Second Chance: A Military Football Romance

by Claire Adams

  I woke up the next morning to someone pushing at my head.

  "Get up. I wanna watch TV. Go to your bed."

  Pushing his foot off my face, I pulled myself up to a sitting position and glanced around, realizing that I was still on the living room floor.

  "Shit. Did I sleep here all night?" I groaned as I got up. Everything hurt. I didn't need anyone to answer my question. I could feel the effects of it.

  "Yeah. I guess everyone else made it to their beds but you." He chuckled. "You look like shit. Let me take a picture to send to Cora. Someone needs to warn the girl that you're not all Goldilocks and smiles."

  "Fuck you, too," I grumbled and pulled my shirt off as I walked toward the bedroom. The clock beside the bed showed that it was already past ten, but I didn't care. I was beat.

  After closing my bedroom door and stripping naked, I crawled into the bed and face planted in the middle of the mattress with a groan. I prayed like hell that my overactive imagination would take a break and let me get back to sleep, but it wasn't happening.

  Every moment from the night before danced behind my closed eyes, and I couldn't figure out why in the world I'd been so timid with Cora. I would have normally been balls deep in a hot naked girl with her legs wrapped around me, and yet...

  "Ugh." I rolled onto my back and cupped myself as need drove through the center of me. "So hot."

  Her tight little body had my hormones working overtime, which wasn't good for anyone—least of all her. I gripped my cock and pressed my hips forward as my mind went into overdrive.

  We should have fucked in the lake. A nice, slow fuck that left both of us shaking and needy for more. Her breasts bouncing in my face and the sound of her panting while she took me deep inside of her would have been bliss.

  My phone buzzed as I thrusted again. I tried to ignore it, but the idea of it being her pulled me from the moment.

  "Shit." I grabbed the phone, realizing that it was a call from an unknown number. My body screamed for me to forgo talking to whoever might be trying to sell me something and finish taking care of business. I'd figured out that coming wasn't a problem, at all, as long as I let myself imagine the hands on me to be Cora's. The girl had me wrapped up in wanting her something terrible, and fighting it was a useless waste of energy.

  "What?" I barked into the phone and ran my hand over my erection again as it twitched.

  "Hey. Did I wake you up, playboy?" Cora.

  "No. Yes. Come over and find out." I stroked myself again as my pulse spiked. "I'm masturbating. Come help me?"

  "Ha ha. As if I believe that." Her voice was soft, sexy, drawing. "Come get me after lunch and let's finish our friend date."

  "You wanna go see a movie?" I ran my fingers over the head of my cock, glancing down to watch my need for the girl on the phone manifest fully. I dropped my head back, pressing my teeth into my bottom lip. I had no shame—nor would I ever.

  "No. I want to grab something to eat and go walk along the beach together. I'm thinking maybe I might have misjudged you on a few different levels." She paused. "You are masturbating, aren't you?"

  "I told you I was. I can't stop thinking about last night. You left me needy and aching." I groaned as she laughed into the phone.

  "Are you for real? Who does that?" She laughed, but I could tell she was interested in what was going on with me.

  "Me. Come over." I thrusted again and groaned. "Hurry. You're going to miss the explosion."

  "Did I really call you to ask you to take me to lunch?" Her voice tightened.

  Fuck.

  "I was just teasing with you. Jeez." I scoffed and released myself. "I'll be there at eleven. Is that good enough?"

  "Yeah. I'll let you go so you can continue with whatever you're up to." Another nervous chuckle.

  "I'd rather you stay on the phone with me so I can hear your voice when I-”

  "Brody!"

  I laughed and rolled onto my side. "Alright. I'll see you in a little while. I'm just teasing you—or am I?"

  "You're so corrupt."

  "I am, but you're thinking about me laying here naked, working myself into a frenzy over you, aren't you?" I licked at my lips as pleasure pulsed through me.

  "You know it. Don't be late." She dropped the call, and I rolled over, taking myself back in my hand and doing just as I promised I would: working myself into a frenzy over her.

