Romancing the Running Back (24 page)

“I was hired by Josiah Walker to represent you in your divorce to that piece of work you call a husband.”

“I don’t call him anything,” she said on autopilot, then rewound the script. “Wait, Josiah hired you? When?” And how late did this man work if he was calling her this late? He must be the definition of a workaholic.

“Approximately ten days ago. We met when he was here in Atlanta for the game, and had a quick . . . uh, we’ll call it a
get-together
with your ex and his attorney. Agreements were made verbally, but I wanted to wait until paperwork was on
my desk before giving you a call.”

“Paperwork. Agreements?” She couldn’t quite breathe. “He . . . did he sign . . . am I . . .”

“Not yet, you’re not. There’s still a process, but let’s just say you’re well on your way. He caved faster than I thought he would, but I think that’s mostly due to the up-close look at your new man that did it.”

“I don’t even know what to say to that,” she said softly, holding a hand over her heart.

“As it got the job done, I’d say
thank you
when you see him next.”

She made a sound of agreement. “I hate to sound crass but . . . how much is this costing me? Is that why he agreed to the divorce? Because if that’s what it takes, I’m to the point of relinquishing everything I owned until two years ago in order to be rid of him.”

“God save me from saints,” the man muttered darkly. “No, I would never let that happen. Jesus, what kinda lawyer do you take me for?”

“It took my last one two years to get this far,” she pointed out.

“Now you’ve got the best. You’re leaving with exactly what you asked for . . . what you came into the marriage with. It’s a pretty clean-cut deal now that he’s not attempting to play hardball anymore. I can’t see why the deal won’t be done before the end of the year.”

She could be divorced in under two months. After having waited over two years, it seemed surreal. “I can’t . . . I don’t know how . . . thank you.”

“Thank the man at your door,” he said, and it sounded almost like he said it with a smile.

“The man at . . . what?” Anya asked, but the gruff lawyer had already hung up. She glanced at her phone to confirm—yup, he’d hung up—and furrowed her brow. What an odd way to end a phone call.

The knock on the door scared the bejesus out of her. She shrieked and dropped her phone, cupping her mouth to keep her teeth from chattering. The man at her door . . . it was like a teenage slasher film. Walking slowly, she approached with caution before she could check through the peephole. “
Josiah
?”

Flinging the door open, she threw herself at him. He caught her easily, wrapping his arms around her and walking her inside to shut the door again. “Hey, hummingbird.”

“Oh my God.” She nuzzled her nose into the crook of his neck. “You’re here. In Texas.” She gasped and pulled away. “Oh my God, how are you here? In Texas? You’ve got a home game in three days!”

“Which is why I’m actually only here for about twelve hours. I’ll be late for morning practice, but them’s the breaks.” He grinned and tossed his ball cap toward the bed with her note cards spread on it. “Once I figured out where you were, an entire squad of real bobcats couldn’t have kept me away. He kissed her then, cupping her jaw sweetly as he did so, not giving her a chance to pull away.

Which she never would have done. She gripped his shirt and pulled him more fully toward her. Her battery felt recharged already. “You’re insane. I can’t believe you’re ditching practice just to see me.”

“I’d do anything for you, baby.” He smoothed his hand down her braid, tugging gently. “Not gonna kick me out, are you?”

She looked at where they stood—a good ten feet inside the room—then at the door. “I doubt it would do me much good.”

“None,” he confirmed. “Anya, why?”

Ho, boy, here it goes.

She started to sit on the bed, but then he wanted to sit beside her and she put the kibosh on that. “Sit on the chair, please? I need to do this without you touching me. I might go crazy if you are.”

Josiah took her at her word and shifted to the chair.

“Thank you. I left because, well, it was in the note. I thought I had more time before that note would get to you,” she admitted. “But it didn’t matter. Someone asked me why I was so angry at everything else, when the real problem in this whole tangle was me. I was the mess.”

“Who said that?” he asked angrily. His body tensed, fisted hands on his knees, ready to spring up and kick some ass.

“It doesn’t matter. They were right. I was blaming my circumstances on everything and everyone but me. I took on a lot too fast. I let the situation rule me instead of the other way around.”

“Anya—”

“I love you.” She blurted it out fast, because it was hard to look at him, watching her so intently and so obviously loving her back. Hard to face that sort of emotion and not reciprocate immediately. It was out of the order of things she wanted to say, but . . . “I love you so much.”

“Come here.” He motioned for her, and she crawled into his lap. Well, her resolved lasted a good four minutes. Not bad, given how long she’d gone without his touch. He sighed when she settled against him, her legs draped over the arm of the chair, his hand stroking down her back. “God, I missed this.” His lips cruised over her temple. “Missed you so much. Don’t disappear again.”

“I needed to—”

“If you have to travel for work or pleasure, tell me. Or take me with you.” His mouth curved against her forehead. “I’m always up for checking out a few pleasure locations with the woman of my dreams.”

