Game Changer: Seattle Steelheads Football (Game On in Seattle Book 7)

by Jami Davenport

  Her sable hair fanned out on the pillow around her beautiful face. Her eyes were closed and the blankets were pulled down to her waist, baring her perfect breasts. He couldn’t resist. He bent down and licked a nipple. She squirmed and made the cutest sound. He licked the other nipple and smirked at her reaction. Her entire body arched upward. He’d have her purring like a cat in no time. He kissed his way down her body.

  Cam spread her legs wide and ran his tongue from back to front of her wet opening. She whimpered and grasped his head. Cam pushed a finger inside her and followed it up with his tongue. Sucking and licking and fucking her with his finger and tongue. She pressed her crotch against his face and begged him not to stop.

  He always obliged a lady, especially when it came to sex. She came easily, with throaty moans and a writhing body.

  “Now that’s a wake-up call.” She smiled and sprawled on the bed, looking relaxed and happy. “My turn.”

  Cameron grinned. “Whatever you want.”

  “On your back.” Cameron rolled onto his back after sheathing his dick in a condom.

  She crawled up his body and cradled his face in her hands. She kissed his cheeks, his jaw, and his chin while she lowered her body onto his cock. He helped guide her.

  Cameron closed his eyes and bit his lower lip as her body hugged him tight.

  “Fuck, baby.” He groaned and grabbed her hips. Holding her down on him as he angled his body to take her deeper.

  She placed her hands on his chest, arched her body, and threw her head back and began to move on top of him. He didn’t last long, and he used his finger on her clit to help her along. Lilli collapsed, hugging him to her. He held her close, struck by the profound and shocking realization that he never wanted to let her go.

  He had to find a way to keep her in his life and his bed and keep his balls intact when Hunter found out. She was right. They could keep it their special secret until the time was right. Or they tired of each other, whichever came first.

  They’d have to steal their moments together, which wouldn’t be that difficult given Hunter’s obsession with Kate. And they had their dancing. That would have to do for now, and Cameron had always been a for now type of guy. He never thought about tomorrow or yesterday, just lived in the moment, not for any Zen-like reason but because he enjoyed the present.

  Lilli had just given him a reason to look forward to the future. He cuddled close to her, ready to take a nap.

  Lilli shot up in bed. “Did you hear that?”

  He shook his head. “What?”

  “A car in the driveway.” She listened again. “Crap, it’s Hunter. Get out of here. Now.”

  He didn’t need a reminder. He leaped to his feet, got tangled in the sheets, and fell on the floor. Scrambling upright, Cameron ran around the room grabbing his clothes but not taking crucial seconds to put them on. He ran to the patio doors. “Good night, beautiful.”

  He didn’t wait for an answer but hurried past the pool to his pool house. His heart beat wildly in his chest at the near miss, and he collapsed on his couch.

  Unable to sleep, he turned on the TV and stared at ESPN. Only he didn’t see it. All he saw was Lilli’s naked body and the look of rapture on her face as she came.

  Chapter 17—Neck and Neck

  Hunter woke early in the morning before the sun peeked over the rooftops. Kate was dead to the world. He rose and took a shower; he’d have preferred to take one with Kate, but he let her sleep.

  Once dressed, he checked on her a final time. She lay on her side hugging a pillow. Her mouth lolled open. She looked adorable. He grinned when he imagined how appalled she’d be if she realized how she looked. He bent down and kissed her cheek. Then let himself out of the house, locking the door behind him.

  The traffic was good, and Hunter arrived home predawn. He checked on Lilli. She was sound asleep in her bed.

  Satisfied all was well, he grabbed a beer and walked outside. He noticed a light in Cam’s pool house and walked over there. The blinds were open, and Cam waved him in. His buddy was sitting naked in a chair.

  “Fuck, buddy, put on some clothes.”

  Cam looked down at his junk and grinned. “Can’t stand how well hung I am, can you?”

  Hunter rolled his eyes.

  “I can’t walk around naked in my own place?”

