Rookie Moves (A Checkmate Inc. Novel Book 2)

by Shelly Alexander

  My phone dings again, and I look at the screen. It’s Leo.

  Fuck. My company could be going down the drain as we speak, and I’m too chickenshit to answer my partner’s call. I can’t bring myself to talk to Leo after I spent the entire night in bed with his sister. You know, the one he sent me here to look out for.

  I silence the phone and stuff it back into my pocket.

  The diner is teaming on a Saturday morning, and they look to be shorthanded.

  “I’ll be right with you,” says an attractive twenty-something waitress who slows at our table with plates stacked on her arms and filling both hands. She’s petite, and her wavy auburn hair is pulled back into a ponytail. She nods to the far end of the booth where the table butts against the wall. “Menus are there.” She scurries off to deliver orders.

  Ava watches her curiously.

  When my fingers smooth over Ava’s hair, she turns her attention back to me. “I was thinking I could teach you how to drive today.” I tuck a lock behind her ear.

  She brightens. “Another rookie card I can turn in this weekend, thanks to you.”

  Ava’s hands are all over me under the table until Brendan, AKA Asshat Number Two, walks in. She gets quiet and withdraws. That pisses me off because Ava never withdraws. That’s what I love about her. She’s never afraid to be herself. Her parents obviously cultivated that in her when she was little, and now she’s a beautiful, confident woman who’s comfortable in her own skin.

  Brendan eyes us with disdain, last night’s cheap booze reddening the whites of his eyes. There’s no doubt in my mind he recognizes Ava, even though he said he didn’t at the reunion. There’s also no question that Ava wanted me to come here as her date for the weekend because of this asshat and his friends who haven’t grown past high school.

  I’m all masculine stealth and smoothness as I ease an arm around the back of the booth and stroke her shoulder. She relaxes and snuggles into me.

  “Thanks,” she whispers.

  The blue in her eyes deepens, and I lay a lingering kiss on her lips.

  The bell over the door jingles, and in walks the other member of Team Asshat. Ava stiffens when Jordan passes our booth without so much as a nod. I guess in a town this size it’s hard to avoid the people you’d rather not see.

  I’m rich, successful, not bad looking, and a quasi-celebrity because of Checkmate Inc. Exactly the kind of guy that intimidates the hell out of guys like Asshats One and Two, and I want them to know that Ava is beyond their reach. So I look at her like she’s my queen and I’m a pawn. I worship her with my eyes, then I lean in and worship her with my tongue. Lots of tongue. And did I mention her hands? Yep, they’re on the move again.

  The server clears her throat, and Ava and I hit pause on the soft porn flick we’re putting on in front of the entire restaurant. Ava blushes and smiles at the server. I take a quick look at the Asshat table, and my insides scream “hell yeah, we’re that into each other.” They’re staring with their mouths open like I’m one lucky son-of-a-bitch. Because I am. I give them a quick nod. Missed your chance, assholes. Now she’s mine.

  “Have you had time to look at the menu?” The server’s brow is cocked because our full attention has obviously been on each other and not today’s special.

  We order off the cuff, and the waitress hurries to the Asshat table. Ava keeps glancing over a shoulder to study her, so I follow her stare to see what’s so interesting.

  If Team Asshat hadn’t already earned that title, they sure as hell do now. The two of them start billowing complaints like the customer service line on Black Friday when Best Buy runs out of wide-screens.

  The waitress gives them a silent stare with a smile plastered on. She doesn’t seem in the least bit rattled. I like that resilience. It takes backbone to stand up to guys like Asshats One and Two. I laugh under my breath when she licks the end of her pencil with dramatic flair and says, “What can I get you two gentlemen?”

  “She looks familiar,” Ava says.

  The waitress walks past, grabs two waters and a pot of coffee from the drink station, and takes her time going back to the Asshat table.

  While she’s bent over the table to pour coffee into their mugs, Asshat One says, “If you weren’t so good-looking, I’d lodge a complaint with your manager for the poor service.” He’s loud and obnoxious enough for most of the diner to overhear.

  Asshat Two smirks.

