She puts her sunglasses on the top of her head and winks at me. “Hey, sexy, want a ride?”
I jump out of my truck and run to her, then pull her into my arms and spin her a few times. “What are you doing here? I thought I wouldn’t see you until next week?”
“I missed you too much. I was sitting in meeting after meeting, not paying attention because all I could think about was you. I started thinking, ‘Why am I here?’ I didn’t have a good answer, so I hopped on a plane.”
I put my hands on either side of her face and pull her to me. “I’ve missed you so much,” I say before kissing her. I scoop her into my arms and carry her toward the hotel.
Giggling, she breaks our kiss. “Where are we going?”
“To the most uncomfortable bed ever made. Lucky for us, I haven’t checked out yet.”
“Chase, put me down!”
“I haven’t seen you in weeks, and you show up in those shorts. Blondie, you should have known the only outcome was that I was going to throw you over my shoulder caveman style.”
She tries to squirm out of my arms. “Chase, my car’s still running!”
“Fuck the car. I’ll buy you another one,” I say against her lips. “I need you. Right now. I can’t wait.”
She kisses me, soft and deep, and our tongues writhe against each other. Breathless, she pulls away. “As hot as that is to hear and as badly as I want you right now, it’s a $275,000 car.”
Maybe we can wait a minute or two. “Damn you and your freaking sports cars. If you had a beat-up truck like me, we’d be in bed by now.” I put her down and slap her ass. “Hurry.”
She turns off her car and sets the alarm, then she sprints back to me and jumps into my arms.
“Now, where were we?” she says before crushing her lips to mine.
We go at it like teenagers as I carry her to the door. Somehow I manage to get the door open without dropping her or hitting her in the head. The sound of voices down the hall makes her jump down.
“They broke what?” Coach walks toward us with the hotel manager, staring at the bill. Coach looks up and sees us. “Brennan, your room is shipshape, right?” He nods at Ari. “Hey, sweetie.”
Her face turns crimson as she straightens her clothes.
“Yeah, Coach, I was just going back in to clear out the rest of my stuff.”
“The blasted rookies trashed their rooms. I’ve got broken mirrors and busted lamps. Heads are going to roll. Those jackasses are going to be running laps until their feet fall off.”
“My father’s personal favorite was stadium steps,” Ari says. “Have them run Levi two or three times wearing ankle weights. They’ll learn.”
“Your father was a smart man. I might just have to borrow that.” Coach turns his attention back to the manager as they continue down the hall. “So what can we do about this bill? Two hundred bucks for a piece-of-shit lamp is a bit excessive, don’t you think? Can’t we just go to IKEA and get you a new one? I bet it’ll be step up.”
Ari bursts into giggles as they walk away. “Why do I feel like we’re in high school and we just got caught making out in between classes?”
I waggle my eyebrows as I pull my key card out of my pocket then open the door. “Ms. Aldrich, I think you need to be sent to detention.” I smack her ass. “You’d better get in there before you get yourself into more trouble.”
She spins on the ball of her foot then walks backward into the room with a smirk. “Maybe I want to get into trouble.”
“Oh, you’re in for it,” I say as I chase her. I kick the door closed, then remembering Coach has a key to the room, I turn around and lock the door.
She’s across the small room, and her grin tells me she’s in the mood to play.
“What’s that look for?” I ask as I stalk toward her.
“I think you need a lesson in patience.” She pushes my shoulders, making me fall back into the chair.
“Oh, I do, do I?”
She nods. “Um-hmm.”
I slide down in the chair and spread my knees, letting her see how much I enjoy her spunk. “And how are you going to teach me patience? If I recall, you’re not very good at waiting either.”
She narrows her eyes. “Oh, I have all the patience in the world.” She undoes the top button of her shorts. “More?” I reach for her hips, but she swivels away and wags her finger. “Use your words, Brennan. Tell me. Do you want more?”
“You’re killing me, you know that, right?”
She pops another button. Of course they’re fucking button fly. “More?”
