by Susan Arden
“Dancing next to the girl with blonde hair wearing a shiny dress.”
“Yep. Can you do something?” Brett asked, then grimaced. “Keep her busy for an hour. Drinks, dancing, whatever.”
“Damn, I don’t know if any of our team has that left in them after these last two games. I’ll see.”
“The clock is running. I owe you.”
Kenny downed his drink. “Brett, you’re cool in my book. I’ve got your six covered. Now, you just have to take care of the rest.”
He shook Kenny’s hand and returned to the bar area, a surprising thrill running through his body at seeing Cory seated and sipping her drink.
She smiled at him, her expression changing and kick-starting his engine. “Let’s go.”
“That soon?” she answered.
“I’ve been assured it’s a done deal. Virtually." His chest constricted. So near and so far was this girl he wanted. He’d not wanted anyone like this in forever.
“Virtually. What does that mean?” Cory cocked her head.
He inhaled her perfume. Her gaze lowered down his body as she licked her mouth. Damn, it was like his whole body felt the lick her pink tongue. “Would you rather wait around or do you trust me?”
“Answering a question with a question is no answer.”
“Is this because of the woman who stopped by before I left?”
“Yes. And yes.” She smiled but her face was tense.
“You said you wanted to be wild. But I’ve no intention of doing anything you don’t want. Five minutes. That’s it. And I’ll bring you right back. We can’t talk here. Shout maybe, but not talk.” She seemed to consider his proposition, then nodded her consent.
“Where do you intend on taking me? To a room you’ve already reserved?”
“I’m not going to pretend I don’t have sex on weekends. I do. With women I have no intention of seeing again. I’m not into promising a girl that this means anything beyond a good time. But you’re different. UCLA marketing department. I’ve thought about how I could find you there. I’ve never done anything like that before.”
“Go look for someone?”
Cory needed him to be straight and for her he would crack open the locked door on his past. “I was engaged and I didn’t chase my fiancée. She chased me and maybe that was the problem. In the end, I didn’t hold onto to her…because maybe I didn’t really want to. I know this sounds pretty bad, but I don’t lie to find sex.”
“But you lie for other things, is that what you’re saying?”
“Are you going to sit there and preach to me a sermon that you don’t bend the truth?”
“I don’t. Not usually.”
“It’s the not usually that I’m into. I’ve not lied to you. And I’ve no intention in starting.”
“When was the last time you lied?”
Shit, this wasn’t going to sound good. “Today.”
“That’s some record.” She put down her drink. “Why’d you lie?”
“My mother asked my plans for Thanksgiving and I told her I went home and crashed.”
“So what was the lie?”
“I went out drinking. Got so smashed I didn’t make it home. I ended up here and booked a room for the weekend.”
“Wait a minute. You want me to go up to a room where you’ve already—”
“Whoa. Slow down. I never hooked up with anyone. I arrived alone and slept alone. This here is my first drink of the night.”
“First. You plan on getting wasted?” She arched a brow.
“Playing ball isn’t all about partying. There’s a heck of a lot riding on these games. Players want to unwind. I’m not excusing my behavior. Believe it or not, I need to rework my life or at least what I do when I’m not playing.”
“I don’t think I fit into your equation of a good time.”
“You’re not the usual girl I hook up with. Don’t you think I know that? And you do fit into my equation because you’re atypical. Hell, it feels like I’m scrambling on a hard play when I’m near you. Know what I’ve learned, kitten?”
She swung her chin back and forth, making her hair bounce. “I can’t imagine.”
“That those are the plays worth remembering. The ones that stick. You’re trouble. I know that. I want that. What about you?”
“I don’t want easy. That’s for sure.” She arched her neck, looking back over at the dance floor. “Oh, you do make good on your promises.”
He swung around slowly to face the dance floor, bumping his hip against her knee and wedging open her legs. He lifted his gaze to her and her eyes widened. He crowded over a few inches, preventing her from closing her knees. He let his hand fall on the top of her leg and he squeezed. Shifting his gaze, he glanced at the dance floor, praying he’d find the girl in the black dress occupied by a team mate.
