by Stacey Lynn
I glared at Patrick and reached out, wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her to my side. She stiffened immediately, but fuck him. He wasn’t touching her again. If she didn’t forgive me, that was her choice and my fault, but there was no way he was leaving there thinking he had a chance of putting his hands on her again.
“I thought we had dinner plans,” I whispered, brushing my lips against her temple.
Patrick’s face flushed as I kept my eyes glued to him while I kissed her.
Shannon flinched again, but I held her tighter. Fuck, there was nowhere else I wanted her to be. Ever.
“You should go,” I said, glaring at Patrick. “You’ve lost her, and you won’t have her again. Leave before you make an ass of yourself.”
“He already did,” Shannon said. Her gaze had stayed fixed on him while I held her. “Go, Patrick.”
“He’ll throw you away,” Patrick said, his hands in fists like he wanted to rip her away from me.
Like fuck that would happen. Now that I had her in my arms, I wasn’t letting her go. I’d stay glued to her side until she forgave me.
“Never. You had something good and treated her like shit the entire time because you thought she had to work to be as good as you. I’ll never fucking throw her away like you did.”
It was a vow. I meant every word. As soon as I spoke them, Shannon stiffened before relaxing next to me.
God, I hoped she believed me.
“We’ll talk later,” Patrick said, deepening his voice and looking at her.
I pushed her behind me until I was in front of her. Fuck that.
“You don’t get it,” I said, unable to stop myself from practically growling at the obnoxious dickhead. “She’s mine, and she’s not going back to you.”
“I can handle this, Oliver.”
“You can,” I said and turned to look at her, “but you won’t. You’ve dealt with enough shit lately and you’re not taking this on.”
A flutter of something softened her eyes, but I turned back to Patrick before I could read it.
“Go. And honest to God, I hear you’ve contacted her again and you’ll regret it.”
“You’re threatening me?” he said, pulling back. “Wonder what the media will say about that.”
“If you knew anything about me, you’d know I don’t give a shit what anyone says about me. Are you going to go, or do I need to help you out the door?”
“God, Patrick. Go.” Shannon’s annoyance rang thick and clear. “I mean, my God. You had me and treated me like shit. You took advantage of me, you killed any love I had for you long before you screwed Priscilla. Can’t you just do one decent freaking thing in your life and leave me alone?”
“I love you.”
She glared at him and then walked next to me. She was stiff and angry, and I saw it in her eyes, but I still fucking grinned when she slid her arms around my waist. “You don’t know what love is. If you did, you would have cherished me when you had me, not hung me out to dry and expected me to stay with you. You’re selfish and egotistical and you’re pissed you lost a toy. Now go, or Oliver will help you.”
He ground his teeth together before snarling at me. When he looked back at Shannon, his green eyes turned to ice. “You aren’t worth it anyway.”
A frustrated sound left her lips and her fingers dug into my waist. He left, the door slamming shut behind him, and as soon as he’d disappeared past the windows, she let me go and stepped away.
I reached for her, but she held up her hands, looking up at me with tears in her eyes.
Damn it. I’d done that. Patrick played a part, I was sure of it, but most of those tears were for me.
“Don’t,” she said, shaking her head. “I want you to go, too.”
I scowled at her. “No.”
“God, Oliver.” She paused and pressed her hands to her cheeks. “This is too much today. Too much this week. Please, I don’t know why you’re here or why you did all that, but you have to leave. I can’t do this right now.”
Tears dripped down her cheeks. I was frozen helpless—unable to reach for her, unable to soothe her.
“Everything I just said to him is true.”
“And yet you treated me the same.”
Fuck. It was true. Mostly. “I know, and I’m here to apologize. To beg your forgiveness.”
She took another step back. I was losing her in front of my eyes. Pain sliced my chest as more tears fell.
“Please, Shannon. Let me hold you. I’m so sorry for the hospital, for yesterday, for not chasing after you. I was a dick, and I know it. I didn’t mean it. I was angry and terrified. It was my dad, Shannon—the guy who taught me everything, and I was thinking the worst.” Emotion clogged my throat and I pulled in a breath. “I was fucking terrified and angry I wasn’t there for him. Was pissed he hadn’t listened to me and stayed home. So fucking pissed that they went to that game when he wasn’t feeling well. It wasn’t you—honest to God, it wasn’t you.”
“This was a mistake,” she said, her chin wobbling. God, I hated that I’d done this to her. “We…it was sex…and then, we just got swept away in all of it. But we don’t work…”
“We do.” Damn it like hell we didn’t. We worked better than anyone I knew. “Give me this chance. I didn’t fuck Bethany. I didn’t touch her, except when she helped me to my room. But I swear to God. I knew I had hurt you. I had so much in my head, I just…didn’t handle it right. I know that.”
“I know you didn’t do anything with her. I believed her.”
Not me. Her words made her point, punching me in the chest. “But not me. You wouldn’t have believed me.”
Shit.
Fuck.
