“True,” she conceded. “You know what I like about you?”
“No. Give me a detailed list and say it slow in that sexy voice you just did.”
She could hardly talk around her laughter, and I found myself grinning widely.
Faith was so much braver than I was. Everything about this with her felt fragile, like if I moved wrong, I’d lose it. And I couldn’t handle the thought of that so soon after I’d found her.
I’d tell her. And when I did, it would be perfect. Something that showed her exactly how much I listened to her, how well I knew her.
Because I did. Faith had been hurt, and even if enough time had passed that she was willing to take a chance on me, I wanted that confident girl from the first date. The girl who did nothing more than smile at me, and had me wrapped completely around her dainty little finger. Any words he’d ever put in her head would be erased completely.
Not just because of me, but because she knew they didn’t belong there either.
She hummed, and in the background, I could hear the rustling of sheets. I swiped a hand down my face because holy shit, the mental images. They were so good. I wanted to be in those sheets with her.
“You don’t fool me,” she said.
The hand dropped off my face at the change in her tone. “Don’t I?”
“I think this whole bad boy thing is an act.”
“All the refs who flagged me in the past three years would beg to differ,” I answered wryly.
“That’s different.”
I closed my eyes at how sure she sounded. “Is it?”
“Yup. You might play like you’ve got a point to prove, but it doesn’t mean anything about who you are underneath the helmet. I think you’re a big ol’ softy,” she said quietly. “And for some reason, you don’t want to show it.”
This time, when my heart sped up, it wasn’t because I was mad. Or because I was turned on. I mean, I was turned on, but it wasn’t just that. It was because I might as well have been standing naked in the middle of that field where I’d started my time in Washington.
How did she do this?
And when did a giant wooly sock get stuck in my throat? I tried to swallow, and it took me another try before I was successful. “That’s the whole plan, sunshine. I can only show my soft side to a few select people. If everyone knew how amazing I was, imagine the chaos that would ensue.”
“Then I guess I should feel very special that I’m one of them.”
My eyes were pinched shut tightly as I spoke. “What does your day look like tomorrow?”
“I have to work, but my roommate Tori is pulling an overnight because a rhino might give birth.”
“Ohhhkay?”
She giggled. “She works at the zoo.”
“Ahh.” I knew that too, I thought with a grimace.
“But a birthing rhino means I’ll have the apartment to myself,” she said lightly.
“I love that rhinoceros.”
“Do you?”
“More than I ever thought possible.” I winced when I caught the time. “I should probably try to get to sleep, but I’ll be there at five thirty, and I’ll bring something to eat with me.”
“Is the food my surprise?” she asked.
“Patience, sunshine. You’ll find out tomorrow.”
She sighed. “Fine.”
“Sweet dreams,” I told her.
“Good night,” Faith answered sweetly.
It took me a few minutes after she disconnected, where I did nothing but stare up at the ceiling. It was impossible to know whether this was actually the dumbest thing I’d ever done. Even if it was, with her voice echoing in my head as I drifted off to sleep, it was a risk I was willing to take.
Faith
At five twenty-nine, I paced my apartment, doing one last check that I’d picked up Tori’s clothes tornado that always ended up on the floor by the couch. My hands were jittery by my side, as they’d been all freaking day as I watched the time wind closer to when I’d see him.
“This is crazy,” I whispered in a singsong voice. That one phone conversation, after one date, had me flying so high that I was starting to worry just a little bit.
I told him about Charlie, for crying out loud. Told him the one thing I’d never told anyone, ever. And poof, it came out of my mouth just like that. Maybe because we’d been on the phone, it was easier.
But he was making it so easy, somehow.
Which is why I was pacing and my hands couldn’t stop twitching, and I had to remind myself that I should not jump him the moment he walked through the door. Because I still had a good head on my shoulders.
Maybe.
In front of the mirror over our small table by the door, I gave another quick glance at my reflection. There was no time for a carefully constructed outfit with magical properties, so Dominic was getting what I’d worn to work: a denim pencil skirt and a simple bone-colored tank tucked into the waist.
The buzz at the speaker by our door sounded, and even though I knew he’d be on time, I jumped. With my hand on my chest, I hit the button.
“Hey, sunshine, a really intimidating man down here at the desk wants to make sure you’re expecting me.”
With a laugh, I hit the button to speak. “You can let him up, Michael.”
“You got it, Miss Pierson,” came our doorman’s deferential tone.
Dominic must have caught the elevator immediately because I could hardly do any fidgeting before there was a brisk knock on the door.
My poor heart.
It was off to the races at the sound of that knock, and I did the mental pep talk thing again.
No jumping, Faith.
You can control yourself.
You are a capable, strong woman who has self-control.
And I was doing great with all those affirmations until I opened the damn door.
Dominic had a large, reusable grocery bag gripped in one hand and braced himself on the doorframe with his other hand. For a moment, he didn’t move, his eyes tracking down my body like I was wearing edible lace or something instead of a perfectly boring, perfectly normal workday outfit.
“Sunshine,” he said in a low, growly voice.
