Short Stop to Love Page 7

  He pulled her into his arms, grabbing her leg to throw it over his. They lay in silence and Keri basked in it. She felt sated and perfectly content with where she was. Jeremy’s long fingers played with her hair and Keri sighed in happiness.

  “Tell me about your tattoos.”

  Jeremy cleared his throat. “My tattoos? What about them?”

  “When did you get them? Until I Googled you, I had no idea you had any.”

  Her fingers traced the lettering on his chest while she waited.

  “There’s not much to tell. Trust was the first one I got right before I got drafted.”

  “Why Trust?”

  Jeremy shifted and stopped playing with her hair. “A lot of reasons, really. Mainly, trust is important to me.”

  Keri debated bringing up how he broke her trust, but thought that might ruin the mood.

  “What about the cross?”

  “To remind me to have faith.”

  Jeremy started playing with her hair again, stroking from root to tip. Keri relaxed further into him.

  “So,” Jeremy said, “do you have to go back on Monday?”

  Keri moved slightly so she could look up and see Jeremy’s face. “What do you mean?”

  “It’s Saturday and now that you’re here, I don’t want you to leave.”

  “I don’t want to leave either.”

  “So, can you stay past Monday?”

  “For how long?” she asked, thinking over her leave time. She knew she had enough since she usually didn’t take days. But she wasn’t sure of her schedule. She would need to check her phone for that.

  “Until next weekend?”

  “I need my phone,” she said, moving to get up.

  Jeremy pressed her back. “Let me.”

  Jeremy padded from the room, allowing Keri to unashamedly ogle his ass. He was back a few moments later with her clutch, handing it to her. She quickly fished her phone out, going to her schedule. She had only a few meetings this week, all of them with authors, so she could probably reschedule them or do them over Skype instead.

  She dialed Lisa, quickly explaining what she wanted her to do. While she waited for Lisa to get back with her, she logged into Next Page’s servers and moved to her leave statement. She requested the rest of the week off.

  Finished, she placed her phone on the nightstand and looked at Jeremy. “Done. I can stay through next weekend.”

  Jeremy grinned. “Let me see about changing your flight then.”

  He grabbed his phone, pressing a few buttons before laying it down. He pulled her back to him. “Now, where were we?” he asked, quirking a brow at her.

  Keri giggled as he palmed her ass and pulled her to him for a scorching kiss. Keri laughed as Jeremy pushed her onto her back and loomed over her. “I think we have some time to fill,” Jeremy said as he leaned down to kiss her.

  Keri’s laughter quickly turned to moans as Jeremy worked on filling some of the time they had left together.

  Joann: I knocked on your door and you didn’t answer. Let me in.

  Joann: I don’t hear anything in your room. Are you alive?

  Joann: Where are you? I’ve knocked on your door five times.

  Joann: It’s midnight! What are you doing at midnight?

  Joann: It’s nine a.m. Troy just told me you’re staying. Where are you????

  Joann: The D must have been good for you to stay out all night. ;)

  CHAPTER SIX

  Jeremy

  Jeremy couldn’t help smiling the following Friday. This past week with Keri had been amazing. They’d grown closer and he could see it turning into something meaningful. His phone buzzed. He glanced at it and then the head of the woman sleeping next to him. He carefully got out of bed and dressed, grabbing his phone.

  He checked his messages and rolled his eyes at Troy’s text.

  Troy: Dude, you able to tear yourself away?

  Jeremy: What do you need?

  Troy: You mean you’re not attached to her yet?

  Jeremy: I assume you had a reason to text me that doesn’t involve trying to get a rise out of me.

  Troy: Yeah, I did. But teasing you is more fun.

  Jeremy: What do you need?

  Troy: You’re crabby this morning. Not get any last night?

  Jeremy:…

  Troy: Fine, fine. I want to borrow your boat.

  Jeremy: Did you forget what happened last time?

