Tough Tackle

by Harper Lauren

  Upon entering my apartment, I was astonished to find it filled with bouquets of roses in yellow, pink, and red. My jaw dropped as I stared at the scene before me. Who else would have had access to my apartment, right? It made sense now. It must be Tim, since he was the one who’d secured this apartment for me in the first place. I couldn’t understand why he was denying it if he really was going to all this trouble.

  But then, an image from months ago flashed back to me in an instant. I remembered opening the door to my cabin during the convention and finding it filled with flowers! It had been Drake’s way of saying sorry. Perhaps it was still him behind all this. What if he was asking Tim to do these things for me?

  That’s quite likely, a voice inside my head said.

  “Oh, I’m so confused!” I muttered in frustration, throwing myself onto the bed and hugging my pillow tight. “Oh, Drake, please just talk to me if this is your doing… We really, really need to talk…”

  I felt so depressed that night that I just fell asleep amid all the roses without even eating dinner.

  That whole week, every single day I continued to receive roses in various forms and ways. I began to just ignore them. I had heeded Lauren’s advice and just sent an email to Drake. There was no response, though.

  I was making fast progress with the research I was working on. It was very rewarding, especially when my more experienced colleagues and mentors would show appreciation and tell me how impressed they were. I was starting to live my dream.

  I must be happy, I thought. But the truth was that I wasn’t. I wanted to hear from Drake, to at least have closure and to know for sure that there was no more chance between us.

  To cope, I ended up working late nights in the research center. I kept myself super busy.

  After hours of working on the computer, I dozed off on the keyboard. I’m not sure how long, but I woke up with a start when I heard a scuttling noise. Slowly I raised my head. I knew I was all alone on that floor already, except for the guard who was roaming around.

  Suddenly, my heart began to beat fast. I checked my watch and saw that it was almost midnight! This was the latest I’d stayed here. I stood up sluggishly, and that was when I found the gift-wrapped box at the edge of my desk. It had my name on it.

  Cautiously, I unwrapped it while looking over my shoulders every now and then. I would also lift myself on my toes to also peek over the dividers around my work station, checking if there was anyone around or anything suspicious.

  Seeing the gift inside, I gasped. It was an old football that had been painted with a red rose. I couldn’t help it. Tears began falling down my eyes. It had been Drake all along.

  “Damn you, Drake!” I shouted, getting out of my station and just speaking aloud, pouring my heart out. “Show yourself and talk to me! I deserve that much, don’t you think? I mean, why would you keep sending me these things without talking to me face to face?! If you’re going to be like this, then I’d rather you just get out of my life completely and leave me alone!”

  I was crying now. That was when I felt arms gently wrapping around my waist. I felt a damp kiss on the top of my head.

  I turned around and there he was, holding me, looking at me sweetly with an apologetic expression in his deep gray eyes. “I’m so sorry, Georgia,” he whispered, his handsome face looking troubled.

  I yearned to just stay there in his arms, to never worry about a thing. But my emotions were moving around like a roller-coaster that had gotten out of control. I cursed him and shouted at him all the things I’ve been wanting to say. He seemed to be in pain but he took it all in.

  “It’s okay, Georgia,” he said softly. “I’m here now. I want to be with you no matter what…”

  “I hate you, Drake! I hate you for doing this to me, for affecting me like this!” I screamed at him.

  He held me even tighter and I sort of melted in his embrace.

  Suddenly, without warning, we both grabbed each other hungrily, our lips and tongues meeting in an explosive, desperate kiss. We stumbled in all directions, passionately kissing and exploring each other’s bodies. I felt like I was in a dream and everything was surreal.

  He lifted me up onto a desk. I’m not sure whose it was. We didn’t care even as objects began toppling toward the ground. We ripped off each other’s clothes, eager to touch again, to be united in our erotic need for each other.

  Soon I found myself naked, my legs wide apart, as the man I terribly missed and loved kissed my neck and breasts. His every touch was like an electric shock to my body. His lips traveled downward until they were sucking and caressing my damp folds of skin. His tongue pushed inside, teasing and turning around, making me squirm and moan with pleasure.

  He didn’t stop until I was bursting with intense immeasurable pleasure. I could hardly contain my screams.

  Quickly he straightened up and my eyes were able to feast on his amazing nakedness. I wasn’t even done admiring his body yet when he shoved inside of me. We kissed again, hungrier than ever for each other, as his hardness pushed deeper with every thrust.

  All other thoughts flew from my mind as I was consumed by the intense heat of the moment. At one point, he pulled me down and turned me around, then entered me again from behind. I leaned over on the desk with my arms as I felt his hands stroking my breasts while he shoved into me over and over.

  I could hear the familiar moans coming from him, which heightened my sexual desires even more. We were so stimulated that even after we both came, we dropped onto the floor and did it again the traditional way.

  As we lay beside each other breathing raspily, a thought occurred to me. “CCTV?” was all I could gasp in panic.