  *

  "You smell good." She pressed her shoulder to mine as we walked toward town.

  "You look good." I licked at my lips. "Can you believe just a few days ago you wanted to string me up as the town whore? Me. Me!"

  She rolled her eyes and slid her hands into her shorts pockets as she turned to face me at the stop sign. "You're still the town whore, and I still want to string you up."

  "Tie me up? Wow. This conversation took a fantastic turn." I wagged my eyebrows at her and reached over, pulling at her wrist before taking her hand and walking across the street toward the beach. "Does a taco stand sound okay?"

  "What's up with you and Mexican food?" She glanced over at me, and the sunlight played through her chestnut locks. Beautiful wasn't strong enough of a word to describe her.

  "I'm full-blooded Mexican. Hello? How do you not know this?" I tugged her hand and nodded toward the water. "The best stand is right over here. They have this mango salsa that will make you want to slap your mother."

  "What if I already want to slap her?" Cora turned toward the water, keeping me from getting a chance to read her expression.

  "Then, this will only enhance it?" I chuckled and released her hand to wrap my arm around her shoulders. "You really think I'm a whore, still?"

  "Are you?" She slid her arm around my lower back, surprising me a little. The girl was wishy-washy hot and cold with me. Where it should have been aggravating, it wasn't. It was almost entertaining.

  "Nope. I just like women. I love hearing them moan." I shrugged. "There's power in bringing someone pleasure."

  "And, what about your own pleasure?" She moved up to stand in line, but turned to face me. "Isn't that what you're really after?"

  No way in hell I was spilling my issues to her. She'd never understand and would likely make fun of me. Even thinking about her teasing me over my lack of contentment in the bedroom made my stomach sick.

  "There is that, too, but no... I think it's about acceptance, right? We all want to be accepted. I'm no different." I stepped toward her and reached out, turning her with a tight grip on her hips. "Check out the menu and figure out what we're sharing."

  She glanced over her shoulder. "Are you really sharing with me? A big guy like you?"

  "Big? Are you calling me fat?" I pressed my chest to her back and took the risk of sliding a hand around to her stomach.

  "Yep. You should get the skinny tacos." She turned her face a little and took a short breath. "You're going to ruin me, aren't you?"

  "Ruin you? Never. I plan on trying to make you better. You're awfully shy, though. We should bring you out of your shell." I nipped at her lips before releasing her and moving up beside her. My whole body was on fire for a long afternoon in the bed with her lips pressed to my skin, her cries filling up my ears.

  She popped me in the chest and turned to order a taco plate from the attendant, leaving me with the opportunity to study her. I pursed my lips and took a subtle step back as she took care of getting lunch. Her white tank top sat against her tanned shoulders and left me wanting to run my fingertips over the pretty spray of freckles that covered her.

  "You want anything else?" She looked over at me, looking far more innocent than she had up to that point.

  "Just you." I licked at my lips as her eyes widened.

  "Stop it." She turned back to the guy and handed him a card. I realized then that she was trying to pay for our lunch.

  "No. I have my wallet.”

  "I got it." She turned to face me. "It's the twenty-first century. I'm good paying. You bought dinner the other night."

 
"Yeah, and I fucked up the evening royally." I brushed my hand over the small of her back.

  "Then, make it up to me." She smiled and turned back to the taco cart, grabbing the plate.

  I picked up a few napkins and took our drink from her as we walked toward the sand. "And, what would the lady like for me to do to make it up to her?"

  "You could start by grabbing us two straws." She sat the food down and nodded toward the drink. "Simple enough."

  "Almost too simple." I sat the drink down and tugged my wallet from my back pocket. Girls liked flowers, and the small vendor beside the taco truck had a few, single flowers dancing in the wind from what I could see. I pointed at a pink one and smiled.

  "I'll take that." I paid the cashier, grabbed the straw and walked back to the table.

  Cora glanced up from leaning over to take a bite of the taco and gave me a look as she cleaned up the sauce running down the side of her mouth.

