Immaculate Reception: The Barnes Family, #2

By Reese Patton

Miracles Don't Just Happen on the Football Field

He’s going the distance...

Just ask Aiden Rennol. He’s starting his final year in college, the star quarterback of the football team, and well on his way to the pros. His reputation on campus is record-breaking, both on and off the field. One record in particular is the stuff of legend - no relationships. Ever. But he’s about to call an audible.

An elegant solution to a complex problem...

Kelsey Pierson is charming, beautiful, intelligent, and has a problem - Aiden enters her perfect world. On the surface, she has everything - wealth, academic success, and a set plan for her life after college. Becoming Aiden’s girlfriend is nowhere in that plan. But she’s about to switch majors.

Can first love become everlasting love? Or will Aiden and Kelsey run into interference?

A brand new sweet and sexy Hometown Heroes novel that can read as a standalone

• Language: English
• Publisher: VoxAmoris Books
• Release date: Feb 13, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386414636

Book preview

IMMACULATE RECEPTION

Hometown Heroes #4

A Barnes Family Novel

He’s going the distance...

Just ask Aiden Rennol. He’s starting his final year in college, the star quarterback of the football team, and well on his way to the pros. His reputation on campus is record-breaking, both on and off the field. One record in particular is the stuff of legend - no relationships. Ever. But he’s about to call an audible.

An elegant solution to a complex problem...

Kelsey Pierson is charming, beautiful, intelligent, and has a problem - Aiden enters her perfect world. On the surface, she has everything - wealth, academic success, and a set plan for her life after college. Becoming Aiden’s girlfriend is nowhere in that plan. But she’s about to switch majors.

Can first love become everlasting love? Or will Aiden and Kelsey run into interference?

A brand new sweet & sexy Hometown Heroes novel that can be read as a standalone!

About Reese

Reese Patton writes sexy small town contemporary romances about sarcastic heroines, strong heroes, stories filled with emotion and humor, and always with a happily ever after.

Reese lives in the middle of United States on a small lake with her husband and two dogs. When not writing, she’s either complaining about the snow or whining about the humidity, but she wouldn’t change a thing. Well, maybe one thing—the nightly snoring symphony starring her husband and dogs.

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The Hometown Heroes series can be read in any order.

However, for the greatest reading enjoyment and if you want to follow the time-line of the books, the recommended order is:

The Rebound

Dirt

Pick

Immaculate Reception

Immaculate

Reception

Hometown Heroes

Reese

Patton

VoxAmoris Books

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or person, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

IMMACULATE RECEPTION. Copyright © 2017 by Reese Patton. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information contact: [e-mail].

Designed by R. Patton

For anyone who has fumbled in life

Table of Contents

Immaculate Reception Description

About Reese

Hometown Heroes Reading Order

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Twenty Two

Chapter Twenty Three

Chapter Twenty Four

Chapter Twenty Five

Chapter Twenty Six

Chapter Twenty Seven

Chapter Twenty Eight

Chapter Twenty Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty One

Chapter Thirty Two

Chapter Thirty Three

Chapter Thirty Four

Chapter Thirty Five

Chapter Thirty Six

Chapter Thirty Seven

Chapter Thirty Eight

Chapter Thirty Nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty One

Chapter Forty Two

Chapter Forty Three

Chapter Forty Four

Chapter Forty Five

Chapter Forty Six

Chapter Forty Seven

Chapter Forty Eight

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Prologue

Aiden

I tell people the first time I saw Kelsey Pierson it was love at first sight. But that’s a lie. It wasn’t even lust at first sight. I felt nothing.

None of the instant feelings that go straight to your heart and make you want to keep a person safe. None of the instant feelings that go straight to your balls and make you want to bend a person over and fuck them.

I didn’t even know her.

The first time I saw her was my junior year. I went to Professor Cotterhill’s office for his office hours. Instead of the sixty-year-old man I expected to find, she was sitting behind his desk. She didn’t even talk to me then. She picked up a stack of papers, put them in her bag, and walked out of his office.

