Authors: Sosie Frost
Jack reluctantly handed me the crimson silk. “What about…?”
“Sorry.” I covered my face. “Sorry, this got out of control. We never should have—”
“Yes, we should have.”
“No, Jack. We can’t. We just…” I wished I had a glass of water, something to ease whatever flames burned through me. “You are
so
lucky you weren’t with him tonight. Half of the damn offense is at the police station with him. If you had been there…”
“I wasn’t.”
“And that’s why we need to be careful,” I said. “This. What we’re doing? This fake relationship is for our protection. We can’t jeopardize it. No matter what happens. We can’t let ourselves…”
“I get it.” Jack didn’t look like he wanted to understand. “Fine. Need a ride?”
“No, I’ll call a taxi. I want you to stay here, okay? That journalist was bad enough. I don’t want anyone to even start a rumor you were with Bryon.”
He tossed his shirt over his shoulders. It couldn’t button. His cock still raged hard in his pants. I tried not to look at what might have been.
“Thank you for dinner,” I said. “I…uh, I won’t bill you for it.”
Jack scowled, returning to his beer on the bar. “Bill me, Kiss. If this is our
professional
relationship now, I don’t want anything to ruin my
reputation
. At least my credit is impeccable.”
“Jack—”
“This is how you want it?” He held his arms out. “This is how you get it. No fooling around. Nothing more than sheer respectability. I possess some self-restraint, but thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“Yes, you did. I’m not your type. I’m your one wild moment. The one man you could’ve looked back on while your future husband lays over you for thirty seconds to finally give you that baby you want so much.” He shrugged. “Fine. I’ll spare you the guilt of having sex and using me to feel good about yourself.”
“I’m sorry!”
“I’m not some mistake to be made,” he said. “If I get you, I want all of you. Not just your curiosity. Not because I’m your one bad thing you do. I want to fuck you, and I want you to like
it because you wanted
me
.”
I couldn’t answer. Jack didn’t expect one.
Well I didn’t have a choice. If I was protecting myself and my career and Jack’s reputation, we had to be responsible.
Even if it meant denying something we both wanted.
Even if it meant denying each other the only thing we both needed.
Chapter Six - Jack
I kicked my ass from one side of the field to the other and worked my muscles raw, and still I couldn’t punish myself enough for being so fucking stupid.
I made a lot of bad calls in my life. Yelling at the most gorgeous woman in the world seconds after her legs wrapped around my head?
Rookie. Mistake.
What the fuck was happening to me? God damn that woman—that beautiful, sexy, infuriating woman. Leah was the only girl I’d ever wanted who hadn’t wanted me back.
No—she was the only one who ever
refused
me. Even after she liquefied on my couch. She didn’t just reject me. She denied herself.
Leah. Wanted. Me.
She couldn’t lie to me with my head between her legs. Her thighs had tightened over my ears, but I didn’t have to hear her moans to sense what she craved. I tasted it. Savored it. I was practically burned by the searing heat in that perfect pussy that trembled so sexy against my tongue.
It wasn’t enough. It wouldn’t be enough until I was balls deep in that woman.
If I hadn’t made such an idiot mistake, I might’ve had her.
Didn’t matter. She’d be mine as soon as I figured out how to make her talk to me again.
Really
talk to me. Not any of this bullshit photo-op dates. I’d win her over the only way I knew how. Some people had a golden voice, I had a golden tongue.
But first, I had something equally important to do. I remembered McGrin Regional Hospital’s layout. I wished I hadn’t. Or that I hadn’t remembered all the days and nights we spent running back and forth through the halls. The pediatric wing was the worst, artificially colored and bright but still clinging to the scent of antiseptic.
It was a shitty place to grow up. It was worse when most of the kids in the beds didn’t make it.
I didn’t stay long. Couldn’t. Too many memories and not nearly enough reason or justification for what had happened. I dropped the check, shook the doctor’s hand, and we were done.
I made it to the lobby before
she
found me.
Leah dressed for success. She covered up everything sexy, but she didn’t need a miniskirt to make me beg. She bit her lip. That meant she had bad news. But, hell, everything about her was bad news anymore.
