by Amy Andrews
Under the pressure of family expectation, Kyle had stuck by his cousin through the court process and paid all his legal expenses. But when he’d implicated Kyle in his shady dealings, that had been the last straw. He’d washed his hands of his entitled prick of a cousin.
He sure as hell wasn’t getting them dirty again.
“Nope, sorry, bro. You’re on your own with that one.”
Kyle saw the tightening of Danny’s jaw and the hard glitter in his eyes despite the hey man, that’s cool way he held up his hands. “Okay. Sure. No worries.”
Kyle didn’t think Danny would give in that easily but he didn’t give a single fuck at the moment. He was here at a family birthday party with his woman. And nothing else mattered.
“Good luck with it,” he said.
Danny was going to need it.
Then he was brushing past his cousin and ushering Val out of the glare of a brilliant, sunny winter day into the relative dark of the house.
“You okay?” she asked, pulling on his hand to slow him as they stepped inside.
“I’m fine.” He kissed her temple, then looked around. “So…this is the house I grew up in.”
The silent look she gave him left him in no doubt she knew he was trying to change the subject. But he could have kissed her again for letting him do it.
She also looked around, and he could see her assessing the modest low-set brick veneer his parents refused to move from. He supposed all she could see was a hot little box in a hot western suburb, but for him it echoed with a thousand happy childhood memories.
“I bought them a place in Manly a few years ago.” He could hear the defensive tone in his voice, but he didn’t want her to think they were living in some kind of poverty out here while he lived it up with a harbour view. “They refused to move into it.”
Val raised an eyebrow. “Are you worried I’m going to judge you somehow? Accuse you of having turned your back on your family?”
Kyle shrugged. “I wouldn’t be the first sports star who got famous and promptly forgot where he came from.”
“But you haven’t. I know how incredibly generous you are, Kyle.” She smiled, and it filled his body with warmth, even though he knew if she’d been reading up on him, then she’d know his family wasn’t exactly snow white.
“You turned up to a two-year-old’s birthday party because she’s your second cousin’s daughter. And, I saw you slip two hundred dollars to that kid…Rob, I think?”
Kyle shrugged. “He’s saving up to buy a special microscope for his science class. He’s a smart kid.”
“Right. Exactly.”
“Terry…Robbo’s father, brought me my first pair of expensive footy shoes. My parents couldn’t afford anything fancy—they could barely afford school shoes for all of us. Neither could Terry. But he got a bonus from work and he just handed it over. My entire extended family came through for me when I was trying to establish my career. Money for training camps, for specialist appointments when I was injured, for the best equipment. Ferrying me around when my parents were too stretched. Turning up to games.”
Kyle had been humbled by such startling generosity from people who pretty much lived hand to mouth. And never forgotten it.
“So you repay them how you can.”
“Yes. Except for my parents. They’re stubborn.”
“What did they say when you brought them the place in Manly?”
“Said they didn’t want the neighbours to think they were cashed-up bogans.”
Val laughed. “I like them. A lot.”
He was ridiculously pleased at her response, but rolled his eyes anyway. “They love you.” And he could definitely relate to that.
She smiled at him, and for long moments they just stood in the kitchen where his mother made a lamb roast every Sunday, staring at each other, the noise from the party outside seeming far away. Her gaze soon grew assessing, though, and he knew her well enough by now to know her busy brain was trying to figure out how to say something she needed to say.
“Val…” His heart started to thump in his chest at her sudden seriousness. She was freaking him out a little, but he didn’t want her to know that. “What are you thinking?”
“I think maybe we should bring this…” She gestured between them. “Us. Out into the open.”
Kyle blinked. That was not what he’d expected. And so much better. “You want to stop sneaking around? Tell everyone?”
“Yeah.” She nodded slowly at first and then more definitely, like the decision was sitting better and better. “I think I do. Why wouldn’t I want the world to know I’m with such a great guy?”
Kyle didn’t think. He knew he wanted it out there. Wanted to be able to tell the world that Valerie King was his woman. He was in no doubt that the shit would hit the fan over it, both with Griff and the team. But he loved her, and he didn’t want to have to pretend he didn’t.
“Any particular reason, after being so opposed to it?”
“Because your family has been so welcoming and happy for us, and I think you and I…we’re not going to be some flash in the pan, are we?”
She chewed on the inside of her cheek, watching him intently for confirmation. Kyle’s stomach clenched, relieved that she knew, somewhere deep down, there was a connection between them. “No. Not if I’ve got any say in it.”
A husky half laugh broke the tension between them. “I’ve been worried about how the entire rugby establishment would take it, about the kind of scrutiny that might be put on us, especially given how new this all is, but…well…it’s really only our families we should be caring about, right? It’s not anyone else’s business, is it?”
No, it fucking wasn’t. A flood of endorphins swamped Kyle’s chest for a few happy seconds. Until he realised that, for Val, family and rugby establishment were almost one and the same. That they couldn’t really be separated out. No matter how much he wanted it or how much he’d hoped that Val would get to this point.
