Offsides (A Playing Hard Novella Book 3)

by Marie Johnston

  I straightened. He was just stepping out of his athletic shoes. Unlike me, he’d changed from the slacks and polo he usually wore to teach into jeans and a long-sleeved shirt that clung to his body like plastic wrap. When my gaze lifted to his, my breath caught. The air shimmered between us, and I stumbled into the main area not bothering to find another light switch.

  “So, this is it. The square footage is the same as yours, and it’s a decade newer.”

  “I like it.” He was right behind me.

  Like a coward, I flitted down the hall. “There is a basement. Don’t get your hopes up about it. From the pictures, it hasn’t been updated since the seventies, and the wood paneling is pretty groovy.”

  “I thought you were supposed to sell this.”

  In the bedroom, I flicked on a light and turned to find him in the doorway. He was leaning against the frame, his long body sinful. My mouth dried, and I tried to remember what the hell I was going to say.

  “So, the house…”

  He prowled inside, going to the closet and then around the rest of the small space. “It’s…small.”

  I hated to tell him this was the biggest bedroom. “Yeah, same square footage, but an extra bedroom so the actual rooms are smaller. But I thought it would be a good way to get an idea about what you want.”

  His eyes shifted to mine, and that same intense look from the game was back.

  My heart stammered, and I backed into the hallway. He was too much. Hayden was never too much. But tonight, he was too good-looking, too close, too…male. And I hadn’t had any of those in a long time. “I think the kitchen is a better setup than yours. There’s even a small pantry. If it hasn’t been trashed in the last forty years.”

  He followed me into the kitchen.

  “There’s more space.” I went to the far corner to peer into the pantry. “But it’s more closed off than the kitchen in your house.”

  With only one window over the sink, the rest of the kitchen was shoved deeper into the house with a tiny mudroom off the side.

  Hayden drifted into the mudroom, and I followed.

  “This is where they had a washer and dryer, but you could put those downstairs too.” I leaned against the short counter along the side wall, prepared to ask him his thoughts so far.

  But when he turned, he was right in front of me. Our proximity seemed to startle him, but his lids lowered, and I swear he grew bigger in front of me. He was taller than Kyle—than I was used to—and his shoulders were impossibly wide.

  I tipped my head back, but my flight response from earlier failed me.

  “I’ve thought about you a lot in the last year, Jess.”

  “Me too. About you.”

  Did he get closer? “I should’ve checked on you when Conner didn’t join the team.”

  “It wasn’t your responsibility.”

  He had gotten closer. He was a wall of heat in front of me. “We were friends.”

  “But that’s all we are.” That was my poor attempt at putting distance between us.

  “What if I don’t want it to stay that way?”

  My mind stalled. His nearness shorted my coherent thought. “You don’t want to be my friend?”

  His smile was lazy. “Not since you walked into that office last week.”

  “What’d I do?” God, I sounded dumb. I must’ve fallen asleep on the couch after supper and started dreaming. Hayden was at the house, waiting on me.

  “Do you know how jealous I used to get of—” He let out a frustrated growl, then his mouth was on mine, and I was on fire.

  Need raged through me. It’d been too long since I’d been with another person, and while I missed the intimacy, what I tired of was ignoring the way he had made me feel alive. He was here, and his mouth was crushing mine in the best way possible.

  I clutched at his shoulders, my fingers digging into muscle, drawing myself closer. He pushed me against the counter. My rational brain tried to kick in, but I shushed it. I was tired of being rational. I was tired of being strong by myself. I was tired of being lonely.

  His arms were around me, lifting me until my ass was on the counter. Instinctively, I wrapped my legs around his waist. He found the tie to my dress and tugged. The sides fell apart.

  We were going fast. Too fast, but I couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to. Just like I didn’t want to think about what we were doing until it was too late to take back. His lips were soft but unyielding. And when his tongue invaded my mouth, I groaned. God, yes.

