Take Me (17 page)

She dug through her suitcase and picked out her favorite bubble bath, and an aromatherapy candle her sister had given her when she’d found out she was going on this trip. Alyssa’s sister Iris was very much into aromatherapy. It was probably bullshit, but Alyssa liked a good smelling candle as much as the next person, and this one promised to bring “luck, serenity, and abundance.”

What could be wrong with that?

She drew a bath, first making sure to scrub down the tub with some disinfectant pads she’d brought. They were supposed to be for wiping down your hands to prevent the spread of colds and other nasty viruses, but she figured using them on the tub would be better than nothing.

She poured the vanilla raspberry bubble bath into the tub, slid in, and turned on the jets. The hot water soothed her, and she sighed, letting her shoulders slide into the water.

She closed her eyes and tried to relax, deciding not to think about the column she still had to write about tonight’s game, or about how her picture had been in the New York Post this morning. And definitely not about Jay Havens. About how he’d kissed her this morning, how hot his body had felt against hers.

She closed her eyes, determined to push him out of her thoughts. But that kiss kept popping up. Hot and demanding, searching and soft, it had been perfect. Alyssa had never been kissed like that before, and it made her wonder what else Jay could do to her.

Before she knew what she was doing, her hand was slipping under the bubbles, down between her legs. She opened her thighs slightly, letting her fingers rub lightly up and down.

She pictured Jay there, coming into the room, wrapped only in a towel. His chest was perfect, just the right amount of muscle, smooth and tan. A faint line of hair started at his belly button, and went down under the towel, and as he moved closer, the towel dropped.

Alyssa moaned and moved her fingers faster over her clit, imagining Jay finding her there in the tub, playing with herself while she thought about him.

In her fantasy, he moved over to the tub and pulled her hand out from the water, kissing each of her fingers softly and slowly, his eyes never leaving hers. He took her index finger into his mouth slowly, sucking hard, tasting her. And then he intertwined his fingers with hers, placing her hand behind her against the wall. With his other hand, he reached into the water and took over where she left off. His fingers moved in and out of her, touching the wetness between her legs, rubbing and touching, bringing her to the edge and then taking her back again.

She kept imagining him looking into her eyes, the electricity passing between them. “You like that?” he asked her, and she nodded as he moved faster and faster.

“Come for me,” he said softly.

And she did, waves of pleasure radiating through her body. It was the best orgasm she’d had in a very long time.

***

Fratelli’s was an Italian joint in Brooklyn that Jay had never really liked.

Something was just… off about the place. They professed to have homestyle Italian food, and they had all the staples – fettuccini alfredo, ziti with spicy sausage, spaghetti and meatballs. But something about the food tasted like it had been microwaved, and the tables with the cheap paper tablecloths and candles that were supposed to make it seem homey only served to make the place feel a little tacky.

“Why do you always make me come here?” Jay asked, sliding into the booth across from Steve. “You know I hate this place.”

“It’s the only place I can bring you where I never have to worry about being interrupted,” Steve said. He was a big man, with broad shoulders and sharp features, the kind of guy who looked like he’d played college football. And he had – three years at USC before an injury had forced him to hang up his helmet.

“That’s because no one’s ever in here,” Jay grumbled. He grabbed the menu from where it was resting behind the napkin holder. The food here was mediocre, but he was starving.

“I’m sure your sensitive palette can take it for one night,” Steve said.

The waitress came over, a pretty young thing wearing a tight black t-shirt and a pair of tight black pants that showed every curve.

“I’ll have an order of calamari, some garlic knots, and the chicken parm,” Jay decided, sliding the menu back in its place.

“Just some mineral water for me,” Steve said.

“You’re not eating?” Jay was surprised. Steve was known for his monster appetite.

“Nah,” he said, patting his belly. “I gotta watch the weight.”

“Come on,” Jay said, leaning back and taking a sip of his water. “You don’t need to lose weight. You just need to tone up. I have a great trainer, I can give you his number. My treat.”

Steve shook his head. “You are a piece of work, you know that?”

