And people called me an aggressive flirt. I was half-expecting her to just reach straight for my junk and skip the formalities.
But the harsh clearing of a throat made a bit of professionalism return to her demeanor and she stepped back, albeit hesitantly. When she turned to move away, I smirked at the male attendant and the two of us just shook our heads.
Women.
I was one of the first people off the plane and I walked through the airport with purpose—hoping to avoid being stopped. A couple of Wolfpack fans snagged me for pictures, but I thankfully managed to avoid hitting any of the negative attention I’d been getting ever since Brittany popped out a kid and claimed it was mine.
At least until I reached the overcrowded lobby.
A few photographers recognized me immediately and with no other celebrities in sight, I became their one and only target. Even though I pointedly ignored the flashing cameras and the shouted questions—I was having a hell of a time weaving through the crowd of people while simultaneously trying to dodge the press and find the girl who was supposed to be picking me up.
“Back off!”
The feminine bark to my right made me pause mid-step and I turned to watch a dark-haired woman point a stern finger at the cameramen who were trying to block me from the doors.
“Mr. Moore is not speaking to the press at this time. Kindly step aside and let us through.”
“Who the fuck are you?” one of the reporters yelled.
“April Scott of Granger Relations. Now move,” she commanded, her tone hard enough to make even the biggest of the reporters step to the side.
As soon as there was a big enough gap for us to move through, she turned back and waved at me to follow her. She didn’t look back at me again as we made our way to the waiting car and my impressed expression went unseen. For an intern, she handled the press like a damn pro.
Impressed was actually a bit of an understatement.
Being the gentleman that my mother insisted I was even though I consistently proved her wrong, I rushed passed her to open the back door of the sedan. When she looked up at me with a puzzled frown, I smirked and made a sweeping gesture with my arm.
“After you, sweetness.”
“Don’t call me that,” she snapped before she ducked her head and slid into the backseat.
I blinked twice, confused by her irritated response. I wasn’t sure what I had done to earn such a response so early in our relationship, especially since we hadn’t even been formally introduced yet.
I was already getting the distinct impression that this intern was a hell of a lot different than the others Lauren had employed over the years. She was certainly a spitfire.
The idea of spending the next two weeks in relative isolation with this girl was sounding better by the minute.
3
April
Don’t look at him, don’t look at him, don’t—
“What?” I snapped when I realized that the weight of his gaze on my face wasn’t going to leave until I at least acknowledged his presence.
“Whoa,” he said on an exhale, raising his hands in the air as his eyebrows did the same. “Why are you so hostile? We haven’t even been introduced. I’m Jared.”
“April,” I said shortly, not really wanting to talk to him until we got back to my apartment where I had the opportunity to run away if needed.
My nervousness hadn’t died down overnight—it actually multiplied. At some point during the night, I woke up in a panic. One glance at the clock told me that Lauren and William had already gotten on their flight to Paris, which meant that there was no turning back. Keeping Jared in line now fell completely on me.
If that realization wasn’t bad enough, I had fallen back asleep only to have wildly erotic dreams about the man that I was under no circumstances allowed to sleep with.
Overall, my night had been hell.
My morning was even worse as I continued to rush around and clean up my apartment, desperate for it to be spotless lest I make a bad impression on Lauren’s most important client. And maybe I was also hoping that busying myself with cleaning would distract me from reliving the dreams over and over again in my head.
My plan had worked until I saw Jared in the flesh and felt that twang of hero-worship for my favorite team’s quarterback along with being forced to acknowledge that he was even hotter in person than he was in photographs.
I’m so fucked. I am so fucked.
“Hell-ooo? You still alive over there?”
“I’m sorry, what?” I asked, turning back to him and trying not to blush as his gaze swept over me with clear intent.
“I asked where in the city you live.”
“Oh. I live in Greenpoint.”
The distasteful sneer didn’t escape my notice, not that he intended it to. And as if his look hadn’t said it well enough, he dug the knife in even deeper.
“I should’ve guessed you were a Brooklyn girl.”
“You realize I’m an intern, right? I don’t get paid to work. I’m lucky to have a place of my own anywhere in the city.”
His green eyes twinkled and he grinned. “And when you say ‘lucky,’ what you really mean is that your mommy and daddy pay your rent, am I right?”
A furious blush swept across my face as I fought the urge to scream at him. Sure, what he said was true, but it wasn’t any of his damn business. Lauren’s warning about Jared being as far from a walk in the park as one could get echoed in my head and I swallowed my anger, forcing my voice to remain steady and professional.
“I’m not going to dignify that with a response. My living arrangements are hardly any concern of yours.”
“Except that they’ll also be my living arrangements for the next two weeks. So it kind of is my business.”
“Wrong. Your business is keeping your head down until the paternity test results are in. Not how my bills get paid.”
Even though it was killing me to do so, I managed to hold eye contact with him as we locked into a stalemate. I could see it in his eyes that he was actually enjoying this childish bickering and the thought that he would be purposely picking fights to entertain himself for the next two weeks made me want to rip my hair out in frustration.
