UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT (Gods of the Gridiron Book 1)

by Shanna Swenson

  She was right. Dammit, of course she was. Nothing was greater than love. Nothing. And he had to know the truth. He simply had to. He was going to go to Skyla. He was going to look her in the eyes and hear from the “horse’s mouth” that she didn’t want him. He would be able to see the truth in her eyes with him right in front of her; she wouldn’t be able to lie about it. Sky had told him she loved him. So now he had to make her see that love was worth fighting for.

  Because dammit, he was Ares, the god of war, and he wasn’t going down without a fight.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “Coming,” Skyla called to the door as she dried her tears and checked herself in the entryway mirror. She looked aghast, her face red, hair greasy and up in a bun, donning yoga pants, a thin camisole top, and a cardigan.

  She’d ordered Chinese food and was grateful she had nowhere to go and nothing to do this Black Friday after the drama she’d experienced these past couple weeks; especially after she’d broken things off with Sam once and for all yesterday.

  She opened the door and gasped in shock. “T-Travis, wh-what are you doing here?”

  “Sky, wow, you look—”

  “Horrible, I know. Oh my God,” she whimpered and wanted to die of shame. Travis Redmond, the love of her life, was here at her door, all sexy as hell in a tight, black muscle shirt and red shorts…and she looked like absolute crap. Of all the days she had to be without makeup and decided not to wash her hair.

  “No,” he recovered, “I was gonna say, you look amazing.”

  “Travis, no I don’t. I—” Sky shook her head. “What are you doing here?”

  “I, uh…” He stammered. “I wanted to thank you…for everything you did, for me and Tucker. Saying that I helped in the investigation. Getting our names cleared.”

  So, that’s why he was there? To thank her. Not to confess his undying love for her. Of course!

  “Well, you played your part in the case.” Sky brought her chin up. “And the city of Atlanta thanks you for your service, Mr. Redmond.”

  Travis blushed, and it was the sexiest expression he’d ever had. She could have melted onto the floor but held her ground. And suddenly, she remembered her manners.

  “Oh, uh, would you like to come in? I, uh, I have some Chinese food coming. I could grab you something to drink, I—”

  “No, I’m not really hungry. But thank you.”

  “Oh, of course.”

  “I mean, I just finished practice so…”

  “Oh.” God, this was so freakin’ awkward. “Well, uh—”

  “But I would like to come in.”

  “Really? I mean sure, please come in?” Sky stepped back and motioned for him to enter her townhome. Oh, God. He’s coming into my house. “I’m sure you’re thirsty. Want some water?”

  “Yeah, I would actually. Thank you,” Travis answered as she closed the door behind him. She lead and he followed her into the kitchen. “This is nice.”

  “Oh, thanks. It’s not quite as nice as your home, I’m sure. It’s fairly small.”

  “Nothing wrong with that.”

  Skyla took a breath in and opened the fridge, trying to still her shaky hands and frazzled nerves. “Water, you said?”

  “Yes please.”

  Dammit, you need a glass, Sky, jeez. She needed to get a grip on herself.

  She turned towards the cabinet to retrieve one and froze as she nearly ran headlong into him. “Oh, my. I’m sorry.”

  “How was your Thanksgiving?” he whispered as if they weren’t almost nose to nose.

  “It, uh, it was fine. And yours?”

  “Good…but it was missing something.”

  “Oh?” Her heart leapt into her chest as his hand raised to cup her cheek, and he separated the distance between them.

  “You can’t marry that asshole, Skyla.”

  Her mind ran, unable to still on a single thought. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. “W—why?”

  “Because you don’t love him. You love me.”

  She gasped; it was true. It was why she’d finally told Sampson yesterday to pack up the few things he had there and leave. She wasn’t going to marry him; she didn’t want him back. She wanted him gone, for good. She wasn’t going to wed a man who didn’t care enough about her to stay faithful. She wanted fidelity. She wanted love. She wanted passion. She wanted Travis Lamar Redmond.

  She gulped, unable to speak.

