10. Alan

Chapter ten

Alan

I have no idea what came over me. One second, we were dancing and I was thinking about how I have to keep this professional, the next, I’m kissing him and he’s grinding in my lap, edging me closer and closer to release.

“We shouldn’t,” he says in between kisses.

“We shouldn’t,” I repeat, but our bodies don’t get the message, and before we know it, we’re shirtless and his hand is moving down between us to my pants.

I slide my fingers up the back of his neck through his hair, kissing along his jaw until my lips reach the delicious soft skin in the crease of his neck.

I’ve thought about this more times than I’d care to admit, but my imagination was nothing compared to reality. I never could have imagined how perfectly his ass fits in my lap, how his skin tastes sweet and salty and stirs a hunger inside me that only more of him can satiate. I’m vibrating under his touch, every fiber of my being alight with desperate need of his touch, of him. His fingers wrap around my cock and my balls throb. Not yet. This can’t end yet.

I bite my lip and drop my head back trying to hold on, to last a little bit longer, because I’ve dreamed of doing this for months, and when he pulls me out and the cool air hits, I get a moment of control back. But then he pulls himself out, too, and wedges us together and it takes everything in me not to come right then.

Both of my hands move to his ass, and he grips my neck tightly with his free hand and kisses me again. His big soft lips fit perfectly with mine, his body like the other piece of a puzzle, fitting in just the exact right way.

We shouldn’t be doing this. But it feels so right, so good. Kissing him, holding him, my cock pressed against his, thickening and throbbing and…

“Oh fuck,” I say, breaking our kiss as I shudder, no longer able to hold back, and my dick pulses as I unload between us in spurts.

His gaze moves to my cock, watching me come, and then his grip on my neck tightens, and he joins me in a total release. I sink back into the chair, and he rests his head on my shoulder. His chest heaves up and down and the light glistens off the muscles of his back in the most beautiful way that I can’t help myself; I move my hand from under his ass and lightly trace the contour of his back with the pads of my fingers.

“I know you said we shouldn’t,” he begins, his warm breath tickling the sensitive skin between my neck and shoulder.

“You said we shouldn’t first.”

“But we did.”

“Yeah, we did.”

“So, does this mean maybe we can… I don’t know,” he lifts his head, and those bright blue eyes are like giant whirlpools drawing me in. “Can we do it again?”

“Now?”

He laughs, adjusting his pants to put himself away and then helping to tuck me away, too.

“No, not now. Now I think we could use a shower, and we should probably get some rest. We have game one tomorrow. But maybe we can meet up after?”

He climbs from my lap and grabs my shirt from the floor, handing it to me before collecting his own. I pull it on, the mix of his mess and my own sticking it to my skin in several places.

“I, I mean, sure, okay.”

“Great, so tomorrow after the game. Who knows, if we finally beat one of these OG teams, we might have something to celebrate.”

“If you beat the OG’s the whole team will want to celebrate.”

“He frowns. “Crap, that’s right. Okay, so we don’t have to win.”

“Fuck that shit, yes, you do. Change of plans, you beat the OG team and then we’ll celebrate, no win, no… this.”

His mouth opens, and he lets out a small whine.

“That’s so not fair.”

“You have that little faith in beating them, do you?”

“No.”

“Great, then prove it. Then you can have whatever kind of celebration you want.”

That changes his expression, and his eyebrows shoot up and his lips twist into a cheeky devilish smile.

“Oh, now you are on.”

He pulls on his shirt, and the song repeats from the phone on the chair, so I grab it and flick it off.

“Do you think anyone heard us?” he asks as he pulls the chair away from the door. The hallway is dark and empty. Everyone has cleared out for the night, so it will be an easy walk to the showers.

“Unlikely, but it’s probably a good idea we don’t do that again in a room without a proper lock.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

I shake my head and follow him down to the locker rooms. There is no one around, and when he strips off his shirt on the way to the showers and looks back at me over his shoulder, all I can think about is getting under the hot steamy water with him and wrapping my mouth over that cock.

But my phone starts to ring, and I stupidly pull it out to check the message.

“It’s my sister, sorry,” I say, and he strips off his pants and heads into the showers.

I tilt my head to the side to get a better view of him buck naked.

“Hey, sis. What do you need?”

“Gramps called. Something is up with Precious. You have to go check on her.”

“Really, the cat?”

“He said she ate something she shouldn’t have. He sounded really worried. I would go, but I had like three wines with dinner.”

“No. It’s okay. I’ll go,” I say and hang up.

“As much as I would love to join you in there, I have to go,” I call and then leave before I talk myself out of checking on Gramps and the demon spawn.

I change out of my training gear into some fresh shorts and a shirt, using the other to wipe up any remaining mess, and drive right over to Gramp’s place.

The second I open the door, Precious is hissing at me.

“She looks fine,” I say, and Gramps swivels in his chair by the window to look at me.

“She is fine. Now. Silly thing ate one of those rubber things off the you know what, but she spat it out.”

I have zero clue what the rubber thing off you know what even is, but if the spawn of Satan is fine, I left Ryan alone in a hot shower naked, for absolutely nothing.

