“Don’t think I won’t follow through with that threat, you ass!”
I chuckle and trail the tip of my nose up her center, blowing lightly on her sensitive skin. She squeezes her legs around my head and I reach up, spreading her open for me again.
“And I’ll tie you up if you don’t relax and let me take care of you,” I murmur. Immediately, I feel her body relax, the wetness between her legs coating my face. By the way she’s reacting to those words, I can tell it’s something she’d be on board with.
But not this morning. Right now, I have a short-term goal in mind before I head over to the practice field.
I take one final swipe and when I feel her body explode beneath my tongue, I slide up her body, plunging deep inside.
Pausing briefly to take both her hands in one of mine, I place them above her head.
“You don’t move those hands until I tell you to, got it?”
“Just move already, dammit,” she grunts, and I lean down, taking her mouth in mine, letting her taste herself on my lips. Her tongue swiping wildly as she laps up every last bit of herself coating my skin.
I was only with one other woman after Bri, and it wasn’t Kennedy. I was her rebound, someone who used me to get over her ex, only neither of us wanted to admit it. Turns out it didn’t work for either of us. We dated for a couple of months the summer after my accident. The night we decided to deepen our relationship, it became glaringly obvious to both of us that our hearts were already taken. It was all mechanics, no intimacy involved.
Bri’s tight walls contract around me, sucking me in. Knowing I’m the only person to have ever been inside her makes me feel like I could accomplish anything. Sweat beads at the base of my neck as I pump into her. Her body gripping me like a vice, reminding me of how perfectly she was made for me.
My body screams for me to relentlessly pound into her, remind her she’s mine. Always has been, always will be. Instead, I slow down and bite back the chuckle erupting from my throat when I hear her whine.
Bri bucks up against me, and I know she’s wanting to take control.
“Impatient?”
“You’re the one who started this. If you hadn’t woken me up with your tongue, I wouldn’t be so damn needy.”
“Liar.”
She pouts for a second while she places a hand on my cheek. “True. I don’t ever see a day where I don’t feel needy for your touch.”
“Good answer,” I tell her as I pick up the pace again.
She smiles like she won. But I’m okay with her believing it.
I flip her onto her stomach and pull her up to her knees, entering her once again in one hard thrust. My hips piston back and forth, her face turned to the side, her hands gripping the pillow under her head. I reach around her and rub on the spot I know will tip her over the edge. It’s a sight—and sensation—I plan to experience thousands of times in the future. Not a bad way to start my day, either.
I feel her explode around me, but I’m still not finished with her yet. I roll onto my back, turning her around so she’s on top and facing me, hoping I can give her one more hard orgasm.
“You like riding me, baby?” I ask her, voice rough.
“God yes,” she grunts, placing her hands behind her on my legs to get a different angle. We groan in unison when I feel myself hit the spot so deep inside her, triggering a quiver in her stomach. I grip her legs, my thumbs pressing into her skin while my fingers dig into her ass.
“Ahh!” she screams out so loud I hear Rocky let out a bark, reminding me how grateful I am I own my own home and we don’t have to worry about thin walls around us.
She grinds her hips against me, still leaning back and I reach up, tweaking a nipple and causing her to cry out again. “So… close…” she whimpers.
I drag a calloused hand down her nipple and the friction causes her to reach her peak, my own release following close behind.
She collapses on top of me, both of us breathing heavily, my hand splaying over her back. She kisses the crook of my neck and I shudder through the last of my release.
“Best wake up ever,” she pants.
“Yeah, I vote we start every day the same way.”
“Mm hmm.”
“Ready for a shower?”
“Yeah. I need to get home and change, too.”
“That’d be good. I don’t need you wearing that dress to practice today. Pretty sure you’d be even more of a distraction for my boys.”
She giggles and slaps me lightly, groaning as she gets up and moves off me. I groan, too. Not because of being sore but because I liked her body surrounding mine. I’ve never wanted to skip work a day in my life, but right now I wouldn’t be sad to call it a day and just stay in bed worshiping her body.
For the rest of our lives.
“I need to talk to you, man,” Drew says in a hushed voice, face so close to mine I feel his hot breath on my cheek.
I jerk away and look at Drew out of the corner of my eye. “Are we dating? What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I really need to talk to you.”
“You said that already.”
“Well it’s important!”
I cross my arms over my chest and regard him. We talk daily, and obviously this isn’t the first time he’s ever let me know he needed to tell me something but this is clearly… bigger. “Okay, I’ll bite. What’s going on?”
He nods his head for me to follow him and I sigh, catching Bri’s eye as she talks to one of my trainers. I wink, and she smiles, her dimples popping. I stare at her, the realization hitting me in the chest once again that she’s back.
I wonder if I’ll ever get used to it. A big part of me hopes not. Falling in love all over again is the most amazing feeling in the world.
“Enough star gazing, buddy. We got serious shit happening.”
“Oh, for shit’s sake. What’s wrong?”
“Kennedy.”
