by J. H. Croix
“The ‘I should be in a team meeting in the locker room now,’ and the fact I just told the sports media I was in love, and you showed up here when the cameras were rolling. Even though I didn’t mention your name, pretty sure the cat’s out of the bag. That now.” A fierce tenderness washed through me. I wanted to protect her from the media storm that would ensue. I was used to it, but I still hated it. Olivia wasn’t, and she didn’t deserve to have to deal with it.
Her eyes widened and then she burst out laughing, which oddly enough woke my cock right back up because with every gust of her laughter, her channel clenched around me. Her laugh slowed and she took a deep breath. “Oh, that now. I get it. I guess I didn’t think about what it might mean to have me show up here.” She shrugged blithely. “Oh well. I already told my boss, so we headed off that potential scandal.” Her eyes turned earnest. “Don’t worry. I can handle it. I’m really good at ignoring people, so that’s just what I’ll do.”
My grin stretched from ear to ear. She was good at ignoring people, and she’d done her bloody best to ignore me back at the beginning. “Right. Ignore it. Best strategy ever.”
There was a knock at the office door, and Coach’s muffled voice came through. “Liam. We need you in a few minutes. Okay?”
Coach instantly became my favorite coach for reasons that had nothing to do with his actual leadership and coaching ability. The man knew how to let someone have some privacy. “I’ll be out in five,” I called out.
He didn’t reply, but we could hear his footsteps retreat down the hall. I glanced to Olivia. “I have to go.”
“I know,” she said with a grin as she shimmied her hips back.
We untangled ourselves and put our clothes back together. This time, she buttoned her shirt properly. I scanned the office and quickly put up the towels I’d knocked on the floor before turning to find her waiting at the door. I looked over at her, and my heart felt as if it might truly explode. She was standing by the door, all put together and tidy, nothing to let anyone know on the outside that she’d just been half-bare on the desk with her legs wrapped around me. I loved the contrasts of who she was. She looked a tad bit nervous, and it occurred to me she might be worried cameras were waiting outside.
I went to her and curled my hand around hers. “Coach will have chased them off. I can’t promise they won’t be outside, but I’ll walk you out.”
Chapter 32
Olivia
My legs were draped over Liam’s lap with one of his strong hands curled over my calf. We were sitting on my sofa, sipping coffees. I’d woken up beside him after he’d come to my apartment last night as promised and proceeded to leave me nearly boneless after licking, kissing and touching every inch of my body and sending me flying again and again. This morning, for the first time ever, I called out from work. Liam had practice later this afternoon, but I wanted the morning with him. He’d dashed off to pick up bagels from a bakery on the corner, and we’d had a lazy breakfast and coffee together. I suddenly remembered my appointment to meet Bentley.
“What time do you have practice?” I asked, wondering if I should still go visit Bentley or not.
“Two,” he replied, his thumb stroking my calf and sending little shivers through me.
“Oh.” I bit my lip, pondering what to do. “I have an appointment at noon, but…”
“For work?”
I shook my head. “No. Last night before, well, everything, I was lonely and thought maybe I should get a dog, so I looked up the shelter and scheduled an appointment to meet a dog. Maybe I should cancel, but I feel weird about that. I mean, I’ve always loved dogs and had one when I was little, but…”
“I’ll go with you,” he said firmly. “Dogs are splendid.”
“Really?”
“Really,” he said with a grin. “Luv, if you want a dog, you should get a dog.”
A short while later, we stood inside a small fenced in yard. It was blessedly not raining today, and the woman at the shelter who seemed to be the meet and greet person had suggested we spend some time with Bentley outside in their play area. Bentley was even cuter in person than in his pictures. With one ear perpetually up and the other down, he looked almost comical. He was medium sized and brown all over from his eyes to his short and wavy fur. Bentley was friendly with a mellow personality and estimated to be about three years old. Liam was presently playing fetch with him. I wasn’t sure who was more delighted with the activity—Liam or Bentley.