  "What's that for?" She took the flower as I handed it to her and took my seat.

  "You. I thought you might like it." I poked the straws into the drink and sat back, watching her. "You're making quite a mess with lunch. Am I supposed to eat the other half of that after you've mangled it?"

  She laughed and pulled the flower to her nose, breathing in deeply. "No, I got two so we could each have one."

  I took the other one from her and glanced out to the water. "It's soon to be the Fourth of July, huh? How much longer are you here after that?"

  "Thank you...for this." She sat the flower down and leaned back. "I don't know. I was supposed to be her until the end of August, but my parents are asking that I come back early. Like in two weeks."

  "Two weeks?" I was a little louder than I wanted to be. Two weeks? I only had two weeks to make a lasting impression on her? A lasting impression? What the fuck was happening to me?

  She laughed. "Yeah, if we're going to have a fling, you need to come on with it."

  "A fling? Is that what you want?" I took a bite of the taco and licked at my fingers.

  "Is there anything else to have with a good-looking stranger that you might never see again?" She picked at the contents of her taco, nibbling on bits and pieces of it.

  "I thought you swore off men thanks to your rotten-ass ex hurting you." I hated to bring it up, but if she was just down for a fling, I needed to figure out how to redirect my thoughts. For the first time in my life, I was trying to figure out how to get her to like me...like, really like me. Not just find me attractive enough to take me to bed, but actually want to know more about me, to invest in me emotionally.

  "I did." She wiped her fingers and glanced out toward the water. "Man, he fucked me up good. Before him, I had a lot of fun just dating and doing whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, but then I found him."

  "And?" My heart constricted in my chest. I'd yet to find a woman that made me want to turn in my wanton ways, but something told me that the beautiful girl in front of me would be quite capable of doing it to me.

  "And he seemed like everything I could want in a man." She shrugged, the movement lifting her breasts and drawing my eyes down to covet her. I'd seen enough of her in the moonlight the night before to know that I wanted to see all of her, stretched out, eyes closed with a look of ecstasy on her face.

  "How long did you guys date?" I finished my taco and reached for the drink at the same time she did. I pushed it toward her as she turned her attention back toward me.

  "Two years." She shrugged again. "It's over now. I wasn't good enough, but it's okay. He wasn't, either."

  "You had to have been good enough." I reached across the table and touched her hand. "It was him. Men are fucking stupid most days of the week. We always think we're going to find something better around the corner. Some great high that awaits us."

  "And, maybe it does." She stood up and handed me the drink.

  I took a quick sip as I stood. "No, we're just dreamers who sometimes lose our sense of reality."

  "Aren't you getting deep?" She walked with me to the trashcan and stiffened as I tossed the trash and turned, pulling her into a tight hug before leaning down and brushing my lips past hers.

  "I wanna get deeper. You up for an afternoon romp in the sheets, Miss Non-committal?" I kissed her again, just a peck, but I could tell she wanted more. So much more.

  Funny enough, I couldn't imagine her wanting as much as I wanted. Maybe I was wrong. I could only hope I would find out soon. Two weeks would be over before I could blink twice.

  "There's the guy I was starting to like." She laughed and pushed at my chest. "Come on, let's go see what everyone else is up to."

  "And then we can get deeper?" She popped me in the chest, and I laughed. "Alright. Shit. I had to try. I'm that guy, remember?"

  "No, I don't think you are." She took my hand, most likely not realizing that her comment was one of the nicest things she could have said to me.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Cora

  Holding hands with Brody shouldn't have been that big of a deal, but I just couldn't shake the idea that he really wasn't the kind of guy who held hands with just anyone. It made it special... made me feel special, which was dangerous, but I was done fighting for a little while. We would part ways after we slept together, I had no doubt. I wanted to hang on until then and enjoy the intensity of the physical attraction that sat between us.

  "Why are we going to hang out with everyone else?" He glanced over at me, pulling me back as we stopped at the red light.

