by Tara Wyatt
Her limbs felt shaky, the afterglow of her orgasm still coating her skin like sunshine. And yet beneath that, there was a small tendril of fear unfurling inside her. What would happen now that they’d crossed the line they said they shouldn’t cross? Would he hit and run just like he always did? Had she just turned herself into another notch on his bedpost?
And the even bigger fear: she didn’t want that. She wanted him. Wanted to be with him. Wanted this thing they had to be real, when she knew it couldn’t be. Maybe he had this kind of sex with every woman he spent the night with. Maybe she wasn’t special. Maybe the feeling that what was happening between them could actually mean something was entirely one-sided.
He kissed her, soft and slow. “You’re so beautiful, Piper. God, that was incredible.”
She bit her lip, nodding. “It was.” The fear intensified as he started to pull out of her, and she had to fight back the urge to cling to him. To beg him not to go.
“Bathroom?” he asked, standing from the bed.
“Right across the hall.”
She listened as he disposed of the condom and washed up, her heart pounding sluggishly as she waited for him to come back. What would happen then? Would he get dressed and say ‘thanks for the fuck, see ya later’ and that would be that?
When he stepped back into her bedroom, her stomach churned uncomfortably at the uncertain expression on his face. He lingered in the doorway, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck.
“Uh, so…” He hesitated, glancing around her bedroom. “Can I stay?”
Warmth blossomed across her chest, and she smiled at him. “Yeah. I was hoping you would.”
She scurried under the covers and held the blankets open for him in invitation. With a wide smile on his face, he slid into bed beside her and pulled her into his arms, and something inside her, something that had been adrift for a long, long time, settled into place.
Nine
Beau rolled over in Piper’s bed and stretched, his muscles feeling loose and languid. As sunlight filtered in around the edges of her curtains, he glanced over at her, a smile spreading across his face as he studied her. Her gorgeous face was relaxed in sleep, her full lips parted ever so slightly. The sheet had slipped down, exposing her breast, and everything about last night came rushing back to him.
Last night with Piper had been—hands down, no contest—the best sex of his life. And given how much sex he’d had, that was saying something. But it was true. And he knew it was because of her. Piper. Her sweetness and her humor, the way she looked at him that made him feel like she was seeing right to the core of him and not finding him lacking. No one had ever looked at him like that before. No one.
Everything with her was different. He was different. Or at least, she made him want to be. He’d broken every single one of his rules—rules he’d spent over a decade living by—and he wanted to keep breaking them, over and over. Until they were nothing but a memory. He realized then that he didn’t want to be that guy anymore. He didn’t want to be the guy who slept around and avoided anything that could turn into an actual relationship out of fear. Not when the alternative was Piper.
Granted, she’d made it clear she wasn’t looking for anything either, but he was willing to bet that what he was feeling wasn’t one sided. Not with the way she looked at him, with the way she’d wanted him to stay, with the way she’d curled into him during the night, her face pressed into his neck. Right where it felt like she belonged.
She stirred in her sleep, making a soft little noise, and his heart lurched in his chest. She was so beautiful, so sweet and warm and amazing. Leaning down, he kissed her shoulder, her collarbone, her neck, savoring the softness of her skin against his mouth. She sighed and he kissed his way lower, sucking gently on her nipple. She moaned softly, her eyes still closed, and he decided right then exactly how he wanted to wake her up.
Lifting the sheets, he slipped beneath them and settled himself between her legs, spreading them and inhaling deeply. One night and he was already addicted to her, which was another new feeling. He had a feeling he could have sex with Piper 10,000 times and not get tired of it. Not get tired of her and how freaking amazing they were together. Normally after spending the night with a woman for the first time, he wanted to bail. But with Piper, bailing was the last thing on his mind.
With his hands on her thighs, he licked her slowly from her entrance to her clit, then gently sucked it into his mouth.
“Oh!” she murmured, her hands weaving into his hair. “Mmm, Beau.”
“Good morning,” he said against her flesh and then returned his mouth to her clit, paying attention to her cues as he licked and sucked and kissed. With the taste of her on his tongue, his already hard cock started to ache and throb, desperate to get back inside her. God, he felt like he could spend the next week inside her and it wouldn’t be enough. With every soft moan, every rake of her nails over his scalp, every undulation of her hips, he throbbed even more.
“Mmm, you’re so good at that,” she said, her voice high and breathy. “I’m already so close.”
He nipped at one of her lips. “I’ll do this whenever you want, as much as you want. I love eating your pussy.”
She let out a shuddery moan. “Be careful, because I’m going to take you up on that. You’re spoiling me.” Something that felt a lot like victory seared through him at her words. She wanted to keep doing this too. She wanted him for more than a one night fling.
“I haven’t even started to spoil you yet.”
She moaned again, her back bowing off the bed as he worked his tongue over her clit. The room was quiet for the next several minutes, the only sounds her breathy sighs and moans, his appreciative groans, and the kiss of his mouth against her increasingly wet pussy. When she came, throbbing against his tongue, she cried out his name, her body rigid. His cock was painfully hard, pulsing with the need to get inside her. With the need to reconnect with her and assure himself that everything he’d felt last night was real.
