by Claire Adams
“No, of course not. I’m sorry, you better come on in, then. Thanks for bringing dinner.” She reached up to scrunch her ponytail, gave me one more puzzled look, and then spun on her heel and marched into the house.
I followed her to the kitchen and set the takeout containers out on the island while she rummaged for condiments. “No problem; you wanted to talk. I thought we could eat while we do it.”
“Right.” Something was different in her voice. In the way she moved. Something was off. It took everything I had to keep from pulling her into my arms and kissing whatever troubled thoughts she was having clear out of her mind.
Just seeing her had me wanting to throw caution to the wind. Everything that had made me decide to break whatever we were doing off seemed a million miles away.
“I can’t believe that you actually came. With food, no less. I’m starving.” A smile played on her lips, bringing my Gabrielle back to me.
My Gabrielle? What the fuck. I pushed the errant thought from my mind. Hard.
We talked about nothing as we ate. By the end of the meal, she seemed genuinely happy that I was there. Strangely, I had to admit that I was happy that I was there, too. I had missed her that week, though I would never, ever admit that out loud.
“So, should we address the elephant in the room?” she asked.
“There’s an elephant? Where?” I joked, spinning in my seat and looking around wildly.
Her light laughter twisted something in my stomach. “Yeah, we probably should,” I said.
“Okay, I asked you a question last night. You told me we’d talk about it today. It’s today. It’s been fun catching up, but I think it’s about time to get to the gist of it. I’m listening.”
I whistled low and scratched at the back of my neck. “I should’ve known that you wouldn’t be taking any prisoners tonight. What do you want to know?”
“What happened on Monday?”
“Why do think something happened on Monday?”
“Generally, when people do a sudden 180, something happened to bring it on. Stop with the bullshit, James.”
People were telling me that a lot lately. I didn’t like that there were now two people in my life who could see straight through the layer of bullshit that I kept wrapped around myself. “You’re right. I was working out with Ryder, and I realized what I was risking by being with you if your dad ever found out.”
“Okay, that’s a good start. Carry on.” Her piercing gaze locked on mine. Christ, she was not making this easy.
“Do you remember that I told you that we were coming off a shitty season, and that’s why we were doing the extra stuff with some of the guys, even if it is the off-season?”
“Yes.”
One-word answers were a bad sign.
“That day that we met at your dad’s office, I was there to talk to him about restructuring my contract. I’ve been getting offers from a lot of other teams. Better offers with better teams.”
Her eyes lit up as realization set in. “That’s why he told you to come by at any time, to stay even though we were arguing about the bar exam. He thought he was losing you.”
“Yup. I’ve been honest with him about the other offers, so he thought I was leaving. I told him that I would be willing to stay if they made it worth my while. The truth is that my life is here. So is Harper’s.” I blew out a deep breath; I wasn’t used to baring my innermost thoughts. It wasn’t a feeling that I wanted to get used to, but I had to get through it.
“I don’t want to leave Miami, but if that’s the better option for Harper’s future and it puts me with a team that has an actual shot at winning the Super Bowl, I have to take it.”
She tilted her head at me, nodding in understanding. “You’re afraid that it would jeopardize whatever counteroffer is in the works if my father finds out about us. Then you’d have to leave Miami, even if you don’t really want to. You’re on the verge of having the best of both worlds, the money offered by the other teams that would secure Harper’s future, but you’d get to stay here and work at making your own team better.”
My mind swirled. My jaw dropped. I was stunned at how succinctly and precisely she had summarized my deepest feelings. Fuck, this woman was going to be a great lawyer.
“That’s exactly it. From my side, anyway. I also don’t want to risk your relationship with your father. I know that it’s more important to you than you let on. I know about his rule. I would hate to get between you two.”
Her expression softened. She hopped off her stool and walked around the island. Almost as if on instinct, my legs fell open wider to accommodate her, and I reached to wrap my arms around her as she positioned herself against me.
“Thank you for being honest with me. I know that it wasn’t easy for you.” She pressed a light kiss to my neck that had my blood running hot.
“It was easier than I thought it would be,” I surprised myself by admitting it. I wrapped her thick ponytail around my hand and pushed on. “You’re easy to talk to. You get me.”
It was a simple thing, but as I said it, I realized that it was completely and utterly true. Somehow, this beautiful woman in my arms actually got me. The real me. Too bad that it didn’t change a single fucking thing.
Her eyes fixed me with an intent look. “My turn to be honest, then. I want you, James. I have no intention of telling my father about us, and if he finds out, we’ll deal with it then.”
She took a deep breath and said the words that did change everything because I knew that they were true with every fiber of my being as she said them. “He might be pissed off as all hell, but the team is his life. He wouldn’t risk letting one of the best players he’s ever had slip through his fingers because of it. Trust me.”
I did trust her. Fuck knew why, but I did. I didn’t want whatever was between us to end just yet. I wanted her, too, and I got what I wanted.
I was suddenly hyperaware of her hands resting on my thighs, burning a hole through my jeans into my skin. I tugged at her ponytail to angle her face up.
