by Claire Adams
I repeated this to myself as I showered, shaved, and dressed to impress. I chose a casual look, pulling on a navy Gucci jacket over an Armani t-shirt and jeans that had been put together by a personal shopper whom I’d hired to keep me looking up-to-date, but not stuffy or overdone. Fashion did not interest me in the least, but I knew that as someone who was in the public eye on a regular basis, my look was sometimes the only message I gave.
I ran a hand through my dark curls and sighed as I realized there was no way to truly tame them, so it was best to just let them be. My stylist had been trying to convince me to get a buzz cut, but I rebuffed her on the grounds that I didn’t want to look like any of the players or coaches. She’d laughed and then rolled her eyes as she carefully trimmed the wild mop into something suitable for the owner of an NFL franchise.
There was less than an hour before I was due to pick Payton up, and I was surprised to find I was feeling a little nervous. Women like Payton always made me feel a little defensive. They were rich girls who’d grown up surrounded by luxury, had fathers who adored them, and people who catered to their every whim. I’d grown up comfortable, but far from rich, and the differences in upbringings was never more apparent than on a first date. I consoled myself with the fact that this wasn’t a typical date. Sure, she’d cornered me in the bathroom and definitely gotten a rise out of me when she’d run her hands over my bare skin, and the way her lips felt on mine had given me fuel for private fantasies in the shower, but I needed her to help me achieve a goal. I was keeping my eyes on the prize.
By the time I was on my way down to the car, I had convinced myself that Finn had been absolutely right. Landing Payton Halas Lasky as my next girlfriend would be the first step in solving my problems.
Chapter Ten
Payton
It had been several days since Dax had called and asked me out, and I’d spent the week searching through all of my contacts as I looked for people who might be able to help me land a job. There was no way I was going to be able to meet my mother’s unreasonable deadline, nor did I want to, so the only other option was to find a job and get started working my way up with an organization.
I’d thought about Dax on several levels all week. The first being the hot, but unfinished encounter in the bathroom at Black Jack. Having gotten a small taste of what he had to offer, now, more than ever, I wanted to run my fingers through his dark, curly hair and feel his hands sliding over my naked skin. Over the past two days, I’d found myself daydreaming more than I had since I was 15, but this wasn’t some silly, schoolgirl crush. No, this was pure lust.
By Friday afternoon, I could feel my body vibrating with anticipation as I moved through my daily routine. After downing my fifth cup of coffee, I knew I had to work off the combination of nerves and caffeine, so I grabbed my gym bag and headed down to the gym to see if Chad was available for an impromptu workout. He was surprised to see me, but had space in his schedule to spend an hour guiding me through a kickboxing workout before having to haul heavy weights from one end of the gym to the other. It felt good to lose myself in the physical challenge of a workout that strengthened all of my muscles and made me sweat until the heavy circles of iron were slick and slippery in my hands.
As I held the weights waist high and began the third set of lunges, my leg muscles burned and I forced myself to find a place in my mind where the pain became bearable. I conjured the memory of Dax in the ladies’ room smiling down at me just before I pulled him in for a kiss. The memory of his lips pressed against mine made me go wobbly in the knees.
“Hey, Lasky! What’s with the legs?” Chad yelled from the other end of the gym. “Pay attention to what you’re doing or else you’re gonna blow a knee!”
“Sorry! Sorry!” I yelled half-heartedly as I tried to pull my mind back to something less distracting. I thought of my mother and her ultimatum, but that made the rage well up inside of me again, and I quickly pushed the memory out of my mind. I settled on running through my closet and trying to decide what to wear for my date with Dax as Chad yelled at me to pick up the pace.
“You okay, Lasky?” Chad asked as I stored the last of the weights back where they belonged. “You seem kind of distracted.”
“I’ve got a lot going on right now,” I admitted. I liked Chad, but we weren’t close friends by any stretch of the imagination, and I didn’t find spilling my guts to my trainer a practice that made any sense whatsoever. “I’ll be more focused next time.”
