Page 30 of Filthy Player
“Are you thinking about what I just said?”
“No. Of course not.”
“Sure you’re not. Come on. Park closes soon. You going to come on out or am I coming back in there?”
“Out.” She jumped. “I’m coming out.”
Wise decision. I didn’t have a problem taking her in my truck, but I did want her in my bed. Spread out so I could roam my hands over every inch of her soft skin.
She climbed out of the truck and I beeped the locks, meeting her at the front. Grabbing her hand, I threaded our fingers together.
The heat from her palm spread to mine, up my arm. I liked touching this girl. She made me feel like I was eighteen all over again and horny all the time. This was one of the best parts of being with a woman. Each new discovery of how we connected, what made them tick, what made them smile. What made them come…that was my favorite.
They were puzzles and each one cut differently. Paige was by far the most complicated.
Or, she was the first I cared about to stick around to try and solve all the pieces.
I guided her down the path, lights sparse the further we moved into the park, and I took my time, neither of us really speaking.
I’d found this park one night when I was out running. I didn’t want to run around the city or drive to a track and run laps like a hamster on a wheel.
Instead, I’d plugged in my GPS, found this place and I’d run for what felt like hours. Exhausted, I’d plopped down on the grass near the small pond and rested. I stayed there for hours more, doing nothing but thinking. Relaxing. I didn’t run plays through my head. I didn’t think about my volunteer schedule that was crazy busy during the off-season. I hadn’t thought of anything important, and when I needed a break from life, I always ended up there.
“You ever been here?” I asked. We were only twenty minutes from where she grew up.
“Yeah,” she said, her voice whispering like we were afraid of disrupting nature. We were surrounded by the still of the night, punctuated with the buzz of cicadas.
“When?”
A grin lifted her lips and she pointed back toward a playground we’d already passed. “I had my first kiss back under that jungle gym.”
My head snapped toward the jungle gym. The playground was old and not updated, still had the dome of metal bars from when I was a kid. “Seriously? You let some guy take advantage of you in a public park?” My expression went aghast.
“Who says he took advantage of me? Maybe I was the one doing all the taking.”
Holy hell. It was the first time she’d so brazenly flirted with me, bumping her hip into mine and squeezing my hand. Felt like a gold medal won after years of brutal training and time investment.
Yeah. I liked this girl.
“Nice to know I’m with an experienced woman, then. At least one of us has it.”
She pulled to an abrupt stop and she turned to me. Even in the dim shine of the poorly lit path, I could tell her face had paled. “What? But you said earlier in the truck…”
“Holy shit! I’m not a virgin!” I shouted. I tugged my hand from hers and covered my face, laughing my ass off. “That’s what you thought I meant? You’re a nut.”
“Well, what am I supposed to think when you talk about being experienced?”
“Jeez, woman. Get your head out of the gutter. I’m not always thinking about sex.” She flashed me a look and I quickly amended my statement. I raised my hands. “Okay. When I’m around you, I’m pretty much always thinking about sex, but that time, I wasn’t talking about it honestly.”
A blush hit her cheeks. Hard and fast. “Do you always say what you think?”
“Yes.”
“Have you ever heard of a social filter?”
“Please. Do I look like the kind of guy who cares what people say about me?” I flung my arms out, might have puffed out my chest like a peacock strutting. Her eyes roamed my body, slowly, as if she was already inspecting every inch of me while I was naked. “Need a closer look?” I asked when she didn’t speak.
A sliver of her tongue poked out and wiped her bottom lip. She turned back toward the pond. “Nope.”
