It’s the phone that finally shakes me from half-sleep and from his arms, and I growl as I reach for it.
My body freezes at the New York area code.
“Hello?”
Dalton’s up, and his usual grin turns into a serious look as he sits up and listens to my conversation.
With the office of admissions at Columbia University.
“Yes ma’am,” I say, trying to keep my voice steady, trying to keep the shriek climbing up my throat from spilling out. “I understand, and thank you!”
I turn the phone off, and slowly raise my eyes to Dalton.
“What?”
“I got my admittance interview.”
His eyes go wide. “You got it?”
Slowly, I let the grin creep across my face as I start to nod. “I got it!”
“Hell yeah!” I finally do let the shriek out as Dalton tackles me back into the bed, hugging me and tickling me, and kissing my neck.
“You did it, darlin!” He eyes are wild and he grins at me, leaning in to press his lips to mine.
“It’s tomorrow - first thing in the morning, actually,” I say, my voice shaking with excitement. “But it’s basically a formality! I’m basically in!”
I shriek again as I tackle him this time, pushing him onto his back and sliding on top of him to pepper his face with kisses.
“Damn, I knew you’d get this,” he murmurs, kissing me.
And then suddenly, we’re both pulling back and going a little quiet. And neither of us actually says it out loud, but both of us know what me “getting it” means.
It means I’m leaving.
“Dalton-”
“Hey,” he says, shaking his head with this small smile on his face. His eyes dart across mine. “Just a one time thing, right?”
I bite my lip, shaking my head. “You know that’s not true,” I say quietly.
He rolls his eyes as he kisses me again. “Yeah, I got that.” He winks at me, “Besides, if we were supposed to do that just the once, I’m going to need like….well shit I lost track on how many refunds.”
I laugh as I punch him in the arm. “Dick.”
I erupt into giggles as he flips me over onto my back, tickling me mercilessly while I squirm under him.
“So what’s the deal with Columbia anyways?” He says suddenly, his hands coming to a stop.
“Um, it’s one of the if not the best? I mean I want to go to med school, and their pre-med program is like, the program.”
“State school doesn’t cut it, huh?”
I shrug. “What would you want, a contract with the NFL, or….I don’t know, whatever isn’t that.”
Dalton grins. “Yeah, I get ya.” His eyes dart away from me, “Just...”
“What?” I frown, searching his face but finding nothing there.
“Nothing.”
“Dalton-”
“Listen, what are you doing tonight?” he says abruptly, his eyes darting back to mine, a smile creeping across his jaw.
“Well, I thought I’d prepare for that slightly important interview tomorrow.”
He grins, “Well would you need food first to prepare?”
I raise a brow. “And what are you suggesting?”
“That…we go get food somewhere first?” He flashes me that farm-boy grin. “Go do something like normal people?”
“Like a date?”
He rolls his eyes, “Nah.”
“Cause, we aren’t normal?” I smirk at him.
“We’re whatever we say we are, darlin,” he arches a brow, looking at me curiously. “And you know what? Fuck it. Yeah, like a date.” He grins as he leans over me.
“A date, huh?” I grin, trying to push down the ridiculous fluttery feeling inside at the idea of Dalton Cole asking me on date.
“People are going to know us. Well, you, at least.”
He shrugs “We’ll go a few towns over or something.”
“Dalton-” I arch my brow at him. “Your face is literally on a billboard, I don’t think a commute is going to change that.”
He grins, “Look, just trust me, okay?” He kisses me once more before he slides from the bed. “I gotta get to practice, but how about seven?” He chuckles, “Eyes up here, darlin.”
I blush furiously, pulling my eyes from where they’ve been very hungrily devouring his nude body. “Seven, right,” I frown. “This is a bad idea, you know.”
“Nah, it’s not,” he grins, buttoning his jeans over that famous bulge and yanking his t-shirt back down over his chiseled torso.
“Seven, red. Don’t be late.”
