by KB Jacobs
My southern muscles clenched at the idea of reading erotica in the bedroom right next to Anthony. He might not be the guy I wanted to settle down with, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy a fantasy or two. I took a deep breath and fanned my face where the warmth was already spreading up my cheeks.
I pulled back the curtains to open a window and let in some cool air, but instead, I found an oversized set of French doors opening to a large terrace. Throwing open the doors, I stepped out into the cold, February air.
Even in my wildest dreams, I couldn’t have dreamed up a place like this. A semi-circular balcony paved in smooth river rock looked over another rooftop deck and then the enormous backyard. A few guys bundled up in ski jackets filled the lower deck, but they didn’t notice me up here. Their area felt more festive, like the setting for countless keg stands and beer pong games.
This terrace was cozier, more inviting. A built-in fire ring sat in the middle surrounded by a few outdoor couches and chairs. I peeked behind a bar off to the side; there wasn’t an ounce of alcohol. Instead, I found a coffee supply that would make any barista weep tears of joy. I imagined sitting out here in the morning, curling up on the couch, and sipping on a hot cup of coffee while the sun came up over the mountains. Perfect.
Two more sets of French doors led back into the house. More bedrooms? Was one of them Anthony’s? My scene of morning perfection came back to mind and added Anthony to the picture, his boxers sitting low on his hips and his ripped abs glistening in the morning light. I wasn’t sure why daydream Anthony was rubbed down in oil, but who was I to question a good mental image?
“Melissa?” Anthony’s voice called through the open door to the bedroom and wiped away the fantasy.
I walked back inside and closed the doors behind me.
“So what do you think?”
I took in the room around me and smiled. “I think you’re going to have to evict me with a crowbar when this is all over. It really is perfect.”
Anthony smiled down at me, and dammit if my stomach didn’t flutter again. Down, girl.
“How about we head back down and join the party?”
I cringed inside. That sounded like the worst idea ever. What I really wanted was to unpack my clothes and take a bubble bath in the Jacuzzi tub I spotted in the bathroom.
“I think it would be good for my friends to see us together.” His strong, dark hand reached out and latched onto my arm, scalding my skin and sending ripples of pleasure straight to where they didn’t belong.
I nodded, not trusting my voice to come out without shaking. How could it not, with the rest of my body practically vibrating? May the queen help me, it was only a touch on the arm.
How in the name of all things holy and good on the Earth was I going to last several months in the room next door to Anthony when my body went into sexy-time overdrive every time he made the smallest amount of contact?
The queen would say keep calm and carry on.
More appropriate advice might be to walk softly and carry a big vibrator.
I made a mental note to stop at the store tomorrow and pick up another pack of batteries.
Chapter 14
Melissa
Later that evening, Anthony flashed me a dangerous smile and winked. “This isn’t going to end well for you.” He lifted his right arm up over his head and moved it in a perfect arc, releasing the ping pong ball at the last possible second. It sailed through the air to the other end of the giant table and swished into the last plastic cup sitting in front of me.
The beer inside splashed, and a few drops hit the table. I groaned, but the sound was drowned out by the eruption of cheers around us. “Drink. Drink. Drink.”
I fished the ball out of the cup and chucked it at Anthony, missing by a mile. Pretty much how I’d played the whole game given the number of full cups still sitting in front of him. Turning the cup up, I drained the three inches of beer in just a few swallows.
One thing had to be said about Anthony’s parties. He served good beer. Thick n’ Creamy, Naked Brew’s milk stout, wasn’t one of our most popular brews, but I liked it and no one here was complaining.
“All right, that’s it.” I slammed the cup down on the table. “No more. I have to go to work tomorrow.”
A general whine sprang from the partygoers. Apparently, they were all having a great time watching Anthony’s new girlfriend get blitzed while losing Beer Pong.
“No, that’s cool.” Anthony held his hands up to calm the drunk crowd and winked at me again. Bollocks. That smile paired with the copious amounts of alcohol cutting off blood supply to my brain was a bad combination. “If Melissa wants to be a party pooper and go to bed early, we should let her.”
“Party pooper?” My voice raised an octave. I could never hang as hard as Lake and Alex, but I’d never been called a party pooper.
“What else do you call a person who’s only had three beers and goes to bed before”—he glanced at his phone—“eleven o’clock?”
I marched over to the bar, grabbed a pitcher, and filled it from the keg. If I kept drinking, I’d be rubbish in the morning, but when your boss was also your best friend, concessions could be made. And Lake would totally understand the need to defend myself against the title of party pooper. Besides, I was Triple B’s girlfriend, and this was how Triple B rolled.
“Line up the cups.” I hoisted the pitcher over my head and only spilled a few drops on my arm. “You’re going down.”
The crowd around us went nuts, and new cups were quickly lined up in a triangle formation in front of both of us. Usually, beer pong was a partner game, and Alex was reigning champ our senior year. I just had to stand there and send a little trash talk to the other end of the table. But Anthony liked to play one-on-one. That meant only five cups instead of ten, but it also meant I had to sink my own shots.