She’d said it. Family was all that really mattered. And Kyle was very much afraid their announcement might have a detrimental effect on the tentative rebuild going on between Val and Griff. Estrangement or not, he didn’t think Griff would be happy with any rugby player going out with his daughter, and that was likely to cause friction.
Friction a reconciling relationship didn’t need.
He didn’t want to be the one responsible for setting that process back. Maybe putting her in a position with her father where she might have to choose. That could really fuck with her emotionally, and he would never do that to her.
But he also knew he couldn’t give her any of those reasons, either. Because she wouldn’t want her stuff to get in the way of their relationship. Because she was selfless and stubborn. She’d had to be, to cling to her father after two decades of his rejection.
He wouldn’t put it past her to sacrifice that, though, for them. Or at least not be able to see the long-range impact of outing them now. He knew she saw them coming out as a threat to his career. But not as a threat to her future relationship with her father. But Kyle did.
He knew both relationships could make it through this rocky transition if they were nurtured slowly and gently, if they were given time to take root. He didn’t want to be another reason for Griff to keep pushing his daughter away.
Which meant he was going to have to sound like a total dick and make it about him.
“Kyle?”
“I’m thinking maybe…we should wait a little longer.”
She stilled for a moment. “Oh.” She folded her arms, and he absently noted the tinkle of her bracelets as she closed down a little. “Okay.”
Kyle felt about as low as a snake’s belly. “It’s just that I was thinking you were right about waiting for the end of the season. Your father and I are working together better. The team is accepting me. And I’m playing better than I’ve ever played.”
It was true. There was less of the adrenaline-rush, seat-of-your-pants style playi
ng he was used to, but Griff and the team were teaching him control and patience. It was certainly easier on his nerves and forced him to think strategically. He’d come to the Smoke to be taught by the best and, as Griff had requested, he’d been taking it all on board.
“Oh god, sorry, Kyle.” She slid her hand onto his arm, her expression earnest. “The last thing I want to do is mess up the new team dynamic you’ve got going on. Ignore me.” She flapped a hand dismissively. “I had a little endorphin rush being here with your lovely family.”
Okay. Now he felt lower than a snake’s belly. He placed his hand over hers and gave it a squeeze. “For what it’s worth, I had one, too.” He raised her hand to his mouth and brushed his lips against her knuckles. “I’m so happy you’re here, and my family adores you almost as much as I do. I’m excited to tell the world about us. It’s just a bit of a delay, that’s all.”
“I know.” She nodded. “You’re right. Let’s just stick with the original plan to wait ’til after the finals season.”
Kyle’s chest was so full of love it ached. He didn’t know what he’d ever done to deserve this woman but he was never letting her go. “So…you think we’re going to make the finals, huh?”
She grinned and stepped right up close, her arms sliding around his neck, and his body stirred, despite his shame at having misled her. “I know it.” She kissed him briefly, then tugged on his neck. “Are you taking me to your trophy room or not?”
Chapter Fifteen
Kyle whisked her down the hallway to his bedroom, which looked out over the front yard. Through the open window he heard the thump of bass coming from one of the three hotted-up cars in the driveway. They all had their bonnets up, clusters of guys staring at the engines as they sucked on their tinnies. One of them was Rob. One was Danny.
Fuck Danny for ruining this day. Although his backtracking in the kitchen had managed that well enough without his cousin’s presence.
“I think this is more shrine than bedroom.”
Kyle dragged his gaze from the window and laughed as he looked around at the walls, full of sporting ribbons, and the shelves his father had built to hold all his trophies. He’d excelled at athletics and swimming as well as rugby. But that wasn’t why he’d really dragged her in here.
“So”—he shut the door—“this bed”—he pointed to it—“is where teenage Kyle dreamed about hot women who, one day, would let him cover them in food and lie there while he licked it off.” Kyle slipped his arms around her waist and drew her closer, his lips nuzzling her temple.
“Not rugby glory?”
He smiled against her temple. “That, too.”
“Teenage Kyle seemed to have a very fertile imagination.”
“That’s because teenage Kyle spend an inordinate amount of time in that bed with his hand on his cock.”
“He sounds like a deviant.”
“He was. Actually…” Kyle’s lips trekked across Val’s cheek to her jaw, then down her neck, his hands sliding from her hips to the front of her shirt, pulling it down to expose her bare breasts. “He still is.”
“Insatiable, too,” she said, but hummed appreciatively and dropped her head back to give him greater access.
Kyle took shameless advantage. “You have no idea,” he muttered, bending slightly as his lips found a nipple. She gasped, then moaned as his hand claimed the other breast. “God, I’ve been wanting to pull that top down ever since you put it on.”
“I’d have thought you’d have had gotten enough nipple action while you were licking unicorn icing off them.”
“Never.” He puffed the denial against the slippery wetness of her nipple. “No such thing. Trust me, teenage Kyle just came in his pants.”
The vibration of her laugh buzzed his lips as his mouth closed over her nipple again, sucking it inside, rolling it around, the puckered surface melting against his tongue until it was elongated and slippery.
Her hand twisted in his hair, holding him there. It felt so damn good, and he was so fucking hard for her again.
He was never going to able to get enough of her.