  Hunter was being ridiculous. He wanted to use Lilli as a reason, but Lilli couldn’t see if Cam was naked. Even so, he didn’t like it.

  With a sigh, Cam got up and came back wearing a pair of athletic shorts. “Better?”

  “Lots better. I don’t want that image burned in my head just before I go to sleep.”

  “It’s kept many a woman awake, but I’m not crazy about it keeping you awake.”

  Hunter changed the conversation, as this current thread was getting plain weird. “What’d you do tonight?”

  “I could ask the same of you, but I already know.”

  A slow smile crossed Hunter’s face. He couldn’t stop grinning as he thought back on the night Kate and he had had together.

  “And here I thought I had a chance with her. I never pegged you for her type.”

  “What’s her type?” Hunter honestly wanted to know.

  “Designer clothes, GQ type of guy. Impeccable manners. So not you.”

  “You think I’m ill-mannered?”

  “You’re not exactly polished.”

  Hunter shrugged. He’d never cared about all that crap, and he never would. Not for any woman. “Thanks for being so kind to Lill.” He slyly changed the subject to one just as near and dear to his heart.

  “Why wouldn’t I? She’s a wonderful woman.” Cam stiffened defensively.

  “Most guys don’t bother getting to know her because of her lack of sight.” Hunter’s eyes narrowed as he tried to determine whether or not Cam’s jumping to Lilli’s defense meant anything.

  “I don’t see that as a detriment to the person she is inside.”

  “You’re not as superficial as you’d like me to believe.”

  Cam blanched and ducked his head. “Let’s keep that our secret. Sensitivity violates the bro code.”

  Hunter stood and stared out at the pool. “Be careful with Lilli. She’s too trusting and easily hurt by well-meaning people.”

  “I am careful. Besides, I think you underestimate your sister. She’s the strongest woman I know.”

  Hunter turned. Something in Cam’s voice set off alarm bells in his head. He studied his friend. This was the guy in college who’d made it his personal quest to bang as many sorority girls as possible. He recorded a running tally in an app on his phone.

  Yet Tanner’s wingmen were growing up. Tanner himself was married. Hunter didn’t party like he used to. Grady was still Grady, but Cam, he’d been different lately. Hunter couldn’t pin down when the shift occurred, but the change might coincide with when Cam and Lilli started dance lessons together.

  Hunter leaned on the back of a chair. “You and Lilli aren’t—” He ran a hand through his hair.

  Cam rose to his feet. His fists clenched at his sides. “What if we are?”

  Hunter ground his teeth together so hard he expected his caps to pop off. “But you aren’t.” His words were a warning, not a question.

  “Am I such a bad guy? I bet I treat her better than Dickhead did.”

  “Maybe.” Hunter refused to cut his manslut buddy any slack. “Just keep it friends. I’m the one who’ll be around to pick up the pieces the next time some asshole breaks her heart.”

  “I promise I’ll take good care of her.”

  “Good.” Hunter left, having gotten his point across.

  Later, lying in bed, he realized Cam never promised to keep his hands off Lilli, only to be good to her. Hunter sighed and knew he was most likely fighting a losing battle. He should worry about his own woes and let Cam and Lilli work out theirs.

  Kate and him? Did they have even a long-shot chance at making something work?

  He wasn
’t her type any more than she was his. He’d known he wasn’t, but hearing Cam say it drove the point home. He shouldn’t care if he didn’t fit in her world. Hell, she didn’t fit in his.

  They had nothing together outside of the bedroom and the racetrack, but those cold, hard facts didn’t deter him. Nor were they ringing true as they once had.

  He’d never been comfortable having sex without commitment.

  And he wasn’t comfortable with it right now, either.

  * * * *

  A few days later, Kate watched Jet run around the track with his machinelike precision. He finished his workout as planned and stepped off the track. He was the perfect racehorse. Maybe too perfect. She shook her head and snickered. Hunter was getting to her.

  Jet’s groom stepped forward to take his bridle and lead him back to the barn. She usually followed, but today she stayed.