I marched back to the table and tried to pour my beer, but it sloshed over the side of the pitcher and made a puddle on the table. Someone I didn’t know grabbed it from me and finished the job. I squeezed my eyes shut to focus my vision, but it was pointless. Those last few drinks were kicking in, and I could barely stand straight.
At least the game would be over fast.
Anthony and I lined up across from each other. “Ladies first,” he shouted over the pounding music and the growing crowd around the table.
“This lady is about to kick your ass.” Being Alex’s partner meant I was crap at Beer Pong, but I could talk a good game. I held the ball up, but the cups on the other end of the table wouldn’t stay still. Damn Lake and her delicious, high ABV beer. I tossed the ball and hoped for the best.
A cheer let out as my first ball sank into one of Anthony’s cups. I guess even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then.
Anthony fished out the ball and drained the cup down. “Lucky first shot.”
“You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you?”
He shook his head and took aim. The ball soared in a perfect arc and came down into one of my cups. I took a deep breath. More beer was the last thing my clouded head needed, but Melissa Frye was not a quitter. I downed the cup, the cold liquid sliding down my throat easier than the last one. Oh, I was good and snockered.
Raising my arm was harder than it should have been, but I hoisted it up and threw the ball in the general direction of Anthony’s cups. It fell right in the middle of the triangle and directly into another cup.
Anthony looked up at me, his eyes wide with surprise. “You some kind of ringer?”
I shrugged. “Maybe I just get better the more I drink.”
His eyes narrowed like a predator stalking his prey, and a delicious shiver ran down my back. Bloody hell.
Anthony tossed another ball and evened the score. We both threw our third round and more beer was consumed. Maybe I was better drunk.
I hit a fourth cup on my fourth ball. Practically everyone at the party was standing around the table now. The press of bodies heated the air around me. It had
nothing to do with Anthony taking his shirt off or the way his abs rippled when he stretched out his arms.
He prepped to throw his ball, and the pull of muscles did magic things to his chest and my nether region. I licked my lips, imagining what it would be like to taste all that skin.
Anthony’s ball arced down and bounced off the rim of the cup. The guys next to him jabbed him in the shoulder.
“It’s not my fault,” he said, staring right at me. “Melissa distracted me.”
“I’m not the one who took their shirt off.”
His eyes darkened in a way I wouldn’t have thought was possible. “Don’t let me stop you.”
I rolled the ping pong ball between my hands. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
Anthony’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “Hell, yes.”
I tossed my head back and laughed, the beer wiping out any embarrassment I might have felt sober. “Dream on, lover boy.”
“Fine.” He dropped down to his knees so his chest was directly behind the final cup sitting in front of him. Flexing his chest, his pectoral muscles danced in a steady beat. “It’s your turn. I hope I’m not distracting you.”
Yes, yes you are. The wanker was totally distracting me with the purple tips of his dreadlocks bouncing against his flexing chest. My nipples rubbed across the lace of my bra, and my core muscles clenched where they had no business clenching. I couldn’t even see the cup with him crouching there like a Greek Adonis chiseled into perfection.
I held the ball in my right hand and used my left to cover my eyes. It’s not like I was capable of aiming or that it helped me in the first game. The crowd around us grew still and voices dropped, everyone in the room realizing that making this shot would be a special kind of epic.
I held my breath and let the ball go. There was no need to peek at the result. The room went crazy.
Pulling my hand away from my eyes, I caught Anthony getting back to his feet and fishing the ball from his final cup of beer.
“I won.” I could barely hear the words over the general melee of the room. I won.
I danced to the other end of the table and broke out into my own personal victory dance. I swung my hips in wild abandon to the beat of the room chanting my name. A deep rumbling laugh erupted from Anthony’s throat.
“One ass kicking, as promised.” I turned around and shook my booty in his general direction before spinning and waving my hands in his face.
The room disappeared as Anthony’s strong arms circled my torso and dipped me at the waist. “You deserve a prize.”
His head came down, and his lips crushed into mine, tasting of beer and spearmint. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back.
This was part of the ruse. Girlfriends kiss boyfriends. I was playing a part. This kiss had nothing to do with the goosebumps erupting all over my body or the heat growing between my legs. And when he bit at my lip, the moan erupting from my throat was just an act and totally not an involuntary sound that corresponded to a dampening of my panties.
Anthony ended the kiss and nuzzled into my neck as he brought us upright. If not for his tree-trunk-sized arms around me, I’m not sure standing would have been an option. His lips traced up my neck, and he bit at my earlobe, heating my body from the inside out.
“How about we move this party to my room?” His voice was low and gravely in my ear.
I pulled back, and the rest of the room came into focus. Everyone had mostly gone back to their own party, and it didn’t look like it was going to end any time soon. These people would be here all night, and I got the idea they’d be back tomorrow. Girls wearing next to nothing despite the freezing temps outside lounged seductively on the couches, and several of them sent scathing glances in my direction.
I straightened my shirt and focused on taking a few cooling breaths. It would be so easy to get caught up in all of this and let myself sink into the role of Anthony’s girlfriend. But it wasn’t real, and I would not be one more notch on his bedpost.
