Barriers: Anderson Special Ops - Book 3

by Melody Anne

  “I haven’t played in years. I’d love to play a game,” she said, finally feeling the tension between them float away. There was nothing like a good active game to get your mind off sex — or more accurately, a lack of sex.

  They stepped from the car, went to the back of the vehicle, changed their shoes, then approached a group of people who were still setting up for a game. Mallory noticed there were no females. She hoped they wouldn’t mind her joining. It had been a while, but within minutes she’d show them she was good if they gave her a chance.

  Hendrick approached the group with confidence. “Mind if we join?” he asked.

  “Both of you? Sure, just so long as you know this is a little higher skill level than other pickup games. Don’t know if either of you have played in the past but if not, I’d recommend waiting for another half hour-ish when the other players who go to field B start showing up.” The man wasn’t arrogant, just letting them know the skillset needed to have an enjoyable game.

  “I don’t know about this two-footed oaf, but I’ve played a game or two,” Mallory said while digging her elbow into his ribs.

  The young man laughed, then turned to lead Hendrick and Mallory to the field. “Also, not that it matters to anyone here, but we don’t do a lot of talking. We play hard,” he said with a laugh. “About seventy-five percent of the players don’t speak much English. We have guys from Mexico to Russia and everywhere in between. There’s a guy from Japan who knows how to say Starbucks, Seattle, and Futbol. That’s it.”

  “Sounds good,” Hendrick said with a laugh.

  “I don’t like chattiness when I play,” Mallory said. “I get a little competitive.”

  “Then you’re on my team,” the kid said. “I’m Seth, by the way.”

  “Great to meet you, Seth,” Hendrick said as he shook hands. “I’m Hendrick and this is Mallory.”

  “Perfect, let’s do this,” Seth said.

  Within five minutes teams were formed and gathered to their respective sides. Eight men on one side, seven men and one woman on the other. In their own way of communicating, mostly by a couple of guys physically placing others in a spot, it was settled on who’d play where. It wasn’t a shock to Mallory she was put on defense, as far away from the attacking position as possible.

  She also wasn’t surprised to find Hendrick put in the middle. Hendrick was most certainly a man who stood out among other men. At six two, Mallory was sure he was normally the tallest in most situations. In terms of soccer players, he was a giant. Most of the players were closer to Mallory’s height than Hendrick’s.

  Forty minutes into the game Mallory had touched the ball a total of two times. She was getting ticked. She despised being coddled, and she really hated when men treated her like a delicate flower. She could hold her own, and she’d had more than one bloody nose in her life from playing fast and hard. What was the fun in playing a game she didn’t get to participate in?

  Halftime was called and the players walked to their respective spots to pick up their drinks as different languages flowed around them.

  “I’m losing patience,” Mallory told Hendrick who looked perfectly happy. Of course he was, he’d been handling the ball the entire first half.

  “What?” Hendrick asked, obviously clueless. Typical male.

  “If my own team doesn’t give me a chance to work some magic on the ball soon, I’m going to start kicking them,” she whispered.

  He laughed. “We might not be invited back if that happens,” he told her.

  “I don’t care. What’s the fun in playing if I can’t play?”

  He shrugged. “Be more aggressive.” His words should’ve ticked her off, but he was right. If she wanted to prove herself, as she had to do a lot in a male dominated workspace, she had to go the extra mile.

  She let out another sigh. “Dang it.”

  “What now?” he asked, laughing again as he guzzled his drink.

  “I forgot my water and Gatorade on my kitchen table.”

  “Lucky for you, I brought extra,” Hendrick said before he took a drink then handed it over to her. She didn’t hesitate to grasp the bottle. She was thirsty and not even thinking about germs. Heck, with how their tongues had been tangling the night before, there were no germs left that hadn’t been swapped.

  Just as their break ended, the few clouds that had been lazily hanging in the sky disappeared, and the summer heat became noticeable. The sun was no longer hidden, and it warmed up real fast as players made their way back onto the field.

  Hendrick took his shirt off and threw it to the ground next to his drink. He walked ahead of Mallory and she found herself tongue-tied as she gazed at his muscled back, the skin toned and tight and narrowing perfectly into his shorts that hung over his beautiful ass.

  Several of the other men threw off their shirts as well, but Mallory didn’t care. There was only one man she was devouring with her eyes, and now she might be screwed on showing her prowess on the field. She couldn’t see the ball if she couldn’t take her eyes off of Hendrick. She finally reached him on the field.

  “Come with me,” he told her, taking her by the elbow and leading her to the attacking position. There were only a couple of complaints from the man Hendrick moved out of his position. But with one look from Hendrick, the guy stopped arguing. Damn, Mallory didn’t want to be turned on by that — but she was.

  “She’s a striker this half,” Hendrick called to his teammates.

  If there were any arguments from the other men, they didn’t verbalize them.

  Hendrick started to turn away, but Mallory reached out and barely got hold of his bicep in the tips of her fingers. He turned his head to look at her and she whispered her thanks. He nodded and she turned away from him, wanting to concentrate on the game. So that meant no looking at his naked flesh.

