Double Coverage

by Meghan Quinn

  Jax: Are you at a Boulders game with Mason Dashel right now?

  Piper froze on the spot and instantly let go of Mason’s hand. Pure panic crept through her body, as she thought about what Jax might have seen. Busted.

  ***

  Jax had a long day and it was all because he couldn’t get Piper out of his head. The one day he had off, Piper was spending with friends, which was fine; he just wished that she might have wanted to invite him along. He’d met Hannah, her friend from work, but that was it; he knew she’d just moved to Denver, so maybe she was trying to establish her own friend base. Jax could understand that; he just wished she didn’t do it on his day off.

  Instead of hanging out with Piper, he decided to do some yard work. His lawn was looking like the crazy house from The Burbs and he thought the physical exertion of taking care of his overly grown weeds would keep his mind off of Piper, but boy was he wrong. Every minute he was out in the sun, pushing the lawn mower, weed whacking or plucking weeds, he thought of his gorgeous girlfriend, who he would rather be handling with care.

  The last couple of weeks had been glorious, beyond anything Jax could ever think of. After he lost Kiera in the car accident a year ago, he didn’t think he would be able to survive, let alone meet someone else that made his mind turn to mush. Piper made him feel alive, like he wasn’t alone anymore. She was so vivacious and full of life, not to mention hot as sin and a rabbit in the bedroom. Any spare minute they had when they were alone, she was pulling his pants down. He wasn’t complaining…it was just interesting that he was able to meet a woman who seemed to have it all. It was almost too good to be true.

  When Jax told his family about Piper, they thought he was moving too fast after his wife’s death, but he didn’t seem to think so. He needed to move on with his life; that’s what Kiera would have wanted, that was what she said in the letter she left him that he had no clue she’d written him.

  She told him to live his life and find a hot little thing to keep him company. He laughed, thinking about what Kiera might say about Piper. Kiera would like Piper, for sure, but she wouldn’t agree with Piper’s height. Taller women always freaked Kiera out, since she was a petite little thing. Jax actually liked Piper’s height; it made making out with her so much easier.

  Jax took a shower after mowing his lawn and decided to sit down with an ice cold beer, day old pizza, and tune into the Boulders game. He always believed in supporting all the local teams, even if baseball wasn’t his favorite sport. The last thing he expected to see on the television was his girlfriend, looking awfully friendly with the Stallions starting wide receiver, Mason Dashel.

  “What the hell?” Jax shouted, as he sat up to get a closer look at the TV.

  There she was, sitting in the front row with Mason, laughing and having a great time. He knew it was her because her hair stuck out like a sore thumb. There was no mistaking her for someone else. Also, the cameraman zoomed in on Mason, showing how the Stallions starter was supporting his fellow athletes. They went on about what college he went to and rambled off his stats. Jax didn’t give two shits about Mason’s stats, all he wanted to know was why his girl was out with a guy that was not him.

  He sent her a text message.

  Jax: Are you at a Boulders game with Mason Dashel right now?

  If Piper lied to him, he didn’t know what he would do. He couldn’t take it if she was cheating on him. He’d made it quite clear that they were exclusive. He didn’t want anyone else in his life; he only wanted her. He wanted her more than anything, he even…loved her. He knew he did, he just hadn’t said it yet because Kiera was the only woman he had said those three sacred words to. He received a text message back from her.

  Piper: I am. I’m sorry, we’re just friends. Do you want me to leave?

  Leave? Hell yeah, he wanted her to leave. He wanted her to end all ties with the man, pack up and move away with Jax, far, far away from Mason “Dash” Dashel. He wasn’t just called Dash because of his speed, the papers claimed he took women in and then dashed the next morning. He was quite the player. Jax hoped the man didn’t have his eye on Piper.

  Jax made himself snort. Of course Mason was after Piper, what guy would not be after Piper? That’s what Jax gets for dating a beautiful woman. He would always have to deal with the horny men who thought they could woo her. That would be his life moving forward with Piper, always beating men off with a stick who thought they could have a piece of his woman. He got another text.

  Piper: I just left the game. I’m on my way over to your place.

