Scored

by Sloane Howell

  My mind hazed over and my whole body ached for release. Tension roiled in my clit and I needed his mouth on it yesterday. Matt licked, sucked, bit, nipped—any possible way to work me up. If there was a button to press, he pounded it repeatedly.

  Every time I thought I might have a moment of reprieve to gather my wits, he opened his sexy fucking mouth and said something that sent my hips grinding into him.

  He straightened up in front of me and looked down, right at my pussy. “Good thing I didn’t know you had this black lacy underwear on earlier.”

  Still short of breath, I barely mustered a reply. “Why?”

  He yanked them off my legs and hurled them against the wall. “I’d have bent you over the stairs and licked your pussy from behind.”

  Mother of God.

  “In front of anyone that walked by.”

  I don’t know how my body didn’t combust.

  He grazed his thumb over my swollen bundle of nerves and a shudder ripped through me.

  I stared up into his eyes and he pulled his Aerosmith tee up over his head. Fucking hell. I almost came at the sight of him. Moonlight crept through my window and highlighted each tiny contour of his body. Muscles rippled on top of muscles, some I didn’t even know a person could have. I worked my gaze down his broad shoulders and chest, past his abs chiseled like puzzle pieces, and good God if he didn’t have the V that pointed straight down below the belt. I lifted my eyes back up to meet that cocky smirk of his.

  The smirk that told me he knew what kind of power he held over me at that very moment. He relished it and licked his lips.

  He looked down at my bare pussy like it was his property and thumbed my clit once more. Each touch was an electric jolt through my body. “I wouldn’t have been able to help myself.”

  Matt went down to his knees and without warning hooked his hands around my thighs and yanked me to the edge of the bed.

  “Holy shit.” My pussy was so close to his mouth I could feel the warmth from his breath play across my hot skin.

  I looked down and saw only his eyes, locked on to mine. I reached back behind my head and clawed my nails into the sheets.

  Matt exhaled his warm breath across my entrance and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could last without his mouth on me, or how long I could last once it was.

  “So how close are you right now?”

  I leaned up and glared at him.

  “Don’t get mad at me for admiring your gorgeous body.”

  The tip of his tongue flicked across my clit. My back arched and my head flew back into the mattress.

  I panted, waiting for Matt’s mouth to destroy me from the inside out.

  “Know what I’ve been wondering all day?”

  I shook my head. Words wouldn’t form and if I looked at his blue eyes again I might’ve come at the sight of them.

  His hands ran up my ribs and squeezed my breasts again. “I’ve wondered what you taste like.”

  Matt grabbed both of my thighs and pushed them back toward me and then spread them apart.

  I looked down and my ass was lifted up so that my pussy sat right in front of his face, where I could see everything he did. “Jesus, fuck.”

  He flattened his tongue and licked all the way up my slit until the tip of his tongue dragged across my clit.

  “Oh my God.”

  I reached down and grabbed two handfuls of hair. The insides of my arms pressed my breasts together and I writhed against the mattress while Matt tongued lazy circles around me.

  He spread my folds with both thumbs and shoved his stiff tongue into me. My hips bucked wildly against his face and I could already feel the sheets soaked underneath my ass.

  “You ready?”

  My eyebrows rose. “For what?”

  “To come on my face?”

  I started to speak and he cut me off.

  “It was rhetorical. It’s gonna happen right now.”

  He took two fingers to the hilt and bent them slightly upward, swirling the spot deep inside me just right. His tongue flicked wildly on my clit, swirling and stroking.

  I started to cry out and everything just kind of stopped, almost like an out-of-body experience. Every sensation amplified by a thousand.

  Matt’s fingers fucked me perfectly and his tongue was wicked. I planted my feet down on the mattress and my hips arched up into the air as I released. My whole body stiffened and I convulsed on his mouth. My pussy clamped down on his fingers. He rose with my hips and his mouth stayed latched to my clit through the entire orgasm as it rolled through my body in giant, pleasure-filled waves.

