His eyes found hers and he was completely serious when he said, “Words are powerful.”
She felt her breath catch at the intense look in his eyes. She nodded.
“Sometimes you can say everything you need to say with just one of them.”
She swallowed and nodded again.
“You know what I want your tattoo to say?”
She shook her head.
“Mine.”
Randi felt such a wave of emotions that tears welled up. One word and he had, indeed, said so much. And made her feel so much.
She had no words of her own.
So she used what she had. She turned and reached for him, sliding his shirt up his body and over his head. She unbuttoned and unzipped his pants, freeing the steely-hard erection that was all for her.
Then it was her turn to go to her knees.
Nolan didn’t try to stop her. His fingers tangled in her hair as she wrapped her fingers around his cock and stroked, then leaned in to take him into her mouth. She licked base to tip, before sucking hard. His deep, very male groan made her whole body pulse with awareness. Yeah, mine definitely worked for her too. She’d tattoo the word all over his body.
He let her work him for a few minutes but before she was ready, he tugged her to her feet and took her mouth with his in a hot kiss. Then he turned her and pressed her down onto the desk, her breasts against the newspaper. He moved in behind her and she heard the sounds of a condom being opened. Then his hands were on her hips again and he thrust deep with one powerful stroke.
“Yes, Nolan.”
“Damn, you’re perfect. So perfect.” He moved, thrusting in and out in long, slow glides.
Randi felt electricity zapping along every nerve she possessed, her awareness condensed to this moment with this man—the feel of the desk, Nolan’s hard body behind her, his fingers curling into her hips, the sound of the papers rustling and their heavy breathing, the sexy, sweet words he uttered, the hoarseness in his voice, her own gasps and moans.
He slid a hand forward to cup her breast and tug on a nipple, and she felt the ripples of pleasure deep where she clenched around him.
“Fuck yes,” was his answer.
Then he slid the hand lower, stroking over her clit. She gasped and pressed back harder against him. He did it again and again, his touch winding her perfectly until he leaned in, his chest to her shoulder blades, and said gruffly, “Come for me, Ladybug.”
She felt the shudder of pleasure go through her and on his next thrust, she came apart. He thrust twice more, then tensed and groaned her name as he came, buried deep.
They stood, panting together for a few minutes. Randi was pretty sure she could stay draped over that desk for the next few weeks and her legs would still feel like jelly. Eventually Nolan stood and pulled out. She turned her head, watching him deal with the condom and pull up his pants.
“I think this newspaper has become a part of me,” she said.
He looked over with a grin. “Let’s see.” He tugged her to standing and sure enough, the newspaper came too. He peeled it off of her skin carefully. She had ink smeared on both breasts and her stomach. “I didn’t even know I had fantasies about you covered in newsprint, but damn.”
She laughed and nudged him back so she could reach for her clothes. “You’re such a nerd.”
He caught her hand against his chest and brought her in for a kiss. “Yes. The nerd who just made the head cheerleader scream in ecstasy.”
Well, she couldn’t argue with that.
They both dressed and Randi opened her mouth to invite him to her house for the night—when they heard voices on the other side of the door and getting louder.
Their gazes collided and Nolan lifted a finger to his lips. He reached over and shut the light off. The room plunged into total dark and Randi felt disoriented for a moment. Then she felt Nolan move in close and wrap his arms around her. She hugged him back, grateful for the anchor as they waited.
There was a quick flicker of light under the door, clearly from a flashlight, a moment before the outside office light came on.
“You didn’t go out the back door though, right?”
It was Carter Shaw’s voice. One of the local cops. Randi cuddled in closer to Nolan. Not because she was afraid of Carter’s badge. More because she could already see Carter’s shit-eating grin if he caught them. And she knew the story would beat her to work in the morning.
One thing about being the only girl in a garage full of guys who treated her like a sister—they treated her like a sister. Teasing and all.
“Of course not. Went out the front.”
And that was Jackson Brady’s voice. The outer guidance counselor’s office was his.
Randi dropped her forehead to Nolan’s chest. Great.
Nolan chuckled softly and stroked his hand up and down her back. She loved when he did that. She felt so cared for. Nolan had a way of making her feel like she was the most precious thing in the world. She could really get used to that.
She could also really miss that when he was gone.
She tamped down that thought. Yes, he lived in San Antonio. But it wasn’t France. Or Mars. And he loved her. There had to be a way to work things out. They’d get to that.
“Well, we looked all over the building. Nobody’s here. Maybe the back door blew open,” Carter said.
“Yep, guess so. Just thought it was worth checking out when I saw the door open.” There was the sound of a chair scraping on the floor, then a creak.
Was Jackson sitting down at his desk?
“Thanks for coming right over,” Jackson said. “Wanted to get some work done tonight.”
“No problem,” Carter said. “Slow night.”
Randi heard Jackson laugh. “It’s Quinn. Slow night is a typical night, right?”
“You got it.”
“Want some coffee?” Jackson asked.
“That’d be great.”
Randi lifted her head then thumped it against Nolan’s chest again. They were going to sit around and have coffee? And then Jackson had some work to do? She and Nolan could be stuck in here all night.
