Hard Tackle: A Bad Boy Sports Romance

by Jessica Ashe

  “Who are you?” Barton asked, flicking his attention to Leona.

  “My name’s Leona. I’m a senior associate here at—”

  “Nice to meet you, Leona. Now, please leave me with Kristi. The two of us have a lot of work to do. Lots of hard, brutal work.”

  Leona briefly looked taken aback, but quickly regained her composure. “Kristi is busy on another project at the moment, but we have plenty of other staff who would be happy to work with you. In fact, there’s another intern who would be a great fit.”

  Barton looked back at me and just stared. Silence filled the room, as I resisted the urge to move my hair away from my face. I knew it was a nervous tick, and Barton would spot it a mile away.

  “I want Kristi,” he said firmly, still looking at me. “She did a brilliant job for me on Friday night and saved me from a lot of embarrassment. Give me Kristi, or I walk.”

  Leona hesitated. She wanted to argue. Arguing was in her blood. Eventually, she forced a smile nodded. “Very well, Mr. Fenner. I’ll leave you in Kristi’s capable hands.”

  She turned and walked out, but not before giving me a ’don’t fuck this up’ look.

  The second the door had shut, Barton broke out into a big victory grin. I hated that he’d gotten his own way once again, even though it did at least mean I’d gone up in Leona’s estimations. Now I just had to find a way to not fuck this up.

  I took a seat opposite Barton, and folded my arms across my chest. “Why are you here?” I asked.

  “Because I need your help,” Barton replied.

  “There are plenty of other people here who can help you.”

  “Ah yes, the ‘other’ intern. You never told me you were an intern.”

  “You never asked. And trust me, you’ll like Jessie. She’s your type.”

  “What’s my type, exactly?” Barton asked.

  I thought back to the women I’d seen flocking around Barton Friday night and in the photos. To give him some credit, he certainly didn’t discriminate. Barton was an equal opportunity sleazebag.

  “Easy women,” I replied.

  “I’m offended,” Barton replied, clearly not offended. “I’ll have you know, I quite enjoy a challenge.”

  “No you don’t. You might think you do, but eventually you’ll get bored of me rejecting you and you’ll wander off to the nearest available woman.”

  “What makes you think I was talking about you?”

  I pursed my lips and frowned, but Barton didn’t look in the least bit perturbed. “I was just giving an example.”

  “It’s okay, I was talking about you. But I don’t think you’ll prove to be that much of a challenge. It would take no more than two weeks. The real challenge would be having you in this office, right here, right now.”

  “You’re not ‘having me’ anywhere. I can’t sleep with clients.”

  Shit, Kristi, that wasn’t the right thing to say. It just slipped out. The correct response would have been ‘I don’t sleep with assholes who would rather look at their own reflection than me.’

  I sounded like I did want to sleep with him, and Barton noticed, because of course he did. He smiled, but didn’t comment on my slip-up. That just made it even worse. It was like he wasn’t even surprised.

  I never slept with men like Barton. Okay, so I didn’t sleep with many men period, but even if I did, men like Barton would be right at the bottom of the list. Tasha constantly pleaded with me to ‘let my hair down’ and hook up with a guy who had more muscles than brain cells. She certainly had fun doing that, but the two of us were as different as sisters could be when it came to taste in men.

  Tasha would love to spend time with Barton. The two of them would already be going at it on this table. I should set them up, but… that just wouldn’t feel right. I didn’t know why. Or maybe I did, and just didn’t want to admit it.

  “This isn’t going to work,” I said softly. “I’m not going to work for a client who just hits on me all the time.”

  “Yes you are.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  Who the fuck did he think he was? Were all rich, famous people this fucking irritating and arrogant?

  “You are going to work with me,” Barton replied, “because you’ll get to spend more time with me, and I know that’s what you want.”

  “I very much doubt you know what I want, Mr. Fenner.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that if I were you. Right now, I reckon you want me to walk over there and stand behind you. You want me to reach a hand down your blouse and cup your breast, as I kiss your neck softly. Then I’ll pull you up by your hair, and—”

  “This is a business meeting,” I snapped. I had to look angry to control the redness spreading across my face. I quickly crossed my legs, as my desire started spreading throughout my body. Again, Barton noticed. He never missed any of the signs.

  “Okay, then I’ll give you the business reason. You’re only here for the summer, correct?”

  I nodded, relieved to actually be talking business for once.

  “And you want a job here after graduation?”

  I nodded again. “Here, or somewhere similar.” Preferably somewhere I wouldn’t be working for Leona.

  “Then you’ll work for me this summer, and I’ll give you a glowing reference. You’ll be able to get any job you want.”

  “I’m not going to sleep with you for a reference.”

  “I know. You’ll sleep with me because I’ll make you come like you never thought possible. Again, and again, and again. You’ll come so hard, and so often, that you’ll barely be able to move.”

  I did my best to block out his words, but it was impossible. Just hearing him talk about me coming had me damp between my legs, and desperate to get home and spend some alone time with my toys.

  “Fine,” I replied reluctantly. “I’ll work for you on one condition.”

  “Name it.”

