by Erica Hobbs
Jake
If I’d thought she was a stunner in the tunnel at Mile High in her jeans and tank top, I was completely swept off my feet now. I’d never seen a creature as beautiful as she was. Nor one equally cheeky.
What are you going to do to make it happen? Rebecca’s words echoed in my mind. I’d met her again by chance – this kind of thing didn’t just happen. This time, though, I wasn’t going to let her slip away.
Alyssa. Even her name was sophisticated. Just like the way her hair was piled on top of her head in a bun, her high cheek bones and serious eyes made her look almost regal. And her shirt clung to her form, showing off her perfect hourglass figure.
I was a man of taste and class. I had money, and I could buy anything. I had seen all there was to see when it came down to beautiful women. Alyssa was something else entirely.
Ethereal? Yes, I sounded like an idiot. But God, I couldn’t find another word to describe her.
Except, she wasn’t interested in me at all. Which was a first. Everyone was interested in me. Mostly because of my fame and money, but still. And she did know who I was, which meant she had to have an idea I was worth something.
“She’s cute,” Don said next to me. Of all the players in the team, we spoke the most. It still wasn’t a lot, but it was more than the others.
“She’s so much more than cute,” I breathed.
Don chuckled. “Careful, you sound like a sap.”
I snorted and shoved him with my shoulder. He shoved me back. We looked like Class A Neanderthals, pushing each other around. I quit it before she looked our way.
She’d left our little group and was now standing by another high table with her two friends. It wasn’t hard to tell the hierarchy in their group – the other one, Tanya I think it was, was obviously the leading diva. Grace was the nerdy girl. Alyssa was the one with the quiet disposition, the one who looked like she kept her wits about her.
I waited for her to look at me. I wanted her to look at me. It didn’t happen. Either she just didn’t care, or she was trying very hard to frustrate me. It was working.
“You gonna tap that?” Don asked.
I glared at him. “A woman like this one deserves a hell of a lot more than a one-night stand.”
Having overheard the conversation, Clyde came to stand with us and leaned his elbow on Don’s shoulder.
“What’s wrong, Nash? Scared?”
I blinked at him. Me? Scared?
“You think I can’t do it?” I said. My manliness was suddenly brought into question. I could pull her. I could take her home with me. Once I turned on the charm, they all gave in.
“I don’t know, Clyde… he doesn’t look very keen.” Don chuckled, giving me a defiant look. He was challenging me.
“Fine,” I said. I adjusted my pants and walked toward the girls. Dammit, I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want to make her a one-night thing. She was different. When was the last time a girl had made me sit up and notice?
But I was the big boy, the team captain and I was known for my charm off the field. It was either approach her or be laughed at and labeled as a wimp.
I cleared my throat when I got to their table and leaned on it with both my elbows, making myself part of the conversation. Tanya smiled at me, eagerly. Alyssa just looked at me.
“I’m sorry to bother you, ladies,” I started. “I was hoping we could get better acquainted. Our chat just now,” I was looking right at Alyssa by now, “was so very short.”
Tanya nudged Alyssa, but she didn’t notice. Instead, her eyes were dark and churning, and I couldn’t read what she was thinking.
“Isn’t that below your pay grade?” She asked. Tanya looked at her, surprised. I rolled my eyes and stood upright, keeping only my hands on the table.
“Come on, you’re not going to hold onto that, are you?” I asked.
Alyssa shrugged. “You haven’t exactly given me anything else ‘to hold onto.'”
I grinned. She was giving me an opening to swing this conversation in a direction which could work for me. That would make the boys proud.
“Well, I could give you something to hold onto,” I said with a grin. It was just the right amount of dirt without coming across sleazy.
Alyssa raised her eyebrows. She didn’t even smile. What was I doing wrong?
“I doubt I’d hold onto anything you have to offer.”
Both of her friends gasped. There was only one thing worse than being shot down by a woman, and that was being shot down in front of an audience of women. I nodded slowly, searching for words but I couldn’t find any. She wasn’t giving me anything. Nothing at all. In fact, she looked eager to get rid of me.
I turned around and walked away.
“Come on, you’re not even going to give him a chance?” I heard one of her friends say. I doubted it. I wouldn’t have given me a chance with a line like that, but rejection still hurt.
Why didn’t she want anything to do with me? I walked over to the guys. They’d been watching the whole thing.
“Back so soon? What did she say?” Clyde asked. I looked at my friends and shrugged.
“She’ll come crawling back to me in a moment,” I said, forcing a confidence. “You just have to throw them a bone.”
They both laughed at my double meaning. I glanced over at Alyssa. Her rejection hurt because it was in front of others, but also because someone like me just didn’t get rejected. I’d gone there because of some challenge, but now it was personal. Who was she to be so sure of herself she didn’t need a man to validate her existence?