“Glad to hear it,” he nodded as he wiped down a weight bench in preparation for his next client. “Keep your head in the game or you’re going to get hurt.”
“Gotcha,” I said, waving goodbye and heading for the locker room. I pulled on my sweats and then jogged the two blocks back to my apartment, feeling both tired and amped up. I dropped my bag at the door and headed for the bathroom where I opened the taps and began filling the large tub with hot water. I grabbed a glass bottle from the windowsill and added scented oil to the bath. I looked around the room, trying to stash all of the memories of it deep within the recesses of my brain.
If my mother’s ultimatum held, I’d lose this luxury, and the thought of that made my spirits sag. I scanned the calming, sage-green walls and dug my toes into the fluffy rug that covered the heated tiles as I thought about how many times this bathroom had been my refuge in the storm. I ran my hand over the smooth edge of the beautiful, Victorian-style tub that I’d sink into when the noise of the world got to be too loud and I needed to think. I shook my head impatiently as I reminded myself that all of this was just stuff and that the most important thing was that I chose the path that was right for me. But as I sunk into the hot, scented water, I knew that making a break would be difficult.
“Why did you have to do this, Mother?” I wondered as I submerged my body and tried to clear my mind of negative thoughts. With only a slight bit of difficulty, I turned my thoughts to Dax Connor and our date, and began to squirm a little.
I thought about how close I’d been to him and how strong his body felt pressed against mine. I closed my eyes and leaned back in the tub as I envisioned where all of this might lead tonight. I could see his dark eyes flashing as he wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me against him before bending down so that his lips were an inch away from mine. I shifted in the tub as I imagined that moment of pure desire before he pressed his lips to mine.
“Oh, who am I kidding,” I muttered as I let myself conjure the image of what I had really wanted the night before. In my mind’s eye, I grabbed the front of Dax’s shirt and pulled him to me, kissing him hard and deep. The feeling of his well-muscled chest under my fingertips intensified my desire as I imagined him gripping my wrists tightly as he pushed me up against the counter. I could feel my pulse pounding as I struggled to free my hands as we buried our tongues in each other’s mouths. In the tub, I slid my hand under the water and down between my legs as I imagined the way that Dax and I would have struggled to assert control over one another.
I could feel his hot breath on my cheek as he pulled his lips away and gathered both hands in one of his own before pushing up my skirt with his free hand. The edge of the counter pressed into the back of my thighs as he yanked my panties down around my knees. My hungry grin let him know that, although I was struggling, I wasn’t fighting him off, but rather egging him on. I could see the wild desire in his eyes as he unzipped his pants and then positioned himself between my legs. I moaned loudly as he pressed himself against my warm, wet opening and then growled, “Mine!” as he thrust up into me. I cried out as we moved together, building a rhythm.
Dax let go of my hands and I buried my fingers in his dark curls as I spread my legs and tried to push him deeper inside me. There was a savage need driving us both as we found ourselves entwined in a brutal kiss as our bodies pounded together. And then he slipped a hand between us and began stroking me in a way that I’d only ever done myself. I cried out as his fingers quickly brought me to a climax that consumed my en
tire body.
“Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop,” I moaned as I sloshed water over the edge of the tub, spasming on the hand that had stroked me over the edge. When the pulsing sensation had abated, I opened my eyes and drew a deep breath as I looked around the calm quiet bathroom and realized that I was, again, alone.
“Dammit!” I muttered as I pulled the plug with my toes and sat in the tub watching the water slip down the drain.
Chapter Eleven
Dax
When Payton emerged from her building, I was leaning against the back end of the Lincoln suddenly wishing I had worn looser jeans.
“You look amazing,” I said as she crossed the sidewalk smiling. Her blonde hair was loose and wavy across her shoulders and she was wearing a deep-blue halter dress that clung to all the right places and made me wonder if she was wearing anything underneath it.