“Jesus.” He laughed. Kenny was dancing with the girl. “I hope you’re impressed.”
Cory’s warm fingers trailed over his hand resting on her leg. “He’s a big man. I take it he plays football.”
“Yep. He’s a fun guy. Your gossip won’t have to worry about the stories she’ll spin about you. He might permanently end her need to spread rumors.”
“Five minutes. The clock is running, Mr. Gold.”
“I’d better pick you up then and make a dash for the door.”
Slipping the key card into the room, he thanked every star that he’d had a ground floor room overlooking the pool. Generally, these garden rooms weren’t his style. But given Mike had booked the upper floors, months in advance, he was lucky to get a broom closet. With Cory, he would have preferred a suite. Something palatial and impressive. From her jewelry, a couple of carat diamond stud earrings and Cartier watch, her luggage he remembered was designer, everything about her spoke classy. Expensive. And the rest of her entourage. There wasn’t a woman in the bunch who looked cheap. No, he’d seen these types. Wives of players. Cory already had the lifestyle. She wasn’t chasing him. Christ, if anything, once she learned he played ball she seemed less than impressed. A first in his world.
He pulled her into the room, moving over to the bar, and removing his jacket. “Bottle of champagne?”
“Do you drink champagne?”
“On occasion. This seems like a celebration. A very short celebration, I might add.”
“No more. I’m good. But you go ahead.”
This was perfect. Neither of them wanting to get drunk and have easy sex. He needed a way in. She seemed to prefer hard tactics. Honesty. “I want you. And I’ve less than three minutes left, I imagine.” He closed the distance between them, reaching for her, and running his hands over her shoulders, brushing her hair back.
She bit her lip in the most delicious way and he didn’t hold back, but groaned. “Cory. You play dirty pool.”
“I don’t mean to,” she said, her voice wavering. A blush crept up her neck, color teasing a glow across her skin that made him hungry to taste her mouth, feel her heat.
“One kiss.” It was what he wanted. What he’d imagined, and had tortured him for two days.
He moved closer, lifting her face, tracing the edge of her bottom lip with the pad of his thumb. Her mouth was red and wet, and when she parted her lips, he lost his will to wait. He pressed his mouth to those perfect lips, pressing into her hips, wanting her to know how turned on she’d gotten him. With his hand he urged her chin up to him, bringing her silky lips to his. He groaned, deep in his throat as he fully took possession of her mouth. Her hands roamed over his shoulders, snaking around his neck, and she crushed her breasts into his chest. He encircled her waist with his arm, pulling her snug against him. The feel of her softness sent a ripple of pleasure through his body, a jetting slice up his spine.
Cory moaned, opening her mouth wider and he traced across her lips, slipping his tongue into the sweetness he’d imagined tasting. He slid his hands over her waist and downward, cupping her bottom up to his hips.
Her lips were warm and wet and she tasted every bit as wonderful as he’d fantasized. He was so worked up, he didn’t know if he could control himself another minute. The way her body bowed into a perfect fit with his had him beyond rigid in his pants. His hands clasped her tiny waist and it was all he could do to stop himself from lifting her and carrying her into the bedroom. She was so fucking hot.
He moved, pushing her backward until she was up against a wall. Flaring images of her naked seared his brain, of him fucking her so hard her voice would carry across the pool area into the outdoor seating arranged for the bar and restaurant. Cory ran her hands down his shoulders and he inwardly groaned, believing their heated kiss was coming to an end.
Hell, he wasn’t going to let go of her until she said stop. He began to thrust his tongue into her mouth and damn if his wildcat didn’t meet him stroke for luscious stroke with her own. Her mouth was on fire, hot and erotic, and their tongues tangled, inciting him to deepen their kiss. They alternated between biting and sucking each other’s lips, and he poured one long groan down her throat.
She reached for him again, pulling on his shirt, and he stopped kissing her. “Time? It feels like I’m overstepping our agreement,” he said.