“Why? What did I do?”

“You know exactly what you’re doing.”

The waitress returned and set a basket full of garlic knots down in front of them.

Jay reached in and lifted one of the warm and doughy bundles out, took a bite, and offered the basket to Steve.

Steve shook his head. Jay shrugged and set the basket back down on the table.

“I had a meeting with Billingsley, Jay. And he’s serious. You have to stop this crazy shit you’ve been doing.”

“I haven’t been doing any crazy shit.”

“Alyssa Cotler wrote that you took her out and tried to impress her with your American Express Black Card.”

“Alyssa Cotler,” Jay scoffed. “She’s a liar.”

“Yeah, well, you need to make an effort, Jay. None of this fake bullshit, either. If she’d written about what a great fucking guy you are, Old Man Billingsley would have been pleased. But she didn’t. It’s damage control time. So just stay away from her, okay?”

“No problem,” Jay said. He thought about what happened between them earlier, in her hotel room, kissing her, the way she looked in that see-through t-shirt she’d been wearing. He felt himself get hard thinking about it.

“I’m serious,” Steve said. “You have to stay away from her. Don’t give her the chance to write anything bad about you.”

“I won’t,” Jay said. And he meant it.

But a glass of wine and a tiramisu later, and Jay was getting sick of this bullshit.

He didn’t need anyone to tell him what to do, he thought as he got into his car. He was perfectly capable of doing things himself. And he wasn’t going to stay away from Alyssa Cotler just because his agent thought he should.

He was a grown man. And he could make his own decisions.

Before he knew what he was doing, he was driving to her hotel. He pulled up to the curb and parked the car. He got out and walked into the elevator, taking it up to the third floor.

He knocked on the door of her hotel room.

“Who is it?” she asked through the door.

“Room service,” he said, taking a chance.

She opened the door. Her hair was wet, like she’d just gotten out of the shower, and her face looked flushed. When she saw him, a look of guilt flashed across her face, like she’d been caught doing something wrong. But then she narrowed her eyes at him.

“You’re not room service,” she said. “You lied.”

“Well, you should never open a hotel room door without asking who it is first. I keep trying to tell you that.”

“I did ask!”

“Did you look through the peephole?”

“No.”

“Well, then, there you go.” He pushed past her and flopped onto the bed. The room smelled like Alyssa – soft and sweet. He looked at her, standing there in a pair of light blue pajama pants and a sweatshirt, no make up, her hair wet, her face in indignant.

At that moment, she was the sexiest woman he’d ever seen.

He longed to pull her down close to him, to feel her mouth against his, to run his hands up under the back of her sweatshirt, enjoying the softness of her skin.

“What are you doing here?” Alyssa asked. She was walking around the room, collecting the clothes that were strewn about and throwing them into an open suitcase that was sitting on the floor. Jay caught a flash of something black and lacey, and heat flowed through his body. He wondered if she was wearing something that sexy under the sweatshirt.

“I just came to say hi,” he said.

“You came to say hi this morning,” she said. “Remember? You think you can just… what?” She bit her lip and thought about it. Her lips were gorgeous, full and plump and pink. “Barge into anyone’s hotel room whenever you want?”

“You definitely liked it when I barged in this morning,” Jay said, before he could stop himself. “Remember?” He grinned, and Alyssa’s eyes flashed with anger. He moved toward her, and she took a step back. He took another step toward her, daring her to move again.

But this time, she didn’t. He thought about what Steve said, about how he wasn’t supposed to mess around with her. But he wasn’t sure he could stop himself.

“Anyway,” he said. “I came here mostly to apologize.”

“You came to my hotel room to apologize?” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“Even though I was at the game tonight, in the dugout, and you ignored me the whole time, you came here, to my hotel room, to apologize?”

“Yes.”

“Not buying it.”

“Well, I didn’t come just to apologize,” he said, improvising. “I came to –” He was going to say to take her out, but he didn’t want to go out. He wanted to stay in. “---hang out.”

