SWNOVELS Beyond the Game: Chapter 14
“Two truths and a lie. Let’s hear it.”
“Oh uh…okay.”
Reaching over, Dex slips his hand under my calf and lifts my leg, setting it down on his thigh, and then wraps his hand around my foot. He digs his fingers into my arch massaging my foot and it is everything. It feels so good I have to stop myself from moaning. Though I wonder how he would react if I did. The thought almost makes me giggle.
“Let’s see. Um, I know every word of every Taylor Swift song ever written.”
No way.
Every single one?
“I know how to knit.”
Hmm…possible? But unlikely.
“And I’ve been skating on ice since I was six.”
Well that one is clearly true.
I narrow my eyes and watch the good-looking man on the other end of my couch for any clue to the correct answer, but he gives nothing away.
“Oooh, that’s a hard one. I don’t know if I can picture you knitting, but then again…something about you makes me think of course, you know how to knit. You’ve clearly been skating for a long time, so I’m going to say you’re lying about the T. Swift songs.”
He tilts his head giving me his best sympathetic expression. “I’m sorry, Tater but you’re wrong. You give me a title, I can sing you any Swifty song out there.”
I laugh. “No kidding?”
“I would never lie about my BFF, Swift.”
“You know her?”
Oh my God, if he knows her personally, I might just die right here, right now!
“Nah, I don’t know her personally. She’s my pregame routine. I dance out to her music every game day.”
I bite down on my lips to keep from laughing and study him for a moment. Maybe he’s lying about that and maybe he’s not. Either way, “Watching Dex Foster dance it out in a locker room to Taylor Swift is now my newest bucket list item.”
Squeezing my foot in his hand, he winks. “Guess you’ll have to come to a game sometime to make that happen.”
“Oh, is that a promise?”
“Sweetheart, I think I would promise you anything.”
Whoa!
Does he know he said that out loud?
Did he mean to say it?
My cheeks flush and my eyes glaze and I’m somehow hyper aware of his hand now wrapped around my other foot, his fingers sending tiny electric jolts through my toes.
“So good,” I think to myself.
“What’s so good?”
“What?”
Oh, my God.
He smirks. “You said ‘So good.’”
“I…did I?”
Nice going Tatum.
You said that out loud!
Way to sound like a perv.
“You did.”
“Shit, I’m sorry.” I palm my forehead and shake my head at the same time, nervous laughter floating out of my mouth. “I didn’t mean for that to sound so…ugh, I was just thinking…you know, it feels good. My feet, I mean. I haven’t had a foot rub in a long time.”
“Good. I’m glad it’s helping.”
An awkward silence falls between us as he continues his caress on my feet. I could get lost in watching his hands manipulate my body, moving my foot this way and that, his fingers gripping, sliding, rubbing, stimulating.
God!
Get it together, Tatum!
“Your lie then,” I say changing the subject. “You don’t know how to knit?”
“Oh, I know how to knit. I’ve been knitting for the last few months, actually.”
“Sooo he sings Taylor Swift and knows how to knit? Who even are you, Dex Foster?”
His magnetic eyes penetrate mine. “Just a nobody hockey player.” He grins. “One who didn’t learn to skate until he was ten.”
I hear the humor in his voice but I’m stuck on the fact he thinks so little of himself.
“A nobody hockey player, huh?”
“Mhmm.”
“A nobody hockey player who makes millions? A nobody hockey player who donates his time and money to a community sports program for underprivileged kids?”
His brow perks up. “You checkin’ up on me Tate?”
“Maybe. But a nobody hockey player is where I must disagree with you. I think you’re much more than a nobody, Mr. Foster.” I smooth my hand over my growing baby bump. “And in a few short months you’ll be the dad of the cutest little hockey fan in the league.”
As I speak, there’s a movement underneath my hand that makes me smile. It’s one the weirdest but best feelings in the entire world.
“The baby’s moving!”
His eyes grow as they land on my stomach and he watches as this baby does what feels like a somersault inside me.
“Good God it looks like you have an alien in there. That shouldn’t be normal.”