  “Say it isn’t true, Sky. Tell me you don’t love me, and I’ll leave. But you know what we had in the cabin was real. It was…” he trailed off and looked at her lips, making her lower belly tingle in yearning.

  All she’d wanted since she’d come home was to feel it again, feel him again, inside her, on top of her, behind her—everywhere. She’d not felt alive again until now. His touch had her flesh quivering with desire. But her brain had other plans.

  “Lust. It was lust. We scratched the itch, that’s all.” Logic won out over emotion.

  “Oh, that’s all it was, huh?” he asked and began backing her toward the wall. She went, an obedient dog on a leash, helpless to stop her body from reacting to him as his big arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her into his chest. “Answer me this, then? If that’s all it was then why do I know, for a fact, that I can take you right now, against this wall and fuck your gorgeous brains out and still wanna do it again and again and again, even after I come harder than I ever have in my life?”

  “I-I don’t—”

  “No, you don’t know because you can’t explain it either. Fuck, Sky. I’ve missed you so much, baby.” He leaned his head down and kissed her, his lips crashing into hers breaking her resolve like a wave crashing into the shore, beating the sand down and leveling it out. She was fully awake, fully alive, fully incapacitated. She moaned as she kissed him back and wrapped her arms around his neck, reveling in the feel of his solid frame against hers. He cupped the back of her head and gripped her hair, growling as he took what was his, what had always been his.

  “Mmm, Travis,” she mumbled as he pulled back to breathe.

  “I want you, darlin’. I want you so much. I’m dyin’ without you.” He cupped her breast and moved his mouth to her neck, getting a whimper out of her as she felt his length hardening between them.

  “Oh, yes, oh God.” Sky gripped his shirt in her fists, the pull of their bodies too much to resist. Like magnets, they were helplessly drawn to one another. “Take me, Travis. Take me right here. Right now.”

  Travis chuckled, as if pleased she’d acquiesced, and lifted her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her back hit the wall as he pulled her hands above her head, capturing her wrists. “My naughty little Fireball.” He pulled her camisole down roughly and her breasts popped out of the top. He grinned up at her then looked down at them, his eyes appreciating their vulnerable state, his for the taking. His mouth lowered and pulled a nipple in, and Sky cried out wantonly, feeling as if she’d just died and gone to Heaven, for he was loving her body once more. She arched her pelvis against his and got a growl. “Umm, baby, you want it? I’m gonna make you come as many times as I’ve dreamt of you since you walked away from me weeks ago. I hope you’re ready. Ready to be exhausted. Ready for this.” He cupped himself suggestively and thrust against her. She gasped.

  Just then the doorbell rang, and they both froze. Travis looked up into her eyes, his blue orbs questioning.

  “It’s—it’s the takeout. I ordered takeout,” she stammered, her thoughts muddled.

  He gave her a crooked grin and released her, stepping back. He ran a hand through his hair before moving out of the kitchen. Sky pulled her shirt up and readjusted her clothes, following him. He opened the door and the young Asian man, her usual takeout driver, Ling, waved to her from behind a bag of food.

  “Hi, Ms. Larson.”

  “Hi, Ling. Thank you.”

  “Dude, you’re—you’re Travis Redmond. Holy crap. I’m a huge fan!”

  “Uh, thanks. I’ll uh, I�
��ll give you an autograph next time, huh, buddy?” Travis winked and took the bag from him.

  Whatever he was communicating, Ling got it and stammered, “Of—of course, Mr. Redmond. Thanks, man.”

  “See ya, kid,” Travis said and closed the door behind Ling as he turned. “Fuckin’ shit,” he mumbled and adjusted himself in his shorts. “Sit this shit down. I can’t wait for you to eat. My balls are turning blue.”

  “Jesus, Travis. Hold up a second,” Sky said, taking the bag from him and walking back into the kitchen.

  “Why?”

  “Because we should talk before this,” she motioned between them, “happens again.”

  “We were talking. Our bodies were doing it all for us.”

  “Just. Stop, please?” She shoved at his chest even as he pulled her to him.

  “Why? Are you expecting company?” he grated out, angrily.