“Well, thank you, Mr. Connor,” she said, staring up into my eyes in a way that made me feel like she knew what I was thinking. “You clean up pretty nicely yourself!”
I laughed as I opened the door and watched her expose a good deal of tanned thigh as she slid into the car. I took a deep breath as I closed the door behind her and then used the walk around the car to try and get myself under control. If I was going to pursue Payton, I was going to have to keep my primal desires in check this evening — even if she pushed me past to the breaking point.
I was more than familiar with the delicate dance between men and women at this level, and knew that having sex with her before she was convinced that I was in it for real would lead to nothing good. I needed Payton to believe that she was more than just a one-night stand, and sex on the first date would not convey that notion.
“So, where would you like to dine, Ms. Lasky?” I asked as I settled into the car a safe distance from her.
“Well, I was thinking about the options, and I’m going to say that Girl and the Goat is a better choice tonight,” she replied. “I’m not going to pretend that we’re just like everyone else in this town, but I do think that we have a better chance at having a private conversation at Girl than we do at a communal table at The Publican.”
“Good thinking,” I nodded as I picked up my phone and canceled the second reservation. I leaned forward slightly and said, “Geo, to Girl and the Goat.”
“So, how about the Seahawks,” Payton said as she turned to look at me. Her face was even prettier than I remembered, and I smiled as I thought about how the spray of freckles across her nose reminded me of a surfer girl I’d met on the coast of Southern California the summer after I’d left Chicago looking for something meaningful. She’d been a good friend to me, but had never let me get close enough to be more, and while I’d lamented the lost opportunity, I’d always admired her ability to maintain a boundary that I had desperately wanted to cross without rejecting me outright.
“Yeah, they’re going to be tough to beat this season,” I nodded trying to keep my mind on business and off the fact that Payton’s perfume had wound its way into my senses, and was working its sexy magic on me.
“That’s the understatement of the century!” she laughed as she eyed me suspiciously. “What’s wrong with you, Connor? Did you start drinking without me?”
“No!” I shot back a little too defensively and then immediately dialed it back down. I quickly covered by turning the spotlight back on her, saying, “I’m just trying to figure out why a smart, accomplished woman like yourself was at Black Jack getting drunk and feeling up a complete stranger in the bathroom.”
“Oh, yeah, that,” she said reddening a bit as she looked away. She smiled and shrugged, “Bad day; what can I say? We all have them.”
“Nice save, though I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not,” I said smiling as we pulled up in front of the restaurant. Payton’s laugh echoed on the sidewalk as she exited the car and waited for me to join her. I motioned toward the restaurant and let her walk ahead of me.
“Eyes on up, Connor,” she teased as she swayed her hips in an attempt to catch me off guard. Having been caught, it was my turn to laugh, and I did. There was something about her that was mysteriously familiar, and her teasing humor put me at ease.
Once seated at a private table toward the back of the restaurant, I ordered a bottle of wine and sat back as I scanned the menu. Normally, I’d look for something familiar and quickly choose it so as not to have to ask questions. I wasn’t a foodie by any stretch of the imagination, but I did appreciate a good meal. However, many of the women I dated expected me to order for them, a tradition that I loathed and could not, for the life of me, understand. Women who defaulted to my choices didn’t get a second chance to assert themselves.
“Do you know what you’re having?” she asked as she stared intently at the menu, looking back and forth between the pages.
“I do, but—” I began hoping to ward off any suggestion that I order for her.
“I’m going to start with the kohlrabi salad, then try the calamari Bruschetta, and for dinner, I’ll have the braised pork shank,” she pronounced with a nod of her head.
“Whoa, eat much?” I laughed, surprised by her willingness to order so much food on a first date. I was much more used to women who ordered salads without dressing and steamed fish and vegetables.
“What? You have a problem with a woman who actually likes to eat?” she asked before lowering her voice and teasing, “If it’s the check your worried about, I’m more than happy to go Dutch, Connor.”