  Troy: One time. I scraped your boat one time and you won’t let me forget it.

  Jeremy: That’s because those repairs were expensive. And you didn’t pay for them.

  Troy: Have Liam come with me. Come on! I want to impress Joann.

  Jeremy: Why should I let you take my boat out?

  Troy: Because I’ll tell Mom.

  Troy: Seriously dude, I’ll owe you one.

  Jeremy: Fine. I’ll text Liam. You want it tomorrow?

  Troy: Or Sunday. Just let me know.

  Troy: What are you getting up to today?

  Jeremy: I was going to order breakfast and then take Keri out.

  Troy: You’re not going to cook?

  Jeremy: Do you want her to die?

  Troy: Right, I forgot you can’t cook. Well, I’ll let you get to it. Thanks, bro.

  He fired off a text to Liam, his mate, and ordered them breakfast to be delivered. After placing the order, he turned the coffee maker on and started the kettle for Keri’s morning green tea.

  As the coffee percolated, he went back to his bedroom. He chuckled when he opened the door and noticed Keri hadn’t moved any since he walked out thirty minutes before. He grinned as he stepped up to the bed and slowly started to pull the cover back from Keri’s body. She shifted as he pulled them away from her, curling into a ball, but she didn’t wake up. His eyes raked over her body and he felt himself stir.

  He muffled a groan as he took in her lithe body clad in only a tank top and sleep shorts. He carefully leaned his body over her, brushed her hair away from her face and peppered kisses on it. Keri groaned, trying to move away from his kisses, but he wouldn’t let her, holding her to the bed.

  “Jeremy…”Keri moaned as she tried to roll away from him.

  Jeremy chuckled. “Wake up sleepy head.”

  “No…”

  Her eyes fluttered open and focused on him. Jeremy opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get the words out, Keri pulled him to her, pressing a kiss to his lips. She sighed into it and forced his mouth open, tangling her tongue with his.

  Jeremy moaned as he deepened the kiss, pushing her further into the mattress. With one hand holding her to him, his other lightly caressed her sides and anywhere he could reach. She shivered in his arms and moaned. His hand moved to her front, tracing the outside of her nipple. She squirmed, trying to push her breast more fully into his hand. He gave in and palmed her breast, tweaking her already pebbled nipple. She groaned and Jeremy’s hands moved lower and gathered her shirt in his hands. Before he could pull it off, his doorbell rang.

  “What’s that?” Keri asked, panting as she pulled back.

  “That’s breakfast,” Jeremy said, kissing her once more before standing. He winked at her as he strode from the room, chuckling at her groan of frustration. He was feeling it too. His erection pushed against the front of his sweatpants. He willed it to go down as he unlocked the door. He didn’t want to give the neighborhood or delivery person a show.

  He signed the receipt, smiled his thanks, and accepted the delivery bag. When he stepped back into the dining room, Keri was sitting there attempting to cool her cup of tea.

  As he set the bag on the table, she pushed a cup of coffee toward him. He smiled his thanks and took a sip, pleased to discover she’d gotten it right. They set breakfast up and then dug in.

  Keri cleared her throat after a few minutes and Jeremy looked at her.

  “Can you tell me why baseball was so important to you as a child?” she asked.

  Jeremy sighed internally. The mem
ories of his early life were hard, but he promised full disclosure to her and he intended to uphold that.

  “I told you how my dad gave me my glove and how I enjoyed it. But, there’s more to it. Baseball drew me out of my shell. Until my dad played that first game of catch, I didn’t understand how to be around my family.”

  “Draw you out of your shell?”

  Jeremy sighed. “The first three years of my life were…rough. The short version is my mom was addicted to drugs and wasn’t ready to be a mom. She ended up surrendering me to the state when I was three. Thankfully I don’t have many memories of those years, just a few vague ones. But two things I remember are hunger and fear. Because my birth mother left to try to score drugs all the time, I would be left alone for hours on end and she wouldn’t remember to buy food. That’s where the fear comes in. I remember hearing a lot of noises I didn’t understand, so anytime I was alone, I didn’t know what would happen next.”