  “No. I broke up with him.”

  “Again?”

  “No, not again. I never let him back in in the first place.”

  “Right, tell that to the news.”

  “Oh c’mon Travis! You know the media are blood-suckers, they take a story and—”

  “I tried calling you.” He scowled and stepped back, turning from her. “He answered the fucking phone; so that means he was here, in your house.”

  Sky inhaled sharply, hating she’d missed his call. It touched her that he’d tried though.

  Travis turned, crossing his arms over his muscular chest. He was waiting for an explanation.

  Sky sighed and sat down at the small table in the breakfast nook. She looked out the window at the big, shady oak tree in the backyard. “He was here. He attempted to get me back—several times, in fact. Apologized. Sent flowers. It was rather pathetic, really.”

  “Did you sleep with him?”

  “No,” Sky sneered.

  Travis seemed to relax some and stepped forward. “So, he left?”

  “Yes, I told him to pack his things and get out of my life. I can’t be with someone who can’t stay true to me.”

  “Good, that’s the least a man can give you.”

  “I guess so.”

  “You deserve honesty, trust, and love.”

  “Sure, I guess.”

  “Stop saying that you guess, Skyla. You do! You’re an amazing woman. You’re perfectly lovable in every way.”

  “If you say so.”

  “I do, dammit. Now stand up.”

  “Why?” She furrowed her brows.

  “Because I said so.”

  “Travis, I—”

  “I said to stand up, woman. Don’t disobey your god of war. You’ll awaken The Ram.” He growled and the sound of it thrilled her even as her heart quivered in uncertainty.

  “Travis, I’m being serious right now.”

  “So am I.”

  Skyla rolled her eyes and stood.

  “Now, take your clothes off. I wanna watch you strip.”

  She eyed him, feeling vulnerable in that moment, possibly more vulnerable than she’d been in the cabin with him their first time. Her heart was on the line here. She gnawed her lip.

  “If you don’t take your clothes off, I’ll tear them from your body, Aphrodite. A god needs his goddess.”

  She whimpered as he came closer. “Travis…”

  “My beautiful Skyla, you still don’t think you’re good enough, do you?”

  She shook her head. “I’m not a supermodel or a celebrity. I don’t know that I have what it takes to keep you satisfied. You’re… Well, look at you. You are a walking sex god. And I—I’m…”

  He gave her another sexy grin, that delectable dimple popping up. “Baby doll, you’re everything a man could ever want. You’re everything this man wants.” He pressed his fingertips into his chest. “You may not be a celebrity, but you’re ADA Larson and that’s pretty damn close.” His brow went up.

  She shook her head, tears threatening her eyes even as her lips quivered. She stepped forward, his open arms beckoning her to him even as she surrendered. She inhaled his scent, the fragrance that was him: manly, sexy, musky, woodsy.

  “Oh Aphrodite, I guess I’m simply gonna have to prove to you how much I love you.”

  Sky gasped and looked up, shock stilling her.

  “Yes, I said it. I love you, Skyla Larson. I did the minute I made you mine. I knew something had changed and I’d never be the same. And I haven’t been the same, not since you walked—very sassily—back into my life. You’re here, in my soul now, and that’s where you’re gonna stay.”

  Sky gaped, flabbergasted. “But, you haven’t even been on a date with me or…”

  “Sky,” he rolled his eyes, “we went to prom together, remember?”

  Skyla laughed even as he leaned down to kiss her again. His lips pulled every emotion from her, drowning her doubts and heightening her self-esteem, making her sail across a football field of reassurance.

  When he pulled her clothes off and shucked his own, she could see the vulnerability surface just beneath his beautifully tanned skin. “I won’t disappoint you, Skyla, not ever. I just can’t be without you. I don’t wanna be. Say you’ll let me prove my worth.”

  Skyla grinned. “Prove your worth to me, Ares. And do so, against that wall there.” She pointed, and he growled as he lifted her once again.

  “As you wish, my Aphrodite.”