I laughed more loudly than I’d intended at the suggestion that money was the underlying issue when it came to her food choices.
“No, I’ve got my Am-Ex on me; I’m good,” I teased back as I looked at the menu again and decided to up my dinner game. When the server came to take our orders, Payton rattled off her choices and I followed up with roasted cauliflower, soft-shell crab, and roasted chicken.
“Oooh, those sound good, too,” Payton said as I gave the server my order. “We can share.”
“That’s pretty presumptuous of you, Ms. Lasky,” I said raising an eyebrow as the sommelier poured the Malbec and looked to me for approval. I tasted it and nodded. He poured two glasses and silently slipped away from the table as I raised my glass and toasted, “Here’s to the start of a new friendship that will change things for the better.”
“Indeed,” Payton said, clinking her glass against mine. I watched as she sipped the wine, her eyes shining in the warm light that shone from the hanging lamp. “Oh, that’s delicious. Good choice.”
“I try,” I smiled as I leaned back and tried to focus on taking the conversation in a direction that would give me an opening to talk about why I’d brought her here, but she took charge of the conversation and soon we were off and running, talking about teams and stats and the likelihood that the Storm would make the playoffs this year.
As the meal progressed, I learned more about Payton’s background and her education, and was impressed with her single-minded focus on accumulating the knowledge required for her to be part of a football dynasty. I asked questions here and there, but mostly I listened and answered her questions about how I’d amassed my fortune and why I’d wanted a franchise team badly enough to endure the process of being vetted for the league.
“You know, my Pop used to say that you could tell a lot about a man by the way he treated the people whose names he didn’t know,” I said as we got on the topic of star athletes who might not be as productive as the unknowns. “I’ve always watched players to see how they deal with that, and I’ve rarely been wrong.”
“So you’re saying the ones who think they’re God’s gift, might be the most talented, but might not be the best addition to the team,” Payton said as she speared a piece of chicken off of my plate and popped it in her mouth.
“Unless they steal my food,” I laughed as I watched her chew.
“Stop stressing, I said I’d split the check with you, Connor,” she grinned as she took another bite of her own dinner and wait
ed for me to reply. Unable to take my eyes off of her full lips, I watched her slowly chew as I recalled how it had felt to kiss those lips. She swallowed, and asked, “You okay, Connor? You look a little lost over there.”
“Huh? Oh, no, I’m fine,” I said as I pivoted and sent the conversation in a new direction. “What do you want to do with your career? I mean, what do you see yourself doing in 10 years?”
“Nice recover,” she grinned as she set her fork down and picked up her wine glass. She leaned back and stared at me with an intense look as she considered my question. I said nothing as I watched her gather her thoughts before she spoke again. She laughed lightly, “What do I want to do? Where do I see myself? Man, this sounds like the beginning of an intense interview.”
“I’m serious,” I said picking up the wine bottle and offering her a refill. She held out her glass and as I poured I noticed that her hand was absolutely steady.
“Well, if we’re talking realistically, I could see myself doing recruiting for a college team,” she said frowning slightly as she explained. “That’s if I don’t cave into my mother and wind up married to some man who sees me as nothing more than a socialite from a Chicago legacy.”
“Perish the thought,” I said shaking my head.
“I’m not kidding, Dax,” she said setting her glass down and leaning forward resting her elbows on the table. The intensity of the look on her face made me want to grab a handful of her thick, blonde hair and pull her to me. Instead, I cleared my throat and shifted my gaze to the wine glass in my hand as I listened to her speak. “If you ask me where I want to see myself in 10 years, I’d tell you that I want to be the GM for the Bears. I know if I had the chance to work on bargaining for some of the great talent out there, I could absolutely do the job, but my mother is hellbent on keeping that from happening, so if I’m honest, I’ll tell you that I’ll probably end up in some mid-level administrative support position that requires me to throw fund raisers and generate positive publicity for the team.”
