Rookie (Playing The Field Book 2)

by Rebecca Barber

  From what I could tell, Seth was a nice, normal guy but then he goes and does something crazy like this, and I have no idea who it is sitting on the floor opposite me, feeding me olives and cheese. Not only had he bought this amazing, grown-up apartment with a bathtub big enough for me to swim in, a marble kitchen that’d make even the best chefs envious, and a view I never wanted to look away from, but he’d paid cash. Cash. Like walk into a bank and hand over a wad of fifties. We could not be more different if we tried. Actually, I was pretty sure that if I went to the teller machine right now and tried to withdraw a measly fifty dollars I’d be declined.

  Then, as if the fancy pants apartment wasn’t enough, now he was feeding me cheese and crackers in the most romantic gesture anyone had ever done for me. It wasn’t a fancy hotel with a cloud-like bed, it was better. It was simple, understated, and sweet. It would’ve been so much easier if he was just the dumb jock the papers made him out to be. But no, Seth had to go and be Mr Perfect. I was in so much trouble.

  “I can’t eat another bite,” I complained pathetically as I lay back against the cushion and rubbed my overstuffed belly. I should’ve stopped eating ten crackers ago, but everything just tasted so damn good, and my willpower was shot to shit.

  “You sure? There’s one last stuffed pepper left.”

  “Eat it before I change my mind.”

  With a chuckle Seth popped it in his mouth, groaning and moaning as he chewed dramatically making me instantly regret letting him have it. Shit head. He knew what he was doing. Jumping to my feet, I picked up the platter and the empty cans and carried them into the kitchen. It may have looked like I was being a helpful house guest, but my motives were purely selfish. I had to get those salami slices out of sight before I made myself sick.

  Walking back into the living room, I noticed the sun was dipping on the horizon and outside the sky was turning pink and orange. It was truly freaking amazing. And Seth, the lucky bastard that he was, got to live here and see it every day. I don’t know how much he paid for this place, and I wasn’t about to ask, but even I could tell it was worth every penny. I never wanted to leave.

  Sitting down on the floor, I adjusted the cushion, resting it against Seth’s outstretched legs. For a while we just sat there in the silence, the sound of our breathing keeping me calm. When Seth wriggled, I went to stand, thinking he’d had enough of me squashing him, but he held me in place. After getting settled, he started trailing his fingers in my hair and massaging my scalp. I had no idea how the hell I was ever going to survive this guy. First the food and now the massage. If he wasn’t careful he’d end up with a new roommate.

  “Stay where you are.”

  “Okay.” How the hell was I supposed to say no to that? And more importantly, why would I want to?

  “How’s training going? You feeling any better about things?”

  “Yes and no.”

  “Go on,” I encouraged.

  “I’m fitter than I’ve ever been. I’m smashing my time trials, and I’m benching more than ever.”

  “That’s great…isn’t it?”

  I wasn’t completely ignorant when it came to sports and what was impressive, but that was for normal people. I mean, I felt like freaking superwoman when I beat my own times and I was just running on the beach. I could imagine it would feel even better when it mattered. And in Seth’s line of work, it was, I assumed, all that mattered.

  “It is.”

  “Why do I feel like there’s a but coming?”

  “But…” He didn’t disappoint. “But something’s still off, and I can’t figure it out. Yesterday when we were playing for fun, it worked. We get it. We nail the passes. I’m where I’m supposed to be and it’s all just…I dunno. Instinctive, I guess. But as soon as we get on the field at the stadium, it all falls apart again.”

  “Are you, maybe, possibly trying too hard?”

  I put the question out there before second-guessing myself. What if I’d overstepped? It wasn’t like I had a clue what I was talking about. Not really.

  “That’s what Luca said.”

  “He’s the coach, right?” I’d met so many people lately I was having a hard time keeping faces and names straight.

  “Yep.”

  “Can it hurt trying it his way? Forget where you are and what you think you’re supposed to be doing and just go for it. I mean, following your gut is what got you this far and you’re doing okay. Can’t hurt to give it a go.”