  Travis began to love her body again, turning her into a quivering bundle of nerves and making her sex drip with desire. He roughly backed her against the wall and thrust inside her in one smooth motion, taking her lips like a man starved. She gasped, loving the feel of his shaft buried within her once again. As she wrapped her legs and arms around him, she knew she would never stop wanting to hear this man call her his Aphrodite—not in a million years.

  Skyla awoke to the feel of Travis’s big palm gripping an ass cheek.

  “Mmm, Trav.”

  “That’s Ares to you, Fireball,” he insisted, sliding a finger between her crack and sex and dipping it into the entrance of her body.

  “Oh, my…” she trailed off on a moan, unsure how she could possibly be so turned on still after the many times they’d done it last night.

  Soon, he was moving and on top of her, entering her from behind as he sighed heavily, a sigh of a man fully fulfilled and still unsatisfied at the same time. He moved his hands beneath her and cupped her breast, his mouth coming to her shoulder and neck as his chest rested on her back. Travis sunk his teeth into her flesh, making shivers run up and down her spine as he made love to her once more. His speed increased as the passion seized them both, and his hand moved to her aching womanhood. With rapid succession, his fingers stroked her folds as his pelvis thrust, keeping the same pace. Skyla buried her face in her pillow as her orgasm hit her hard and felt Travis pull out, releasing his seed onto her ass and back.

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he groaned then rested his hips against her, spent once more.

  After he’d taken her against the wall last night, they’d had sex again in the shower beneath the spray. He’d turned her and pressed her into the cold, stone wall, his mouth moving over her skin, languidly pulling her desire to the surface again as his lips moved from her neck to her shoulders, her back, her hips, her ass. He’d kissed her in places she’d never been kissed and had her begging for him before he’d turned her around to face him and taken her against the shower wall with a sensuality that thrilled her. She’d never been so loved, her body so adored, never been ravished like that before. And she was loving every second of it.

  She was glad she’d been wrong about them simply scratching an itch. That itch hadn’t gone away and by the looks of it, it wasn’t going to…at least not for a time.

  Travis ran to grab a towel and cleaned her off as her body continued to revel in the release he’d just given her. When he finished, he crouched down in front of her, took her hand and pulled it to his lips. “As much as this god of war would love to do this all day, maybe even take you to a
very late breakfast, lunch, dinner and have you for dessert, I gotta go get packed and head out to Cleveland. I got a game tomorrow.”

  “Oh, well, I…” Skyla blushed.

  “I want you to come, too. Come see me play. Meet my teammates.”

  “Really? Are you sure it’s not too soon? I don’t wanna—”

  “Sky. Please? I want you there.”

  His sexy blue eyes made her heart dance in her chest and she smiled. “Of course. I would love to.”

  He grinned and turned her over, his big body coming down on hers as he kissed her breathlessly. When he pulled back, there were stars shining in his eyes as if he were the happiest man alive. “I’ll have my PA, Trent, arrange everything. I’ll have you flown in tomorrow morning, first thing, and brought to the stadium so I can have a good luck kiss before the game.” Sky blushed. “I would fly you in tonight, but we have a curfew and all that and we can’t have overnight guests.” He winked.

  “Oh, okay. Well, I do have to go into the office later today, so…”

  “Say the word and I will. I don’t wanna be without you any longer than I have to. I’m sure Madi can arrange something.”

  “Who’s Madi?”

  “She’s our CEO, future owner of the team. She’s great, you’ll love her. She’s half the reason I came here yesterday; she kept pushing me to fight for you.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah, she believes in the power of love.” He winked again, and Skyla pulled him back to her for a kiss. “Mmm, baby, I want that mouth on other parts of me, but if I don’t go now, I’m gonna be fined a shit ton of money, and I know you don’t like wasting money. I’ll call you as soon as I can.”

  Skyla pouted and admired his firm, naked ass as he moved away to throw his clothes back on.

  “I’m snapping a mental shot of you right now, just like this,” he said, his glacier-like eyes roving her body, before blowing her a kiss and walking out her bedroom door.

  She closed her eyes, listening for the front door to close behind him. Internally she was swooning; he loved her, he wanted her, and now they were going to go public.