The first time we spoke to each other was my senior year. And the beginning of the end of my supposed-to-be hassle-free fuck, Mindy.

I hooked up with Mindy when I wanted. That was the extent of our relationship. We fucked, but only at her place. I didn’t want to have to deal with kicking her out of my bed and it was easier to leave hers. But then she got clingy. Lots of phone calls, texts, stopping by my apartment, and trying to get me to stay the night. I hated clingy. I tried to brush her off, but Mindy wasn’t too smart and didn’t get that I didn’t want to see her again. Then again, I wasn’t fucking Mindy for her conversational skills. I was fucking her because she was gorgeous and had the best set of tits I ever had the pleasure of meeting.

But her tits weren’t enough for me to put up with her attempts at achieving girlfriend status. I managed three years of college without having a girlfriend and had no plans of changing my streak during my last year. I dumped her via text—not my finest moment—when she tried to convince me to spend Thanksgiving with her family after two weeks into the semester. It was time to dump and run and I needed to do it the quickest way possible. A text seemed like the best way to keep her from the misguided belief she could have a future with me. If Kelsey knew of my desire to be permanently single during college, she never let on.

I didn’t know much about Kelsey. She was in the sorority Sigma Gamma. I know this much because I was friends with some of the girls she hung around with. But I had never seen her at any of the parties even though she was in one of the better sororities. She played golf and tennis, and she spoke French and Italian, and could read Latin. Kelsey Pierson was a fucking Renaissance girl.

She was smart. Kelsey started school with more credits than a sophomore. The first time I saw her, she was technically a sophomore even though it was her first year on campus. And she graded Cotterhill’s papers. She came from money. Her clothes and where she lived off-campus screamed wealthy family. She even had a nice car, not the usual gas efficient, cheap model every other student drove.

When I first saw her, I thought she was pretty in that cute like the girl next door way. But that was also when I thought she was my professor’s granddaughter. She wasn’t tall, but her body was toned, brown hair that might be called red in the right light, and the most amazing pair of green eyes. Even more amazing than Mindy’s tits.

But I noticed all those things later.

Kelsey was articulate and elegant in a way college students shouldn’t be. Her walk, her gestures, even her little facial expressions. She was a throwback to a decade before my parents were even born. She could have fit right into Don Draper’s world. And she wasn’t just smart. She was fucking brilliant. She wasn’t pretentious about it either. Kelsey could talk about any subject and her brain held specifics about everything. Theology, philosophy, history—it didn’t matter what someone was talking about—she could join the conversation without missing a step.

Before my last year of school, if someone asked me if I’d have a girlfriend, I would have said hell no. And if they asked me if I ever pictured myself with Kelsey Pierson, I’d have said fuck no. I might have stopped to consider it for a few minutes, after all, she was cute, but my answer would still be no.

She never showed up at any of the parties during my junior year. She wasn’t the kind of girl who fell for football players. Not even the starting quarterback who all but guaranteed his school a trip to a championship game. Plus, she wasn’t one of those super social girls. She was polite, but she held herself apart from everyone else. If she didn’t consider someone worth her time, she didn’t give it to them. She wasn’t rude about it, but she had a way of making a person feel inadequate when she wanted.

To her, I was a dumb football player who fit neatly into the stereotype of a college jock. But I wasn’t dumb. People were always surprised about that. I met all their other expectations so there was no way I could also be smart. But with a few exceptions, all quarterbacks were smart. They had to be if they were any good. I liked school. I studied for tests and didn’t rely on tutors or the notes the team kept for every class. Compared to Kelsey, I might have looked like a dumb asshole jock, but I just loved football as much as I liked history and lit.

I grew up in a suburb outside a big city. My skills on the field managed to grab the attention of a Division 1 school, even though I wasn’t from Texas where they spit out football players like gum balls from a machine. My family was well enough off that I didn’t need financial aid, but the school offered me an athletic scholarship. My older brother didn’t play sports and my younger sister ignored every extra-curricular activity. If the school paid for college, it meant my parents only had to put two kids through school instead of three. I was considerate like that.

