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  “Please,” she whispered. “Now, Aiden, please.”

  “This isn’t fun for you?” he asked, the wicked glint in his eyes as he teased her raising the heat level that much higher.

  “No. I need more. I need you inside me.” As she said the words, Lily knew she did need more from Aiden. A lot more. She closed her eyes tight to try to push away the dawning reality that she wanted so much more from him than fun. She wanted a lifetime with him. She wanted commitment, and caring and a future. Not just sex.

  He seemed just as eager to deny the truth of what was developing between them because he didn’t demand she open her eyes as he had on other occasions. He slammed into her then in one full, hard stroke that made her cry out, but felt so good, so utterly right. And, he didn’t let up as she clung to him, digging her nails into his shoulders. He kept up an unrelenting pace, pushing so deeply with each hard thrust of his hips, she knew it probably should have caused her pain, but it didn’t. It drove her to orgasm so quickly and then held her there, drawing out the pulsing of her muscles over and over as she cried out his name.

  She felt it the moment when he came, his whole body tightening as he groaned his release and held still, deep inside of her. They lay together, tangled in a heap for long moments, doing nothing more than struggling for breath. Then Aiden’s strong arms wrapped around her and he flipped them, still joined together, so that she lay sprawled on top of him.

  Aiden framed her face with his hands and kissed her long and slow, gently, before pulling back to look in her eyes. “I’m sorry. I overreacted.”

  Lily didn’t want to let herself hope that maybe she saw more in his eyes. That maybe there was the beginning of love in his gaze. That maybe this was beginning to be more to him, just the way it was most definitely more than just fun for her now. She didn’t want to go there, because it scared the daylights out of her. If she let herself hope and believe this was headed somewhere it wasn’t, she’d be crushed in the end.

  She did the only thing she could. She blew off his apology and lightened the tone right back to where she could handle things. Right back to sex.

  With a laugh, she rolled away and grabbed a shirt to toss on. “No problem. Angry sex is pretty incredible with you.”

  On the inside, she was thinking the makeup sex should be just as incredible, but she needed space. She felt his eyes on her, the weight of his stare, as she walked from the room.

  “I’m gonna take a shower,” she said over her shoulder, and shut the door with a soft click.

  Chapter Twelve

  The heartbreak Lily had been trying to avoid came two weeks later. She and Aiden had continued to ignore the reality of what was happening to them. They’d gone on seeing each other almost every spare minute they had. They went to dinner, spent nights at his place most of the time, and even went so far as to talk and laugh in bed together despite the fact that this was supposed to be just a physical relationship.

  But, they didn’t talk about reality. They didn’t talk about a future or their hopes and dreams. And Lily knew why. She knew there wasn't a future. There were no hopes and dreams. At least, not for them as a couple. As two separate people? Yes. Together? No.

  The funny thing was, the catalyst that caused him to leave came from the most unlikely source imaginable. It was an article written by a blogger. Some guy named Brian James—who apparently wrote about team gossip almost as much as he wrote about the actual sport of baseball—published a picture of Lily leaving Aiden’s townhouse.

  The headline read: “Next to Fall?” The article told the story of something the writer had named ‘The Triple Play Curse.’ Apparently, the Strikers’ players believed they had a curse following their team. When one Striker fell in love and either got married or engaged in a season, two more were destined to fall in love. And, the team believed they suffered every time it happened. They lost pennants or had more injuries or whatever, but they somehow suffered.

  And, according to Brian James, Rafe Wilson triggered the curse this year and Aiden was about to become its second ‘victim.’

  Lily stared at the article, sent to her by one of her friends on Facebook. Victim. Wow, that made her sound great. Like some kind of disease Aiden was about to catch, or a barracuda about to take down the great Aiden Kyle. Lovely.

  And, it wasn’t a surprise to Lily when Aiden texted that night after the game and said he was too tired to see her. Nor was it a surprise when he came to her place the following afternoon and told her he thought they should take a break.