  “Fuck, Matt!”

  I screamed.

  He’d turned me into a screamer, with only two fingers and his tongue. What kind of noises would I make when he fucked me?

  Jesus, it was the best, most intense orgasm I’d ever felt. One where you start to wonder if you’ve ever even had a real one before.

  Once I’d been reduced to nothing but a catatonic mess, staring up at my ceiling in disbelief of what had just happened, I glanced at Matt. He’d straightened up and his chin glistened, covered in pussy. He wiped his mouth with his forearm and it was sexy as all hell.

  “God, you taste incredible.”

  I swear his words already had me wanting more.

  He crawled up to my face, his chest pinning me down and flattening my breasts against his hard pecs. He kissed up my neck and licked the shell of my ear. “Was that fun?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. It was okay, I suppose.”

  He chuckled in my ear. “Maybe next time I’ll slip my pinky in your ass.”

  Oh my God!

  He seemed like such a wholesome guy to have such a filthy mouth. No man had ever attempted anything like that with me, and Matt said it like it could happen anytime. Maybe I should’ve been dating athletes my whole damn life.

  “Maybe I’ll slip mine in yours.” It was all I could think to say.

  After an orgasm like that I couldn’t let him keep the upper hand.

  “Go for it if you want.”

  So freaking dirty.

  “Is that what you like?”

  He kissed down my neck. “I don’t know. Never tried it.”

  “But you’d let me do it, just like that?” I smiled.

  He moved his head so that we were face-to-face and pushed some sweaty strands of hair behind my ear. “I’d let you try just about anything you wanted on me, if it made you happy.”

  I closed my eyes when he leaned over to kiss me and still fought for each breath. Orgasms like that had been myths until now. Slowly, I seemed to drift back to reality. Matt pushed up from the bed and I expected him to take his pants off, but he didn’t. He pulled his shirt back on and I frowned.

  “Are you leaving?”

  He stopped once his shirt was pulled only over his head, still leaving his chest and abs exposed. “I was going to let you get some sleep.”

  Who was this guy? I’d never had a guy get me off and not want the favor returned. Usually it was the other way around and the dude just collapsed and fell asleep.

  Matt’s eyes lit up. “I can stay.” He paused. “I mean, I want to stay.”

  I nodded. “I want you to.”

  He pulled his shirt back off and climbed into bed. He wrapped an arm around me and I pulled it tight next to me. I stared off at the wall and my brain went to work, the way it usually did anytime I lay down at night.

  A million questions hammered me all at the same time. What was I doing? This wasn’t the plan. Would this ruin everything? Would I get hurt? I thought up every scenario in the book for why I should cut off this thing going on with us. Matt was a professional athlete, and women flocked to him constantly. Did he have others like me? We hadn’t defined anything, at all. Were we even really dating?

  Nausea crept into my stomach at the thought of him being with anyone else. How many other women did he text from his mother’s house? I was the only one. Right?

  Shit!

  I alwa
ys did this—sabotaged myself. The worst part about it, that made it really, really ridiculously difficult was—I liked this guy. I liked him so fucking much. I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t change the way I felt about him.

  “It’s a good thing this is the off-season.”

  “Huh?” I raised my eyebrows.

  “I need that arm next season and I think you might be drawing blood.”

  I looked down and my nails were clawing into Matt’s arm. I let go quickly. “Sorry.”

  He sighed. “It’s okay.” He tightened his hold and pulled me closer to him.

  I’d never felt so—protected. I turned over simply because I wanted to see his face, and realized I was still almost completely naked.

  Matt smiled, but then looked off at the wall like a million things were running through his mind, too.

  “What are you thinking about?”

  I must’ve captured his attention because his eyes locked back on mine and he smiled even wider. “Nothing.”

  I didn’t buy it. Nobody could think about nothing. “You can tell me.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t want to ruin this.”

