Ways in the Guardian: A Menage Romance Book Collection

by Barbara Downey

  “We’ll see,” I laughed. I was hesitant to go out with Luke again, but maybe Jess was right. Maybe I should just give him a shot until I actually found something serious.

  The game was going well until the fourth quarter. The Patriots were leading by 21, but the drama wasn’t from the scoreboard. Luke was a linebacker so he was always at risk of a concussion but everyone in our lounge shot to their feet when the medics ran out to Luke sitting on the field after a play. It was hard to see from how high we were but the screens on either side of the room gave us a better view.

  Luke shook his head at the medics and pushed himself up, wobbling a little bit until he caught his balance. Even then, he sort of hobbled off the field, keeping as much weight off his left ankle as he could.

  “Damn it,” I heard Mike mumble. “He’s been having issues with that ankle for a few weeks now. I told him to have coach bench him this week. The line would be fine without him.”

  “What’s wrong with his ankle? Is he going to be okay?” I asked, soon realizing I sounded a little too concerned for someone who had supposedly just met her step-brother.

  “Yeah, he’ll be fine,” Mike shrugged. “He just needs to take it easy for a bit.”

  At the end of the game – after the Patriots won 35-14 – we met the team outside the locker room. Luke was walking a little better with his ankle after they wrapped it for him but he was still limping a little bit.

  “I told you to stay off that ankle,” Mike said before pulling Luke in for a congratulatory hug.

  Before I could congratulate Luke too, Avery grabbed my arm and whispered, “That one’s Jarrod. Number 87.” My eyes darted from Luke’s number 56 jersey to the dark-haired man standing a couple feet away from him and talking to numbers 12 and 32.

  “He’s cute,” I replied quietly.

  “I’ll tell Luke and see if he can work something out,” Avery smiled. I was ready to protest when the man in question walked up to us. He had a tendency of doing that and I was just waiting for him to walk up at the wrong time.

  “Hey, Ave,” he said, scooping his sister into a hug. “Josie,” he smiled once he set his actual sister back on the ground.

  “Hey,” I replied casually. “Good game today. Sorry about your ankle.”

  He shrugged it off, probably used to some sort of injury in his line of work. “It’ll be fine. I’ll just stay in bed tomorrow and we’ll see what happens.”

  “Hey!” Avery interrupted, excitedly. “Josie’s going to go out with you guys tonight, if that’s okay.”

  “What?” I started to protest.

  “Really?” Luke asked, sounding just as surprised as I felt. “Yeah, that’s totally fine. If you wanted to wait out here, I can give you a ride once we’re all showered and ready to go.”

  “I don’t –” Once again, I was interrupted by Avery’s excited voice.

  “Perfect! I have to go home but have fun!” She threw a wink my way before she walked off with Mike and my mom. I couldn’t even get mad at her. She had good intentions and she was so sweet. She just didn’t know putting me in a car with Luke after my talk with Jess wouldn’t end well.

  Then again…it might end better than well, depending on the approach.

  Luke smirked at me once our family left and took a step closer. “Is this your way of accepting my offer?”

  I rolled my eyes at him because even though, yes, I had decided to keep hooking up with him, he was still a pain in the ass. “It’s Avery’s way of trying to get you to set me up with number 87.”

  He furrowed his eyebrows at me before laughing. “What, Jarrod?”

  “Yeah. She seems convinced that I need to get with one of your friends. Oh, and my friend Jess wants you to set her up with one of your teammates, too.”

  “Your friend, I can help. But if you want anyone on the team besides number 56, that’s all on you.” I was slowly becoming convinced his resting expression was that damn smirk he always seemed to have around me. He was getting cocky around me, knowing exactly what to do and say to make me squirm. Not anymore. I was about to shamelessly flirt until that smirk wasn’t even a thought in his mind.

  *****

  The drive from the stadium to the bar the team frequented didn’t take long and it was mostly spent with Luke talking excitedly about the game. For the first time since we officially met, I genuinely smiled at him. Seeing people talk about the things they’re passionate about is a great feeling, even when I knew he’d be an arrogant asshole in less than an hour’s time.