“Well, you’re here now anyway, so how about a cup of tea?” Gramps asks, and I nod, then walk sideways through to the kitchen so that I don’t lose sight of Precious. The last time I turned my back on that thing, she took a chunk out of my ankle.

“Did you eat?” I ask, opening the freezer to check what meals he has left, and then I pause. Instead of being filled with frozen dinners, there are two stacks of four neatly piled Tupperware containers. I pick up one from the first stack. A strip of masking tape is stuck to the top and in black marker are the words, Sheperd’s Pie, followed by a drawing of a little smiley face . I grab another, and another; they’re all the same. I close the freezer and on a piece of paper I didn’t see before is the same black marker, the same handwriting, only this is a list of instructions. Step one, take off the lid, then rest gently back on top of the container. Step two, put the container in the middle of the microwave. It goes on, detailing each step and ending with, Enjoy and another smiley face drawing. Did Ryan do this? But why would he? Gramps drives him nuts. I open the freezer again and crack the lid on one of the containers. It looks like Ryan’s shepherd’s pie. It has to have been him.

But this is more than just leftovers. There’s enough here for a full batch or more; he had to have made it special just for Gramps. Why would he do something like that for him when he’s been nothing but difficult? And why not say anything to me about it? Hey, I dropped off some food for your cranky grandfather. Hope you don’t mind. Do I mind? I’m the one supposed to be looking after him. Looking out for him anyway. And true, I can’t cook, but I got him those dinners, and he said that he liked them. The shepherd’s pie is better. Way better. I’ll have to find a way to pay him back, not just for the ingredients, but the time he must have spent cooking all of this.

I put the note back and prepare Gramps’s tea. He lifts Precious to his lap when I approach, and she growls a little my way, but seems to be resolved to the fact I am not leaving right away.

When I pass Gramps the tea, he inspects it for a second, then takes a sip.

“So your brothers’ called.”

“They did?” I ask, trying to sound surprised. Truth is, I knew they were going to. They want to make a few bigger changes to the ranch and in order to do that, they will need a loan, but with the property still in Gramp’s name, convincing the bank to lend them money for that will be more difficult. They think it will be easier to get a loan to buy it and add on some money for the additional improvements.

“How is the ranch going?” I ask.

“Fine, I’m sure. I mean, they’ve changed so much of it, I would probably not even recognize it if I were to drive up there tomorrow.”

“Are you planning on going up there?”

“No, what gave you that idea?”

I have no clue. “Sorry, why were they calling?”

“They asked me to sell it to them.”

“Oh, okay.”

He eyes me suspiciously. “You don’t seem too surprised by this.”

“Well, they have been out there running the place for the last five years. I sort of figured they would want to take it over completely, eventually. Kelly and I don’t care if you want to sell to them.”

“Why do y’all think you gotta go buying it off me?”

“They want you to be looked after. It’s your ranch, Gramps.”

“I got this place. Besides, it was my Gramps’s ranch, then my father’s, then mine, and now you lot have it.”

“Wait, what?”

“I sold the back forty and bought this place when I moved out here. I told your brothers they can buy out you and your sister, if you want to sell, that is.”

“Go back… You own this place?”

He nods and takes a sip of his tea.

“Like your apartment?” I ask, and he frowns.

“Why would I just buy one apartment? I own the building. It will be passed down to you lot eventually, too, but the ranch, that is already yours. You can sell it if you want to.”

“I don’t want to sell them the ranch.”

“See, I’m not crazy. It’s weird asking me to sell them something that’s theirs?”

“But on paper, it’s not. On paper, it’s still yours, right?”

“Nope, took care of that when I came out here. Everything out there was signed over. It’s all yours, your sisters and your brothers. I told ya, I don’t need to sell them anything. It’s their ranch. Your ranch.”

“I don’t think I am understanding you?”

He sighs and takes a slow sip of his tea, the crease in his forehead deepening. Precious is curled up in his lap, and it’s seriously the longest I’ve been in a room with her without her trying to gouge out my eyes, but I don’t relax completely, because, you know, that’s when they get ya.

“Okay, try to keep up. I sold the unused land at the back, I moved out here, bought this place, they took on the ranch, my lawyer added all ya names to the deed, and it’s yours already.”

“I didn’t know that. Do they know that?”

“They do now.”

“Oh, okay. Umm, I’ll check in with Kelly then and we’ll see what we’re going to do.”

“You might not want it now, but that place is in your blood. Don’t be giving up something unless you’re sure you don’t want it, got it?”

“Got it.”

“Okay, we’re fine here. You can go now.”

“Alright. Well, let me know if Precious chews on any more rubber things from you know what, and I’ll be right over.”

He nods and waves but doesn’t look my way. Instead, he picks up his binoculars and lines them up to look down the alleyway towards the street. How he hasn’t been reported as a peeping Tom yet is beyond me.

Just as I’m closing the door to Gramps’ place, I see the light come on in Ryan’s room across the alleyway and his sweet voice calls out.

“Good evening, Precious.” The fucking demon cat meows the sweetest reply, like he’s her favorite person in the whole world. I glance back towards Gramps’ kitchen, where I spotted the homemade meals he’s dropped by.

You know what, Precious? He might just be becoming my favorite person, too.