  Lily laughed. “That usually means break up, and since we were just having fun, I’m guessing this means we’re finished,” she said, not at all feeling the nonchalance and humor she threw on her face to try to ward off the blow.

  But, God, she was feeling that blow.

  “I’m sorry, Lily,” Aiden said softly, and she knew he really was on some level. But, that didn’t change the fact that he simply didn’t want anything more than fun in bed with her. That much was clear.

  Lily shook her head and shrugged. “It’s no biggie, Aiden. We had a good time for a while, just like we said we would, right?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, right.”

  The really hopeful, silly side of her thought she heard a little catch in his throat and saw regret forming in his eyes, but she shoved that thought aside. She wouldn’t be an idiot about this.

  Aiden shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “I guess I don’t need you to do my meals for me anymore,” he said and Lily nodded slowly. Should have seen that one coming. “But, I’ll make sure the rest of the guys know they shouldn’t stop using you just because we’re not together anymore.”

  At that point, something hit Lily and she didn’t think she could fight the lump in her throat any longer. Because, now it had all come back around to her business instead of to the gaping hole he’d be leaving when he left her. Two more seconds and she’d be crying. The burning sensation behind her eyes and the sheer fire in her throat was more than she could take.

  “Great,” she threw what she hoped was a convincing smile on her face and opened the door for Aiden, praying he’d leave so she could have her breakdown in private. He stood and watched her for a minute before walking out the door. Lily shut it and leaned back against the wall, where she finally let the tears fall. She’d done exactly what she’d known she shouldn’t do. She’d fallen for a guy who wasn’t remotely in her league, who didn’t live in the same world she did, and who certainly wasn’t about to fall for her.

  And it sucked. Big.

  Walking away from Lily was the hardest thing Aiden had ever done, especially when he heard her crying from the other side of the door. And, he was a selfish prick for doing it. It would have been one thing if he’d ended things because he was no good for her or something a little more noble like that. But, he’d acted out of sheer self-preservation. Because he knew damned well that he was falling for her. Hell, never mind falling, he'd fallen.

  But, he’d closed his eyes and turned away from her because he was a dick. A first class dick. And over the next week, he never felt worse in his life. He went home to an empty townhouse after each game, ignoring his teammates’ invitations to join them out at a club or grab a bite to eat. He played like crap all week, taking heat from his teammates, his coaches, and his fans. And, that jackwad Brian James, who’d started all this crap in the first place, tore him apart in his daily blog posts. James blamed all of this on the curse, arguing that Aiden’s relationship with Lily was getting in the way of his game, but Aiden knew the truth.

  The end of his relationship was what had gotten in the way.

  “Played like crap today, Aiden. Again,” came the voice of his third baseman from behind him, and Aiden ground his teeth together.

  He didn’t reply, just tossed his towel into the hamper next to the showers, and walked over to his locker with nothing covering himself. It took him about two seconds to pull on clothes and grab his wallet and keys. But, before he could duck out, R
afe cornered him. Rafe was at least a little more understanding than the other guys. He and Gage had both had Aiden’s back over the last week, but he knew if he didn't get it together soon, even they’d lose their patience with him.

  “Have you talked to her at all?” Rafe asked.

  Aiden shook his head. “I don’t plan on it. It’s over.”

  Now it was Rafe’s turn to shake his head. “You’re dumber than a post, aren’t you?”

  Aiden tightened his hands into fists but didn’t respond. He wouldn’t fight with his teammate on that count. He was dumber than a post. But, that still didn’t change anything. He didn’t head into this thing with Lily wanting a relationship, and he still wasn’t willing to go there. It wasn’t what he wanted or needed in his life right now.

  Gage joined them and shoved a Ziploc baggie into his chest. “I doubled my order of them so I could bring you a fix.”

