RUNNING GAME (A SECOND CHANCE SPORTS ROMANCE)

by Nikki Wild

  20

  Chapter 20

  I had few options left open to me after the scandal, and the only skills I had were best suited for a position in the military—and so it was Her Majesty’s Royal Army that became my only option. I would be able to apply for a return to duty and before I knew it I’d be back in some far-flung land securing the interests of the country. I’d never see combat, even as the disowned son of a lord, but at least I’d be able to have a place to stay and a more than decent wage to keep me going.

  At least this way I’d be out of everyone else’s hair and able to hopefully turn myself into the man I knew that I could be—the man that I knew would prove my father wrong. Maybe it wasn’t what I wanted, but at least being in the military would keep me on the straight and narrow, and hopefully out of too much trouble.

  I wasn’t even sure where I’d be stationed, all I knew is that I’d be away from the things that would tempt me to be my old self. I could only hope my absence would make everything better for Gwen. Perhaps the interviews had helped and perhaps just maybe she’d find it in her heart to forgive me for what I’d done, but I imagined something like that was a long way away.

  I stepped out of the cab as it dropped me off right outside of the recruitment office, breathing in the crowded London air as I tried to push through the crowd of people that was moving to catch the next light on the crosswalk.

  I wasn’t sure why, but every step felt like I was pushing against a wind, as though something wanted to keep me out, to warn me away. Maybe I was being foolish, giving in to a deep seated sense that somewhere in the universe there was some force pulling us toward a certain goal. Fate.

  But if fate had any meaning then how could something so cruelly pull me from the one woman that I knew was the only one that I’d ever feel any true manner of love for. Fate was a joke, and a sick one at that if it kept me and Gwen apart.

  You did that, I reminded myself. Fate had nothing to do with it.

  But despite my assurance that only my foolish actions had lead me to where I was, I couldn’t help but hesitate as I reached out for the handle for the recruitment office door. I don’t know what I did it, honestly there was no logical reason to have done it at all, but for a second I stopped before I touched the handle and went inside.

  “Tristan!”

  The voice stopped me dead in my tracks, my entire body frozen in time as I let that name wash over me like a wave from the ocean. I knew that voice, I’d hoped to hear that voice one last time before I left, but knew that I’d never have that chance again. At least that was what I thought.

  I turned toward Gwendolyn’s voice, my mind still in shock from even the vaguest possibility of seeing her again. I almost thought that I’d gone mad, crazed at the idea of her even considering seeing me again. I couldn’t believe it, but there she was.

  She wove her way through the crowd of people toward me, trying to keep my attention, my hand only an inch away from the handle of the door. It all felt like a dream. None of it felt real.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, staring down into her gorgeous eyes. I felt like I was going to be sick with guilt just looking at her. All the thoughts of what I’d done kept flooding back to me—how she’d even managed to stand the thought of seeing me again was beyond me.

  “I saw the interview,” she said, reaching up to gently caress my face with her soft fingers. “I heard everything that you said… and I know that you lied to protect my reputation. And I wanted to tell you that I appreciated it.”

  At least there’s that, I thought ruefully. I gave her a half-hearted smile as I stepped away from the door to allow another person to make their way inside to sign their life away as well. The longer I had to consider what I was doing the less I actually wanted to go through with it. Seeing Gwen brought back feelings that I knew I needed to suppress,

  “I’m just happy that I could do that for you at least, even if everything that happened was my fault,” I said, swallowing hard to fight back something akin to tears. I couldn’t let her see me shrink away from this, after everything that I’d done, she deserved to be as far from me as I could get. I wasn’t the kind of man that she deserved.

  “There’s more than that,” she whispered, taking a step closer. I looked deep into her eyes, my heart aching to feel those soft lips against mine, like fruit from the forbidden tree. I wanted to toss all pretense aside and take her into my arms like I’d been dreaming since I saw her that first night in her office. “I know that you still care about me.”

  “Of course I do,” I said, taking a breath to calm myself and my quaking nerves. I care for Gwen more than anything, which was why I had to make sure that I was far away from her or anyone else that I cared about. I was toxic, and she’s said as much. So why was she here now when if she’d only waited I’d have been out of her life for another decade or more. “I wouldn’t be doing this otherwise.”

  “Rejoining the army?” she asked, her eyebrows raised. “You really think that’s what you want?”

  Of course it wasn’t. I had hated my time in the army with such conviction that I’d almost made a game of how much it would take to have me thrown out. But I knew that a life in the military would at least keep me grounded, with a sense of purpose that could not have been seen as more respectable than to strive and possibly put oneself in danger for their country.

  “It isn’t about what I want,” I said, shaking my head as I turned away from her touch against my cheek. How could she expect me not to go through with this after everything that had happened? This was my penance, the only chance that either of us had for any sense of happiness. “This is about what needs to happen.”

  “Look at you, sounding like a grown-up,” she teased, and I couldn’t understand where her sudden change of attitude had come from. I’d ruined her life only days before and now she was flirting? “Maybe there is another way that you could make up just how awful you’ve been to me lately. A way that I think both of us would enjoy.”