“Hotshot.” Mine wasn’t low and growly, but it was all sorts of breathy and girly, like I was not a woman with self-control. “Come in.”
I stepped aside, and when his shoulder brushed against me, I closed my eyes.
No jumping, Faith.
You can control yourself.
You are a capable, strong woman who has self-control.
It didn’t even register I was still standing there holding the door until I heard his low, amused chuckle. When I opened my eyes, he’d set the grocery bag on the small table where Tori and I ate.
Again, Dominic was wearing dark jeans that highlighted exactly how long his legs were, and a black T-shirt that hugged his chest and shoulders. Ink crawled down his arms. On his head was a solid black baseball hat, backward again, and I could tell based on the dark stubble coating his sharp jaw that he hadn’t shaved.
He wasn’t trying to impress me—even though he was doing that too—and somehow that made my self-control crumble further.
“How was your day, dear?” he murmured, leaning up against the edge of the table, his legs spread wide.
But it was the look in his eye that had the crumbling self-control disappear in a happy poof.
I strode toward him and grabbed the side of his face, just as his big hands came around to grip my ass. Our mouths melded in a hot, hard kiss. Before I could blink, he’d turned us, licking into my mouth while he boosted me up onto the table. Those hands shoved the hem of my skirt up just far enough that I could split my thighs around his hips. When Dominic fitted himself there, he groaned, a sound that vibrated out of his broad chest and into my mouth with such delicious tremors that I whimpered.
One hand stayed against my lower back, the other anchored roughly into my hair as he directed the kiss. With my head angled to t
he side, I felt very much like he was devouring me.
And in his capable hands, with that tongue, and his lips, and the sounds he made, I yielded without hesitation. My arms wound around his neck as we kissed and kissed. When I finally broke away with a gasp, it was only because he’d moved his lips to the edge of my ear and sucked my earlobe into his mouth.
“Oh,” I moaned. “Oh, I like that.”
Dominic pulled back with a dazed look in his dark eyes. “I’m going to find all the ways to make you say that.”
I traced my thumb underneath the curve of his lip. “Are you?”
At my touch, he nipped the pad of my finger. The sharp bite of his teeth had me feeling achy and empty, and when I exhaled shakily, he saw it.
“What do you need?” he asked with something dark and intense threading through his voice. “Tell me.”
Because I didn’t trust my ability to speak, I knew I couldn’t tell him, but I could show him. Sliding my hand over his, I moved it from the curve of my ass and helped him push the edge of my skirt higher. Even as his fingers curled into the warm flesh of my thigh, his eyes never wavered from mine.
Then I pushed his hand between my legs.
Dominic needed no further instruction, and his eyes lit dangerously as he leaned forward, bracing his free hand on the table. His big fingers knew exactly what I needed, moving slow and sure until my head dropped onto his shoulder, and I tightened my fist into the material of his shirt. At first, it was all I could do to breathe through the build, but then even that wasn’t enough. I turned my head and found his mouth, hot and seeking, that tongue twining with mine as my hips started rocking back and forth.
Then he moved, curled his wrist, and I broke away from the kiss as warmth slid fast through my veins.
I came down slow and quiet.
On my dining room table.
Five minutes after he walked in the door.
“I’ll find all of them,” he whispered, ducking his head to kiss my cheek. The tip of my nose. My forehead.
With my hands still gripping his shirt, I had to tuck myself against his chest while he held me. Something about this unexpected exchange had my whole body trembling.
“Hey,” he said, running a soothing hand along my back, “you okay?”
I nodded. But it still took me a second before I could lift my head and meet his eyes. “This is … intense, right? It’s not just me?”
Dominic’s jaw flexed as he slid a hand along the side of my face. “It’s not just you.”
But concern was etched over his face as he studied me.
“Was it too much?” he asked.
I shook my head, then gave him a soft kiss. “No. Not in a bad way.” I smiled when he helped me down from the table. “Just …”
“Intense,” he finished.
“Yeah.”
Dominic blew out a hard breath, then grinned in such a boyish, charming way that I about jumped right back on that fracking table. “That’s not how I planned to start this date.”
Tilting my head to the grocery bag, I asked, “Something a bit more tame?”
“Oh, we’re not having a boring dinner, sunshine. We’re living on the edge tonight.”
I moved to the side while he pulled the bag toward him. And simply because I wanted to, I slid my arm around his waist, tucking myself under his arm while he rooted around in the bag. Amazing how easy affection felt after a greeting like that.
He produced a box of Hershey’s chocolate.
I stared at it. Then stared at him. “What’s that?”
“Can you take it, please?”
With a confused smile, I did, then watched him unfold a big plaid blanket and lay it in the middle of the room. With his back to me, he rummaged through the bag and took out a small box. That went onto the middle of the blanket, followed by pillows from our couch. Dominic tucked a giant bag of marshmallows under his arm, then gestured to the blanket.
“My lady,” he said.
I sat, still clutching the chocolate in my hands. That was when I noticed an assortment of other sweets. Peanut butter cups. White chocolate bar. Dark chocolate with toffee. And two stacks of graham crackers.
“A s’more picnic?” I asked.