I chuckle and grab his hand, placing it on my stomach. He swallows hard and glances at me before focusing on the part of me he’s touching. We sit in awkward silence waiting for any sign of movement and then finally it happens again.
“Holy shit. I can feel that,” Dex exclaims.
“Yeah.” That’s all I can say because I’m too busy smiling.
“Does that hurt?” He blanches. “When the baby moves inside you?”
I shake my head. “Not usually. Every now and then he or she kicks my rib or bounces a little too hard near my bladder. It doesn’t really hurt as much as it can get uncomfortable once in a while. It’s not like there’s room to stretch out in there.”
“This is amazing.”
I spend the next few minutes leaning back on the couch allowing Dex to roam his warm hand over my stomach chasing baby movements. I close my eyes for a quick second, relaxing in the warmth of Dex’s proximity and the gentleness of his touch. When I open them again, he’s watching me. His pupils dilated, his stare hungry as he glances between my eyes and my mouth.
My lips separate and my breath catches and all I can think about is what it would feel like to have his lips on mine again. I swiftly moisten my lips with my tongue and watch as his Adam’s apple bobs along his neck when he swallows. My heart rate rises and nerves flutter through my whole body. Dex moves his hand across my stomach one more time and it’s all I can do not to moan. His touch feels amazing and I’m clearly extra hormonal and horny because I would give anything for him to drop his hand between my legs and relieve me of this sudden tension.
“Dex,” I breathe.
“I should get you home.” He pulls away from me and rises from the couch.
Wait. What?
No!
He starts to walk away, toward the front door, which isn’t far, and I spring from the couch as well. I mean, as much as super pregnant woman can spring.
“Oh, okay.” I walk with him, fighting my internal disappointment. “Hey, I had a really great time with you, Dex. Thank you for today. And…you know, the ice cream and the foot massage.”
“You’re welcome,” he mumbles as he slides his shoes on.
Why does he seem so tense now?
Did I say something to upset him?
A few minutes ago, he was in awe over our baby moving and now? It’s like his mood just snapped. He reaches for the doorknob when I finally speak up again.
“Dex, what’s wrong?”
“Nothi—”
“Did I do something? Say something wrong? I’m sorry I—’
He turns. His eyes squeezed tightly closed like he’s in pain. I’m about to ask him what I can do when his eyes open again and he’s on me like a lion to its prey. His whole hand against the side of my face, his lips crash against mine and he’s kissing me with a fury I haven’t felt since…well, since that night together in May. He sweeps his tongue across my lips, begging me to open, and I welcome his intrusion.
“Tatum.” My name is on his breath, his whisper of a voice fueling the desire pooling between my legs. I don’t know if we should be doing this but when the man who gave me the absolutely best sex of my life is standing in his apartment kissing me, who am I to even consider stopping him? His mouth is demanding against mine and I ache to please him. To give him everything he wants from me.
I’ve wanted Dex since the moment I saw him standing in his kitchen. I wanted him the night I walked out of his resort room and I dreamed of the day I might get to have this experience with him again.
“Dex. Please,” I beg in between swipes of his tongue.
“I’m sorry, Tate,” he whispers against my lips, refusing to stop his assault on my lips. “I know we shouldn’t be doing this, but I…fuck!”
“I want this, Dex. Please. I need you.”
He pulls back, weighing his options, staring at me like I’m painful to look at. I fear whatever I might say could scare him off but I tell him what I’m thinking anyway. At this point I would take a pity quickie. Anything to relieve this tension.
“I can’t reach between my legs anymore, Dex. I need help. Help me.”
Dex’s eyes bulge as he watches me try to touch myself and then he snaps.
“Tatum,” he growls, kissing me harder, bruising my lips. “You have no idea how much I’ve thought about you during these past months. You and your sweet dripping pussy. Fuck, you were magnificent.” He slides his hand into my leggings and slips two fingers under my panties between my legs.
“Oooh, God, yes.” My head falls back and I groan loudly as he swipes through me and grunts against my mouth. “Fuuuuuck, Tate. You’re soaked for me.” He pulls his hand out and sucks those two wet fingers into his mouth, his eyes never leaving mine. “More. I need to taste you.”
“Yes, please.”