“Listen to me,” I said, reaching for her again as she stepped back. I took her hands in mine and held them, despite the urge to pull her to my chest, to wrap my arms around her so she couldn’t get away. “Fuck, I’m so sorry for hurting you. I shouldn’t have. I shouldn’t have said anything at the hospital. I should have hugged you and let you help me. I should have let you be there for me, but besides my parents I’m just so fucking used to not having someone in my corner—not really, not genuinely. I didn’t think, and I hate that I hurt you. Yesterday I had to get them home, and I was hungover and I wasn’t thinking clearly. I should have come after you. I should have dropped to my knees and begged your forgiveness. I’ll do it now, if you want.” I stopped and tried for a grin that failed.
“You hurt me,” she whispered. “Patrick always did and I always gave in.”
“I’m not him.” She had to know that, at least. “I’m not him. You know that. I’ve shown you I’m not that guy, but it doesn’t mean I’m perfect, either. We’ll hurt each other. Frequently. That’s the ugly truth of life, but it doesn’t mean we stop trying. It doesn’t mean we can’t use it to make us stronger instead of ripping us apart. Please. Give me a chance to make this better.”
She choked on a cry, and I stopped resisting. I pulled her to me until her head hit my chest and my hands wrapped around her lower back.
“God, I’m so sorry. I love you, Shannon, and I hate that I hurt you. It fucking kills me. Forgive me. At least give me the chance to earn it.”
I held her while she cried and sniffed.
I held her until she collapsed her weight into me.
I held her until a shiver rolled through her and she finally…fucking finally…wrapped her arms around me and held me back.
“Okay,” she whispered. She looked up at me, pressed her chin to my chest, and all the pain I was feeling evaporated when her eyes met mine. “Okay. I forgive you.”
“Don’t.” I pressed my hand to her cheek. Satisfaction and victory rolled through me when she melted into my touch. “Let me prove to you that I’ve earned it.”
“You have,” she said, her lips twitching. “You’re here.”
Fucking Christ. She slayed me.
A low groan bubbled from me and I pushed her back just enough so I could reach her lips
with mine.
“I’m going to kiss you now,” I whispered, my nose brushing against hers. “And you’re going to fucking love it.”
She laughed softly and nodded. “Please.”
I took her mouth harshly. My need was too great, my desire to show her how much her trust and forgiveness and love meant to me. I slid my tongue into her mouth and devoured her, unable to stop my hands from roaming her sides, pulling her to me. The kiss was frantic and wild, like so much of what we were.
I lost myself in it, lost myself in the feel of her and her scent and her taste, and before I knew it I had her in my arms, my cock against the center of her, and I placed her on the top of a counter.
Her fingers dug into my shoulders, through my shirt. I relished the pain. I wanted her to hurt me, give me the pain I’d caused in her.
She whimpered as I held her against my hard dick, rocking against me.
I swallowed her cries as we lost ourselves in the moment, lost ourselves in each other, and it was only a humored throat clearing that pulled my attention away from her.
We were both panting when we turned our heads toward the sound.
“Fuck,” I whispered when I saw Melissa leaning against a wall, arms crossed over her chest, a very amused smile on her face.
“I forgot she was here,” Shannon whispered and then giggled.
Fucking giggled.
“Now that’s what I like to see,” Melissa said. “I very much like you making her laugh rather than making her cry.”
Melissa’s smile disappeared and I sobered.
“Me too.”
“See that you do it more often then.”
With fucking pleasure. “I will,” I promised Melissa. “Now can we get back to it?”
“Oliver!” Shannon smacked me against my chest, but it lacked any heat.
“Oh no,” Melissa said, lifting her hand in a wave. “I’ll let myself out. You two…” She paused and winked. “Well, you two just get back to whatever it was you were doing before.”
“I love you, Missy Pissy,” Shannon said.
I could have let her go to hug her friend, but I didn’t. She was in my arms, and I was going to keep her there until I was done with her. And I’d had days to plan out our make-up sex. I was stocked full of fantasies.
“I love you too, Shanna Banana.”
I laughed at their crazy nicknames and said goodbye to Melissa before she walked down the hallway.
“We should finish this somewhere else,” I said, turning back to Shannon.
“I have work to do,” Shannon said, and my gut tightened. My dick was still hard against her. I needed inside of her.
Now.
Then she grinned and ran a finger down my jaw. “But it can wait.”
***
One of my hands slid around to her front and pressed against her clit.
My other hand went to her ass and I pressed my thumb against her puckered hole.
I wasn’t fucking her this time. She was on her hands and knees, fucking me, rocking her hips back as she slid along the length of my shaft—and damn, she was so fucking gorgeous taking everything she wanted from me without shame that I had to fight to not explode before she did.
“Yes,” she whimpered. She faltered in her hurried movements when I pressed my thumb against her, not entering, just teasing. “Oliver, please.”
“Your ass?” I grunted. “You want me filling your ass? You like it, don’t you? So fucking naughty for me.”
“Please.”
“No.” I pulled my hand back and smacked her ass, loving the way she jumped at the sting of the pain and reared back into me at the same time. “Fuck me, Shannon.”
I held her against my hips as my orgasm began to coil tight in my balls. Bending over her, I hit her deeper. I wanted her to be consumed by me.
