I’m the good girl, the one who studies and doesn’t go out to parties, and I’ve got the stats to prove it. Been kissed three times, had my admittedly small boobs felt once, and I’ve seen a guy’s dick exactly zero times if I don’t count on the internet. Even that wasn’t on purpose . . . some asshole sent me a dick pic. It wasn’t anything to be proud of, that’s for sure.
I spend the next half hour trying to concentrate and listen to the teacher, but I can’t focus. Every time I look back, I see Aubrey looking at me, his eyes proudly not skittering away when I catch him. His gaze is just this side of staring, except that he cuts his eyes back to the board every once in a while. When the bell rings, I’m putting stuff in my backpack when I hear big feet approach.
“I creep you out yet?” a deep voice asks. It’s a man’s voice, not a boy’s, although there’s a hint of humor to it.
I turn, my neck craning as I look up into Aubrey’s handsome face. He’s grinning, and the amused twinkle in his eye flusters me so much I need to take a moment to respond. I have to try and put on a casual front and not show that I’m nervous as hell, recognizing that as a death sentence in high school, especially when someone like Aubrey is talking to you. “I was wondering why you were looking at me,” I finally tease back. “Is there something on my face?” I scrub at my cheeks, letting the coolness of my hand ease the pink flush.
Aubrey shakes his head, smirking. “Nope. But math’s so boring, looking at your pretty face is the only way I can get through it without falling asleep.”
His bald-faced compliment brings me up short, a furious blush returning to my cheeks with a vengeance. “I, uh, gee, thanks. I’m glad I’m more interesting than calculus, I guess,” I say with a laugh. It’s not the best compliment I’ve ever gotten, but I’ll take it, considering the source.
“You’re welcome, and trust me, you’re more interesting than a lot of things. Maybe even football.” He says it conspiratorially, looking around to be sure no one hears him say that. It’s silly and cute and makes me smile, like I’m in on some big secret with him, even if it’s all in jest.
Aubrey suddenly looks a little unsure of himself, and he scratches at his short hair, almost as if he’s nervous. But why would someone like him be nervous talking to me? “So, uh, listen. The big game is tonight versus Elgin, and those fuckers have been talking shit about us for so long I can’t wait to beat them.”
Elgin. Great Falls’s biggest rivals and constant shit-talkers. I nod, adjusting my backpack. “I hope you do, too.”
“The team’s ready, but I think I need a cheerleader to help me out and give me motivation,” Aubrey says, nodding. “So I was thinking . . . if we win, you go out with me tomorrow night?”
I gawk at him for a moment, taking a second to realize what he’s saying. “Me?” I ask incredulously. And I swear to God, I actually turn and look behind me to make sure he’s not talking over my head to some cheerleader behind me, but there’s no one there. He can’t be talking about me. He can have any girl he wants and I’m supposed to be his motivation? “Are you messing with me? Is the punch line coming?”
Aubrey’s eyebrows furrow, but then he smiles. “Why wouldn’t I be serious? Be there tonight, on the edge of the bleachers near the locker room. I’ll be looking for you.”
I nod, not even thinking, unable to say anything as he walks away giving me a little wave. As he turns the corner, I can only think of one thing. Marissa’s gonna freak when she hears this.
This has to be the most miserable I’ve ever been in my life.
Seriously . . . why is football like the only sport that they don’t stop the game due to rain? Or maybe that’s not true? I wouldn’t know because I don’t do sports. Yet, here I sit in the drizzling rain that hasn’t let up for the past few hours. If this is a trick, Mother Nature is fucking in on it too.
“I can’t feel my toes,” Trey says next to me as we huddle together. “And my butt’s frozen.”
“I know, but we gotta stick it out,” I reply, yelling over the frantic blasting of the band. Elgin’s got the ball, and the drum section’s determined that the more noise they make, the bigger the chances Elgin’s going to screw up.
“Why, because Stud Boy asked you?” Trey asks, smirking. “Didn’t think you even cared about football.”
I glare at him, trying to look angry and failing. He’s right. I don’t know much about what’s going on, but I can see the score, and I see Aubrey. But damn, this rain’s making things miserable.