  Oh God, here was the moment of truth. The part where he revealed something that would crush me. Regardless, I wanted to know sooner rather than later.

  “I’d rather you tell me now and get it out in the open.”

  He exhaled a huge breath and ran a hand through his hair. “I just—” He stared at me and I could see him warring with himself.

  I squeezed his hand in mine. “I don’t like secrets, Stallworth. It’s better to just rip the bandage off.”

  “I know. You’re just so perfect. I don’t want to fuck it up.”

  My heart fluttered and did more girly things when he called me perfect.

  “I’m not going to let this go.” I grinned.

  Matt’s body shook against me when he chuckled. “I believe you.” He stared for a few beats. “I did things. In my past. Made mistakes.”

  I raised my hand like I was in a classroom. “Umm, hello, me, too.”

  “I know. I’m just surprised you haven’t already found mine out.”

  I was surprised, too. I’d typed his name into Internet searches a few times, and despite my usual tough-girl persona, I’d genuinely been afraid to hit the enter key and had refrained. Jenny and Ethan both assured me more than once that Matt was a good guy, and it had to suck living where everything you did was out in public for everyone to see like that.

  The Internet could make good people look like assholes in a hurry.

  “I am, too. I almost searched your name a couple of times.”

  Matt’s heartbeat sped up against my back, but his face remained calm and composed.

  “I was dumb when I was younger. It feels wrong to complain about being handed millions of dollars when you’re in your early twenties, so I try not to bitch about it. But it’s a lot of responsibility.”

  “I get that. You told me about expectations and the anxiety and stuff that goes with it.”

  “Yeah, there’s that. And also the fact that women throw themselves at you constantly.”

  I gripped the bedsheet without realizing it and hoped Matt didn’t notice. The thought of him with other women wasn’t something I really wanted to think about, ever.

  “When I was younger, I just went with it. I mean, a rich twenty-one-year-old with women all around. I made it clear to them that it was just having fun and that we weren’t in a relationship or anything. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. It was just stupid. I still remember walking into my house and Mom’s look of disappointment. My mom is pretty, umm, traditional—straight-laced—and the media spins stuff to get an audience and they made me look like I was part of a porn video. I like to joke and act silly sometimes and they took pictures of it and made it look like I was drunk with half-naked women hanging all over me. My family saw all of it.”

  “I can’t imagine being under a microscope like that all the time.”

  “And if you complain they paint you as a spoiled celebrity, bitching about trivial things. Yeah, I was a millionaire and had an awesome life, but I still care what people close to me think. And the fans, you know? Little kids look up to their favorite baseball players. Those pictures are still everywhere and there’s nothing I can do about it. They pop up the second someone searches my name.”

  “And you were worried I’d see them and stop talking to you?” I thought back to the day of the record store and the concert. His concerns were valid. It’s probably exactly what I would’ve done.

  Matt looked down at me and nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Well, thank you for being honest.”

  “It feels better, now that you know. And I don’t want to make myself out as a saint. I did party some and I did dumb things that younger guys do. But I never meant to hurt anyone. So I keep to myself a lot, and only really hang out with a close little circle of friends. But the day I first saw you at Jenny’s dad’s house I couldn’t stop thinking about how beautiful you were. And then Ethan told me you work at a record store and the way you helped take care of Jenny’s dad, and I thought about you all the time after that.” Matt sighed. “My whole life, if I’ve ever seen something I wanted, I went out and worked my ass off to get it.”

  “And you want me?”

  “Yeah.”

  He ran a hand through my hair and I leaned into his palm. “But I tried to keep it to a minimum, with just the flirting for a while.”

  “What do you mean?” I knew, but I wanted to hear his sexy voice explain himself some more.

