Out of the Game3 (10 page)

“Come on, Jake,” the girl said, tugging on his arm. “Let’s go. Come on.”

Jake scoffed at the guy still lying in the water, then walked away, to everyone’s collective relief.

Alex turned to the geek and gave him a hand up. “You okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m fine. Thanks a lot. I thought I was going to get the shit kicked out of me.”

“Alex wouldn’t have let him,” Claire said.

People came up then and complimented them. Some slapped Alex on the back. Claire went all humble and deflected the praise, saying it was all him, when she’d been the one to charge forward first. Even though he’d been afraid she was going to get hurt—you never could predict the behavior of assholes—he admired her daring and willingness to stand up for someone else. No other woman he’d dated would have done that, not in a million years.

* * *

Her stride visibly slowed when the adrenaline wore off. She wilted right before Alex’s eyes. Keeping up an encouraging patter, he made her eat another granola bar and down half of a sports drink.

When the open area marking the entrance to the paved Riverwalk finally came into view, Claire said, “Thank God.”

Alex was grateful for Claire’s sake that their hike was coming to an end. She looked just about done and he felt bad for maybe pushing her too far.

Although water squished out of their shoes with every step, it felt good to walk on flat pavement after hours on rocks and sand, their feet immersed in water almost the entire time. They saw no sign of Jake or the blonde at the Temple of Sinawava tram stop or back at the Visitor’s Center, much to Alex’s relief.

Claire didn’t say much on the ten-minute drive to the cottage. Her face was red and streaked with dirt. Neither of them smelled good. He decided to forgo returning the walking sticks and waterproof backpack to the outfitters until after he got Claire home.

“Can we order in tonight?” she asked as he turned the engine off. “I’m too tired to cook or even go out.”

“Absolutely. I’ll pick something up when I return the gear to the store. I’ll do it right now.”

“You are an angel. While you do that, I’m going to shower.”

“You deserve it. You did great today. Really great.”

She gave him a tired smile. “I did, didn’t I? I wasn’t sure I could.”

The outfitter shop was only a couple of miles away. Alex talked with the guy about the hike.

“Glad to hear you had a good time. You know, Angels Landing is another great hike. Kind of the opposite from The Narrows. On The Narrows, your sights are limited to the canyon. You’re in there, down deep and it’s almost like being swallowed up by the earth. On Angel’s Landing, you get a 360-degree view of the park. You’re on top of the world. Here...here’s a picture.”

Alex had already marked that as a hike he wanted to do. He hoped he convince Claire to go for it too, especially since they were in a cottage with the same name.

He picked up dinner at a family style restaurant and headed back. Upon returning, he called out, “Honey, I’m home!” but got no reply. “Claire? I got dinner! Delicious fried chicken and all the fixings!”

After putting the bags in the kitchen, he jogged up the stairs. The door to her room was ajar. He rapped lightly, which caused it to open. “Cream Puff?” he called in a soft voice.

Then he saw her asleep on the bed.

Wrapped in a towel.

And nothing else.

Holy fuck.

A better man would have backed out of the room and closed the door.

Alex was not that man.

He crept closer, quietly, because he didn’t want her to wake up and find him spying on her. Not that he thought she would. If she was too tired to put clothes on after her shower, she probably wasn’t going to move a muscle until tomorrow morning.

She was on her back. Her hands were curled around the towel where it was scrunched up over her breasts. Her hair was still damp. Lucky for him the towel wasn’t quite big enough to cover everything while she was sprawled. Near her belly button, it gaped open to reveal—he swallowed hard—everything underwear normally kept hidden. It took all the willpower he had to stop himself from reaching out to touch her. He wanted to slide his fingers through the thatch of dark hair, then softly slip his thumb over those plump outer lips. Even more he wanted to settle himself between her thighs and taste her.

Heat and lust streaked through him. His dick was now primed and fully hard.

Perhaps as recently as six months ago, he would have snapped a photo—omitting her face because he wasn’t a total asshole, only a partial one—and sent it to a few of his buddies, usually the rookies on the team. But for some reason, that type of prank didn’t seem amusing anymore, and with Claire, it was out of the question. If she found out, she’d be devastated and the last thing he wanted to do was betray her like her ex had done.

He stood there, breathing deeply, eyes closed, imagining himself a person of integrity, a pretty difficult feat. When he’d at last gathered all his willpower, he opened his eyes, got her a glass of water and put it by the bed. Then with one last wistful glance at her gorgeous lower half, he took the extra blanket out of the closet and carefully laid it over her. Feeling a little proud of himself for resisting, he left the room with the scent of her, fresh from the shower, lingering in his nostrils.