Elgin punts, and Great Falls gets the ball back with just under two minutes left. We’re down by five, and it’s going to be tough to avoid the tenth straight loss to our rivals.
“Come on, Aubrey, you can do it!” I yell as he straps up his helmet to return to the field after a conference with the Coach. I can barely read his number right now—there’s so much mud and he’s been banging for tough yards all night.
I know Aubrey can’t hear me, there’s too much noise, but I watch in shock as he stops, looking in my direction. I swear I see him smile and nod before he jogs out to the huddle, and I sit down, wondering if I’m going nuts. “Did he . . .?”
“Look at you?” Trey completes next to me. “Either that, or he was giving me the look. Doubt that though.”
The first two plays are quick duds, handoffs that get stuffed at the line, and on third down, Aubrey’s pass is dropped. It’s down to the last few seconds, and across the field, the Elgin fans are raising hell, trying to distract us as they line up for the last play of the game.
My heart’s in my throat as Aubrey looks left, then right, his eyes freezing on me for a moment. He calls the rest of his signals, and the ball snaps, Aubrey tossing the ball to one of the running backs. Blayden starts running right, and my gaze follows him, but out of the corner of my eye, I see Aubrey taking off the other direction, running downfield and making quick headway on the left side of the field. Next to me, Trey’s getting to his feet, excited.
I gawk as Blayden stops, turning and throwing the ball just as a defender smashes into him. It’s an ugly throw, but Aubrey adjusts, catching it on the run. I’m on my feet, cheering madly as he jukes a defender before bulldozing over another, and Aubrey’s off to the races, streaking down the sideline like a gazelle for the touchdown.
“Oh, my God, we did it!” I’m screaming, jumping up and down while hugging Trey. The clock buzzes. We won! For the first time in ten years, we beat Elgin.
I run onto the field with a bunch of other people congratulating the players. It’s a chaotic celebration, people hugging each other and randomly shouting out their excitement. I lose Trey in the masses, but the crowd’s too big and I can’t see him. I don’t know where Aubrey is either. Even in the crowd, I start to feel a little lost, lonely as I admit to myself that I’d hoped I’d see Aubrey after the game.
Saddened, I finally give up just as the rain stops and the stars start to peek out. I’m still looking at the scoreboard, a small smile on my face, when Trey walks up. He’s blushing a little, and I wonder who he was talking to. “There you are! You okay?” he asks. “You look . . . sad.”
“I guess. I don’t know, I was hoping . . .” I reply, shrugging. I hear squelching behind me, and I turn to see Aubrey grinning as he runs up in his muddy uniform. “Aubrey?”
“Sorry, celebrating with the team for a minute and then Coach wanted me to say something to the radio people,” he says, shrugging. “Hey, Trey.”
“Hey,” Trey replies, glancing at the two of us. “Uh, I think I’ll go get the car warmed up. Maybe I’ll be able to feel my ass in a few minutes.”
Trey disappears, and I look at Aubrey, whose hair is plastered to his skull and his skin’s flushed. Still, he looks so hot that I’m barely able to speak. Finally, I bite my lip and search for words. Ana, for the love of God, say something, anything. “Nice game.”
“Thanks. We did it,” Aubrey says, grinning. “By the way, I got something for you.”
He takes a ball out from behind
his back, beaming. I look at the wet ball, tilting my head, my confusion obvious on my face.
“It’s the game ball,” Aubrey explains. “Coach gave it to me, and I’m giving it to you.”
He tosses the ball to me, and I catch it on pure reflex, blushing hard. “Stop it! You’re the reason we won. It’s yours!” I say, trying to give it back.
“Seriously,” Aubrey says, stepping closer. “Without you, we wouldn't have won. When I was getting ready for that last play, I looked up and saw your pretty face, sitting in the rain and cheering me on. I said to myself, by God, you gotta make this play or you’ll never get another chance. Ana will probably never go to another football game for you, and she definitely won’t go on that date.” He’s teasing, but there’s an undercurrent of truth to the words, an honest admission that my being here meant something to him.
I swear if someone took a picture of me right now, I’d be bright red. “You’re teasing me.” Even I can hear the hopeful note to the words, basically pleading with him to mean what he’s saying.