* * *
I barely have the door to my dorm room open before I burst into peels of laughter.
“Are you serious right now?”
Dalton - wearing the world’s goofiest, biggest, bushiest, fake beard in the world - pushes the door open and sweeps his arm down in a bow. “Now that all depends.” He grins at me, “Are you seriously ready for the hottest date of your life with Grizzly Adams?”
I crack up again, giggling as I shake my head at him. “Only if we’re going out for moose or something.”
“Oh, best damn moose in all of Georgia, I promise.”
“Oh is that so? Good, I’m starving.”
Dalton shrugs, “Well, I mean, I’ve gotta hunt the damn thing first, of course.”
I snort. “Oh, of course. I’m actually not even going on this date if you’re going to low-ball me with pre-hunted moose.”
Dalton laughs and sticks his arm out. “C’mon little house on the prairie, let’s go tear it up.”
* * *
Grizzly Adams or not, and despite the fact that we thankfully grab sushi instead of hunted big-game, Dalton’s right.
It is the best date of my life.
And it’s not even that my pool of experiences is small in that department, it’s that I’m honestly having the time of my life. We crack jokes, we push maki rolls in each other’s faces, we talk about my mom and his dad.
We let ourselves drop out of the roles we’re supposed to be - the nerd and the jock, the quiet girl and the famous ladykiller - and just let ourselves be who we are with each other.
Perfect.
I’m watching his face as we drive home, grinning to myself as I let my eyes drift over the sharp line of his chin, the curve of his cheek, the slight smirk on his perfect lips as he realizes I’m staring at him. And without even really thinking about it - without thinking more than I should or need to about it - I reach over to the center console and slide my hand into his.
He turns, a startled look on his face before it slowly creeps into a grin.
I’ve held his hand in this car before, on another night. But that was just for comfort, and that was before - before Dalton and I became….well, whatever this is.
And it’s a lot more than just a comfort now.
His thumb runs along the top of my hand, his fingers warm against mine. There’s a tingle where our skin meets, a shiver that teases up my arm leaving goosebumps in its wake as I slide my fingers against his.
We drive for another five minutes like that - just the silence of the road, the smell of the dogwood trees drifting in through the open windows, and our fingers interlocked. And we’re almost back home, driving past the campus, when I turn to him again.
“Let’s not go back yet.”
He glances at me, that little ever-present smirk on his face. “I thought we had a deadline tonight before you turned into a pumpkin.”
“I know, but-” I feel the heat creep into my face as I bite my lip. “I’m having too much fun.”
Dalton grins, “Hey, I mean, that’s a date with me, darlin. Coulda told you that a long time ago and saved us all this trouble.” He shoots me a look, “So where to?”
I glance out the window just as we drive past the dark shell of the stadium, past the darkened scoreboard with the field stretching out behind it, and I grin. “Right here.”
He pulls into the parking lot without a wor
d, driving us around the bleachers to the far, open end of the football stadium. Dalton turns off the car, and we sit there in silence, looking out over the moonlit field.
“Man, one date with me and you’re suddenly a sports fan.”
“Hey, I just wanted to see it, without all the craziness and all the screaming people.” I stick my tongue out at him, poking him in the arm as he laughs and slings an arm over my shoulders.
I shake my head. “I actually can’t even imagine what it’s like to stand out there in the middle of all that.”
“Well, I could tell you,” Dalton turns to me, grinning. “Or I could show you.”
40
Dalton
“Wait, what are we going to do, break in?”
I’m pulling Hailey by the hand around to the back side of the stadium. “Hang on, I got this.”
I stop us in front of the big Hawks-blue-and-white painted side door to the locker rooms.
Hailey gives me a look. “Dalton, I’m pretty sure it’s locked,” she says, nodding her head at the key-code door.
“I’m pretty sure you’re right,” I grin at her before I turn and punch in the code.
The door clicks open.
I turn back to her, wagging my eyebrows. “I’m also pretty sure your dad shouldn’t write the passcode down on the front of play-books.”
