The Boss’s Secret Baby

by Charlize Starr

  Chapter Two

  I listened to her speak in her steady confident voice as I memorized the feel of her hands on my skin. I focused on her question and wondered how I could get under her skin. Jennifer was a beautiful girl, and most women didn’t turn me away quickly, if at all. “The injury? It was the beginning of last season, and I played it through just fine.”

  “I saw the game. My dad watches a lot of sports. Looked like an injury that might take a while to heal,” she shot back without missing a beat, and I let a long breath out.

  “How the hell do you know that?” I heard her chuckle behind me.

  “I am a physical therapist, Mr. McLeod. It’s my job to notice injuries on athletes, so I tend to do that. Quite a lot.” She pushed a little harder, and I froze and clenched my hands. “I think I am going to put some heat on it. Lay down and I’ll get one of my pads ready.”

  I moved onto my stomach and rested my head on my good hand as I heard her behind me. I thought again of her body with its soft curves in all of the right places. I felt a cloth placed on my skin and then something hot over that as I closed my eyes.

  “That feels good,” I admitted in a soft voice as I felt her pressing down on the gel pad.

  “I can do this for you every day. I know that Coach wants you playing and I assume that you want to play. I am going to keep a close eye on this injury. Understand?” I nodded. “He and I have a good working relationship, and I won’t hesitate to share it with him if you’re not careful with this and follow my instructions,” she informed me as I felt the nerves in my stomach tensing up. This woman meant business.

  “Are you sure I can’t bribe you with dinner and drinks?” I flirted although I already knew her answer.

  “I am young, but I have been doing this for a while, Mr. McLeod. You’re not the first hot shot athlete that has tried to hit on me for some benefit to them, and you won’t be the last. I have a high respect for my job, and it’s not going to happen.” She was blunt if nothing else.

  I decided to try something different. “Where did you go to school?”

  “Boston. I graduated last year,” Jennifer replied and I raised an eyebrow.

  “That’s quick to have this job already.” There was a silence and I wondered if I’d struck a nerve.

  “It was good timing.” She pressed again and sighed. “Relax. Does anything else hurt?”

  I told her about some leg pain that I was having and she raised my shorts to rub my leg as she asked me if she was getting it. She had great hands and I decided that I could get used to this. Our last therapist was a grumpy older man with no sense of humor.

  She left the heat on for a while before removing it. “You might want to take a hot shower tonight, or a bath if that’s possible.”

  “I have a hot tub in my yard. That’s very possible,” I replied as she voiced her admiration at my recent purchase. “Do you have one too?” I asked and she laughed.

  “I just have a condo so I am stuck with the fancy bathtub. It’s not quite the same but it can be quite relaxing if I set the right atmosphere.”

  Was she flirting with me? Damn, I hoped so and I felt my cock respond as I sat up and stretched carefully. “Want to come over some time to try out the hot tub with me?”

  “Mr. McLeod.” Her voice held a warning as I looked into her flushed face.

  “Call me Justin, at least.” Jennifer gave me a stern look with her mesmerizing ocean blue eyes. “Come on. We’re going to see a lot of each other. Do you prefer Jennifer or Jen?”

  “I think Jennifer is suitable for this setting,” she replied after a moment, and I smiled at her in the way that always worked a room.

  “There you go.” I grabbed my shirt, and she checked something on her phone.

  “Practice is at eight tomorrow. I will be available if you need anything.” She looked at me, and I nodded slowly before I told her goodnight and left the stadium to go home. I lived in a large house in one of the nicer neighborhoods of the city. I hopped into my Escalade and turned on some Taking Back Sunday for the ride home as I thought about getting some food. I decided to order some BBQ to bring home and placed the order while I waited in the parking lot of the popular eatery. I was sweaty and tired, and I just wanted to be home, not dealing with fans tonight.