Look, but don’t touch.
Defend, but don’t take.
Have, but only temporarily.
Women never used to affect me. I just needed a quick fuck, and I’d get her out of my system. No other woman would do. I needed her. Begging. Panting. Wanting.
“You’re a hard man to track down, Jack,” Leah said.
Everything about me was hard. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I’d ask you the same question.” She adjusted the strap on her laptop bag so she didn’t have to look me in the eye. She hadn’t held my gaze since that night. “Jolene reps this hospital. Imagine our surprise when her contact calls to tell us Jack “Play-Maker” Carson is talking to the Chief of Pediatrics.”
“Think I was going to ruin something?” My voice edged hard. “Cause a problem? Throw down with a nurse in the middle of the floor?”
Leah flinched. God, I was edgy around her. She didn’t deserve my temper, not when she was still trying to preserve my reputation along with her job. That made her dedicated…and an idiot. She refused to take her pleasure even when it was thrust in front of her face.
Or between her legs.
She sighed. “Jack, I’m not starting a fight—”
“I was donating money.”
Leah’s eyes widened like I handed
her
the fifty grand. “You’re…
donating
? Like, charity?”
“Yeah.”
I nodded for her to follow me. Her petite legs scampered to stay at my side.
“Why are you donating to the pediatric ward?” she asked. “And why didn’t you say anything to me about it?”
Because I avoided this reaction. “What’s it matter?”
“Jack, this is a moment we could
use
.” She followed me outside but pulled me behind a concrete pillar before I bolted for the parking garage. Her voice hushed. “This is something amazing I could use as a photo-op. If I could write an article and push it to an outlet—”
“No. You’re not doing it.”
She didn’t understand. She wouldn’t, and I didn’t want to explain.
“Jack.”
“You’re not making this into some goddamned PR stunt.”
“This is
good
publicity. You need some of that. It’s not like our dates have been doing much.”
Yeah. Total waste of time, especially if I wasn’t getting laid. “Those last three
dates
were a blast.”
She shrugged. “I’m trying. I have social media retweeting and reposting things, and I’m leaking pictures. It’s only been two weeks.”
“It could be two fucking months, Kiss. Christ.” I didn’t mean to get pissed. Two weeks without a fuck was something I hadn’t dealt with before. “Unless I’m banging two girls in a bar bathroom, doing body shots off some co-ed with daddy issues, or getting sucked off in my car—no one cares what the fuck I do. They want to see the media’s version of Jack Carson. Your version. The trouble-maker.”
“I don’t think that’s really you.”
“Yes, you do, or you wouldn’t have stripped for me.”
“Jack—”
“We almost fucked, Leah.”
“Yeah, well, sorry my notch in your bedpost buffs right out.”
“Don’t apologize to me.” I licked my lip just to watch her squirm. “You missed out on the fucking of a lifetime. Hope you don’t lose too much sleep regretting it.”
“I take solace in the fact that I’m saving ten bucks on a box of condoms,” she said.
“Where I come from, the gentleman buys.” I winked. “I even get them ribbed for her pleasure.”
“Oh, remind me to list that act of charity in your next puff piece,” Leah said. “Compassionate Manwhore Says
You Bring The Wine, I’ll Grab The lube
.”
“Got news for you, Kiss…you didn’t need any lube.”
She shifted, uncomfortable and unable to deny just how wet and ready I made her. “Well…now that you respect me that much more as your publicist, maybe you’ll be more inclined to look favorably on our next organized outing.”
“Where?”
“The ballet.”
“Absolutely not.”
She sighed. “It’s a cultural event. A lot of local celebrities are going to the opening.”
“Then no one will notice I’m not there.”
“It’s important.”
I grunted. “It’s not. This isn’t working, Kiss! These dates don’t do a damn thing.”
She didn’t like the criticism. That was fine. I didn’t like blue balls.
“We did the baseball game,” Leah said. “People liked that. We were on the jumbotron between innings. Everyone saw the local football hero wearing a baseball jersey, supporting the other professional teams in the city while out with his girlfriend. That’s a good start. It’s building a narrative.”