  I heard myself saying the words and was impressed by my wisdom. Who knew I was so damn smart? I certainly didn’t.

  “You think?”

  “I know,” I said confidently.

  “So, I should trust my gut and just go for it, huh?”

  “Sure. What’s the worst that can happen?”

  Seth didn’t answer, not with words anyway. Instead, he pulled some kind of sneaky manoeuvre that was damn impressive. One minute I was lying there, my head resting on his leg while he played with my hair. The next, his leg was gone replaced by a cushion, and he was hovering over me upside down.

  My heart pounded.

  My insides tingled.

  For the last couple of hours, hell, since I’d run into him at the café the other night, my body had been on edge, craving the release that only he knew how to give. I’d tried taking care of it myself multiple times, but it just left me feeling empty and completely unsatisfied.

  When he leaned down and kissed me, upside-down Spiderman style, I whimpered.

  “Do you not want…”

  He didn’t even manage to finish his sentence before I was wrapping my hand around his neck and forcing his lips back down to mine. Seth was slow, measured, tentative, and everything I didn’t need right now. I needed him to fuck me. Hard and rough and raw. We’d have time later for sweet sex, but sweet sex needed a bed and fluffy pillows and hours to snuggle. Right now, was time for fucking. I needed him to fuck me like he meant it. Pull my hair and spank my arse. And I needed it now.

  “Fuck me.”

  “You sure?”

  “Fuck me now, Seth.”

  “You asked for it.”

  I don’t know what exactly I’d asked for, but based on the look of determination etched on his face, I was going to enjoy whatever the hell I had coming to me.

  Moving down my body, Seth inched my dress up my thighs, and I felt the goose pimples appear, and it wasn’t the air conditioning. When I was exposed to him, I tried to clamp my thighs together, embarrassed by my already drenched panties.

  “Don’t fucking hide from me,” Seth growled, running his finger down my seam.

  I don’t know if it was his voice or his touch that had my knees falling open and my shame evaporating. Propping myself up on my elbows, I watched as Seth pushed my underwear out of his way with his knuckle, ignoring the bite of electricity against my skin before devouring me like a starving man. My moans echoed off the walls of his empty apartment and within minutes, my hips moving on their own as I chased the orgasm that felt like it was just out of reach. And it was all Seth’s fault. His talented tongue would bring me to the brink and just before I toppled over into the abyss, he pulled back forcing me back from the edge.

  Unable to wait a second longer, I demanded what I wanted. “If you won’t get me there, get out of the way and I’ll take care of it myself,” I threatened.

  Being the prick he was, Seth just lifted his head from between my thighs, his chin shiny with my excitement, and smirked at me. “Is that so?”

  “Seth…” His name fell like a desperate, needy plea from my lips.

  Ducking his head, Seth nipped at my clit, and I shattered into a million tiny pieces, white spots dancing in my vision. “Oh, my god,” I panted as I rode out the waves.

  “Name’s Seth, sweetheart.” He grinned, wiping his chin with the back of his hand.

  I don’t even know how but he looked even fucking better all mussed up and with me all over his face. Reaching for him, I tried to pull him towards me, but h
e didn’t budge. Instead, he started playing with me. Strumming me like I was a guitar, and he was Slash. My back bowed, and I clamped my lips together, trying to hold back my begging. I was already so sensitive it wasn’t going to take much for me to explode again.

  “Come for me, Claire,” Seth commanded as he slipped two fingers inside me.

  “I…I…I can’t,” I panted out, barely able to form words.

  When he curled his fingers in that come-hither motion and stared me straight in the eye, there was no way I could hold back. “You can and you will. Now!” His words were all I needed to take a running leap straight over the edge again. My toes curled, my body quivered, and I melted into his lush new carpet.

  Grabbing his wrist, I pulled him towards me and kissed him with all the energy I had left, which honestly wasn’t much. Feeling his heavy, hard cock rubbing against me, I found myself wondering if I could come again as his tongue duelled with mine. Twice was incredible. Three times in such quick succession may have me unable to walk tomorrow. An experiment I was happy to sign up for.