I liked most of the guys on the team. I liked the campus. I liked my classes. And I loved the number of hot girls who didn’t mind being jump offs for the starting quarterback. Jersey chasers. Every college and professional athlete thanks the gods of sports for them.

Kelsey and I bumped into each other around campus after the first time I saw her in Cotterhill’s office. I couldn’t say we said more than hello. When we did find ourselves in the same room she did her polite, but not worth my time thing. When we got together, there were times when I fucked her really hard just because of her attitude.

I used to catch her looking at me, but it wasn’t like the other girls. Kelsey never looked at me like she wanted me. She looked at me like I was one of the papers she graded. Like she was trying to find a reason for me not being worth her time—I was too tall, too bulky, and too cocky. If I wanted to go pro when I graduated, I had to be big enough, so I worked out. A lot. I was 6’3" and close to 230 and I was going to get picked up in at least the second round of the Draft.

She was right about me being too cocky, but I had every reason to be.

The middle of September of my senior year was the first time she became more than just that cute girl I see around campus. It was also the first time we said more than ‘hello, how are you’ to one another.

One

Aiden

I turned my knee during the second game of the season. Instead of risking exasperating the injury during practice, Coach sends me to watch films. I don’t want to sit in the locker room watching clips on a laptop.  I want to be out on the field with my teammates. But practice isn’t going to happen.  I head to Cotterhill’s office. He likes football, and he likes me. So if I camp out in his office for a few hours, he probably won’t mind.

Kelsey sits at his desk grading papers. And Cotterhill sits in one of the ratty, but comfortable, chairs. From her not-so-subtle glares, Kelsey is not overly enthused by my appearance. I settle into the other ratty chair, pull out the laptop and a notebook with our plays, and pop in my ear buds.

Not even fifteen minutes pass before Cotterhill makes an excuse about a faculty meeting. He invites me to stick around until Kelsey locks up. She watches Cotterhill’s retreat before turning her gaze to me.

Sick or hurt? She asks.

Nope. I don’t shift my gaze from the videos on the laptop screen. Twisted my knee in the last game and Coach wanted me to take it easy today.

I don’t know a lot about football, but I think a twisted knee means you’re hurt, Aiden.

I may be mistaken, but I am pretty sure there’s a hint of a giggle in her voice. I give her a little smile. She isn’t wrong.

Word is your thing with Mindy isn’t going too well. She leans back in her chair and bites down on her bottom lip. There is no way I am mistaking the amusement in her eyes.

Kelsey might be distant and snobby, but it doesn’t mean she is without charm. And when she decides to use it, no one stands a chance. Her green eyes get even greener and her smile hints at this great joke she wants to share. She is so self-satisfied, but looks so cute. My cock twitches.

I pull my other ear bud out and glance up from the screen. Yeah, it took a detour. She came on pretty strong.

Mindy does that, Kelsey says, She doesn’t have much else going for her so she uses her one asset to hide all her other deficiencies, like missing a brain.

I laugh, You’re wrong. She has two assets.

They only count as two assets if they are beneficial as individual variables. Since they only work in tandem, they are a singular asset.

Kelsey may be harsh with her words, but she is right. If Mindy only had one tit, I wouldn’t have picked her as my jump off.

Is that your modus operandi? To treat women like dirt so they stay interested? Kelsey asks.

I push the laptop away. The conversation with Kelsey suddenly becomes more interesting than the films I am supposed to be watching. I don’t have to do anything to keep them interested.

Kelsey smiles and a breathy laugh escapes. She looks back down at the paper on the desk. She has on a light pink cardigan sweater over a t-shirt and the sweater hides what looks to be a decent set of tits. For a moment I wish I could see what else she is wearing, but her legs hide behind the desk.

A text message, though? You couldn’t find a better way?

Not my best moment. I don’t bother with an excuse. How pissed is she?

Kelsey keeps her head down and makes a little gesture with her hand as though she is waving away a bee or a gnat. I watch the way her fingers move in the air and imagine she is flicking away Mindy’s feelings as unimportant. She’s telling everyone about it who will listen. Her claim is that you slept with her just so you could tell everyone that you slept with all the girls in her pledge class.