  “You never once ask me for sex.”

  “Deal,” Barton replied instantly.

  I raised my eyebrows in shock. I’d been expecting a smartass response, or a denial.

  “I won’t need to ask,” Barton said. “You’re going to ask me.”

  “God, you’re an asshole.”

  “And I will say no,” Barton continued, as if I hadn’t said anything. “I’m not going to fuck you until you beg me for my dick.”

  I looked into his eyes and saw not a single shred of doubt. He didn’t think or hope that I was going to beg him for sex. He knew it.

  He might be a dumb, meathead footballer, but I had a horrible feeling he might not be wrong about this one.

  Chapter Six

  Barton

  Training flew by in a daze.

  I expected to get an earful from Gordon for taking it easy, but instead he congratulated me on giving one hundred and ten percent. My body was covered in sweat, so I guess I must have put in some effort after all. Somehow I managed to spot the runs and throw the ball, all the while thinking about all the dirty things I planned to do to Kristi when she finally gave in to me.

  Kristi was a good motivator. I’d seen her before training, and I’d be seeing her after I’d showered. I considered skipping the shower, but she didn’t strike me as the type to be impressed by a sweaty body—at least, not one that had been earned on the football field.

  I’d promised her sex within two weeks, but it had already been three days, and she was no closer to begging for it. In fact, she’d displayed a remarkable ability to spend time with me without trying to get her lips around my dick.

  Kristi had been with me nearly everywhere I went, but I was running out of excuses to keep her around. Training was getting serious, so there weren’t as many parties. I’d been invited to one of Doug’s, but I usually did anything possible to avoid spending time with him. I didn’t even like passing him the ball, and subconsciously, I think I sent him slightly shakier passes just so he wouldn’t make a clean catch.

  Three women were waiting
by my car after I’d finished showering, but I ignored them all and went straight to the woman standing awkwardly a few cars down.

  “What do you need me for?” Kristi asked. “I’m really busy and need to be back at my apartment to wait for the repair guy.”

  The other women all looked in our direction, but didn’t come over. They knew I’d be back for my car eventually. They appeared to all know each other—that meant a foursome was on the cards if I wanted it. All I had to do was walk over and let them in my car.

  “I want you to come grab a coffee with me,” I replied.

  “Why? Surely even you can’t get in trouble just buying a cup of coffee.”

  “Oh, you’d be surprised. Where there’s a staff room and a horny barista, there’s a way.”

  Kristi rolled her eyes, and opened her car door. “Goodbye, Barton.”

  “No, wait,” I said quickly, shutting the car door before she could step inside. “I have to catch up with sponsors, reply to a few press requests, that kind of thing. I could use your help.”

  “I’m not your secretary, Barton. You’ve had me following you around all week while you run errands. That’s not what you’re paying me for.”

  “Do you really want me to respond to journalists without you looking over my answers first?”

  Kristi sighed. I knew she was annoyed with me, but every time I heard that sigh, I thought of the noise she’d make as I plunged my cock deep inside her for the first time.

  “You draft the responses, and then I’ll review them,” Kristi said. “Like I said, I have to be at home this afternoon.”

  “Okay. We can work together on it at your place.”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “What’s the problem? Don’t you trust yourself around me?”

  “No, I just don’t trust you.”

  Damn, that stung. I didn’t trust myself around her either, but that wasn’t the point. I’d kept my word so far. I hadn’t once propositioned her for sex. I was still waiting for her to beg, although that was looking less and less likely as the days went by.

  “Sorry,” she muttered. “I didn’t mean that. Fine, you can come back to my place. I warn you though, it’s not quite as nice as yours. You want to follow me in your car?”

  I looked back at the women still waiting expectantly by my car. “Nah, how about you drive and I’ll get a cab back here later.”

  Unless you come to your senses and demand a good fucking.

  How long could she wait this out? I was fit to burst.

  * * *

  “Kristi, there’s a naked man in your house.”

  “What?”

  Kristi was arranging the shoes by the door and hadn’t noticed the naked man walk out of one room and into another. Probably from the bedroom to the bathroom, or vice versa.

  Had this been Kristi’s plan all along? She could have set this whole thing up. I’d never once asked if she had a boyfriend, I’d just assumed she was single. Now she could yell “surprise!” and go jump on his dick while I stood there like a complete tool.

  I could take him if I needed to. The guy had some muscle on him, but nothing like mine. I also had an advantage in the third leg department. If it came to it, I’d show Kristi just who she should be begging for dick.

  “Kristi, is that you?” a female voice yelled out from the room the naked dude had just walked in to.

  “Tasha? You said you’d be at work all day.”

  “So did you,” Tasha replied.

  “No,” Kristi insisted. “I said I’d be working from home because the repairman is coming to fix the air conditioning.”

  That explained why it was so damn hot in here.

  “Oh,” Tasha replied quietly. “Well, uh, I took the afternoon off.”

  “So I see.”

  “Want to introduce your guest?” Kristi asked.

  “No, not really.” She looked back into the bedroom and told the guy that he had served his purpose and should now get dressed and leave. A few minutes later, he squeezed past us on his way out.