  Asshat One leers at her chest and says, “Undo another button and we just might leave you a tip.” He leans in and waggles his brows. “I’ll double the tip if you’re a true red head.” He runs a finger up her forearm.

  She jerks away and splashes hot coffee all over Asshat Two.

  “You cunt!” Asshat Two bolts to his feet and glares at her. “I’m gonna make sure you get fired.”

  My heavy training sessions at the gym kick in, and I’m out of the booth and on him before he’s even able to grab for a napkin to dry his shirt. I swear, the dude has the reflexes of a sloth.

  I step between the waitress and Asshat Two, grab a napkin from the table, and shove it at his chest. “I suggest the two of you leave,” I say under my breath so no one can hear beyond the Asshat table. “Now.”

  Both Asshats sputter.

  “Who the hell do you think you are?” Asshat Two huffs.

  I keep my voice low and lethal. “I’m someone you don’t want to fuck with. These nice folks are trying to enjoy their meals. This server is trying her best to take care of a full restaurant with not enough help.” I take another napkin from the table and lean in, pretending to help him clean his shirt. “And it just so happens this has been the best morning I’ve ever had in my life, and you’re jacking with it. So get. The fuck. Out.”

  I toss the saturated napkin on the table, pull myself up to my full height, and inflate my stance while staring him down with a smile.

  Asshat One clears his throat. “Come on, there’s better places to eat than this.” He gets up. “Let’s blow this pop stand.”

  How original.

  I turn to the waitress, who is watching with a look that says, “Bring it.” I want to laugh because she’s five foot nothing and packed full of dynamite. Just like Ava. “Put their orders on my tab,” I say to her.

  When I get back to Ava, she’s looking at me like I’m a hero. “That fucking rocked, you know that?” She kisses the living hell out of me.

  “Damn,” I say when she finally comes up for air. “I should threaten to kick ass more often.”

  The waitress delivers our food and says it’s on the house for getting rid of the troublemakers. “Thanks.” Her face is still flushed with anger from the incident.

  “Their mothers obviously never taught them manners,” I say.

  “Do we know each other?” Ava asks. “You look familiar.”

  The waitress brushes off her hand on her apron and holds it out to Ava. “Kendall Tate. I was a few years older than you. I remember you and your brother.”

  “Well, it’s good to see you,” Ava says. “Sorry those guys were such jerks.”

  Kendall shrugs. “Occupational hazard. I’m just doing this temporarily until I can find another office job.”

  “You have experience as an admin assistant?” I ask. Because I happen to know a grumpy-ass partner at Checkmate who needs one.

  She nods. “I had a great job, but the company made cuts.” She lifts a shoulder. “I moved back here to live with my folks until I can find another job and move back to the city. There’s not much selection in a town this small.”

  I reach for my wallet and pull out a business card. “Ask for Leticia.” I hand her the card. “I’ll let her know you’ll be calling for a job interview.”

  Her face lights up. “Thank you. I…I don’t know what to say.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. You haven’t met my partner, and he’s the one who needs an assistant,” I joke.

  When Kendall goes back to waiting tables, Ava is staring at me like she wants me. I
love that look, and I’m not going to make her wait for it. Even though the restaurant offered to comp our meals, I peel off two hundred dollar bills to cover our tab, the Asshats’ orders, and a nice tip for the wait staff. They’ve earned it today.

  We’re barely in the car when Ava is practically straddling the console to kiss me. I drink her in, cop a feel of her fabulous rack, then pull back.

  “Ready for your first driving lesson?”

  “Uh-huh.” She straps in and takes a gander at the bulge in my pants. “I can’t wait to work the gear shift.”

  The engine roars to life, and I find a secluded stretch of road to pull over. Before I can open my door to switch seats with her, she grabs my arm.

  “Before you teach me to drive, I have another rookie card I want to hand over.”

  I pull my brows together. “What’s that?”

  Like a stealthy cat, she turns to face me, reaches for my pants, and has them unzipped in a second flat.

  I realize she’s about to go down on me right here in the car. Out in broad daylight.