So much for hoping that he was just a normal guy underneath all that bravado.
His lips curled into an easygoing smile before he finally broke the silence. “You’re a fiery one, aren’t you? You and I are going to have a lot of fun together.”
I could feel my frown deepen as he blatantly leered at me, making it very obvious just what kind of ‘fun’ he was interested in having. Despite my reassurance that I wasn’t going to sleep with him, I still felt a twinge of excitement from his gaze.
“If you’re trying to imply that we’ll be sleeping together at any point during the next two weeks, I’ll tell you right now that it’s not going to happen. You might have gotten that from Lauren’s other interns—but you won’t from me. Absolutely not.”
Jared appeared genuinely shocked that I outright said that it wasn’t going to happen, his eyebrows raising high as he let out an incredulous burst of laughter. I glared at him while he laughed and wondered what the hell I had gotten myself into when I agreed to this.
He quickly recovered from his shock and the grin reappeared. “We’ll see about that.”
“It’s not up for debate. I will not sleep with you. You’re a client.”
The car rolled to a stop and I moved to get out, but Jared stopped me by placing a large hand on my elbow. The simple touch seemed to send electrical shocks up and down my arm and I jerked away from him as if I’d been burned. I narrowed my eyes as I hissed, “Don’t touch me.”
He let go immediately, but the cocky smile remained firmly in place. “You’ll be begging me to touch you soon enough, sugar.”
“Never,” I ground out through clenched teeth, opening the car door and stepping out into the cool spring air.
Once I was free from the close proximity, I clos
ed my eyes and let out a long breath that I didn’t even realize I had been holding. I listened as he got out of the car and retrieved his bag from the trunk, but I didn’t bother to open my eyes until I felt his presence looming at my side.
When I finally looked at him again, his eyes brightened and he smiled. The spot where he touched my arm felt like it was on fire and my heartbeat quickened against my will.
These are going to be the toughest two weeks of my life.
4
Jared
“Where’s your bedroom, doll?” I asked the moment I stepped into April’s apartment. She turned to me with a humorless look, so I waggled my eyebrows as I said, “I want to know where I should drop my stuff.”
“The couch turns into a bed. That’s where you’ll be sleeping,” she dryly commented. “And would you stop with the stupid nicknames? You may think it’s charming, but it’s not going to work on me.”
I ignored the second part of her spiel, focusing my incredulity on the first half. “The couch? I don’t even get an actual bed?”
Her cheeks turned pink and she looked down at the floor, toeing at a small stain on the carpet. “I don’t have a second bedroom. It’s the best I could do.”
There was an irritating feeling of something akin to guilt rising up in my stomach, but I shoved it away immediately. Why in the hell I would feel guilty about embarrassing a girl I just met—one whom I already insulted on the car ride over here—was beyond my comprehension.
But I was still pissed. I hadn’t slept on a couch since my sophomore year of college, back when the starting quarterback of my school’s team took a nasty hit during a game and I got put in to replace him.
Since then, I’d been moving on up.
I started every game from that point up until my graduation. Being immediately drafted onto a team in the professional league wasn’t a surprise to anyone who had ever seen me play.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
“I’m not sleeping on a couch,” I said firmly, an idea springing to my head. “It’s not your fault that you don’t have a spot for me, but the least you could do is offer me your bed. Since I’m a guest and all.”
“You’re a client—”
“All the more reason to want to keep me happy.”
“—And a pain in my ass.”
“That hurts, princess. At least get to know me a little before you start disliking me so much.”
“I’m sure you’ll give me plenty of reasons to.”
Damn, the girl was quick. Even though I was enjoying the verbal sparring with her so much that I could feel my dick responding, she was starting to piss me off. There was a point where I wanted her to stop and just give in, but I could already sense that she planned to keep going.
So I dropped my bag on the couch and sighed hard. I rubbed my palm across my face and shook my head turning back to her as I said, “Look. I’m going to sleep in a bed one way or another. Whether it’s your bed, a hotel bed, or the bed of some random chick I pick up on the street. I’m not sleeping on a couch.”
April threw her hands up in surrender while shaking her head with disbelief. “Fine! If it’ll keep you here and shut you up—just take the fucking bed.”
“And will you be joining me?” I asked with a smirk. “I promise I won’t hog the blankets.”
She practically growled at me.
That’s strangely hot.
My cock certainly agreed with the thought. If the look on her face wasn’t so murderous, I might have made a bolder move. But in the spirit of not having this little spitfire of an intern strangling me in my sleep, I backed off. At least for the time being.
“All right, all right,” I said with an exaggerated eye roll while I raised my hands to show that I was giving up. “Show me to my room. Please.”
The tacked on ‘please’ seemed to cool her anger a little and I patted myself on the back for doing something right. Whether she gave in and slept with me or not, I really didn’t want her to spend the next two weeks completely pissed off. It was bad enough I was stuck here—I didn’t want to isolate my only companionship.