  It only took ten minutes before just about every man playing had their shirts off. The heat was becoming a deciding factor in who was in shape and who thought they were. In the new position Mallory was running a lot more. Her body was overheating quickly, but she refused to give in to exhaustion.

  A ball was passed to her, she dribbled around one defender, then another, passed it to a player streaking to her left, then cut toward the middle and found herself wide open. Calling for the ball multiple times the other player ignored her and tried getting past three defenders only to have the ball stolen from him. The same scenario played out again, and again the ball was stolen from him. This time she confronted him.

  “Dude, pass the damn ball. The last two times I’ve been wide open,” Mallory chided.

  A man on the other team came up with irritation and condescension in his eyes. “Woman, you do not talk to him that way. He’s my cousin.” She opened her mouth to snap at the man when he repeated himself. “You do not talk to him. You shouldn’t even be here. This is a man’s game, not a place for females. Learn your place.”

  Mallory stood there in shock before she glanced around to see if the others were watching this scene play out. But no one had noticed anything wrong. She wanted to yell, hell, she wanted to throw the man to the ground and show him just how tough she was. But Mallory knew the strongest thing a person could do most of the time was walk away. She turned and started back to her position, but instead ran over to the sideline, grabbed the Gatorade, and chugged the rest of the contents.

  As she looked back at the field of shirtless men, she decided she was going to cool off herself. The man’s pompous attitude had given her an attitude of her own. She was just as fit as any of the men out there, and she was good at what she did. So, she pulled off her shirt, leaving her in a perfectly modest sports bra. It was black, nothing was showing, and women worked out in them all of the time at gyms and while running. There should be no issues.

  As she came back onto the field the play was coming back toward her, and she sprinted hard at an angle for the player to get her the ball while at full speed. Just as the ball was pas
sed to her, and she was on her way to the goal, a dark streak came up next to her, slamming a shoulder and elbow into her side. The purposeful and violent impact lifted her into the air. With the speed she was sprinting and the impact of the hit, her balance was completely thrown off. She was only able to get her forearm in front of her face a fraction of a second before landing and tumbling over herself.

  The world rotated a couple of times before coming to a complete stop. While lying on her back, she took a moment to check for injuries and gain her bearings. Then she jumped to her feet, ready to fight the idiot who could’ve caused serious damage. It wasn’t the first time this had happened in a game, but it was the first from a man. She wouldn’t take it from a woman, and she sure as hell wouldn’t take it from a man.

  The man who bulldozed her was the same man who just talked down to her, and before she could get to him and defend herself, he was circled and yelled at by some of the other players. The only thing she could see that stood out was Hendrick face to face with that man.

  With one hand Hendrick was picking the guy up by his hair, the other hand squeezing hard around the man’s neck. There were too many voices to decipher what was being yelled. One thing for certain was Hendrick didn’t hesitate to defend her. She could defend herself, but she had to admit she liked that he was sticking up for her. What the man had done was completely reckless and uncalled for.

  The scuffle on the field dissipated quickly, though some harsh words in different languages were still calling out to each other. Mallory was in a bit of shock at all of it. Hendrick turned, then made his way over to Mallory.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, his body visibly shaking, the adrenaline from the moment obviously still raging through him.

  “I’m good,” Mallory said, looking into Hendrick’s eyes that were as deep blue as the sky at first morning light.

  “I don’t know what that asshole was thinking, but it took all of my restraint not to pummel him to within an inch of his life,” Hendrick said.

  She smiled. “You do remember I’m FBI, right? I can pummel too. I was the bigger person earlier and walked away. After pushing me, I was going to show him some of my special training.” Hendrick smiled, but she saw that he was still too worried to really find humor. She wasn’t sure why that pleased her so much.

  Hendrick slowly brought his hands to her jaw, gently cupped her chin, and maneuvered her head, brushing her hair away to look closely at her skin for injuries. She could smell his sweet, musky scent, and it was driving her insane, washing away any and all injuries she might’ve barely felt. She sucked in air and her lungs burned. The more she was near this man, the more she needed him. Was she a fool not to take what they both wanted?

  Their eyes locked and she couldn’t seem to stop herself from taking a half step closer to him. He was blotting out the sun with his body, but the heat coming from him was too much to bear. She reached up and gently grabbed his elbows, locking the two of them together.

  “I’m fine,” Mallory said again in a husky whisper. She wasn’t physically hurt, but she was aching in a way that only Hendrick could help.

  He looked at her, really looked at her, and she knew he was reading all of the signals she was throwing out. His gaze roved over her face, down her neck where sweat was trickling in little drops straight into the V of her chest. That made her nipples tighten, and his eyes locked onto the swollen nubs trying to break free from their confinement. She wanted him to see all of her, to touch all of her, to take away this ache she’d been feeling from the first moment they’d met.

  “Yes . . . yes you are fine,” Hendrick said softly, finally looking back up to her eyes.

  He leaned against her, the sweat from their bodies sliding between them as they reached for each other and sent the heat factor off the scale. He leaned down, about to close the final inches between them when a voice called out, making Mallory want to growl with frustration.

  “Hey, is Mallory okay?” The words dashed a splash of cold water on them which they definitely needed in a very crowded park.

