Despite whatever she was feeling, she missed Rico and wanted to see him. When she received a text from him the next day, that made her absolutely happy.

Sorry you saw me play so bad. It wasn't you

That was nice to hear, although she knew she was a distraction. She messed up his sleep time and his nightly ritual. He was too focused on her and their relationship instead of the game. Pitching a ball was serious business.

Hell, even her father threw a bit of shade her way after the Cardinals lost.

"What have you done to that boy?"

She did not do a damn thing! He was a grown man. If he was that serious about the game and those dumb superstitions, he should not have invited her to the game. And what the hell? She was never supposed to go see him play again?

I want to see you, but not if it will throw you off again

She knew they had more games to go this week. Pretty soon if they kept losing, all of St. Louis would blame her for the Cardinals' demise.

I'm good. Coach gave me some days off. I want to see you. I want to kiss you. I want to hold you in my arms

That made her smile. She wanted to see him just as bad.

Come to rehearsals, I'm there all day but I can sneak moments with you.

Good enough

Her ninety-minute set for the tour was pretty set. Just polishing it and adding tweaks. Her singers, dancers, and band were on point, she could not ask for anything more. And she was building a family with them. They were her people and they clowned and laughed a lot.

"We about to put St. Louis on the map baby!" Keshaun, one of the top dancers who could give her a run for her money said.

"Yes child and listen, err'body and they momma gonna want to put us in their show," Ranielle, another dancer stated. She was right out of high school. Central Visual and Performing Arts, like the ladies of Petite Trois.

"Well, they better pay attention, we came to slay." She only surrounded herself with the best of the best in all things. This tour was going to catapult her into that superstar level her career needed. "Watch me work!"

They ran through her opening, full on with all the bells and whistles. She knew they looked and sounded good.

When Rico walked in while they were finishing up the second song, a big smile came on her face. Her man, her man! She was ready to run off the stage and jump into his arms. Kiss him all over those freckles and pretend no one else was there.

Then she saw that his little baseball buddy, blond pretty boy, was with him. That blew her high.

When they finished the song she signaled for them to take a break. She took off her cordless mic and made her way off stage. She rushed over to Rico, jumped on him anyway, and kissed him.

"I missed you, baby."

He laughed but kissed her back. "I missed you too, beautiful."

"Now I don't want to work. I see why we can be a distraction to each other."

"No, you're no distraction to me. I love having you at my game. I just had an off day."

"Yeah, he's straight now," she heard the blond pretty boy say.

She rolled her eyes his way while she got down off Rico. "What is he doing here?"

"Tika, this is Anthony, you guys never formally met. He really talked me off the ledge yesterday after the game. I was in my head about everything and-"

Anthony spoke up and interrupted Rico. "And I came to apologize for the way I acted when we first met. Sometimes I get beside myself with a pretty girl like you."

She didn't know how she felt about his apology. She knew men like him, using their good looks to get whatever they wanted. If he had caught her on a good day she would have gotten her swirl on. Thankfully, she did not, because then she would not have the best prize in Rico.

"Humph!" was all she said to him, and wrapped an arm around Rico's waist. "If my man says you're his A-1, I guess we're good."

"Respectfully, I've been a fan, and so has my bro. We listened to you all the time in the minors together. So going to your show was surreal. I felt like, I really made it," Anthony went on.

She relaxed a little bit, at least he was being nice. And any fan of hers she was cool with.

Sheila came over to them, a clipboard in her hand. Anthony immediately turned his attention to her little cousin with googly eyes.

"Tika, we need to really go through this all the way, time is money."

"Can I just have five more minutes with Rico? That's it!" She took his hand and pulled him off without waiting for an answer.

She found the first small room where they kept set supplies and she pulled Rico in, closed the door, and pulled him close for a kiss.

"I thought you were upset with me," Rico said between kisses.

"No, why would you think that."

"The way you left my place." He started to kiss all over her neck till she tingled.

She pulled up his shirt to rub those mystical abs of his. She did not care that they were hiding out in a room not far from her whole team and her host of performers. She wanted in this man's pants. She was so hot for him.

He did not even stop her when her hand slipped down in his pants and found him hard as a rock

"Mmm, Tika, what are you doing."

"Fuck me right now."

He laughed at her. "Okay, so you're definitely not mad at me, huh?"

"I'm just frustrated and horny." She caressed him and loved how he felt in her hand. He felt delicious and she wanted to taste him.

Rico kissed along her neck and down to her chest, to her breast, and made way to her nipple as he kissed and licked on it. She rubbed her fingers through his soft hair and held him to her breast while she enjoyed how he sucked on her.

She did not care that they were in a little storage room. It was on!

"Rico, I want you now."

He stopped sucking her breast, lifted his head to look at her. "Tika baby, I want you too. But we can't do this here."

"Why not? Please, come on." She had not let go of his hardness in her hand. She wanted to go down on her knees and take him in her mouth.

"Tika." He took her hand from him. "Come on. You know I'm not gonna do you in this room like this. You deserve better."

She let out another frustrated sigh. "You don't know what I deserve. I deserve you, Rico. Now! No more waiting. I'm going crazy."

"I understand. I feel the same."

"You think if we have sex it'll throw off your game? Is that the reason you keep turning me down?"

"No, no, that's not it."

There was a loud, banging knock on the door. She quickly straightened her clothes and Rico fixed his pants. That had to be Sheila and she knew not to barge in, even though the door was not locked.

"Tik, I told you, I have it all planned okay? Just trust me." He kissed her cheek, took her hand, and they walked out of the room as if things were not going down like that.

How much longer could she take it?