  And I thought I was dirty-minded.

  “Ava—”

  Her mouth closes around my cock, and she sucks.

  “Shit,” I hiss out as my fingers sink into her silky hair. It falls over my lap, just like in my fantasies, and her head starts to bob. “Jesus, Ava. You’re killing me.”

  Her blue eyes lock with mine as she keeps sucking my cock. Her magical tongue circles the head, then she licks me from tip to root.

  “You deserve this for being such a hero in the diner.” She plunges down on me again, applying suction.

  Fireworks shoot through me and light up every nerve ending in my body. The sensation of her soft, supple mouth, tongue, and lips working my rock-hard dick is both torture and pure heaven. I close my eyes, grit my teeth, and lean my head back against the headrest.

  She pumps my cock with her mouth, making sexy little noises until my skin goes from warm to surface-of-the-sun hot.

  “Are you okay?” she asks, the tenor of her voice uncertain.

  My eyes open to slits, and she’s looking up at me, her plump, wet lips hovering just above my throbbing cock.

  “Am I doing something wrong? You look…uncomfortable. Or in pain.”

  I laugh and frame her face with both hands. “Ava, you’ve got me so fucking turned on that I’m trying real hard here to make it last. It’s so damn good, I don’t want it to end.”

  She purrs. She fucking purrs. Then she traces the seam of her mouth with the tip of her tongue. And takes me in her mouth again. This time she goes slower. Let’s the muscles in her throat relax until I’m fully encased in her wet, warm mouth.

  Slowly, her tongue slides and glides up my length until she’s gently holding the tip between her teeth. She breathes over me, and I shudder under the intense sensation of ecstasy racing through my veins. Gently, she molds her lips around the ridge of my tip and slides her flattened tongue over me, then she sucks me like a lollipop. When she slowly takes me all the way into her mouth again, I’m nearly hitting the back of her throat.

  The faint ache of orgasm starts at my core. My muscles tense and tighten, and I let her hair slip through my fingers. I spear them in again and guide her head down to take all of me in. Instinctively, my hips start to move to match the rhythm of her mouth.

  “Goddamn, Ava. It’s never been this good.” My voice is a growl of lust.

  That seems to drive her on because she increases the pressure and the speed, fucking me with her glorious mouth as fast and hard as she can. I can’t hold back any longer, and I try to pull her off me. She splays a hand on my chest to stop me cold, and keeps blowing me. The bracelets I gave her chime with each thrust, and it’s playing a beautiful tune.

  “Ava—” I fist her hair and try to pull out of her mouth as I start to come.

  She pulls back and keeps sucking, swallowing me down.

  My head falls against the headrest again, and I squeeze my eyes shut as the pure bliss of what she’s doing washes through me. “I thought blowing me in a car was the rookie card you were talking about,” I say between wild pants. “Apparently, I was wrong.”

  Thank God I was. That blow job was the sexiest thing I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Not to mention, this has shaped up to be the best damn driving lesson ever.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Let’s just say Ava should stick to Uber. I’m glad we were on a deserted stretch of road in the middle of nowhere with no other vehicles…and no cliffs in sight. Plus, I may have to replace the transmission in my Porsche. I’ve never experienced so much grinding in my life, and not the enjoyable kind that ends in an orgasm.

  We get back to her place, and spend most of the day in bed. Locking out the rest of the world, we’re cocooned in this house. Lost in each other.

  Until Ava finally decides it’s time to get cleaned up for the homecoming game. We’ve been entwined with each other like pretzels all day, and I’m finally alone. In sweatpants and nothing else, I sit on the edge of Ava’s bed and check my phone for the first time since Oz called this morning. It’s been on silent all day, like I’ve gone underground.

  A half-dozen missed calls from Leo pop onto the screen.

  I rake a hand over my face and suddenly feel very wary.

  I hang my head for a second and then pull in a weighty breath. Time to be a man and suck it up. I dial Leo.

  “Hey. ‘Bout time you called. I’ve been trying to get ahold of you all day.” Leo’s voice isn’t as chipper as usual.