  “What has gotten into you?”

  “I want to be with you,” she said, looking up into my eyes. “Permanently.”

  “How can we do that when every newspaper in town would be hounding us everywhere we went?” I asked. “It would be a zoo, and your reputation is already at risk as it is!”

  “That would be true if we were planning on staying in London,” she said, smiling mischievously up at me.

  “Where the hell else would we go? Our entire lives are here!”

  “Then we can make new lives,” she said, her hands sliding over my sides. “Somewhere that they don’t know us or care who we are to one another.”

  “Your business,” I said, unsure where this sudden willingness to abandon her carefully constructed life had come from.

  “My business will survive, Tristan, don’t worry,” she said, smiling up at me calmly as her hands caressed my hip. “And Tina can step into my place as CEO. She’s handled the company better than I could have through this whole thing. She’s ready and I have every confidence in her.”

  “But what about everything you said?” I asked, still trying to process the fact that we were even having this conversation after the last few days’ events. A rollercoaster had fewer hills and valleys than this relationship had, and things had certainly been said that would be hard to take back. “I thought that I was an asshole and that you never wanted to see me again.”

  “You still are an asshole,” she giggled, biting on her lip as she looked. “But you did something that no one has ever done for me, you gave up what you wanted—everything you wanted—so that I wouldn’t be hurt by our mistake.”

  “So we’re still a mistake then,” I said, shaking my head in frustration. “I don’t understand why you’re here, Gwen. What is it you want?”

  “You, Tristan,” she said, “I want you.”

  “How can you after everything that’s happened? You reputation will—”

  “I was wrong,” she whispered. “And so long
as we’re still in London we’ll be getting looks for the way that we feel for one another. I want to go away—with you.”

  “What? Where could we possibly go? Everything we have is here in London,” I said, looking all around. “Your whole entire business is here.”

  “Tina can handle everything,” she assured me again, caressing my cheek. “And as far as location… I was thinking that France would be fun.”

  “We’re moving very fast,” I said, eyebrows raised, wary of the sudden speed that we were moving. I loved her, but this eagerness to bind ourselves together was hard for me to handle. I was never used to women actually wanting to tie themselves down to a guy like me. “Moving to some foreign country together? Living together?”

  “We have a few years of lost time to make up,” she whispered before pressing her lips to mine. “Why take it slow?”

  I closed my eyes as our lips met, my shoulders relaxing into the sensation of her body pressing against my own. For the briefest of moments I fretted about who might see the two of us together, but the longer her lips pressed to mine the less I seemed to care. All of my insecurities began to ebb away as I felt my Gwennie’s arms wrapping around the back of my neck.

  21

  EPILOGUE

  Months after Tristan and I absconded to France, my youngest brother was born, a pretty-looking baby whom my mother named George… Not that my mother ever told us about the birth. We’d heard about it months after that from some tabloid. There were rumors that the child was never Lord Wolfe’s and how the two of them were sleeping in separate rooms.

  “Glad to be far from any of that nonsense,” Tristan whispered as the two of us lounged across a comfortable lawn chair side by side. The mid-day sun was in the sky as we basked in its warmth together.

  We’d moved into a flat in Paris, the Eiffel tower in view on the horizon. It was everything a girl could have wanted when she imagined herself living in one of the most romantic cities in the world.

  “Think any of it’s true?” I asked, gently running my fingers along his bicep as we lay with one another.

  “I couldn’t care any less,” he said, laughing as he turned to press his lips to mine tenderly. “I have you, and that’s all that I have to worry about.”

  “You’re right,” I whispered soothingly. “They’ve taken up enough of our lives.”

  I’d been left in relative peace ever since I’d left London in favor of Paris. Our absconding across the channel had raised a few headlines at first, but before we knew it we were old news by London’s standards. Everyone was looking for the next big scandal, and ours had had its fifteen seconds of the spotlight. We were slowly drifting into obscurity, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

  Once I’d left I put Tina in charge of the day-to-day activities at the company, promoting her to CEO as I stepped back into a silent ownership role from my new home. After the dust had settled concerning Tristan and I’s affair we found that my client list had not been nearly as decimated as I had expected, with a good number of members of the upper class still happily accepting my company’s services. With business back home still booming, I felt that it was high time that I let myself relax.

  I breathed a sigh of contentment as I let my hands begin to wander over Tristan’s body, allowing my fingers to gently caress the minute curves of his abs and down along his side. I followed those Adonis lines all the way down between his hips, caressing the soft mass of his cock, just barely running my fingers along its length, entertaining the idea of rousing it from its sleep to feel it filling me in the most intimate of ways.

  Tristan moaned out ever so softly, his eyes fluttering shut as he enjoyed the slow, deliberate attention I paid to his slowly awakening dick. I couldn’t help but smile as he began to grow as I took him into my hand, wrapping it around his base and slowly starting to stroke him.

