Game Changer: #UofJ Book 2- A Second Chance Romantic Comedy Sports Romance (U of J)

by Alley Ciz

  Not seeing a familiar rainbow-streaked blonde in the mix, I continue through the house and into the dining room. Kay also isn’t among those playing beer pong, and I decide to add Dante and JT into my search. Between the former’s towering height and the latter’s red hair, I’m hoping one of them might be easier to spot. Kay is so short she tends to get lost in the shuffle.

  A cheering sounds from the next room, I hit pay dirt, seeing Dante and JT among those playing flip cup. I don’t see Kay yet, but she can’t be far if they’re both here.

  Dante shifts to the left, and there she is.

  Fuck! She’s a sight to behold.

  I drink her in like the starved man I am.

  The curls I love to run my hands through tumble around her shoulders and down her back to her waist.

  Her toned muscles and luscious curves are displayed in all their mouthwatering glory in a tight white tank top, the deep U of the neckline showcasing the generous swell of her cleavage.

  As hot as the upper half is, the bottom sure as shit holds its own. Her jeans look painted on, and I can’t wait to see what the back view looks like. Those sexy-as-fuck boots bring to mind all the ways I can get them wrapped around my hips.

  My favorite thing about her in this moment? It’s the first time her eyes haven’t been rimmed in red in weeks. I hate that she ran, but at least being here seems to have done her some good.

  I can’t stop my mouth from tipping up at the corners when I notice I’m not the only one cataloging the other’s appearance. Kay’s molten eyes are like a physical caress as they travel across my chest and down to where my black t-shirt clings to the muscles of my stomach.

  The disbelief is clear to see on her beautiful face. My gaze drops to her mouth as she pulls her bottom lip between her teeth. I know exactly what she tastes like, and I can’t wait until I’m the one doing the nibbling.

  Without giving her a chance to object to my presence, I cross the space between us in a few long strides, bend down, put my shoulder to her stomach, and toss her over it in a fireman’s carry.

  Mine.

  Time to show her I’m still her Caveman.

  #Chapter32

  I blink my eyes repeatedly, sure I’m hallucinating, but nope, he’s real. Looking hotter than should be legal in dark wash jeans filled out by his muscular thighs, a black t-shirt molded to his washboard stomach, and a backward black ball cap is Mason Nova.

  What the hell is he doing here?

  Like a flower to the sun, my body turns to follow his as he walks around people and the table to me. Without a word, I’m suddenly lifted from the ground and hanging upside down over his shoulder, causing me to let out a screech.

  When he turns to take us away from the group, I brace my hands on his ass—Why do I have to notice how amazing it is?—to peer up at my best friend, who’s supposed to have my back but is standing there unmoving.

  “You’re not going to stop this?”

  “Nope,” my supposed bestie answers.

  “Seriously?!” My voice pitches.

  “Go talk to him,” JT advises calmly.

  “Why would I do that? And why are you so okay with this?” I try to gesture to the fireman’s carry I’m in.

  “Don’t act like I haven’t made my stance on the situation perfectly clear.” He toasts me with his Solo cup.

  I huff in frustration. “You are so not my best friend anymore. You are now Undesirable Number One to me.”

  “Oh you must be mad if you’re using a Harry Potter reference, but you messed up there, babe, because you just referred to me as Harry—you know, the good guy?” He pretends to fluff his red hair, and I bounce on Mason’s shoulder with his laughter. “I’ve always fancied myself more of a Weasley.”

  “Yeah, like Percy Weasley—book five Percy Weasley,” I spit out, super annoyed to still be hanging upside down.

  “Now that’s just mean.” JT ignores me and speaks to Mason. “Good luck, man. She’s pissed.” He claps Mason on the shoulder and turns back to the flip cup table.

  Confident JT isn’t going to follow and kick his ass—much to my disappointment—Mason carries me out the back door and onto the wraparound porch.

  Once outside, he shifts me from his shoulder to pin me between the side of the house and his body. Tingles follow in the wake of his touch, his hands skimming up the backs of my thighs to wrap my legs around his hips before cupping my butt.