  “Sorry. Your sister’s kept me busy all day.” I stop short. Swallow. “Uh, with homecoming stuff. Seems to be a big deal in this town.”

  “Yep, that’s small town life. Listen, thanks again for going with her.”

  Leo’s thanking me. For banging his sister. He may not realize it, but that’s what he’s doing.

  I stab fingers through my bed head. “Sure, dude. Anytime.”

  Could I be a bigger douche?

  “Oz filled you in on the latest developments overseas?” Leo’s voice turns businesslike.

  “Sort of. You know Oz. He said to talk to you.”

  “I can see why you want to be on-site. It’ll be much easier to manage this project with one of us there.”

  Except now I don’t want to leave Ava. I also can’t ask her to leave her company behind in New York City. And even if I could work out the logistics of us living on two different continents, I still have no idea how Leo would react, and I absolutely cannot get between a brother and sister who have no one else in the world but each other.

  That would catapult me from douche to biggest-asshole-on-the-planet. Not only would I be able to join Team Asshat, but I’d be the team captain.

  “I handled it for now. Magnus and Gerard were instrumental because they know how to do business in Europe much better than we do. Let’s meet tomorrow when you get back to the city. Can you guys drive home on the early side?” He chuckles. “That is if you’ve had your fill of fucking the hometown girls.”

  I freeze.

  “Holy shit, man,” Leo says, his voice dropping like he knows my dirty little secret.

  Anger bubbles up from my stomach, and acid burns my mouth. That’s not what Ava is to me. Okay, so she might be a little dirty. And fucking her is definitely a secret. But let’s keep things in the proper context. She is not, nor will she ever be, a dirty secret.

  “What are you talking about?” I manage to rasp out.

  “You haven’t seen the City Scoop?”

  A chill slithers through my veins. “Why the hell would I read that gossip rag?”

  The City Scoop is one of New York City’s popular gossip magazines, which has had Leo, Oz, and me in their camera crosshairs since Checkmate’s recent public relations scandal. Even though that mess is over and behind us, “the smokin’ hot players of Checkmate Inc.” still sell a lot of magazines for them. When we announced the plans to open Lifestyles Studios overseas, they shifted most of their att
ention to me.

  Gee. I feel so fucking special.

  “Chloe ran across it,” Leo says.

  “What the fuck does it have to do with me?” I can’t mask the growing irritation in my voice.

  Leo laughs. “Buddy, this morning’s edition has a picture of you getting busy on the hood of your Porsche with some girl wearing a red dress sexy enough to make any man sin.”

  No fucking way. This is not happening.

  “Shit, man.” Leo barrels on. “How did you get away from Ava long enough to meet someone, much less do her in the parking lot?”

  And people call me obtuse.

  “That was kind of uncool, by the way, since you were there with my sister. I’m just glad no one thinks it was her.” Leo snorts like that’s the most absurd thing he’s ever heard.

  I rub my imploding chest. Guess it kinda feels that way when your lungs seize.

  “Did it scratch the hood of your car? Because you’re pretty damned OCD about that car. I’d like to meet the woman hot enough to get you to scratch up your Porsche. She must’ve been one epic lay.”

  “You…you can’t tell who it is in the picture?” I can’t believe I’m actually forming words.

  “Nope. Her face is shadowed. Nice rack, though. Great legs too, since her dress was hiked up and they were wrapped around your waist and all.” Leo spouts laughter through the phone.

  I spout steam from my ears.

  “It’s not funny, goddamn it. Shut the fuck up, Leo.” I love him like a brother, but no one is going to talk about Ava like that. Even though he doesn’t realize it’s his sister he’s laughing at, I still won’t allow it.

  “Touchy.” Leo tries to hide the amusement in his voice. Doesn’t work. “If you don’t want your sex life to go public, maybe try doing it inside the car next time. At least if the windows are fogged up, the photographer can’t get a visual. Then you’ve got plausible deniability.”

  “Fuck you.”

  Leo totally ignores me. “Does Ava know you got laid in the parking lot at her homecoming reunion?”

  I’m thinkin’ she’s pretty aware.