I didn’t even ask, but left them to play and walked inside to the desk. “We’d love to adopt him. Tell me what we need to do.”
The woman glanced up at me, immediately handing over a clipboard with forms to fill out. I must’ve looked surprised because she grinned. “I saw you holding him, and your boyfriend obviously loves him, so it seemed meant to be,” she explained.
I quickly filled out the paperwork and paid a fee. I was pleased to learn Bentley had already been neutered and was up to date on all of his shots. After everything had been done, I asked, “Do we need to wait?”
“Sometimes we ask for a waiting period, but we’ll waive it for you two.”
My puzzlement must’ve shown on my face. She flushed slightly. “Well, we’re aware that’s Liam Reed from the Seattle Stars, so it’s not like we can’t find him if there’s a problem.”
I flushed beet red, realizing this kind of thing might happen more often. She smiled apologetically. “I didn’t mean to be weird. I don’t really follow soccer, but my mom does, so I knew who he was. You must be the woman he was talking about last night.”
My momentary discomfort passed. I’d have to get used to this, so I might as well start now. “I am and don’t worry about it. He’d be hard not to notice.”
In short order, Liam and I were walking down the street with Bentley on a leash. Liam had offered to walk him, and in fact, seemed completely smitten with him. We paused at the corner where Bentley wagged at everyone who passed by. I looked up at Liam. “You seem to be pretty into getting a dog.”
Liam glanced down and nearly took my breath away. His eyes were as blue as the sky and locked onto me. In a flash, it felt as if we were all alone, despite the fact cars and people were all around us. “I like dogs, and Bentley’s splendid. It’s not just that though. We’re adopting him, so that means you’re stuck with me. I take dog ownership very seriously,” he said, closing the distance between us and snaking his arm around my waist. Flush against him, my pulse took off and I wondered how I’d gotten so lucky.
Epilogue
Liam
I stood on the sidelines, my breath heaving and energy coursing through me. Even at the end of a game when I was worn out, I felt energized. I rested my hands on my hips and glanced around for Alex. He’d just given us a shut out against the other team, cleanly blocking every shot they had. I finally found him standing beside Coach with a few of our teammates surrounding him. Per usual, Alex looked entirely unmoved by the moment. Just another day’s work for him. Meanwhile, he was getting clapped on the back, and everyone in his immediate vicinity looked overjoyed.
I wove through the team to his side. “Well done,” I said with a nod when I caught his eyes.
Alex cracked a grin. “That it was. Great play today. As usual, you led a bloody brilliant offense.”
I rolled my eyes. “Can’t take any credit, can you? Not throwing shade at the rest of us, but we won because you made sure they didn’t score.”
Alex shrugged. “Right then.” He looked past my shoulder, another grin stretching across his face.
“What?” I asked.
“Here comes your girl,” he replied, his eyes flicking to me and away again. “Hey Olivia.”
I felt Olivia’s presence behind me as soon as he spoke. I turned just as she reached my side, slipping her hand through the crook of my elbow. “Hey Alex. Great game as usual.” She caught my eyes and leaned up to kiss my cheek before turning back to Alex. “I never know exactly what to say to you after a game lik
e this because it’s all about what you made not happen,” she said with a grin.
Alex shrugged. I glanced down at Olivia. “He’s bloody awful at taking a compliment.”
She smiled up at me, her green eyes bright in the crisp air. Just like that, nothing more than a smile from her while my teammates bustled around us and the stadium noise rumbled with the crowd filing out of their seats, and my heart clenched. The air around us heated as if lit by a flame. My body tightened and I leaned forward, about to kiss her, when Alex cleared his throat. I glanced back to him, arching a brow. Alex merely nudged his chin to my other side where I saw a cameraman approaching with his camera trained on Olivia and I. Instead of a kiss, I leaned down to whisper in her ear.