Hailey laughs as I tug her inside the dark of the locker room.
“Listen, mister, before you get to thinking this is just another chance to get me alone in the locker room, I did actually want to see the field,” she giggles as I pull her into the defensive coach’s office.
“Oh, did you not want me to bend you over this desk, pull your shorts down and bury my tongue in your pussy?”
Hailey’s eyes flash as she sucks her bottom lip between her teeth, and I grin. “Tempted, aren’t you?”
“Um, yes please,” she says moving towards me with a wicked grin on her face.
“Lord have mercy, I've created a monster,” I murmur as I pull her against me and sear my lips to hers. She whimpers, her hands sliding up my back as I slide my tongue into her mouth.
She pouts as I reluctantly pull away from her. “Where are you going?”
I smirk as I walk around the junior offensive coach’s desk. “Hey, I told you I’d show you the field, didn’t I?” I bend down to the mini fridge hidden under his desk and pull out two beers.
Hailey raises a brow and I shrug. “Coach Atkins has a hard time making it past three in the afternoon without a few,” I say with a wink as I pull her back through the dark locker room.
“Alright, close your eyes,” I murmur into her ear, pulling her hands up and placing them over her eyes.
“Dalton-”
“Trust me.”
I lead her, eyes covered, down the long, dark hallway that leads out onto the field.
Some colleges keep their stadium lights on all the damn time, and while it looks cool sometimes, it never made much sense to me. Luckily, the University voted last season to kill the lights when the stadium isn’t in use in an effort to make the school more energy efficient, and I am totally okay with that - especially tonight.
“Open up,” I whisper in her ear.
Hailey gasps as she opens her eyes. “Oh wow.”
We’re standing at the fifty-yard line in the very center of the dark, moonlit field. Lights from the campus buildings glow faintly over the western bleachers, but not enough that you can’t still see a whole swath of stars across the sky.
Hailey’s entire face lights up in a smile as she looks up at them, her eyes sparkling, her mouth slightly open, and her hair blowing gently in the soft breeze.
The hell with the stars, I could gaze at her all night.
We sink to the ground, and I crack the beers as she leans against my chest, still looking up.
“Pretty awesome, huh?”
“God, it’s beautiful out here. It’s so peaceful.”
I grin. “Slightly different when the lights are all on and there’s forty-thousand people screaming at you.”
Hailey snorts, “Yeah, pass. I like this version of the field better I think.”
“You know,” I run my lips over the back of her neck. “I might too.”
“Okay, something I’ve been dying to ask you.”
I arch my brow. “Shoot.”
“Why Ten?”
I grin, “Do I really need to explain the nickname to you, darlin?” I start to go for my fly but she rolls her eyes and slaps my arm.
“Your middle name, horn-dog, not the nickname. Tennessee. I know you’re not from there, so I was just curious.”
I laugh as I quickly kiss her. “Williams.”
“As in Tennessee Williams?”
“The very same. He was my dad’s favorite writer, I guess.”
She nods, “Huh.”
“Not quite as dramatic as the nickname, is it?”
She laughs as I pull her into me, but then I furrow my brow. “Wait, hang on. I don’t even know your middle name.”
Hailey’s face goes red and she shakes her head. “Nah, next question.”
Okay, now I’m curious.
“C’mon, spill it,” I grin, tickling her and loving the way she giggles and squirms against me.
“Stop!” She shrieks, laughing and burrowing into me as I run my fingertips up her ribs. “It’s just stupid, okay!”
“You’re talking to the guy whose nickname is literally a cock-reference,” I smirk at her. “C’mon, let’s hear it.”
Hailey rolls her eyes and groans, “Mary.”
I frown. “Wait, what’s so bad about-”
It suddenly clicks, and my mouth opens as she shakes her head. “Yeah.”
“Wait, wait,” I’m grinning at her. “Hang on, your name is Hailey Mary? As in-”
“As in a last-second long-shot of a football pass?” She rolls her eyes again. “Yep.”
