Homerun Proposal (Orleans University, #1)

by Maren Moore

“Worried someone will see me eating your pretty pussy, Hal?” Oh god. Oh GOD. JESUS CHRIST.

Swallowing, I nod, my nose crinkling. “A little?” “Don’t worry. I would never let anyone see what’s mine.” Mine? The way he says it and the way that he stares up at me with hunger, with two deep emerald pits of lust, I almost believe that I could be his.

Lane: Can’t stop thinking about how sweet you taste, Hallie Girl…

“Bad at what, baby? Phone sex?” I nod, nervously fingering the bracelets on my wrist. “Yeah.” “There is literally nothing you could do that wouldn’t turn me on, Hallie. You just existing makes my dick hard.” This time, my eyebrows rise. “Prove it.”

“I’m pretty sure that thing is not going to… you know, fit,” I mutter, squinching my nose. “Oh, baby, it’ll fit. It might be a tight fit, but there’s no possible way you’re anything but perfect for me.” He comes back into view, a sly smirk on his handsome face.

“Don’t be afraid to tell me the things that turn you on, baby. I need to know so I can make this better for you. If it helps… the thought of coming inside of you turns me on so fucking much. I think I’ve got a kink for it.” “Uh… I think maybe me too? I don’t know. I really, uh… I really liked it.” “Good. I guess now is the best time to ask this, then. Are you on birth control?”

“I’ll be home soon, okay?” He smiles. “I can’t fucking wait to see you. Thank you. For giving me that first, Hallie.” “Mhmm,” I hum sleepily. “You can have all of my firsts.” I’m half-asleep as I whisper the words, and the last thing I remember before my eyes shut is the look in Lane’s eyes. It feels like… adoration.

She’s so fucking pretty that it’s hard to breathe when I look at her. My chest does this funny thing where it gets tight, and my lungs constrict.

The last thing I remember before drifting off is how easily it feels to be with Hallie. How quickly I’m becoming addicted to her scent, her touch. To the feel of her in my arms.

And how even though I know it’ll end badly, I can’t seem to stop myself.

It’s easy being with Hallie. Just being. Existing. No pressure to be anything other than who I am right in this moment with her. Isn’t that how it should always feel?

It feels a little… relationship-y, but lately, things between us feel… different. I appreciate that she’s always there for me and that she listens when I need to get shit off my chest. It’s everything that I need right now. She’s everything that I need right now.

“What are you doing?” He hums against my skin, warming each spot as he goes. “Kissing my girl.” My girl.

“Maybe I don’t want to be good anymore. Maybe what I want is to not be held like porcelain. Maybe I want to be dirtied up. Maybe I want you to give it all to me.”

Lately, it feels like the proposal that was supposed to be the center of our arrangement is a thing of the past.

Fuck, there are so many things I want with Hallie. Things that I know she’s not ready for yet, but when she is, I’m taking it. All of her firsts. Because they’re mine. She’s mine, and the thought of anyone else having any of them drives me fucking insane with jealousy.

That’s the thing that neither of us is ready to admit. Time is the last thing we have an unlimited amount of. We have an expiration date. Even if neither of us wants it that way.

It’s both invigorating and terrifying all at once. To want someone that badly.

I wish she could see what I see whenever I look at her. Feel what I feel. Just for a single moment, I wish that she could see herself from my eyes. Then there would never be another doubt in her mind. She would never question my desire for her or wonder if I was into what she was doing. She’s not the same girl she was that first night, but sometimes I catch glimpses of the shy Hallie.

The words tumble from my lips with more confidence than I ever realized I possessed. That’s the way that Lane makes me feel. Powerful, sexy, bold. Things I would have never imagined myself being until he… unlocked this part of me.

He’s treated me with nothing but respect and reverence since the very first day, and there’s nothing more that I want than to give him this. Give this to myself.

Everything with Lane feels this way, each moment meaningful. When he’s sweet and affectionate this way, it makes me feel like we’re more than just the proposal, more than just learning. He treats me as if I’m the most important person in the room, like we exist only together.

The truth is, I know now that I wasn’t ready to give myself so fully to someone… to anyone when I offered my virginity to him. I thought that I was. I thought that ridding myself of my virginity would somehow magically make me this brand-new person. Like a transformative moment that would let me shed the girl I used to be and become a better version of myself. Confident. Comfortable. Now, I know that’s not true. Now I know that taking things slowly and truly getting to know someone, learning who they are… it makes all the difference. I can’t imagine I’d be this comfortable with anyone else, especially someone who didn’t know me the way that Lane does. Sometimes it feels like he knows me better than anyone. Even myself sometimes. This was worth waiting for, for holding on to, so that it was him.