Embers of lust burned in her eyes. I would be damned if I wasn’t going to set them on fire. I would burn the whole fucking world to the ground if that was what it took to see those eyes burning with passion as she begged me to make her come.
Her lips parted slightly. She recognized the fierce determination in my eyes and in the set of my jaw.
Fuck it all, I thought as my mouth crashed into hers.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Gabrielle
He wants me! He still wants me! My inner cheerleader zoomed around in my mind waving her pom poms like mad. Despite everything, he still wanted me. It was the last thought that I managed to grab hold of as he kissed me senseless.
His hands went to my ass, and he tugged me closer to him. His tongue stroked mine with a fervor that told me he’d missed this as much as I had. He needed me as much as I needed him.
He broke our kiss abruptly with a low growl. “Hold on tight.”
With no further warning, he bent slightly at the waist and hauled me over his shoulder like I weighed nothing.
I shouted a laugh, steadying myself with my hands on his rock-hard butt. “What are you doing?”
Humor laced with lust in his voice. “I thought that was obvious. I need to fuck you. Now. Thought you’d be more comfortable in a bed than on the kitchen floor, but I’m not waiting another fucking second.”
I wanted him inside me as much as he seemed to need to be there. “Always the considerate one.”
“Only with you, Gabrielle.” He grunted as my back hit the bed. His words made my heart flutter and the cheerleader break into another dance, but I filed them away to think about later as he crawled over me and pinned me to the bed with his hips.
“God, you feel so good.” My back pushed deeper into the soft mattress as it gave under our combined weight. He ground his hips against mine, causing pleasure to erupt in my core and tiny explosions of white light to cloud my vision.
H
e nuzzled my neck and groaned, and he licked the shell of my ear. My sex clenched as his familiar commanding voice spoke against my ear. “Here’s how this is going to go. I’m dying to taste you, so I’m going to make you come on my face. Twice.”
Twice? The ache was already building.
The first time I’d heard his voice, I’d thought he could make a woman come simply by talking to her. And that was before I even knew the kind of mouth the man had on him. If he didn’t get down to business soon, I was going to become that woman.
“Then I’m going to fuck you. Fast and hard. Any objections?”
“No,” I moaned. “Please.”
His hands went to the hem of my dress. He pushed it up around my waist. He slid down my body and breathed me in, letting out a low groan. He fingered the edge of my lacy panties and then ripped them clean off.
My very expensive silk panties. I opened my mouth to protest, but then he planted his hands on my thighs and spread my legs apart. He dragged his lips over my inner thighs. Then his mouth was on me. I nearly came off the bed as his tongue separated my folds and he slid a finger into me.
I writhed against the bed and arched my hips into his mouth. Softs gasps and moans filled the air around us. I was only vaguely aware of the fact that they were mine. I tugged at his hair. “Fuck, James.”
He stroked me harder and inserted another finger. He licked me from top to bottom, sucking on my lips and scraping his teeth gently against my sensitive skin.
“James, please.”
Then his mouth was on my clit. His fingers dug into the skin of my inner thighs as he sucked on me.
My hands desperately sought out his shoulders. I needed something to hang on to. Something to anchor me as the friction of his tongue on my clit set fire to my veins. My fingertips dug into his broad shoulders as he went harder. Faster.
I groaned as he got there, exactly where I needed him to be. I writhed, rocking my hips into him. He had just the right pressure, the perfect speed.
There. My sex clenched as I came. Shaking as pleasure spread through my body. My hands flew to his hair, and I held his head against me.
I screamed his name. He licked me through my orgasm and stroked me through intense aftershocks.
He pulled back and groaned against the sensitive flesh of my thigh. A wicked grin lit his face as he met my eyes. The need in his gaze was overwhelming, but that didn’t stop him.
“That’s one.” His voice was low and needy, with an edge that had me desperate to have his mouth on me again.
“I was promised two.” I panted, and my voice was thick with how much I wanted his mouth on me again. I couldn’t believe how much I wanted it.
He groaned against the sensitive skin of my sex. “That you were. Ready to come again?”
I nodded, but he didn’t move. “Say it, Gabrielle.”
“What?” My voice was shaky. I loved his dirty mouth, but I wasn’t sure that I could do it.
“You know what. Please don’t fuck with me right now, Gabbi.” His eyes commanded me.
“I don’t know if I can say it out loud.”
His hands ran up and down my thighs, and his warm breath against my core threatened to make me combust. I was achy and desperate.
“You can. I want the words, Gabbi. I need to hear you say it.” He licked my inner thigh, and I shuddered.
I could do this. I needed that tongue on my clit, not my thigh. If saying it was the only way to make that happen, I had to do it. “Please make me come again, James.”
“Fuck, that was fucking hot. Yes.” Then his mouth was on my clit, sucking and licking at me. Harder. Faster.
I gave in to the sensation. It was fucking intense. Almost immediately, pleasure welled up in me.
“James, don’t stop. James.” I screamed his name loud enough to wake the neighbors. I didn’t give a shit. I couldn’t stop myself.
He kept me pinned to the bed, licking me until my entire being was racked with pleasure. With a final stroke of his tongue, I let go, groaning loudly as I came.
