Guarding the Quarterback (Champions of the Heart #1) (11 page)

To think I originally wanted her off my detail, and now the only thing I wanted was more time to figure out how I felt about her. About us.
Whoa, take one giant leap away from that thought.

So much safer to focus on how hot she looked in those body-hugging leggings. I could barely keep my concentration on the kids’ game. My teammates had the same problem, which is why I goosed Jacobs after he eyeballed Alexa’s ass longer than was respectful. She had no idea of her effect on men. On me. To add insult to injury, my little referee threw a flag on the play.

I ended the session with a stretching routine and then high-fived the kids as they left. Tammy was the last one in line. “Thank you, Mr. Walker.”

“You’re welcome, and it’s Dean.” Not for the first time, I wondered how Tammy’s spiked hair stayed upright.

Before she left, she ran back to hug Alexa, who went wide-eyed with shock, but then returned the hug. “See you next week,” Tammy said. She waved goodbye and followed her classmates.

Alexa turned toward me. “You shouldn’t have promised I’d be here.”

Crap, I didn’t think she’d call me on that. I shrugged. “It’s not like you’re any closer to catching my supposed stalker.” I flicked the football over to her.

“Touché.” She caught it and tossed it back and forth between her hands. “Have you thought about adding in an anti-bullying program?”

“Why?”

“Because you need one. Tammy is being picked on.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “They all seem like such nice kids.” One of them had me completely fooled. “Who?”

“Tammy wouldn’t say, which is probably a good thing. I’m sure the last thing you need is your hired gun giving one of those kids a wedgie and a black eye.

That Alexa had to fight off bullies as a child gnawed at my gut. That her insides were still obviously damaged left me at a loss of how to comfort her. To make it better. Honoring her request was the only way I knew to ease her mind. “Thanks for telling me. I’ll look into it. Maybe even get some of the guys to help.”

“Great, thanks!”

Her smile did things to my heart. Sometimes it was a flip-flop, other times a blow, or a simple skipped beat. Alexa was a pretty woman, but her real beauty glowed from the inside out.

Now I knew what her friend Joffrey meant about having Alexa as a protector. A fierce defender of the bullied and now mama bear to one of my after-school kids, she’d make a great mom. She said she wanted children—eventually. Somewhere deep inside I wanted that eventually to be with me. As long as that terrifying thought stayed buried, I’d be safe.

“What are you thinking?” she asked with an expression like I’d grown two heads.

Since I couldn’t exactly admit to where my thoughts had led me, I said, “The self-defense moves you taught Tammy. Is there anything you can’t do?”

“Yeah, knit you a sweater.” She laughed and snorted.

The sound of it should have been a turnoff, but coming from her it was fucking adorable. I loved the way she scrunched up her tiny nose and the way her cheeks blushed when she realized the sound came from her. And I loved how she laughed at her own jokes. Loved even more when she laughed at mine.

“I said that to you weeks ago.” I was surprised she remembered. That day in Billings’s office seemed like a distant memory, so did the woman I’d met that day. Alexa was either a really good actress or she’d morphed into a one hell of a sexy woman right before my eyes.

“Oh, Dean, you should know that women never forget anything.”

I did know, but increasingly I was beginning to forget things around Alexa. Mainly, that she really wasn’t my girlfriend. Not officially anyway. Even before the nights of wild sex, it had been easy to slip into the role of boyfriend. And now it was all too real.

It wasn’t like Alexa had asked for any promises. But she didn’t seem the type to apply pressure for a commitment. Somehow I’d turned into the female in this relationship. Wondering where I stood, kids, promises of the future. And complaining when she left the bed at night to take vigil on the couch, when all I wanted to do was sleep with my arms wrapped around her. Letting her take the lead in the bedroom. Not that I minded. At. All. Alexa was sexy when she was bossy, but I was turning into a wuss and getting lazy. It was time to take the control back.

*

After checking the
apartment, Alexa stripped off her shirt in the living room. “I’m hitting the showers.”

I followed her, but when she made the move for the guest bathroom, I steered her toward my bedroom.

“Dean, I’m all sweaty.”

“Not what I had in mind, baby doll.” I bypassed the bed for the bathroom. “Yet.”

“What are we doing then?”

Reaching into the large tiled shower, I turned on the water. “Doing my part to save the earth.” I tugged my shirt over my head.

“You have two showerheads and like eight water jets,” she volleyed back, but she shed the rest of her clothes just as fast as I did.

“That’s because I’m a very dirty boy.”

“Then let’s get you cleaned up.” Alexa smacked my ass as I entered the shower ahead of her. She took a tentative step in. “It’s too cold.”

I adjusted the temperature. “Better?”

“No.”

“Seriously?” I pulled her into my arms and she shivered. “Wow, you are cold. I’ll warm you up.” I kissed her under the hot spray. Steam rose around us, but I wasn’t sure if the mist was from the water or if it was coming off of me.

“Better?”

“Much.” She smiled.

Using the bar of soap, I lathered her body, memorizing every dip, every curve as my hands roamed freely.

“Your turn,” she said, holding her hand out for the soap.

I shook my head. “We are saving the earth here, remember?” I rubbed my body against hers, sharing the suds between us.

She giggled. “You’re crazy.” We stood under the spray to rinse off. She looked up at me. “That was fun.”

A charged moment hung between us. The feel of the water rushing around us, the sound of a thousand tiny droplets, the touch of our slick bodies, and the scent of my masculine soap captured an intimacy that I’ve never had with a woman.

Before I could make my move, Alexa turned off the shower. “Playtime is over.”