“I’d planned to do this out in the park behind your building, but…” He gestured at the window, where rain pattered gently against the glass.
My grin split my face wide. “I love it. We’re going to get a sugar high, though. You know that, right?”
“That’s the plan.” He leaned forward and gave me a sweet kiss.
From the box, he pulled a small silver canister that set on top of a square black rock. With the flick of a lighter that he pulled out of his pocket, we had our own little flameless fire.
I glanced at him wonderingly. “You’re setting the bar very high, hotshot.”
“Does that mean I can stay after dessert and kiss you some more?”
Nodding, I leaned in again and gave him one that was a bit longer than the last.
“How was your day?” I asked while he loaded up two small sticks with marshmallows.
“Oh, you know how it goes,” he said, eyes fixed on the marshmallow as he rotated it, “lots of weights. Lots of sweat. Watched some film for a while.”
“What film?” I ate a marshmallow plain, then added another one from the bag onto my roasting stick.
“Wolves versus Green Bay, two years ago.”
“We lost, right?”
He nodded. “By a field goal at the end. Green Bay’s defensive scheme makes it harder for tight ends to slot into that receiver role.”
“Scared of their linebackers, are ya?” I teased.
Dominic emitted a little growl, which had me laughing.
“Did Torres give you that homework?”
He shook his head. “Just wanted to start taking some notes. We play Green Bay week three, want to find some holes in what they do.”
I studied him because it was more interesting than roasting my marshmallow. Something had been eating at me with this new little journey of discovering the many sides of Dominic Walker. And instead of tiptoeing around it, I decided to embrace whatever crazy foundation we were building—the intensity and the connection—and just go for it.
“Can I ask you something?”
Dominic raised an eyebrow. “Every time you start with something like that, I feel like you’re about to psychoanalyze me.”
I smiled. “I’m serious. If I ask you a question, will you answer me honestly?”
He pulled the stick away from the flame, giving me his full attention before he replied. His eyes searched mine for a beat. “Yeah. I’ll answer honestly.”
I held out my pinky. He took it without hesitation, curling his much larger one around mine.
“You weren’t the one who puked out on the field, were you? It was the rookie, Cartwright.”
His eyes widened, his mouth popping open just slightly.
“I knew it,” I breathed. “Why’d you tell Allie it was you? She should know.”
“Shit,” he muttered under his breath. Dominic exhaled heavily, still holding my gaze. “That’s not your story to tell, young lady.”
“Don’t young lady me.” I smacked his shoulder. “Why would you lie about that?”
Dominic sat back and watched me evenly.
“Tell me,” I encouraged him. “You are a hard worker, hotshot. You love what you do. I can see it. The more I get to know you, the less that whole thing makes sense.”
But he didn’t want to. And I didn’t want to push too hard. But something was going on in that locker room, something that weighed on him, especially when I thought about what my dad had said and what I’d seen at the car wash event.
The vets were wary of this new guy—Walker the Wild. But honestly, I didn’t think he was all that wild. He played aggressively, but in the right atmosphere, that edge would smooth out. Nothing I’d seen of him made me believe he’d drink so much his first night here that he’d get sick on th
at field. But for some reason, he let them believe it.
When he stayed quiet, I allowed myself a moment of disappointment that he wasn’t telling me the full story, but we would get there. I could feel it. He and I were at the start of something good, and it was okay if some things about it progressed at a more normal pace.
But he must have seen that disappointment on my face.
“It was the rookie’s idea,” he started. “He had the tequila in his bag.”
I set my chin on my hand and listened.
“I only had a couple of shots all night. Hardly enough to get buzzed, but he drained half that bottle. When they flipped the lights on…” He gestured from his mouth.
“Got it.” At my tone, Dominic grinned crookedly. My favorite of all his smiles. “That’s when my mom showed up,” I added.
He nodded slowly.
“Why…?” My voice trailed off. “I don’t understand.”
Dominic swallowed, slicking his tongue over his teeth before he answered. “After that disaster of a press conference, I already felt so … out of place. And because they immediately expected me to do something stupid.” His jaw clenched. “Everyone did. Might as well let them believe it, if it let the rookie start with a blank slate.”
Carefully, I set my roasting stick down, and staying aware of where the flame was, I crawled over until I was straddling his lap. My hands looped loosely around his neck, and I waited for him to move his eyes from the line of my tank top before I spoke. His big hands slid up my upper thighs, exposed by the position I was sitting.
“I won’t tell Allie,” I promised.
“Thank you.”
“But you shouldn’t keep this to yourself. It’s not your responsibility to bear someone else’s mistakes, Dominic. You know what you told me yesterday? That I didn’t see the jackass was a jackass because he didn’t let me?”
Oh, Dominic didn’t like being compared to him.
I held up a hand, then laid it over his heart. “You know what I mean.”
Dominic raised an eyebrow in concession. His fingers traced the hem of my skirt.
“You have an amazing opportunity here, and it’s not too late to let them see the good. Even if chaos ensues because everyone is obsessed with you once they do,” I finished lightly.
The Lie : a bad boy sports romance Page 15
