Striker (57 page)

‘Listen, chick, now you’re with Ryan you’re gonna have to get used to shopping in places like this. You can’t be going into Primark when the paparazzi are following you.’

‘The paparazzi aren’t going to be following
me,
Debbie. Ryan, maybe, but not me.’

Debbie arched that eyebrow again. ‘You have a lot to learn, missy.’ She put the dress back and pulled out a slightly longer lime green one with spaghetti straps and an asymmetrical hemline. ‘Anyway, about this night out.’

‘What night out?’ Amber asked, still wishing Debbie would hurry up and buy something so they could get out of there. She was gasping for a coffee.

‘The night out to celebrate your engagement. And yes, I know you’re having a proper engagement party soon but this is different. I’m talking about a night out with the girls, away from the men. Dinner somewhere expensive, plenty of cocktails, the VIP section of a club… I might even organise a couple of strippers, what do you say?’

‘Debbie…’

‘Okay, you’re too close to saying no there and I’m not going to let you do that. You’re having this night out so just leave all the organising to me and I guarantee you’ll have a night to remember.’

‘Really?’ Amber asked, slightly nervous now.
 

‘Really,’ Debbie smiled, returning the lime green dress to the rail before pulling out a bright red one. ‘It’ll be fun! I promise.’

‘Okay. I believe you,’ Amber sighed. ‘I suppose that means
Gary
’ll be organising some kind of night out for Ryan, then?’

Debbie looked at her, reaching out to squeeze her hand. ‘Listen, chick, I will make him swear on his life that he will
not
do anything stupid. Alright? It’ll be fine.’

‘It’s not necessarily
Gary
I’m worried about, Debs. What if Ryan…?’

‘He won’t, Amber. He just won’t. He’s changed, I know he has. And you know it, too.’

‘Yeah,’ Amber smiled, relaxing slightly. Debbie seemed taken with the red dress, so that probably meant they could leave this place soon. Half an hour in there and she was ready for another bottle of wine. But she’d make do with that coffee she was still gasping for. ‘Yeah, you’re right. And I can’t hold him prisoner forever, can I? I’ve got to show him I can trust him.’

‘Right. I’m having this one,’ Debbie smiled, laying the red dress over her arm as they walked towards the cash desk. ‘Are you sure you don’t want to look for something to wear for this night out?’

‘What? You’ve bought that dress for our night out?’

‘Of course I have, chick. I don’t want to be papped wearing something I’ve been seen in before, do I?’

‘Jesus, Debbie, you’re not wrong when you say I’ve got a lot to learn. I was just gonna throw on a dress I bought from Fenwicks for last years News North East Christmas party.’

Debbie drew a sharp intake of breath, placing a hand on her chest in mock-shock. ‘Amber, darling, you really do need my help.’ She laid the dress she’d chosen down on the cash desk and smiled at the assistant behind it. ‘I’ll have that one, but if you can just hang on a few minutes, my friend here has yet to make her choice.’ She took Amber by the hand, dragging her back towards the rail of dresses. ‘Come on, Ms. Sullivan. I’m going to treat you to a dress that will turn people’s heads.’ She winked at her, and Amber couldn’t help smiling. ‘Especially Ryan’s.’

*

‘Engaged?
 
I leave the country for five frigging minutes and you get fucking engaged?’

‘I thought you’d be pleased, Max. This means I’m settling down, doesn’t it?’

‘Does it?’ Max asked, leaning back against his black BMW that was parked next to Ryan’s car in the Red Star training ground car park. ‘Just like that? Is that how it works now, huh? I heard about your meltdown, Ryan. I read the papers, I’ve spoken to Jim Allen…’

Ryan couldn’t stop the derisory snort from escaping, which Max didn’t miss. ‘Something wrong? Because, let me tell you this, kiddo, if you’d had any other manager in charge of this club I doubt the punishment you’d experienced would have been quite so lenient. So, maybe you should be thanking Jim Allen rather than deriding him.’