Not true. I never slept with Sloan or Maura. Both girls are legacies and below the usual Gamma Gamma Gamma standards. And well below my personal standards.

That’s not an achievement of recognition, Aiden. Their vibrators would run away from them if they could. Kelsey’s laughter is one of those sounds I wouldn’t mind hearing more.

I laugh with her. Who would guess Kelsey Pierson is funny? She can be fucking mean, but she’s still funny. I haven’t slept with you.

True, but I’m not in her pledge class. Kelsey looks up from the desk at me. And I’m not a Tri-Gam.

I could bend you over the desk, and fuck you right now? Prove that I don’t just fuck Tri-Gams.

She surprises me with another one of her breathy laugh. I’m sure Dr. Cotterhill would be thrilled, but are you sure your knee can handle it?

Kelsey, if you think a knee is necessary for a good fucking, you’ve been doing it wrong.

She lets out another cock-hardening laugh and her cheeks turn a nice pink color. I’m sure my level of experience being so far below Mindy’s would be a disappointment to you.

I close the laptop, but pull it back over my lap to hide my slowly growing cock. And I’m sure you wouldn’t be a disappointment.

Kelsey doesn’t have a quick retort. She looks back down at the paper, but she is smiling. Neither of us says anything, but the silence isn’t uncomfortable. We can both still pretend we were joking.

I lean forward, closer to the desk, and her. I gave you something to share with your sisters in Sigma Gamma, what are you going to give me in return? Anyone you’re secretly lusting after.

Her head snaps up and her eyes are wide open. Those beautiful green eyes stare at me and for a moment, I imagine what they would look like in a post-orgasmic haze. I lean even closer to the desk until my chest practically rests on top of it.

Her hand moves to her necklace, and she runs the charm back and forth over the chain. Not really.

What do you mean, not really? Do you pounce and bounce? I have no clue why I keep talking about sex with her, but my hardening cock might play a role.

She looks back down at the paper, but not before I see the change in her smile. The charming Kelsey is gone and in her place is the cool distant girl I usually see. I’d love to say it’s because she is falling for me and wants to hide it. But I am pretty sure the lack of that smile is because of my use of the phrase pounce and bounce. Not that I expect to impress her with it though. It isn’t ever going to make a list with the likes of Hemingway or Fitzgerald.

I thought the pounce and bounce was your tactic of choice, Aiden.

All my friends and teammates either call me by my last name, Rennol, or the shortened version of my first name. Even Coach never uses my full name. The only person who uses Aiden, is my mother. But when Kelsey says it, she doesn’t sound anything like my mom. She says it with a little exhale that makes me want to grab her and bend her over the desk.

What the fuck? Where did that thought come from?

If my cock gets any harder, the laptop isn’t going to be able to hide it. Wherever the hell my imagination is running off to, I need to rein it the fuck back into place. Walking out Cotterhill’s office with a full-blown hard-on is not something I really want to experience.

I would never bounce from you, Kelsey. I want to see the charming Kelsey again and hope the sappy line might bring her back.

That would mean you get the opportunity to pounce, and that isn’t going to happen, Aiden. She keeps her eyes on the paper, but I do see the hint of the smile I chased away.

I take it as a good sign.

Two

Aiden

I get home after practice and Mindy is sitting at my door, waiting for me. 

Hey, Aid, she says as she bounces to her feet.  She has a plastered on smile and is wearing the tightest and lowest cut shirt she owns.

From what Kelsey said earlier, I figured Mindy got the message. So why the fuck is she at my place? I went with a text. Simple and efficient. It also has the added benefit of me not having to listen to whining about how I am making a mistake. The text was supposed to make her so pissed she wouldn’t want to see me again.

I miscalculated the level of her delusions.

So here she is.  Outside my door as though nothing has changed. Maybe she’s not as dumb as I thought she was? I am not at all happy with this turn of events. This is probably the reason she has always been a jump off.  We never went out to dinner. Not even to a fast-food place.