This was supposed to be an arrangement, temporary, something that wasn’t meant to be real. Something that was supposed to lead up to this very moment and be done. Yet it feels like the opposite. With every passing moment I spend with him, I feel like we’re not checking things off a list anymore. That this is only the beginning… of something more.

“Thank you for giving me that, Hallie. It… It’s special to me, and I’ll never forget it.”

“I’m glad that it was you, Lane,” I respond. “It’s always been you.”

“I wanted to cook breakfast for my girl before we headed out. By the way, I fucking love seeing you in my clothes.”

My girl.

He makes it so easy to fall for him.

I’ve learned that I love to bring him pleasure just as much as he likes to for me. That I love the faces and sounds he makes as he tumbles over the ledge that I’ve brought him to. He’s done everything he promised and taught me more than I could have ever imagined.

“You make everything so easy. Breathing, being the man

want to be. You make me want to be better, Hallie.” “You’re already more than you even realize.”

I’m a fucking goner for Hallie Jo Edwards. All I’ve done for the last three days is think about her lips, about sliding my hands

down her sides, tasting her, feeling her pressed against me. Kissing her like a man possessed. Because that’s exactly what I am. I’m obsessed with her, and it’s terrifying.

“You ready to admit you’re in love with her yet?” Reese asks, his voice full of question. “’Cause you definitely are.”

I exhale, my shoulders dropping. I lift my gaze back to him. “I am.”

“I knew it. I was just waiting for you to realize it.” He smirks. “You gonna tell her?”

Nodding, I pick up another bead, then swipe at the sweat dripping from my brow. “Yeah, I am. Soon. When the time is right. I don’t want to fuck things up if she doesn’t feel the same.”

I am in love with Hallie Edwards, and I may not have meant to fall in love with her, but I did, and I’m not walking away and giving her up. Proposal terms or not.

“I’m not saying anything to anyone. But… uh, since we’re on the subject of love, you wanna put in a good word for me with Viv?” There’s a hopeful look in his eyes. “For fuck’s sake, Reese, she hates you. I dunno why, but clearly, she’s not your biggest fan.” “That’s because she doesn’t know me yet.” He chuckles. “Everyone loves me once they get to know me. I’m impossible not to love. You see this face?”

“No hard feelings? Fuck that. I have hard feelings, Hallie, and I’m not walking away from them. Why does this have an expiration date?”

“Hallie… we are not temporary. This—” He gestures between us. “—is not fucking temporary.”

“Of course it is!” I cry, my voice breaking. “Lane, you never once looked at me until the night of the proposal. You have never once shown interest in me aside from the fact that

I’m your little brother’s best friend. Not until I basically t...

“You’re the all-star jock. The life of every party on campus. I’m the conspiracy theorist who chooses Bigfoot documentaries over a night at Kappa. The one who wears too much black and the same pair of dirty Vans. That girl, Lane?” I pause. “She doesn’t end up with the campus heartthrob because up until recently, she couldn’t even get a guy to kiss her because she’s so awkward. We will never fit, Lane.” “Who cares? Who cares how other people think we fit, Hallie? Who cares when I know you fit me better than anyone else ever will? Who fucking cares what they think? What they think isn’t who either of us truly are. We’re perfect together.”

“I have to protect my heart because… this? It already hurts more than anything I’ve known, and I have to keep my heart safe because no one else will,” I whisper.

Stepping closer, he frames my face in his hands. “I will, Hallie. I’ll keep it safe. I want to protect it at all costs, protect you. But you’re not letting me.”

“Just so we’re clear, Hallie. This is you pushing me away and not me walking away. Because I’m not fucking walking away. Not now and not ever.” Grabbing my face, he kisses me until my knees feel weak. When he tears his mouth away, he looks pained. “Lane…” He swallows visibly. “It’s not over. I’m never going to be finished with you, Hallie. You want space? Fine, I’ll give you space, but this isn’t about space. It’s about how we work together.” He pauses, his thumb ghosting along my jaw as he cradles me in his hands. “We don’t fit. Not on paper. Not in any way people would expect. But one thing you’ve taught me is that being different isn’t wrong. Sometimes the pieces may never align, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be something beautiful. This may have started as me teaching you, Hallie, but it’s really you that’s been teaching me all along. You’ve been teaching me how to love.”

“What’s more important than baseball?” he says, spinning around, his eyes searching the stands. “Love. Something until recently I knew nothing about. You see, I fell in love this year with a girl who is so perfect that sometimes I can’t believe she even exists. And you’re probably wondering why I’m standing out here with a microphone announcing this?” Laughter rings out in the crowd, and his smile widens. “I guess I can get to the point, but I can’t do that without having her here.”

“I know a lot of you here tonight are some of my biggest fans. But the truth is, I’m Hallie’s biggest fan, and I always have been. I need the world to know that I’m in love with Hallie Edwards, and I’m not afraid to say it to anyone.”