Fourth Down and Dirty: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (25 page)

My head fell back
as my lungs finally managed to draw in a deep breath. As soon as I gained my
composer I sat up with excitement.

A devilish smirk
formed across my face. “My turn.” I grabbed his arm and pulled him onto the
bed. He laid back and quickly started unbuckling his belt and unzipping his
pants. I leaned down and planted a soft kiss just above his waistline. Hayden
hissed through his teeth as I felt him—rock hard and ready—underneath his
pants.

I glanced up at
him with a smile as I reached inside his pants. The moment my hand touched his
hardness my breath went still. He felt big; pulsing and hard against my palm. I
tugged his pants down a little and pulled him out. He was much bigger than I
had anticipated, even after feeling him throb against my hand. His head fell
back and his eyes clamped shut as I stooped down and traced my tongue along
him.

He twitched
against me the moment my tongue made contact. Delicately, I kissed and licked
up his length. I kept my eyes open the whole time. I wanted to watch his body
quiver and tense from my teasing licks. And I loved the way his hard abs rocked
and rolled with each stuttering breath. My tongue flattened along the underside
of his shaft as I made my way up to the tip.

As soon as I
sealed my lips around his crown his hips bucked up a little and his hand
clutched at the top of my head. I dropped down a little farther, easing him
inside as my tongue rolled. He flexed and rocked underneath me. I could
practically feel his body pulse with the throbbing of his length. He lurched up
a little more, forcing himself a little farther past my lips.

He was close. I
could feel it.

His grip tightened
in my hair and just as I was about to bring him to the end, I drew back and sat
up. His eyes were hot and heavy with passion. I could only imagine I looked the
same.

“I want to feel
you inside of me.” I confessed, flopping back onto the bed beside him. Hayden
gave me a little smile as he scooted off the bed, kicked his pants off, and
reached for a condom inside his nightstand. I quickly sat up and threw my dress
off and over my head.

As soon as he
knelt back down onto the bed I pulled him down for another kiss. He moved
between my legs, nestling himself down against me, his hardness teasingly
pressed against my wetness. I sucked in a deep breath through my nose as he
rubbed against me and dared entrance. I rocked and angled and shifted my hips
as I tried to beg him inside.

Hayden reached
down in between us to aim his crown against me. My body froze as my eyes found
his. Neither of us breathed or blinked as he slowly eased inside, not breaking
eye contact for a second. My chest deflated with a heavy sigh as I felt my body
envelop around him. He pulled back slowly before easing back in deeper, pushing
against my trembling body. My head dropped back and I rolled my hips to meet
his.

Tiny tingles
crawled down my collarbone as he leaned down to plant more kisses along my
neck. My arms wrapped around his shoulder. I held on tight as my body whimpered
and jolted. The rhythmic sound of our bodies meeting electrified the room. His
hand cradled the side of my head as he kissed me deep and forceful. There was
something different about the way he touched me. It didn’t feel lustful.

It felt like
passion. It felt like want and desire.

My heart pounded
against my ribs and my breathing grew shallow. I was getting close again. And
the way he was bumping and panting against me—he was close too.

His hand cupped my
breast as he skimmed my pert nipple with the tips of his fingers. My hips
rolled. His thrusts grew long, and deep. My nails clawed at his shoulders and I
gave one last whimpering moan. Just as I came with a force so hard my body
trembled, Hayden fell on top of me and pushed in deep—his length buried inside
of me as he pulsed and trembled to completion.

We laid there for
a moment in each other’s arms, enjoying the pleasant tingles flowing up and
down our bodies. We stayed still until our heart beats slowed and our breathing
steadied. Hayden left one last gentle kiss on the side of my cheek before he
rolled over to his side with a deep sigh. I stared up at the ceiling as the
final buzzing tingles left my toes.

“Ali.”
 
He said as he propped himself up on one
elbow.

“Yeah?” I turned
to look just in time to see his eyes studying my face yet again.

“I want to tell
you something.”

There was
something about the way he spoke that made my stomach lurch. What could it
possibly be now? Was I incapable of enjoying a single moment of peace and tranquility
without having something ruin it.

“What is it?” I
asked, fearful of the answer.