  “Don’t worry,” he said. “None in here, as far as I know.”

  “Great,” I said. “What about the guard?”

  “He went for a break somewhere,” he answered. “That was when I sneaked in.”

  I actually laughed. “Wow, what would your father say!”

  He laughed, too, hugging me closer to him. “I’ve missed you so much…” he whispered, then gave me a sweet peck on the cheek.

  I didn’t reply. My mind was whirring so fast I could almost hear the “nuts and bolts” there moving. I could almost feel my brain neutrons going into wild mode.

  We were both quiet as we got dressed. We left the place urgently and he led me to a limo waiting in front.

  “Wow,” I said. “Whose limo is this?”

  “I bought it with my savings…” he explained. I gave him a look of horror, to which he grinned. “I’m just kidding! I rented it, but it didn’t cost much. A friend of Dad owns it.”

  “So your dad knows you’re here?” I asked in surprise. “How long have you been here, anyway? And why haven’t you showed up until today?”

  “Hey, I’ve only been here a couple of days,” he said. “I’d asked Tim to start the rose thing even before I got here.”

  “Well, that explains it,” I said. “I actually thought it was him for a while.”

  “What? Did you want it to be him?” he said incredulously.

  “Of course not,” I replied at once. “It’s just that I saw him once handing something to the doorman of my apartment.”

  “Oh, yeah, I asked him to do some stuff,” he said. “But that doorman… He must have thought you were on to him and Tim! You made him so damn nervous, I heard!”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, puzzled.

  “He’s gay,” he said with a grin. “So no, he’s not into you. He’s into your doorman, which is probably why you sometimes see him outside your building even when he’s got no business there.”

  “Yeah…” I said. It was all beginning to make sense. “Now I get it. Well, good for him!”

  “You’re not disappointed at all?”

  “Why would I be?”

  “Never mind,” Drake said, shaking his head. Then he began kissing me again on the side of my face and then my neck, causing tingles to run down my spine. He had such a huge eff
ect on me that I couldn’t think straight. I was just going with the flow, following my heart, not caring where it would lead me.

  We actually had quick sex inside the limo since the driver couldn’t see or hear us, anyway. And because the elevator going up to my unit was deserted, we almost did it there, too. The door opened fast enough, though, which made us jump back, trying to catch our breaths. There was no one in the hallway when the elevator opened, thank God!

  I made coffee for us and we finally sat down and talked until the wee hours of the morning.

  CHAPTER 21

  DRAKE

  I had spent a month in London, feeling like Georgia and I were newlyweds on a honeymoon. Everything had ended up even better than I had hoped for. We hadn’t just kissed and made up. We actually got to talk about our current issues and open up to each other about our fears and dreams.

  She had a point about me not being able to understand how important her dreams were to her. I had my own ambitions, of course, but it wasn’t like how she acted upon them, given that she’d never lived as affluently as I had.

  But because of her, my life was taking on a whole new direction. She’d inspired me in an amazing way that I now had much greater reason and motivation to do my best in everything. Even my parents were surprised by how significantly my attitude had changed toward the business.

  While I’d been in London, I hadn’t wasted my time simply vacationing and enjoying with Georgia. Whenever she was busy, I was also preoccupied talking to various companies with which Walton Pharmaceuticals could partner. My parents were impressed by the progress I had made in a month. There were actually two that had responded positively, wanting to meet personally with my father. Soon these partnerships would pave the way for us to expand in the London market, too.

  “Great job, son,” my dad had told me after his meeting with the first company. Those three words had meant the world to me.

  I hadn’t gone back to professional football yet, but I’d begun volunteering for a local league, teaching kids how to play football better. More than that, it was very fulfilling to teach them how to dream big and to work as a team toward their goals.

  It had been weeks since I’d last seen Georgia. I missed her terribly, though we talked online daily. I could have stayed longer, but I wanted to give her space to flourish on her own as she pleased. Besides, I had my own business to take care of.

  It was still early morning and I had a few minutes left before the kids would start arriving. Sitting in the dugout of the public football field where we held our little league practices, I took out my phone and called up my girlfriend via social media.

  She wasn’t answering. I checked the time. It would be around three in the afternoon there. Perhaps she was in a meeting or was researching in the library and had her phone on silent mode.

  I was anxious to hear if she’d received my special surprise yet. How I wish I was with her today of all days—our very first anniversary as an official couple. But she’d insisted that I don’t go there and leave the kids hanging when it was almost their league’s championships. She’d convinced me to just stay put and visit the following month.

  It was already past seven. I was wondering why nobody was coming when suddenly, one of the kids whose name was John came running to me, a terrified look on his face.

  “Coach! Coach!” he cried out. “Please hurry! Something happened to Billy in the locker room!”

  “What’s wrong? What happened?” I asked anxiously, jumping from my seat to follow him.

  “Come on! You’ve got to see it yourself!” John said with fear apparent in his voice.

