Patience

Author's Note: This will be a slow burn type of romance/drama with more emphasis on the love rather than sexy times. If you're looking for more of the sexy times this may not be your cup of tea.

End of Part V

As we got into bed, she snuggled up beside me.

"Comfy?" I asked.

"Mm very comfy." she replied as she moved her head into the grove between my shoulder and upper body.

"Robbie." she said

"Yeah."

"Thanks for tonight." she said

"Any time Love." I said as I pulled her close.

Part VI

The weather turned out beautiful on Saturday, still hot but the humidity had cleared out for the moment making it perfect for kickball. Belle, apparently not done teasing me found a strappy pink floral sundress to wear the looked stunning on her. More time outside in the sun over the prior couple of days had tanned her nicely and the light pink on her tan shoulders and legs made for a very distracting view. I had to force myself to watch the road and not stare at her legs like an ogre on the drive to the field.

The game was as much fun as they all were when you have nerds and desk jockeys trying to be athletes. We had finished one game and decided to play another when I found myself on second base. I had a good view of the stands where Belle was watching me eagerly and I had to force myself to keep my eyes on the game instead of her. The player up got a good kick off and I thought I had a good chance to finish the run, so I took off for third base. Surprisingly I had actually passed third base and was probably about halfway to home plate feeling pretty good about myself when all of a sudden, I felt the ball slam into the side of my neck and head.

The next things I remember were the chief who was the umpire blowing the play dead and a couple of strong sets hand grabbing my upper arms to support me and leading me to the dugout. I had just sat down on the bench and was beginning to regain my senses when Belle came rushing down into the dugout like a woman on a mission, with a look of terror on her face.

"Oh my god, Robbie are you ok?!" she screamed as she pushed her way passed everyone and came up to me.

"I'll be fine in a few minutes. I'm just a bit dazed that's all." I said.

"My god that scared the shit out of me. Don't do that to me!" she said as she threw her arms around me and started to sob. I pulled her close and comforted her. As I did, I glanced around and a few of the guys were clearly trying not to crack up at the scene. I knew they'd give me hell for it probably before the end of the game, but I didn't really care.

"Shh it's ok Love I'm fine. It's a rubber ball it can't really hurt anyone." I told her.

Then to make the situation even more awkward once she let go of me, she rounded on Phil, who must have been the thrower of the ball, and started tearing into him.

"And you, what the hell is the matter with you?! You could have killed Robbie!" she yelled at him. Phil was in shock from being accosted so suddenly. If I had just been a spectator at this scene instead of the star so to speak, I would have died laughing. Instead, I had to be the voice of reason despite being shaken up.

I stood up and moved myself in between Belle and Phil and said to her, "Love it was an accident. He wasn't aiming for me he was aiming at the catcher. He didn't do it on purpose."

This, thankfully, seemed to calm her down a bit and she looked at Phil again, who still looked shell shocked, and apologized to him. Luckily, he took it all in stride. Belle looked back at me and though calmer still had concern in her eyes. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"I'm fine I feel better already. Like I said it's a rubber ball it can't really hurt you." I said picking up the ball and demonstrating its flexibility. Then I added, "You know there's not much to knock loose up here anyway." I said as I tapped my head.

This had the desired effect as she let out a soft giggle and said, "Well I can see it didn't affect your propensity to be a smart ass." Everyone busted out laughing at that.

The chief stepped down into the dugout from where he was watching everything unfold from up top and said, "You ok Rob?"

"Yes sir." I told him.

Looking around at everyone he then said, "Do we want to keep playing or call it a day?" The consensus among everyone was that we finish the game since there was only one inning left. The chief gave me the run that I was completing when I got hit, not that it helped much since my team was losing. I took over as pitcher for the last inning and while my team was able to keep our opponents from getting any more runs, we still ended up losing.

Down in the locker room after the game after everyone had a good laugh at my expense over Belle's reaction to my injury one of our support analysts, Mike, came over to me as I was putting on a fresh shirt and said, "All jokes aside man that chick digs you."

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"Man, that girl flew out of the stands when she saw them carrying you to the dugout. I've never seen someone move so fast or frantic. She looked scared to death. Trust me man she's into you. If that were me in your place, you know what my wife would have said? She would have said that's what your dumbass gets for not being fast enough."

We all shared a laugh at his self-deprecating joke as Mike moved off to finish changing his clothes. Seconds later Joe took his place.

In a lower voice that wouldn't carry too far Joe said, "I think Mike has a point. It looks like she's coming around on you. Based on what's happened today and what you've told me about what's been happening since she moved in with you, I think she's starting to care for you on a much deeper level."

Lowering my voice to match his I said, "I think you're right. Something is happening between us. As I told the Admiral a few days ago there seems to be a romantic or sexual tension building that wasn't there before."

"Sometimes it takes people a long time and a lot of mistakes and different directions to make them see what they really want and realize that it was right in front of them the whole time." Joe said.

"In this case it would be damn near twenty years of mistakes and different directions as you put it." I said.

"But if it all worked out in the end, wouldn't it be worth it?" Joe asked. "You know the old saying: patience is a virtue."

Joe already knew my answer to his question, so I didn't bother answering it. I bid everyone in the locker room goodbye and telling them I'd see them Monday morning and made my way out to the parking lot. I found Belle waiting by the Denali looking pensive.