She heard them moving around, water running and then coffee mugs clinking.
It was really dark in the newspaper office, which was, technically, a converted storage office. It was also hot. It was a small space in which they’d worked up some major body heat and it didn’t have any ventilation except for the crack under the door. Randi stepped back from Nolan slightly, thinking that would help.
Twenty minutes later, she had her boots off, her shirt off and was sitting on the edge of the desk in her skirt and bra, fanning herself with a folder she’d found on the desk.
Nolan had stripped his shirt off too and was sitting on the floor next to the desk.
Randi would have given a kidney for a glass of water.
And Jackson and Carter continued to chit-chat and drink coffee right outside the door. Jackson was the guidance counselor, so he had a big comfy couch in his office, to make students more comfortable while they got guidance and counseling, and she imagined Carter lounging on the sofa, his feet up, drinking coffee and waiting for someone to commit a crime.
That could be a very long wait.
“So Nolan and Randi, huh?” Carter asked. “That’s great.”
Randi perked up and stopped fanning with the folder. She heard Nolan shift on the floor as well.
“Yep, Annabelle says Randi’s crazy about him,” Jackson said.
Randi frowned. She had not told Annabelle that. She hadn’t told anyone that. Though she could admit that it might be obvious to her friend. Annabelle knew her well.
She jumped slightly as she felt Nolan’s hand wrap around her ankle. Yeah, okay, she was crazy about him.
“No kidding? Well, that’s awesome. Nolan’s a great guy, Randi’s a great girl. I’m happy for them,” Carter said.
“Randi is great,” Jackson agreed. “We went out in high school.”
Randi
rolled her eyes. They’d gone out for maybe two months a lifetime ago. It had been high school. It had meant nothing. She didn’t want Nolan to have the wrong idea. She’d have to tell him later that it had been nothing with Jackson.
She felt his thumb rub up and down the front of her ankle and foot. She wasn’t sure if he meant it to be reassuring, but it was. He didn’t care that she’d gone out with Jackson a couple of time.
“I dated her too,” Carter said.
Randi rolled her eyes again. Barely. She and Carter had had three dates and she wasn’t sure one really counted, since all they’d done was talk about the upcoming football game against their rivals, Riverbend.
Nolan’s thumb kept moving, slow and steady, and she breathed in and out. Her past boyfriends didn’t matter. Jackson and Carter certainly didn’t. They hadn’t been boyfriends. They’d been guys she’d had a meal or two with.
“Because Coach asked her to go over the game film with you,” Jackson said.
“He asked her to go over game film with a lot of people,” Carter pointed out.
That was all true. When there was something Coach really wanted the guys to take note of, he often had Randi talk them through it. He said they tuned him out. Randi had since suspected that it had actually been because Coach knew how much she loved going over film and that it had made her feel important. Coach hadn’t only been influential with the guys on the team. Anyone who crossed paths with him felt better about themselves, and when he noticed someone needed something, he provided it. Subtly. Often without that person even knowing it. But Randi had always suspected he had her number, and he specifically found ways of making her a part of the team as much as he could.
“She never went over film with me,” Jackson said, sounding smug.
Again, Randi couldn’t protest. Jackson had been a natural. He’d been a running back and his ability to read a defense was amazing. It wasn’t something that could be taught. She’d loved watching him play. She knew that was why she’d said yes when he asked her out. But they’d fizzled out quickly. Probably because her main attraction to him was how he could pluck an impossible catch out of the air and take it in for six. But their two months of dating had been fun.
“Did she help you with some of your moves, though?” Carter asked.
“We talkin’ football?” Jackson asked.
“Nope.”
“Then yeah, a few.”
Randi sighed. She could hear Jackson’s huge grin. She also felt Nolan’s hold tighten around her lower leg. She and Jackson had never slept together. But yeah, okay, they might have made out a little. Jackson was a really good-looking guy. Who played football and liked to talk to her about it. That meant he met all of her criteria—goodlooking, played football, talked football. But they’d never been serious and she was going to be sure Nolan knew that. As soon as she could speak out loud without getting arrested.
“We didn’t just sit around talking football either,” Carter said.
Had their voices gotten louder? Randi frowned slightly.
“Well, of course not. I mean, Randi’s the best to talk game with but she’s way too gorgeous to only talk football,” Jackson said.
Yes, their voices were definitely louder. As if they’d moved closer to the door. Crap, were they coming in here?
“And any guy who wants to sit around for hours and just talk to her is crazy,” Carter said.
“Well, Nolan’s faking most of that,” Jackson said.
Randi sat up a little straighter. Nolan’s hand tightened around her ankle briefly.
“No kidding,” Carter said.
If Randi didn’t know better, she’d think they were standing on either side of the door, leaning against the wall as they talked. She frowned. What was going on?
“Nolan knows a lot about football,” Jackson said. “I think he’s faking the whole thing about needing help with the details so he can hang out with Randi.”
“Makes sense,” Carter said. “He’s a smart guy and it’s just football. It’s not like he couldn’t figure it out himself.”
