I wondered if she and Mia would be willing to have a threesome, but the thought was fleeting. I wanted Mia all to myself with no distractions. Kennedy liked to be the center of attention.
That was how it had always been with her. I’d known Kennedy since college. She was one of the exceptions to my rule. But she was also the only woman who seemed ok with fucking without attachment. She was a rare find.
But I wasn’t up for her tonight. I had a taste of something new. I had a new thirst. Only a sip of a new honey and I wanted complete satisfaction. Until I fucked Mia, I wasn’t going to be happy.
And maybe it was more than that. But like fuck if I was going to talk to Kennedy about that shit. She might be my fuck buddy, but she was still a woman. A woman with long claws she liked to sink into me when she got the chance.
“What is wrong with you? You’re acting weird. You’re never like this after a game,” she huffed.
I didn’t need her psychoanalysis of my emotional state. I knew exactly what I needed. I looked around for Mia. I hadn’t seen her since I walked out of the storeroom, but I had Kennedy to thank for that.
I felt the familiar squeeze on my thigh, inching toward my cock. It was still hard and throbbing.
“Well hello, baby,” she sighed.
I pushed her off my leg. “Knock it off, Kennedy.”
“You’re playing hard to get tonight? I can role play if you want.” Her fingers walked over my bicep as if they were a pair of legs.
“I assure you I’m not.”
“You’re as hard as a rock. Let’s get out of here and fuck.”
I’d had enough. Before I could snap at her, I saw the flash of blond hair from the corner of my eye. I turned and heard Mia’s voice in an unnatural octave.
There was a big burly biker hot on her heels.
“Look, I told you, Steve. I'm not interested.”
“Aww … Come on, babe," he said, grabbing her ass.
She cried out, swatting at his hulking hand. His other hand latched onto her waist.
I lost it. It sent me over the edge. Her pleas. His relentless stupidity. I jumped from the table, knocking the stool over in the process.
Within a second, I was face to face with the bastard.
“Steve, is it? Why don't you leave her the fuck alone?” My eyes raged with anger.
“Why don't you mind your own damn business? This is between me and the bitch.”
“It’s fine, Hawk, I’ve got it,” Mia eked out as Mike reached around and grabbed her ass again.
Fury filled me. I’d be damned if I was going to stand here and let him continue to touch her after she had already told him to stop. I lost all composure. I seized him and turned him to face me. I reared back to punch him. Before I could, Joe gripped my arm, holding me back just as the biker’s fist sailed toward my face. The impact pushed Joe and me backward.
I saw red. There was only one way this would end.
Everything around me faded as the fuel of injustice powered through me. All I could focus on was Steve and his filthy hands all over Mia. Her telling him over and over to stop. I hit him once that I knew of and then probably again, but I couldn’t remember.
“Dude. Stop. The cops have been called,” Joe pleaded.
At that moment, the blackness swallowed me whole.
6
Mia
My stomach rumbled for the tenth time in the last five minutes. This time loud enough to be heard across the room. I had forgotten breakfast as I rushed out the door this morning. And I hadn’t thought about bringing lunch. Again.
I needed to start taking better care of myself, but there were only so many hours in a day and it seemed that out of the twenty-four most people were able to function with, I had thirty-five hours of work to complete. That didn’t include showering or eating.
I rubbed the back of my neck and tried to reach up on my toes to get a stretch down the back of my legs. I should have been used to being on my feet all day, but once I added night shifts, my body revolted. It was too much. All of it.
There was another reason I couldn’t eat. It could be summed up in two words: Crawford Hawkins.
I sighed louder than I meant to, but I glanced out the windows that lined the wall on the left of the classroom. All the children were on the playground, and I had a break from recess duty. I had a minute to let my stomach roll with the memory of what happened last week. It wavered between nausea, excitement, and dread.
I turned from the window. It was supposed to be easy money. Guaranteed to add enough cash in my pocket to pay my bills so I didn’t have to leave the education center. I sat on the corner of my desk. I took a job doing something humiliating so I could keep one that meant more to me than anything else. It was some kind of twisted poetic irony.
Nothing else that happened once I tied on that waitress apron made any sense. I almost had sex in the back of the bar. I had let a man I’d never met touch me. Kiss me. Lick me. Suck me like a piece of candy.
And I liked it. No, I loved it.
And for what? To get pawed at by a drunken biker? And then to have Crawford Hawkins defend my honor and end up being hauled off to jail? None of it made sense.
I felt guilty. Guilty about everything. The almost sex. Missing part of my shift. The fight. Hawk’s arrest. Dragging my ass to work exhausted every morning this week. There wasn’t a corner I could turn to where I didn’t feel the guilt.
It was as if something had possessed me that night. Something sexy. Something forbidden. And it was almost Hawk. I had almost let him take total control over me.
“Miss Bristow?”
I jumped at the sound of the small voice behind me.
“Hey, JJ.”
I thought I was alone. I had let my thoughts drift to places I never should have let them go at the center. Teaching here was my true calling. These kids needed me. And they needed me to get my shit together.