  The text came through as I was ready to jump out and get my dinner and a familiar face flashed on my screen as I shook my head. Heather was a wild girl and not afraid of being the aggressive one. I read it and noted her usual offer. I sent something back telling her to give me an hour so I could eat and take a shower. I pulled a hat over my head and got the food as I kept my face pointed at the floor. I always assumed that the staff recognized me though most seemed to do the right thing and let me go on my way.

  I tipped the girl for doing that even though I noticed the shine in her eyes and the quivering of her voice. She was cool about it, and I took the bag and tossed it into the passenger seat of my car before I headed to my gated neighborhood. I glanced at the clock on the microwave as I grabbed a Gatorade to drink and stuffed the food down. I had no issues putting a meal away, and I was in the shower in fifteen minutes rinsing off.

  I dressed in workout shorts since Heather was going to be taking them off soon enough. I ran some product through my damp hair to hold the short brown spikes that I was currently rocking and headed to the living room for a beer and some scores from the day until she arrived. Heather knew the code since she was semi-regular and I heard a knock at the door within ten minutes as I caught the last touchdown of a game. I almost wasn’t in the mood for her, crazy sex or not. I stood and went to answer the door and let her into the large foyer as she brushed past me smelling like cherries, which was her signature scent.

  Jennifer smelled like honey and vanilla. I frowned and pushed her out of my mind as I looked at the tall blonde and smiled. “Hey, stranger. It’s been a while.” I hadn’t seen her for about a month, and she rolled her pretty topaz eyes.

  “I tried a relationship. Remind me not to do that again,” Heather mumbled as she walked over to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of beer. She was wearing a cute little denim skirt and a sheer button up shirt with a sexy black camisole, and I looked down at my groin to watch it strain against the shorts with a grin. “I saw your game last week. Great job, Justin.”

  “Thanks. It was a good win,” I replied as I headed to the couch and sat back down as she joined me and pressed her curvy little body against me to kiss me. One kiss led to another and soon we were naked on the couch as I dragged her nipple between my teeth and got her off with my long fingers. She was so easy, and I watched passively as she came for me before I reached for the condoms that I’d brought out from my bedroom earlier.

  Heather’s pussy was wet. I slid in all of the way too easily and thrust hard. She gripped my back and dug her nails into my skin. I groaned. It only made me move faster and deeper, and we were both coming soon. Heather dragged her fingers through my hair and let out a long sigh. I felt the sleep that I needed nudging me along with some shoulder pain.

  I moved off of Heather, and she curled up beside me as she looked around the room. “Why are we in here? Is something wrong with your bedroom?”

  I realized that I typically brought her back there and fall asleep with her so that we could have another go at it in the morning. “No, I don’t know. We just kind of ended up here.”

  Chapter Three

  I woke up to the alarm and groaned. Sleep hadn’t come easily last night, and I didn’t want to go into the stadium today. I instantly felt guilty as I realized how much Coach had helped me in so many ways and this job was one of the bigger ones.

  That idea made me get up and brew some coffee before I took a shower. I dressed in a fresh pair of pants and a tank top with a sweatshirt over it due to the brisk Fall wind. I looked in the mirror and pulled my hair back into a high ponytail before I put on enough makeup to look human.

  I walked out of the house and decided to drive to work today. My ol
d Camry was in the parking lot, and I unlocked it and slid inside before I put everything in its place. I had a thing about organization. I started the car and backed up. When Justin entered my thoughts, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

  It’s not like I wasn’t thinking of him last night. It was the only train of thought that I had during the dinner with friends and the bath I took later that night. I didn’t do that very often but it just sounded good to me last night. I lit a lot of candles and poured some lavender bath bubbles in and just relaxed as I played back the feel of him under my hands. I wondered if he was soaking in his hot tub too. Justin was one of the most gorgeous guys I’d ever seen, and that was saying a lot since I had worked with a hockey team during my internship before this job. Hockey was my preferred sport if I was being honest, but I was also starting to have an interest in football.