  “Weren’t you just taken care of?” he asked, a wide grin splitting his face. It was true, only a few hours earlier Tristan had held me down as he plowed that massive cock inside of me, slamming in as hard as he could until my knees buckled. I bit down on my lip, already feeling my womanhood start to slicken with lust.

  “Maybe I want more,” I purred, squeezing softly on his considerable girth as I continued to stroke his massive cock. “I’m always so hungry for it, lately… I can’t help it.”

  Tristan laughed, a slow, melting laugh that made a shiver run up my spine and then back down between my thighs. I bit down harder on my bottom lip and whimpered, my nails ever-so-gently raking along the underside of his arm as I began to brush my lips over his skin.

  “Who knew being pregnant would turn my prudish Gwennie into such a horny little minx,” he growled playfully, running his fingers in my hair as my lips turned south toward his groin. “It suits you.”

  “Does it?’ I asked, lapping my tongue over his tip ever so slightly. “I wasn’t sure you’d really like dealing with your needy stepsister trying to sit on the cock every second of the day.”

  Tristan let out another laugh as he pulled me into a deep, passionate kiss. “Clearly you don’t know me at all.”

  I smiled, pressing myself into his warm body as I straddled his waist, my back arched as I slowly lowered myself down onto his stiff rod.

  “I love you,” he whispered softly to me as I took him slowly deeper inside of myself, gasping out as that piercing slid right against my spot as I worked him in all the way to his base.

  “I love you too,” I moaned out, looking down into his eyes.

  As I began to move my hips at a torturous pace on top of his cock, I realized that my entire life had lead up to this moment, a moment of pure happiness with the one person I truly loved. I threw my head back, letting out a soft moan of pleasure as I felt his shaft twitch as I worked my hips against him.

  I had spent so much time trying to match others with their perfect soulmate that the person I was always trying to set up was myself. All I needed was the right place at the right time and the will to grab what I’d always wanted.

  My stepbrother, Tristan Wolfe—and his royal prick.

  * * *

  Hey to all my amazing readers! I hope you all enjoyed ROYAL PRICK.

  You’re not done yet! Keep turning pages for more two more bonus novels!

  -Nikki

  Also by Nikki Wild

  Want even MORE from Nikki Wild? My latest bestselling novel SAVED BY THE BAD BOY is available right now!

  Click here to read SAVED BY THE BAD BOY for just 99 cents or FREE with your Kindle Unlimited subscription!

  My entire catalog is FREE TO READ for anyone with a Kindle Unlimited subscription! You can check out all of my sexy bad boy novels by clicking RIGHT HERE!

  * * *

  Do you want new release notification, a chance to be an ARC reader, special limited time discounts, and FREE EXCLUSIVE Nikki Wild content? Click here to sign up for my WILD mailing list today! Signup is easy and I will NEVER send you spam or share your e-mail address with anyone.

  Novels by Nikki Wild

  Bad Boy Bikers:

  Saving Landon (A Bad Boy Biker Romance)

  Saved by the Bad Boy (A Devil’s Dragons Biker Romance)

  * * *

  British Bad Boys:

  Royal Prick (A Bad Boy British Romance)

  Arrogant Brit (A Bad Boy British Sports Romance)

  Rock Hard (A Bad Boy British Rockstar Romance)

  Played (A Bad Boy British Romance)

  * * *

  Bad Boy Rockstars:

  Illicit Behavior (A Bad Boy Rockstar Romance)

  Rock Hard (A Bad Boy British Rockstar Romance)

  * * *

  Bad Boy Stepbrothers:

  Lust (A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance)

  Richard (A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance)

  * * *

  Bad Boy Billionaires:

  Protect And Serve (A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance)

  Part III

  BONUS NOVEL: KNOCKOUT

  A SEXY MMA SP
ORTS ROMANCE

  My entire catalog is FREE TO READ for anyone with a Kindle Unlimited subscription! You can check out all of my sexy bad boy novels by clicking RIGHT HERE!

  * * *

  Do you want new release notification, a chance to be an ARC reader, special limited time discounts, and FREE EXCLUSIVE Nikki Wild content? Click here to sign up for my WILD mailing list today! Signup is easy and I will NEVER send you spam or share your e-mail address with anyone.

  1

  Bria

  “Ugh, that was so cheesy,” said Kaitlyn, as she dug through her purse looking for her car keys.

  “I know,” I said. “It was like, shitty comedy, meets shitty romance, meets shitty drama.”

  “So... you’re saying it was a rom-com-shit-dram?”

  She tried to suppress her giggles but couldn’t help herself. The way she was covering her mouth and choking back little snorts of air made me lose it too. Her laugh was contagious. It reminded me of the way we used to be when we were kids.

  “You’re so dumb,” I said, struggling to keep my grin under control.

  “Whatever. You know I’m funny.” She burst into another fit, and I followed suit.

  By now, curious movie-goers were staring from all corners of the parking lot, probably startled by the two twenty-somethings losing their minds somewhere off in the darkness. Or maybe they just wanted in on the joke…