Midnight Play

by Lisa Marie Perry

  *

  Word that an emergency announcement would be made in the pressroom had cleared the practice field. Players and staff crisscrossed the turf, cursing at the interruption, speculating the reason for the press conference, complaining about the brutal physical demands of today’s practice. Some headed straight for the building to watch the live broadcast indoors, while others sought the coolers and towels.

  An emergency announcement meant something huge was happening, and Dex’s instincts were jammed on wary.

  He went through the motions of toweling off sweat and changing clothes at his locker. The embossed nameplate bearing his name had already been installed. It was one of countless reminders that what he’d pursued for so long was at last his.

  But he wasn’t free to lay claim to the woman who’d given him back what had been stolen…the woman he loved with a fierceness that was dark, insatiable.

  He’d tried to pretend she wasn’t ingrained in his soul, that he could face a tomorrow without her in it. Only, his heart defeated the lies, one after the other, and all he could do was want her in silence.

  Settling into his place on the team was vicious torture when every day they crossed paths because business either brought her down to his field or him up to the administrative offices. Both worked closely with the head coach, and hadn’t a hope in hell of avoiding each other.

  He treasured every reason to see her, masochistic bastard that he was. He’d rather be near her this way than to not have her at all. That would do until he could force himself to accept that unlike his NFL career, his relationship with Danica Blue was over.

  Unfortunately for him, it was quickly becoming tougher to buy in to that. Today he’d given his all and then some on the practice field, pushing his body beyond its ordinary limits just to keep his mind from chasing Danica.

  All that effort disintegrated into grit once he entered the massive team lounge to find her image on every television screen.

  Dex nudged one of the offensive coaches. “What’s happening? Roster change?”

  “The GM’s out.”

  “The hell she is,” a woman protested, and Dex and the coach pivoted. Charlotte Blue advanced on them, leaving the team’s kicker and the head athletic trainer to venture toward a buffet table without her. She stepped up close, tossing her single sloppy braid over her shoulder. A soft floral scent levitated from her hair. The men had insisted that she was the best-smelling thing on the practice field. “I’d know if my sister was fired.”

  “Not fired,” the coach clarified, pointing with two fingers at the closest television. “Danica quit—resigned. Yo, somebody get the volume up on this TV.”

  Charlotte’s mouth dropped open, but she didn’t speak—just mutely turned forward and watched through the forest of tall bodies loitering in front of the screen.

  Danica sat in front of a mic without a single person beside her. Bursts of camera lights shone on her beautiful face, which he could visualize in his dreams with exact accuracy.

  “Unreal,” muttered Charlotte, who’d found her voice again. “Danica wouldn’t in a million lifetimes walk away from this team.”

  “Snap out of your denial, Charlotte,” the coach suggested. “It’s already happened, and they’ve named the interim GM.”

  “Damn,” someone hollered. “New GM now? Hey, Coach Claussen, are you planning on rolling out, too?”

  “No,” Kip retorted, “I’ll still be here to put you through drills until I see perfection.”

  “Coach Claussen,” Charlotte said over the din as the man was striding toward the exit, “did you know about this?”

  “No. Pressroom’s my next stop. Coming?”

  Charlotte paused just as Danica said into her mic, “I’m also in love.”

  Dex froze, slinging his gaze from Charlotte and Kip to the television. Reporters were yelling over each other, all demanding the same information. A name.

  Who are you in love with?

  They all wanted to know.

  And Dex wanted her to tell them. Say it, Danica. Tell them you’re in love with me. Tell them I’m your man.

  But she shut them down, speaking nothing more on the matter—as though she hadn’t just resigned and confessed to being in love in one quick slice.

  “I’ll go later,” Charlotte told Kip, but her stare had stalled on Dex in a way that made him feel guilty and affronted at the same time.

  When he’d found an opportunity to exit the lounge without calling attention to himself, he wasn’t surprised that Charlotte showed up on his trail.

  “What’ve you got going on with Danica?” It was a softly spoken demand, yet tension was all but written on her, from the jiggle of one of her feet to the way she’d crossed her arms and was gripping her waist.

  “Ask Danica.”

  “She announced to the nation that she’s resigning from the Slayers. She followed that up with the confession that she’s in love. If Danica had wanted to tell me what’s going on, she would’ve.” Charlotte unwound her arms, and there was a flare of temper in her eyes. “So I’m asking you. Are you the man she’s in love with?”

  “I’m not going to speak for her. But I’ll tell you this. I love Danica.”

  “Really. You love the woman who fired you?”

  “Yeah. Why’s that difficult to accept? You love Nate Franco in spite of what he and his family did to you.”

  Charlotte sighed. “Fair enough. Just let me say something. Last summer, when you and I needed an ally, we helped each other out. But none of that will matter if you hurt my sister.”