  I pulled into the employee parking garage and found a spot on the second floor. The team was starting to arrive as well and I greeted the guys with a lazy smile while I sipped my coffee. I hadn’t met all of them yet but they seemed nice enough to me so far. Coach would make sure they stayed that way too. I went into the stadium to watch them practice just to kill some time and perhaps see Justin. I figured that I hadn’t seen them play as a team too much yet, so it wouldn’t hurt to become familiar with their playing styles. I walked down to sit next to Coach and he gave me a surprised look. “You’re here early.”

  “I figured it’s best to be here when they practice, just in case anything happens.” I took another sip of my coffee and watched as Coach picked up his worn metal thermos and took a sip. I knew just what was in it: strong black coffee. That’s all he ever drank. He told the guys to run some laps and watched closely as they moved in a group to a steady jog.

  “How was Justin?” he asked as I blinked and forced myself to sound neutral.

  “He has a pulled shoulder. I am going to treat it with hot and cold therapy and keep a close eye on things. He knows that I’ll be brutally honest with you, particularly with the old injury that he didn’t want to admit.” I smiled as I heard Coach groan beside me.

  “Stubborn assholes,” was his comment and I shook my head.

  “You’re just as bad as they are, just from a different point of view,” I teased him, grinning. I looked back at the guys and saw Justin looking over at me with a curious gaze as he ran past. He was dressed in workout shorts and a fitted tank designed for workouts, and he looked damn good in them. “I’ve known you a long time.”

  “That you have.” I could feel Coach’s eyes on me for a second. “How’s your mother doing, Jen?”

  He knew all about her leaving when I was four and how my dad had remarried when I was eight. That would have been easy enough to adjust to, but she’d found me on Facebook two years ago and wanted to see me again. I had met her for lunch a few times but moving here had ended that. I wasn’t always sure how I felt about her. “We chat on Messenger sometimes, and she claims she wants to visit me here, but I don’t know. She still has a drinking issue, and I can tell that even when she says she’s sober that she…isn’t.” I shrugged. I loved my stepmom Rosie a lot but she wasn’t my birth mom, and I’d always wondered why my mother had left me that way. We hadn’t gotten that far during our short and awkward lunches.

  “That's a shame. I’d like to see her try to make up for what was lost.” We were silent for a moment until he told the guys to run the bleachers.

  I watched as the men ran up and down the bleachers with loud claps of their shoes, up and down. As a group, they were a whole lot of muscle and I watched their strength as they kept going. I admired athletes for their dedication and of course, their bodies. Not enough that I’d ever mixed business with pleasure before and I didn’t plan on changing that anytime soon. I could just look from time to time.

  Coach led them through some intense conditioning as I focused on Justin’s face to try and estimate his level of pain. He seemed okay but he met my gaze a few times and I’d swear that I saw something dark in his eyes. He was looking at me almost as much as I was looking at him and I felt a flutter in my stomach. This was bad, dangerous. I couldn’t think of him that way even if he flirted ruthlessly with me and had those amazing eyes.

  I reminded myself that he was a player and was reminded of that later as I looked over his bare back in my room. Scratch marks, thick and red, were scattered over his skin. I frowned and asked him how his shoulder was doing. “Pretty good today.”

  “I hope she was on top,” I muttered low under my breath as I shook my head. I felt the muscle and found it more swollen than the day before. He froze as I pressed in.

  “What did you say?” Justin asked in a staggered voice as I kept feeling around his body.

  “Nothing. Just reminding myself of something,” I replied as I grabbed my heat pack and rubbed it between my hands to activate it. I placed it on his skin as I eyed the marks again and asked myself why I even thought he was attractive at all. I wasn’t like those girls that threw themselves at athletes, and I’d been strictly professional before now. Sure, Justin was sex on a stick, but that made him worse even if he was gorgeous.

  I had a job to focus on, and Coach would have my head if he could read my thoughts. For that matter, he’d consider cutting Justin’s dick off.

  I left the heat on and felt his other shoulder as well just to keep my hands busy. He was in great shape with not an ounce of body fat on his body. Justin wasn’t small being six three, and he was proportioned well. For a moment, I wondered what he looked like naked.