  I try to hold on to my mad, remembering how hurt I was when he broke up with me and all the reasons he needs to stay away from me. It doesn’t work. With our bodies pressed together in such a familiar way, every defense and objection I have flows out of my brain, one after the other.

  It doesn’t help that JT is right and he’s had me teetering closer and closer to the edge of giving in and taking a chance on love.

  Bitch please. *eye roll of all eye rolls* Who are you trying to kid? You know you were planning on taking back Mr. Tightest End—hehe, see what I did there?—when you got home.

  Yeah…well…

  Fuck! I can’t even argue with myself properly with Mason close. Is it really too much to ask to have gotten the two other days I thought I would have before I had to face him?

  His exquisite seafoam green eyes bore into me with all the love I’ve been craving. How am I supposed to keep my distance when he looks at me like that?

  Goose bumps break out across my skin, but I don’t know if it’s from the chilly November air or from being so close to Mason.

  Memories of each pregame good luck kiss trickle into my brain, my back pressing into the hard siding as Mason shifts to balance me with his lower body.

  An involuntary moan passes through my lips as the hard length of him hits my center. My senses are overwhelmed by the flex of his muscles around me, the scent of his fresh soap filling my lungs, and the body heat warding off the worst of the chill.

  My hands fall to his heaving chest, the cotton of his shirt warm under my touch.

  Oh, how I’ve missed this, missed him.

  I’m not sure how long we stay there, staring at each other, both our hearts pounding—he’s so close I can feel his too—JT’s words bouncing around my skull, encouraging my heart to take a chance.

  “God, Kay,” is all he says before his lips are on mine.

  This kiss.

  Oh my god.

  It’s all-consuming.

  He doesn’t just press his mouth to mine—he devours me.

  His hands cup my face between them, his long fingers threading through the curls at the base of my skull, tugging on them and tilting my head for a better angle.

  My arms find themselves looped around his neck.

  I feel everything in this kiss, all the apology, the pain, the longing, the passion, the love Mason has to give—and, most of all, hope.

  #Chapter33

  There’s so much I want to say, so much I need to say, but I can’t concentrate this close to Kay. It’s been too damn long since I’ve had her body wrapped around me like this, and it dissolves my self-control. I crave her like an addict. She’s my drug of choice, and all I want to do is overdose.

  I take her face in my hands, tilting it to mine, and seal my mouth over hers. Her slender arms wrap around my neck, and after a few seconds, she starts to kiss me back.

  I know we need to talk. Technically speaking, we are currently broken up, but I couldn’t not kiss her right now. It’s a compulsion, an inherent need to communicate my feelings on a baser level.

  God I missed this.

  We lose ourselves in our kiss, as so often happens with us. I explore her mouth with my tongue, and not even the bitterness of the beer she was drinking can take away from her intrinsic sweet taste.

  I swallow down her moan, only managing to drag myself away enough to separate our mouths and rest my forehead against hers.

  This close I can appreciate the finer details of her face. Her makeup covers the freckles I like to count on her nose and cheeks, but it makes her eyes appear la
rger, the flecks of blue slightly more prominent inside the swirls of gray.

  Every inhalation brings with it hints of both the peppermint of her conditioner and the vanilla on her skin.

  “God, Kay. I’m sorry. So damn sorry.”

  Yes, she’s told me she forgives me, but all this started because I false-started.

  “For kissing me?” Her voice cracks.

  “No.” I shake my head. “Never for that.”

  My fingers flex around her nape, her dark gray orbs broadcasting a tormented pain I yearn to take away.

  “I’m such a fucking idiot.” A self-deprecating laugh breaks free before I can stop it.

  “Mason—” She tries to cut in, but I don’t let her.

  “No, please. Please let me say everything I need to say to you.”

  I pull back, maintaining eye contact, and stroke her cheeks with my thumbs. I think the action soothes me more than it does her.

