Chapter 23 - Back to the real world

Ryder’s POV

Our week in Mexico had flown by. The days were filled with sun, sand, water and visiting the local communities at Keegan’s request. She loved soaking in all of the local culture and exploring a place so different from the one we had come from. Our nights were another story, after our nightly family dinners with Faith, they were spent wrapped up in each other. We were in our own little bubble. Part of me was worried that when we returned to Los Angeles, that bubble would burst, and the contentment, comfort and familiarity we had found in each other on our trip would vanish because we wouldn’t be able to maintain the same connection to each other in the real world. I felt like I held my breath the entire flight home and continued to do so the entire trip home, which included a detour to Faith’s friend's house so we could drop her off.

“So.” I started as I walked into the kitchen behind her, completely entranced by the way her perky ass swayed in front of me, “Are we going to talk about what happens now that we are back home?”

“What happens now is I go raid the fridge because I’m starving.” She replied, taking a few steps away from me towards the fridge.

I reached out and caught her wrist before she could make her getaway making her turn back towards me, “You know what I’m talking about. Us, Mexico, was that all it was?”

“You tell me, was that all it was?” She challenged.

The way she was skirting around the subject and answering my questions with more questions was frustrating as hell, and the look on her face told me she was enjoying every minute of having me tied up in knots.

“Do you want me to say it, Keegen?” I growled, pulling her towards me until I could pick her up, putting her on the kitchen counter, standing between her legs and forcing her to look at me, “Mexico was amazing, but I want more than just that vacation. I want every day. I want to see where this goes.”

She smirked, biting her lower lip, “Are you asking me to be your girlfriend, Ryder? No more faking, the real thing?”

Groaning, I buried my head in her shoulder, “You’re going to make me say it aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am.” She confirmed, giggling, “You need to be sure because relationships aren’t like a vacation. They aren’t all sunshine and sex, they are hard work, and sometimes I can be a bitch or other times I will look and feel anything other than sexy and….”

Cupping her cheeks, I pulled her lips to mine, cutting her off with a kiss before pulling back, “If you are all in, then so am I. So now that we’ve got that out of the way, can we continue to make out and then we can discuss moving your stuff into my room. Because I have gotten used to sleeping beside you, and I’m not ready to give that up.”

Keegan wrapped her arms around my neck and batted her eyes at me, “If you insist.”

Bringing my lips back to hers, I kissed her again, and this time it wasn’t just a soft kiss to shut her up. This kiss was more possessive, more passionate. When I felt her lips part, I wasted no time in sliding my tongue inside in search of hers, which greeted me eagerly and fought me for control every step of the way. That’s one of the things that drew me to Keegan. She wasn’t meek in any aspect of her life. When someone threw something at her, she threw it right back, and when I sought to control things in the bedroom, she was right there fighting me for it every step of the way.

Given that Faith wasn’t home, we had the entire house to ourselves, so I wasted no time in removing the singlet top she was wearing, revealing the black lacy bra she was wearing beneath. Seeing it made me remember I needed to send Courtney a very hefty Christmas bonus when the time came because every new piece of lingerie I saw of Keegan’s was better than the last. Of course, I enjoyed seeing her naked more, but it was very nice packaging, and I knew Courtney had picked it all out.

My woman reciprocated and pulled up my shirt, removing it and tossing it to the floor as she locked her legs around my hips, pulling me against her body tightly and capturing my lips again. It was like there was no one else in the world when I was with her, but unfortunately, I had practice and then a game this evening, so I had to make the rest of the morning count. Mexico was a few hours ahead of us to leaving there early this morning gave me a bit of a buffer where time was concerned.

While we were making out, my hand slid behind her back to unclip her bra strap, allowing the material to hang loosely between us. She was just reaching for my shorts when we both heard someone clearing a voice behind us. The intruder made us jump apart quickly, and I turned to the sound, standing in front of Keegan to block her half-naked body with mine.

Marcus was leaning against the doorway, his arms crossed and a huge smile on his face. “I knew it would only be a matter of time before you two dropped the act and made it official. I guess congratulations are in order.”

I could feel Keegan shifting behind me until I felt material pressed against my back, signalling that she had gotten dressed. “Marcus, how lovely to see you again. How have you been?”