This is a fucking mess. And not something I want to deal with, especially after a fun conversation with Kelsey.  Why I am thinking about Kelsey Pierson while Mindy is standing in front of me, I have no idea.

We can stand outside my door and have a conversation for everyone else to overhear, or I can bring Mindy inside and run the risk of her not leaving. Neither is a good choice.  Giving in to my better instincts, I open the door and wave her inside.

Come on in, I sigh.

She walks into my place, waving her hips from side to side.  She’s doing it because she thinks it’s sexy. And it might be to someone else.

I close the door behind me.  What are you doing here, Mindy?

I wanted to see you, Aid. Mindy turns around and pushes her shoulders back, as though she wants to make sure I don’t miss her tits.  Not like it’s possible.

I heard you talked with Kelsey Pierson today.  Her fingertips brush the exposed skin of her chest.  Like everything else she’s doing doesn’t emphasize her tits enough.

Yeah.  How the hell does Mindy know about Kelsey?  She was in Cotterhill’s office when I stopped by…

Are you dumping me for her?  

Kelsey?  Not only is Mindy delusional, she is certifiable bat-shit insane too. Today is the first time Kelsey and I had a real conversation.  I’m not sure I consider her a friend, but for the sake of getting Mindy out of my place as soon as possible, it is the approach I’m going to take.  She’s a friend.  Why wouldn’t I talk with her?

You weren’t ever friends with her when you were going out with me. Oh man, there’s a lot wrong with Mindy’s statement.

We are over, Mindy.  And we weren’t even going out. I decide it’s best to start with the most obvious errors.       

Aid, don’t say that.  She reaches out and runs her hand her fingers over my chest.

Fuck, she’s so much more irritating than I remember her being.  But just because she annoys me doesn’t mean everything else has changed.  She’s still hot as fuck.  She still has great tits. And she’s still fuckable.  It’s like she reads my mind and her hand drops lower until her fingertips skim over the crotch of my pants.

I can do a lot of things right now.  If I am as smart as I claim to be, I should kick her out and slam the door in her face.  But I’m not always smart when it comes to opportunities involving my dick.

My cock flares to life under her hand, getting bigger as it gets harder.  Mindy smiles.  It’s as though she won her own little delusional competition by getting me hard.  She doesn’t get that my conversation with Kelsey primed my cock and it would have jumped for anyone who touched it.

Fuck me, Aid. Mindy steps closer and lowers her voice to a husky whisper. I’m not sure why her fake sex voice was ever sexy.

What?

Fuck me.  Use me.  Do whatever you want.  I don’t care, Aid, just as long as you fuck me like the little slut I am.  Mindy’s pulling out all the weapons.  I was always the one who talked dirty, but only during sex, never before.

Even though I might know what’s going on, my dick has a mind of its own.  I almost come right there, with her hand on my cock.  Mindy.  We aren’t in a relationship.  I’m not in a relationship with anyone, and I have no plans to be in a relationship with anyone.

Aid… Her fingers wrap around my thickening cock over the cotton of my shorts. I know you don’t do relationships.  But that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun and you can’t fuck me with your big cock.

Mindy doesn’t mean anything she says. Every word of hers is a lie.  If I take her up on the offer for quick meaningless sex, she’s going to text and call me every few minutes of the day.

But what my brain understands, and how my body responds are two different things. Especially when she falls to her knees and works at the button and zipper on my shorts.  Before I can even stop her, not that I try too hard, I give in.

I am about to participate in yet another interaction with Mindy, that in retrospect, I won’t be proud of.

My cock bounces out of my boxer briefs and right into her mouth.  She slobbers all over my cock as she slides up and down. She’s also making all these noises she’s never made before.  It’s like she studied up on the noises women make in porn and is trying to duplicate them.

My hands find her hair and I grip it tightly while thrusting deeper into her mouth.  She’s pulling my shorts down and they land on the floor at my ankles.  The only sounds in the room are her weird noises and the noise my cock makes moving in and out of her mouth.

On the plus side, I don’t have to listen to her talking.