R. Mathewson - Playing for Keeps

Her face went expressionless. She blinked once and then again. Then she burst into uncontrollable laughter.

****

"It's not funny," he snapped. That only seemed to make her laugh harder.

All day at the carnival he'd been forced to watch men notice Haley. Every time she smiled or laughed they smiled as if they couldn't help themselves. Every time she jumped up and down excitedly their eyes zeroed in on her jiggling assets. He caught them checking her out and sending her appreciative looks. Mitch, the rat bastard as he was now known, completely ditched his date and focused entirely on Haley.

It only got worse when they went to Joe's Tavern. The place was large, homey and clean and today Joe put out a huge buffet. So with an all you can eat barbeque and several flat screens and five pool tables the place had been filled to the rim with men.

When Haley went up to get food they crowded her, offered to carry her plate, get her a drink, sit with her, scoop her food. When she played pool, and she really sucked at pool, but clearly loved it, they offered to "show" her how to play. Two guys had the balls to send drinks over to their table while she was with him. Several actually had the balls to come over and flirt with her in front of him!

Mitch was no help. When he wasn't trying to pick up some bar tramp he was watching Haley and hitting on her like there was no tomorrow. The bastard didn't even try to hide his leers from Jason. What the hell kind of friendship was that?

Okay, granted in the past, before Haley, he'd been a complete jerk. He openly checked out and hit on his buddies' girlfriends. If he was out and he liked what he saw he never let a boyfriend worry him. But that was no excuse for what Mitch was doing. This was Haley! His Haley!

"Sweetie, I think you had too much sun today," Haley said once she calmed down.

"You should have said something!"

She rolled her eyes. "First off, I have absolutely no idea what the hell you are talking about. I don't think anyone was looking my way any differently or flirting. They were just really friendly."

He snorted.

"Secondly, even if they were, and they weren't, I don't know why you're complaining. I didn't exactly hear you tell every woman that was drooling over you today that you had a girlfriend."

Another snort.

"I don't give a damn about those women. I've got what I want," he said, gently massaging her hips.

Haley leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to his lips before sitting back up. "Exactly. I didn't notice any other man but you," she said softly as she ran her hands over his chest and stomach.

He rolled his eyes. "Of course you don't. I'm awesome."

"I'm glad to see you're humble."

"Hey, I could have said I was the epitome of manliness, but I didn't." He pursed his lips up thoughtfully. "Even though we both know that it's true."

"We do?" She arched a brow.

"Yes, I believe we both do."

"Fine, whatever, as long as you stop paying attention to your hallucinations then I don't care."

He watched her for a moment. The expression on her face was shy and sweet as she traced shapes on his stomach. She truly did not know how desirable she was. He would bet money that she didn't think men noticed her and she'd probably broken a hundred hearts unintentionally up to this point. She was just so damn sweet and innocent, well except for in bed of course. There she was eager, insatiable and thrilling. He never thought foreplay could be so pleasurable before. He had no doubt sex with her would be life altering.

"You are so beautiful, Haley," he said softly. He'd said that to other women before, but he'd never meant it more. She was beautiful inside and out.

Even in the dim light he could see her blush and shyly avert her eyes. "Thank you," she mumbled, sounding unsure.

She truly didn't realize how beautiful she was. That made her even more beautiful to him. He skimmed his hands over her flat belly and up until he was palming her breasts. He brushed his thumbs over her nipples, loving the way she licked her lips and arched her back into his hold.

Haley began squirming on him letting him know she could feel his body harden. He loved the way she looked, the way she reacted, he loved everything about her. She was the most precious thing in the world to him. So beautiful, so sweet, so giving and too damn good for him, but he was a selfish bastard and wouldn't let her go.

Ever.

He slowly massaged her breasts while playing with her nipples, just enjoying the way she licked her lips, moaned and whimpered. His erection was pressed firmly against her. Her bottom nestled it very nicely and he loved the way it caressed him as she squirmed on him. He could feel her getting wet against his stomach.