  We exploded into a flurry of movement. He was working at my leggings, wedging them out from under my ass, and I was rocking my hips up to help him.

  The wrongness of the entire situation was like an alarm going off blocks away.

  His zipper dropped, and I was done. My body melted against his, the waistband of his pants digging into my thighs.

  He placed the blunt head of his cock at my opening but didn’t push forward, instead dragging it through my slit.

  He broke the kiss to say, “You’re wet for me, Jess.”

  His dirty talk made me feel young again. This moment made me feel like the sexual being I was and not the frumpy, forgotten ex. When he pushed in, I sucked in a sharp breath. He was big, and it’d been a while, but that didn’t slow us down. I bucked against him, loving how he filled me, how he hit all the right places. I was so charged, I didn’t even need further stimulation. The force of us slamming together was enough for my sensitized clit. I was flying toward a climax faster than I could ever remember.

  His hands were at my hips, roaming up to my breasts were my dress gaped open, on my thighs, spreading me wider. I dipped my head back as I gasped for air, trying to keep up. The edge of the counter bit into my ass, but I ignored it. An orgasm was rounding the corner, and it promised to be big.

  I was breathing like I was running a marathon. “Hayden, I’m almost there.”

  “Come for me,” he whispered in my ear. Then he nibbled on my earlobe and I was gone. A rush of heat flooded between us and I cried out, my knuckles white against his biceps.

  The climax lasted forever. I didn’t want it to end.

  He swelled inside me and thrust hard, pinning me between him and the counter. Groaning, he released inside me. I hugged him, my core throbbing, soaking all of him in.

  His chest heaved, and he lifted his head from where he’d buried it in the crook of my neck. “Jess…”

  Reality flooded my senses, horror in its wake. “Oh my god. What did I do?”

  I flattened my hands to push him away, but he gripped them in his. He was still inside me, and my legs were still wrapped around him. “Don’t. This was natural.”

  “I just had sex with a client at a showing,” I hissed.

  Remorse flashed through his face. “No one will know, right? Your job is safe.” He wasn’t brushing off my concerns, his eyes shifting back and forth between mine.

  “I-I think so.”

  He laid a kiss on my temple. “I’m sorry. If I had thought…” He drew back enough to catch my gaze. “But I’m not sorry this happened.”

  Was I? I’d wanted it. I scooted back and he slipped out, his shaft bobbing and glistening. “We didn’t use—”

  His jaw tensed. “No, we didn’t. I wasn’t thinking.” He helped me to my feet and grabbed my leggings from the floor.

  While he zipped himself up, I stepped into my still-warm clothes and retied my dress. When I was done, I forced myself to look up at him. He was watching me, his features worried.

  He feathered his fingers down my face. Such a tender gesture compared to the turmoil raging inside of me. This was by far the most unprofessional thing I’d done. And for some reason, I didn’t feel like I was any better than my cheating ex. Both Hayden and I were single, but our history combined with the location made it all seem so wrong.

  But the way my body was still thrumming felt so right.

  “I haven’t been with anyone since Carrie, and well, we know who she was sleeping with so I think I’m
safe.”

  He hadn’t had sex since Carrie left? I shouldn’t be surprised, but talk about an eligible bachelor. Yet, he was in the same boat I was. Work and raising a kid and reminders of the divorce all around.

  “Same.” I sighed and sank against the counter, unable to forget what just happened and how amazing it was. “I have a device implanted, for you know, birth control. It was the easiest since Kyle was so against having more kids, and I had a lot of child-bearing years ahead of me.” I’d refused to tie my tubes since he’d been so against getting a vasectomy.

  Hayden’s head tilted as he stroked his hand down my shoulder. “Why?”

  “Because he never grew up. One of us had to, and I’m sure you can guess who that was.”

  “Jess…”

  My eyes shut. I loved the way he said my name. Sex with him was amazing. But we were at vulnerable times in our lives. “We can’t do this.”