  He paused for a moment to get his emotions under control. He could feel sadness creeping in.

  “Because of the pseudo-abandonment from my birth mom, I didn’t trust my new Mom and Dad to not do the same. My dad giving me that baseball allowed me to act…normal. Baseball isn’t a contact sport and didn’t require a lot of talking, so to be able to play something with my father, grandfather, and brother was amazing for me. I wanted to do it all the time.”

  Jeremy risked a glance at Keri, who was smiling softly at him. “Are your…issues better?”

  Jeremy nodded and continued to eat. “Yeah. It took me a while to be comfortable on the ball field. But, with the help of a therapist and my parents, it got to the point that interacting with other people wasn’t as much of an issue for me. By the time I was a teenager and playing more seriously, I had no issues.”

  “So…why’d you decide to go pro?”

  “When I was fifteen, I was called one of the best players in the state. I shook off the praise and turned my attention to summer and fall ball. I didn’t care if I was ‘the best.’ When scouts started showing up to watch me, court me, I guess I realized they weren’t just blowing smoke up my ass.”

  Jeremy paused and sipped his coffee. “I had offers from several universities to play and several pro teams. But, I didn’t want to go the pro route at that point. I was more interested in finishing my degree. I thought it was smart to have a fall back just in case baseball didn’t pan out.”

  “But, you dropped out?”

  “Yes, I dropped out because I wasn’t getting the playing time I thought I should at that point, especially when I had better stats. So, I entered the draft and was taken first round by Seattle.”

  “What about your degree?”

  Jeremy sighed. “That’s a touchy subject.”

  “How is it touchy?”

  “When I chose to go pro, my dad was very disappointed in me. We had a lot of arguments and didn’t talk for a while. My degree was important, but I wanted to play ball more than I wanted that piece of paper. I regretted it though.”

  “So you went back?”

  Jeremy nodded. “I did, but online only, mainly in the off-season. I found that there was no way I could keep up with my classes during regular season play and I didn’t want to deal with the stares by doing in person. It took two years of online classes before I had my bachelors.”

  Keri looked confused. “But, I don’t remember seeing that anywhere about you.”

  “That’s because no one knows.”

  “Oh,” she said, regarding him with wide eyes. “Why not?”

  Jeremy sighed and scrubbed his hand over his face, trying to banish memories of his dad’s disappointment. “I did it for me. My dad was…disappointed when I dropped out. He thought I was stupid for pinning it all on my career. So, when I chose to return to school, I didn’t bother telling him. No one knows besides you and Troy.”

  “What’s your degree in?”

  “Business. I actually have my MBA as well.”

  Keri looked at him, shocked. “Did you do that online as well?”

  “Yep. Took another two years.”

  “Since you have your degree, what are you going to do with it?”

  “I had to come up with a business plan in one of my classes. I took that plan and put it into action. I own my own business that’s pretty small, all things considered. I have a CEO and other people in place to run it.”

  “Oh, really? How are you able to pull that off?”

  “I’m not listed on the public website. You’d have to dig deep to find me on anything. I set it up so you’d have to go through an LLC to get to the real owner and even then, you have to work pretty hard.”

  “What company do you own?”

  “GT Holdings.”

  Keri’s eyes widened. GT Holdings was a well known business in Washington because of their dealings with local businesses that failed and their efforts with agriculture. They were constantly trying to develop ways to help bring food to the poor and hungry. If they were unable to save a dead business, they would help place employees in new jobs. They were also known for their philanthropy, donating millions of dollars to local charities.

  “Really? You’re the…owner of that?”

  Jeremy nodded. “I hope to one day take a more hands on approach, but I have a barracuda running it right now. Roger is more than happy to be the face of the company and he does a great job.”