He licked me through the second orgasm with the same fervor as he had the first, breathing hard against my thigh as I came down.
James looked up at me, eyes heavy with desire. “That was the hottest fucking thing ever. I need to get inside you.”
It would’ve been comical to see us both scrambling to get out of our clothes if I didn’t need him so much.
His raspy voice sounded almost pained. Suddenly I needed him in a way that I’d never needed anyone before.
“Fuck me, James.” I groaned as he crawled over me. Skin to skin this time. His face was tight with restraint. His chest heaved against mine.
“This is going to be fast.”
His low warning sent tingles through my body. His tip strained against me. He looked me in the eyes as he entered me. Inch by delicious inch, he slid inside me. I stared back as I took him.
He groaned when our bodies became one, and we started moving together. Everything but the motion of our bodies fell away. He pulled out, so I only had his tip in me, then thrust forward to take me over and over again.
Pleasure consumed his hazel eyes; then he screwed them shut and groaned into the crook of my neck. He was close.
The simple knowledge was enough to send me hurtling straight back towards the edge. It was intense, so fucking intense.
His hips pistoned into me, and I arched my hips to press my clit against his pubic bone. His groans mingled with my moans. The sounds of our pleasure filled the air around us.
“Touch yourself. I want to feel you coming on my cock.” My sex clenched at his grumbled order.
I followed his demand and reached between us, stroking my clit hard. Pleasure welled up in me again. He was almost there, too. Our groans ran together.
I wanted to come with him. I rubbed my clit faster. A few more strokes of my fingers and I was there. His name rolled off my lips again and again as my world was reduced to nothing but white-hot pleasure.
Then he was there, too. Groans rumbled through his chest and rocked me through his orgasm. “Fuck, Gabbi. Fuck.”
His entire body shook. It was the best thing ever.
He pressed a kiss to my neck and held me close, his body not leaving mine.
He propped himself up on his elbows and looked into my eyes. There was something shining in them that I hadn’t seen before. Admiration maybe? It couldn’t be the other thing.
It wasn’t possible that he was falling for me the same way that I had fallen for him, was it?
The corners of his mouth twitched up into a grin. “Well, that was worth the wait.”
I laughed. I was sated, spent. He groaned. I realized that he was still inside me. “If you keep laughing, we’re going again.”
My sex clenched involuntarily. His eyes fluttered closed.
“Seriously?” he teased. “Give me a second to recover, you insatiable woman.”
Two could play that game. “Only with you.”
His pupils dilated as I repeated his earlier words back to him. It was a promise. It was also the truth.
He did things to me that I couldn’t describe. To my body. To my heart. He was every bad boy that I had ever been warned about, every reason that I avoided relationships like the plague. Every outlaw and every villain.
Yet, as the weight of his body pressed me into the bed and his eyes bored into mine, he was every dream and every fantasy that I’d ever had come to life. He was every prom king and every hero rolled into one.
“What are you thinking?” He stared at me with eyes full of questions.
There was no way I was telling him exactly what I had been thinking, so I said the closest thing to the truth that I could come up with. “I’m really happy that you showed up tonight.”
His eyes shone with sincerity as he answered. “So am I, Gabrielle. It was the best fucking decision that I’ve ever made.”
Then he started moving again, slow, steady strokes that soon had me forgetting anything and
everything that I had ever known.
Later that night, James wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to his chest. My arms draped over him, and our legs twined together. Our breathing had long since slowed, and my body felt like it had been hit by a train. In the best possible way.
My train was sexy and thoughtful and attentive and intelligent. I still didn’t quite know what was happening between us, but I knew that he wanted it, too.
Wrapped up in his arms, I knew that our problems weren’t gone. At least for now, however, it felt like we could handle them.
Chapter Twenty-Three
James
Gabrielle squealed with joy as I tackled her to the sand, rolling us so that she landed on top of me.
“Say that you’ll try it,” I demanded. Her hair fell in soft waves around us, blocking out the world. Her eyes danced with mischief as they locked with mine.
“Never,” she breathed, her wet bikini heaving against my chest. “I hate heights, James. How about scuba diving instead?”
“You want me to go down to all the creepy crawly shit?” I feigned horror, my eyes wide.
“You love going down.” That much was true. I couldn’t get enough of Gabrielle.
“On you,” I stated the obvious. “The unknown depths of the ocean? Did you not see Jaws?”
She rolled her eyes at me and bent her head to kiss me. “I’ll protect you.”
“From a genetically engineered shark? I think I’ll pass.” I was actually willing to try scuba diving, but I still wanted her to go skydiving with me.
“Fair point, but at least we’d go together. That’d be something. The dolphin that got eaten by the genetically engineered shark with that girl who was about to take the bar.” Her eyes crinkled as she laughed.
I tucked her hair behind her ear and planted a kiss on her collarbone. “You are so much more than the ‘girl who was about to take the bar.’ If they made a movie about our untimely, grisly demise, the girl who plays you would be the main character.”
She punched my arm and rolled off of me. “Gee, thanks. While you’re thinking about scuba diving, wanna give me another go at the jet skis?”
