Personal Foul

by Britney Bell

  “Avery, I know you didn’t know that I was your boss, and it was wrong to deceive you like that. I knew you wouldn’t come work for me after our encounter at the grocery store and with the way you left Mickey’s in such a rush. In all honesty, this all started so I could see if I could pull it off and get you all flustered and riled up when you found out. Kind of like you are now. So sexy, just like at the store and the bar that night. It’s all I can think about.” She rapidly turns in my arms and goes to open the door. “Wait, Avery, please.”

  Something in my voice must have struck a chord with her because she froze and then dropped her head to the Tahoe, resting it there. “I’m sorry, Avery. Yes this was a game in the beginning, I am not going to lie, but watching you from afar these last four weeks and seeing how dedicated you are to your job here and how you care for my other staff, changed my feelings about you. I saw you take Bob cold lemonade while he was working in the garden, and how you brought each staff member a little snack every day when you delivered the groceries and supplies. Mark raves about you to the point I get jealous of him and the fact that I don’t have that connection with you. It ceased being a game since the first week you worked here.”

  Her head lifts, I take that opportunity to place my hands on her hips, turning her back around to face me. She will not look me in the eyes, so I place my hand gently on her chin and tilt it up to see those pretty blues. The sadness battling with the spunk I was hoping to see is what’s there in the depths. I’m an asshole. “Avery, I was wrong, and I am truly sorry.”

  9

  Avery

  My emotions are all over the board right now. I’m furious with him and his stupid game. It’s exactly something that I would have expected him to do, although the tone in his voice lets me know that he is serious about his apology and he is now telling the truth. I want to slap him, yet I love the feel of his touch. His smell, I’ve come to recognize, and it finally surrounds me. I’ve dreamed of Mr. E’s hands and arms holding me as I fall asleep curled up in his large bed. I want to yell and curse at him, but I want his lips to cover mine and do the talking for both of us. He is the same type of rude, disrespecting guy that I left in college. Come to think of it, that guy would have never apologized and admitted that he did something wrong. Drew did just that. Does that set him apart?

  “I know I don’t have any room to ask, but will you please stay and be my date tonight? I have never had anyone by my side at these events, and I would be honored if you were the first?” His smile is so sweet, he almost looks like a different guy from the cocky jerk at the grocery store.

  Could he actually be a decent person? I thought he hired me as a game, and now he is apologizing for it and wants me to be his date. I still can’t find any words to explain my thoughts and feelings. All I can do is stare into his eyes, searching for the truth. He lets me look deep into them, and they open wide for me to see it all. Remorse is there, but loneliness is even more dominant.

  “Why would I even want to be on your arm tonight? Give me one good reason that you deserve to have me there.”

  “I don’t deserve you. I have been nothing but an asshole to you since we first ran into each other. There is something in me that is drawn to you, and I want to see where that can go. Honestly, I have never done this with anyone, and I am somewhat out of my comfort zone. I haven’t the first clue as to what to do. In spite of all that, I do know that you are the woman that I want to explore this with, and I will work hard at deserving you.”

  My body begins inching up on its own accord, moving closer to him while my head tilts up slightly, and he accepts the invitation and meets my lips. It starts off soft, yet firm, and the heat builds quickly. My arms come up to lock behind his neck, weaving my fingers in his hair. He groans into my mouth as his hands move to cup my ass and pulls me closer with his hard groin at my waist. This dress is so thin, I can feel just how large and hard it is. Mercy!

  When he starts to lift me, I push back with a heavy breath and stop him with my palms to his chest. My head feels weighted down with all the emotions coursing rapidly through my body. I ground myself by placing my forehead on top of my hands that lay on his chest, feeling each of his heartbeats under my palms. “You know this is all really strange, right?” I have to ask him to make sure he is not actually crazy.

  He chuckles. “Yeah, it’s all really weird, and again, I am sorry, Avery. I did a lot of thinking over the last month while you were in my house. I liked the fact that you were there. That really threw me, and it took me a little while to wrap my head around it.”

  “Oh yeah? Working with your staff and seeing how all of them adore their boss, I would have never thought they could possibly work for a jerk who’s so self-centered he’s unaware of the people around him.” Now he openly laughs deeply, and I feel his chest rumble. I may still be mad at him for putting me through this, but these arms holding me are the ones that caught me at the store weeks ago and are the ones that I have dreamt of being in every night since then.

  “So, what do you say? Will you be my date tonight?” Drew hopefully asks with a cute smirk.

  “I guess so, but what about my job?” I shrug, feigning indifference, and he leans down and passionately kisses me but breaks away far too soon, leaving me breathless and panting for more.

  “Is that a convincing answer? Your job is there for as long as you want it.” His smile is infectious and gorgeous.

  “Not quite, I need more testing.”

  Leaning down, he sweetly kisses me on the lips and growls, “I’ll give you a full test drive after the party. If we keep playing this heated game, you will get all wrinkled and everyone will know what we were doing out here.”

  I silently agree with a peck to his lips. My hand in his, he guides me back into the house to join the party.