  “Fair enough,” he said stoically, echoing her words. Once she started walking in the direction from which she’d come, Dex took off for the administration complex.

  He arrived on the ninth floor to find Danica’s office door shut and her assistant’s open. He rapped on the door a few times, and Lilith greeted him with a sweet smile. “Danica hasn’t come back up here yet, but I’m expecting her to any minute.”

  “I can wait out here.”

  “Better idea,” she countered, scurrying around her desk, across the corridor and to Danica’s office. The door was unlocked and she gestured for him to enter. “Wait in here. Tell Danica that I’m taking a late lunch at the Medici Café. Don’t forget.”

  Dex sat in the same striped chair he’d claimed when he first joined Danica in this space that night in September. A solid five minutes had passed before the door opened and Danica stepped inside wearing a dress the color of eggplant. The thing shimmied when she moved, and was already playing his control like a fiddle.

  “Dex.”

  “You’re not surprised to see me.”

  “I passed Lily in the hall. She said she’d asked you to wait in here.”

  “Then she also told you about the Medici Café?”

  She shook her head. “What about it?”

  “‘Tell Danica I’m taking a late lunch at the Medici Café. Don’t forget,’” he quoted.

  “That place is at the Ritz…in Henderson. It’s a twenty-minute one-way drive in decent traffic. She made herself scarce.”

  “Then add her to the list of people who know about us. Add Charlotte, too. She all but cornered me, and warned me not to hurt you.”

  “Sorry. My sisters and I are long overdue for a heart-to-heart.” Danica locked the door, then crossed the room to him, letting her hands fall to his shoulders. “I’m going to miss seeing you here like this, Dex.”

  “Why did you make that announcement? Why are you giving up this career, Danica?” He took her hands, kissing the backs of each one. “Working for this franchise, working with your family, is important to you.”

  “That was before you and I changed. Before love got to us.”

  “You wouldn’t give the press my name.”

  “It wasn’t the right time.”

  “When will it be, Danica? See where this puts us? This morning all I had to confront was the fact that I’m not free to be with you in private, for the sake of your ca
reer and mine. But at least we could still see each other here, as colleagues. Now that you’ve resigned and still want us to be a secret, I lose even that.”

  Danica withdrew her hands from his. “You’re still adjusting to this roster and don’t need the distraction of a scandal. There’s the game on Sunday to think about.”

  “Screw the game. That’s not more important than your happiness and how damn happy you make me.” Dex rested his elbows on his thighs, looking up at her. “I don’t want to ease the public into the idea of you and me together. I want to think about how grateful I am that you’re my woman.”

  “Dex…” Danica angled closer, reaching to tunnel her fingers into his hair.

  He closed his eyes, savoring her light touch.

  “Dex.”

  Her voice was close now, her breath teasing his jaw. Turning toward her, he took her mouth with his. God, it had been too long since he’d tasted her, since he’d felt her tongue curl so, so slowly around his.

  “Hey,” she said, and he opened his eyes. “Sit back. Your woman wants you to make some room for her.”

  He let her perch on his lap with her back against his chest, and being with her like this—body to body—was the only thing he knew with his entire existence was right. “What’s the future look like to you, Danica?”

  He felt her contemplative sigh against his chest, and she said, “The future looks like truth. No secrets. Just us. And love.”

  Dex pressed a kiss to her shoulder. “Get up. Your man wants to tell you something.”

  When she was standing before him, he clasped her hips. The slinky fabric of her dress slid over her skin with ease as he gripped the material and began to pull it upward. Once her thighs were exposed, he leaned forward to dot each one with a kiss. But he kept urging the dress up until he had it bunched beneath her breasts.

  Danica’s fingers trembled as she gathered the fabric to free his hands. Gently, he scraped his fingertips up her thighs, over the lace triangle of her underwear. He curled a finger around the thin waistband, tugged it taut, then let it snap against her skin.

  She moaned, and he grinned. “The future I see looks like home, Danica,” he murmured, his lips brushing her belly. “The two of us…a baby. I see myself having that kind of life with you.”

  “You’d want to be a father?” she whispered.

  “To your child. Our child.” Dex kissed her abdomen again, cupping her butt, not caring whether this was the right or wrong time to let her know the commitment he could give her that he’d never wanted to offer anyone else. “I want to be the man who can make you feel good for the rest of your life, Danica.”

  “I’m crying,” she whispered, and he glanced up to see her chocolate-brown eyes sparkle with tears, “because I’m so damn in love with you.”

  “Want that kind of future with me?” he asked. “Truth, home, love, a baby? We can have all of that, with some crazy-ass adventures thrown in there.”

  “Crazy-ass adventures was going to be the deal-breaker,” she said with a teasing laugh. Then, sobering, she let her bunched dress slide back down her torso and over her hips. “Sunday’s going to come before all of that, Dex.”