The words, said without a hint of sarcasm, soothed something inside her. “I didn’t mean to hurt you,” she said.

“I know you didn’t. But it still hurt, just a little. What helped was you saying you weren’t running away. I can handle you needing some alone time. I’m not going to demand you be by my side every instant. That’s not logical, nor is it all that healthy. But if you need to work something out, I wish you’d come to me first.”

“Next time I will. This sucked.” She let the sound of his heartbeat and the feel of his chest moving with every breath ease the last of the aches inside her. “I can’t believe this is actually happening. The divorce will be final. He’s giving up. I can move on.”

“Believe it,” Josiah said firmly with a squeeze.

“Apparently there was a secret meeting in Atlanta with a lawyer and an asshole. Wanna tell me about that?”

His chest rumbled against her ear, telling her he was laughing quietly. “Let’s just say your ex was about as spineless as I’d thought. Pulling the strings on a woman who couldn’t out-swing him financially was no problem. Coming up against someone who could match him . . . and he tapped out like a pussy before it even began.”

“I’m embarrassed you even met him.” She hid her face against his shirt, flushed and a little sweaty. “God, I’m not sure what I was thinking of when I married him.”

“Mistakes happen. It’s going to be over soon.” He rubbed her back. “And it’s time to stop looking behind you and start looking toward the future.”

“That’s part of what this escape was. The future.” She explained what she’d told Cynthia, about learning just as much as she was sharing with the groups she spoke to. “It ended up being nearly as educational for me as it was for them. They knew more about nonprofits than I did, but they didn’t have the knowledge of the fashion side.”

“You’ll learn. You’re quick, you think on your feet, and you’ve got the heart for it. It’ll come.” He smoothed down her hair once more, then urged her up. “Anya, I love you. It nearly broke me in two when you pulled your disappearing act, even though you reassured me you were coming back. Telling me you understood if I moved on?” He shook his head, looking
stern. “Not gonna happen, baby.”

She swallowed down a hint of anxiety and stood, smoothing her pajama bottoms out as if that were the most important thing in her world at that moment. Because looking into his hurt eyes was painful. “I’m sorry about that. I did what I thought was best. I was juggling too much and I dropped a lot of balls. I had to make a choice.”

“Next time, I’m not a choice to make. You get overwhelmed? You hand something to me. You don’t sacrifice us to make room. I plan on doing the same. I’ll catch whatever you throw at me, and I’ll help you. That’s what people in love do. They’re the permanent fixture, and the balls that get juggled are everything else in their lives.”

He sounded so fierce, so absolutely positive that this was going to keep going forever, that she smiled and looked up. He was closer than she thought. “You sound very sure of your abilities to multitask.”

“I’ll show you multitasking.” He gripped her under the arms and tossed her onto the bed. Before she could even shriek in surprise, he was on her, taking her lips in a searing kiss and thrusting one hand under her thin cotton sleep tank.

“Oh my God,” she managed to mutter as he worked his way over her face. “I’ve—oh!” His fingers pinched one nipple. “Missed this. Missed you, this . . . mmm.”

His mouth was on her breast then, sucking and tugging. One hand pulled at the cotton of her pants. Thanks to the elastic, they shifted down her legs easily to catch on her ankles. She kicked and fought to remove them entirely while holding his head to her.

He reached down and yanked them off, letting them fall wherever. Then he hooked one knee with his elbow, slithered down, and put his mouth on her slick core.

“Oh!” Her fingers clutched in his hair, loving the tenderness of his hands running over her legs and stomach while his mouth ravaged her. He ate at her with a roughness that told her he’d missed her, wanted her, needed her more than he could explain.

Then he slid two fingers inside, crooking them to hit just the right spot and . . .

“Josiah!” she panted, coming around him without even giving him a warning. His pace only increased, as if to keep up with the demands of her pulsing body, until she couldn’t take the sensation any longer and stopped him.

He landed beside her on the bed, one of his large hands resting on her heaving chest. “God, I missed seeing you like this,” he said in a hushed voice.

“Naked?” she asked, trying to smile and unable to conjure the energy.

“You’re not naked.” He flicked a hand at her shirt, still shoved up to just over her breasts. “But no, like this. Flushed, spent, content, happy because of something I’ve done to you, or for you, or with you. In bed with me.”

“Mmm,” was all she could muster. He kissed her sweetly, and she felt her energy start to bounce back. She rubbed her thigh seductively over the erection tenting his jeans. “Your turn, love of mine.”

“No condom,” he admitted sheepishly. “It can wait.”

“I’d tell you I’m on birth control, except I’m not.” She bit her lip, then went after the button of his fly anyway. “While
I trust that you’re clean, I don’t think we’re quite ready for any little mini eco-nut fashionistas.”