Smirking, I shake my head. “How many weeks has it been since I’ve been able to touch you? And you still feel the need to torture me?”
She pops another button.
Holy fuck, I don’t think she’s wearing any underwear. How am I supposed to keep my hands to myself now?
She winks. “The anticipation’s the best part.”
“Oh, I beg to differ.”
She pops the last button.
Oh shit, she’s waxed. I’ve got to be drooling. She must know what her little striptease is doing me. My fists clench as I fight the urge to pull those shorts off and feast on her for hours.
“You’re not enjoying the angst?” she asks seductively. “Wondering what I might be wearing under here? Aren’t you curious what I’m going to do next? Isn’t your heart racing as the desire builds? Doesn’t the thrill of the mystery turn you on that much more?”
“My heart feels like it’s going to explode, and I can’t fucking wait to see what you do next, but I promise you, it’s not the best part.”
She pushes her shorts down slightly, then stops before she gets them over her hips.
Such a fucking tease.
“Now you have me curious. What’s the best part?” she asks, trailing her fingers down her stomach but stopping to play with the buttons on her shorts.
I grab her by the waist of her shorts and pull her toward me. Pushing apart her button fly, I lick her from the v of the opening of her shorts to her belly button. “Maybe it’s when I taste you for the first time?”
I pull up her shirt then gently tug on her bra, exposing her nipple. I flick it a few times with my tongue. “Or maybe it’s when I see how flushed your cheeks get when I play with your nipples.”
Standing, I slide my hand down her shorts. My fingers slip right between her lips. Fuck, she is so wet. Rubbing the heel of my palm against her clit while my fingers plunge inside her, I whisper in her ear, “Or when I slide my cock deep inside you. When you scream my name in pleasure.”
She whimpers as I move my hand faster. “No… it’s when I feel your walls tighten around me as you come. That’s the best part.”
Panting, she moves against my hand.
Snickering, I pull my fingers out of her. “More?”
She grabs the waist of my shorts and boxers then shoves them down with one motion. Gripping my cock, she playfully rubs her thumb over my tip. “Why settle for a substitute when I can have the real thing?” She gives me a smirk that says, Checkmate.
The wheels in my brain spin as I try to come up with something to top her, but with the way she’s touching me, I can’t think straight. I open my mouth, hoping something pithy will come out, but all thoughts evaporate when she licks my head.
She looks up at me as she runs her tongue along my tip. “More? All you have to say is ‘yes, please.’”
Feeling her hot breath on my cock turns my brain to mush. My knees threaten to give out when she licks off the drop of pre-come.
Her mouth feels good, but I know her pussy’ll feel better. “Oh, I want more all right.”
I grab her by the waist and flip her around. She braces herself on the top of the dresser, and I slide her shorts down. She kicks them aside, then I nudge her legs apart. Resting one hand on the dresser, I slide my other hand down her stomach to her pussy. She gasps when my finger circles her clit.
I want her to beg for me to fuck her. I want to win this
game we’re playing, but I’m not sure how much longer I can hold out. Between how good she smells and how soaked my hand is from her dripping juices, my cock is throbbing, desperate to get inside her. Using my free hand, I reach under her shirt and roll her nipple between my fingers.
Her body quivers as her resolve breaks. “Oh my God, I need you inside me. Now.”
I want her so badly, I don’t even stop to gloat before sliding into her. “Fuck, I’ve missed you.”
She pushes back into me, allowing me to go deeper. “I’ve missed you too. Now fuck me faster. A month apart is way too long.”
The dresser thumps against the wall, making the lamp tumble over. Thank God all the other guys have cleared out; otherwise they’d be getting an earful and I’d never hear the end of it.
Her nails dig into the dresser as she tightens around me. Hearing her moan as she comes pushes me over the edge. I place soft kisses on her back as we both come down from our high. She rests her forehead on the dresser as she catches her breath.