  “So then,” Tasha said, arms crossed as she eyed me up. “You want to introduce your guest?”

  “You know who he is,” Kristi grumbled.

  “Damn right I do.” Tasha walked over and stuck out her hand. “I’m Tasha, Kristi’s older sister. Not much older though.”

  “Hi Tasha, I’m Barton—”

  “—Fenner, yes I know.”

  “Okay,” Kristi said loudly. “Now that you two know each other, Barton and I have some work to do.”

  “Exciting,” Tasha said, as she winked at her sister. “I’ll just hang out in the lounge with my headphones on. Don’t mind me. I won’t be able to hear any noise that comes from the bedroom, if you get my drift.”

  “We need to work in the lounge,” Kristi replied.

  “Oh, when you said work, I assumed you meant work that you did in the bedroom.” Tasha added another wink for good measure, but all she got was an eyeroll from Kristi. At least I wasn’t the only one who got them.

  “I don’t mind working in the bedroom,” I butted in. “I do my best work between the sheets.”

  “I bet you do,” Tasha said.

  “We’re working in the lounge,” Kristi insisted. “Tasha, go back to work or hang out in your room please.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Tasha replied before disappearing to her room.

  “She seems nice,” I said. “A real… free spirit.”

  “She’s a writer,” Kristi replied. “She even does serious journalism sometimes, but not if it gets in the way of screwing. She always finds the time to screw guys that she has nothing in common with.”

  “You know what they say, variety is the spice of life.”

  “You’ve had enough variety for five lifetimes. Come on, let’s get down to work.”

  * * *

  “Those answers make me sound really boring,” I said to Kristi, as we fired off an email to the journalist.

  “Better than making you sound like a sexist pig.”

  “I still don’t think it’s sexist to say that I chose to play in California partly because the women are prettier. Can’t you people take a compliment?”

  “I stand corrected. You’re not sexist at all.”

  I stared at Kristi as she typed up some notes on her computer. I’d become a footballer because I loved having half-naked women throw themselves at me. I now realized that working in an office might not be all that bad after all.

  The repairman hadn’t shown up to fix the air conditioning, so Kristi eventually slipped off her suit jacket and opened a few buttons on her blouse. If I looked at the right angle, I could see the tops of her firm breasts, and even caught a bead of sweat slowly drip down between them.

  I wanted to bury my head between her breasts, stick out my tongue, and lick the bead of sweat as if it were the succulent juices between her legs.

  “Can I help you?” Kristi asked.

  “Huh.” I looked up to see her staring at me. Damn, I wasn’t usually that obvious. Quarterbacks had to be good at misdirection, and I prided myself and being able to check out a woman without them noticing. Not this time. “Sorry, lost in my thoughts.”

  “I don’t want to know.”

  “Yes, you do. I was thinking about how you might want to open a few more buttons on that blouse, what with it being hot and all.”

  “I’m fine like this, thank you.”

  “Yeah, you’re fine all right. You know what just occurred to me?”

  “No, you’re not having a threesome with me and my sister. That’s gross.”

  “I wasn’t thinking that, but it’s good to know where your mind is. No, I was thinking about what a coincidence it was that you brought me back here when the apartment just happened to have no air conditioning. Anyone would think you wanted an opportunity to get half-naked in front of me.”

  “Oh my God, do you really believe half the crap that comes out of your mouth? Or do you just say it out of habit?”
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  “You can’t deny that it’s a coincidence.”

  “Look at this place,” Kristi said, motioning around the apartment with her hands. “It’s a dive. I count myself fortunate on the days when we have electricity, let alone air conditioning.”

  “It’s not that bad,” I said honestly. It was a two-bedroom apartment in San Francisco. Those didn’t come cheap, regardless of the quality. Tasha must do alright for herself, because Kristi probably didn’t earn anything right now.

  Talking about the heat made me realize that Kristi wasn’t the only one sweating. “Mind if I take off my shirt?” I asked.

  “You don’t have anything on underneath.”

  “It’s nothing you haven’t seen before.”

  “Fine,” she muttered. “Screw it, I’m getting changed as well.”

  “You’re going to take off your shirt?” I asked excitedly.

  “Yep. And then I’m going to put on another one.”

  Kristi disappeared to the bedroom and came back out in a large, baggy t-shirt that was so big I almost missed the shorts she’d also slipped into. I now had a great view of her legs, but couldn’t see any of her chest. Win some, lose some I guess.

  I peeled off my shirt, and sat there casually wearing only a pair of shorts. Other women were usually desperate to get at my dick at this point, but all Kristi wanted to do was keep working. It was like to she was oblivious to the perfect male body.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Kristi said, putting her laptop down on the coffee table.

  “About what it would like to have my cock inside you?”

  “We should do a Q&A session on Twitter for the fans. They can all send in their questions, and we will answer the best ones.”

  “Let me guess, the answers will all be boring and safe?”

  “Of course. But it’ll be good for your image.”

  “Just to be clear, you don’t want to know what it will feel like to have cock inside you?”

  “I’ve had cock inside me, thank you very much,” Kristi replied.