  “When I first saw you, you and Jenny were going through a rough time. Then, well, you know—her father passed, who was like a second father to you. I wasn’t about to pursue you while you were vulnerable. Not being presumptuous. I just didn’t want to set that precedent if anything did happen. And honestly, I didn’t even intend for this to all happen so quickly. I’ve been trying to take my time and get to know you. As you can see, it’s very difficult for me to take things slow with you.”

  “Is that why we haven’t really said if we’re dating or anything like that?”

  “It’s why I haven’t brought it up. I didn’t mean to send mixed signals to you. I’m just trying to be cautious.”

  “Cautious about whether you can like me?” I pulled away a little bit.

  “No.” He pulled me back to him like I wasn’t allowed to move away.

  I shook my head. Why did I like how controlling his actions were sometimes?

  “Cautious about everything but that. I’m not trying to sound arrogant, but dating me is different than dating a normal guy. I’m explaining this all wrong.” Matt’s jaw tightened.

  “Just explain it.”

  “If we become a couple, you become part of the spotlight, too. You’ll be photographed, talked about in magazines and newspapers. Rumors will go around. I’ll be followed more closely when we’re apart. My life has a whole extra set of complications.”

  I hadn’t thought about that. My gaze moved up to the ceiling. “So we’d have to really trust each other, huh?”

  “Exactly. If you saw something in a tabloid or magazine, you’d have to come to me and believe me over everything else. And that takes a huge amount of trust, because those people are experts at generating controversy. Making up shit, even. Seriously, they can make a trip to Starbucks look like a booty call. It’s how they make their money. But that’s a lot to ask of someone.”

  Could I do that? I wasn’t a very trusting person. I’d been burned way too many times in my life and I certainly wasn’t ready to be humiliated in front of a live national audience. I looked up at him. The fact that he was completely honest and up front about everything definitely helped his cause. The orgasm he gave me didn’t hurt things, either.

  “Let’s just take it slow and see what happens. I mean, I didn’t think you’d ever end up in my bed, and look where we are.”

  We both chuckled and I shook my head at him.

 
“Yeah. This was great self-control on my part, huh?” He ran a hand down my ribs and over the curve of my hip.

  I turned my back to him so that he could spoon me once more. Everything about the way I fit in his arms was perfect. The rest of the world just needed to leave us alone and let us figure things out, but that would never happen.

  I closed my eyes and tried to pass out, but there was no way to shut off all the thoughts and feelings. I stared at the wall for what seemed like hours, and enjoyed Matt holding me in his arms. Eventually, I fell asleep.

  Chapter 9

  “Spread the word around. The boys are back in town.”

  —Thin Lizzy

  Matt Stallworth

  I walked up the concourse heading to baggage claim at the airport in Green Bay. My buddy Aiden was supposed to be waiting for me there. Heads turned toward me in every direction, but I’d grown used to it a long time ago and my mind was not really on Green Bay, Wisconsin, at that moment.

  I couldn’t believe I’d spilled my guts to her like that. That wasn’t part of the plan. I’d known her, kind of, for a few months, but really we’d only been on two dates. I needed time to think, and a week hanging out with Aiden would make that difficult.

  There was still the fact I hadn’t told her about my contract, either. One problem was big enough, but telling her that would’ve sent her running for the hills. It was selfish of me, but I couldn’t risk losing her. What a fucking mess I was.

  I scanned the baggage claim area for Aiden and he couldn’t be found. It would’ve frustrated me if I hadn’t expected it. The dude was always late. He had played football at the college where Ethan and I had played baseball, and we’d all lived in the dorms together. Now he was a defensive end for the Packers. Ethan and I always flew out to see him play at least once a year, but E was stuck doing wedding shit.

  The luggage carousel sprang to life and bags started making their rounds. A couple of boys came up for autographs and I signed whatever they handed me and talked to them and their parents for a few minutes. I’d heard some of my teammates bitch about being bothered in public, and I could understand if it was adults. But Mom would’ve whipped my ass if I’d ever even thought of complaining about a kid asking for an autograph.