April moved through the small living room area into the tiny hallway. I trailed behind her, taking in everything around me until she abruptly stopped. There were only two doors in the hall and she pointed at each as she said, “Bathroom. Bedroom.”
“I take it that we’ll be sharing the bathroom?”
“Unfortunately,” she said as she opened the door to the bedroom and stepped inside. “Your lodgings. Just let me move some of my stuff to the couch.”
I watched her buzz around the room for a second and toss a few pieces of dirty laundry into a basket before she moved to the bed and started gathering up her pillow and blankets. Without a word, she left the room to take them to the couch and I looked around the room, wondering what kind of things she had hidden in here and wondering where I should look first.
My eyes landed on the nightstand. Bingo.
I dropped my bag on the foot of the bed and sauntered over to the nightstand, tugging open the drawer and grinning wildly when the bright pink vibrator rolled to the front. With a snicker, I picked it up and twisted the end, my smile widening when it came to life in my hand.
Which was when April walked back into the room, her annoyance turning into mortification the moment she saw what I was holding.
“My cock might not vibrate, but I bet I can make you come harder than this thing,” I said with a chuckle as I waved the fake dick through the air like a sword.
Sadly, she wasn’t as amused as I was. Her cheeks were flaming red as she marched forward and ripped the toy out of my hand, turning it off swiftly before attempting to hide it behind her back.
“How dare you? I agree to give you my fucking bed and you immediately start going through my stuff? What the hell is wrong with you?”
I shrugged. “Nothing. I’m just a very curious person.”
She squared her shoulders and took in a deep breath, obviously trying to rein in her rage before she calmly said, “Jared, I’ve given up my bedroom for you. The very least you can do for me in return is respect my privacy. Please.”
“If that’s what you want, I suppose I can do that,” I agreed with another shrug, pausing to watch the relief spread across her face before I added, “But I can think of far more interesting things to do in return for your kindness. And hey! Most of them end with you still sleeping in your own bed. What do you say? I’d happily offer a trial demonstration.”
Her relief melted back into agitation and she let out a loud groan before spinning on her heel and marching toward the door. Before she slammed it shut, she shouted, “Just don’t go through my stuff!”
Then I was alone.
I glanced at my bag and thought about getting changed into something more comfortable than jeans considering all I’d be doing for the next two weeks would be sitting around, but there were far more interesting things to attend to first. I peeked back inside her nightstand, but the only item of interest had been taken away, so I moved over to the dresser.
Before I opened anything, I glanced at the bedroom door. I was pretty certain that she was probably getting the couch bed ready while she fumed, making it unlikely that she’d be coming back until after her anger wore off. So I opened the drawers and looked inside, not bothering to sift through anything with the exception of her underwear drawer.
Good lord, I would pay good money to see her wearing anything in this drawer, I thought as I lifted a red thong into the air and imagined how easy it’d be to tear off of her.
After I was done fondling her lingerie, I moved away from the dresser and considered my options. I briefly paused at the small, make-shift desk she had set up in the corner, but I had a limitation on snooping. The top was mostly covered with neatly-stacked paperwork and I knew that going through her desk would be crossing a line. It was a little too personal.
Though if she’s the kind of girl who keeps a diary, maybe I can get some insight as t
o why she refuses to sleep with me.
I shoved the idea away and moved to the closet instead, pausing with my hand over the door handle as a thought occurred to me. The possibility that April had a boyfriend hadn’t even once crossed my mind. Hell, for all I knew, April might have had a girlfriend.
I really had no way of knowing. I didn’t know a damn thing about her other than she seemed to intensely dislike me before we even met.
While I pondered why the hell she hated me so much, I opened the closet door and absent-mindedly began flipping through her clothing. There were plenty of casual and work clothes, but practically nothing fit for a night out. April was definitely not a party-girl, that much was obvious.
Sadly, her closet was only big enough to hold clothes and shoes, which meant it was a pretty dull place to snoop. Just as I was about to step out and close the door, two very familiar colors caught my eye, buried deep in the back of the closet. I dug to reach them, a grin lighting up my face as I realized they were exactly what I thought they were.
Wolfpack jerseys. One home and one away. I could tell just by looking at the necks that they had been well-worn, not just some promotional item she had gotten from working for Lauren. I pulled them out of the closet and it felt like my grin was liable to split my face.
Because they weren’t just any Wolfpack jerseys.
They were my jerseys. My number and my name on the backs of both.
How interesting.
5
April
“I can’t believe I signed up for this,” I grumbled to myself as I dropped my vibrator on top of my stack of blankets and plopped down beside them on the couch. “He’s going to drive me insane.”
Well, I am talking to myself. Seems like I might have already gotten there.
Part of me still couldn’t believe that Jared was actually living up to his reputation. I had done everything in my power to convince myself that he was just a normal guy, but I’d spent less than an hour with him and I was already ready to either rip my hair out or rip his pants off.
Infamous: A Bad Boy Sports Romance Novel Page 2