“Don’t you have some kind of victory party or something to go to?” she asked.

“No.” He shook his head. He moved his hands up and let his finger slide over her lips. “I want to be right here. With you.” His hands slid down to her arms that were crossed over her chest. He uncrossed them, and pulled her toward him.

He could feel her heart beating under the sweatshirt. He put his mouth down to kiss her, but right before he could, she turned away. He bit his lip to keep from moaning.

That’s how bad he needed her.

“We need to get out of the room,” she said. “Before I do something I’ll regret.”

“I think you should do it,” Jay said. “I mean, what’s life without regret?”

She shook her head. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Where are we going?” Jay wanted to know. “Because to be honest, I’d rather just stay in.”

He moved his lips toward hers again, and again, she shook her head. “I know exactly where to go.”

***

Alyssa took him to the pool. It was a tactical error for a few reasons. One, she didn’t realize that the pool was going to be closed. It turned out Brooklyn actually did sleep, at least when it came to hotel pools.

It was actually an easy problem to get around, though, since once the concierge saw who wanted to use the pool, i.e. Jay Havens, he fell all over himself opening it up for them and making sure they had enough clean towels and that the lighting was right.

The second and bigger problem, however, was that once the concierge had left, Alyssa realized Jay actually wanted to swim. She’d thought that perhaps they’d be able to just sit by the side of the pool, dipping their feet in lazily while they made polite conversation.

But once they were alone, Jay wasted no time. He grinned and then took his shirt off.

Oh, my. Alyssa had thought that baseball players were supposed to be out of shape, that they didn’t really do much running. Isn’t that what everyone always said?

But Jay…Jay’s body was spectacular. Even better than she’d fantasized about.

His chest was lightly tanned and smooth, with just a little bit of hair in between his pecs. His arms were muscular and cut, but not too muscular. He had the kind of body that looked like it belonged on an athlete, but it was the body of an athlete who didn’t look like he cared about getting his hands dirty.

A line of hair started at his belly button and formed a path down to his jeans. Jay undid the button fly and pulled off his pants, leaving him in just his boxers. His legs were just as toned and perfect as the rest of him.

“Come on,” he said, walking over toward her. “Aren’t you going to go in the water?”

“We can’t swim,” she said, rolling her eyes. The truth was, she wanted to swim.

She wanted more than anything to get into that water with him, to feel her wet skin against his, to taste the water on his lips as he kissed her. But that would be very, very dangerous. And besides, she couldn’t remember what kind of underwear she was wearing.

“Yes, we can,” he said. “We can do anything we want.” His mouth was suddenly on hers, and she let his tongue into her mouth, tasting him. He was minty and spicy and perfect. She could feel his stubble against her chin, and the roughness of it started to get her turned on.

He went to lift up her shirt, and she stopped him. “Wait,” she said. “I, um, think I have a bathing suit upstairs.” It was a lie, of course. She didn’t have a bathing suit.

But she figured going upstairs would give her a chance to put on some cute underwear.

Jay grinned. “You don’t want me to see you undress,” he said. “Fine.” He turned around and crossed his arms. “You get naked, and
then
I’ll turn around.”

Alyssa peeked under the sweatshirt and tank top she was wearing. Shit. Her worst bra, a white one that she only wore to bed. Her panties were better, some black lacey things that she’d bought during a trip to Victoria’s Secret only because she’d gone in to buy some bubble bath and they were having a sale.

Improvising, Alyssa slipped out of her bra, pulled off her sweatshirt and pajama pants. She stood there in just her tank top and panties.

“Okay,” she said. “You can turn around.”

She expected him to make a big fuss about her not being naked. But instead, his eyes widened as he took her in. “You’re beautiful,” he said.

And then he was there, kissing her again. His hands slid down over her ass, pulling her pelvis into his. She felt his hard cock against her, and she wanted it so bad that her first instinct was to pull back, because she couldn’t take it.

She broke off the kiss and moaned, but he held her close, making her feel his erection against her. He bit her bottom lip softly while he looked into her eyes.