He flipped the sheets back, emerging from under the covers and Piper grinned at him, her cheeks and chest flushed bright pink. “I like you a lot better than my alarm,” she said, reaching over into her nightstand for a condom. He kissed his way up her body, lingering over her breasts, teasing her nipples with licks and sucks until she was writhing beneath him.
“You’re going to kill me with this mouth,” she breathed. “Between the things you can do with that tongue and the dirty talk, you’re going to turn me into a puddle of goo.”
“You’d be the sexiest puddle of goo I’ve ever seen,” he said, taking the condom from her. She grinned up at him, her pretty brown eyes sparkling. Rising to his knees, he tore open the wrapper and rolled the condom on. He stroked himself, his cock practically jumping in his hands, eager to get inside her.
Piper rolled over and rose to her hands and knees, presenting him with an absolutely gorgeous view. She glanced at him over her shoulder, her hair falling in messy waves around her face, and could’ve sworn his heart stopped, just for a second.
And right then, he knew. He was going to fall in love with Piper. Hell, he was probably already halfway there.
He slid a hand up her spine as he lined himself up, slicking the head of his cock through her folds. She pressed back against him, and he loved that she was just as eager for this as he was.
Dropping his hands to her hips, he slowly pushed inside her, working his way in inch by inch. When he sank all the way home, bottoming out inside her, he let out a low groan, tilting his head back and closing his eyes against the onslaught of pleasure already tightening his balls. Heat pulsed through him, and he sucked in a ragged breath, fighting back the urge to pump into her.
“God, you feel so fucking good,” she said, her voice a little shaky. “You’re amazing.” The knowledge that this was just as good for her as it was for him undid something inside him, and the need to move, to feel, to connect, obliterated anything else.
“Piper,” he moaned
as he started to thrust in and out of her tight, wet pussy, establishing a deep rhythm. He was inside her and somehow it wasn’t enough. “Piper.” His filled his hands with the globes of her ass and moved faster, harder, his hips slapping against her as her pussy pulled and clenched at him, making heat sear down his spine. Making him see stars.
“Oh God, Beau. It’s so good. It’s so fucking good,” she moaned, and he dropped down over her, his chest pressed to her back as he trailed kisses over her shoulders, still thrusting in and out of her.
“It’s us, Piper. We’re so fucking good.” He hadn’t known he was going to say that until the words were out of his mouth, but he didn’t regret them. Especially when she lowered herself onto her elbow so she could twist and wrap her arm around his neck, kissing him softly.
“We are.”
Those two words were enough to send him hurtling toward the edge, and he slipped a hand between her thighs, wanting her to fall with him. He rubbed her clit with steady, firm strokes, just the way she’d liked last night, changing the angle of his hips to hit the spot inside her that drove her wild. She let out a shaky moan, her pussy rippling around him.
When she came several minutes later, it was long and loud, and if her neighbors hadn’t known his name last night, they did now with the way she was screaming it. Her pussy milked him, spasming with her orgasm, and he started to come along with her, unable to hold himself back. His balls throbbed and heat scorched him from the inside out as he came in several long spurts, pulsing wildly inside her.
He dropped his head to her shoulder, sucking in several deep breaths, his heart pounding like crazy. He wasn’t sure if it was from the exertion of the sex, the intense orgasm he’d just had, or being with Piper. Probably a combination of all three. What he did know was that he’d never felt like this before. He’d never been with a woman and instead of wanting to run, he wanted more. So much more.
His limbs felt heavy as he pulled out of her, kissing his way down her spine. His knees were a little wobbly as he headed for the bathroom to chuck the condom. After he’d cleaned himself up, he splashed some water on his face and looked at himself in the mirror. He was grinning like an idiot.
When he returned to Piper’s bedroom, he was both happy and relieved to see that she was still naked, apparently in no hurry to start her day.
“Hey,” he said, feeling suddenly uncertain about where they stood.
She pushed up onto one elbow, facing him. “Hey. You coming back to bed?”
His grin widened and he nodded, crossing the distance to the bed in a few long strides. He slipped under the covers and pulled her into his arms, settling her head on his chest. It felt as though something inside him, something untethered and searching and lost, was settling into place at the feel of Piper’s body pressed against his. He’d never been into cuddling—he usually counted down the seconds until he could get away—but with Piper, it was different. He wanted to hold her. He could do this for hours. Days.
Longer.
“We should probably talk about this, huh?” she said softly, snuggling into him as though she were scared he was on the verge of pulling away.
He cleared his throat. “Yeah. We should.” His heart picked up speed as his stomach turned over on itself. Then he took a breath and jumped in, going for honesty. “Last night was incredible, Piper. I know we said we weren’t going to, but I don’t regret that it happened.”
Her arms tightened around him. “Me neither.”
“I might be a selfish asshole for saying this, but I want to keep doing this.”