Still panting and slick with sweat, I grab a towel from the bathroom and sling it over my shoulder. She’s still slumped against the dresser, so I pick her up and carry her to the bed. Then I gently clean her. Her fingers caress my hair as I stroke her thighs. After tossing the towel on the floor, I slide into bed next to her.
Once her breathing returns to normal, she laughs. “We’re going to owe them for a new lamp and TV.”
I look up. It looks as though the lamp fell across the TV, leaving a huge scratch in the screen. “Don’t care. It was totally worth it.”
I run my thumbs over the curve of her lower back. “It’s been hard going from being with you all day every day for months to giving you up cold turkey. I’m putting it in my contract that I get to stay at home next year. I’m not going through this again.”
“I think you’ve earned the right to ask for a few liberties.” She glances around the room at the peeling wallpaper and paintings of fruit. “Jeb will save so much money not having to put you up in this lap of luxury. How could he say no?”
I snort. “Yeah. Let’s see how the season goes before I start making demands. If we don’t make the playoffs, I’ll be fighting for the privilege to stay in this pigsty.”
She places a soft kiss on my chest. “The three-peat pressure is following you around like a shadow, huh?”
“I try to tell myself I don’t care, that it doesn’t bother me, but it does. It’s not just the third win. It’s more than that…” I push out a tense sigh. How can I explain this without opening a can of worms?
“It’s what?” When I don’t answer for a minute, she props her chin on my chest. “You can tell me.”
“Everyone’s comparing me to Aiden. He was the last Niner to repeat. And…”
“Mom was murdered and he retired,” she finishes my thought. “We’ll never know if he could have done it.”
“Yeah,” I reply quietly. “Everyone has always linked us, compared me to him. Now there’s this benchmark. Can I do the one thing he never got the chance to do? They put it out there as though it’s the only way I’ll ever prove I’m as good as him.”
She rolls onto her back and tucks in under my arm. “I lived a long time in my mother’s shadow. It’s a cold and lonely place to be. I only broke free when I just accepted I’m not my mother. I never will be, and I don’t want to be. I hated feeling like I was competing with a ghost. Or feeling as though if I did somehow ‘beat’ her that it took away from her accomplishments. The last thing I ever wanted was to tarnish her legacy. I hated that people put me in the position that if I didn’t outshine her, I failed.”
I twirl a lock of her hair between my fingers. “Yes, that’s exactly how I feel.”
“People will compare you to my father because you have too many connections tying you together for them not to. But you’ll never be like him, because you’re not him. You’re you. In so many ways, you’re a better quarterback than he ever was.”
“I’ll never be—”
She puts a finger to my lips. “Stop. Don’t glorify him because he’s dead. He’d hate that. If you could somehow travel back in time and play him at twenty-six, you’d annihilate him. If he were here, he’d tell you the same thing.”
I fidget with the seam of the blanket. “The other issue is I feel so much guilt that he died because he pushed himself to see me play. Had he just stayed in the Bahamas and rested, he would have had that surgery, and who knows—maybe he’d still be here. You wouldn’t have had the year you had. Everything would have been different. I think about it every time I take the field. I have to win so I don’t let him down.”
“Oh, Chase.” She leans up on her elbow with a look of sympathy, or maybe it’s pity. She presses her lips together, then puts her hand on my cheek. “You could never let him down. His love for you had nothing to do with your football skills. He would still be proud of you if you went oh and sixteen. You were the son he never had but always wanted. Don’t win for him. Win because you’re great. Win because you want it more than anyone else on the field. The only thing you owe him is to be true to your talent. Be true to yourself. Nothing else matters.”
Her words linger in the air. She’s right. If Aiden were here, he’d probably kick my ass for being a pussy and letting all this emotional bullshit get to me. I should just shake it off and keep my head in the game. But all the talk of Aiden has filled the room with a somber silence.
Ari stares off, nibbling her lip, probably thinking about her dad. “I’ve given this a lot of thought. I don’t think he came back for the game. I think deep down, somehow he knew it was time. You and I found our way back to each other. He knew we’d take care of each other. He could finally let his heart rest. So don’t think that he died trying to watch you play. He lived as long as he had to for us to get our act together. Once we did, he finally allowed himself to let go.”