Randi frowned. It was true. With some study, almost anyone could learn the game. Especially a guy as intelligent as Nolan. But Nolan himself had said that what she’d been giving him was about more than just the technicalities of the game.
“He is a smart guy,” Jackson agreed. “But if he’s as brilliant as I think he is, he’ll watch the tape of the game our senior year against Peterson with her.”
Randi grimaced. The game against Peterson had been rough. The Rams had come to town wanting to take the top-rated Titans out. No matter what. And the refs had sucked. A few fans had been thrown out of the game by security. And she’d made history. It was the first time anyone could remember that the head cheerleader—or any cheerleader—was one of the people escorted out.
But the refs had sucked. Randi didn’t regret a single thing she’d yelled at the guys in stripes. Or at the dickhead group of dads on the other side who didn’t know pass interference from pancakes. She also didn’t really regret that some of the junior varsity guys had needed to step between her and one of those dads who thought he’d come to their side of the field and tell the “little girl” a thing or two about football. Two of the JV players had needed to carry Randi out to the parking lot because she’d been about to go at the guy. And she knew how to throw a punch.
Their high school principal, Mr. Whitacre, her friend Lela’s dad, had agreed with her about the refs. He’d had to give her three days of detention for unsportsmanlike conduct, per school policy, but they’d spent the time in his office rehashing the game and every screwed-up call.
“Randi’s beautiful, but when she gets riled up about football, she’s gorgeous,” Carter agreed.
Randi felt the pleasure of the compliment go through her, right on top of the flush of uneasiness. There were some other stories they could tell. Just as she got riled up over bad officiating and bad play-calling, she could get just as worked up over brilliant plays and victories. Nothing got her blood pumping like a great Hail Mary or a trick play that worked or a well-executed onside kick. Parties after her team won were some of the most fun she ever had. She was funnier and cleverer with post-game adrenaline pumping. She was even a better dancer when her team won.
Jackson gave a small laugh. “I know it. Remember the Super Bowl party at Pitchers last year? She was all riled up over that call in the first half? I swear, half the guys there wanted to—”
Yep, like that story.
Randi was off the desk and yanking open the door before Jackson could finish his sentence.
“Okay. Enough,” she interrupted. She’d been riled up about the call, all right. She’d gotten into a huge argument with Kyle Simpson about it and they’d ended up naked together later that night. Football was an aphrodisiac for her. She couldn’t help it.
And she’d been right about Carter and Jackson leaning on the wall beside the door. They both straightened with big grins, not at all shocked to see her. Though they might have been slightly surprised that she was in only her bra.
She narrowed her eyes, realizing what was really going on out here. “You knew we were in there.”
They both laughed. “I saw you break in,” Carter said.
She felt Nolan move in behind her and then her shirt flop over her shoulder.
“Hey, guys,” Nolan said easily.
“You knew they knew we were here the whole time?” she asked, shrugging into her shirt and buttoning it up.
“No. I figured it out when they started talking about making out with you in high school,” Nolan said, drily.
“So you were out here, yakking and drinking coffee and screwing around, knowing we were in there in the dark, sweating our asses off?”
“We thought the sweating part was over,” Carter said.
“Not that sweating part,” Randi said. “It’s hotter than hell in there.”
“Good reason to get naked,” Carter told her with a shrug.
“ But you saw us break in?” Randi asked him with a frown.
“Give me some credit. I’m a good cop.” He gave her a big grin.
“You mean you were waiting for your root beer float at Dixie’s,” Randi said. Carter loved the root beer floats at the little drive-in across the highway from the high school.
“But I noticed and followed up,” Carter said, still grinning, unaffected by her critique of his detective skills.
“And you didn’t come in and stop us right away?” Randi asked him.
“Bro code,” Carter said, shooting a grin at Nolan. “Had to give Winters some time.”
“And he had to wait for me to get here anyway,” Jackson said.
“Why did you need to be here?” Randi asked.
“Because I’m enjoying this immensely.”
She huffed out a breath. “We almost sweated to death in there.”
“Good for you,” Carter said, grinning at Nolan again.
“Not because—never mind,” she said. “Are you going to escort us out?”
“Nah, you can find your way,” Carter said, setting his coffee cup on Jackson’s desk. “Let’s go, Brady.”
“’K.” Jackson pushed away from the wall. “Be sure you turn the lights off.” He ambled toward the door.
“Really? You just came in here to give us a hard time?” Randi asked.
“Yeah,” Carter said with a shrug.
“And because I now know something about you that Annabelle doesn’t know,” Jackson said. “I love that.”
Randi sighed. She was going to get called for a girls’ night soon, where Annabelle, Lela, Lorelei, Paige and the others were going to want to know everything about her and Nolan. Not that she minded. She had listened to many of them talk about their guys and falling in love and the confusing feelings that went with it. And now she knew how hard it was to put all of it into words.
Jackson and Carter headed into the hallway outside of Jackson’s office. “Oh, hey,” Jackson said, turning back. “Don’t leave any condoms or wrappers laying around. These are impressionable kids.”
“And they’ll think they’re yours?” Nolan asked.
Jackson faked looking affronted. “I would never.”
Full Coverage: Boys of Fall Page 13