  She glanced down the rail where Hunter stood, conferring with Mitch, while Sid danced on the track, ready to get going. The early-morning sun cast beams of light across Hunter’s black hair, bringing back memories of that hair sliding across her body. She shivered and gripped the rail, forcing her gaze to the track, but she couldn’t take her mind off the virile man ten feet from her.

  He finished his conversation with Mitch, now giving the exercise rider instructions. Hunter slid down the rail until their hips were touching. She met his gaze, and her heart rate increased as she breathed in the intoxicating maleness that was pure Hunter.

  “Jet looked good.”

  “That he did, and I see Sid is his spirited self.” She kept her tone light. He affected her on so many levels, far deeper than sex, and she tried to recall the precise point when their relationship became more than sex. Yet it had, and damned if she knew what to do about that. If anything.

  “That he is.” His lopsided grin reached out and tugged at her heart. He was looking at her as if he’d never seen her before, which made her fidget. He put his hand on the railing, clasping hers. Little shivers ran through Kate’s body. She sucked in a deep breath.

  “You okay?” Those intense brown eyes stripped away every defense she’d erected.

  “I’m fine.” She swallowed and pretended to focus on Sid, who was putting on quite a show by going airborne every two to three strides, but his rider was ready for him and sat calmly through his antics. “Sid’s feeling his oats.”

  “Literally,” Hunter said drily with a wink.

  They stood in companionable silence as Sid’s rider loosened up on him. The antics stopped once Sid began to lengthen his stride. Kate never tired of watching this horse run. He was pure poetry in motion, efficient, graceful movement combined with a raw power that transcended the norm. Jet might be good, but Sid was in a class by himself. And he seemed to know it.

  Lately, she’d been daring to think the impossible, wondering if there was more between Hunter and her than mere sex. They seemed so different, yet lately she’d seen more similarities than differences, maybe just wishful thinking on her part. Their love of horses had brought them together, reminding her that these generous animals were more than a means to an end. They were living, breathing creatures with personalities and needs.

  “He’s breathtaking,” she whispered as Sid burned up the track with every ground-eating stride.

  Hunter nodded and squeezed her hand. “He’s one in a million.” Their gazes met, and Kate resisted the urge to lean into his quiet strength and forget the rest of the world for a while. Hunter did that to her—made her forget her troubles and believe things would be all right. He challenged her to break out of the mold her parents had cast her in and be someone different. To be the woman she desperately wanted to be.

  Now if only she could figure out who that woman was.

  Chapter 18—Feeling Their Oats

  A week later, after Lilli and Cam left for their dance class, Hunter sat on the patio with Kate eating pizza and talking horses. They’d spent a few hours in a heated debate over whose horse would win the upcoming San Felipe Stakes and the Derby.

  “What will you do if Jet loses the Derby?” Hunter asked.

  “I’ll probably take the money from the sale of Oak Brook and invest it in another farm. Horses are all I know.”

  “Racehorses? Or show horses?”

  “I’ve been thinking about what you said about doing something more noble, not just a retirement home for racehorses, but a place where kids can visit and see a working farm, pet animals. I don’t know. I’ve been toying with the idea.”

  He nodded, pleased she’d begun to see the value in giving back to others.

  “Do you think there’s something going on with Cam and Lilli?” he asked during a lull in their lively discussion.

  Kate froze with the pizza halfway to her mouth. “Do you?” She took a big bite and chewed, waiting for her answer.

  “Yeah, I do. The way he looks at her, and touches her when he thinks I’m not watching. She is always sitting close to him, too close, and whispering stuff in his ear that makes him laugh.”

  Kate shrugged, clearly not interested in getting too involved in this conversation. Hunter pushed on. He wanted her to level with him. She knew Lilli better than anyone else here in California. She saw her at the barn where they kept their horses and spent a lot of time in the house with her.

  “You know something?”