It was intriguing. And suddenly, I wanted her. Not because of her beauty and wit, which was a bonus, but because she was the one woman who didn’t want me. I didn’t know why people wanted what they couldn’t have, but I felt it in a bad way.
I wanted to wine her, dine her, and recline her. I wanted it all. I wanted her to want me.
The rest of the night continued in the same trend. I tried a few more times, but she shot me down every single one of them. She was relentless. She only made me want to try again, to try harder. This wasn’t even about looking good in front of my friends anymore.
It was well past midnight, and she was still ignoring me. The guys wanted to get going. They were tired – you couldn’t party until sunrise if you weren’t drinking and you couldn’t drink if you were a pro football player. I still hadn’t made any kind of progress with her.
When I looked up, searching for her – again – she wasn’t with her friends. I looked around. Where had she gone? Was she talking to another guy? I was such a fool– she could do what she wanted. But I wanted her. I wanted to be the one to talk to her.
I spotted her on the way to the ladies’ room and mentally punched myself for being an idiot.
“I’ll be back in a sec,” I said to the guys and wandered off, following her without looking like I was. I waited outside the bathroom, a couple of steps away.
Did I look like a pathetic stalker? Absolutely. I was going to do this anyway.
The door opened a while later, and she stepped out, rolling her lips. The glow of the bathroom light – bright against the dim lights of the club itself – illuminated her from behind; she looked like an angel. Cheesy. But true. She had taken two steps toward me before she saw me. She froze, her face going from surprised to irritated.
“Sorry,” I said, holding up my hands.
“Can I help you?”
I took a deep breath. I was about to stoop very low.
“I know you don’t like me.”
“Can’t get anything by you,” she said and folded her arms.
I pushed on despite her quick words. There was something so damn sexy about quick wit, even if it stung. “Easy, now. I’m not looking for trouble.”
“Trouble isn’t your problem. You suffer from a big head.”
I groaned, exasperated. There was no getting through to this woman. She was hard – no, impossible – to get. That just made me want to do this t
hat much more.
“I’ll prove to you I’m not what you think I am. I’m a good guy. You just have to give me a chance. Let me take you out and show you I can be decent.”
She raised one perfectly manicured eyebrow at me.
“Why should I do that?” She asked.
Time to pull out all the stops.
“I suppose you don’t. I can’t give you a reason. But I think you’re beautiful. And smart. And the combination is more intoxicating than anything I could drink tonight.”
She flushed a little, and her irritated mask slipped a bit.
“I want to get to know you. And I want to show you I could be worthy of your time. If you let me.”
She looked over her shoulder to where her friends were. I followed her gaze. They were looking at us. I didn’t only have to compete with her first impression of me, but also with the running commentary her friends would provide. If I were any other than Jake Nash, it would be an impossible task.
They didn’t call me Powerhouse for nothing.
“Give me a chance,” I said again.
She looked at me for the longest time during this night, considering it. She’d changed, though. She was open, now. Her bitch attitude was gone. She’d taken my compliments, and she had warmed her up.
I’d used with her the same lines I used on all the girls. Except, this time I meant them. I really did want to get to know her, and not just for sex. Although, sex with her would probably be fucking fantastic, as I could only imagine. But that wasn’t all I wanted from her.
Not this one.
“Okay,” she finally said, and I blinked at her.
“Okay?” I asked, already fishing for my phone.
“Yeah. You can take my number. But you get one date. If you don’t manage to pull this off by then… I don’t do repeats.”
I nodded and handed her my phone. She tapped on the screen, the blue glow lighting up her face and making her look otherworldly.
I glanced at the screen when she gave it back to me.
“It’s not a fake number,” she said. A hint of irritation was back in her voice.”
I shook my head. “Of course. I’ll call you, Alyssa.”
She smiled at me. It was quick, flitting over her face so quickly before disappearing again. I could have imagined it. But I hadn’t. And for that fleeting moment, she’d been beautiful. She walked away and the door which had been open just a crack, letting my glimpse into Alyssa and her world, was shut again.
I stuck my fingers in my hair and looked for my team. I didn’t really feel like hanging out with them anymore, even if they were going to leave soon. Instead of going back to the group I turned around and walked to the door.
Outside, I leaned against the wall and breathed in the cold air. It was refreshing after the stuffy air inside the club I’d been breathing all night. I closed my eyes.
“Oh, my God. Jake?” A voice pulled me back from the relaxed darkness I’d sunken into, and I opened my eyes.
A woman in yellow with black hair and black eyes stared at me, her mouth open in surprise.