Ryan said nothing. He wasn’t in the mood to talk about Jim Allen. ‘But out of all that shit, Max, I found Amber again, didn’t I?’

‘You should never have lost her in the first place. But, I suppose we got there eventually. Maybe she can keep you in line this time. Turn you into a well-behaved boy, huh?’ Max grinned.

‘Piss off,’ Ryan laughed. ‘You coming on this night out
Gary
’s got organised for me, then?’

‘No, I can’t. I’ve got meetings all this week and all of them involve ridiculously early mornings. But I trust you’re going to be on your best behaviour?’

Ryan held his hands up, smiling at his agent. ‘Scout’s honour.’

‘Hmmm,’ Max said, folding his arms. ‘I believe you. I think. But, I’ve heard rumours of a planned visit to the casino, so I really hope you’re ready to switch that willpower on, kiddo. And leave the women alone, alright? You know the old saying, why have hamburger when you’ve got steak at home.’

‘Yeah, thanks for that,’ Ryan mumbled, pressing his key fob to open the driver’s door of his Jaguar. ‘I think I know what I’ve got to do, I don’t need babysitting anymore.’

‘It’s not what you
have
to do that’s the problem, Ryan,’ Max said, opening his own car door. ‘It’s what you
haven’t
got to do that concerns me.’

Chapter Twenty-Five

Amber held the light green dress up against her as she looked in the full-length mirror. It was way shorter than she’d usually wear, but after a spray tan and a make-over in town that afternoon – courtesy of Debbie – she felt confident enough to show her legs. Even if it
was
still the middle of January but, hey, that’s what Northerners did, wasn’t it? Go out in all weathers in completely unsuitable clothing.

Smiling to herself, she cocked her head on one side and shook her hair out, staring at the image looking back at her. She looked different, and it wasn’t just because of the spray tan. She looked happier, more relaxed. Less uptight? Probably.

She lay the dress down on the bed and looked at herself again. Did she really want to go out tonight? No. What she
really
wanted to do was stay in, with Ryan, and do something normal like watch TV and eat pizza; the kind of things she was used to doing. She didn’t want to go traipsing round the bars of
Newcastle
in the freezing cold, worrying about what Ryan was getting up to. Oh, it wasn’t that she didn’t trust him – or was it?
Did
she trust him?
 

She pulled the towel she was wearing away from her body and looked herself up and down. She wasn’t perfect – far from it. But her figure wasn’t bad, either. She had a little bit of post-Christmas weight still to shift and although Ryan had never once told her she was anything but beautiful, she still wondered if he’d prefer her to be slimmer, more toned; younger. The thought of Ryan made her smile, despite what she’d just been thinking about. He’d certainly had no complaints about her body lately, in fact, he couldn’t get enough of her, so shouldn’t that tell her everything she needed to know? She was just being paranoid, knowing he was going to be out there, no doubt surrounded by adoring women and the usual crowd of wannabe WAGs. But maybe she could give him something to think about before he hit the town on his own night out? Something to make him realise that he only really needed her.
 

She smiled again, grabbing her robe and wrapping it around herself, running her fingers through her hair. Yeah. She could make sure Ryan Fisher strayed nowhere tonight. And she knew exactly how to make that happen.

*

Ryan closed the door behind him and threw his bag down on the hall floor, pushing a hand through his slightly dishevelled dark hair. He was ready for this night out, although part of him still wished Amber was coming with him. Strange that he should now prefer a night out with her by his side rather than these separate nights they had planned, but he was already beginning to realise that life could throw up the weirdest of circumstances when you least expected it.

He just about had time to grab a quick shower and a change of clothes before he needed to head off and meet Gary and the lads in town and, despite the fact he’d much rather be taking his new fiancée with him, he was determined to have a good time. And Ryan Fisher was an expert in having a good time. Everybody knew that.