I could relate to them. I thought maybe more than some of the other teachers. There was a part of me that was like them. I had lost my mom at a young age. I knew what it was like to feel that kind of pain. To feel like I had been abandoned. I knew it too well. If these kids were lucky, they had one parent. But looking at JJ, I knew he wasn’t one of those.
“Is it ok if I stay inside?” he asked.
“Don’t you want to play with everyone else?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No. I just want to read.”
He scuffed his feet along the linoleum floor. It wasn’t the worst request he could make.
“All right,” I caved. JJ was one of those kids who was quiet. He’d rather bury his head in a book than play kick ball or tag.
He settled into his desk and pulled a mystery ghost story from his backpack. I pulled out my chair and finally braved my phone. I pulled a news page and started skimming for a headline.
I had been nervous all day. I wondered if there would be news about Hawk. I wondered if I would be called in. Would he need me to testify? Would he have a fair judge? Should I try to call his attorney and offer to make a statement?
Should I call my dad at work and get his advice? I knew that was pointless. He was a huge Sharks fan, but he worked in family court. He couldn’t get involved to help in this situation. Add to that, I hadn’t told him I took a job waiting tables and I would have more explaining to do. I didn’t need that right now.
I looked up when I heard the shuffle of more feet enter the classroom. Recess was over. I sighed when the bell rang overhead. Another day gone. Another lesson taught. The students rushed in, grabbing their backpacks and lunch boxes before lining up by the door. I hurried them down the hall to the carpool line and then to the bus line, dropping them off along the way.
I returned to the classroom and smiled at Cameron.
“So what club do you have today?” I asked, patting him gently on the shoulder.
He shrugged just slightly from my touch. Over time, I had gotten used to his aversion of being close to other people. But the
re were moments when I could reach out. Show him warmth.
There were a variety of programs set up at the education center for underprivileged kids and their families after school. There was everything ranging from ballet and gymnastics to soccer and swimming.
“I don’t know.” He looked at the floor. “Football, I guess?”
I felt a small wave of relief. Today would be a good day. I wouldn’t have to prod and convince him. Normally he chose not to participate in any of the clubs, but for some reason, football had sparked his interest.
I hoped it pulled him out of his shell.
Something had to work.
“Well, come on then.”
We scurried through the maze of halls past my third grade classroom door and out the exit door to the playground, where just a few minutes ago I had spotted Cameron watching the other kids play.
I couldn’t say what the exact date was that I decided Cameron was going to be my project. Or when I decided that I would do everything I could to watch over him and protect him. It just sort of happened. Like when the leaves changed in fall. It happened in front of my eyes day after day until I was the one responsible to pick him up in the morning from the foster home where he stayed. I enrolled him in the center’s community club program and was responsible for returning him home at the end of the day.
Some days I kept him a little late and we’d get dinner. Or if we had an early release day I’d take him to a movie.
One look at those big green eyes and a face that was constantly covered in smudges. Shaggy blond hair that fell into his eyes and my heart fell for this kid.
“Have fun, Cameron. I’ll be inside grading the writing assignments, ok?”
He had wandered to the outside of the circle. I was worried he might not make it inside the group and would spend the afternoon on the perimeter. I couldn’t hover. I couldn’t intervene every time. I knew that.
“Excuse me, Mia?” I heard someone call my name and I turned on my heels.
Raising my hand to my forehead, I blocked the sun from my eyes and squinted trying to get a better view of the person with that deep booming voice. But I knew who it came from before he came into focus.
7
Crawford
“You are Mia Bristow? This has to be a fucking joke.”
I stared at the woman I had defended last week. But instead of tight cutoff shorts and a barmaid apron, she was wearing heels, a pencil skirt, and a cardigan.
“Oh God.” Her mouth dropped open.
I chuckled. This was fucking sweet.
“What are you doing here?” she hissed, tugging me away from the group of children near her.
“Reporting for volunteer service. You are my sentence.” I felt a primal urge kick in. Something from last week was unearthed when I laid eyes on this angel-turned-devil again.
“I don’t get it. What are you talking about?”
“The judge today assigned me to the community center. Something about helping a bunch of fucking kids.”
I saw the fury in her eyes. “Don’t you dare say that here.” She moved me farther from the group. “You aren’t going to march in here and start dropping f-bombs around my kids.”
“Then why don’t you sign off on this damn piece of paper and I’ll be out of here?”
I lifted my arm and extended the court order I had received only a few hours ago. The paper was crumpled and folded four times. I had almost shredded it in front of the judge, but my attorney stopped me. Savannah was right behind me too. She would have never forgiven me if I did that in the courtroom.
“I don’t need to read it.” She folded her arms across her chest. It was hard to believe the woman I had taken in the back room was living in the same skin as the uptight teacher in front of me.
“Guys! Guys! It’s Crawford Hawkins.”
We were instantly surrounded up to our waists by at least fifteen boys. Damn it.
Mia’s eyes landed on mine.
“Could I maybe have an autograph or something?” One of the smaller ones weaseled his way to the front of the pack.