  “You need to fuck me, Seth.”

  “Are you telling me what to do?” he mumbled against my neck as he licked and nipped and sucked the spot under my ear. Trying to clamp my thighs together, I was stopped by Seth’s thick thigh.

  Snaking my hand down between us, I grabbed his cock and squeezed him through his pants, earning me an intoxicating growl.

  Without warning, Seth’s weight lifted off me, and I heard the unmistakable sound of his zipper opening before I was flipped over and pulled up onto my hands and knees. Flicking my dress up over my arse, Seth’s hand came down on my cheek with a loud slap, leaving my butt stinging.

  “Ow,” I began to complain, but my complaints were quickly drowned out by the pleasure that flooded my body. I didn’t know I liked being spanked but hey, apparently, I did.

  Not giving me a chance to think at all, Seth tugged down my underwear before sliding into me in one hard, unapologetic thrust.

  “Oh, fuck…” I muttered, feeling full.

  “Is this what you wanted?” Seth asked as he found his rhythm.

  “Harder.”

  Another slap landed on my arse and my insides clenched. There was no way I was going to be able to hang on for long. I was already so swollen and sensitive, all it would take was for the thick head of his huge dick to hit me in that magical spot, and I’d be done.

  Weaving his hand into my hair, Seth grabbed a handful and tugged sharply, my scalp tingling. “Fuck my balls!”

  “I can’t…much longer.”

  I wasn’t making sense, but it wasn’t my fault. Seth was fucking me into the middle of next week, and it was exactly what I’d asked for. Begged for. Demanded.

  “Claire, I’m gonna…”

  “Do it!” I growled, pushing my arse back against him.

  I was covered in sweat and the room smelt like sex. I could feel Seth’s laboured breaths on the back of my neck and when he leaned over me and pinched my nipple through my clothes, I was done.

  “Oh, fuck…” Two thrusts later and with Seth still inside of me, his cock twitched as he let go.

  Rolling us to our side, Seth slipped out of me, and I could feel the sticky mess on my thighs but I couldn’t move. I was completely boneless, sated, and happy. “That was…”

  “I’m sorry,” Seth grumbled, pulling me against his side and kissing my forehead.

  He’d gone from fiend to sweetheart in the blink of an eye. If I wasn’t the one cocooned in his arms, I don’t think I’d believe it.

  “Sorry? What the hell are you sorry for?”

  “I was way too rough. You deserve better. I fucked you like an animal on the floor for God’s sake.”

  Lifting my very tired head up, I half climbed onto Seth’s chest. I could feel his heart pounding beneath his ribs. “Don’t you dare fucking apologise for what just happened. It was exactly what I wanted and how I wanted. Did you hear me complaining at all?”

  Seth shook his head, so I pressed on. After experiencing what he was capable of, the last thing I wanted to do was take it off the table. He was going to need to do that again, and soon.

  “Right. That’s because I wasn’t. You gave me what I wanted, what I needed. Now, get some rest. I expect you to do that again before morning.”

  30

  Seth

  We should not have spent the night sleeping on the floor.

  I could barely move this morning, and I had the Captains run this afternoon, and I was hobbling along like an eighty-year-old man. As soft and fluffy as the carpet looked, it was not great to sleep on. But still, I couldn’t complain. I was in much better shape than Claire. Poor girl had carpet burns on her hands and knees. I tried to apologise, but I couldn’t help but grin like a fool. I was damn proud of those burns and hey, it wasn’t like she was complaining at the time either.

  After fucking each other’s brains out, we were both too exhausted to move, and there was nowhere else I’d rather be. Instead, we’d spent the night curled on the floor, sharing a cushion with the tablecloth draped over us.

  It’d been perfect.

  Well, it’d been perfect until Claire started talking.

  Now I understood why she’d ghosted on me and why everyone was treating her like she was fragile.

  The woman had balls of steel.