  Just before we reach the door, I remember something and abruptly halt, pulling his arm back to make him stop. “Drew, who did I buy the lingerie and vibrating panties for?”

  He turns and looks at me with a devilish grin. “You.”

  10

  Drew

  Her hand firmly in mine, I turn back, reach for the door and lead us through. She can ponder on that thought for a moment. I have never opened up to anyone about my feelings like I just did with Avery. It makes me feel kind of raw. I just want to be alone with her, but I have a house full of guest. I lead her around back with her hand still securely in mine, we drop her purse off with Peyton behind the bar and move to the dance floor where I can at least have her in my arms.

  Luckily, we walk up as a slow song begins. With a flick and a twirl to place her right where I want her, against my chest, she snuggles in to accept my embrace as my arms wrap around her waist, and we sway slowly side to side.

  I’m lost in thoughts of Avery and how this is all one fucked up story. For weeks now, I’ve been confused about my own feelings, including the tug-of-war going on with the man that I’ve been until now. I had to come to terms with the fact that there is nothing about this situation that is remotely like my buddy’s in Seattle. Yeah, like a creeper I’ve been watching her, and every day she did something to draw me closer to wanting her more. I don’t mean for just one night. I want to have her in my home, in my bed.

  She stirs slightly in my arms, making me realize the song has ended. “Do you want something to drink?” I whisper in her ear, causing her to shiver. Oh, I like this effect I have on her, even more so than riling her up.

  “Yes, please.” Her voice is scratchy, laced with something. Need? Want? Desire?

  Like a vise grip, I refuse to let go and keep ahold of her hand. We grab some drinks from Peyton and sit at a table in the back corner of my yard.

  Harper did an amazing job setting this all up. She is a real pro at party planning. There’s a food buffet arranged in the dining room, a full functioning bar straddling the outside entrance, a dance floor on my large patio that ends just before the pool. Different size tables along with chairs are strung throughout, so peopl
e can be comfortable to mingle around.

  “How was working with Harper?” Curious, since I don’t really know her. We’ve only met a couple of times at Mickey’s, yet she always had that asshole with wondering eyes by her side.

  “It was great! She works hard and is creative with fabulous ideas; it was very interesting as well as a lot of fun. She is going through some rough stuff right now, so I think this party was a great distraction.”

  “Yeah, Jordan, Tyler’s girlfriend and Harper’s best friend, said that she wanted to have this party to help Harper keep her mind off of the breakup.”

  “It looks like something or someone else is also distracting her,” Avery says, nodding her head in the direction of Harper and one of the tight ends on the team, Taylor Wright. He’s a huge guy, but right now he’s holding Harper on the dance floor like she’s fragile china.

  “Hmm, yes, Taylor will probably help her forget for a little while.” I turn my attention back to the beauty before me. This time I will be getting more info than the last time. “So, tell me, what happened in your life to make you so feisty?” She quirks her eyebrow questioning me with a warning. “I don’t mean it in a bad way. I like it, it’s what attracted me to you in the first place.” Her head snaps to the side.

  “Oh, really? You like being called a self-absorbed prick?”

  Her blunt statement causes me to laugh out loud. “See this is what I’m talking about, you say exactly what you are thinking when you think it. In my field of work, people normally cater to our every need just because they think we hold this game status of sorts by being on the Texas Tornados’s team. You don’t ever know if someone is being honest or just telling you what they think you want to hear.” I’m playing with the napkin under my glass, nervous about sharing this with her.

  “I guess you are right, Drew.” A slight pink color runs up her neck to her cheeks. “Okay, here’s the story. I dated a guy in college. He ran my life completely for the two years that we were together. Wear this, go here, go there, drive this, hangout with these people, do this, don’t do that, say this, don’t say that; those were the things that were barked all the time. He absolutely hated Pepper, thus Pepper hated him right back. Well, senior year, I had to leave for a couple of days for a job interview, which he wasn’t happy about because he didn’t approve of that job. Anyway, he said he would watch Pepper while I was away. When I got back Pepper was gone.” She pauses having a hard time; I reach over to place my hand on top of hers for encouragement.

  “I searched for him everywhere and was so scared that he was lost forever. My mom suggested that I go to the pound to check to see if someone had found him, or in case animal control picked him up. So I went right after we disconnected. Thank God, he was at the shelter. The puzzlement was how he got there. I asked the lady at the front desk how Pepper came in. She described the man that brought him. The description matched my ex to a tee. After that, my mom and I had a long talk. She helped me realize that I was being controlled by that douchebag. I vowed never to be put in that situation again, whether it be in a relationship, with bosses, or even jerks that steal my parking spots or run over me with grocery carts.”

  11

  Avery

  As I’m sitting here spilling my past out to Drew, his eyes bore into me with curiosity, intrigue, desire. Uncertainty is on the front of my mind, but my body is still saying to screw his crazy tactics and jump his bones right here. Not being in a relationship since the last asshole has really put a damper on my needs being fully satisfied. Sure, I could pick a guy up at a bar anytime, but that’s just not me. I’m not into one-night stands. Something tells me that the words ‘one-night stand’ are Drew’s favorite few in the English language.

