need to do because I’ve never been more sure in my life about another person than I am about you.”
She takes a step toward me, then stops. “And the other women?”
I cringe, because I know how I would feel if I saw pictures like that of her with other men. “There’s no other women. Those pictures were from before. Way before I met you. There won’t be any other women. You’re all I want. You’re all I need.”
I reach my hand out to her and she looks at it and then back at me. “You promise you won’t lie to me or keep things from me? I can’t do this… I can’t always worry when you go out of town who you’re with or what you’re doing.”
She finally puts her hand into mine and I tug her toward me. She scrunches up her nose at the smell. I quickly pull off my shirt and the women in the room all giggle. “Sorry about that. Baby vomit from the plane. I promise to tell you any and everything as long as you promise not to disappear on me ever again. I know it’s soon, but being away from you has killed me, Naomi. I’ve fallen for you. I’ve fallen hard.”
Her face blooms into a beautiful smile and she reaches on her tiptoes to kiss me. I gather her close, giving her the sexy, hot kiss she deserves. The ladies in the room applaud and start hollering encore as we pull apart.
With swollen lips and a happy smile, Naomi says, “I guess I’d better get used to being in the public eye.”