But a thump in the hallway startled her, and she yanked on his hair, bracelets jingling. Kyle winced slightly at the sting but laughed anyway at the expression of horror she was sending in the direction of the door as she tried to yank her top up and end his boob party.
“You afraid we’re going to be busted by my mother?”
She gave him a reproving look. “Hell yes.”
“You know…” He squeezed her ass. “Teenage Kyle always wanted to make out with a sexy ranga chick in his bedroom.”
“I’m sure teenage Kyle couldn’t have given a fig about hair colour as long as the making out part was happening. I daresay he’d have taken bald.”
Kyle laughed at the accuracy. “It’s like you know him.” He lowered his head to kiss her again, but she placed two fingers over his lips.
“Not going to happen. I don’t want people to wonder where we are.”
She stepped out of his arms and headed for the door. “What am I going to do with this?” he asked, holding his arms out as he glanced at his cock, like a fucking iron bar stuffed down the front of his jeans.
“I’m sure teenage Kyle has a few suggestions for you.”
She smiled sweetly over her shoulder and turned the knob. Kyle chuckled as she opened the door and swaggered her ass out of the room. If he hadn’t already been in love with her, this would have been the moment he’d have fallen.
Hard.
…
Valerie was humming to herself a couple of weeks later as she fashioned the rolled dough into the crescent shape of a croissants. She couldn’t stop smiling. Everything was going so well it was hard to believe the change between now and her birthday seven weeks ago.
She was totally falling for Kyle. If the Smoke kept to their current form, they’d go into the finals season on the top of the ladder. And her father had been in an hour ago for his usual half-dozen croissants. He’d even smiled and made some conversation.
Oh and, had she already mentioned? She was totally falling for Kyle.
The last thing she expected on this beautiful Tuesday morning was for something to complete gazump her from out of left field.
“Ah…Val.” Sandy pushed through the swing doors, a newspaper in hand. “I think you need to see this.”
Val knew something was up instantly. Sandy would have been terrible at poker, and the fine hairs on the back of Val’s neck stood instantly on end. “What?”
Sandy shook her head. “Just…read.”
She opened the paper and held it up for Val to read, as there wasn’t anywhere to put it on the bench and her hands were covered in flour.
Val didn’t need to read. What the article said didn’t really matter. The massive BUSTED! headline and the picture taking up half of page three said it all. It was a little grainy, but in full colour and definitely her. And Kyle. Making out in his childhood bedroom.
Her heart banged to halt for a few seconds, then kicked in again, crazily erratic. She blinked, hoping it wouldn’t be there when she opened her eyes again.
It was.
Val put the rolling pin down, wiped her floury hand on the front of her uniform, and took the paper. Her hands were shaking, she noted absently, and Sandy glanced at them, alarmed.
“Are you okay?”
Val nodded automatically, her brain frozen, her gaze locked on the damning image. “Yes. Just…see to the customers, please?”
Sandy’s departure barely registered as Val continued to stare at the picture. It was horrifyingly compelling. Her shirt was clearly pulled down, although, thankfully, Kyle’s hand was completely covering her naked breast. Her head was thrown back as he ravaged her neck, her face turned toward the camera.
A face that was clearly in the throes of ecstasy.
Her eyes were shut, her mouth was gaping open as if she was panting or maybe calling his name. Kyle’s face was turned to the camera as well. His e
yes also closed. As lost in the moment as she had been.
If it had been any other people and not in a national newspaper, she could have eyed the image critically and concluded the couple were totally into each other.
But it was them. And it was a national newspaper.
Although clearly not one known for its ethical standards.
Sure, anyone with a phone these days could be a bloody photojournalist, and there were plenty of unscrupulous outlets that paid good money for this kind of scurrilous content, but…
Why the fuck was this news?
A part of her realised it could have been worse. It could have been Kyle sucking her nipples. But maybe they had that as well? And some sense of decency had stopped them from using a much more graphic image. Another horrifying thought suddenly occurred to her—was there video? The image had obviously been taken through the bedroom window, so whoever was responsible for it must have been out in the front yard.
And not that far away.
She hadn’t seen any paparazzi following them to the Leighton house—which occasionally happened for her, and definitely for Kyle—or lurking at the party, which meant someone had probably captured it on their phone.
Someone at the party.
Who had not only been watching them through the window and taking pictures—possibly filming them—but had callously decided to sell the images.
One of Kyle’s relatives…
But who? Who would have done that to Kyle? And why? For a quick buck? Out of jealousy?
Outrage mixed with the cold slug of nausea. Her skin crawled, thinking about being watched while in the throes of such intimacy. Yes, maybe they should have been paying more attention to where they were when they’d gotten carried away in the moment, but surely Kyle felt he had a right to privacy and solidarity from his own family?
She thought about all the people she’d met at the party. How friendly and welcoming they’d been. Which one of them had been harbouring such ill intent?
Who would do this?
Shit.
What a mess. She hadn’t counted on having their cover blown so spectacularly, and she didn’t need a crystal ball to know that her father was not going to be happy. Just when it felt like he was taking some steps—albeit baby ones—toward her.