She lifted her head, her eyes bright, her expression one of pure hope. It tore him up a little inside. The last thing he wanted to do was lead her on. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. I can’t make you any promises because I don’t know where I’m going to wind up at the end of this season. Could be Seattle. Could be Los Angeles. Hell, could be here. I don’t know.” He sucked in a breath as his heart did its damndest to pound its way right through his ribs. “But I do know that whatever this is between us, I want more of it. Even if it’s temporary, even if the future is uncertain, I want this. Us.” For the first time in his life, he didn’t want to run. He wanted to stay, even if he couldn’t stay long.
She stared at him for a moment and then blinked slowly. “Well. That’s not at all what I was expecting you to say.”
He frowned. “No?”
She shook her head. “Not at all. I was half expecting to wake up to an empty bed this morning, not fantastic morning sex and then you telling me you want to keep seeing me. Like, actually seeing me. Not just pretending for the media.”
Panic clawed at him, and he forced himself to ask, “Is that not what you want? Because I thought—”
She pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “No, it’s what I want, too. I’m not looking for a big commitment, and you know that my main focus is on my business. Things have blown up since you and I got together—well, pretended to get together—and I’m busier than ever. Like you, I don’t know where this is going to take me.” She traced her fingers over his jawline. “But I do know that I like you. I like us. And this thing that was supposed to be fake isn’t feeling so fake anymore. I’m not alone in thinking that, am I?”
He shook his head. “No. Definitely not.”
She smiled, dimples flashing, her cheeks a little pink. “Okay. Then whatever this is, let’s do it, with the understanding that it’s most likely temporary, which is fine because neither of us are looking for a serious commitment. Yeah?”
He kissed her again. “Yeah.” For some reason, the word temporary—the easy out she’d given him, given both of them—kept buzzing in his brain like an angry wasp, but he shoved it away. He might not like it, but it was true. He was probably leaving, and he didn’t want to make promises he couldn’t keep. He skimmed a hand over her hip, savoring the feel of her skin, her warmth, her scent. She cuddled into him, dropping soft kisses across his chest, and he lost track of time how long they stayed like that.
“Shoot, what time is it?” she asked a while later, sitting up and fumbling for her phone. She peered at the screen and threw back the covers. “I have a meeting with an app developer at nine. I better get in the shower.”
He gave her hip a squeeze and watched her slide out of bed, tugging her back once for a kiss before letting her disappear into the bathroom. With a sigh, he hoisted himself out of bed and started tugging on his clothes from the night before. Just as he’d finished doing up the buttons on his shirt, his phone started to buzz from inside the back pocket of his jeans. He pulled it out and answered the call when he saw that it was his agent, Aerin.
“Hello?” He walked from Piper’s bedroom and into her kitchen, hoping to find something to eat.
“Did you punch someone at a bar last night?” Her voice was clipped and tight, and he knew she was pissed with him.
He opened the fridge and pulled out a yogurt, making a face when he saw that it was plain Greek. “Yeah, I did, but only because he assaulted Piper.”
“What? Is she okay?”
“Yeah. He was a douche who was hitting on her aggressively. He and I had words and Piper and I were just leaving when he groped her ass, so yeah. I punched him. Not my finest moment and I’m sorry I lost my cool, but I don’t regret doing it.”
“So…okay, wait. This thing with you and Piper is a real thing?”
He frowned, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. “Uh, yeah?” As of about fifteen minutes ago, anyway. But he didn’t want to give Aerin the smug satisfaction of knowing he’d taken her advice.
“Okay, no, that’s good. I just assumed because I suggested the show-mance thing that it was just, you know. An arrangement. Especially given how much her star’s risen over the past month. Actually, you should give her my contact info and ask her to get in touch. I might be able to make some connections for her.”
He pulled a spoon out of the drawer and opened the yogurt, his empty stomach overriding his dislike of the food optio
n in front of him. “Yeah, I can do that.”
“I can spin this. You were defending your girlfriend, it’s sexy, romantic, blah blah blah. If this guy causes trouble, we can have Piper threaten to press charges. I assume there are witnesses?” Sometimes he forgot that Aerin had started her career as a lawyer, but she was reminding him right now.
“Yeah. Hunter and Dylan were both there, they saw everything.”
“Good. Okay, that’s one item on my list. The other thing I wanted to talk to you about was the Mariners.”
He froze, the spoon halfway to his mouth. “What about them?”
“They want to meet with you when you’re in town next weekend to talk about a pre-emptive deal on your free agency.”
“Wow. Okay.” He glanced in the direction of Piper’s bathroom where he could hear the patter of the shower. “Yeah. Let’s talk to them.”
“This is in part because of how much you’ve turned your image around. The media loves you and Piper as a couple, and everyone seems to have forgotten about your reputation. You chose well.”
His stomach tangled itself into a knot, and he pushed the yogurt away. He was too full of regret to eat. “Glad it’s working.”
“It’s definitely working. The Mariners want you. Badly.”
“How badly?”
“How does twenty million a season for five years, plus a five million dollar signing bonus sound?”
“Holy fuck.” That was more than double what he was currently making with the Longhorns. It was the kind of deal most players only dreamed about.
“Holy fuck indeed. It’s just a ballpark figure, but we’ll meet with them and see what shakes out. Keep doing what you’re doing. Call me if you need me.” She hung up and Beau set his phone down, his mind reeling.