His face slowly
morphed into a smile. “You have perfect ears.”
 
I let out another surprised giggle.

“I know,” I
laughed.

We sat there for a
little while talking about nothing in particular. Hayden offered for me to stay
the night, but I was quickly starting to come back to reality. As soon as the
passion and desire began to fade, I quickly remembered just who this man was.

My emotions were starting
to get even more muddied and confusing. Staying with him was definitely not the
best idea. Sleeping with him probably wasn’t either. I politely declined so he
had a driver take me home soon after.

The moment my
apartment door clicked shut behind me I let out a deep sigh and clenched my
eyes shut.

“What the hell are
you doing Ali?”

It was two days
later and I hadn’t spoken to Hayden at all, not even a brief text message. It
didn’t feel like a cold silence. It wasn’t a standoff and to some degree I
welcomed the distance. After what had happened the other night, I felt like I
needed a little bit of time to get my head on straight. As soon as I actually
did manage to start thinking clearly, the panic started to set in.

 
He was a busy man and I was a woman with too
much time to pace around and fume over my situation. Having come to the
conclusion that the only way things had a shot of getting better was if Hayden
changed Via’s appearance, I was gearing up to call him and actually ask for a
meeting. I knew that was incredibly difficult and highly unlikely, but it was
something I had to try. As Friday’s work hours drew to a close, I finally
summoned the courage to call him. He answered after only two rings. I was
thankful to have his personal cell phone number.

“Hayden, I know
you’re busy.”

“I have time to
pick up
your
calls,” he replied.

There was awkward
silence during which I felt my stomach do a somersault, but I pushed past it. “Would
you have time for a quick meeting?”

“Uh-oh, sounds
like you mean business.”

He was speaking to
me much more casually now. I would have to find out if that was going to help
or hurt me once we met. “I do,” I told him honestly.

“Right,” he said.
There was a pause before he asked, “Could you come in to the office tomorrow?
I’ll even arrange for a driver–”

“I can,” I cut him
off, “But no need for the driver. Thanks.” I was straight and to the point, but
tried not to be cold. I didn’t want the conversation to drag on any longer than
it needed to. Hayden must have sensed it because he ended the call as soon as
we agreed on a time. I sat on my bed and stared at the wall. I was going back
to his office in less than twenty-four hours and I had no clue how I was going
to deal with people gawking at me. I had made it a point not to go out because
the trailer for Mind Lash was still making its rounds on TV and online.

I bit my lower lip
in frustration and stared at my phone, still clutched in the palm of my hand.
Perhaps I could call my brother and ask for a ride, but that would involve
filling him in on everything I had been up to. That was something I didn’t want
to do. My fingers quickly tapped on the smooth surface of my cell phone before
I decided to get my outfit ready for the next day. I was going to cover my face
up, just like I had before.

 
After all, my little disguise had been a
success up until I decided to show my identity to the security guard. After
putting together an outfit, I soaked in a bath for a while before climbing into
bed and reading. It wasn’t long before I dozed off, making a point of ignoring
any thoughts that crossed my mind.

The next day when
I walked up to the building in my disguise, a small crowd of five people eyed
me suspiciously. Maybe they had seen me the first time I had come and were
wondering if I was the same woman. I walked straight up to the guard and let
him know I had an appointment with Hayden Dunn, skillfully handing him my ID so
I wouldn’t have to say my name out loud.

As soon as he read
my name, he nodded and let me inside. The lobby was cool compared to outside
and definitely a lot quieter. I didn’t dare take off my headscarf and
sunglasses until the elevator doors shut. By the time I stepped off on the
fourteenth floor, I had fixed my appearance and curled my lips into a soft
smile.

 
“I’m here to see Mr. Dunn,” I told the young
woman at the front desk.

It took less than
three minutes for me to be sitting in a chair across Hayden’s desk.

“To what do I owe the
pleasure?” He seemed genuinely happy to see me and I wondered if he thought I
had come to make peace. His eyes looked extra bright today and his sleeves were
rolled up just enough for me to get a glimpse of his toned forearms as he
leaned back in his chair. Flashes of the other night played out inside my head.
I closed my eyes for a moment as I tried to regain control of myself.

