Game On (A Bad Boy Sports Romance)

by Olivia Lancaster

  Slowly, we both slid to the floor, still tangled up in each other. He pulled out of me and leaned forward to rest his forehead on mine, both of us panting heavily. As the cloud of lust evaporated and reality began to settle back in, we both tensed up and looked at each other. There was a question in his eyes I know he must have seen reflected in mine, too…

  Where the hell do we go from here?

  CHAPTER 11 - GEMMA

  “Gem, get up. Don’t you have to be at work today?” asked a quiet, concerned voice at the door. I turned over in bed and pulled a pillow over my head, trying to pretend the day was not happening yet. I wasn’t even remotely ready to take on the dreaded physio appointment scheduled for just an hour from now. I was almost certainly going to be late for that. Normally, by this time of morning, I would have already bounced up out of bed and breezed through most of my morning routine. But today, all I wanted to do was call in sick.

  “Are you even alive in there? Do I need to call an ambulance? Did you die?” Alice half-joked from the hallway. I could clearly picture her leaning into the door, rolling her eyes. It was somewhat encouraging to know that if anything did happen to me, Alice would certainly notice and care. I almost wished something had happened to me. Anything to give me a reason not to go to work today.

  “That’s it, I’m coming in,” she concluded, and before I could stop her, the door creaked open and Alice bounded into the room. She jumped on the bed, nearly landing directly on top of me, giggling and trying to tickle me.

  “Stop! Stop! I’m awake! I just… don’t want to be,” I sighed, sitting up in bed and batting Alice with a pillow gently. She was already dressed in her school uniform, her blonde hair tied back in two little buns.

  She cocked her head to the side and gave me a pitying look. “What’s wrong? Are you sick or something?”

  “No. I wish I was. That would be easier to deal with,” I replied heavily, rubbing my temples. I leaned back against the headboard and pulled the covers up to my neck.

  Alice snuggled into the bed beside me and leaned her head on my shoulder. I was too distracted to even wince at the fact that her shoes were on the bed. She put an arm around me and asked genuinely, “Is it something to do with that guy you’ve been working with?”

  I nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Did he try anything else on you? Get fresh with you? I can totally stab him with my ice skates if you need me to. They’re really sharp,” she suggested, smiling.

  “Nah. I don’t wanna hurt him,” I said.

  Suddenly Alice leaned around to peer into my face, searching it for answers in the dim light of early morning. Her eyes got round and big and she gasped. “You like him, don’t you?”

  Oh God. She’d figured it out. Well, somewhat. I didn’t know if I really liked him so much as I liked fucking him. I loved feeling his muscular body hold me up, control me, pound into me like nobody ever had before…

  “I knew it! I knew this would happen!” Alice exclaimed, sounding a little angry. She hopped off the bed and flipped on the lamp, causing me to flinch at the sudden light. She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot impatiently, pursing her lips at me. Uh oh.

  “What? What are you doing?” I said, feeling very self-conscious. I did not like being interrogated and judged by my fifteen-year-old sister.

  Alice threw up her hands in frustration. “This is just like before! With that guy in physical therapy school! That older guy with the weird hair who kept pestering you to date him. You didn’t even really like him, Gemma, and you went out with him anyway! Even though I could tell he was a bad guy, and I was only twelve!” she said, stomping her foot.

  I blushed, feeling like an idiot. When you spelled it all out like that, I did sound like a bumbling dumbass. But it was more complicated than she made it sound… wasn’t it? And this thing with Marc, that was different… wasn’t it?

  “That’s enough,” I mumbled, not in the mood to be scolded by this little girl.

  “No, it’ll never be enough. Gem, you can’t let these awful guys wiggle their way into your heart anymore, okay? I love you too much to watch you get hurt again. The way that older guy treated you… that was scary. I just don’t want that to happen again,” Alice said, her words tumbling out in a rush. She took a deep breath, and I could see that she wasn’t just nagging me to make me feel bad. She was truly worried about me. And that broke my heart a little. I was the adult here; I was supposed to worry about her, not the other way around.

  I got out of bed and hugged Alice close, holding her for a long moment. Finally she reciprocated and wrapped her arms around me, too. I could tell that she wanted to stay tough, to be the no-nonsense voice of reason she thought I needed. But in the end, she was just a kid-- a scared little kid.

  I felt horrible for bringing that kind of fear into her life. I was supposed to be setting a good example for her, not showing her what not to do. Some kind of role model I was.

  “I promise I’m not gonna let anyone hurt me like that again. And I’m sorry for freaking you out, Alice,” I told her solemnly. She pushed back and looked into my face, a smile finally appearing on her lips. She nodded her approval.

  “Okay. I don’t mean to be all tough love, but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do, ya know?” she said, shrugging. I laughed and playfully shoved her away.

  “Uh-huh. Well, go finish up getting ready for school. You don’t wanna miss the bus.”