  Great. Now he looked like a jerk. He didn’t want her to leave the game because of him, well that’s not true; he did want her to leave the game, but he didn’t want her thinking he couldn’t handle her being out with other people.

  He blew out a frustrated breath and ran a hand through his hair. He used to have longer hair that he could tug on, but he recently buzzed everything off, leaving his hands feeling empty; so instead, they twitched with anxiety.

  He looked down at himself and thought about changing, but decided not to. He was wearing a pair of Nike shorts and that was it. His boxer briefs peeked out the top, but he didn’t care and there was no way he was going to put a shirt on in this summer heat. He had the air conditioner on, but with the way his body was raging, he felt like it was one hundred degrees in his place.

  What would he say to her when she got to his place? That he didn’t want her hanging out with other men? No, that would pretty much give him the door on their relationship. He had to word it in a way that made him not look like some jealous idiot, but his mind wasn’t working at the moment. He just kept seething in anger.

  He looked back at the game and saw that Piper was no longer in the seats, but Mason was. That was a relief; at least she wasn’t going to bring Mason to Jax’s place and it was good that Mason had not decided to follow her. Jax paced back and forth in his house until he heard a little knock at his front door.

  When he opened the door, he was nearly knocked over with Piper’s beauty. God, she looked so damn good, beyond good. Her breasts were practically spilling out of her shirt, which turned him on, but also made him insanely jealous because he didn’t want any other man looking at her. He just needed to remember that, no matter how this conversation went, he couldn’t be overbearing or go all Alpha male on her because she would shut down, since that was what her father used to do to her.

  Jax took a deep breath and let her in. She brushed up against his bare chest and he inhaled the sweet coconut scent that radiated from her hair. He was a goner; no matter what she said, he was going to forgive her. Not that he needed to forgive her for anything, but he was pretty much putty in her hands.

  She took a seat on his couch and he followed her over. When she looked at him, she had tears in her eyes. Oh shit, what was going on? He grabbed her and pulled her on top of him, so she was sitting on top of his lap.

  “Darlin’, what’s going on? Why are you going to cry?”

  She looked at him with those silver eyes and he felt himself slipping, slipping into her trance. He couldn’t help it, any time he was with her he got lost in the world of Piper.

  “Are you going to break up with me?” she asked in a tight voice.

  Taken aback, Jax looked at her as if she was crazy. “What are you talking about? Why would I break up with you?”

  “Well, you seemed angry and then you didn’t text me back. I thought that my being friends with Mason was something you couldn’t handle and you were going to break up with me.”

  She was right about not being able to handle her being friends with Mason, but he wasn’t about to say that. He needed to be the good guy, like he always was, even though he wanted to forbid her to ever see the wide receiver again.

  He gave her a light kiss on the lips and said, “I would never break up with you, sweetheart.” He touched his chest. “You own me…mind, body, and soul. I was just concerned, that’s all. Sometimes you don’t realize how incredibly gorgeous
you are. I didn’t want Mason getting the wrong idea. I was just shocked, that’s all.”

  She nodded. “I understand. I should have told you who I was hanging out with.”

  He stopped her. “No, you didn’t have to. You can hang out with whoever you want; that’s your choice; they’re your friends. As long as your…male friends know you have a boyfriend at home who is madly in love with you.”

  Piper’s eyes went wide at his confession. Then she grabbed his face and kissed him, deeply. As if she was pouring all her love into his body with one sweep of her lips and a flick of her tongue. He groaned in her mouth, as she pulled away.

  “I love you, too. You are so beyond amazing, Jax. I can’t believe I was able to meet such a kind, caring and sexy man like you.”

  “You think I’m sexy?” he asked with a grin, while rubbing her thigh.

  “Mmm, how could I not?” She brought her hand up and started rubbing his bare chest, putting his little guy straight into attention. He was already geared up when he laid eyes on Piper, but now that she was kissing him all over and rubbing his chest, he was ready to seal their love.

  He brought her head down to his and made sure she knew how much he loved her. He kissed her, sending bolts of electricity through his body. She touched him all over and finally straddled his legs, deepening their kiss a little more. She felt amazing in his arms, like she was meant to be his. She slowly rocked her hips on top of his. With every stroke of contact their hips made, he felt his sensations heighten even more.