Chapter Fourteen

The next morning, Claire woke confused as to why she was naked. Then she remembered she’d intended to lie down for only a moment and must have conked out instead. A glance at the clock told her it was five. She’d slept thirteen straight hours. She hadn’t done that since she was a teenager.

Her stomach growled, reminding her she hadn’t eaten dinner last night.

She put on clothes and went downstairs intending to cook breakfast and found Alex on the couch. The man looked too sexy for his own good—hair draped artfully across his forehead, a muscled arm dangling, stubble darkening his cheeks, chin and throat.

She knelt next to him. If someone had told her only a week ago that she’d be sharing a secluded cabin with bad boy Alex Sullivan of the San Diego Barracudas, she’d have laughed in their face. On the flip side, if she’d told them he was not the womanizing jock everyone made him out to be, they’d probably have laughed right back. But she’d seen with her own eyes that man had a heart. He wasn’t afraid to act on behalf of others. She was beginning to understand why he and Tim were such good friends. There was more to Alex than met the eye. That was the good news.

The bad news was she could see herself falling for him. The only reason she’d agreed to come on the trip in the first place was because if the sex happened at all, it was going to have no strings attached. But had she been fooling herself? Could she even
have
sex with someone she didn’t have feelings for? Thinking about it now, she didn’t think so. It explained why the more she got to know him, the more she wanted to sleep with him.

After a leisurely breakfast, they explored the town together. Claire enjoyed looking at the artsy knickknacks and artwork at some of the galleries. Alex had a great time at a rock shop, handling all the different samples. Then, he got it into his head to get a rock for every guy on the team.

“Yeah, see this one? It’s a fossil. I’m giving it to Jason because he’s the oldest guy on the team.”

“How old is he?” Claire asked.

Alex cocked his head. “You know, now that you ask, I’m not sure. He’s older than Tim and me. I think he’s like thirty-five or—six.”

“Who’s that one for?” She pointed to a rock, full of holes or the spaces where bubbles used to be.

“This one’s for Chastain. Feel how light it is? It’s because he’s a lightweight. Can’t hold his booze worth a damn.”

Claire had a good time helping him figure out which rock fit which teammate, even though she didn’t really know the guys personally. By the time they were done, he had a boxed rock for each of his friends. Claire got a gorgeous geologic specimen about a foot tall that looked like it had been sawn in half. From the back, it was ugly, grey and rough and completely unremarkable, but the cut side was polished and in the hollow were clusters of lavender amethysts. It would be a nice souvenir of the trip and she pictured it on her coffee table or the shelf in her den.

In the afternoon, Alex hit the gym at the resort then joined Claire at the pool. She sat at a table with an umbrella and attempted to read a magazine while he swam laps. She wasn’t very successful and only read two pages in an hour, not surprising considering. Alex had a beautiful physique and when it was in motion, wet, sliding through the water, she couldn’t help but watch.

Then he got out of the pool. Good Lord. She wished she had a video camera with slow-motion capabilities. Everything south of her waist woke up at the sight of his muscles flexing as he ignored the ladder and steps and hoisted himself out of the water. Dripping wet, he stood next to her chair and slicked his hair back. Claire could do nothing but stare. For a brief moment, his trunks molded themselves to his package before with a quick, practiced movement, he plucked them loose. She didn’t even trust herself to meet his gaze. She knew what she’d see on his face anyway—that self-satisfied, sexy smirk she’d come to know so well—because there was no doubt in her mind that he’d caught her checking him out.

“You can stop posing now,” she said, turning the page of her magazine while pretending to be bored with him. “I’m not watching.”

“But you
were
,” he said, confirming her suspicion. He chuckled, toweling off with brisk motions. “I’ll do an encore for you, if you want. Back at the cabin.” He took a swig of water. “You owe me two kisses now, you know.”

“I know. Don’t be a nag.”

“What if I told you I wanted to collect on one right now?”

“Here?” She glanced at him. “At the pool? There’s kids around.”

Well,
one
kid. She was splashing around the shallow end with a flotation ring around her middle. Her mom stood in the water nearby.

“Hey, I’m not going to stick my tongue down your throat and grope you, you know.”

“I thought you said you didn’t want our first kiss to be in public.”

“I changed my mind.”