“Amanda,” I said. Shit. I hadn’t seen her in years. Her skin was a rich brown, the color only an account at a tanning salon could achieve, and she’d picked up a bit of weight.
“What are you doing in town?” She asked. I looked around. I didn’t want to stand here, talking to her. I didn’t want to see her at all. We’d tried the dating thing. She’d been so clingy I hadn’t been able to breathe. We hadn’t even made it official yet before I’d started suffocating.
“I, uh… we’re home. For a bit.”
She wouldn’t have known that. The only time she’d followed football was when she’d followed me. And the only time she’d followed me was when I’d become a star and money had started flowing.
“Oh, my God,” she said again and stepped closer to me, forcing us into a hug. I let go of her as fast as I could.
“Why are you on the street alone?” I asked, looking around. She wasn’t with company. She smiled at me.
“I was meeting some friends at Lemon, but here I am, alone with you. Isn’t it weird how things work out?”
I fought the urge to take a step away from her. I really didn’t want to get involved with her again. It had taken me months to get rid of her, to throw her off my scent. I didn’t need her persistence in my life right now.
“Very weird,” I said.
The door to the club opened, and Amanda looked up. Three women. Alyssa and her friends. Shit.
Alyssa glanced at me and then at Amanda before turning to walk in the opposite direction. Tanya looked Amanda up and down like she was scrutinizing her before she glared at me. Grace ignored me altogether. They linked arms and walked away. I resented Amanda for being here at all.
“Listen, Amanda, I’m going to go. It was… surreal. Meeting you again.”
She smiled like it was a compliment.
“I’ll look you up, okay? We should catch up.”
She sashayed away, all hips rolling and hair flipping and I hoped to God she would forget she met me and wanted to spend time with me again. Knowing her, though, it wouldn’t be likely. Once she got a taste of something, she latched on and didn’t let go.
And now it looked like I was involved with her because Alyssa had seen me. She’d looked at me and then at her like Amanda had been someone who meant something. And her friends knew exactly what we’d said to each other, judging by the glare I’d gotten from Tanya. My one chance with Alyssa might have already slipped through my fingers. Because of Amanda, again.
How damn perfect.
Hot For Sports – Book 2
Chapter 10
Alyssa
Something about Jake had made it impossible for me to say no to him. Something about the way he’d asked for my number, for one more chance to see me… it had made me feel… ‘special.’
Which was ridiculous. Someone with Jake’s attitude didn’t do ‘special.’ Not if my first impression of him – below his pay grade! – was anything to go by.
“The good thing about bad first impressions is that they can only get better from there,” Tanya said, sipping through her straw. We were at Zig Zag, our local hangout. It was a bistro a couple of blocks outside downtown and their menu catered for everything from emotional eating to dietary fuss.
“I don’t know… he was still an asshole on that night, too,” I said, stirring the pulp in my fresh orange juice with my straw. “He was just, you know, a nicer asshole than before." I shrugged. Grace shook her head as she picked at a lemon poppy seed muffin.
“Well, some of his friends were really hot, so I didn’t really pay that much attention to him.”
Tanya rolled her eyes at Grace before she looked back at me.
“You should give him a chance.”
I sipped my orange juice. I honestly didn’t know how I felt about that. I was attracted to him. There was no denying that; it was one of the main reasons I’d ended up giving him my number. But he was so arrogant and cocky – and yes, that was hot, but it was also dangerous. James had also been arrogant and cocky.
“He did have a hot group of friends,” Tanya said. “You, my friend, have excellent taste.” She clinked her glass against mine in a small salute.
“Thanks. It’s not my taste, though. He came to me, remember?”
She shrugged. “His taste is even better then.” She grinned around her straw. “I still think you should give him a chance.”
“I don’t know.” I swirled my orange juice around with the straw again. “Maybe I should play really hard to get.”
“We should Google him,” Grace said. We both blinked at her.
“Why haven’t we thought of that before?” Tanya asked, pulling out her phone immediately.
“No, no, no! Don’t do that!” I protested. However, Tanya had already found his name and her screen was full of photos of him from every possible angle one could think of. Oh, well, that was the downside of being celebrity material �
�� the world could learn everything about your life, good and bad. I wondered what it would be like to be in the spotlight next to him. Or would he be the only one and his tag-alongs would be in the shadows?
I leaned over and had a look at the screen. The photos were hot. He really was good-looking, God. I’d been irritated with him before and I still valued personality above looks any day. But he really was a stunner when it was just about the photos.
Dark brown hair. Green eyes which looked greener than green itself. They looked almost Photoshopped in the pictures, and I would have believed it, but I knew for a fact that in real life the jewel tones were there. High cheek bones – almost Slavic – and that arrogant look on his face whenever he was on a football field or looking at a camera.
