Penalty: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (Alpha Second Chances Book 3)

by Rowena

The process of actually wiring the funds to him should be easy enough since my husband-to-be once commissioned his work—the piece I fell in love with in Harold's mansion is the reason I sought out the artist behind it, after all, knowing a sculpture from such an artist would make the perfect gift for my mom.

  The wooden anthropomorphic tree reminded me of her somehow, exuding immense passion, enormous stress, yet immense strength.

  I'm still staring at Derek's text when Celeste finally arrives.

  "There you are," she says, bright blue eyes shining, short, curly blond hair bouncing with her excited movements, her cheeks flushed.

  Somehow, her round cheeks always seem to be flushed.

  "Sorry I'm late," she says.

  She's always late, but I don't bother pointing that out.

  "No prob! It gave me time to pick up my ring from the cleaners. And to think."

  Her brows come together a little, an extra spark coming to her eyes.

  I know she's sensing the weight of my scandal, but I can't really talk about what happened earlier today just yet. And certainly not all of it.

  "Think about what?" she asks casually, but I know that tone.

  She knows something major has gone down, and she is practically salivating.

  "I'll tell you later. Come on, let's go find that outfit," I say as I grab her arm and pull her toward the first store.

  I feel sort of bad for her.

  Her brother's getting married the same month as me and she's a bridesmaid in both of our weddings, but we're currently shopping for a dress for some other wedding for an old high school friend of ours.

  She says she's not bothered, but it must suck to feel like everyone's getting married at once while you're still single.

  Obviously, I didn't have to help her choose a dress, but we take any opportunity to hang out, and I think she actually appreciates my fashion opinions.

  "So I'm thinking blue this time since peach and purple are taken for the other weddings," she says.

  "Sounds good to me! Let's see what we find."

  Celeste hasn't let me totally get away with not sharing what happened today, sliding in a probing question every now and then, but I keep shaking my head or finding a way to smoothly change the subject.

  I know it's killing her—being denied something you know is going to be so juicy can't be fun, but I haven't gathered my thoughts yet, and with something like this, I have to be very careful.

  I know I'm probably overthinking it, but I figure approaching with caution is best.

  I mean, what do I say?

  That I ran into my old crush earlier and realized I still have feelings for him?

  I know it sounds simple, but I don't want to hear any opinions on that right now when everything is still so fresh.

  Plus I have to get my story together—I don't want to slip about the identity of Dagor.

  The two being one and the same is still a secret, and though Celeste has been my best friend since childhood and has proven herself capable of keeping secrets, I still feel protective of Derek and don't want to be the one to out him.

  I smile at whatever she just said as her dress gets rung up, recognizing I was supposed to respond, but not hearing a word she said for the past minute or so.

  I feel bad so I'll just tell her a little.

  Thankfully, I haven't let her in on my plan to get my mom a Dagor sculpture for her birthday yet, so I can just leave that part out and tell her I ran into Derek on my way here.

  I start steeling myself to open up as we're leaving the store, but I choke on my words and freeze in my tracks, my eyes locked straight ahead.

  I'm aware of Celeste stopping a few paces in front of me once she realizes I stopped, and she's now staring at me—or so I assume since my eyes are on the man who had his mouth on my nether lips just a few hours earlier, a man who licked me till I climaxed on his face.

  "Stella?" Celeste asks, her voice sounding sort of far away.

  Her eyes move from my face to the object in the path of my focused eyes.

  "Goddess," Derek says in a rumbling voice and with a wide, white-teethed grin that soaks my new panties immediately. "Fancy running into you again."

  "What are you doing here?" I ask, practically quaking and embarrassed my voice came out so unsteadily.

  "It's a mall," he says, shrugging his sculpted shoulders. "I'm shopping. Grabbing some art supplies."

  I start wondering if he followed me, but his eyes slide to my ring finger and I immediately want the earth to swallow me.

  I feel unreasonably guilty about wearing it, and I start fiddling with it as if it'll help relieve some of the shame.

  He probably wouldn't have missed it even if I'd been holding my hand behind my back—it's huge and extra sparkly from being cleaned.

  I've probably been blinding half the people in my path with it.

  "What the hell is this?" Derek asks, indicating my finger, his green eyes flashing.

  His voice reminds me of the sort of calm that precedes a storm.

  I know I shouldn't feel bad he didn't know—that I don't owe him anything, considering the way things went down—but I can't stop the remorse filling me.

  I've disappointed him, or even worse, hurt his feelings, and the thought of that is killing me.

  I don't want Derek Carter thinking poorly of me!

  "Uh, I'll make myself scarce," Celeste says, her eyes darting between mine and Derek's before settling on my face with a pointed look.

  She stares at me until I confirm she's fine to leave with a slight nod of my head.

  What a friend—if the vibe had been different, she would have been squaring up to fight, but she knows there's some sort of history here that needs to be hashed out.

  She probably assumes he's some guy I dated and never told her about, a guy who is now unpleasantly surprised by my obvious impending nuptials.

  I guess that's not too far off.

  "I'll meet you at the gelato place in about ten minutes," I tell her, impressed by how calm I sound while inwardly preparing for a storm.

  **Read the rest of Sculptor here!**

  About the Author

  Rowena writes friends-to-lovers erotic romance and erotica with an element of unwillingness. She likes a bit of darkness involved as long as no one really gets hurt—at least, only in good ways. ;) Forced proximity and kidnapping romances are her favorites.

  She enjoys making up circumstances in which two people are forced to confront their feelings—sexual and otherwise—to the object of their desire, feelings they have been hiding or running from because of a major barrier or conflict of interest. Usually, her characters have known each other for quite a while, so their first sexual encounter has been a long time…coming.

  Join Rowena's mailing list for news about upcoming releases, sales, giveaways, etc. here!

  Contact:

  author.rowena

  https://authorrowena.wordpress.com

  author_rowena@yahoo.com

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  Check out Rowena's Amazon Author page for the latest.