His strong hand wraps around me and he lifts me easily into his arms. He carries me down a dark hallway and into the last room on the left. His bedroom. There, he lays me down gently, my hips at the edge of his bed. Slowly he slides my leggings and black panties down my legs, pulling them off entirely and tossing them to the floor.
“Are you comfortable like this? You okay?”
Gah! How sweet of him to consider me.
I nod. “Yes. Yes, I’m fine. I promise.”
Kneeling in front of me, he rests my legs on his shoulders and peppers my inner thighs with sweet kisses. My bottom lip between my teeth, I prop myself up onto my elbows and watch him.
“So beautiful, Tate. So fucking beautiful.” And before I can respond to his compliments, he’s swiping his tongue through me from ass to clit and I’m a goner.
“Ooooh fuuuuuck yes. Just like that.”
He spreads me wide open, his tongue licking, mouth sucking, teeth biting.
“Dex, please,” I breathe. “More.”
“Guide me, baby. Use me. Take what you need.”
I have never in my entire adult life had a man tell me to use him and take whatever I need from him so when Dex offers, I refuse to think twice about chasing my screamy dream. It’s been over seven months since I’ve seen any action and dammit, I deserve a night of pleasure. I reach down and tug at his hair, his moan against me spurring me on as I thrust against his mouth.
“Fucking hell, Tatum. You are so goddamn hot. Fuck my face, baby. Let me taste you as you come over my mouth.”
“Dex!” I cry out, moving faster, harder against him. He juts out his tongue, licking me, swirling against me as I ride his face until my body begins to tremble and I’m about to meet my maker. He reaches up and pushes two fingers gently inside me, curling them up against my inner wall and I scream so loud my throat is sore.
“Ooooh, my GOD! YES! YES! YES! UNGHHH!”
Dex doesn’t stop his onslaught. Instead, he laps up every drop of me he can, licking his lips and wiping his chin before he kisses his way up my body, tenderly kissing my mouth. With ease, he lies down next to me and pulls me against him, my head lying in the crook of his shoulder. It’s comfortable here.
“Thank you, Dex.”
Those are the last words I remember murmuring to him before my body betrays me. I don’t wake again until morning.
Dex: Holy shit Tate! Did you know 1 in every 2000 babies is born with teeth? TEETH! Our kid can be born with teeth! Why does that give me visions of a monster baby literally eating its way out of you??? Hawken is slightly horrified.
Me: Where do you think guys learn to eat pussy in the first place? *smirk emoji*
Dex: *Surprise emoji* Is that…wait…no. You’re fucking with me. Goddamn it Tate!
Me: LOL! Oh God, I can’t laugh or I’ll have to pee.
Dex: How about Thor?
Me: Only if the middle name can be Cletus?
Dex: WTF? Thor Cletus Foster? I just threw up in my mouth. No way.
Me: How about Violet?
Dex: Are we having a girl??? Did you find out without me?
Me: No. But you seem so confident that it’s a boy. Thought I would change it up.
Dex: It is a boy. I can just feel it. This kid is going to be the next generation’s biggest hockey star.
Me: And you could tell that as you were pile driving into me? That all your little swimmers were boys?
Dex: Hell yeah! I Think that might be my superpower! I can mass produce tiny, microscopic dicks! And I didn’t hear you complaining about me driving into you. Pretty sure your words were something like “Oh God…don’t stop…so good…”
Dex: ….
Dex: ….
Dex: Speechless huh? That’s what I thought.
___
“Yeah, Baby. Just like that. Spread those legs for me. I want to feast on that sweet pussy. That’s my good girl.”
I watch as Dex’s head lowers between her legs, his tongue running along her soft pink center and circling around her clit. She moans loudly, writhing beneath him. Her eyes squeezed closed as she focuses on her pleasure.
“So fucking good, Baby. Fuck, I’m drunk on your pussy. Always so ready for me.”
“Yesssss,” she sighs. “More. I want more, Dex. Need more.” She grabs onto his hair and pushes him back down between her legs and he continues to pleasure her.