She examined his face for any hint of jocularity, and after finding none, she decided she could trust him not to take it too far. “All right,” she said.

He raised one eyebrow. “Feel free to contain your excitement.”

“I
am
excited,” she said, laughing as he sat next to her, grabbed the armrests of her chair and turned her so she was facing him. “Really.”

He completed a slow visual sweep of her body from her eyes down to her breasts, where he paused for several moments, then to the bottom of her bikini, where he paused even longer, and back up again. He hadn’t even touched her and she was wet and ready. Her breasts ached. No wonder women fell to their knees in front of him in droves. All the man had to do for foreplay was look at a girl.

Glancing down, she saw evidence of his arousal. She imagined what he’d look like naked and it was a powerful image—Alex standing in her bedroom, backlit by the sliding glass doors. Some sheer white curtains waving behind him as he walked toward her, intent and with desire burning in his eyes. His erection would be big and thick and she couldn’t wait to feel it pushing inside her, filling her up with—

She was jerked from her fantasy when he touched her face. It took her a second to focus on him. He was smiling faintly, as if he had been reading her mind, and she was half convinced he could. His hand was cool and slightly damp. He had a light touch. Narrowing his eyes, he leaned forward. She followed his lead. His smile widened. He stroked her cheek with his thumb as their faces drew closer together, maintaining eye contact throughout.

Lord, had she ever wanted a kiss more than she wanted this one? She didn’t think so. Where she’d been wishing for slow motion earlier, now she wished she could press fast forward. He was taking forever, but for some reason, instead of taking control of the kiss, she made herself wait.

Finally, finally, their mouths met. Her entire body tuned in to the points of contact—his hands on her cheeks, his lips softly grazing hers. His fingers tightened, pressing into her skin, but he kept the kiss light and low key. She sighed. She needed more. She tried to get it, but he wouldn’t give it to her. When she leaned forward, he retreated. He smiled against her lips, that smug bastard.

“Easy there, Cream Puff. We have all the time—”

“Woooo!”

Splash.

Cold water hit her entire left side, shocking her. She gasped and pulled back. Some other kid had just arrived with his parents and jumped into the pool. He wasn’t even aware he’d splashed them.

Alex smirked as he dried himself off for the second time.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

“You. I think I just saw the water evaporate off your body.”

“Hey, I’m not the only one around here all worked up.” She waved a hand toward his crotch.

“Oh, I’m not denying it,” he said draping the towel over his lap to cover his obvious erection. “I’m very turned on right now. If I thought I could get away with it, I’d toss you over my shoulder, carry you back to the cabin and screw your brains out. But that’s not how I’ve been picturing it.”

Claire refused to think about the scenario he’d just described. She had enough on her plate just dealing with the aftermath of the kiss.

And yet, she still asked, “How
have
you been picturing it?”

He propped an ankle on his knee and linked his fingers behind his head. “Oh, not rushed. That’s for sure. We’ll be in a bedroom with a big bed. We’re going to need lots of room.”

She tried not to show how much his words, his ideas, were affecting her. How wet she was, how much she wanted to forget about her fears that she wouldn’t measure up and just go for it. Somehow she knew the orgasms he’d give her would obliterate any embarrassment she felt beforehand.

Crossing her legs, she tried to strike as casual a pose as he had. “How much room do we need? And for what? The Reverse Kneeling Organ Grinder?”

He laughed. “For your information, the Reverse Kneeling Organ Grinder requires very little room, but a lot of inner muscle control.”

She felt a hot stab of desire right between her legs. “You’re making that up. We already established there’s no such thing as the Reverse Kneeling Organ Grinder.”

“We could invent it. We could go down in history as the inventors of the greatest sexual position of all time, but you know, of course, in order to know for certain it’s the greatest sexual position of all time, we’d have to do some field testing.”

“A lot of field testing.”

“Whoa. Hold on there. Ladies and gentlemen, I think we just turned a corner. Are you saying if it’s in the name of science, you’re willing to have sex with me? A lot of sex?”

“Keep your voice down,” she said with a sideways glance at the little girl still cavorting in the shallow end of the pool. “But yes.”

His smile went from bright to dazzling and part of her brain registered the fact that, against all odds, considering what he did for a living, he had beautiful teeth.

He leaned forward. “And what if we’re not doing it for the sake of science?” he asked, lowering his voice to an intimate register that amplified the sexual energy sizzling between them. “Do you still want to have a lot sex with me?”

With a deep breath, she took the plunge. “Yes.”