“You didn’t even kiss me back when the monitor drew a heart around us.”
She shrugged. “I got nervous.”
“Bullshit,
you
organized it,” I said. “Goddamn it. I’m so hard up on you I’m trying to score on a fucking
kiss cam
.”
“It’s not a good idea, Jack.” She exhaled and avoided my gaze. “Especially now.”
I recognized that tone. Learned to hate it. “What happened?”
“There’s a story coming out tomorrow about Bryon and his arrest.”
It was a sore spot between us. She thought he was bad news. So did I, but he was still my best friend and threw one hell of a party.
“They let him go,” I said. “No evidence.”
“Yeah…but it’s a whole article about professional misbehavior and league liability.” She frowned. “You’re their lead example.”
“Mother fuckers.”
“I tried to contact the writer. He won’t return my calls. We need to do something about this before you’re labeled a sexual predator.”
“How do you know I’m not?”
“Maybe you are.”
“Then run away little girl. Before I finally catch you.”
She didn’t want to play. Too bad.
“We’ve gotta make a plan tonight, Jack. I’ll buy us a pizza if I can come over?”
“You sure you wanna risk it? Last time you were there, you ended up naked and coming all over my couch.”
Her voice edged, a little kitten striking out with claws. “Yeah, I’ll try to contain myself.”
“Left a nice little wet spot too.”
“Jack.”
“You have any idea how sexy you are when you’re riding my tongue and getting yourself off?”
“Sexier than you can handle.”
“Not my first rodeo, Kiss. I’ve held you. Kissed you. Tasted you. Only one thing left to do now. Take a guess what it is.”
She stalked away, and I loved to see her pissed off, especially if it was the only passion I could get from her. It felt nice to get under her lovely skin again.
“Seven tonight, Kiss,” I warned. “Better be prepared.”
***
My pool was a good place to relax after practice. I needed to get more reps in, and the water comforted my bruised body. It took work to get in my shape. I built my pool specifically to help me train once my body gave out after a day of practice and working out. That was when I had to push it the most.
Breathe
.
My arms cut through the water.
Stroke
.
Not even the chill of the pool could dull the pounding in my cock. My body wasn’t streamlined at the moment, and nothing I did would rid me of the fucking hard-on. Seeing Leah, pissing her off, inviting her to the couch where I almost fucked her into oblivion? It wouldn’t calm me down.
I was
that
close.
Breathe
.
What was wrong with me? I needed her. I wanted her.
Stroke
.
I had more important worries than when I’d finally have her lips wrapped around my cock. The Rivets hadn’t called my agent for contract negotiations. I expected an extension
before
training camp started. A
good
fucking contract. Hundred million dollars or more.
Breathe
.
They didn’t call. No one in the organization had a goddamned thing to say about it.
For the first time since I was drafted, I had the muzzle on and an empty bed. I was a
good boy
, but the Rivets were still as concerned about my
behavior
as the fucking league president. Christ only knew what Frank Bennett told them, and it wasn’t good.
Stroke
.
If I didn’t get signed this year, it wouldn’t just be an insult—it’d be the end of my career. Only two years in and I was fucked beyond repair.
But If I didn’t get laid, none of it would matter. My cock would fucking explode before I could negotiate my signing bonus. Not sure a eunuch could make it in the league.
Breathe
.
I hit the end of the pool and surfaced to study a pair of delicate and sleek cocoa legs slipping beneath the ripples. Leah dropped her laptop and purse on a lounge chair, and she wrapped her skirt a little higher on her thighs. She kicked her perfectly painted toes in the water.
“Hey.” Her voice was soft. She knew she got caught where she didn’t belong. “Hope you don’t mind me crashing your pool. It’s really hot out here this evening.”
And now the water fucking boiled.
I shook my head, dragging a hand through my wet hair. Leah recognized my smirk.
“Anything for my little woman.”
“Jack.”
“Mrs. Carson.”
Leah exhaled. “I knew this was a bad idea. I should have just called.”
“Probably.”
“I thought we could be adults.”