“Later, luv.” I couldn’t resist dropping a quick kiss in the delectable curve of her neck. As soon as I lifted my head, the cameraman and an interviewer from a sports channel were upon us. Thanks to the focus on Alex’s shut out, I got away with only a few questions and managed to keep Olivia’s hand firmly in mine the entire time.
I was in the thick of my second season with the Seattle Stars. We were on track to win our division this year. After we got through the after game interviews, I made my way to the locker room, reluctantly leaving Olivia to wait. She assured me she’d meet me out front and pick up pizza for us. I showered in record time, my mind spinning back over the last year. The mess I’d felt inside after my mum’s death, my move to the US and my knee injury felt like distant memories. I still missed my mum, missed her like crazy sometimes, but time had dulled its sharpness. As torn as I’d been about signing with the Stars at the time, I wouldn’t change a thing now. I felt the same about my knee. Without those two events, I’d never have met Olivia. About now, she was the sun in my universe and everything that led to her was bathed in its glowing light.
I hurried out of the locker room, glancing over my shoulder when I heard a chuckle from Alex as I passed by his locker. “What?” I asked.
He’d been in the midst of pulling a sweatshirt on and tossed the hood back once it was over his head and shoulders. His brown eyes held a teasing gleam when he met mine. “Mate, it’s a good thing Olivia’s so good for you because you can never get to her fast enough.”
I shrugged and grinned. “Bloody right about that. You’ll find out someday,” I said with a wink as I spun around and made my way down the long hallway that led outside. I pushed through the doors into the late afternoon sunshine. I found Olivia right away. She sat on a bench nearby with Bentley beside her, his leash looped around her hand and a pizza box beside her. She often brought Bentley to games with her because Coach was kind enough to let us leave him in his office during the actual game. I stopped where I was and just looked at Olivia.
She’d come to the game from the clinic with her hair pulled back in a tidy knot perched on top of her head and wearing a fitted black skirt and rich blue blouse, buttoned almost to her neck of course. I couldn’t wait to take her hair down and tear her blouse apart. She was still working at the clinic and managing a waitlist of high-profile cases. She’d received a written reprimand from the clinic’s board for her involvement with me. Dr. Adams had actually met with me and given me the option to file a complaint if I felt the need to do so. I’d burst out laughing and assured her it was entirely unnecessary. Even then, I’d been relieved at the outcome because I knew it had weighed on Olivia. She was by nature an honest person who played by the rules. I was happy to be the one who’d inspired her to break a few.
I suddenly realized I was stuck in place when someone bumped me as they walked by. Olivia had that effect on me—everything else fell away around her. I gave my head a shake and walked to her. Bentley leapt off the bench, his entire body wiggling when he saw me. “Bentley boy,” I said as I knelt beside him to greet him.
I straightened when Olivia stood up. I hooked my arm around her waist, pulling her flush against me and fitting my mouth over hers when she opened it, presumably to speak. She gasped, and I took full advantage, sweeping my tongue inside and groaning when hers slid against mine. A low whistle nearby nudged me out of my haze, and I pulled back, looking down at Olivia. Her cheeks were flushed, pretty and pink, and her eyes were bright. “Hi,” she said simply.
“Hello luv. That was for the kiss I didn’t get right after the game.”
She giggled and started to step back, but I held her firm. “Liam,” she whispered fiercely, pausing to take a breath. “There’s people everywhere, and you know any minute now someone will take another picture that will end up…”
“Online,” I finished for her. “I don’t give a bloody damn. I love you and I don’t care if the whole world knows it.”
Bentley nudged my knee. I glanced down and followed his gaze to see a photographer, likely from one of the sports news teams departing from the stadium, with his camera aimed right at us. I looked back to Olivia, gesturing over my shoulder. “There, see already done. Now let’s go home, so I can have you all to myself.”
I couldn’t resist giving her bottom a squeeze as I slid my hand down to reach for hers. The flush on her cheeks deepened, and she stopped where she was, glancing up at me again. “Well, if we’re going to be in the gossip pages again, we might as well give them something good.”