“I think everyone here is buying the act.” I swallowed down the lump in my throat. “I’m heading to bed. Alone.”
Without looking back, I walked past him to the small hallway that would lead to our private turret. I couldn’t look back. If I did, I’d get lost in his deep-brown eyes, and my skin would itch to feel his hard chest against mine.
I took another breath and let myself in with the skeleton key, ignoring the growing part of me that wanted very much to take Anthony up on his offer.
Chapter 15
Anthony
“Mom,” I said and tried not to sound like my patience was worn through, even though it was. I could barely hear myself think as the noise in the game room rose. “Can you hang on? I need to go someplace quieter so I can hear you.”
I didn’t wait for her response, just slid the phone in the pocket of my loose sweatpants. One of the biggest PITA things about being on crutches: I couldn’t move around with anything in my hands. I stepped across the hall from the game room into the library. Most the crew that visited here didn’t even know this room was in the house, so I knew it would stay quiet.
I sank into the large chair facing the dark, cold fireplace and refocused my gaze on the big window overlooking the ski mountain. It was snowing again, and the forecast called for another six inches tonight. Fresh powder. My palms itched with the need to grab my board and hit the slopes. But that wasn’t going to be part of my future for at least a few more weeks.
Even with the thought, my ankle throbbed in time with my heartbeat. Miller and Simon had worked me over hard today, and both my body and mind were exhausted. I couldn’t wait to go to bed. Maybe I’d even take a long soak in the tub first to relax my sore muscles.
But thinking about my bedroom reminded me that Melissa would be sleeping just steps away from it tonight. Again. Watching her walk away from me last night had been the worst kind of torture. I had wanted her more than I wanted my next national championship. My body tightened in ways that had nothing to do with being worn out.
My phone rang in my pocket.
Aw, crap. I had forgotten I was talking to my mom.
“Mom,” I answered in my most apologetic voice. “I’m sorry. I forgot about the phone call.”
She huffed out a breath. “I can feel the love.”
I winced. “I’m sorry. It’s just crazy around here.”
“It’s always crazy around there. That’s part of my problem with you having Melissa there. Are you sure it’s a good idea?”
Not at all. In fact, I was pretty sure it was among the top five of my worst ideas ever. My self-control where Melissa was concerned was at negative one hundred, but I couldn’t explain that to my mom. “Of course, it’s a good idea. It was my idea. That makes it brilliant.”
She laughed, and that was the response I’d been looking for. She knew me well enough to know exactly when I was putting on the Triple B persona and not to take me seriously.
But then Mom’s voice dropped with concern. “Anthony, she’s not like the rest of your friends.”
No, Melissa definitely wasn’t. She was a million steps above them. She was so good and sweet it almost made my teeth hurt. The warning signs flashing all around Melissa meant I should step back. In fact, I should probably sprint away, but I’d always been an adrenaline junkie. The closer I got to the edge of an epic disaster, the more tempted I was to push it even further.
But this was my mom, and she understood me, so instead of agreeing with her, I said, “That’s what I like about her.” And watching her let loose last night had been hella sexy.
Silence met my statement. “You both happen to be two of my favorite people,” she said quietly. “I don’t want to see either of you get hurt.”
I swallowed and stood, needing to pace, even though there was no way I could do that and still talk to my mom. I needed to be done with these crutches.
“I don’t want that either, Mom.” I needed to remind both of us exactly why Melissa was her
e. “She’s just staying here for a place to sleep. Neither of her friends has a spare bedroom, but I do. It’s just until her apartment is habitable again. And you know this is important to keep my sponsors onboard.” I might be lying to everyone else, but I respected my mom too much to lie to her.
My mom made a disbelieving sound. She did know me and my weaknesses, especially when it came to pretty girls. But she had to see the impossibility of that idea, too, just as easily as I could.
Time for a subject change. “By the way, she adored the decorating in the guest room. I think the two of you have similar tastes.” Actually, Melissa was like my mom in a lot of ways, which was so dangerous because my mom was one of the most amazing women I knew.
And anyone who was that good deserved so much better than the life I lived. My life consisted of one big party leading into another. That was who I was. Some bad publicity had required me to make a temporary change, but I doubted it would last long. The snowboarding crowd was young. Settling down didn’t factor into my world. Not yet, not while I still competed.
Eventually, I wanted more. A therapist would probably point a finger at how I opened up my house to everyone like I did just because I wanted that thing...a big family and all the chaos that entailed. I wanted the crazy, laughing, crying moments that came from having big families like I always saw on TV shows and commercials. My parents had been amazing, but it had always been just the three of us for holidays and those big events. I always felt like I was missing out.
“Anthony, did you hear me?”
I shook myself out of my daydream, having completely lost track of the conversation. “No, I’m sorry, Mom. I must have zoned out. What did you say?”
“You’re still planning to come for Tuesday night dinner, right?”
“Of course.” There might only be three of us, but mom insisted we got together at least once a week for a sit-down dinner. Someone needed to be dying to miss it. I’d even flown back from weeklong competitions for the evening when I was close enough to make it work. It wasn’t a big thing, but it was one of those little traditions that kept the three of us tight.