  I glanced down the road to see a bus flying toward us and backed up. "What's with me lately?"

  "You're just relaxed. Enjoy it. I'll be your knight in shining armor and keep you from getting hit by the next bus coming toward us."

  "Yeah, and you'll expect something in return." I smiled over at him before we moved across the road.

  "Just a kiss, and from the way things have been going the last day or so, I'm thinking you might enjoy it more than me." He wagged his eyebrows.

  "So cocky." I pulled my hand from his and slipped my hands back into my pockets. "How much longer are you out here at the lake?"

  "Probably another month or so?" He moved a little to his right, away from me, before cupping his hand over his eyes. "Really? Shit."

  "What?" I jogged behind him as he took off across the street and raced toward the water. A kayak sat just off the shoreline upside down. I couldn't help but wonder what he was up to. Whatever it was, it seemed serious. Surely, there wasn't someone in the kayak. I stopped short of reaching the water as horror rushed over me. Brody's frantic movements said that he believed someone to be in it.

  He flipped it over and worked to get the small boy out of the thing before wading through the water. "Come here and help me."

  I ran toward him, dropping on my knees and tugging at the little guy’s life vest and t-shirt as Brody laid him down. His skin was pasty, and he wasn't breathing.

  "Holy shit." I glanced up at Brody.

  "You know CPR?" He tilted the little guy’s head up. "Just get ready to breathe in his mouth. Long puffs of air. Ready?"

  "Yeah, I know it." I bent over and worked alongside him, listening to his commands. The fact that he was so incredibly calm left me a nervous wreck. The little boy started to cough a few long seconds later, and I moved back and watched Brody pick him up and turn him over.

  "That's it. You got it, buddy. Get it all out." He rubbed the little boy's back, completely attentive to the child.

  A warmth rushed through me that left my eyes filling with tears. My tough facade in front of my friends was no different than him pretending to be the alpha asshole. I needed to run fast and hard away from him because I wasn't the kind of girl that fell for someone easily, but once I did... I wanted forever. It had only happened once in my life, and I was still recovering from the mess Brandon made of things. Would Brody be any different? Could he?

  It's been a week or so. Slow your roll.

  But thanks to Emily needing me to stay behind
a few weeks, and my mom and dad wanting me to leave a few weeks early, I only had a short time left.

  A short time to relax and have fun. To meet new people. Not to fall for some random guy.

  Definitely not this guy.

  "Oh my God," a girl yelled from across the street as she jogged toward us. It was the blonde from the day before that Brody had in his lap in the boat. "Is he..."

  "He's okay. He was in the kayak again." Brody turned the boy over to the blonde and moved over toward me. I rose to my feet and reached out, wrapping him in a hug from the side before I could think too much about it.

  "Shit. Thank you so much, Brody. I shouldn't have left him." The poor girl was shaking, but we all were.

  "It's no problem, but I wouldn't leave him alone in the lake again. He doesn't weigh enough to keep that thing upright when the wind blows as hard as it does out here." He wrapped his arms around me, but continued to focus on her.

  "Okay. Thanks." She didn't comment on the two of us or really even look my way, which was a little strange, but the trauma of almost losing her brother was most likely too much as it were.

  "You okay?" He rubbed my back and pressed his lips to the top of my head.

  "Yeah. Damn, that was scary." I pulled back a little to look up at him. "You totally saved that kid's life."

  "For the second time in a weekend, actually." He rolled his eyes. "That's why Veronica was with me on the boat. I saved the kid yesterday morning and she wanted a ride out to the island after that."

  "What kind of ride?" I gave him a cheeky grin, trying my best to pull us from thinking about the horror of the kid almost dying.

  "On the boat. I already told you that you've fucked up my curiosity for other women." He touched the side of my face and smiled. "Come on; we just had a horrible experience. We should make out all afternoon to burn it from our minds."

  I laughed. "I've ruined your curiosity? So, now what? You steal my heart by working my body and then move onto the next victim?"