by Virna DePaul
“Sounds good.”
I stand up and kiss her cheek. “Goodnight, Lila.”
“Night, Hunter. Wait a minute. Turn around.”
I do as commanded, unsure what’s about to go down. She pushes one side of my open shirt aside and she breaks out into a contagious laugh. “You got a nipple piercing!”
I look down and grimace at the metal bar stuck through my left nipple. “Another story for another night.”
I exit my bedroom and close the door behind me, and even then I can still hear her laughing.
8
Dani
I slide the glass door open and carry two glasses of ice water outside where Chad’s waiting. He’s so damn tall, always has been. Even though he’s younger than me, he surpassed me in height when he was only twelve years old and from then on, he just continued to grow and grow. We don’t really look alike, especially because he’s clean cut and I’m anything but, so most people usually don’t take us for siblings.
When I step onto the patio, he turns and grabs the glass of water. “Thanks, sis.”
“You’re welcome.” I take a seat at the patio table and he sits across from me. “So, when are you going to let me give you a tattoo?” Like Hunter, my brother is deathly terrified of needles.
He leans back in his chair and laughs, brushing his finger under his nose. “I think that’s probably going to be a while.”
“How is it you’re not afraid of any of those men on the field, but you’re afraid of a tiny needle?”
“Because when I’m out on the field, I’m protected by my boys.”
“Right, the brotherhood.”
“Something like that.” He sighs. “Listen, I know you have your reservations about me signing with Kiss.”
“That’s an understatement.”
“Well, I just want you to know, I trust you. So if you don’t trust Hunter…”
“What? You’re just going to leave your future in my hands?” I say it with a smile, but to my surprise, he just shrugs.
“Like I said, I trust you, Dani. More than anyone. This is the opportunity of a lifetime, but if you think it’s somehow wrong…” He leans back in his chair and crosses his arms over each other. “If you think it’s the wrong road to travel, then maybe you’re right.”
“Are you serious?”
When he nods, I struggle with joy. I can sway him to make a safer choice. But then again, I’ve always known that. Chad and I have always been close. He’s relied on me. I've always been the one there for him, practically raising him at times. And usually, I’m perfectly fine with that. But now I’m torn, and that makes me feel insecure about whether I’m making decisions that are best for Chad or best for me.
I comb one hand through my hair. “Chad,” I say and pinch nervously at the bridge of my nose. “I think we should set up an official meeting with you and Hunter.”
He frowns. “Really?”
“Yes. I think it would be the best thing to do. And after you guys have your meeting, we will discuss it in more detail.” I force a smile, but I’m nervous as hell. Nervous that no matter how good everything might seem, it could easily fall apart without notice. “And if you trust Hunter, and decide that this is what you want, then…” I close my eyes and nod. “It’s your decision to make, is what I’m trying to say, and I’ll support whatever that decision is.”
Chad swallows hard even as a mixture of hope and excitement overcome his expression. “You really are the best sister I could have ever asked for.”
“I know,” I smirk.
“Whatever, right?”
“Huh?”
“You said you’d support whatever my decision is,” he points out with a sly grin and I know he’s cruising toward trouble.
“Right,” I nod.
“Even if that decision is dropping out of school, not signing the contract, and then settling on an alternate life as a male stripper in Vegas?”
“Chad? Shut up.”
9
Dani
“Hi.” I greet the friendly looking lady at the front desk of Hunter’s agency. “I’m here to see Hunter Kiss.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“Um…” I glance at the nameplate on her desk. “Trisha, right? I'm Dani Cross, Chad's sister.”
“Ah. Nice to meet you, Ms. Cross. Hunter is in a meeting now, but why don’t I pop in and—”
Something in Trisha’s expression, something both curious and excited, spooks me.
“You know what? That’s okay? No need to bother him. I’ll make an appointment and come back another time.” What am I doing? I’ve lost my damn mind. I start backing out, trying not to show my sudden panic. I didn’t need to see Hunter. Didn’t need to tell him I’d given Chad my blessing to talk with him.