  The two of them stared at each other for several moments, neither saying anything. Jeremy wondered what she was thinking and also found himself wondering how she really felt about who he was.

  “So,” he started, “how are you really feeling?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “About this? Me? Finding out who I really am? This last week has held a lot of revelations.”

  Keri sighed swirled her tea mug. “Well, I’m sure you remember that conversation,” she teased. “I can understand your desire for normalcy. I appreciate you telling me everything now though. That doesn’t change the initial omission, though. I’m still pretty angry at that…”

  “I understand. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you beforehand. This might not make you feel better, but I did think about telling you a few times before you got here.”

  “Why didn’t you?”

  Jeremy shrugged. “I don’t really have a good reason except that I was stupid.”

  “I think I can possibly accept that.”

  They were silent for a few moments before Keri said, “So, what is the plan for today? Do you have practice?”

  Jeremy shook his head and pushed back from the table.

  “No, today is completely free. I was thinking we could go to a local glass blowing hut and check it out? They have a small museum that covers the history of the art and a demonstration area.”

  “That sounds like fun!”

  Thirty minutes later, Jeremy was ushering Keri out the door, shutting it tightly behind them and leading her to the car. He enjoyed the warmth of the Arizona sun as they walked to his car. He already dreaded returning to Seattle’s rainy spring weather at the end of March.

  A short while later, he parked outside the glass blowing hut. He paid the small entrance fee and led her inside. They quietly worked their way past the displays, pointing out various things to each other. He thought it was interesting to see how the glass changed as it progressed through time. He didn’t realize how much glass was used for various things. Once they reached the end of the display, they stepped into a demonstration room where there were several workers actively blowing glass.

  “That is so cool,” Keri whispered, her eyes glued to the person in front of them.

  “It is. How hard do you think it is to do something like that?”

  Keri shrugged. “I don’t know. Isn’t it dangerous to inhale that too?”

  “Well, anything molten would be bad I imagine, but I could see where glass might be particularly bad.”

  Keri bumped Jeremy and he grinned. “I think they let you make something.
You interested?”

  “Yes!”

  Jeremy flicked his eyes to Keri and chuckled quietly at the look of awe on her face. While Keri sat down on a bench in front of the work. Jeremy walked to the teenaged attendant by the cash register.

  “Are you interested in participating?” she asked him with a toothy smile.

  “Yeah, with my girlfriend.”

  “Alright. What you’ll do is fill out this form and select your object to make. That determines the price, so please pay attention to that. Once you’re finished, bring it back to me and I’ll get you squared away.”

  Jeremy nodded and walked back to Keri, settling beside her as he read the form over. It was straightforward and they looked over the options. Keri settled on a small glass bowl.

  Jeremy walked back to the teen and handed her the form. She read it over and handed him a chip with the number 3 on it. “This is your number. The person by where you’re sitting will help you with the particulars. He’ll let you know when he’s ready to start.”

  With a nod, Jeremy rejoined Keri. A few minutes later, they were beckoned forward by the glass blower, who went over safety tips with them, making sure Keri especially understood what she should and shouldn’t do when she was helping.

  Jeremy pulled his phone out and started snapping pictures of Keri working with the molten glass. He found himself grinning as he watched her carefully take her hollow stick and blow into the glass, slowly increasing its size. She grinned as she stepped back, obviously proud of herself. She repeated the process several times before letting the worker finish the bowl, placing it away to cool and giving them a voucher so they could pay at the front. He assured them it would be by the register shortly.

  With a smile of thanks, they made their way into the gift shop.

  “Wow…” Keri said as they stepped into a room filled with ornaments.

  Jeremy had to agree. He knew they had a gift shop, but what he was seeing surpassed that. This place was its own store. They had stepped into a Christmas themed room filled with all sorts of glass ornaments. You could tell they were hand blown because of the imperfections, which made them even more beautiful.