We’d made love earlier and we’d eaten. Then we’d taken a nap, naked and tangled in her bed, before I’d woken up with her mouth wrapped around my dick.
She sucked me until I was hard and ready and then rolled to her knees, a soft, pleading tone in her voice when she whispered, “Fuck me, please. I’ve missed you.”
And hell if it hadn’t undone me. I’d missed her too.
I always would when she wasn’t around me.
“Shannon, honey.” I grunted and pulled her against me.
Her hands slid out from beneath her until she fell to her elbows, and I knew she was close. But fuck, she felt so good.
“You’re so fucking hot and tight wrapped around me, honey. Take me. All of it. Show me what you like.”
“You,” she whimpered, her cunt beginning to get tight around me. “I like you.”
I reached down and wrapped a hand around her throat, pulling her up to me until her back was to my chest. I didn’t put pressure there, but held her firmly. “You love me.”
She cried out from the change in position and her hands flew to my wrist in front of her. The fingers of my other hand pressed and rolled against her clit.
“Say it,” I growled in her ear, fucking her harder. Her eyes closed and her head fell back against my shoulder. Damn it, she was so tiny and malleable in my arms. So fucking turned on by everything I did to her. I would never get sick of her.
Never stop desiring her body or her laughter or her smiles or her cunt.
I’d never stop loving her.
“Say you love me,” I said. “I need to hear it.”
She must have heard the depth of my voice, the honesty buried inside that she’d always seem to rip from me whether I wanted it or not.
“I love you,” she panted. “I love you, Oliver.”
She came then, my thumb on her clit, my hand at her throat, and my dick buried deep.
It still wasn’t enough, and as she came in my arms and around my dick, I followed quickly, grunting that I loved her too while I shot my load deep inside of her.
I pushed her forward, cushioning her fall, and settled my weight over hers, bracing up on an elbow to avoid crushing her. We rode out our orgasms connected, slowly, and when she’d drained every drop from me and she’d stopped tightening around my dick, I stayed inside of her, pulling out and pushing in at a languid pace.
She trembled beneath me, and I saw her lips tilt to a smile. “I like it when you do that,” she whispered. “Just like this.”
“I like it when you’re beneath me,” I replied and brushed hair off her cheeks until I could see her eyes. “I’m still really sorry, Shannon. I’m so sorry I hurt you so bad. I’ll do my best to not let it happen in the future.”
“I know,” she said softly. “But I forgive you, and I love you.”
I brushed my lips against her cheek. “I love you too.”
I did. I’d take this chance she gave me and prove to her exactly the kind of man I wanted to be. I wanted to take her to my house, burn it down and build another one in its place that was everything she had ever dreamed of. I wanted to plant my babies inside of her and watch them grow up, flourishing under her kind and crazy love.
I wanted to have her by my side after every game, celebrating every win and commiserating after every loss.
I would spend the rest of my days proving to her exactly how much I loved her, how much I cherished her, how much I never wanted to hurt her again, and if I did, I wanted to prove to her that I wouldn’t be a fucking dumbass and I’d make amends immediately, not letting it fester until it became buried deep inside her.
Shannon Hale swooped into my life at a time when love and laughter and forever were the last damn things on my mind, but she changed my mind about all of it almost as soon as I’d touched her, before I could admit it to myself.
Now, I just had to spend the rest of my life showing her how much it meant to me.
It’d be the dirtiest game of my life.
EPILOGUE
SHANNON
Confetti rained down on me and the massive crowd allowed on the field after the final field goal had determined our victory.
The
Raleigh Rough Riders were Super Bowl Champions.
My cheeks ached from grinning so wide as I searched through the horde of people, trying to find Beaux or Oliver.
Next to me, Jillian Rudolph squeezed my hand and pulled me closer to the stage they’d set up immediately following the game.
“Come on!” she shouted, turning back to look at me. Mascara stained her cheeks from happy tears and I knew mine looked similar. “They’re this way!”
As soon as we got close, elbowing our way through the reporters and ducking beneath their oversized cameras, I came face to face with one of the men I’d been searching for.
“We fucking did it!” Oliver pulled me into his arms and lifted me high into the air, squeezing me so hard I was breathless. “I can’t believe we pulled it off.”
I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and hugged him tight. “You were amazing. That last catch right on the two-yard line you had will go down in history as one of the best ever.”
He swung me in a circle before setting me on my feet. “It was a hard-fought game, by both teams.”
I rolled my eyes before I planted my lips on his. Oliver wasn’t known for his humility. I blamed his statement on shock. He was right, though: Raleigh and Seattle had battled back and forth all game, making it a nail-biter of epic proportions. An interception with less than a minute left had ended in our game-winning field goal and a final score of 27-25.
“I’m so proud of you,” I whispered into his ear.
“Hey. What am I, chopped liver?”
I turned to Beaux, and Oliver let me go so I could immediately be swept up in my brother’s arms. He squeezed me almost as tightly as Oliver just had, but I clung to him more tightly. “I’m so damn proud of you,” I whispered, holding him so tight around his neck that I thought I might choke him. “Can you believe you’ve done it?”
“Feels fucking awesome.”