He chuckled, the sound straining at the end when she unzipped his fly and brushed over his cock with her fingers. “Anya—”

“You took care of me, so now it’s my turn to take care of you.” She pushed at his jeans—with a little help from him—until they were down around his ankles, then licked the plump head of his penis.

“I’m not going to last,” he said through gritted teeth.

“You’ve got stamina,” she teased.

“I’ve got short bursts of speed,” he corrected, hissing when she licked up one side of his cock and down the other. “I’m a sprinter, not a marathoner. Bad analogy.”

“Oh dear.” Feeling wicked, she took his cock in her mouth, watching him. She’d never done that before, preferring to close her eyes and pretend to be invisible. Blow jobs were, well, awkward. It couldn’t be sexy to watch all that bobbing and . . . whatever. But Josiah’s eyes were hot on hers, as if he’d never seen anything more erotic and hypnotizing than the way his penis looked disappearing into her mouth.

His gaze gave her confidence, and she sucked and swirled her tongue around his shaft, listening to his breathing change, grow raspier, and finally stop.

“Right there,” he managed to get out, his entire body tightening. “Suck, suck . . . yeah. God. Anya . . .”

He exploded on her tongue, and she swallowed eagerly, keeping him in her mouth until he cupped her jaw and motioned for her to let go.

She crawled up his body and settled to the side of him while he kicked his jeans off entirely. Then she started to giggle.

“What?” he asked softly, sounding exhausted.

“We must look ridiculous. Neither of us is wearing pants, but we’re both wearing shirts. Sweating, breathing hard. It’s a picture.”

“Not a picture I’d want the blogs to carry.” His voice was tinted with gruff amusement.

“Of course not.” She ran her hand up and down his torso, loving the way their heartbeats seemed to sync in rhythm as the excitement of the moment died down. “Are you going to be in trouble for leaving in the middle of a practice week?”

“Some.” He brushed his lips over her hairline. “Ask me if I care.”

“You do,” she insisted. “You care. You’re not a guy who flakes out on his responsibilities.”

“That’s true,” he conceded. “But I’ve spent ten years in this league playing by the rules, eight of them with the Bobcats. Never had a scandal, never caused problems, never been fined for anything before, well, a few weeks ago.”

“You were fined?” She tried to sit up, but he held her down. “What for?”

“Not important. The point is, I don’t intend on this being a pattern. I’ll take my lumps, and the coaches will forgive me, and we’ll move on.”

She sighed, nestling farther into her. “How’d you find me?” she asked on a yawn. “Cassie didn’t know where I was.”

“I have my ways,” he said, and she felt herself drifting off, even as he said her name.

*   *   *

Josiah woke to his favorite sight . . . Anya straddled over him. “Hey,” he said, stretching his neck up for a morning kiss. “I like where your head’s at. Let’s . . . you’re dressed.”

“I have a meeting later.” She checked her watch. “And you have a flight that leaves in two hours.”

“Aw, shit.” He rolled out of bed, trying hard to remember what it was he’d forgotten. He knew there was something . . . They’d fallen asleep so fast the night before. Pulling his jeans on, he headed to the bathroom to take care of business. He borrowed her toothbrush and rinsed his mouth out. “Is there coffee around here anywhere?”

“Not the kind you’ll approve of,” she called back through the door. “I made myself a cup, though, so don’t judge me.”

“I wouldn’t.” He opened the door and watched her move around the hotel room, barefoot, in a surprisingly conservative business suit of plum, with a navy dress shirt underneath. “You look . . . different.”

She grimaced and looked down. “I’m running out of options, being on the road this long. Everything I like more is too wrinkled to deal with. This is my emergency backup suit.” She paused by the mirror and started to re-braid her hair. “Thank goodness I have enough time before my meeting I can head to the airport with you.” She shot him a look over her shoulder that spoke of mischief and teasing. “I missed your face. I want to keep it in my sights as long as I can.”

She finished wrapping the band around her braid, and he asked quietly, “How about forever?”

“Hmm?” she asked, starting to pull makeup out of a small bag and line it up on the dresser below the mirror.

“Keeping my face in your sights forever.”

“Sounds good,” she said distractedly, opening a tube of something, shaking her head and closing it.

“Anya.”

“I know, Josiah, but we’re running behind and I don’t want to miss riding to the airport with you.”

“Anya.”

“What?” she asked, looking annoyed. That scrunched up, exasperated look just did it for him.

He went down to one knee and took her hand in his. Her other hand went lax, dropping the tube of whatever it was onto the carpet by her feet. Eyes wide, she met his gaze with a little bit of fear, apprehension.

“I love you. You’re probably the best thing that’s come into my life. I love that you mock me and don’t hold back when I do something stupid. I love that you keep me honest in balancing my passion and my daily life. I love that you forced me to get off my high horse and admit that there’s more to fashion than beauty, and you showed me with your attitude and your desire to make people happy.”