  Aiden looked down and saw that the bag was filled with the special snack cookies Lily made for all of them, and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t miss those almost as much as he missed her. He cracked a half smile. If only it was as easy to have her back in his life as the bag of cookies. If he could just have her, but not lose sight of himself in the process, not let himself slip too far into things….

  “Thanks, man. The new company I’m using doesn’t have anything like this,” he said, taking the bag from Gage.

  “What? You’re using another company for food? Dude, I knew you’d stop having Lily deliver your food, but you’re actually supporting her freaking competition?” Gage had raised his voice and half the guys around were now watching them, making Aiden feel like even more of a dick.

  He shrugged. “I got hooked on having all those meals in my fridge. They’re not nearly as good as hers were though,” he said.

  Gage just shook his head and snatched the bag back from Aiden.

  “Hey! What the hell?”

  Gage continued to shake his head as he walked away, cookies and all, mumbling something about, “dumber than a box of rocks.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Things didn’t get any better from there. Aiden felt like hell all hours of the day and night. He had headaches and he wasn’t sleeping. When anyone asked, he tried to say he was coming down with something, but he knew the truth. He wanted Lily back in his life. The only problem was, he still didn’t want to get caught by the damn curse. Half of him wondered if this sudden desire to have Lily in his life on a permanent basis—to marry her and start a family with her, to build a future—was only because of this curse? What if he got to the end of the season and those feelings were gone?

  If that were true, he’d just hurt her more in the end. And, one thing he didn't want to do was hurt Lily. In fact, after canceling his own food deliveries with her company, he’d gone to Kane and a few of the other Brawler football players, and asked them to start using her just to be sure she was doing okay financially. They’d agreed so she should have gotten at least three or four new customers out of the whole deal. It didn’t alleviate his guilt or make him feel better, but maybe it would help her out in the long run.

  Aiden glanced through the containers labeled with different meals in his fridge. The new food delivery service wasn’t nearly as good, but it was better than a lot of the crap he used to make for himself. The label on the package he grabbed read: Asian Tofu Stir Fry with Rice Noodles. Good enough.

  A minute and twenty seconds in the microwave and lunch was served. Aiden ran through his schedule as he swallowed the mushy, overcooked noodles without tasting much of the meal. It was his day off so he would head out after lunch to do some errands, then he had to swing by and meet with the team’s physical therapist. They were adding extra PT sessions for his shoulder since it’d been acting up a lot lately.

  After that, Kane was having a few of the guys over for a barbeque.

  A sudden wave of dizziness came over him, interrupting Aiden’s train of thought. Hell. It took Aiden about ten seconds to realize what was happening. Throat closing up, tongue swelling, palms sweaty and dizzy as hell. His lips tingled and he knew they’d be blowing up like balloons, too. He didn’t need to read the label on the food he was eating to know someone had screwed up. There was some kind of shellfish in the dish. Most likely, some kind of shrimp sauce or something he should have picked up on if he’d been paying any kind of attention.

  By the time he got to the drawer where his epinephrine injection pen was kept in his kitchen, the wheezing had begun and his chest felt tight and panicky. And, there was no injection pen. No! His cleaning people must have moved it. Aiden opened drawers, tossing contents on the counters, searching for the pen. Nothing.

  He grabbed his cell phone and dialed 911, before running down the hall to his room where he kept another pen. As he jabbed his outer thigh, he croaked his info and status into the phone to the operator, then went to unlock the front door for the paramedics before giving in and sliding down to the floor, where he focused only on getting his next breath until the ambulance arrived.

  Two hours later, his face was still blotchy and red; he’d had his vitals checked a million times, and he had drips of who knows what medicines running into his veins. Oh, and someone had recognized him and snapped a few pictures of him when he came into the emergency room before security shut everyone out, so this would be out on the Internet in no time. Woohoo.