“I’d never do that,” Aubrey swears, and in his voice, I can hear it. He’s being honest. Aubrey O’Day thinks I’m pretty! He brushes a lock of wet hair from my forehead, and I nervously look down. I notice a date and time on the ball. “Hey, this is wrong. Shouldn’t it be today’s date and time for the game? This is tomorrow’s date.”
Aubrey smirks, confidence oozing from his every pore as he bends down to whisper in my ear, “That’s tomorrow’s date and time because that’ll be our first date. The first of many. Pick you up at seven?” he says, tapping the time on the ball.
I nod, looking up at him and grinning. “Seven sounds great.”
Chapter 16
Ana
“I remember that game. It was probably my best ever, considering the conditions,” Aubrey says, chuckling. “I was so worried you’d hold me to that promise, that you’d not go out with me if we lost.”
I chuckle, nuzzling against him. My body’s sore, my ass bruised from the pounding he gave me, but this feels good, a tiny bit of tender with the rough. “I honestly thought you were just playing a game with me. I didn’t think someone like you would ever go for someone like me. I was waiting for the punch line for a while.”
Aubrey nods, stroking my shoulder in the darkness. “I know what you’re talking about. And I’ll be honest. I felt a lot of pressure back then to fill the role people thought I was supposed to fill. But I’ve always liked the idea of a sweet, wholesome girl. One you have to be a better man to deserve, who makes you think of porches and kids in the yard on a tire swing. The kind you can take home to Mom and not worry a bit. You were just . . . everything. You were—you are—perfect.”
I sit up, staring at him. Is he serious? I mean, if I was so perfect, why did he just up and leave without so much as a word? That just makes no sense.
He seems to read my mind. “I didn’t want to leave. I really didn’t. But after what happened, I was just lost. Completely lost,” he says mysteriously. “I thought I’d just bring you down and ruin your life. It was why I never came back.”
I frown, feeling like we’ve been dancing around this subject for too long already. It’s time to stop hiding from it and address it head on. There’s something in our past, and I need to know what that is, even if it’s going to hurt like a son of a bitch. I have a feeling Aubrey needs to tell this story too. I never considered that he was as deeply affected by the whole thing as I was, that whatever pulled him away might be just as painful for him as it was for me. In my head, he was the villain, the bad guy who lured me in, made me love him fully, and then disappeared with my heart. That there might be nuances beyond what my young self could fathom never entered my mind back then, and honestly, I just avoided all thoughts of Aubrey for years after that, forcing them away with a scoff of ugly regret and a wash of righteous anger. I give in to the curiosity, the need to know, recognizing that I’m rewriting my stated purpose for spending time with him this week but realizing it was inevitable and we both knew it. “Aubrey, what happened? To you, to us?”
He scratches at his jaw, and I see pain flash in his eyes. For a big brute like him, I know whatever it is has to really hurt him. He takes a deep breath and sits up, adjusting his clothes a little before letting out a long, trembling sigh.
“Well—”
Before he can say anything more, the heavens erupt with a crack of lightning that arcs down, the veins of electricity bright and white across the dark sky. Rain immediately follows in a quick deluge, and I’m struck by the overwhelming sense of irony that I’d just shared a memory of being soaked to the bone and here we are again, getting wet. “Ah, shit!”
“In the cabin!” Aubrey says as the rain gets heavier second by second. “These storms can get nasty quick!”
Aubrey gets up, using his walking stick but leaning on me too as we make our way back to the cabin as quickly as possible. As we get closer, Rex runs out to greet us, barking and circling around us, urging us to move faster. “I know, Rex. We’re doing the best we can!” I tell the dog, realizing that I’m talking to the dog like Aubrey does and not feeling the least bit crazy for doing so because what he’s saying is so obvious.
The walk is hell. Aubrey’s prediction of the storm getting bad quickly proves true as lightning stabs the sky in strobe light flashes that dazzle my eyes, and rain quickly turns the grass into a wet, slippery mat dotted with tripwires of bushes and rocks. Aubrey stumbles more than once, and I grab him around the waist as his leg gives out. “Oh, no, you don’t! I’m not treating a broken arm too!”