  Halfway through his animated recollection of his best plays of the game, he stopped mid-sentence and looked at me with a confused smile. “What?”

  “Nothing,” I said, shaking my head. “You’re just cute when you’re excited.”

  “Cute?” he repeated. When I nodded, his voice dropped an octave and he leaned towards me just a bit, his eyes still focused on the road in front of him. “You know cute isn’t the right word to describe me.”

  “It’s been a little while. I might need a reminder,” I said. Luke’s eyes widened a little before that signature smirk reappeared.

  “So you are accepting my offer.”

  “Ask me later tonight. That guy Jarrod was pretty hot.”

  “No,” he laughed. “He’s my best friend. He knows he’s not supposed to fuck my sister.”

  “Last time I checked, fucking your best friend’s sister is far more acceptable than fucking your own sister,” I replied, raising my eyebrows in challenge.

  “But you’re not my sister. You’re sort of, almost, but not really my step-sister. It’s different,” he explained.

  “Exactly. If the rules don’t apply to you, why should they apply to your friends?”

  He narrowed his eyes as he pulled into a parking spot, the rest of the team’s cars filing in around us. “You’re clever. I like it.”

  “Don’t like it too much. What would your friends think of that?” I smirked, sliding out of his car and meeting the rest of the team in the middle of the parking lot. Only about a dozen of the guys decided to go out and, this time, I was the only family member joining them. I couldn’t complain, though. Being surrounded by a bunch of professional football players wasn’t exactly a bad scenario.

  “Hey,” one of them said, bringing everyone’s attention to me. “You’re Luke’s sister, right?”

  “Not really,” I laughed. “Our parents are getting married but we’re not technically related.”

  “Well, Luke’s not really step-sister, I’m Carter,” the man said, holding his hand out for me to shake.

  “I’m Josie.” The rest of them introduced themselves while Luke stood back and watching me befriend his teammates.

  “Now that you all know each other,” Luke said, slinging an arm over my shoulders, “maybe we should, you know, go inside.” The swarm of football players led the way into the bar, Luke’s arm still hanging over my back.

  “You know, this could be interpreted a lot of different ways,” I said, shrugging my shoulders so he understood what I was referring to.

  “And one of those ways is simply friendly. I’ve put my arm around my sister before – my actual sister. It’s a way of telling the other guys to back off. In her case, it’s because she’s my little sister; in your case, it’s because we’re, what, fuck buddies?”

  “Shut up,” I whisper-shouted. The bar wasn’t very loud but I didn’t want any of his teammates to hear him. “We slept together once and it was before we knew about our parents.”

  “But you basically said it’s going to happen again. Maybe tonight?” he said as a question, raising his eyebrows at me.

  I narrowed my eyes at him and shrugged his arm off me. “Maybe. I have a meeting tomorrow over a custody hearing so I need to be back at my place at a decent time.”

  “I haven’t seen your place yet,” Luke said, pulling a seat out at the long table the guys had claimed as their own. He dropped into the chair and pulled the one beside him out a bit, patting the wood s
o I knew to sit next to him.

  “That’s not what I meant,” I replied. Thankfully, all of his teammates were busy talking to each other and giving the server their drink orders so they weren’t paying the slightest attention to Luke and me. “I meant I’ll need to call a cab.”

  “Wait, what’s wrong with going to your place?” he asked.

  I sighed and picked at my already-chipped nail polish. “It’s just, your place is so nice. At first, I didn’t know it was because you were a professional football player but it’s still impressive. And yeah, I know I’m a lawyer and I’m supposed to be filthy rich, too, but I didn’t start very long ago so my place is still average, at best.”

  “So?” he scoffed. “Who cares what your place looks like? As long as you’ve got a bed and a lock, that’s all that matters.”

  “Jesus Christ,” I muttered, turning in my seat to face the man across from me – Jarrod. “Hey,” I said, immediately perking up when Luke’s shoulders stiffened beside me. “You’re Jarrod, right?”