  Some prick had held her at knifepoint and dragged her from her car. Even now, I couldn’t shake the look on her face as she stole the breath from my lungs as she filled in the details.

  “I wasn’t paying attention. I was fiddling with my phone or the radio or something. I don’t even remember. I didn’t see him coming. There I was, off in my own little bubble, completely ignorant of the world around me when he opened the door and pressed the knife to my throat. He kept yelling at me, spit covering my face to ‘shut the fuck’ up. I couldn’t move. I didn’t even fight back.”

  She started shaking in my arms, and I couldn’t hold her tight enough.

  “He was on something. His eyes were bloodshot, and he stunk like a brewery. God, the smell. He just kept yelling at me and no one came to help. No one helped me. He pulled me from the car and tossed me on the ground like I was nothing. When he stomped on my arm, I remember it feeling like it was on fire. I thought he was going to stab me and leave me for dead in the car park.”

  “You’re safe now, Claire. No one’s going to hurt you.” I attempted to reassure her while trying to keep my blood from boiling over. How dare someone treat her like that! How dare someone think it’s okay to treat anyone like that.

  “You don’t know that,” she sobbed against my shoulder.

  But I did know that.

  I most certainly fucking did.

  If someone wanted to even try then they were going to have to get through me first. And I had a feeling Isaac wouldn’t be more than two steps behind me.

  But there was more to this story. I knew it. And as much as I was afraid of what the ‘more’ was, I needed to hear it. Claire needed to tell me. Get it off her chest. Let me carry the weight of it for her. She’d been through enough already. The least I could do was shoulder the load for her.

  “Then what happened,” I pushed as gently as I could.

  When she pulled away my arms felt empty. Wrong. Claire stood up, wrapped the tablecloth around her shoulders and stood in front of the glass doors, staring out into the inky black nothingness that was the night sky.

  “He bent over me. The knife he was waving around was so close to my face I could see the rust and dirt on it. I thought he was going to stab me. Cut me. Hurt me. Kill me.” Her voice shook, and I wanted to hold her. Reassure her. Reassure myself, but she needed space and I had to give it to her.

  “He slurred, and he swore, and he spat on me. He stepped on my fingers with his muddy boots, and I must’ve made a sound that pissed him off. He dropped to his knees beside my head. I thought he was going to make me…make me…make me…” She was choking on the words. From where I was sit
ting on the floor I could see her shoulders shake as sobs tore through her.

  “I’ve never been more relieved for whoever’s car alarm it was that blasted in the distance. It must’ve spooked him.”

  “Keep going, Claire.”

  “He kicked me in the side of the head.”

  “Fuck, Claire!” I grabbed at my hair and tugged on the ends. I didn’t know what else to do. What else I could do. This was so completely fucked up.

  “I don’t really know what happened after that or how long I was out. When I came to, a woman was standing over me. She was on her phone speaking quickly and I couldn’t keep up. When she saw I was awake she introduced herself as Eliza. She was an off-duty nurse who found me slumped in the corner of the car park. Eliza waited with me until the ambulance arrived and they took me to the hospital.

  “When I got there, I had nothing with me. He’d taken my car, my handbag, my wallet. Everything.”

  I couldn’t sit there a second longer. I’d heard enough. Jumping up, I’d edged my way in front of her making sure she understood what I was doing before I did it. The last thing I wanted to do was startle her. Especially after what she’d already been through.

  “Claire,” I said, forcing my voice to remain soft and calm, while inside a storm of emotions raged. “I really need to hug you now.”

  When she looked up at me with tear-filled eyes, I knew I was done. I’d fallen completely head over heels in love with Claire Hayes.

  31

  Claire

  It was Sunday afternoon, and I was walking, sandwiched between Isaac and Warner into the soccer stadium. When Seth had called on Thursday afternoon to let me know he’d done it, he’d gone out and forgot about everything he was supposed to be and just played with his heart, he’d been named on the bench. While it still wasn’t a starting jersey, it was one step closer to getting where he wanted to be. Where he deserved to be.

  Then he’d asked me if I’d come to watch.

  I’d frozen.