‘Amber?’ he shouted, walking through into the kitchen, taking his jacket off and flinging it down on a nearby chair, smiling as he saw her leaning against the island in the centre of the kitchen, flicking through a magazine. ‘Hey, you’re still here,’ he smiled, relieved to see her. He’d missed her, and he hadn’t really wanted to go anywhere without checking in with her first.
 

‘I’m not meeting the girls for a while, yet,’ Amber smiled back, closing the magazine, deliberately letting the robe she was wearing fall open. She was wearing nothing but a pair of killer heels, the rest of her completely naked, and Ryan could feel himself reacting within seconds. Jesus, this was the kind of welcome home he was well up for. ‘I wanted to make sure I said goodbye first,’ she said quietly, her eyes locked on his as he came closer.

Ryan reached out and gently touched her hip with his fingertips, letting them run lightly over her warm skin, his eyes staring deep into hers, his heart beating ten-to-the-dozen. ‘Good,’ he whispered. ‘That’s – that’s good. Because I’d have hated you to run out on me without doing that.’

Amber smiled again, her whole body tensing up as his fingers travelled slowly up and over her waist, along her stomach, until they reached her breasts. She closed her eyes as he touched them, his thumb slowly flicking over her nipples, taking just seconds to turn them hard and she bit down on her lip, throwing her head back as he covered one of her breasts with his mouth.

The taste of her was making him crazy. He was so turned on it was ridiculous. He was so hard and ready for her that it physically hurt and, without pulling his mouth away from her breast, he quickly unzipped himself, but made no move to push inside her. Not yet. He wanted to take it as slow as he possibly could, make the most of her before he had to leave her yet again – something he disliked doing more and more as each day passed.

‘Jesus, Ryan…’ Amber groaned, gripping the edge of the island as he slid a hand between her legs, touching her, stroking her, his stomach flipping somersaults at the sheer anticipation of coming inside her.

‘You are making me so fucking crazy,’ he said, his mouth now touching hers as he spoke, their eyes locked together.

‘I want you so bad, Ryan Fisher,’ Amber breathed, her entire body tingling as it waited for the inevitable to happen. ‘So, so bad.’

Ryan slid a hand round the back of her neck as he kissed her hard, his other hand still firmly between her legs, his body pushing against hers, both their breathing now heavy and fast. But he wasn’t going to last much longer – he knew that. He could already feel that familiar crescendo starting its climb from deep within him and in one swift movement he lifted her up onto the counter, pushing her legs wide apart, inviting him to finally make his presence felt.
 

They both kept their eyes open, staring at each other with an almost wild intensity as he pushed inside her, her body accepting his as though it was the most natural thing in the world, her legs wrapping around him, keeping him right where he wanted to be. He didn’t think he’d ever get tired of the way she made him feel, the way everything was starting to revolve around her and this new life they were going to have together. He felt like a kid waiting for Christmas, waking up every morning knowing she was there, right beside him, beautiful and real and his. She was his. And she wasn’t some glamour model or pop princess or reality TV star who just wanted to be seen with somebody famous to further their own career – she was a real woman, and he loved her. He loved her so fucking much. And he needed her more.

Leaning right back, both hands flat on the counter behind her, Amber finally closed her eyes, giving in to every touch of his fingers on her naked skin, his mouth covering first one breast then the other as he continued to push deeper into her, every thrust eliciting small cries of both pain and pleasure and she wished with every inch of her that this feeling would never end. Because he was a part of her now, hard though that might be to believe, given their somewhat sketchy beginning. He was a part of her, and she didn’t want to have to think about what could happen if she lost him. Amber Sullivan had finally submitted to those sometimes hard and painful feelings associated with love for only the second time in her life, and she could only hope that, this time, the story didn’t end the same way it had done before.

‘I’m so close, baby,’ Ryan whispered, his mouth touching hers, his hands now on her knees, keeping her legs apart as he gave that one, final thrust, that deciding push that sent that beautiful chain of events spiralling into motion. ‘So close…’