“Don’t. I stopped the clock. I want you. I’ve never been with a man who has made me feel wild. I want one night.” Flames sparked from her eyes and then that something else, he’d seen it before. The look that haunted him unlike that of any woman he’d ever encountered. If she wanted him to make her wild, he couldn’t deny her. Her skin was amazing. Soft and fragrant and her mouth tasted incredible.
“Baby,” he groaned, his voice strangling in his throat as his cock throbbed for release. In an instant, inexplicably he felt a bizarre need to ensure she really wanted to be wild. He took her by the arms, forcing himself to talk instead of act. For a millisecond, he didn’t even know what the hell to say. “Hey, are you getting married?” he asked, not being completely serious.
“No. I don’t have a boyfriend, if that’s what you’re wondering.
“So just one wild night?”
“The man of a thousand wild nights is asking me?”
“Point taken,” he conceded. “How long have I got, coach?”
“Long enough to make me crazy. Hot.” She moaned softly and he shuddered, leaning over to brush his lips across her mouth. Needing to taste her again, to break his resistance. Fine time to act the gentleman. Shit, how did she do this to him?
“And you’re sure this is what you want?” he asked, ready to come in his pants.
Speechless for beat, Cory’s eyes widened and a blush suffused her cheeks. “When you ask like that, I gotta say you make me wonder.”
CHAPTER 7
He was driving her berserk. No stops, just go! Cory’s heart careered in her chest. One short road toward crazy town and she wasn’t backing away. But Brett was…backpedaling. Fine. Fine. Frigging fine. She bet the blonde in the red dress would have been stripped down by now, with him naked, too.
He seemed to study her, and under a microscope she tended to squirm and become irritated, like now. “If you decided you’re not interested, just tell me. I’m a big girl.” She lifted one shoulder and huffed. “I can find my way back to my friends.” She made as if to brush past him and he reached out and brought her back.
“Hell, no. You can’t tell me you want a wild night and expect I’m going to let you go and find it with someone else. I’m just not sure you need a wild night, is all.”
“I can’t believe a woman throws herself at you after you chase and chase, and then you back off. That sounds like you need therapy. Not sex.”
“Is this how you act when a man wants to make sure you know what you’re saying?” His eyes narrowed. “You make being a gentleman real hard, sugar.”
“Are you insinuating that I’m talking nonsense? I’m very certain I can find someone on your team who might find me attractive, since you obviously think that sex with me would be such a chore.”
“Jesus H. Christ, you are one hot mess, woman.”
“No, I’m not! I’m very easy to get along with. Ask anyone. You’re the one who’s ornery.” And then she did it. Lost control and pushed him. Which of course was a total joke. He didn’t budge but the act of aggression apparently wasn’t lost on him, either, by the way his dark brows drew together.
“Cory McLemore,” he snorted, and then lifted her up in his arms. “Damn, you drive me wild enough to smack your bottom.”
He walked out of the living room area with her hoisted over his shoulder, and made a sharp turn through a doorway into a large room where a wide bed came into view. He marched over and flung her down on the bed, none too gently.
“What are you going to do?” she asked, her voice coming out in hoarse whisper.
“Seeing that I can’t talk some sense into you, I’m giving you one last chance to reconsider,” he whispered. His pupils dilated and his expression had gone tense. Dressed in a button-down shirt and dark trousers, he was the epitome of elegance and with his thick hair messed up, so freaking sexy.
“There’s nothing to reconsider,” she said, sitting up and scooting to the edge of the bed. She began to untie the straps at the back of her neck. Sucking in her breath, she let go of the material between her fingers and the halter section of her dress spilled downward. Sitting there, she was half naked. She wasn’t wearing a bra under her dress and Brett stared at her breasts, his mouth slightly open. It took him a year to reconnect his gaze with hers.
“You’re beautiful,” he murmured.
She stood up and pivoted in front of him. Glancing over her shoulder, she met his eyes. “Help me with the zipper.”