  “Danica—”

  “This city needs to see you win at home. Get it done.” She kissed him deeply. “Our future’ll still be there after Sunday.”

  Dex stood and followed her to the door. Once she unlocked it, he stroked her cheek. “Our future… Don’t say it if you don’t mean it.” Then he opened the door and strode out while he still had the strength to walk away.

  *

  Gossip hung over Danica the next few days. But as she stood in a silk spaghetti-strapped dress and a long, knotted pearl necklace, ladling punch from a cauldron beneath a canopy of curling orange and black ribbons at Faith House, she felt at peace. Mostly. She might have publicly walked away from her family’s legacy and triggered a national guessing game about just who she was in love with, but she refused to call out the man she loved when he had a game to win.

  Tonight, Dex was where he belonged: on the field at Slayers Stadium.

  “This is my kind of scene.”

  Surprised, Danica turned to see her younger sister reaching out for a drink. “A Halloween party for teens?” she said skeptically. “There’s no alcohol in that cup, Martha.”

  “A true partier doesn’t require alcohol to have a good time.” There was that know-it-all smile that was so distinctively Martha. “I said I’d volunteer. Why not start now?”

  “It’s Sunday night. You should be at the stadium.”

  “Danni, you should be. It’s the fourth quarter and our boys just scored on a turnover. It could go either way. Win or lose, our quarterback would want to see you on the sidelines.”

  Danica batted away a tangle of ribbons tickling her face. “Martha—”

  “Last week, when he was playing, you looked at him on the field like you missed him—like he was a world away. Being in love is the best feeling, and I’m glad you feel that way. So go to your man.”

  She looked around. The party was an uproar of pounding music and noise. Some kids were in costumes, a few were dressed in formal-wear, but most were jeans-and-hoodie clad. Chaperones lurked like ants at a picnic. “I’ll be back,” Danica said.

  Martha snorted, taking away the ladle. “You’re going to tell the finest QB in the NFL that you want to be with him—you won’t be coming back tonight.”

  *

  No time-outs remained. The Slayers’ defense had forced the second turnover of the quarter. Chances were this would be the offense’s final possession in the game. In the visitors’ territory, Dex would need to send the ball damn near thirty yards to make a scoring play and create a deficit New York wouldn’t recover from tonight.

  Every second counted; every decision mattered. Pivoting, he escaped the clutch of a linebacker and scanned the field for an open man. His cleats gripped the turf, his heart hammered in his chest, a chorus of thousands of screaming voices battered his ears, but his mind was laser-sharp. There, a receiver in red and silver. If the man didn’t break his speed, he’d be in a prime spot in the end zone to capture the ball by the time Dex passed it downfield. It was a risk that would be regarded as reckless if it didn’t work or ingenious if it did.

  The safe move would be to grapple for a few yards and take a slide.

  Dex released the ball, throwing long…

  And connecting.

  Hell, yes!

  Chaos draped over the stadium, but all Dex saw were teammates slamming into him for hugs and handshakes.

  Then, as players, coaches, media and security inundated the field, there was Danica…so feminine and delicate-looking in a thin dress that danced over her glorious curves as she moved with purpose to him.

  Dex drew off his helmet, and she ran into his arms, colliding her perfume and pearls with his sweat and mud. Yet she felt as though she was meant to be there.

  The atmosphere on the field shifted as speculation hit the onlookers. In his periphery he saw bright flashes and stunned faces, but his focus was on the woman in his arms.

  Dex lifted her against him, off her feet, and Danica said with a grin, “Lover, take me away from all this.”

  “What’d you have in mind?”

  “We could get started on that future we talked about….”

  “The one with truth and home and love and a baby?”

  “Yes. I want all of it, with you.”

  “What about Thanksgiving in Oregon? I’ve got this land…”

  “Yes.”

  “What about tonight at my place?”

  “Are you trying to see how many times you can get me to say the word yes?”

  Lit with the fire of love and excitement, he kissed her in the middle of the field. “People will be talking about this all night.”

  Danica framed his face with her hands. There was strength beneath the softness. “While everyone else is talking the night away, I’m going to be with you…and we’ll be much too bu
sy to talk.”

  *

  Don’t miss the next book in THE BLUE DYNASTY,

  JUST FOR CHRISTMAS NIGHT

  by Lisa Marie Perry.

  Martha Blue gets her chance for romance at the most magical time of all—Christmas!

  Coming to you December 2014, from

  Harlequin Kimani Romance.

  We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Kimani Romance.

  You dream in vibrant hues! Harlequin Kimani Romance stories feature sophisticated, soulful and sensual African-American and multicultural heroes and heroines who develop fulfilling relationships as they lead lives full of drama, glamour and passion.

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  ISBN-13: 9781460335017

  MIDNIGHT PLAY

  Copyright © 2014 by Lisa Marie Perry

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