A chill races through my body and I uncross my arms. “What about her?”
“Turns out, she’s been telling everyone you two are together.”
“How’d you hear this?”
“I have a friend who works for the same company she works for. You know the work party she was so insistent on you attending last weekend? Turns out there was a reason for that.”
“Which was?” I ask when he looks out over the field, eyes locking on the place where I know Bri is still standing.
“She had told everyone you two were together…” he says like I’m an idiot not catching on.
“Okay?”
“You’re not understanding! She expected you to go to the party to prove she wasn’t a liar.”
“But she is.”
I wish he’d get on with telling me about what he thinks is such a shitstorm so I can finish my day and have Bri naked in my bed. Where she belongs.
“Yeah. And now everyone she works with knows it.”
I wince. “Oh.”
He adds, “She’s pissed.”
It’s not that I don’t care about Kennedy, but I’ve never, not since we first met, led her to believe we were anything more than friends. For her to tell anyone we were together was… well, stupid. “How is this my problem?”
“She had a minor freak out.”
“Explain?”
“Minor might not be the correct word.” Now it’s his turn to wince.
That chill that raced down my spine earlier just turned a hell of a lot colder. I’m afraid this is part of the reason why Izaak said everyone knows Bri and I are together, too.
“How bad?”
“Bad. My friend told me she started the night telling everyone you’d be there soon, you’d been hung up at an important meeting. As the night went on, she kept checking her phone and coming up with more excuses for your absence. When it was obvious you weren’t coming, she got drunk. And I’m not talking a little tipsy—she was so drunk she could barely stand. But, it didn’t stop her from spewing a bunch of garbage.”
; I narrow my eyes and cross my arms again, instinctively knowing that what I’m about to hear is something that’s going to make me want to punch something.
“It would seem she has been doing a bit of research.”
“On?”
He nods his head in Bri’s direction and lead settles in my gut. “She found out she was in some treatment center a few years ago. Told everyone it was because she was a drug addict and she was only hired for the job because her best friend’s husband was doing her a favor.”
“Shit,” I mutter, scrubbing a hand down my face. While we were on our date, Bri had told me she had become really close with Aaron’s sister Ava after she got out of treatment. Ava was a bit of a mentor to Bri, helping her stay on the right track. When Bri was hired on with SI, she knew right away her editor Simon would be the perfect match for Ava. She introduced them, and they got married six months later.
She also confided in me when she was given the article, the one everyone in the country wanted, she was afraid she was being given special treatment. Simon assured her that wasn’t the case.
“Yeah.”
“Where did she get this information?”
“You’re not going to like it.”
“Drew,” I draw out his name and he shifts uncomfortably.
“I’m not really sure. How does anyone find out anything anymore? Nothing is sacred online, you know? Maybe Bri posted about it years ago.”
“Not possible. She didn’t even have social media again until recently. Next,” I say, daring him to continue lying to me.
“There’s always someone, that one asshole who doesn’t give a shit, you know?”
“And?”
“Once she knew Bri’s name, Kennedy did some digging. Found an old boyfriend. Trent, I think his name was. She got it out of him.”
Of course it was that asshole. “What the shit?”
“I know, man. I’m sorry. None of this is okay.”
“Fuck me. How the hell did she even find out who Bri is? The only announcement we made to the press was the story would not be released to anyone except SI, but we made sure no one knew Bri’s name. SI and the school didn’t want who was doing the article to overshadow the story itself. It’s one of the reasons why we’ve managed to stay under the radar of the press all this time.”
“I have no idea how she found out her name. Probably wasn’t hard for someone determined enough. It might get a little worse, though.”
“How?”
“She found out you two used to be a couple.”
“Fuck.”
He nods his head, eyes sad. “I’m sorry, man.”
“Not your fault.”
My phone chimes with a text and I look down, seeing Coach Bales’s name on the screen.
Bales: You need to prepare yourself.
Me: I heard.
Bales: My guess is you’ll be called in and she’ll be pulled from the story.
Me: Thanks for the good news.
Bales: Sorry. Didn’t expect this.
Me: Me either. Thanks for the warning.
I look across the field, Bri’s got the attention of all the players around her, they’re all captivated by her presence, and I wonder how I’m going to break it to her.
I see her look down, reach into the back pocket of her shorts and pull out her phone. Her face scrunches in confusion as she reads whatever’s on her phone and my heart pinches in my chest.
I watch her type out a response then she slowly lifts her head, her worried gaze finding me immediately. I close my eyes, frustrated and pissed off but sad.
I throw a thumb over my shoulder, and she nods.
When we get to my office after a quiet walk side by side, I take her in my arms and whisper apologies and what I hope are encouraging words.
“Simon wants me to call him,” she tells me through tears.
I don’t know what to tell her, so I tighten my arms around her.
“What did his text say?”
She shows me her phone.
Simon: It would seem you may have neglected to tell me how well you knew Grady Ryan. You need to call me so we can discuss this.
“Why don’t you do it now? Rip the Band-aid off?”