  He didn’t back away. “We can’t—not like this. But I don’t want to give up on this.” I blinked up at him. Couldn’t he see what a bad idea this was? “I didn’t know if you felt the same. You barely looked at me in Westfall’s office. Then in my office.” He lifted a shoulder. “I hoped. Talking on the phone with you was nice. I wanted more.”

  “I enjoyed it, too, but Hayden.” I straightened his collar, enjoying how his hands landed at my waist and stayed there. “Our boys.”

  “Then we keep it quiet.”

  I lifted a brow as my heart sunk. “Just sex?” I was good enough for secret chats and private rendezvous but not anything more.

  His expression turned serious. “I want way more than sex with you, but it’s a start.”

  I recalled what he said right before we jumped each other. “What did you mean about being jealous?” His words didn’t sit well. He’d been a married man.

  “I didn’t lust after you while I was married, if that’s what your troubled expression is about.” His tone was wry, allowing me to relax. “But my marriage was unsteady at its best, and you and Kyle seemed so stable. You had a good job, everyone liked you, and you two seemed like a team.”

  “You were jealous of Kyle because I was dependable.” I mean, I knew I wasn’t a sexpot, but—

  He laughed. “When you say it like that I feel like I should apologize. I also acknowledged how sexy you were, but I never let myself dwell on it.”

  I snorted. “Sexy. Ha.”

  He leaned down and laid his lips at the corner of my mouth, fisting his hands on my hips. “I’ve been dreaming about this ass since Westfall’s office. You’re sexy, Jess. You always have been. Just because you didn’t flaunt it like Carrie doesn’t mean you’re any less than her.”

  To prove his point, he captured my lips for a long, lingering kiss. Drawing me close to his body, the press of his hard length hit my belly. He was ready again?

  He pulled away with a groan. “What do you say? We take it slow?” At my pointed look, his lips quirked. “Slower?”

  “What can we do besides talk on the phone?” I couldn’t keep having sex in empty houses. But, lord, it was tempting. Obviously, our houses were off limits.

  “My schedule won’t allow for much, but we’ll find time. We’ll make it work.”

  He spoke with such confidence that I actually believed him.

  Chapter 5

  If by making it work, Hayden meant all we could do was call each other after ten at night, then we were doing just that. A month had gone by. I hadn’t dared look at more houses alone with him. I didn’t know about his restraint, but I didn’t trust myself with the opportunity.

  His days were filled with practice and another game where I sat with Grace and met Hayden’s gaze across the ice. Another game was coming up this weekend.

  I curled under the blanket and stared at the phone. Should I call Hayden?

  Conner had come home wiped from practice and said it had been brutal. According to him, one of the guys “fucked around” and Coach had made them all skate it out.

  From his routine check-ins, Hayden said both Conner and Mason were easier playing around each other. They weren’t back to their former selves, but he didn’t worry about a fight breaking out.

  The phone rang, startling me. I dropped it in the sheets and had to scramble for it.

  When I answered, I heard a “What are you wearing?”

  In the last month, we’d had a few rounds of phone sex, but it wasn’t the same. “An old college T-shirt and my very worst underwear.”

  He groaned. “You’re killing me. I want to see.”

  I smiled. Our conversations started out similarly each time. “You really killed the boys at practice tonight.”

  “They deserved it. Some of them don’t think so, but their attitudes are getting away from them. Hey, about the game in Alexandria. Are you going?”

  “Yes, I’ve tried to keep my schedule open so I can go. I even made a room reservation.” I could stay anywhere, but the team all roomed together with an enforced curfew, and I preferred to be under the same roof.

  He cleared his throat. “About that. There’s still a few rooms left in our block. I could get an extra one that we can meet at.”

  “I…” My inclination was to say no. Sneaking around after the game didn’t seem much better than doing it in the mudroom of a house on sale. But it would be our only chance. “That would take some balls.”

  “I have them for you,” he joked. “Seriously, though. I’m bunking with the assistant coaches, so it would be one of our few options. I want to see you again. I want to see more than that gorgeous face bundled up across the ice.”

