RUNNING GAME (A SECOND CHANCE SPORTS ROMANCE)

by Nikki Wild

  He had been eyeing my top half like a wolf after its prey. When there was nothing left to get in his way, he couldn’t help himself. Animal instinct took over and he jumped me.

  We both fell backward on the bed in a mess of arms and legs. He scrambled for top position and pinned my arms to the bed while he sucked at my left nipple. I gasped with pleasure as he alternated between flicking at my nipples with his tongue and massaging the globes of my breasts.

  Just as my pussy started to quiver again in anticipation he slid his hands between my knees, pushing them apart. I waited for him to fill me, to make me whole.

  His hand fell heavy on my shoulder, pushing me deep into the plush surface of the bed. With his other hand he guided his rock hard member toward beckoning depths.

  Luke stroked my lips from bottom to top, gently, allowing me to prepare to take him in. I struggled and scooted to move myself further down the bed to try to capture him.

  When he started to enter, my toes curled so hard my calves started to cramp. I had to kick my legs out akimbo to relieve the pressure, and when I did, I opened myself all the way to him.

  He used slow thrusts at first to loosen me further. I couldn’t believe how big and hard he was inside of me. I leaned closer so I could reach his butt. When I squeezed the tips of my fingers into his muscular backside and pulled him forward, he knew it was okay to go all of the way in.

  His body worked like a well-oiled machine. His core strength was a thing of beauty. I’d never been with a man who could move his own body with such control. All of his muscles worked in perfect harmony. Shoulders and biceps and abs and hips all fired with precision to deliver his pleasure into me.

  To top it all off, he had hardly broken a sweat. I, on the other hand was a panting mess. He was handling all the work but in the process he was doing things to me that I’d never felt before. I tried to push myself back on to him but I couldn’t concentrate. Every stroke he put into me made my head spin.

  Luke continued with strong thrusts deep into my body. My walls hugged his cock like a warm sleeve. I pushed to get on top but he pinned me easily back to the bed, pushing my legs further apart in the process.

  When he grabbed me by the heels and pushed them to my ears I thought I was going to pass out from the satisfaction. He leaned forward and the tips of our noses touched. I strained forward to kiss him but he kept his lips just inches from mine. He refused to go the last little bit, instead making me struggle to get closer.

  I let my legs drape over his shoulders, using them to leverage my upper half just close enough to get a little peck on the lips. He smiled and drove himself deeper inside.

  My body was ramping up in a way that I’d never felt before. The explosion that was going to come at the end of this had me scared.

  I managed to get enough separation between us to slide out of the position. When his dick popped out of me I regretted it.

  The look of surprise hadn’t had a chance to settle on his face before I shoved him to his back. I carefully straddle him and guided his member back inside.

  The bed creaked like the springs were going to break as I rode him. Years of ballet had taught me how to correctly activate my hips. I let my body dance on top of his. I could tell he enjoyed his view from the bottom as my rolling hips made my breasts jump in tandem.

  I felt like I was starting to gain the upper hand, bringing him to the brink of orgasm this time. I saw the first crack in his confident demeanor as his brow furrowed when I switched my hip motion. He wasn’t the only one who was going to have his way. Luke writhed under me, trying to hold himself back as I squeezed him with everything I had.

  Just as I thought he was about to finish, he threw me off and grabbed my hips from the back. Sliding me to the edge of the bed, he stood and entered me from behind. My knees wobbled in response to the pleasure from the new position.

  There was no slow build up from him this time. We were both on the brink. He hammered into me with everything he had. I looked back over my shoulder to watch his thighs slap against my bare butt. With each hard stroke my ample backside jumped.

  “Let’s finish together,” he groaned.

  “I’m ready,” I whispered.

  Luke clamped a big hand on the back of my neck. I steadied myself against the bed and leaned back into him with everything I had. He threw all that he had into me and I felt his cock start to pulse.

  At the same time my body went off. Waves of warm happiness radiated from my middle to my fingertips. My whole body flushed a shade of pink and my wetness seeped pleasure.

  Luke pulled himself out of me just in time to empty streams of his hot, white manhood. His entire form tightened and then released in a couple of last expulsions of passion.

  When he collapsed on the bed next to me I’d never felt more in tune with someone else.

  “Whoa,” he whispered to no one in particular.

  “Yeah,” I said, trying to stifle another girlish giggle.

  13

  Luke

  It had been nearly a week since Bria came to the house. She shook up my world. For the longest time, all I’d thought about was fighting. But now… I was starting to wonder what kind of life I could lead on the other side of the cage.

  And then she was taken away from me…

  Bria’s firm had sent her out of state for a pre-arranged meeting a few days ago. Something about a class-action case her boss was working on. We had spent the better part of two full evenings talking on the phone while I should have been sparring. I learned more about her than I ever thought I would. She was planning on getting her license to practice law. She wanted to start her own thing doing defense work… Defending the kind of clients who had nowhere else to turn.

  The helpless.

  I admired her heart and her selflessness. It was so different than the life I’d chosen for myself… And maybe it was a bit too different. She deserved someone who could nurture the good inside her.