“Hayden,” I told
him quietly, “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.” I paused and looked around.
There wasn’t much up on his walls, not even mock-ups or posters of Via or Mind
Lash. His television was on, as always, but nothing related to his game was
being talked about on whatever channel he had it set to. “I know promotions
have started and things have been released, but don’t dates get pushed back all
the time for all sorts of reasons?”

“What are you
talking about?”

“Hayden, I need
you to change Via’s appearance.”

“
What
?” He stared at me blankly, but that
soon morphed into a chuckle. Apparently, he thought I was joking. When he saw
my serious expression remain the same, he stopped. “There’s no way Ali.”
Hearing him say my name so casually made me angry.

“Just like that?”

“Do you have any
idea what you’re asking of me? Have you a clue what all it entails?”

“Do
you
have any idea what this has all done
to me and how much worse it’s going to get?” I felt like I was one breath away
from flying off the handle again. I clutched my purse tightly and stood up. I watched
as his baby blue eyes pierced through me. Before those same eyes made me weak
at the knees, now they only pissed me off even more. Now I couldn’t even look
at his face without feeling a million emotions zipping around inside of me.
  

“This was a mistake,”
I said as I quickly stood up and left, not daring to look back. I didn’t even
give Hayden a chance to say anything else. The elevator ride down felt like an
eternity. My foot tapped impatiently and my eyes stared at the numbers up top.
I was so angry and disappointed I didn’t even bother to cover it up. I stormed
out of the building past a small crowd of howling onlookers. A couple of them
even followed me for a block, but finally gave up when I didn’t even turn
around to shoo them away.

The moment I got
home, I called Benjamin. I was still upset. It was obvious in my quivering
voice. “I just had a meeting with Hayden,” I informed him.

“Hayden Dunn?”
Benjamin was in disbelief.

“Yes,” I told him.
“I tried to convince him to change Via Mace’s appearance but he didn’t budge.”
My displeasure dripped through the last few words of my sentence.

“Why would he?” He
asked. It stung. “She’s wildly popular and the amount of work it would take is
ridiculous. What made you even think of asking him for that?”

“I don’t know,” I
replied. “It wasn’t the first time I’ve talked to him and I guess, in my mind,
that gave me a shot.”

“Wait,” Benjamin
said with pause. “It
wasn’t
the first
time you’ve talked to him?”

I shut my eyes and
held back a sigh. I didn’t mean to say that. More specifically, I didn’t mean
to invite questions from my brother about my relationship with Hayden. It was
too late to turn back now so full disclosure was on the horizon, or at least
some semblance of full disclosure.

“I’ve had a meeting
with him before. Then we met in the evening and I got to know him a bit,” I
confessed. “He’s actually not bad, you know.” Without realizing what I was
doing, I was practically confessing that I had feelings for him. It wasn’t
explicit in my words but my tone of voice was a dead giveaway.

“You mean to tell
me you not only went out with this guy, but you ended up developing feelings
for him? Ali, what the hell is wrong with you?”

“What? You got it
all wrong!” I felt myself growing frantic. “I didn’t go out with him. It wasn’t
like a date or anything.”

“Sure,” Benjamin
quipped. He wasn’t going to hold back from expressing disdain for me admitting
feelings for Hayden. Even if I couldn’t accept it, he could tell it was the
truth. “You say you want things to change, but then you pull this kind of
stuff, Ali. You need to stay focused! You need to form a plan and stick to it.
You can’t just run around going on pseudo-dates, allowing yourself to get
charmed by the man. And all for what? It’s not like all that helped you
convince him to change Via Mace.”

I was silent. I
had no clue how to respond to him because, on some level, I knew he had a
point. I allowed myself to get carried away and the main objective had somehow
gotten mucked up. Agreeing to give Hayden the shot he asked for had been a
grave mistake and I knew it.

The problem was
there was no turning back now. That still didn’t take away the fact that I
didn’t appreciate the way Benjamin was speaking to me. But when he interrupted
the silence to tell me to set up a meeting between Hayden and his lawyers, I
bit my tongue. He was going to help me and I wasn’t one to step on the toes of
my older, helpful brother. He had been my caretaker for many years, after all,
and much of what I had was thanks in large part to him.