But I’d wanted to see him. And how pathetic is that?
I almost make it to the door when I hear a familiar voice.
“Hey Trisha…” Hunter calls as he makes his way into the room. Shit. I move faster.
“Dani?”
Crap. Too late.
“Oh, uh, Hunter...hi. I was just in the, uh, neighborhood and…” I stop talking. In the neighborhood?
His devilish smile confirms my worst fear. He knows I’m full of bullshit. He knows I'm here to see him. He knows I want more of him.
“I’m sorry, Hunter, I need to get going, but I'll call you soon, okay?”
But Hunter is having none of that. With a smirk on his handsome face, he strides up to me, grabs my arm and pulls me into a nearby office, which I assume is his.
“So, what really brings you by?”
I take a deep breath. “Um, Chad, of course. I’ve decided that I’m going to step aside and let him meet with you one-on-one without my interference.”
Surprise flickers across his face before he grins. “That was going to happen anyway, but I’m glad you’ve come around.” He’s so damn cocky, so damn sure of himself. I want to strip him of his ego, and his clothes…
I pace toward him, slowly and deliberately like I’m closing in on my prey. “I’m still going to make sure you do right by my brother.”
“You’re so damn sexy when you’re playing the tough girl.”
“You have no instinct for survival, do you?”
He shrugs. “It’s a good thing, with you around, that I like a little pain with my pleasure. Don’t you?”
My eyes widen as I suddenly imagine him with his own personal toy chest: handcuffs, whips, floggers…
He shakes his head as if he knows where my mind has gone. “We’ll have to revisit that conversation another time. Speaking of pain though, I almost ripped this damn piercing out of my nipple this morning in the shower.”
I frowned. “You need to be more careful about that.”
“I hate being careful.” He finally reaches for me, his breath hot against my neck as he backs me up against the wall. “You should know that more than anyone.” He reaches down, palms my hips, and spins us around until my back is pressed against the glass of the floor-to-ceiling windows.
“What are you doing?” I ask, breathy and needy as his hungry eyes stare into mine. “We can’t.”
“This is my office, and we can do whatever the hell we want.”
“That’s not what I meant—”
He cuts me off with a finger pressed against my lips before dropping to his knees. He makes quick work of undoing the top button of my jeans. I throw my head back against the glass and stare at the wall opposite of me. This cannot be happening again. First, it was at my work, and now it’s at his.
He tugs my jeans down my thighs and presses his palm against my clit over the thin fabric of my panties, and then he looks up at me as if he’s asking for permission.
I nod, realizing I’d rather have his tongue inside me than fight with him.
He tugs my panties down my thighs so that they collect against my jeans and he wastes no time getting to work. His tongue laps against my clit and my knees weaken in an instan
t. The brushing of his five’o’clock shadow against my most sensitive area ignites a fire within me and all I can do to hold onto reality is to dig my fingers through his hair as he kisses my pussy intimately, passionately.
I look down at him, but all I can see is the dark hair atop his head. With a hand on each side of my hips, he digs deeper with his tongue, reveling in the way I taste in his mouth, just as I’m reveling in the way he makes my knees shake.
“Oh God...” I can't believe how amazing it feels. Men have gone down on me before, of course, but none have ever made me feel this good. He buries his tongue deep inside of my quivering pussy. “Hunter... Yes, yes, yes.”
“Come for me, Dani,” he begs, his mouth never leaving my pussy. “Come all over my face.”
Trust me, I want to. I want to so badly, and once again, I feel balanced on the edge. So damn close. My body shakes as he works me with his magical tongue.
“You taste so fucking sweet,” he growls. “So wet too.”
Hunter's words vibrate against me. My toes curl up as I press my body even harder against his face.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
I immediately stiffen. Oh God, no! I want to scream.
Hunter continues doing what he’s doing, as if he hadn’t heard.