“Dex? Why are you doing this?” I don’t understand why I’m here. Why am I being forced to watch this? I can’t even figure out who the woman he’s with is but my heart breaks with every pass of his tongue.
That should be me.
He should be with me.
Why isn’t he with me?
Dex circles his tongue over and over again, sucking, licking, nipping, and she’s coming like a freight train. Her arousal spread over his mouth and chin. He stands with a victorious smile.
“That’s my good girl. You are fucking delicious.”
He lifts her legs until they’re resting on his shoulders and then palms his cock, sliding it between her legs and lining himself up.
“Dex, please!” I whisper. “Please don’t do this.”
He sinks himself deep inside her and I watch in horror as his head falls back in ecstasy and he groans that deep sexy groan I’ve heard before.
“Fucking perfect for me.”
“Dex!”
My eyes shoot open with the sound of my alarm, but the twinge in my chest doesn’t go away. The uncomfortable feeling is coupled with a despair that leaves my mouth dry and my eyes ready to spill over with unshed tears. It takes me a few minutes to calm my nerves and realize I was just dreaming, because hell, did it feel one hundred percent real. I was right there. I was in the room. I watched him pleasure her. I looked on as she soaked it all in and it nearly crippled me to hear him tell her how perfect she was for him. I stare up at my ceiling trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with my brain right now.
Why am I having sex dreams?
I never have sex dreams.
I don’t understand why it wasn’t me Dex was with in my dream.
Why was I forced to watch him with someone else?
And why did it hurt so goddamn much?
“Fucking pregnancy brain,” I mumble, rolling out of bed and making my way to the bathroom. “Nope. Nope. Nope. This is all your fault so kindly fuck off and eat a bag of dicks. I don’t have time for this right now.”
Yeah.
That’ll tell my stupid body who’s boss.
“No more wild sex dreams of Dex with other women. I don’t need a heart attack before this baby comes.”
Grabbing my phone from its charger, I turn on one of my many good-morning playlists and crank up the volume. With any luck my favorite songs will drown out all my other thoughts and allow me to focus on my day ahead.
___
“Hey, good morning, Mama.” Rory springs into my classroom looking like the perfect Kindergarten teacher with her bright red dress with yellow polka dots and her hair pulled up in two messy buns. Her black Vans bring the entire look together. Rory Foster is a whole vibe on such a bleak January day, and she makes me smile every time I see her.
“Morning, Rory.”
“How ya feeling?”
I nod with a light shrug. “I think I’m okay. A rough morning but once I got here, I was able to keep my mind off of things.”
“Uh oh, what things?”
I wave her off. “Oh, it’s nothing. Not important.”
“Of course, it’s important.” She sits on one of the tables in front of my desk and folds her hands in her lap. “Tell me all the things. What’s eating you?”
You mean who’s eating me?
Does she know that…?
Nah. Siblings don’t share that stuff.
Right?
You really probably don’t want to know this.
“All of the things,” she emphasizes, giving me a come at me gesture. “Let’s hear it.”
I let out a quick breath and cock my head. “I had a sex dream last night.”
Her eyes bulge. “Oooooh is this some sort of horny pregnant woman thing? Do you have sex dreams a lot? Get it girl!”
My cheeks flush. “No, I don’t. I never have sex dreams.”
She leans forwards and murmurs, “Were you getting railed? Was it every woman’s wet dream?”
I cringe. “Well…I mean, probably not yours.”
Her shoulders fall and her smile falters. “What? Why no—oooooh.” She cringes. “You had a Dex sex dream?”
Oh my God, this is so uncomfortable. “Yeah…but also no.”
“Huh?”
“Okay, so ugh…I can’t believe I’m saying this.”
“Hey, he’s my brother. If anyone should be uncomfortable here it’s me. Just lay it on me. I can handle it.” She twists her mouth. “I think.”
“Okay so in my dream it was Dex and some other woman I don’t know.”
“And you?” She perks up. “Like a threesome?”
I shake my head. “No. Just the two of them. And I’m the outsider looking in. Forced to watch them together. It was super…” I sigh. “Well, I woke up feeling angry and heartbroken. I mean what the fuck is that about?”