“That is amazing.”
“I mean, you’ve met my dad, right?” She grins through the red blush of her cheeks. “My parents had been trying for a while I guess, and they were about to give up when I came along.”
I wrap my arms around her, pulling her close. “The last-second long-shot, huh?”
“That’s me.”
Hailey laughs quietly as she sips her beer and looks down around us. “You know, I always thought it was fake,” she frowns, running her hand across the grass.
“Yeah, in the NFL it mostly is. Still the real stuff here,” I murmur into her ear. I set my beer down and bring my hand to her jaw, cupping it gently and turning her head as I lean in to kiss her. Her hand snakes back and into my hair, pulling me into her as her mouth opens for me, her tongue eagerly finding mine.
“Is this real?” She whispers, pulling back just enough for her eyes to dart hesitantly over mine.
I’m no saint. I’ve lied to plenty of girls who’ve asked me questions like this before. I’ve side-stepped answers, I’ve told half-truths, I’ve broken hearts, and I’m not proud of any of that. But I was playing a game - not football, but the game that comes with being famous, and wanted and desired by everyone around you.
It’s the game you play to keep yourself sane, and keep yourself you, when everyone wants a piece of you. You wall them off, you shut them out, and you take, giving nothing in return.
I’m not playing that game anymore.
I’m through.
I’m done hiding behind this bullshit version of myself. I’m done going through the motions, and done running every damn second of every damn day just to keep my head above the tide of people who want to drag me down into what they want me to be.
And all it takes is one question from one particular girl for me to know that, without a second thought.
I’m done, and there isn’t even a single particle of me that thinks of a line to say, or what words might get me into her pants, or what the media wants to hear.
I only have to tell the truth.
And the truth? Wit
h her?
Well shit, that’s easy.
“Yeah, this right here?” I grin as I lean in, my lips brushing across hers. And it’s not fevered, or demanding, it’s just a pure, true kiss.
“This is real, darlin.”
Hailey falls into me, her mouth melting against mine as we fall backwards onto the grass. Her pillowed lips press against mine as her tongue eagerly searches for mine, her hair tumbling down around us as she lays across me.
My hands slide down to her ass, making her squeal as I grab it and pull her up to straddle my waist. She sits up, her eyes flashing at me as she slowly reaches down and hooks her fingers into her t-shirt. She doesn’t hesitate - this new, bold version of Hailey - as she pulls it from her body, slipping it over her head and dropping it to the side.
I’m leaning up, my hang going to the back of her hair and taking a fistful of it as I kiss her again - hungrier, harder this time. Her fingers find the edge of my shirt, and she’s pulling it from my body, her mouth dropping to rain kisses on my chest as she pulls it off.
My mouth goes to her neck, sucking hard at the tender skin there and loving the way she gasps. My fingers slip to the clasp of her bra before I pull it away from her, and my lips find her rosy pink nipples hard and wanting.
Hailey’s hands are at my belt, tearing at it feverishly and moaning as I tongue her nipples. Her fingers get my fly down, and then she’s reaching inside and running her fingers over the bulge in my jockeys.
“Take these off,” she husks, pulling my head up to her lips and kissing me fiercely.
I grin against her mouth. “Oh and why’s that?”
“Because I want to ride you, that’s why.”
There’s no blush, no lip-biting bashfulness this time. Her look is fierce and hungry, her eyes blazing as she meets my gaze.
“Please,” she whispers. “I want to feel you inside of me.”
She stands from my lap, and I’m growling as I reach between us, pushing my jeans and my shorts down in one motion.
Hailey stands and turns away, swaying her hips and bending slightly at the waist as she starts to peel her shorts and her panties down over her ass. She makes it to about mid-thigh before I grab her, my muscles holding her tight in that standing position as I push my face between her thighs and drag my tongue across her slit.
Jock: A Secret Baby Sports Romance Page 49