“Thomas Clarkson is here,” Trisha calls through the door.
I yank on Hunter’s hair, and even though he growls, he stops licking me and instead just rests his cheek against my thigh. “Fuck,” he breathes, obviously frustrated.
Yeah, tell me about it.
He lifts his head slowly. “I forgot about that meeting,” he says softly. Then louder, obviously talking to Trisha, he calls, “Give me a few minutes.”
“Will do,” Trisha replies.
I immediately push him away, and pull my panties and jeans up my thighs. I’m embarrassed and frustrated as I sweep my hands through my hair, trying to make myself look presentable. Hunter swipes his hand across his mouth to wipe away any moisture (from my pussy!) then takes my arms, pulling me close. “Promise me you'll come back and let me finish what I started.”
I start to protest, but he whispers again, this time more urgently. “Promise me, Dani.”
I stare at him, knowing I shouldn’t. That Trish interrupting us was a good thing. That this man holds too much power over me already and the fact my body is still pulsing with desire be damned. But instead of saying any of that, I say, “I promise, Hunter.”
His eyes light with satisfaction and he bends down to kiss me when suddenly a large man barrels into the office and jerks to a stop. Two steps behind him is a gorgeous pregnant woman, whose eyes widen when she spots me.
“Oh, um, hey. Sorry,” the man says. “We can come back…” He’s about to turn around and guide the woman out the door, but with a gentle squeeze of my shoulder, Hunter lets me go. “Thomas. Angela. Stay. I want to introduce you to Dani.”
I stare. When Chad was a teenager, his bedroom walls were covered in posters of Thomas Clarkson, pro football player. Clarkson is Chad’s childhood idol, and Hunter of all people represents him.
“Hi, I’m Dani.” I reach out my hand to greet Thomas, whose firm handshake is even stronger than I had expected, then Angela. “My brother is your biggest fan.”
They both smile warmly at me. “So nice to meet you,” Angela says.
“Yes, it certainly is,” Thomas says with a slight inflection as he glances at Hunter. “Your brother play?”
Hunter leans back against his desk. “I’m currently trying to sign him. Chad Cross.”
Thomas lifts his brows, looking impressed. “That’s amazing.” He shakes a finger at me. “That kid is going to be a star.”
“That’s what everyone says.” Of course, I’m pleased by Thomas’s praise, but I can’t help feeling leftover uncertainty whether going pro is the right play for Chad. Still, I came here (partly) because we’d decided he has to make his own choices. I can’t treat him like a kid anymore.
“You seem apprehensive.” Thomas notes. “Does it help to know that Hunter was the one who convinced me to go pro, and he’s stuck by my side ever since.”
“And now he’s basically family,” Angela adds with a warm smile. “In fact…” She turns to Hunter. “We’re here to ask you to be our future son’s godfather.” She rubs her stomach.
“Seriously?” Hunter straightens and grins wide. He looks overjoyed as he pulls Angela in for a hug, then shakes Thomas’s hand. “Oh man, I’m going to teach this kid so much about football, about women—”
“Easy now,” Thomas warns him. “Don’t make me rescind the offer.”
“Please,” Hunter scoffs, but he’s unable to wipe the smile off his face. “You know that’s not even close to being an option.”
“Now that you’ve accepted, we should probably extend an invite for a BBQ we’re having in your honor,” Angela says. “And we’re not taking no for an answer.”
“You should come too, Dani,” Thomas turns to me. “Bring your brother. I’d love to meet him.”
Oh my God. Chad would be over the moon. I glance at Hunter, though, wondering what he thinks of this invitation, and he immediately nods.
“I’d love it if you both could come,” he says.
My heart beats faster and I almost smile but I tell myself Hunter’s enthusiasm isn’t for me. He just wants his chance to schmooze with Chad.
Yeah, keep telling yourself that, my pussy seems to tell me, still throbbing and achy from Hunter’s mouth. “Sure,” I manage to say. “That would be great. Thank you.”