"You want to try something different?" he asked in a husky voice.

She licked her lips slowly, nodding as she looked down on him with an expression of pure trust. It humbled him.

"Hold on," he said as he pulled her down to him, kissing her slowly as he rolled them over until he was on top of her. He deepened the kiss as he pulled her knees up and over his shoulders, angling her where he needed her, giving him better access to her hot wet core.

"Jason....," she said nervously.

"Shhh, don't worry. No penetration," he said against her mouth. "I just want you to feel how much I want you." He settled himself more firmly between her legs, making sure his hard shaft was nestled between her warm wet folds.

He deepened the kiss as he pulled back and then slid forward rubbing the underside of his cock against her hot wet core and clit. They moaned into each other's mouths as he continued to grind against her.

Haley's moans echoed off the walls as Jason fought for control. His body screamed for him to arch back and slam into her, but Haley wanted to go slow. He would do anything for her even torture himself with being so close to the prize and not going for it.

She fisted her hands in his hair as she licked and sucked his neck. He groaned loudly as he pressed himself more firmly against her and thrust harder. Haley's grip in his hair tightened seconds before she started screaming his name. It triggered his own violent release.

"Haley......oh, Haley.....I..oh god, Haley!" he yelled while his mind shouted "I love you" over and over until he released her legs and lay bonelessly on top of her.

As he was gasping for air he realized something. He was in deep shit. Haley was his life now. His woman. His heart.

He was so screwed.

"Oh my god, stop eating that!" Haley said, trying not to laugh and failing miserably.

Jason popped the fudge brownie in his mouth and winked at her. With an exasperated sigh she reached back into the backseat to fix the plastic wrap on the plates of brownies, cookies, and cupcakes.

"If you keep stealing food there won't be any left for your family's cookout," she said, knowing that wasn't a good enough reason to stop him from eating. She was willing to bet there wasn't much that would come between him and food.

He turned his attention from the road to pout. "But I love your cooking."

She rolled her eyes at his lame attempt. "Uh huh."

"Well, at least I'm not touching the potato salad. You really should appreciate the little things in life, my little grasshopper."

Haley scoffed in disbelief. "The only reason you're not scoffing that down is because I have that and the pasta salad in a cooler safely locked away in the trunk."

His brows shot up. "There's macaroni salad? Why was I not informed of this?"

"Probably because I wanted it to at least make it to your parent's house before you devoured it."

He shook his head sighing, "So little trust."

"You ate an entire bowl of cookie dough yesterday when I made the mistake of running out to the market without hiding it first. Seriously, I thought it would be safe."

"You were wrong."

"Your obsession with food is starting to scare me," she said wryly.

"It's not an obsession. I'm a growing boy, damn it."

She raised one brow in disbelief.

"Thank god we're here. I'm starving," he grumbled as he parked in the only empty spot on the street, which just happened to be in front of a large white Victorian house with black trimming where a party was clearing being held, judging by the amount of people walking around the property.

They loaded their arms up with all the plates Haley made and headed for the front door. Jason kicked the door lightly since his hands were full.

The door was opened by an older woman with pepper hair. She took one look at Jason and smiled.

"It's my baby boy!" she announced loudly to the crowd in the house as she cupped his face and pulled him down to give him a sound kiss on the cheek. She stepped back and noticed Haley. Her expression went from excited to stunned in a matter of seconds.

Jason smiled sheepishly. "Mom, this is my girlfriend, Haley Blaine." He gestured with the plate of brownies. "Haley, this is my mother Megan Bradford."

"It's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Bradford," Haley said, feeling a little awkward with his mother standing there gaping at her and her hands too full to offer to shake the woman's hand. Not that his mother seemed to be able to respond or anything at the moment. Actually, Haley was starting to become a little worried.

"Girlfriend?" Megan finally choked out.

"Yeah, why do you sound so-" Jason started to say only to be cut off by his mother.