Brett’s hands were at her hips and he pulled her back against him. Groaning, he pushed himself into her bottom. He was fully aroused and bent his head, dragging his mouth over her shoulder. He lightly bit down into her neck and the feeling had her pulsing with pleasure. Dark and wild, and she moaned his name, reaching behind herself to touch him.
He rocked against her hand, his cheek next to her ear. “Do you need proof of how you’ve had me sporting a hard-on all night? Christ, I want you, and the things I’ve imagined doing with you…I could keep you busy for the rest of the weekend.”
She looked up, trying to fathom his expression. “You’ve thought of me?”
“Only about five hundred thousand times. This morning in the shower, it was you I thought of making myself come. You’ve become a mad distraction since the moment we bumped into each other at the airport.”
“Really?” Her heartbeat thudded loudly in her ears. Should she tell him he wasn’t alone in chaotic fantasizing?
“Did you think of me? At all?” he asked, kissing along her neck.
Cory’s breath hitched and she leaned back against him. “Yes. I have. Coming home. It was so hard, but thinking about you made it easier.”
A choking feeling overcame her, then stinging in her eyes. She thought of her mother and how everything was changing. Brett’s arms were around her, pressing her back against him, while she rapidly blinked, sternly telling herself she was not going to become a blubbering mess. Talk about a wacko. He’d run, not walk, her back to the group.
Brett’s fingertips traced down her arms, moving over to her chest. He palmed her breasts, squeezing and kneading each one. His thumbs swept up and down over her nipples. “You’ve got perfect tits. The kind that were meant to be sucked, licked, and fucked.”
She closed her eyes, giving in to the feel of his warm hands on her body, eliciting jolts of bliss, hot and heavy. Blindly, she worked her hands over his zipper, tugging open his belt as he began kissing up her neck. Exquisite and splintering, the sensations came at her from all angles. She pushed his trousers off his hips, then tugged on his boxers, still facing away from him. The sensation of doing things without having visual cues made her listen more closely, and her sense of touch heightened. His hard body up against hers, both of them half na
ked and skimming over each other’s skin, spiked her ache to have him take possession of her entirely. He shifted and moved his hands down to the bottom of her dress. Gliding his hand underneath, he pushed her panties off her hips.
“Open your legs wider.” His hand rubbed over her backside parting her thighs and slipping his fingers in between her legs.
She arched against him, the feeling of falling overcoming her without warning. Brett didn’t relinquish when she groaned. He pushed his fingers along the seam of her sex, where ache and hunger threatened to explode.
“Please,” she moaned, her nipples tightening with the craving to submit uncoiling in her belly and she bit down on her lip. The brush of his fingers across her clit sent a swarm of chill bumps over her skin and she cried out.
“You are so wet.” He didn’t wait for her answer, but drove one of his fingers inside. His hands were large and his finger made her whimper. She began gyrating her hips, riding his finger. Her mind emptied, her thoughts blurred as a coiling deep in her belly that began to shatter apart. Brett drew a tight circle around her clit, flicking his finger expertly to make her gasp and her hips jerk.
“Brett, please,” she begged, sliding along his finger. “More.”
“That’s it, sugar. Open those beautiful legs for me.” He knew exactly what to do as he leaned over her, driving his finger deeper into her. He wrapped his arm around her waist, and began pumping his finger into her. Harder. Faster. And then he stopped, pulled his hand from between her legs. “I need to get inside you, Cory.”
She met his eyes. In the dim bedroom, they were dark but glinting as though the inside of him were on fire. “My dress.” She turned in his arms, rubbing her hip against him, over his erection. His fingers worked the back of her dress, tugging down the zipper. Her dress fell to the floor at her ankles and Cory spun until she faced him. “Your turn.”
“Sounds good.” He leaned forward and kissed her as her fingers slid down his chest and she unbuttoned his shirt. She glanced down and froze at seeing his cock, jutting out from his hips. He was built. Thick and long—and what did she expect, with his height and the size of his hands?