“Because I already know what’s going to happen. I’m off the story,” she whimpers.
“Let’s find out for sure, okay?”
She takes a deep breath and then my brave girl presses a button on her phone.
“Put it on speaker,” I whisper.
“Bri,” he answers, voice hard.
“Simon. I’m so sorry.”
“So this is why you were so adamant about not being given the job because of special treatment? How did you not think to tell me how well you knew Ryan?”
“You’re a reporter, Simon. I assumed you’d done your research,” she smarts back, and I raise my eyebrows.
“Don’t. Don’t you dare pin this on me. You’re better than that.”
Her shoulders straighten. “You’re right, I am. But I also know without a doubt, I’m still the best person to be doing this story.”
“Even though you were once in love with him?”
“Am.”
“Pardon?”
“Am in love with him.”
“Fuck. Bri, what the hell?”
“I’m sorry, Simon.”
“And drugs? I thought you were in treatment for anorexia?”
She jerks back and looks at me. I’ve stayed silent, not wanting to get in the middle of it but I also want to make sure this guy isn’t a dick to her. “I don’t understand.”
“The person who contacted us let us know the reason you were in a treatment facility was because of a drug addiction. Now, I’m not saying we wouldn’t have hired you, but what I am saying is you were hired under the assumption of full disclosure of that time of your life.”
“Well, I’m not sure who your source is, but they have it wrong. I was, in fact, anorexic and have never done drugs in my life. Not even weed. But thanks, Simon, for your belief in me. Feels amazing.”
“Bri…”
“No, stop. You said I knew better? Well, so do you. You know what I struggled with is what brought me to Ava. The woman, might I remind you, you married. So if you don’t believe me, are you saying you don’t believe your wife, too?”
“Now hold it right there,” he interrupts, but my girl is angry. I can see it in the fire in her eyes, and the rigidity of her spine.
I mute her phone with a stab of a finger. “This story is yours. Whether we’re together or not.”
I’m not entirely sure that’s true, considering I have yet to speak to the board, but I’ll make sure she gets credit for it somehow. She’s put in the time, and I’m not sure I trust anyone else with my team.
I unmute the phone and she asks, “You want me off this story?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Then what’s this call about, Simon? Am I not doing my job?”
“Can you be impartial doing a story about someone you admit you’re in love with?”
She’s quiet long enough he catches it. “That’s what I thought,” he says quietly. “Look, I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions about the treatment thing. You’re right. I know better. But damn, Bri. Why didn’t you tell me about your relationship with Grady Ryan? And if things started back up again, you know damn good and well you should have told us.”
“I know. In my defense, it only recently happened.”
“Why do I find that hard to believe? Ava told me you were hung up on some old flame which was why you rarely dated. I take it Grady’s the guy?”
She offers up a sheepish smile to me. “Yeah.”
“Fuck me. You realize what this brought upon me?”
“I’m sorry.”
“You already said that. And I believed you the first time. Just… give me a day to figure out where we go from here. Until then, keep doing what you’re doing.”
She smirks in my direction and I release a breath, glad s
he’s able to think of anything else other than the bullshit happening right now.
“Will do, Simon. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
There’s a pause and I wonder if he hung up for how quiet it is on the other then before, “Bri?”
“Yeah?”
“For the record, I want you happy.”
“I am,” she tells him while looking at me.
“Good. You deserve it, and I’m sorry, again, for accusing you of lying. Won’t happen again.”
“Thank you.”
“We’ll talk tomorrow. In the meantime, not that I need to tell you this, but if any other reporters come around…”
“I know, don’t talk to them.”
They say their final goodbyes and she tosses her phone onto my desk, pressing the heel of her hands into her eyes.
“What the hell?” she plops down into one of my office chairs, and I sit next to her.
“Kennedy,” I say by way of explanation.
She twists her head to look at me. “Why?”
“I don’t know,” I tell her honestly. “Jealousy? Angry she wasn’t getting her way? I haven’t talked to her yet.”
I go on to tell her the delightful story Drew told me a bit ago.
“What a bitch!”
I bark out a laugh. “Honestly, her behavior threw me a little bit. I’ve known Kennedy for a long time and never once saw this side of her. Either she’s a damn good chameleon or there’s something happening in her life that’s caused her to lose her shit.”
“You’re defending her?” she cries out.
I reach and rest a hand on her knee. “No. I’m not. I’m pissed but trying to remain calm because it won’t help our situation if I freak out the way I want to. I’m telling you I didn’t see this coming. I’m a bit blindsided by it all.”
“You knew she was in love with you, though,” she accuses.
“I did, but not until recently. At least not for sure, anyway. But that doesn’t mean I could have anticipated her behavior.”
She looks toward the picture frames. I wish I knew what she was thinking. “I’m sorry. This isn’t your fault. I’m just scared.”
“I know. I’m not going anywhere, though. We’ll deal with whatever’s about to come together.”
“Together,” she whispers.
Waiting for Her Page 20