  “Yeah,” he smiled. “How’d you like the game today?”

  “It was okay,” I shrugged. “I grew up in Denver so, even though I love Boston, I’m a Broncos fan at heart.”

  Jarrod tsk’ed at my confession. “At least they’re AFC West. Patriots are your favorite AFC East team, right?”

  Luke leaned forward with his elbows resting on the table, putting him in my peripheral vision again. I could see him waiting for my response so he could weasel his way into the conversation. Damn, he was kind of territorial.

  “I guess,” I grumbled in mock-defeat.

  “At least she doesn’t like the Dolphins,” Luke said, working his way into our discussion.

  “What other teams do you like, if any?” Jarrod asked.

  “Well, like I said, I grew up in Denver. My dad was from the Midwest though so I was also raised to love the Packers,” I said hesitantly. I learned early on that the Patriots and Packers were the teams to be cautious with. Unless I was in the home state, I was pretty much doomed to run into someone who hated one or both teams.

  “Why do you sound so scared about it?” Luke asked.

  “One time when I was on vacation in Chicago, a guy started talking to me about football and I made the mistake of telling him I like the Packers,” I replied.

  “Why would you admit that in Chicago? The Bears and Packers are the oldest rivalry in the game!” Luke laughed.

  “I know! But I was just being honest! I thought we could have a friendly debate about the teams, you know? I don’t actually hate the Bears. I just hate them because I’m obligated. It’s more fun with a rivalry. Bears and Packers fans need each other.”

  “Damn, Luke,” Jarrod laughed. “Your sister knows her football. That’s impressive.”

  “She’s not my sister,” Luke corrected.

  “And it’s actually not that impressive either,” I added. “Women make up almost half of NFL fans. There’s just a bias about women who like football so we’re not all as open about it.”

  There was a brief moment of silence from the boys before Jarrod spoke up again. “Are you single?”

  I laughed at his straightforward question but nodded my head. “Yes, I am.”

  Once again, Luke intervened before things got too carried away. “Dude,” was all he said, stretching his arms to the side in a sort of power stance.

  “You said she’s not really your sister,” Jarrod said.

  “She’s not, but my dad wants me to treat her like family so, Jarrod, no.” I rolled my eyes and took a swig of my drink but didn’t try to fight what Luke was saying. After all, I was going to give this thing we had going a shot. It’d be a little hard to that with his friend nosing around.

  Before long, Luke and I had worn out our welcome and decided to head out. Where we were going, neither of us knew, but we knew how the night would end.

  “You and Jarrod were getting awfully comfortable,” he said as we pulled out of the parking lot.

  “What? No, we weren’t. We were talking, mainly about football.” Luke just grumbled in response but a small feeling of dread pooled in the pit of my stomach. “Oh, no. Luke, you can’t get jealous.”

  “I’m not,” he replied a little too quickly.

  “Luke,” I practically whined. “Our parents are getting married. Whatever is going on between isn’t permanent, okay? We can have a little fun for now but once our parents get married, it has to end.”

  He simply nodded his head and continued driving, taking his time with a response. “Then let’s make an agreement. We can mess around until our parents get married but we can’t see other people while we’re still doing whatever with each other.”

  “And no telling anyone else about this,” I added. “Although if we add that, you should know I told my friend Jess.”

  “Okay,” he shrugged. “I couldn’t care less who knows so you tell whoever you want and I’ll keep it quiet for your sake.”

  “Thanks,” I grumbled. He was being a smart ass again. “So do we have a deal?”

  “We have a deal.”

  *****

  “What’s your address?” Luke asked after we had been driving for a while.

  “You’re asking me that now?”

  “I need to know where I’m going,” he replied.

  “It probably would’ve helped to have asked that when we left,” I countered.

  “I like talking to you,” he said. Truth be told, I liked talking to him too – at least when he wasn’t being a smart ass and making lewd comments in front of our families.