  The problem was timing. No matter how much I wanted to be that man for Bria, I had a fight to win. Simmons wasn’t going to step into that ring and go easy on me. He didn’t get to the top taking half measures. I was just about to kick my training camp for the Simmons fight into high gear and I didn’t want anybody fucking it up.

  Bria doesn’t seem like the type to get in the way, but if I was going to survive this fight, I couldn’t take any chances…

  Could I?

  14

  Bria

  Kaitlyn was going to kill me if I held out any longer on her. She had been asking me every day since I last saw her if I went to see Luke, and I’d been keeping her at bay with vague answers. The thing is, I still wasn’t quite sure where I stood with him. We had a great time at his place, but talking to him on the phone felt a little forced. We had good conversations and I got to know him a little better but he seemed standoffish.

  Maybe he was feeling the pressure from the fight he has coming up. He didn’t seem like the type to let that stuff bother him but I don’t know him all that well yet.

  Either way, it was a bad time to be sent to Ohio. I finally meet a guy who I can’t get off my mind and I get sent a thousand miles away to handle my boss’s meeting.

  Now that I’m on my way home, and stuck on a layover in Chicago of all places, I should probably give her a call.

  I listened as Kaitlyn’s service played one of those shitty ring back tones. I tried to tell her that everybody else stopped using those things around 2010, but she loved it. As the song played on, I had a guilty hope that it would go to voicemail.

  “Hey!” she answered, excitedly. “How are things in Omaha?”

  “Ohio,” I corrected. “And I’m not there anymore. I’m stuck in Chicago waiting for my next flight because my cheap ass boss wouldn’t spring for a direct.”

  “Oh, do you want me to pick you up at the airport?”

  “No, that’s okay, I’m not getting in until late so I’ll just grab a taxi.”

  “Okay,” she said. “
So… is there anything else you want to talk to me about?”

  “Fine, I give up,” I said. “I went to see him.”

  “I knew you would! So give me the details.”

  “Well, first of all that gym is crazy. It’s huge and the guys there are all in shape and making money. I felt like I got punched in the face with all the testosterone in the air. You would love it.”

  “It sounds like my kind of place,” she said. “Then what happened.”

  “…”

  “Bria, what happened?”

  “He took me out to this nice restaurant downtown. The drinks were really good. We should go there when I get back.”

  “What!” she exclaimed. “You went on a date with Luke Greer?”

  I couldn’t help but smile at her shrieking.

  “You went on a date with Luke Greer and you try to gloss over it by telling me about some stupid fucking restaurant you went to?!”

  “Calm down, it started out as a way to thank him for saving me from that creep…”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” she interrupted. “Started out? As in, you started out at the restaurant and then you let him fuck you in his car?”

  “No,” I hesitated. “We made it back to his house first.”

  I thought she was going to completely lose her mind.

  “What?! Okay, wait, tell me… No way! I can’t believe…”

  “Kaitlyn slow down. One question at a time.” She was a whirling dervish spinning out of control.

  “Oh my God, okay, okay, I’m calm,” she said.

  “He’s actually a lot of fun to be around. I thought he was gonna be a real prick, and he does have those tendencies sometimes, but overall… I think I like him.”

  “How big was it?” she asked.

  “How big was wh- … wait, I tell you to slow down and ask me one question at a time and the first one you come at me with is ‘how big is his dick?’”

  “C’mon, don’t go back to being ‘stick-in-the-mud Bria,’ you were doing so good for a minute,” she whined.

  “Wow, well, first of all I’m not being a stick-in-the-mud. I just so happen to be sitting in an airport terminal full of people so excuse me if I don’t want to get in a loud conversation about how big he is. And second… it’s none of your business.”

  “Oh, you better believe it’s my business,” she countered. “I’ll let you off the hook because you’re in a crowded place -not that anyone would care- but you can count on giving me all the details as soon as you get home because you’re my best friend, understood?”

  She was on a mission.

  “Yeah, I guess,” I said.

  “And I’m gonna want to know a lot more than that, too. What was his house like? When can I meet him? Does he have any cute friends?”

  “Okay, Kaitlyn, I said okay. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know when I get back. Just take it easy on me. I’m a little overwhelmed with all this myself.”

  “I know, I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s exciting that’s all. I won’t say another word about it until you’re ready.”

  I knew that was a lie but it was good enough for the time being.

  “Oh, by the way,” she continued. “Guess who showed up at the bar looking for you last night?”

  “Who,” I asked, suspiciously.

  “Your asshole of an ex-boyfriend, that’s who.”

  “Ugh, I don’t even care anymore.”

  “Good, because I told him to fuck off.”

  “What was he doing?” I asked.

  “He kept bothering me, asking what you were up to… He asked if you were okay… He was relentless!”

  “Oh God, you didn’t tell him anything, did you?”

  “Of course I didn’t tell him! I said you were doing great and he needed to leave you alone.”

  “Thank you.” I breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

  “Well, don’t thank me yet… He didn’t believe me. Word must have gotten back to him about the other night, because he kept asking if anything bad had happened and he just wouldn’t let it go!”