"You ok Love?" I asked.

"I'm sorry I overreacted." she said somberly. "I hope I didn't embarrass you." she added before turning her gaze down toward the pavement.

I put my finger under her chin and guided her face back up towards mine. Her eyes looked sad. "It's ok Love, don't worry about it."

"Did the guys give you a hard time about it?" she asked.

"Of course, they did but was all in good fun." I told her.

"Oh, Robbie I'm sorry. One of these days I'll quit making a fool out of myself around you." she said.

"You're not a fool. You're a beautiful smart girl and don't you forget it." I said with conviction.

"You really think so?" she asked eying me with curiosity.

"I know so." I said.

"Thank you, Robbie, for everything." She said giving me a look of endearment I'd never seen from her before.

"Let's get out of here." I said. "I know just the thing that'll make both of us feel better. There's an ice cream shop not far from here you want to go?" I knew that would perk her up.

Her eyes lit up as she said, "You know I love ice cream. Let's go!"

"There's the Belle I know." I said.

***

After ordering our ice cream treats Belle and I sat down to wait on them. While we waited Belle eyed me curiously and said, "You sure you're ok?"

"Yeah fine." I told her. "Just a little sore where the ball hit me.

"It was so scary watching that ball slam into you and then watching the guys carry you off the field." Belle said, the sad pensive look returning to her face. "I was so scared you wouldn't be ok. I don't know what I'd do without you." I could tell she was holding back tears again.

I grabbed her hand to comfort her and said, "It's ok Love it's all over now. I'll be fine." Then I added with a smirk, "Something tells me you're going to have to put up with me for a long time to come."

This had the desired effect, and her face broke into a smile as she said, "Well it won't be easy, but I'll manage."

"There's the Belle I know. I also know a good nurse who will help me if I have any lingering side effects. She helped me not too long ago when I came down with a cold unexpectedly. In fact, if it came down to it, she wouldn't leave me alone until I did get better." I said with my smirk becoming a grin.

At this time our ice cream arrived. Belle looked in awe at the banana split the server set in front of her. "Doesn't this look heavenly?!" she asked in awe. Then seeing the smirk on my face, she suddenly said, "Don't you dare say it."

"Say what?!" I said trying not to crack up and only half succeeding.

"That little smart-ass line you've been throwing at me lately. 'It's not made to be stared at.'" she said.

"Well, it's not, but you insist on looking at it like it's the Mona Lisa or some other masterpiece." I said chuckling.

She started laughing as she picked up her spoon and said, "Eat your ice cream you smart-ass."

I slowly dug into my fudge sundae before noticing Belle was eating like a tease again. She licked the spoon each time slowly and deliberately and of course threw in regular moans of pleasure as she ate. One spoon full she slowly wrapped her lips and tongue around and sucked it off. I slowly ate my sundae and watched in awe wondering how someone could eat so sensually and tried to ignore the rustling and tightening sensations in my pants.

If I thought her sucking the spoon was the end of it, I was greatly mistaken. She put the spoon down and picked up a length of the banana and slowly licked the chocolate syrup off of it before slowly putting it in her mouth and eating it. After she swallowed the banana, she moaned in pleasure before saying, "Oh my god this is so good." before licking the syrup off her fingers. This part brought me up to full staff in my pants and I knew I should probably put a stop to it but in an almost weird way I was enjoying it, despite being uncomfortably hard now.

I thought about making some flippant remark but figured it would just make things harder on myself (literally and figuratively), so I just enjoyed the show and ate my own ice cream. She dropped the teasing long enough to finish her ice cream but picked up the cherry and made a show out of licking and sucking the cream and chocolate off the cherry before popping it in her mouth and swallowing it in the sexiest way possible. My cock gave its approval by giving a hard throb. This girl was going to give me a food fetish if she kept doing this to me.

We dumped our empty bowls into the garbage can on our way out the door. She walked out first as I opened the door for her. I decided to get a little payback for her teasing (that I was still dealing with down below) as I walked up behind her. I took my left hand that was still quite cold from holding my ice cream bowl and cupped the side of her exposed neck. It was super easy since she had her hair pulled back in a ponytail. My cold hand on her neck had the desired effect and she let out a yelp and jumped slightly.

"Holy shit that's cold!" she said as she turned and tried to swat at me, but I anticipated her move and was able to dodge it. "That was not funny!" she said trying to look mad, but I could see she was trying not to giggle, and we both started laughing. As we got to the Denali, we both suddenly noticed the tie up shoulder straps on one side of her dress had come lose.

"Oh, I've come untied. Do you mind?" Belle asked me sweetly.

How could I say no? It was hard enough to say no during a normal situation, but a chance to be closer to her and touch her. No way in hell. As I pulled the straps up to the top of her shoulder and re-tied them, I felt her quiver as my fingers brushed the top of her shoulder and heard her breath hitch for a split second.

"Good as new." I said as I finished.

"Thanks." she said beaming up at me.

As I opened the truck door for her to get in, I noticed for a few seconds that she looked like she was trying to regain her composure. I couldn't help but think to myself, surely, she wasn't turned on by that brief moment of me touching her. If it was then I'd have to find a way to do it more. If she was going to be a tease, so could I.