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Chapter 13
Nolan
Behind the gates of the Donati-Vitucci compound, it was like a small community. More like its own country within the middle of the city. There was the mansion, where Zariah had told me she’d grown up with her four siblings and cousins. But then the road twisted around the side of the huge house and led up to where one house was already fully completed and another was unfinished, but obviously coming along quickly.
In the distance, I saw a few smaller homes. From what Zariah had once explained to me, they were where some of the guards with family lived, while a larger one was more like a communal house for the other men who weren’t married. Unlike Tony, who didn’t live at the compound but several miles away with his spouse—or so Zariah had mentioned the day before in between our many rounds of lovemaking.
I stopped at the finished house just as the door opened, and Tony jogged down the front steps. He gave me a chin lift as he headed for the black SUV. From the entryway, Zariah stood watching him for a moment before turning those amazing blue eyes on me.
Her hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, her face completely wiped clean of makeup. She was in white shorts and a Harvard sweatshirt, and I couldn’t tell if she was wearing a bra or not, but my gaze was on the miles of bare legs I was already envisioning wrapped around my waist once again.
For several long moments, we stood there staring at each other. Fuck, she got more beautiful every time I saw her.
When she crossed her arms over her chest, I saw that she wasn’t wearing a bra after all, and my already hard cock began to throb. Tilting her head, she rested it on the doorframe and gave me a small smile. “Thank you for the flowers.”
“You liked them?” She nodded, and I relaxed a little. I’d never sent flowers before, not even to my mother. I’d asked Stewart’s advice on what to send. But he’d suggested some ugly arrangement that had reminded me of the jersey chasers who dressed like hookers at the bars in an attempt to get any ballplayer’s attention. I’d wanted something beautiful, elegant. Just like Zariah.
Not knowing what to say, I lifted the bottle of wine I’d picked up on my way over. “Do you still prefer red?”
Her smile grew bigger. “Are you nervous, Nolan?”
“I’d be lying if I said no.” I started up the steps toward her. “I missed you, Red.”
She stepped forward, erasing what was left of the distance separating us. “I missed you too,” she whispered, dropping her eyes to my chest almost shyly. “I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t help myself.”
With my free hand, I tipped her chin up, needing to see what was in those blue depths. “Good. Don’t fight this, baby. I’ll do everything I can to make the past up to you. I promise you won’t regret giving me a second chance, if you just let me in.”
She licked her bottom lip and stepped back, waving me into her home. “My sister helped me decorate.” She made conversation as she led the way through the house to the kitchen, where the most delicious smells were coming from.
I barely saw any of the art on the walls or the furniture. How could I see anything but the pink skin of her ass cheeks sticking out of the bottom of her shorts? From the front, nothing about her outfit was sexy, yet she had me harder than stone. I wanted to bend her over one of the little decorative tables, rip those shorts down her thighs, and thrust balls deep into her.
Instead, I clenched my fingers around the bottle of wine and followed her into the kitchen.
Plated spaghetti with simple marinara was already on the table. A basket of garlic rolls sat between the two plates along with a bowl of salad. “The chicken should be done,” she said as she walked over to the stove and opened the oven.
Grabbing two oven mitts, she extracted a pan of baked, herb-crusted chicken and carried it over to the table. After placing a piece on each plate, she set the pan aside before waving toward the chairs. “Doesn’t matter which seat you choose. Normally, I eat out or up at the mansion with my family. I want to take credit for this amazing-looking meal, but the truth is, Tony made the chicken and the spaghetti. All I did was brush a little garlic butter on the rolls after they were done and toss the salad.”
Setting the bottle of wine on the table, I wrapped my arms around her from behind and kissed her exposed neck. “Seems like we’re both a little nervous tonight.” She huffed but gave me a small, reluctant nod. “It’s because this is important to both of us, babe. Neither one of us wants to fuck it up.”
I heard her swallow roughly, but she didn’t disagree with me.
Turning her around, I pressed my lips to the center of her forehead. “Let’s eat before this gets cold. Then we can do…whatever.”
I pulled out one of the chairs and waited for her to sit before walking over to the other chair. She must have anticipated my bringing the wine, because two glasses were already on the table, along with a corkscrew. I opened the wine and started telling her about my day.
It reminded me of how it had been back in college, only better.
Zariah had spent the day annoyed with the majority of her staff, setting everything that she’d missed the day before to rights. But the glow in her eyes told me without words that she didn’t mind the aggravation so much after getting to spend the time away from work in my bed. I had to admit that the ass-chewing I’d gotten from not one but at least three of my coaches had been worth every second of it, considering how I’d spent the time playing hooky from practice.
When the option had been throwing a baseball in the boiling heat or staying in bed, fucking the woman I loved, there really wasn’t much of a choice to make. I would have done it again that morning, but the GM had threatened to fine me. Even that had given me pause, but in the end, I’d done the adult thing and gone to work.
Taking my last bite of the delicious chicken, I picked up my wineglass. “I’ll be out of town for…a while. I’ll be in Maryland for three days. Then we travel on to Boston, and I’ll be there for three games.”
“So, you’ll be gone for a week?” She sipped at her own wine, pushing her mostly empty plate away.
I grimaced. “We fly to Texas after that.”
“Another three games?” she murmured, seeming unfazed.