“Wonderful!” Thomas booms and slaps a hand on Hunter’s shoulder. “You can see what this guy is like away from the agency.”
I refrain from saying I know what he’s like. “Thanks again for the invitation. It was nice meeting both of you. I should really be getting out of here, though. I’m going to be late for my appointment.”
Hunter walks me to the office door. “I’ll text you the address for the party later.”
“Sure,” I breathe out.
“Dani,” he calls before I can take more than a few steps in the hall.
I turn. “Yes?”
“Don’t forget your promise.”
I’m too speechless to reply. Instead, I just lift my hand in goodbye and book it out of there.
10
Hunter
I pull open the door of the tattoo shop and lock eyes with the receptionist, Eve, who offers me a distasteful scowl. For the life of me, I can’t quite figure out why there is so much bad blood between the two of us, especially because this is only our second meeting.
“Good afternoon, stranger,” I say with a forced grin.
“She’s back there.” She points toward the black curtain behind her with her thumb. “She’s hard to miss, so you shouldn’t need any assistance.” She lowers her gaze back to the countertop, lost in a thick paperback book.
“Self-help?” I question with a smirk, peeking over her shoulder as I make my way around the desk. “Ah, Romance.” I nod, seeing the book cover with a hunky naked hero wielding a guitar.
She rolls her eyes and closes the book before turning to confront me, but by the time she’s done so, I’m already through the black curtains.
The first thing I see is Dani walking toward the back of the shop and disappearing behind the opposite set of black curtains. To my left, Rob is working on some guy’s back. To the right, past Dani’s work area, is a man with short green hair and gauges the size of quarters in either ear.
I pace toward the back of the room, toward the curtains, acting nonchalant as if I have every right to be here. To my surprise, green-haired guy doesn’t ask me who I am and Rob doesn’t put me in a headlock. I enter a short hallway, with a back door, a restroom on the left, and two doors on the right. I choose door number one, the door closest to me and press my palm against it, but before I can push it open, it swings open and out comes Dani.
She screams and drops a box of gloves onto the concrete floor. “What the hell
are you doing here?”
I bend down and swipe the box of gloves off the floor and push it back into her hands. “You know, I never would have pegged you as the type of girl to get scared so easily.”
“And I never pegged you for a guy who’d skulk around a tattoo shop. You’re not supposed to be back here!”
“Why?” I lean against the wall. “Boss might get mad?”
“The health department might have something to say about it.” She combs her free hand through her hair. Her highlights look brighter, more vibrant than before.
I shrug, then reach out and tug on a strand of her pink hair. “You did something to your hair.”
She places the box of gloves on a cart and hooks her finger at me. “If we’re going to have a conversation, we’re not going to do it here.”
She leads me toward the back exit, pushes the door open and I’m hit with a gust of wind. She kicks a rock to wedge it between the frame and the door as we step into the gravel lot behind the shop.
“Is that your bike?” I point toward a Harley parked beside an old school Volkswagen van.
She cranes her head over her shoulder and offers a warm smile at the hog. “Yep,” she sighs a hearty sigh. “That’s my baby.”
“Interesting. You never purr at me like that.”
“That’s because I love her, and I’m only just starting to be fond of you.” Her eyes widen. “I mean—”
“Too late. You’re fond of me. You said it yourself.”
She rolls her eyes but I can tell she’s flustered by what she said. By how I might take it. And I admit, I take it well, meaning I like the idea of her liking me. Too much.
“What do you want, Hunter?”
“To talk. Your brother and I had our meeting today.”
She nods. “And how did that go?”
“I’d say very well given he’s all signed up to go pro.”
Her eyes almost pop out of her head. “Uh—what?”
“You heard me.”
She scowls and narrows her eyes. She wants to kill me, wants to stab me right in the eyeball. I’m kidding of course, but her reaction only makes me want to tease her more. “Really, it took no time for him to sign. I think his name was scribbled across that dotted line within five minutes of him sitting down.”