“Heartbroken because you weren’t the woman he was with?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
A grin spreads across her face like the Grinch who stole Christmas. “You want to sleep with my brother!”
I gesture to my growing stomach. “Pretty sure I already took care of that.”
“Hmm, true. Maybe you’re just horny? I know that happens because Shelly used to talk about it all the time. Her husband was a lucky man for a few weeks.”
“Yeah. Maybe you’re right. It was just a weird way to wake up.”
“I bet.” She’s quiet for a moment and then finally asks, “Sooo, are you and Dex a thing? Like officially?”
Does eating pussy make us official?
I don’t think it does.
I probably shouldn’t tell her that.
“We haven’t really talked about it so, I guess that answer is no.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’m gonna have to have a talk with that boy.”
I huff out a quiet laugh. “It’s really okay. If it’s not meant to be, we’ll find a parenting path we can both feel good about.”
“You will. And you know if there’s anything I can do, all you have to do is ask.”
“Thank you, Rory.”
She hops down from the table she was sitting on. “Hey, and while it’s on my mind. Next Friday, Red Tails play at home. You’re coming. You can sit with Charlee and Carissa and me. The WAGS, if you will.”
“WAGS?”
“Wives and girlfriends of the players…and sisters I guess, since I’m there sometimes.” She waves. “I’ll shoot you more info later!”
I call after her. “But I’m not his girlfr—”
“See ya, Tate!” She’s down the hall but I still hear her giggle.
___
“Ms. Lowe! Tyson just said I farted and tried to smell my butt!” I look up from my desk to find one of my little first grade buddies, Daniel, stomping toward me from across the room. I swear winter days are the worst. Poor kids can’t get outside and let go of some energy so they’ll bicker about literally anything. Apparently today it’s farts.
“That’s because he farted!” Tyson argues, following close behind.
Daniel gestures to him. “Yeah, but he just put his face near my butt to smell my butt.”
I narrow my eyes at Tyson and try to choke back my laugh at the same time. “Tyson, did you really do that?”
“Yeah.”
“Why would you do that, Bud?”
“To smell if he farted. That’s why.”
Can I really argue with that?
The kid had a hypothesis and he did the research.
“Alright well, I think maybe we should stick to our own personal spaces, Tyson. Sometimes farts just happen and that’s okay.”
“Yeah,” Daniel pipes up. “My mom farted last night at supper and it was super loud. My dad gave her a high five.”
“Well, that’s…something, Daniel. How about you two finish your game over there because it’s almost time for recess to be over and we’ll have to clean up.”
Daniel and Tyson gasp, beaming at each other like they totally forgot they were even playing together in the first place, and run off to their corner of the room leaving me to contemplate what it might be like raising a little boy.
Raising a little boy with Dex Foster.
As the kids play in their last few minutes of recess, I let my mind wander back to that night with Dex in his resort room. He was right in his text the other day. About wanting someone to hook up with while I was there. I wanted to sleep with someone who would rock my world for just one night. Someone who could show me what I missed out on all those years with my ex.
And Dex was one hundred percent that guy.
And to add the cherry on top of my Dex Foster Sundae, he was kind. He was friendly and he was irrevocably focused on me and the pleasure he knew he could give me.
And did he ever give it to me.
My eyes roll back as I feel him touching me, slipping his fingers between my legs. His breath on my neck, his lips on my skin.
“Fucking dripping for me, Babe.
Goddamn, I can’t wait to be inside you.
Come on. Give it up for me.”
I squeeze my thighs together trying to remember the feeling of his pressure. The fullness. The—
RIIIIIING
The sound of the recess bell brings me back to reality, seated at my desk, my hand on my chest almost cupping my throat. My heart is racing.
God that felt so real.
It was real.
Once upon a time.
But things are different now, and like it or not, these pregnancy hormones will have to settle themselves because Dex and I are not together in that way.
We’re two people having a baby together and that’s it.
With the exception of the other night, he hasn’t expressed interest otherwise and I can respect that. Dex has a lot on his plate with his career. It would be selfish to ask for more.
Besides, he hasn’t given any indication of wanting more even if I wanted to ask.
Co-parents. That’s what we are.
That’s what we will be.