“Better yet, to what do we owe this visit?” I asked gruffly, annoyed that our one-on-one time had been ruined.

“I’ve been great, Keegan, but obviously not as great as you too. I see the trip to Mexico did you both a world of good.” He answered, completely ignoring my question.

“What are you doing here, Marcus?” I growled, asking again.

“Chill, bro.” He told me, unable to hide the smile on his face, “We were supposed to have a little meeting to discuss this program you wanted to set up, remember. You texted me yesterday.”

I mentally swore to myself, forgetting that I had asked him to come over, “Sorry man…I….am..”

“Got distracted.” He prompted, “I can understand why.”

“On that note, boys. I will leave you guys to it.” Keegan offered, sliding off of the counter.

I turned my head towards her, “Start on that project we were discussing, and I’ll come to help you when I’m done.”

She raised her eyebrow at me questioningly, “Are you sure you want to do that?”

“All in, remember,” I promised her.

Once she had retired upstairs, I was painfully aware of her absence. We hadn’t spent much time apart in Mexico, so I was starting to get used to her always being at my side, but there was no point in both of us being unable to achieve what we had planned. I wanted her stuff in my room as soon as possible to make sure she was comfortable when we went to bed tonight. It wasn’t like I didn’t have the space. She would have an entire walk-in closet to herself.

Marcus and I were locked in my office discussing the plans for over two hours. He had found someone with ample experience setting up non-profit charity organisations and could provide us with the advice we needed to attract potential donors moving forward, as I knew my funds wouldn’t be enough to keep it running indefinitely. He had set up a lunch for the three of us next week to discuss the finer details. I was excited to move forward with my plans. This was the first project that wasn’t basketball that had excited me in a very long time.

Once we were done with the update, we moved onto more personal topics, but my mind couldn’t help but wander back to the woman waiting for me upstairs in my room, hopefully. My brain was also painfully aware that time was slowly ticking down until I had to leave for training.

Marcus snapped his fingers in front of my face bringing me back to the present moment. “I’m going to head off and come back when you are a little less distracted.”

“Sorry.” I apologised sheepishly.

“It’s all good, man. After I made that offer to her originally, I knew that she was the perfect woman for you. I’m glad you realised it too.”

I rolled my eyes at him, “When she got here, she hated my guts, man.”

After sending him on his way, I searched for my firecracker of a woman. The door to her room was open, but she was nowhere in sight. When I got to my room, the door was open, and after a quick examination, she had definitely been in here. Her suitcase was sitting open and empty on the bed as were some clothes on hangers that I knew she hadn’t taken with her. When I peeked into the closet, I didn’t use, some of her stuff was already hanging up, and it was nice. I liked seeing her stuff in here. The only difference between our two closets was a makeup table in the far corner. But instead of makeup on it, Keegan had set up her sewing machine. Given that all the accessories and sketches were neatly laid out, I assumed that the machine was the first thing she had brought in here. Looking at it, I frowned at how outdated it was, she had a definite eye for design, and I had seen what she could achieve on an old machine. Who knows how far she could grow with a new one and made a mental note to rectify that situation.

What was missing from here as well was a feisty woman named Keegan. Where the hell was she? I was about to call out her name when I heard the sound of water splashing from the bathroom. Walking forward, I noticed that the door wasn’t closed fully, and when I pushed it open, the sight in front of me made me go weak at the knees.

There, in my large, lavish, stainless steel bathtub, laid a naked temptress that looked so small in my overly large tub, her body completely hidden under the bubbles.
Her eyes were closed, and she seemed completely oblivious to my presence until she opened one of her eyes a little. “Are you going to continue to ogle me or join me? I was moving stuff into the room, but Pierre here was calling my name. I couldn’t help myself. I just hope Walter doesn’t get jealous.”

“Screw Walter.” I joked, “Should I be jealous that you keep naming my bathtubs? It’s going to start giving me a complex if you prefer their company to mine.”

“There is one way to fix that jealously.” She told me, scooting forward a little so there was space behind her, “Get in here and show me how much better you are than Walter and Pierre but just remember this from what I can see Pierre has jets, so you have your work cut out for you.”

“Challenge accepted,” I confirmed smugly as I shed the rest of my clothes. I was not going to be outmaneuvered by a bathtub.