  Rafe walked in with a huge bundle of helium balloons with messages ranging from Congratulations Mommy to Yay! The Vasectomy was a Success! Aiden half groaned, half laughed as Rafe set the balloons to the side and sat in the plastic chair next to Aiden’s hospital bed.

  “Gage?” Aiden asked, nodding at the balloons.

  “Yup. I didn’t think you’d be up to it so I told him he couldn’t come harass you in person, so he sent those instead. I think the vasectomy one was special ordered or custom made, or something. Not sure how he got them to make it so quickly, but he was particularly proud of that one.”

  Aiden laughed. “Knowing him, he’s had it on standby, ready to go for just such an occasion.”

  Rafe grinned but sobered quickly. “What the hell happened?”

  Aiden shrugged. “That new food company I was using gave me the wrong food. They must have put some kind of shellfish in the sauce and I wasn’t paying attention.”

  Rafe looked at the tubes running into Aiden’s arm. “Are they letting you out of here soon? They got it under control?”

  “Yeah. I’ll be able to leave in a few hours. They just want to watch me for a while, check vitals ten dozen more times, that kind of thing.” He smiled at the nurse who had just walked to the side of his bed and placed her hands on his wrist. “I’m beginning to think Nancy just likes to have her hands on me.”

  The white haired nurse scoffed and grabbed the blood pressure cuff from the side rail of the bed and strapped it on. “Watch yourself, big guy. I’m married and I’m not afraid to wrap this thing around other parts of your anatomy if I need to keep you in line.”

  Rafe laughed a little too loudly at that as Aiden just grinned at the nurse without shame. They flirted a few more minutes, before she left, leaving them alone.

  “You know this is karma, right?” Rafe asked, leaning forward toward Aiden, his tone low. “You left Lily, threw her over for the competition, plus you’re trying to run from the curse ... it’s all catching up to you. This is payback.”

  “Really? You’re going there? This doesn’t mean anything, Rafe.”

  “Sure it does. Besides, you’ve been miserable since you left Lily. We can all see it. You’re playing like crap, you look like hell every time I see you, and you weren’t all that great looking to begin with. You obviously want her back.”

  Aiden didn't say anything. What could he say? He did want her back. But, he still didn’t know if he could give her what she deserved. A real future with him.

  “Do you wish you’d taken things slower with Ashlyn? Doesn't it worry you that you’re locked into one woman f
or the rest of your life?”

  “Hell no. I was so caught up in avoiding commitment, I almost lost her. I’m just glad she’s smarter than I am and saw what I was doing. She gave me hell for it, too. Told me what an idiot I was. I’m still not sure why she’d want to spend the rest of her life with me, but screw it. If she’s willing to take me on for a lifetime, who am I to question it. I might be an idiot but I’m not dumb.”

  Aiden was quiet for a minute. He had the eerie feeling he was about to miss out on something big in his life.

  “Do you ever worry that it’s the curse that’s making you feel this way? I mean, what if you get to the end of the season and the curse isn’t around anymore, and all you’re feeling right now for her just sort of fizzles out?”

  Rafe shook his head at Aiden. Damn, he was tired of seeing that. He’d seen a lot of shaking heads lately. “Let me ask you this, Aiden. Can you picture yourself without her for the rest of your life? Can you picture a day where you might wake up and not wish to God she was next to you in bed or a night when you might not want to kiss her goodnight after making love to her for hours on end? Can you imagine a life that doesn’t include her by your side, that doesn’t include you and her having children and watching them grow up? Do you want anything to do with a life without her?”

  Rafe didn’t really wait for an answer. He just nodded his head. “I thought so. That’s how you know it’s real, man. That’s how you know this isn’t some stupid curse. It’s just you and her and your life.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Aiden didn’t go straight home after the hospital. He went to Lily’s house. He needed to tell her what an idiot he was and beg her to take him back. He stood on her doorstep, ringing the bell over and over, but she didn’t answer. When he started banging on her door and calling her name, her neighbor stuck her head out of her door and scowled at him.