“Not right now, kid. Get lost. I’m in the middle of something.”
Mia gasped. “Cameron, it’s ok. Mr. Hawkins and I were just working on something.” She lowered herself to meet his eye level. “I didn’t know you knew who he was.”
The shaggy-haired boy nodded. “I do. I watch all his games.”
“Oh.” She bit her lip. “Ok. Let me talk to him about some things. You and the other boys go back to club.” She shooed them away and set her gaze on me.
“Follow me, now,” she demanded.
“Hell,” I muttered.
I didn’t take orders from women. And not women I had come close to fucking the way I wanted. I wasn’t done with Mia. Seeing her again was screwing with my head, not to mention my dick.
I thought the cutoffs were hot, but nothing compared to how her ass poured into that tight skirt.
I followed her across the field and inside. It smelled like school. It didn’t bring back the best memories. Her heels clacked along the hallway. She was pissed.
We entered a classroom and she slammed the door behind me.
“How dare you?” she growled at me. Her voice was low and dangerous. “Do you know how many words that little boy speaks in one day?” She took a step closer to me. She wasn’t intimidated by the fact I was well over a foot taller than her. “Less than ten, and most of them are the word no. No I don’t want anything to eat.” She jabbed her finger into my rock solid chest. “No I don’t want anything to drink.” Again. “No I don’t need anything.” And again.
I took a step backward as she advanced, bumping into the side of the desk. “And yet when he saw you, his eyes lit up like it was Christmas morning and you were the best present he had ever been offered, and then you decided to be a dick.
“You were a complete and total ass to him and I will be damned if I let you around him or any other children here. Consider your community service terminated!” she screamed.
“You can’t do that,” I replied, not moving from my place against the desk.
“I can and I will. You just watch me.”
“No. Like you said, that little boy showed more excitement seeing me than you have gotten from him ever, right? And if you call the judge and tell him to terminate my community service, then I will go to jail, and that means no more football for me, which means no more role model for him.” I hung my head. “Look, Mia. I fucked up. I shouldn’t have been an ass to the kid. It won’t happen again. I promise.”
“If you so much as wrinkle your brow at one of these children I will pick up the phone and make the call. Don’t test me,” she threatened.
“Understood,” I replied, standing up straight.
“And you need to apologize to Cameron. Make it right, because so help me God, if he hides back in that shell of his because of you, I will skin you alive. Football will be the last thing on your mind. I promise you that.”
“Got it. I’ll see to that now.”
“Good.”
“You done lecturing me now?” I cocked my head to the side.
She was worked up. Her face was red and her breath was as heated as it was last night.
She took a deep intake of air. “Yes.”
“Can we talk about what happened the other night?”
I saw the recognition in her eyes. Damn. In the light of day, they were a beautiful light blue.
She shook her head. “Nothing happened.”
“That’s not how I remember it.” I leaned against the desk, touching her arm lightly as I relaxed now that she had laid down her laws. “I’m here because of you.”
“What?”
I laughed. “I decked the guy, protecting you.”
She wriggled back. “I didn’t tell you to get in a fight,” she whispered. “I never asked for your help.”
“You think I’m going to kiss you. Lick you. Suck you until you’re ready to come and then let some other fu
cker put his hands on you?” I leaned toward her, the energy growing between us. “I might not be that good with kids, but there was no way in hell I’d let him hurt you. Do you understand me?”
She nodded.
“Good. I’ll go talk to the kids now.”
I walked out of the room, leaving her speechless.
8
Mia
I had always been a firm believer in not judging a book by its cover, but in Crawford Hawkins’ case the cover was great, and it was the past that worried me. Especially when a certain eight-year-old was staring up at him with nothing but complete adoration on his face. If he could pull this type of reaction from a boy who hid within himself ninety-nine percent of the time, then I’d give him a chance.
I turned my back on Hawk and waited for the click of the door before I took a deep breath and let myself relax. It was easy to not notice anything about him while my anger was running hot, but as my temper cooled, I felt myself flushing for a totally different reason.
Never in my life had I been affected by a man’s presence the way Hawk affected me. I went from wanting to murder him with my own bare hands to wanting to rip his clothes off and lick up and down each and every inch of his body.
If he had stayed in the room for ten more seconds, I felt certain that my morals and dignity would have gone out the window and I’d have ended up in a similar position to last night.
It was the eyes. I thought to myself. The darkest of browns, outlined in such a deep shade of brown they almost looked black as the light shone off them. I felt certain he could see straight to the depths of my soul.
It was the same look he gave me the other night when I looked down between my legs and saw his desire and hunger for me. Damn it.
It took almost ten minutes before I felt like myself again and even then, every time I closed my eyes I saw piercing chestnut eyes staring back at me, daring and unapologetic.
That night I had been reckless and irresponsible. I couldn’t let that side of myself emerge again. Not with Cameron involved. I loved that child as if he were my family. I wasn’t going to let the lust I had for Hawk cloud my judgement.
My Playboy Fiance: A Billionaire Fake Marriage Romance Page 50