  Damn, sitting here is getting really uncomfortable. The more I stare at his soft plump lips and how his Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows, the more agitated I get. It is mentally challenging. I am pissed off that he lied to me, even after thinking about it some. Nonetheless, I think that he is generally a good guy and is just hiding that side of himself from everyone.

  “Let’s play a little game to get to know each other,” I spout out before it even registers that I said anything, needing a distraction from the ache in my core.

  His head tilts toward me with a mischievous side smirk. “What exactly do you have in mind?”

  “Have you ever played ‘Never have I ever’?”

  “No, how do you play. More importantly, what do I get when I win?” he says with his cockiness on full display.

  “Oh, so confident, are you?”

  He leans over the table, bringing his mouth so close to my ear that his lips graze it as he whispers, “Sugar, I always win, no matter the game.”

  My words come out a little shaky, and I clear my throat to compose myself. “Well, we will see how you fare. There are a lot of people around, so let’s do this differently. Do you have your phone?” He digs in his pocket, pulls it out, and I grab us another round of drinks while I pull my phone out of the pocket in my dress. I sit back down and open the text app, preparing for him to input his number. He does and gives it back to me, so I can send him a text. “Okay, now that we are set. We take turns asking each other questions by stating a simple sentence of something that they have done before. You must begin that sentence with ‘Never have I ever’. If the other person has never done it before then they have to take a drink.”

  Drew chuckles. “Let’s do this. Ladies first,” he says, waving his hand towards me in a kind gesture.

  Avery: Never have I ever taken a sexy selfie.

  Drew looks up at me with laughter in his eyes, grabs his drink and takes a swig.

  “Really?”

  His smirk is so damn sexy. “Really.”

  “Okay, your turn. Text me.”

  Drew: Never have I ever been skinny dipping.

  He waits, watches me, yet I stay still because I actually have been skinny dipping back in college.

  “Oh,” he says with a crooked smile along with an eyebrow raise.

  Avery: Never have I ever dated someone for more than a year.

  He reaches to the table, I think he’s going to take a swig, yet he just fidgets with the label on the bottle instead.

  “No longer than a year? How long was your longest?”

  “Three dates.” The puzzled look on my face has him confirming it again, “That’s the truth.”

  Drew: Never have I ever got yourself off while thinking of me.

  My face sure as hell turns five shades of red when I just look at the cup but don’t go to lift it. He leans in closer to me, whispering in my ear, “I’d definitely like to watch that one being played out,” then kisses my cheek before he sits back in his seat.

  Avery: Never have I ever gone commando.

  He doesn’t drink! I glance back down at my phone buzzing in my hand.

  Drew: I’m commando right now.

  My head pops up to meet desire biting in his brown eyes.

  Drew: Never have I ever slept with my boss.

  I take a huge chug finishing my drink. It’s so damn hot in here. He’s made me want to reach over, sit on his lap and ride him until I’m cumming so hard I can’t breathe.

  His look tells me that he knows exactly what I’m thinking, moreover, he knows that my thong is soaked because of him. Damn him and his cocky sexy smirk.

  12

  Drew

  I’m frustrated beyond words that I can’t be alone with Avery right this very minute. Thank God this party is finally winding down. This thing needs to move along faster, so I take her by the hand and start ushering people out of my house. Okay, they were leaving anyway, but we say quick goodbyes. Then, we stick around to help all the staff clean up.

  Currently, I’m helping Peyton tear down the mobile bar. She turns to me, points a beer bottle in my face with a wild look in her eyes. I jump back, holding my hands up in surrender.

  “Whoa there, little lady! What’s that all about?”

  “I saw you f
lirtin’ with Avery all evening. Drew, I got to know her some while puttin’ this event on. Don’t think I don’t hear ya talkin’ to the guys about all those different women that come and go through your bed. This is a warning; don’t you dare hurt her. She’s a sweetie.”

  “I hear you, Peyton, put the bottle down and step away.” I chuckle until I see that she’s serious. She would probably grab that shotgun behind her bar at the pub to shoot me if I hurt one of her friends. I’m not gonna lie and say that Avery is the one for me and that she’ll be the last one that I’m ever with. On the other hand, what if? Could it be possible? Peyton may kill me, but I think Avery is worth the risk.

  I chance a look over at Avery, watch her as she’s folding tables, and I have to just shake my head. Nope, with everything I already know about her, one night is definitely not going to be enough.

  Now, how can I hurry up this cleanup to get everyone the hell out of my house. Except Avery, of course.

  We all rushed around in a hurry putting away decorations and trash. Finally, after another half hour, I shut the front door behind the last of the event crew. What now? She and I stare at one another. The nature of the beast of hosting a party and all the work that goes into it totally killed the earlier mood. As I stand here looking at her with bare feet, she’s kicked off her high heels long ago to get comfortable with the hard work, her dress is just slightly wrinkled, and her hair is tousled and out of place. Damn, she’s hotter right now than I have yet to see her.

  “Do you want to have a drink, talk some more?” I suggest with a shrug.

  “I really should head home; I need to schedule an Uber cause I’ve already drank too much to drive.”