  “Could we do that? Sneak into the same room and not get caught?” It seemed a waste of a room when I had my own, but there was always a chance Conner would stop by.

  “I’ve been on plenty of field trips in my day and caught enough kids doing it. They might not get separate rooms, but they try to sneak around to each other’s. Where do you think I got the idea?”

  This could work. Conner was used to me going to the lounge with the other parents well after his curfew time. I doubted he’d do more than send me a message.

  So, yeah. This was our chance. I could actually be with Hayden in the same bed as I got off on his deep voice and his not-imaginary touch. “It’s going to give me an ulcer worrying about getting caught, but let’s do it.”

  “If it doesn’t work out, then I can cancel. How about I come over now?”

  My body screamed yes, but I squeaked, “Now?”

  “Mason’s passed out. Conner?”

  “Probably the same, but he’s downstairs. I don’t think I can sneak you into my bedroom and keep you here without getting caught.” Not that I hadn’t thought about it. I had. A lot. Or going to his place, which seemed riskier since his house was smaller. “But there’s the garage.”

  “Tell me more about this garage, Jess.”

  “It’s chilly in there, but I have a car with a back seat.” The experience wouldn’t be like when I was seventeen with Jimmy when I was more flexible and had fewer expectations.

  “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

  “Ten minutes…” But he’d hung up.

  My adrenaline surged as I rolled out of bed and darted to the bathroom. I’d only been in bed twenty minutes but I had bed head. I could throw on more clothes, but what was the point. This outfit would work better for what we had in mind. But the garage was chilly. I grabbed my plush royal blue robe on the way out.

  Creeping into the living room, hugging my robe shut, I stopped at the stairs and listened. The lights were off, but that didn’t mean Conner was asleep. He didn’t usually come upstairs this late and there was a three-quarters bathroom down there.

  Okay. We were going to try this. And if it was successful, I was down with sneaking into an anonymous hotel room with him just for sex.

  Longing for more made me stall in front of the door to the garage. I had a pair of flip-flops I used to run garbage outside that I could use. This would be nothing more t
han a quickie.

  What would a real relationship with Hayden be like? To go get groceries together? Go out to eat? Meet him in the parking lot after a game and give him a kiss?

  I’d been there, done that, and I missed it. I missed it before my divorce when Kyle was pulling away, wanting less to do with me, finding more opportunities to meet with Carrie at an undisclosed location.

  The nerves were about to kill me now. How much did Kyle fall for Carrie that he was willing to do this while he was still married? Guilt laid across my shoulders like a mantle that I was hiding this from my son. But I also didn’t want to upend his world just as he was getting back on his feet.

  Stuffing my feet into the flip-flops, I quietly opened the door and slowly closed it behind me.

  I shivered. It was slightly more than chilly out here. I went to the outside door and unlocked it, even opening it just enough that all he had to do was pull. The hinges squeaked and I stilled.

  Ridiculous.

  Minutes went by as I shifted from foot to foot and rubbed my hands together.

  The door opened, and a shadowy figure swept inside, silently pulling the door closed behind him. It could be anybody, a midnight burglar with bad timing. The one window in the garage didn’t let in a lot of street light, but the size of the shadow was right. And my body flushed so hard I didn’t need the robe. It was Hayden.

  “Jess?” he whispered.

  “Right here.”

  He closed the distance between us as if he could see perfectly, pulling me against his cold sweater. He was wearing flannel pajama pants, looking like the most comfortable burglar ever.

  Yanking the hat off his head, he said, “I parked down the block. Everyone’s house is dark.”

  “Because it’s after eleven, and we all work in the morning.”

  “You’re worth it.” I huddled closer to him but slipped the robe off and hung it on the railing by the door to the house.

  He felt around for the handle to the back door. Ushering me inside, he climbed beside me and closed us in. Then he hauled me onto his lap, my legs hanging over the sides of his.

  I snuggled into him, and he buried his head in my hair.