  Stop it.

  “That feels good. I like you touching me,” he told me as I closed my eyes. His voice oozed an erotic promise that reached every nerve in my body, and I realized how long it had been since I had good wild sex.

  We both heard voices, and I glanced up to see Coach walking in with another player, who was limping. “Hey, Jennifer. Chase twisted something on the last drill, and the doctor is out for the moment. Can you take a look?”

  “Leave the heat on,” I told Justin absently as I asked Chase to sit down on another table so I could take a look. Chase had dark Italian features that I probably would’ve found appealing had I not felt Justin staring at me. His eyes were burning into me as I felt Chase’s ankle and found it to be quite swollen, though likely just twisted and not broken. I had him move back to rest his leg on the table and gently placed an ice pack on his injury. He asked me how I liked it here so far. His demeanor was sweet and polite. I found myself missing Justin’s innuendos and I instantly cursed myself.

  “I like it so far. It’s a great city,” I replied with a smile as I met his big, dark eyes. Coach had left us alone, and I watched as his cheeks flushed pink as he looked into my face. He was young, likely a few years younger than Justin and he seemed like a rookie player.

  “It has some really nice parts. Have you been out on the town yet?” Chase asked.

  I felt the heat and glanced up to see Justin staring at me as his eyes darkened. What the hell? I wasn’t his property, and I cleared my throat as I glared at him. “No, not quite yet. I just moved here and have been settling into things here at the stadium. What’s good around here?” I sensed that he was hinting to show me, but I had rules to follow.

  Chase went on to tell me about the bars that the guys liked best and some of the delicious restaurants. I made a mental note to wander and find them as I adjusted the ice and felt the ankle.

  “She doesn’t date players, Chase. Might as well stop trying,” Justin said across the room, and we both looked at him.

  He struck a nerve with me, and I smiled sweetly. “Judging from the marks on your back, you’re not hurting for company. Don't worry about me.”

  Chapter Four

  My cock hardened at her words as she mentioned the scratches that Heather left, sensing envy in her sarcastic tone. I longed to tell Jennifer that I was thinking of her the entire time, and it didn’t mean anything, but I just watched as she looked away and Chase glanced between us.
Hell, I wanted her more than ever with that mouth, but I forced a laugh and shrugged. “What can I say? Women love me.”

  They liked Chase as well, but he wasn’t about to admit that while he was trying to charm her into his bed. He was playing the innocent act with his soft voice and big eyes. It pissed me off, and I forced my eyes away from her as I rested my head on my hands and closed my eyes. Heather had left last night after I explained that I was tired and had an early morning. I saw the hurt on her face knowing that none of that had stopped me from inviting her to stay over before.

  I’d locked the door behind her and cleaned up the kitchen, aware that I wasn’t satisfied with the sex that I’d had. I didn’t like that because normally, a fuck was a fuck. Girls were there for a while and then they were replaced. Shutting off the lights, I headed to my bed and TV in my room to try and fall asleep.

  The morning came all too soon, and I showered and dragged myself to the stadium, happy to see Jennifer watching the practice as she laughed and chatted with Coach. I’d hoped for some time alone to wear her down, but that wasn’t going to happen with Chase in here.

  She took the ice off his ankle after several moments and reminded him to ice it at home to keep the swelling down. Jennifer wandered over to me and pressed on the heat. She asked me how I was feeling. “Were you going to go out with him?” I asked her as I heard her sigh.

  “I told you that I don’t date players. You seemed to remember that just fine, from the way you told him,” she snapped at me.

  “You seemed to notice the scratches pretty well. That wasn’t your first comment about them, was it?” I’d let her previous one go, but her words were clear. There was a long moment of silence, and I heard her clear her throat again.

  “I was concerned about your shoulder,” she assured me, but I hoped that it was more.

  “Uh huh. You’re jealous,” I teased as she pressed harder for a second. “Hey!”