  “Oh God…” I whispered, shaking my head. The last thing I needed was Kevin finding out about the assholes in the alley… Or Luke… We were done, and he had no business being nosy.

  “And then guess what he did?” Kaitlyn said, breaking my train of thought.

  “Do I even want to know?” I asked.

  “It doesn’t matter because you don’t care about him anymore, but he spent the rest of the night getting drunk and chatting up that mega-slut who works at the Starbucks down the street.”

  “Kaitlyn! You shouldn’t talk about people like that, even if it’s true.”

  “It is true,” she continued. “He even left with her, so if you ever think about taking him back just remember who he’s been with and what he probably has now.”

  “Alright, I get it. Don’t be gross.”

  “Just sayin’.”

  I fumbled to find the charger for my phone

  “I get it. But hey, my plane’s gonna board pretty soon so I have to go.”

  “Okay beautiful, have a safe flight and make sure to text me when you get it. Don’t forget this time either. You almost gave me a heart attack last week,” she said.

  “I will, bye.”

  I ended the call and stared out at the tarmac. The wind picked up and blew a shipping container on to its side. I said a silent prayer asking that our flight not get delayed. I needed to get home. I need to go see Luke.

  15

  Luke

  Less than thirty days until the fight and I’m feeling like a beast. I’m leaving sparring partners battered and bruised all over the gym. No one can match my power or my skill. Simmons is fucked.

  But something was wrong.

  I rub my aching jaw, feeling the deep bruise that would bloom there. That was a little penalty for letting my focus drop even for a second. Bria had crossed my mind just long enough to miss a block on a wicked right hook and I paid the price.

  It was my last sparring partner of the night… Jessup. He was six foot four with muscles like tightly wound spring. Not the kind of man you took lightly, even if he wasn’t my caliber. I unloaded on him quickly, looking to end the night on a high note. Right hook, left jab, kick to the knee, ground and pound. I’m a machine. I don’t think. I don’t worry. I don’t hesitate. I don’t let some girl throw off my flow.

  I pulled back at the last second, staring down at him. All I could see was Simmons…

  And beyond him, at the edge of the cage… I could almost imagine Bria standing there cheering me on.

  And that’s when the fist smashed into my face.

  My eyes flashing back down to his, Jessup looked almost as surprised as I was. I punished him for his hesitation. Knee to the side and a few sharp pummels and he was tapping out, but the damage was already done.

  The girl had gotten into my head. Next time I saw her, I didn’t know if I’d break it off with her, or shove her up against the wall and fuck her goddamned brains out.

  16

  Bria

  The ringing alarm felt like it was constructed for my own personal torture. My flight out of Chicago was delayed last night and I didn’t get home until after four in the morning. That didn’t change the fact that I had to be in Jones’ office with the specifics on the meeting by seven-thirty.

  The one good thing was that I was able to get all my stuff organized during the delay. I had my stuff setup so well that I’d be able to roll out of bed, head to the office, and throw my manila folder with the neatly typed notes down on his stupid oak desk. It was so thorough and well-done he could take what he needed from it without asking me a single, solitary question.

  I used an old school twin-bell alarm clock because I didn’t trust my phone. There were just too many ways the battery could run out or the phone could inexplicably shut off, leaving me high and dry. Kaitlyn told me I was “anal” about everything when she saw my alarm. But I thought I was just being prudent.

&nb
sp; Today, though, I wish I could have been a little more like her. I hated that damn alarm clock and I had half a mind to throw it against the wall.

  Instead, I dragged a weary arm from beneath my warm blankets and flipped the switch to the “off” position.

  Somebody kill me now. I thought to myself.

  By sheer force of will, I swung my legs off of the bed and sat upright. My head was filled with that miserable fuzzy feeling you get when have to wake up after far too little sleep. In retrospect, I should have grabbed a coffee on the way home and just made it an all-nighter. It would have sucked big time in a few hours, but it’s still gonna suck, anyway.

  My thoughts were jumbled. I couldn’t even tell if I was making any sense and I was the only one in the room. Eyes at half mast, I made my way to the shower. While I let the water warm up I kicked out of my pajamas and took a look at myself in the bathroom mirror.

  I managed to take pretty good care of myself despite the ridiculous work schedule. Mostly, I did it by eating right, though, Kaitlyn had gotten me into yoga a few months back. One thing was for certain, if I was going to keep up this relationship with Luke I would need to pick up on my exercise routine. I was still sore from our little session and that had been nearly a week ago.

  Steam was rising behind the shower curtain. I jumped in and let the hot stream of water hit my face. I felt like I could fall asleep standing in the shower. It actually felt nice until my balance shifted forward and I caught myself by grabbing handle and turning the water to straight cold. It was as aggravating as it was invigorating.

  Twenty minutes later and I was on the road with a gigantic cup of coffee in hand. I was steady slurping away at it when my phone started to ring. I grabbed it without looking and stuck it to my ear.

  “Hello?”

  There was nothing but silence.