Assuming her abruptness had something to do with being available to the security team, I grabbed a heated towel from the bar and patted Alexa’s face, then her neck, then—

“I can dry myself off,” she barked like I’d committed a criminal offense.

That was it. I tossed the towel to the floor. She was beyond frustrating. Couldn’t she see I was trying to be romantic? I picked her up and took her to my bed.

“Dean!”

With both of us sopping wet, I threw her onto the mattress, and before she could protest, I pounced on her. She wiggled beneath me, wanting me to take her fast and hard.

“Not this time, baby doll.” I kissed her soft and slow. She bucked, wanting more, always wanting more. She’d get it, but in my own sweet time.

Kissing her was like drinking apple bourbon. Smooth and sweet going down, packing a punch as it hit me in the gut, then the slow burn firing my blood. All from just kissing her. Drunk, I left her lips to trail little licks on her neck and down to her breasts.

I blew a breath over her nipple, and when it puckered, I fastened my mouth on it and sucked gently while rolling my tongue. Her breathy moans filled the room until I thought she would come. She pleaded for me stop, and then to never stop, erotic music to my ears.

My lips seared a path down to the flat plane of her tummy, my hands holding her hips so she couldn’t squirm even as she tried to push my head down. God, she was strong. I whipped my head away.

“Dean, don’t tease me.”

From the apex of her thighs, I looked up. “I’m not trying to tease you, Alexa. I’m pleasuring you.

“This is torture,” she mumbled, “Against the Geneva Convention.”

I chuckled. Easing her ache, I licked her pussy until it was swollen and rosy. I slid in two fingers, gently massaging while I continued to toy with the nub of her sex with my tongue.

“Dean. Stop. I can’t…” She sucked in a breath. “Take it.”

“Trust me, Alexa,” I said, my voice hoarse and low.

I went back to work with my tongue, hooking my fingers inside her. Her body lifted off the mattress as she tensed, and her breath hitched as she struggled for air until I thought I might have to revive her with a little mouth to mouth. Then she let go. Sobbing my name like I’d left her instead of staying the course and finishing her off in glorious waves.

My hand moved over her shaking body, soothing her. “Alexa, you are so delicious. So beautiful.”

“Don’t ever do that again,” she said, her chest still heaving for air.

“What?” I asked, confused, stunned by her reaction. “Give you a rocking orgasm?”

“No. Make me want more.”

Still confused, I asked, “More orgasms?”

A brief sadness shifted over her face, then annoyance. “Of course, orgasms.”

I smiled, but in a way I was hoping for a different answer. I should’ve been relieved she was cool with the status quo. Instead I was the one who was left wanting something I couldn’t express. “Babe, that’s not a problem.”

I grabbed a condom from the nightstand and tossed it to her.

“Roll it on.”

Alexa hated taking orders, which made it all the more gratifying when she relented and obeyed. I nudged her back to the mattress when she was done. In the dim light I could see the annoyance was gone, her misty blue eyes only shining with desire. I flinched as she raked her nails down my abs.

“Dean, patience is not one of my virtues.”

“Ah, but it is one of mine.” I grabbed her wrists together with one hand and pulled them above her head. Her blue eyes widened, but she didn’t put up a fight as I slid into her hot, wet heat, welcoming me home.

Home.

This wasn’t about getting off. It wasn’t even about the sex. Instead of release I wanted a connection with Alexa beyond the raw need of our bodies joining. I craved a mind-to-mind union, a heart-to-heart bonding. Man, I hadn’t turned into a wuss at all. It was so much worse than that.

I’d fallen in love.

Alexa

I
tried to
resist the slow burn smoldering in my blood. Tried to turn myself cold to it. But Dean melted the icy depths within me. Shined a light in the dark corners of my psyche. The cool and collected Reeves was nowhere to be found.

My body craved hard and fast, but in the deep recesses of my heart, in my soul, I yearned for this. Needed his deep, desperate thrusts. Delusional from his kisses, I pretended Dean’s body was telling me without words how he felt. And it felt like love.

This was dangerous. He was dangerous.

“This is real, Alexa.”

What was real? Us? Then he was just as foolish as I was. We could never work. Our relationship was a mirage. The hot fusion of our bodies was merely a result of us being thrown together in close confines without any outlet but each other.

“Fuck me, Dean.” I begged for him to go full throttle. The raw sex I could handle—the raw emotions flooding in overwhelmed me. Tears pricked my eyes.

“No, Alexa, this feels too good, too right.” His voice came out in a strangled whisper, like he was struggling to keep the pace passionate and meaningful.

Hanging on for dear life, I dug my nails into the muscular cords of Dean’s shoulders.

“That’s it, Alexa. Mark me.” His teeth grazed my neck.

The slow burn surged into a raging firestorm. I teetered on the brink of madness. And then I fell. Which side I would come out on was unclear as pleasure tore through my entire being.

“Stay,” he murmured against my ear as he rolled us over.

Instead of panic at his soft plea, I settled into his embrace like a satisfied kitten. I might have even purred.

*

Over the next
few weeks, Dean chalked up his ongoing stomach problems to nerves. From worry over making the playoffs to actually making them, he was a mess. He scoffed when I suggested he was worried about the death threat or that something could be medically wrong.
Men.

The playoff game to decide who would go to the Super Bowl was about to start. After vomiting most of the night, Dean had looked pale and drawn this morning. I drove him to the stadium early so the team doctors could evaluate him. Since as a mere girlfriend, I was banned from the locker room, I had Oslo radio updates on Dean’s condition. With an IV administered to replace fluids, it would be a game-time decision if he played. But I knew Dean inside and out. They’d have to sedate him to keep him off the field.