Aubrey gasps and laughs as we keep moving. “I’m sure if I fall, you’ll catch me.”
Nice to know he can still joke with the pain I know he’s feeling as we haul ass back to the cabin. “More like I’ll pad your fall and you’ll squish me,” I manage.
He grunts on each of the four steps to the cabin, and thankfully, the rain and lightning have chased away our skunk ‘friend’.
Opening the door, Aubrey’s limping badly, and we freeze once we’re inside, safe and a little warmer once the cool rain isn’t pelting us. I’m soaked, my nipples stiff and easily showing as my shirt’s clinging to my body. “Shit,” I mutter as I close the door and look down, “I forgot my jacket.”
“That’s okay,” Aubrey says, wincing as he turns around. “We’ll get it later, and you look even more beautiful all soaked.” He lets the double-entendre float in the air between us, rumbling his approval as he looks me up and down.
Heat warms my belly, and I smile, running my fingers through the mess of my hair. “You’ve been up in the mountains too long, Aubrey. I look like a wet mop and you know it. Let’s get these wet clothes off and get a fire going so we can warm up.” The busy work of getting undressed takes our attention, letting the moment we almost had outside pass with barely a notice.
I peel Aubrey’s shirt up and off him, laying it on the back of a chair to dry. My heart flutters at the sight of his chiseled upper body. The chill has turned his skin almost marble-like, and though I’m tempted to trace the lines of muscles and scars that pepper his body, I get on my knees, undoing his pants and tugging them down his tree trunk legs. “You were a lot leaner back then,” I huff as I untie his boots. “How’d you put on this much muscle? Chopping wood?”
“Pretty much,” Aubrey says, looking down at me. I can feel the desire bubbling up inside me as I glance up and see his cock outlined against the soaked fabric of his boxer briefs. It’d be so easy to slide them down and take him into my mouth, but my caretaker instincts are stronger at the moment. I get up, guiding Aubrey back into a chair as I help him off with his boot. “Ouch.”
“I bet,” I reply as I unwind his bandage. It’s pink, and nobody’s example of a strong ankle, but amazingly, it doesn’t look any worse for wear. I guess those two days in bed helped more than we realized. “See? This is why you should have stayed inside today. It’s just going to take longer to heal every time you push it.”
&n
bsp; I step back, stripping to my bra and panties and laying my wet clothes out to dry too. Then I fiddle with the wood in the fireplace, determined to start the fire myself and knowing Aubrey is watching my every move. Once it’s roaring, I stand, holding my hands to the flames before turning around to let it warm my backside.
“I thought it was worth it myself,” Aubrey rumbles, looking at me. “We got to spend time together, and you have to admit . . . today was fun.”
I want to argue with him, to tell him how, as a medical professional, I should never have let him do the things he did today, but instead, I simply sigh, knowing it’s a battle in futility, so I nod along, agreeing with him. “Okay, okay. I learned some new things, and yeah, we had fun. But I can’t encourage this behavior. You’re lucky it’s just swollen.”
“Yeah, you had fun,” Aubrey says, his voice dropping as I suddenly become aware that his eyes are tracing along my body, leaving goosebumps in their wake. My nipples are still hard and press against the thin fabric of my bra, begging for his eyes, his hands, his mouth. “But I know what would make this even better.”
“What?” I almost whisper, agonizingly aware of how close his cock is in those wet undies of his.
“Fucking that sweet pussy again, right here, right now,” he growls. “That’ll warm us up, too.”
I shake my head, though my body is begging for what he offers. “Out of the question. Too much of a risk you’ll get injured doing that,” I purr, ignoring the fact that I welcomed him just a short time ago without argument about his ankle or anything else. I reach for his shorts and lay my hand on top of his cock. “But . . . there’s no risk in sucking you off though.”
Aubrey smiles, leaning back in his chair as I step closer. Getting back on my knees between his thighs, I see he’s already rock hard and my mouth waters at the sight of his big dick straining against the boxers. I trace my fingers along his length through the cotton, up and down till he groans.
Untamed (Irresistible Bachelors Book 9) Page 12