  “Hey, I’m not the one still in pyjamas!” she accused, poking her tongue out at me as she walked out the door down the hallway.

  She was right. I looked at the clock. I had less than forty-five minutes to get ready and get all the way to The Fighting Chance in time for my appointment with Marc. I sighed and reluctantly started getting dressed. I would have to forego a shower today, but whatever. Maybe if I didn’t smell as much like flowers and sunshine, he wouldn’t be so into me. That might make it easier to resist fucking him again, knowing that I wasn’t squeaky-clean and fresh.

  But deep down I knew that it wouldn’t matter if we both walked into that room covered in mud and smelling to high heaven - we would still want to jump each other’s bones.

  I ran a comb through my hair, put on a quick swipe of lip gloss and mascara, and headed out the door, waving goodbye to Alice as I went. She blew me a kiss and a salute, in typical silly Alice fashion. I had to be strong, for her sake as well as mine. Trina said it herself, Marc Montoya was bad news. I couldn’t afford to put my reputation and career on the line just for a hot lay with a MMA fighter. No matter how good it felt, how utterly right it seemed in the moment, it was still wrong for me to get involved with a patient like this. I’d have to put a stop to it before it got any further.

  So when I walked into The Fighting Chance exactly one minute late, I was already steeling myself for the awkwardness of the century. I wondered nervously how Marc would act when I came in. Would he be feeling the same regret I felt? Or even worse, what if he tried to sleep with me again?

  I gulped. God, I hoped I would be strong enough to turn him down, to resist temptation.

  But when I stepped into the physiotherapy room, he was seated on the bench along the wall, just staring at the floor. He looked more sombre than I’d ever seen him before. He was always brooding, always a little serious. But today the look on his handsome face was almost sorrowful. At the sound of my entrance, Marc glanced up at me.

  “Good morning,” I said, trying to strike a balance between chipper, but not too chipper. I needed to find a tone which indicated I was happy to be here, but not that kind of happy. I didn’t know how to return to normal. There had never really been a ‘normal’ between us, had there?

  “Hey,” he said shortly, standing up to his full height. As usual, I was stunned by his immense size. Immediately, my mind flashed back to the feeling of being pressed against that hard, powerful frame, his hands groping and caressing every inch of me…

  Stop it, Gemma, I told myself inwardly. I had to find a
way to eradicate those thoughts from my mind. It was going to be impossible to get anything done, to continue the rest of our sessions together, if I spent the whole time fantasizing about his hard cock inside of me.

  “So, today I thought we’d start out with some simple stretches and work from there,” I began, forcing myself not to look him in the eye. I knew, somehow, that if I were to meet his smoldering gaze I would be lost for good. I couldn’t allow myself to sink any further into this mess than I already was. But God, with his body standing so close to me, all powerful sinew and muscle… all I wanted was to fall into his arms and let him do whatever he wanted with me.

  “Sure,” he grunted. A sideways glance at him told me that he was trying not to look at me, either. He was pointedly staring at the floor, the ceiling, the walls-- anywhere but at me. Despite the fact that this was probably for the best, I still couldn’t help feeling slightly hurt. After all, even though I knew logically that we could never be together again like we were last time, there was a part of me that longed for him to want me.

  Because being claimed by someone like Marc Montoya was intoxicating.

  So far, we’d managed to get three minutes into our appointment without so much as a lingering look. But now would come the hard part: I had to touch him.

  I turned slowly around and reached out to place my hand just above his hip. I made the mistake of looking up at him, and to my dismay he was looking at me, too.

  There was an unspoken exchange of desires between us in that tense moment. In the depths of his honey-brown eyes I could see what he wanted: to bend me over the bench and fuck me until we both collapsed. And I knew my own blue eyes betrayed the fact that I wanted the same thing, too. More than anything.

  Well, almost. I also wanted - no, needed - to make this career last. I needed to preserve my reputation and build my patient repertoire. I couldn’t let myself give into what my body desired at the cost of what my family required. Alice was my responsibility, and I could not allow myself to jeopardize our futures just because of some fling with Marc.

  But God, I wanted to. It wasn’t just my body that longed for him… it was my heart.

  It was only then that I realized something monumental had shifted in the past couple of weeks we’d been working together. He had softened somewhat, moulding to my shape and filling out the profile of a Prince Charming I didn’t even know I’d been searching for. He was both beast and man, a handsome and dangerous amalgam of what I wanted but what was definitely not good for me.

  “I-I just wanted to say…” I began awkwardly, not even sure where the sentence was going. But Marc shook his head.

  “No, I really need to…” he started, his own voice trailing off, too. Neither of us knew what to say, how to remedy the tension piling up between us. It was a stack of kindling, just ready and waiting to spark into an unstoppable blaze at any moment. But we had to put out the fire before it had a chance to burn. It was the only way.

  And if he couldn’t find the words to shut it down, then I would have to.

  “Marc,” I said softly, riveting my eyes to the floor. “If we want this to work out, then what happened last time… can never happen again.”