  “You’re an ass,” Kate announced in that straightforward manner she had that put him in his place. “If you weren’t such an overprotective ass, maybe you’d know something, too. If, and I mean if, they have more than a friendship, I wouldn’t tell you either if I were them.”

  “I’m not that bad.” Hunter was exactly that bad, but he had Lilli’s best interests at heart. Cam was a player, and Lilli would get her heart broken again by another guy who couldn’t keep it in his pants.

  “I know what you’re thinking.” Kate tapped his chest. “You’re thinking Cam hasn’t progressed beyond needing to screw every woman he can find.”

  “He hasn’t.”

  “You underestimate him. Give him some credit. Has he had a steady parade of women in and out of the pool house, or even one woman?”

  “No.”

  “Open up that mind you claim is so tolerant and unbiased and take your friend at face value. We all change and grow unless we stay stubbornly bound to the past.”

  Hunter opened his mouth to argue, but Kate’s red lips caught his attention. There was a small piece of cheese on her lower lip. He couldn’t resist. He bent in to lick it off. She put her arms loosely around his neck.

  “Think about what I said. If you find out they’re intimate, let it go. It’s really not your place to tell her how to live her life.”

  “I don’t want her to get—”

  She silenced his protest with a kiss, and he forgot what he was protesting about.

  Hunter finally pulled back. “We have to stop. Cam and Lill could be back anytime.”

  “Then let’s go somewhere else. My house?”

  “Not tonight. I want to stick around here.”

  “You want to keep an eye on them,” she guessed correctly.

  “Is that so bad?”

  “Yes, it is. Back off, Hunter. Leave them alone. I understand your concerns, I’ve even expressed them to Lilli myself, but she gets to make her own choices, not you or I.”

  “So they are having a relationship? I knew it.”

  “I didn’t say that. How about a swim?” Without waiting for an answer, Kate threw off her cover-up and dived into the pool. She splashed Hunter, and he dived into the pool after her, sending water in her direction. Her joy engulfed him, and he sputtered with laughter in between spitting out water. He caught her in his arms, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He kissed her, and that indefinable thing he’d been holding back released itself in a wave of emotion so strong he was grateful to be in the pool. His legs gave out and both of them sank. They bobbed back to the surface. Kate’s sparkling eyes made him smile.

  �
�You did that on purpose.”

  “I did,” he lied. Better to let her think nothing profound had hit him than to admit he’d discovered she meant something to him. He couldn’t say she was The One, but he vowed to take her with him in two weeks on his visit home to find out.

  She’d systematically blown away all his myths regarding her.

  He pulled her to him again, backing her up against the side of the pool and lifting her to sit on the tiled edge. He placed his hands on either side of her and gazed into her deep blue eyes.

  “We need to talk.”

  * * * *

  Kate swallowed around the choking lump in her throat. Hunter was going to break it off. She’d heard those words uttered by men before. As soon as she started getting comfortable and feeling as if a relationship was going somewhere, the man would get cold feet and run like hell. She held her breath and waited for the inevitable “It’s not you, it’s me.”

  “Talk away.” She tried to sound flippant but sounded pathetic instead.

  “I’m not comfortable with a no-ties sexual relationship. That’s not me.”

  “I know.” She glanced away as her heart pounded along with her head.

  “I didn’t expect us to go this far.”

  Wait for it. Wait for it.

  Her stomach rolled, threatening to purge itself of pizza. She managed a nod.

  “I really thought we had nothing in common.”

  Again, she nodded.

  “But I was wrong.”

  What? Wait a minute. Her brain replayed his last words. They didn’t fit the expected script.

  “Excuse me?” she said with a shaky voice.

  “This is really hard for me. I’ve spent the last several months convincing myself, or trying to convince myself, that we aren’t a good match. I still don’t know if we are, but I don’t do casual sex. I need a commitment.”

  Kate’s ears were ringing and her head was spinning as she tried to process the words he’d said. “What are you trying to say?”

  “I’m asking you—” He threw his hands up in the air, an act that caused him to dip under the water. He came up sputtering for air. She had to laugh, and it broke the tension between them.