I’d never really thought about it that way. Since he died, I’ve carried around the burden of his death like a yolk around my neck. He was a stubborn bastard, and I assumed he went against doctor’s orders for me, but maybe there’s truth in Ari’s point of view. Maybe he insisted they come home so she wouldn’t be alone in the Bahamas when he died. He’s a crafty devil—I wouldn’t put it past him. Or maybe it’s just wishful thinking. Either way, if it brings her peace, then I’m all for it.
I wipe a tear from her cheek with the pad of my thumb. “That sounds like your dad. He always had to do everything on his terms.”
“I miss him,” she says, her voice cracking.
“I miss him too. Every damn day.”
Wiping her eyes, she sniffs. “All the wedding plans are so bittersweet. I can’t wait to marry you, and at the same time, walking down that aisle without him… I don’t know how I’m going to do it without falling apart.”
Damn, I hadn’t thought about how hard that would be for her, the void she’ll feel without him there. No matter how happy our wedding day is, the sting of his absence is inevitable. “We don’t have to do a big wedding. We don’t have to have an aisle at all. We can just skip all that. Screw our contract with Vespers. All I care about is marrying you. I don’t care about anything else.”
She shakes her head. “No. I love our plans, and I don’t want to change a thing. It’ll be hard, but I’ll get through it because I’ll have you by my side. We’ll do it together.”
My phone dings, letting me know I have a text. I tap Ari on the bottom. “Let me up. That might be the tow truck.” I see from the text that it is, so we reluctantly get dressed and meet the driver in the parking lot.
After he puts my truck on the bed, I give him the address to my mechanic and all my information.
She rests her chin on my shoulder as I watch the tow truck drive away. “Lots of good memories in that truck.” She wraps her arms around my stomach. “I guess this means we’ve got to buy a new one and start all new memories. Maybe in something with a backseat.”
I spin around and waggle my eyebr
ows. “Why? Are you planning on getting naughty with me in the backseat?”
Shaking her head, she laughs. “No, you dirty boy. Do you see a place for a car seat in my car?” She gestures toward her car. “There’s not even room for golf clubs, let alone a stroller.”
My heart stops. “We need a car seat?”
She shrugs as she walks toward her car. “You know, for Calder, or any other babies that might come along.”
Damn. Not quite the response I was hoping for.
She pulls her keys out of her pocket. “Come on. We should get to your parents’ house before they call a search party. I was supposed to bring you home an hour ago.”
She’s dropped so many subtle hints about kids. I want to push her to open up and have an actual conversation, but the fact that she’s taking this shock-and-awe approach tells me she’s not ready to seriously discuss it yet. She’s just testing the waters to see how I’ll react.
I get in the car and put on my seat belt. “If I have to get something with a backseat, it only seems fair that you should too.”
She turns the ignition, then revs the engine. “The nice thing about having so many houses is I have lots of garage space. There’s plenty of room for me to keep my toys and my mommymobiles. Now buckle up and hold on tight.”
Chapter Six
Chase
“I spent two hours on the phone with Holly today,” Mom says as she dishes potato salad onto her plate. “I’m blown away! I can’t wait to get down there and see the island for myself.”
Ari takes a bite of her Portobello mushroom burger. “Isn’t she amazing? She and Ned are going above and beyond to get everything ready by April. She’s even including me in their decorating decisions so that everything matches what we have in mind for the wedding. I keep getting all these emails on paint and wallpaper ideas and accent pieces for the guest rooms. It’s been really fun. Her taste is exquisite.”
Pop takes a bite of his ear of corn. “Having your wedding as their opener will really put them on the map. It’s the best advertising they’ll ever get. I’m sure they’re going to do everything humanly possible to make sure this wedding goes off without a hitch.”
Love To Love You (Love/Hate #3) Page 5