  “I know I let other people influence me, but I’m never making that mistake again.” I place a finger over her lips to stop what I know will be her next rebuttal. “You”—my finger drags across her bottom lip—“are the best thing that has ever happened to me. Nothing”—I push enough to drag her lip down—“can make me think differently.”

  The thin black choker necklace she wears bobs with the movement of her swallow as she digests both what I’m saying and what I’m not.

  “I love you, Skittles. So fucking much.”

  “Oh, Mase.”

  Fucking finally! I resist the urge to do a touchdown dance at her calling me Mase.

  One of her hands glides up my chest, curling around my neck and toying with the hairs exposed under the brim of my hat. My heart stutters, the fear that our relationship is irreparable pulsing through my limbs.

  “Mase.” She cups my jaw, and I nuzzle into the touch. “I love you too.”

  My body goes boneless at her words and I almost drop her before I readjust to keep us both upright.

  “But…” My spine stiffens at her but. I hate that word right now. “I’m scared.”

  “It’s okay to be scared, babe.” I blow out a breath, her bangs fluttering from the force. “I just need you to believe I’ll always be here to hold you through it.”

  Even with her skin riddled with goose flesh, it’s still soft as silk as I skim my fingertips along her forearm. I circle the wrist of her left hand and pull it between us. The grooves of her birthstone bands scratch across the pad of my thumb, making the nakedness of the ring finger all the more noticeable.

  If the distance from the last few weeks has taught me anything, it’s that I am 100%, totally, completely, head over heels in love with Kay.

  “You’re it for me.” I pinch the bare digit.

  “You can’t know that.” Curls brush my jaw as she shakes her head. “It’s only been two months.”

  “I don’t care if it’s been two months or two hundred months. From the moment I saw you…something told me you were made for me.” I bring her hand to my mouth and kiss her ring finger. “Every day since then has only driven the point home more.”

  “Mase.” A tear leaks from her eye, and I wipe it away. “I’m a mess. I don’t know how to cope with all the things that come with your future career.”

  “We’ll learn together.”

  I already plan on spending part of my time down here with JT—he’s the expert when it comes to helping Kay through the worst of things. If there’s anyone who will be able to coach me into being able to do the same for my girl, it will be him.

  “I will do anything you need me to do to feel secure in us. All I ask is that you be mine.”

  “You don’t—” She drops her gaze to focus on our linked hands. “There are—” She sucks in a deep breath, her voice turning small. “There are things…important things you don’t know about me. What if…what if you change your mind because of them?”

  My gut clenches. I have suspected she’s been withholding from me. I’m so far gone over her, though, I honestly can’t think of what could make her fear come true, if anything like that even exists.

  Hooking a finger under her chin, I push until her now watery gray eyes meet mine again. “Whenever you’re ready to tell me, I’ll be here, but know this”—I smooth a finger over her jaw—“nothing you can tell me will change my mind. Whatever has happened in the past has helped make the woman in front of me now, and I love her.”

  She sucks in a startled breath, her lips parting slightly with the shock.

  Good. If I accomplish anything this weekend, it will be that she will unequivocally believe the depth of my feelings for her.

  “How did you find me?”

  The question catches me off guard. It’s almost hard to believe this is the third state I’ve been in today looking for her.

  “Well…after taking a tour of Jersey, I continued my road trip to Baltimore.”

  “You went to my brother’s?” Her eyes do a quick scan of my body like she’s checking me over for injuries.

  “I’d go anywhere for you.”

  Bleh. You’ve turned into a cheesy character from a romantic comedy. My inner coach can fuck off because the smile that blooms on Kay’s face has the biggest one I’ve had in weeks spreading across mine.

  “Oh, put those away.” She pushes a finger into one of my dimples, which only has me grinning harder. She’s always telling me my dimples can make a girl go stupid. Telling her as much gets me a playful slap to the shoulder.

  “Does this mean you’re going to admit you’re mine again?” I nip at the tendon running along the side of her neck, and her answering moan makes me want to find the nearest flat surface so we can make up properly.