  I gave him my address and let him drive us to my place. I hadn’t had any men over, mostly because work made it hard to find free time to actually meet men, so Luke would be the first one in my apartment and likely the first to stay overnight.

  Things were a little awkward at first. The first time we hooked up, we didn’t know each other and we were both drunk off our asses. This time, we were fully sober and completely aware of who the other was.

  Luke kicked his shoes off inside the doorway and looked around, giving a nod of approval at my decorating style.

  “Why didn’t you want me to see this place, again?” he asked. “It’s homey.”

  “I hopefully won’t be here much longer. I’ve got my sights on a townhouse and if I save properly, I can get it by summer.” I turned on my heel once we were standing outside my room and put my hands on my hips. “Are we going to talk about my place or are you going to keep up your end of the deal?”

  It didn’t take much longer for Luke to walk forward until my back was pressed against my bedroom door. Suddenly, his lips were pressed to mine and my head was already spinning. I reached behind myself and twisted the doorknob, causing both of us to stumble into my room and giving me a second to peel my shirt off my body. Luke took the hint and pulled his shirt over his head, letting it fall to the ground. He hooked his hands under my thighs and lifted me up – perks to fucking a professional linebacker – before laying both of us down on my bed. I whimpered under him as he slid his hands up my sides, his lips attaching to my neck to leave suckled kisses and light bruises in his wake.

  I reached down and fumbled with his belt buckle and opened his jeans with a failed attempt to push them down even an inch. He laughed against my neck and gently bit the skin before pulling back to drag his jeans and boxers down his legs.

  Maybe it’s because I was drunk the first time but I found myself openly gaping at his naked form. I guess it made sense; football players have to have a lot of stamina and endurance. And I was ready to test Luke’s.

  While he was still kneeling at the end of the bed, I pushed my own jeans and panties down my legs to leave both of us bare and ready. He crawled back over my body and pressed his lips to mine in an effort to muffle any sounds coming from me. He ran two fingers along my center before slowly and gently circling my clit. I couldn’t tell if he was being a tease or just enjoying the moment, so I pushed my hips up against his hand in a silen
t demand for more.

  “You’re impatient,” he chuckled. He trailed his lips up my neck and started grinding his dick against me, still not giving me what we both wanted.

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I finally grumbled. I reached to my left and scavenged through my drawer until I found a condom, ripping the packaging open and making quick work of the latex.

  “Damn, you really are impatient,” Luke laughed. “You were practically begging me to stay away earlier. Did you just remember how great it was the first time around?”

  “Don’t ruin it,” I laughed, leaning up to catch his bottom lip between my teeth. “You were begging for me earlier. Did you forget how great it was the first time around?” I teased.

  “Never,” he replied. His mouth was on mine again as he finally moved inside me. I moaned against his lips and nearly passed out when he ran both hands up my arms to hold my hands above my head. Part of me still felt like what we were doing was wrong but everything my body said in response overpowered my doubts.

  Luke moved slowly, his hips brushing against mine with each motion and his lips trailing from my chest to my neck to my jaw, teeth softly grazing my sensitive skin. This time felt different than the last. Last time was rushed and sloppy from the alcohol; this time was softer and slower, like he wanted to prolong it for as long as he could.

  With his lips attached to my neck, I swiveled my hips each time his body pressed closer to mine. His mouth fell open against my skin and a low moan tumbled from his lips. I wrapped my legs around his torso and let my head fall back into the pillows with the arch of my back.

  “Luke,” I whimpered, the faint sound the only indication that I was nearing my end.

  “Fuck,” he moaned. “Me too.”

  I pulled my neck away from his mouth and brought his lips to mine as he continued his movements, the motion of my hips getting more and more unsteady. Luke nipped at my bottom lip and I was done for. My hands were still held above my head, but my nails were digging into my palms and my body jerked under Luke as a wave of euphoria washed over me. Luke’s grip on my wrists grew a little tighter as he pounded into me until he hit his peak, his heavy body falling against mine.