  I followed him to the lockers and we both burst through the door at the same time. Immediately I froze when I saw the room covered with red and white balloons.

  “Surprise!” everybody inside shouted. My eyes scanned the crowd quickly, startled that all the kids were there along with our league assistant and even some of my buddies from football and from the office.

  “Hey, what’s going on?” I asked, breaking into a surprised grin.

  They were all laughing and cheering as they parted like the red sea, revealing the beautiful woman behind who stepped forward carrying a cake with the words Happy Anniversary!

  I was speechless. I couldn’t move, my eyes fixed on Georgia who was smiling at me as she approached. The others were hooting around us, but I was oblivious to them. All I could think about was the fact that Georgia was actually here.

  She’s right here. She came here to see me.

  “Hey, handsome,” she greeted with a big smile once she was standing right in front of me.

  “Hey, beautiful,” I replied, wanting to slap myself to see if this was all real or just a dream.

  I didn’t know who came forward to take away the cake, but someone did. And in that instance, Georgia threw her arms around me and I instinctively wrapped mine around her waist and pulled her close to me.

  “Happy anniversary, Coach,” she whispered with a grin.

  I grinned back at her. “Happy anniversary, Doctor. What a surprise! I am so happy to see you!”

  As the others fell back to their own excited chatter, Georgia pulled me to one corner and gave me a passionate kiss on the lips. I returned the favor with greater fervor, and we almost couldn’t tear ourselves away from each other.

  “You’re a little sneak, huh!” I exclaimed jokingly, though my heart was soaring with great joy.

  “Well, you’re the one who pulled that stunt first!” Georgia said, giving me a friendly slap on the shoulder.

  I cocked my head to one side, pretending not to know what she was talking about.

  She began jumping up and down in excitement, hugging me tightly and saying “thank you!” over and over again. She’d obviously received my surprise already.

  “How the heck did you pull that off?” she asked.

  “You mean getting your research featured in the most famous medical journal of all time?” I teased. Then I paused dramatically before continuing. “Well, it’s actually simple. I just submitted your work.”

  “Nooo! Tell me the truth, come on!” she persisted.

  “Honestly, I just submitted your work,” I said. “I didn’t pull any strings, I swear. It was the greatness of your work that did it.”

  She gave me another excited embrace, and we ended up swaying and jumping while in each other’s arms, laughing the whole time like crazy people.

  “And you? What’s your story?” I asked.

  “Well, I was really planning to visit for just a few days to see you. But then, your dad did his thing and got me off for two weeks!”

  We grinned at each other, both of us looking forward to what was bound to be the best two weeks of our lives.

  “Believe it or not, he said it’s his anniversary gift to us,” Georgia continued. “And he insisted on paying for my flight, too. So you see… he’s not so bad, after all…”

  I smiled. “Yeah, he’s not so bad, after all…”

  “Hey guys! We’re hungry!” someone shouted from behind us. The others snickered and laughed.

  We laughed and kissed one more time.

  “I love you so much, Georgia,” I told her with all sincerity, my heart bursting with emotion.

  “And I love you so much, Drake,” she said, smiling from ear to ear.

  “Let’s go, guys!” another yelled, making us laugh and finally join the group as they headed outside.

  “Uh, where are we going?” I inquired.

  Georgia bit her lower lip, her eyes twinkling. “Well, I forgot to tell you that my mom is also throwing a party for us.”

  “Wow, so you finally told her?”

  She nodded with a grin. “Yup, she’s definitely excited to finally meet again the boy from prom night who’d broken my heart!”

  “Aww, man! She knows?” I said in alarm.

  Georgia laughed. “Don’t worry. She promised she’s going to be good to the man who’d come back from the past to capture my heart!”


  I laughed and gave her a kiss. It felt good to be with the woman who did not just capture my heart, but inspired me to be a better man.

  EPILOGUE

  GEORGIA

  It was a different world for me, literally and figuratively a breath of fresh air, to be surrounded by trees under the bright blue sky. I could hear birds chirping, the sound blending with the soft blowing of the wind and the gentle lapping of the lake.

  Everywhere I turned, the scenery was naturally beautiful and relaxing. And this mini vacation had just begun. I was definitely looking forward to more days as a “small town girl” with my “football guy.”

  “Hey, what’s on your mind, Doctor?” I heard the deep, now very familiar voice of my beloved, just as I felt his arms snake around my waist.

  I turned around and wrapped my own arms around my boyfriend’s neck, grinning up at him. Drake’s eyes were no longer mysterious and aloof as they had appeared to be for a long time. Now they were filled with love and passion.

  “Nothing much,” I answered. “Just admiring the scenery and enjoying the countryside, Mr. CEO Coach.”

  He chuckled at the nickname. “Now that’s new…” he remarked, grinning and hugging me closer. “But no, I’m not yet the CEO as long as Dad’s around. But that’s perfectly fine.”