My oh-so-proper fiancée slipped her hand around my neck and yanked me down for another kiss.
***
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xoxo
JH Croix
Excerpt: Burn So Bad by J.H. Croix; all rights reserved
Chapter 1
Levi
“Where’s Lucy?” I asked.
Amelia Masters sighed. “I just told you. Up…”
Her words were cut off by another voice.
“Oh for God’s sake, I’m stuck up here.”
I glanced up to see a flash of bright blonde hair just past the corner of the roof.
“Lucy’s up there?” Cade Masters asked over my shoulder as he approached us.
“Yes! I’m up here. How hard is this to figure out?” Lucy called from above.
I looked back to Amelia. Lucy Caldwell was her best friend, and they owned and ran Kick A** Construction together. Cade and I were hotshot firefighters in Willow Brook, Alaska. We were between fires out in the field, so we were dealing with small, local stuff. Amelia happened to be Cade’s wife. When she’d called the station, she’d specifically said an entire crew wasn’t necessary. Cade and I volunteered to come deal with whatever the issue was. Now it was clear why she didn’t want a full crew. Lucy sounded pissed. Knowing Lucy the way I did, I’d bet she was beyond annoyed she needed help.
“Care to explain,” Cade said drily.
“We were working on getting the roof beams in place for the cathedral ceiling. Lucy got trapped up there when one of the beams fell and broke the ladder in half.” Amelia paused, her gaze concerned. “I’m guessing she got hurt too because the beam whacked a two-by-four on its way down, and it flipped and hit her. You know Lucy though, she told me to shut up and stop worrying.”
“Ah, so that’s why you just told us to bring a ladder,” Cade said, his gaze clearing.
“Yeah, why’d you bring the cherry picker?” she asked in return, glancing over to our vehicle.
Cade and I had collectively decided it would be better to drive the large truck with its extendable arm and bucket if we needed it.
“In case Lucy was hurt,” I interjected. “We figured better to have this than to try to carry her down a ladder. All you told us was Lucy needed help getting off the scaffolding.”
“What the hell are you guys talking about?” Lucy hollered from her perch.
I walked around the corner of the partially constructed home and glanced up. Lucy was perched atop some scaffol
ding, her blonde hair standing out against the blue sky above.
“How ya doin?” I called.
“I’ll be better when one of you gets me down,” Lucy replied.
Even from two stories above, she managed to convey her prickly, get-the-hell-away-from-me attitude. From my vantage point, I could see her cradling her arm. I doubted she’d fess up to being injured, so I didn’t comment on it. A thread of worry wove through me.
“We’ll be up there in just a few,” I called up.
I walked back toward Cade. “Let’s do this. Better to use the bucket than a ladder.”
In short order, Cade was easing me upward in the bucket. Inside of another minute, I was level with where Lucy was.
She did not look pleased to see me.
Even with her blond hair a windblown mess, her skin flushed and smudged with dirt, and wearing heavy-duty jeans and a loose t-shirt, she was flat out gorgeous.
“Hey Lucy,” I said, my eyes going to her arm.
She’d seated herself on the boards across the top of the scaffolding and slowly straightened, flinching slightly when her arm bumped against one of the metal bars on the scaffolding.
“Your arm okay?” I asked.
Lucy's wide blue eyes swung to me. ‘It’s fine,” she snapped.
I bit back a retort. Normally, I loved to tease Lucy. In fact, the crankier she got, the more I reveled in amping her up. A bit ago, I’d tried to get her to go out with me, but she wouldn’t even deign to have dinner with me, so I’d dropped it. Just now, it was quite obvious she was in pain. She could be as cranky as she wanted. I just wanted to get her out of here safely and get her arm taken care of.
“Bring me a little closer,” I called down to Cade, eyeing the boards under Lucy’s feet and assessing whether it was best for me to lift her from here, or climb out.
Cade carefully adjusted the bucket, bringing it flush against the edge of the scaffolding.