  “You’re such a caveman.”

  I can’t help but smirk against her skin. “You know it, baby.”

  The eye roll she gives me when I pull back is all the answer I need.

  #Chapter34

  I’m doing this. I can’t believe it, but I am.

  I just hope it doesn’t all end up blowing up in my face.

  “Can we get out of here?” My scalp stings when Mase’s fingers tangle deep into my hair as he asks the question.

  As conflicted as my feelings have been during our time apart, the only way I can answer is with a yes.

  It’s insane that he went to E’s trying to track me down. My brother may be a teddy bear with me, but he can be downright grizzly to anyone he feels has wronged me.

  It shouldn’t surprise me that E thought Mase was good enough to pass muster; he’s been fighting for me—for us—for weeks.

  I have to trust in Mase’s declarations. Instinctually, a part of me believes if anyone can handle the things I’m too scared to face, it will be him.

  “Have any place in mind?”

  Going someplace private is the smartest decision. It’s actually a miracle nobody has stumbled upon us already.

  “Yup.” That devilish smirk that never fails to make me feel weak in the knees makes an appearance. Without further explanation, he lowers me to the ground, allowing my body to slide along every inch of his on the way down. Those damn dimples deepen in naughty promise.

  The flip cup game is still in full swing when we return to the kitchen. I rub at my arms in an effort to chase the chill away, unsure if it’s lingering from being outside for an extended period of time, or if it’s because of the number of eyes now trained in my direction.

  Warmth and calm infuse me as Mase steps up behind me, looping his arms around my middle and tugging until my back is flush to his front. A sigh of contentment escapes at how easily he is able to center me.

  Why did I try to run from this?

  “We good here?” JT asks, circling a finger at us.

  Lips ghost over the soft spot behind my ear with a whispered, “Mine.” I should roll my eyes at this additional display of Mason’s caveman antics, but after spending weeks thinking I wouldn’t get to experience them again, I can’t bring myself to do so. His possessiveness is one of
the things that got me to love him the way I do.

  Besides…this has nothing on how he barreled in here, tossed me over his shoulder, and carried me away like those he is aptly nicknamed after.

  “We’re good.” I nod, placing my arms on top of Mase’s, in no rush to move.

  “Does that mean I get to be Ginny again?” JT drops down, shuffling closer on his knees in an over-the-top display of pleading. There are days I wonder about his sanity.

  “She is definitely the most badass Weasley.” Approval shines in JT’s eyes at Mason’s comment. “The movies don’t do her character justice the way the books do.”

  “Oh, man.” JT slaps the floor before jumping back to his feet. “He’s a Potterhead too? He’s perfect for you, PF.”

  Tilting my head back, I catch sight of Mase’s smug expression. After weeks of me telling him I’m not good for him, I’m sure he’s loving being told otherwise.

  There’s a kiss to the top of my head, and his chest expands behind me with a deep inhalation, breathing me in.

  I feel the loss of him the instant he steps away, my heart only settling when his fingers thread their way between mine. “Our Uber is here.”

  How did I miss him ordering one? Also, who cares? With promises to meet up with JT and the others tomorrow, we make our goodbyes.

  As soon as the door to the hotel room clicks closed behind us, Mase lifts me in his arms. My legs automatically wrap around his waist and hook at the ankles. He devours my mouth like a starving man let loose at an all-you-can-eat buffet, pressing my back into the wall by the door.

  If I thought the way he kissed me at the basketball house was hot, that was a small campfire compared to this raging inferno.

  His tongue licks inside my mouth, and I meet it stroke for stroke. Grateful for all the years of tumbling experience, I use my thigh muscles to grind onto the erection pressing against his zipper. My panties are instantly ruined, my body remembering exactly what he is capable of doing to it.

  My hands slip beneath the hem of his hoodie and t-shirt, skirting across the dips of his abdominals. He’s hard and hot all over, and I tug until I pull both tops off and drop them to the floor along with his hat, which gets knocked off in the process.