  “But-”

  I looked up at him, shaking my head even though my heart screamed at me to take it back, to kiss him again and again until oblivion took us over.

  “No. It was a one-time thing. I should never have let myself slip up like that. It was… it was terribly unprofessional and I’m sorry,” I concluded firmly. I wanted to cry. Every word was like tearing my heart into little pieces.

  But the Knight sisters do not cry, and my heart would only betray me.

  “Gemma, I -” Marc started again, but I held up one finger to stop him. There was nothing more that needed to be said. We were here for one reason and one reason only: to heal his injuries and get him back to fighting condition.

  “Now, let’s get started on those stretches,” I said.

  The rest of the session passed by in awkward near-silence, the two of us struggling to pretend we didn’t care about the wide canyon spreading out between us, driving us painfully and irrevocably apart.

  CHAPTER 12 - MARC

  I’m back in the ring during the fight that brought me to the floor, pounding away at my opponent. Once again, I bring him up and slam him down on the ground, adrenaline coursing through my body, fuelling every ounce of ferocity I have within me. I’m unstoppable.

  The crowd cheers me on again, and the emcee is announcing my triumph. Confetti streams around me, and as I look to my right, I see my woman coming up onto the ring with me. She’s absolutely stunning, her blonde hair flowing free behind her as her freckled face beams at me. When she wraps her arm around me and stretches up on her toes to plant a kiss on my face, my heart is filled with comforting fire, and everything feels so right.

  I feel the emcee raise my arm again, and before I know it, I’m incapacitated, collapsing to the ground again, but my girl’s face is over me, her arms wrapping around me as she tries to keep my head elevated.

  “Marc? Marc!” Gemma says before directing the emcee to call for the medics. “Stay with me, it’s going to be okay,” her voice says, and it’s the most calming sound I could ever have hoped to hear, like the voice of an angel calling me out of purgatory.

  “I know,” I say, pulling her closer, our lips so close. “Because I won. And I’ve got you.”

  Her breath is desperate, and I close the distance between us, pulling her into a deep, passionate kiss, our tongues exploring one another, my hands moving around her body and grasping every piece of her I can get a hold of. Reckless and uncaring that there are a thousand eyes on us, national television broadcasting our every move, I strip her jacket from her shoulders, and she giggles as I work her bra off, revealing those ample, supple breasts. I put my hands on them, drawing her into me as her hand goes to my cock, my crown bulging with urgent need for her.

  I’m going to fuck her right here, in front of everyone, so everyone will know she’s mine.

  I pull her pants down, relishing in the sight of that wet, hungry cunt, and I stand to my knees and put her on the ground under me, looking deep into her eyes that are full of excitement and lust as I ram my spear deep inside her…

  The sound of my phone buzzing on the table woke me up with a snort, my empty beer bottle clattering to the floor beside me as I immediately clutched my neck.

  I’d fallen asleep on the couch, and it was only nine in the evening. And now there was a crick in my neck.

  Before I could gather my bearings, I looked over to the table where my phone was lit up. It was a call from Selena.

  Another one. This was the ninth one today. And it was about to be the ninth missed call, just like all the rest. As I let my head fall back onto the pillow behind me, I let out a deep sigh before something between my legs caught my attention. I had a fierce hard-on, stiffer and more ready than it ever got during sex dreams. It hadn’t been that stiff since…

  I ran a hand over my face, remembering the details of the dream I’d just had. Fuck.

  I looked down at my body, my rippling muscles bulging through the muscle tee I was wearing. Every last muscle and sinew and tendon in it was fine-tuned to perfection. I knew I had earned every ounce of strength I had, and I did that by listening to the unique needs and drives of my body. Following my instincts was something that was second nature to me, and I owed to that everything that I now had.

  But why did my body have such a strong desire for something I couldn’t have?

  There could be no mistake that my body wanted Gemma. It needed her. Hell, every part of it seemed to have an insatiable urge to fuck her. I hadn’t been the same since the first time we’d fucked in the gym, and now that my body had a taste, it wouldn’t be satisfied until it had more.

  I’d never been at war with my own source of strength before, and to say it made me uncomfortable was a vast understatement. But what could I do? Gemma was my physio. She made it exceed
ingly clear that what happened that one time could not happen again. There was no doubt that she didn’t want this to happen.

  That didn’t mean she didn’t want it to happen anyway, though.

  I was a pretty simple guy, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t read nonverbal cues. That last physio session with Gemma had been awkward as hell. But still, I couldn’t shake from my mind that all those half-started conversations had come from her as much as they had from me.

  Maybe she really did want me as badly as I wanted her. I wondered what went through her head when she was in the same position as me, alone with her thoughts. Did her mind ever wander back to images of me, ploughing into her with all my might, pumping myself through her body and filling her up with my seed like my cock desperately demanded I do?

  My hand moved to my cock, stroking it absent-mindedly as I thought of her hair dancing along my chest as I bounced her on my shaft…