  “Are you okay, or do you want to get out of here?” Hendrick asked.

  Mallory reached out and took Hendrick’s hand, intertwining their fingers, then leaned up and kissed his ear. “I think it’s time for us to leave.”

  “Amen,” he said. He turned to the other players.

  “Mallory is fine, but we’re finished. Enjoy the rest of the game.”

  With that, Hendrick took Mallory with him to gather their gear, then quickly moved back to his car. She burned with anticipation. Hendrick opened the door for her, then rushed to the driver’s side of the vehicle. He started the car then pushed the windows down and cranked up the air conditioning to help cool them off.

  It didn’t take long for Mallory to react to the cool air washing over her chest. Green noticed her nipples grow hard and push against the fabric she desperately wanted off of her. When she saw the look in his eyes, she felt her hunger grow even more.

  “Where are we going?” Mallory asked, seduction dripping in her tone.

  He turned and smiled, and she was glad he wasn’t driving yet. They might just crash with how jumpy both of them were.

  “Somewhere that’s going to keep you very, very wet,” he said.

  She felt her body slip over the edge, and she wondered if the man could talk her body into coming. He might, because with every stroke of his voice it was like a slide of his tongue over her clit. She clenched her thighs together as she reached out and rubbed her fingers along his thigh.

  “You’d better drive fast then,” she told him, before looking down at the arousal his shorts refused to hide. It pulsed beneath the thin nylon. She ran one finger over the hard flesh and they both shuddered.

  “If you want to get home alive, you can’t do that,” he said, his voice strained.

  She reluctantly pulled away as she looked around the park. She wasn’t sure either of them would make it home. But this place was far too crowded for an afternoon tryst. She’d have to control herself . . . if she could.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Mallory was shaking as Hendrick pulled up to her house. Neither of them said a word as they moved to her door. Her fingers trembled, taking three tries before she was able to get the key into the lock and open her door.

  As they stepped inside, she was unsure what to say or do. She didn’t normally bring men to her home. If she liked someone and they were dating, it might progress, but nothing like this had happened to her before. He took the uncertainty away from her when he grabbed her, pulling her against his body. The heat that had escaped from them in the frozen car quickly returning.

  “I haven’t had a single moment I haven’t craved you since you were wrapped in my arms last night, panting against my lips, your body hot and inviting.”

  Her eyes locked with his and a bead of sweat dripped down his brow, her hunger growing by leaps and bounds. She’d never been so turned on in her life. The explosion she was anticipating would surely rock her world and leave a crater in its path.

  Speechless, she willingly fell into his arms. Her fingers bit into his thick biceps as their mouths collided. She pulled his lip between her teeth and nibbled, making a moan escape him that did beautiful things to her insides. His hands clenched her butt as he tugged her close, pressing his arousal into her. She ran her hands up his arms and tugged on his hair, ready for him to take her right there against her door. But then he pulled back, causing her to whimper.

  She opened her eyes and stared into his smoky blue ones. They were normally so clear, but right now it looked as if storm clouds were rolling across them. “I need you in the bedroom right now,” he growled, the sound a call to her core.

  On shaky knees, she ran to her bedroom with him right on her heels, his enticing fingers never falling away from her back. They practically fell into her room, and Hendrick pulled her close, his lips descended as his hands slid down her back.

  She needed
a shower, but she couldn’t delay what was coming. Maybe they could ease the ache and then shower, and then have a second round. She wanted this man unlike any other, and she didn’t care how she looked or how messy she was.

  His lips trailed over her jaw and he began licking and nibbling her neck, making her cling to him as he devoured her with his tongue, lips, and teeth. She spread her legs to keep from falling as she ran a hand up his side, his muscles rippling beneath her touch.

  “More, I want more,” Mallory said as she pushed him. His eyes widened in a bit of shock before he allowed himself to topple onto her bed. She climbed over him, feeling bold, sexy, and in control. She knew he was allowing it, but that didn’t lessen the impact it had.

  He pulled her down to him as she writhed, their bodies locked together, few clothes between them. He grabbed her head and kissed her again, making her lose her breath as his tongue circled her mouth and his hands gripped her hips, tugging her into his hard body as he thrust and gave her a preview of what would soon be inside her.

  He tore his mouth from hers and she leaned forward, unwilling to let go of the connection, but then his hands slid up her back and beneath her sports bra. She lifted her arms and he easily pulled it over her head, her breasts spilling out against his chest. The touch of his fine hair against her nipples sent a surge of wet heat to her core and she groaned.

  Before their mouths could connect again, he lifted her up and pulled her closer, his mouth closing over her hard nipple as he sucked it deep into his mouth and flicked his tongue over the tip again and again until she cried out. It was so good, so unbelievably good.

  He scraped his teeth over her tender flesh, licked it, and sucked again while his hand ran up her thigh and beneath her shorts, straight to the edge of her panties. He moved his head to lavish attention on her other straining nipple as he slipped inside her panties and slid his finger along the wet heat, her moan filling the room.

  “I need you now,” she gasped as she pushed against his finger that slipped inside her heat. “I’m ready . . . right now.” She didn’t need more foreplay. She needed him.