  “Darlin’, if you keep doing that, I’m going to explode in my pants.”

  “Well, we don’t want that, do we?” she said with a wicked grin.

  She gave him a wink and shimmied down his body until she was kneeling between his legs. He gulped and started breathing heavily when she pulled down his pants and his erection sprang out, looking willing and ready for any kind of action. Jax wanted to take charge and sweep her off her feet, but the moment her lips met his erection, every last thought he ever had completely left his body. He was literally floating on air right now.

  He had never felt anything as good as Piper’s soft lips wrapped around his hard dick, strike that, his dick deep inside her felt better, but what she was doing with her lips at the moment was almost as perfect.

  She squeezed, sucked, licked, grabbed and hummed on every part of his manhood. A sheen of sweat broke out on his body and he knew he was going to explode, and quickly.

  “Fuck that feels good…ahh.” He wanted to tell her to stop, to hop on him, but he couldn’t; he was way too close and he was ready to finish. Right before he thought he was going to fall over the edge, she got up and stripped for him. Her shirt was the first to go, followed by her shoes and shorts, leaving her in a light blue lingerie set. She looked exquisite and, if it wasn’t for his burning need to release, he would have taken more time to explore the sight in front of him. Instead he grabbed her and ran her into his bedroom. She giggled the whole time as they tripped and ran into walls, trying to make it to his bed. He tore the rest of her clothes off and threw her on the bed, while grabbing a condom.

  She slid it on for him while he spread her legs. In one big swoop, he planted himself in what was his. Piper was his. She told him she loved him. Three perfect little words changed him in a matter of seconds. He was devoted to this woman and would do anything to make sure she stayed in his life.

  “God, I love you so much,” he told her.

  She smiled up at him. “I love you so much, too. I didn’t think I could ever love someone this fast, but I do. I love you.”

  Jax picked up the pace of his thrusts and felt his entire body start to tingle, he was going to lose it any second, but he didn’t want to go it alone. He ran his hand up Piper’s body and tweaked her nipple; she screamed out loud and her walls contracted around him, squeezing Jax for every last drop he had. He was completely milked dry and spent. He didn’t think he could move after such an explosion, but he slowly got off Piper so he didn’t crush her. He pulled her in close and held onto her tight, kissing her temple and rubbing her exposed stomach.

  “You’re amazing,” she said.

  “I could argue that you are just as amazing.”

  She chuckled. “I’m not going to deny you the compliment.”

  “I hope you know you can hang out with who you want, just please make sure you’re careful. Any man would love to be with you, but I want them to know that there’s only one man for you.”

  Piper was silent for a second, as if she was debating something, but then he realized she must have been asleep. So instead of pestering her, he snuggled up close and went to sleep as well.

  ***

  Piper lay there, wrapped in Jax’s arms, full of love, but was unable to answer him when he said there was only one man for her. There really should only be one man for her, so why did Mason’s face keep flashing in her mind when she was making love to Jax?

  She felt so guilty for such thoughts that she almost took off to Jax’s bathroom so she could ease the knot in her stomach. She had never felt so sick before. She loved Jax, more than anything. She didn’t think she could ever love a man like she loved Jax, but she did. He was so safe, comfortable, and caring. When she was around him, she felt like nothing bad could happen to her, but that didn’t stop her from thinking about another man at the same time.

  The baseball game was a bad idea; if she was having thoughts about Mason, then there was only one thing she could do. Stop whatever she was doing with him before something bad happened. Friends was most likely not going to work for them, especially if she thought about him while she was having sex with the man she loved, her boyfriend. She had to keep her distance. She would still talk to him at the bar because she didn’t want to make him feel bad, but that was it. No more outings where they could be close and intimate.

  The feeling of Mason’s hand in hers at the baseball game crossed her mind. It felt so right. How was that possible? How could two men feel so right to her? She was so confused, but one thing she knew was that she loved Jax. She didn’t love Mason. She barely knew Mason. Therefore, she needed to stick with her plan and call things off. She was done. She was going to focus on Jax now. Jax was her man and she was going to keep it that way.

  Chapter 10

  “Get your damn head out of your ass Dashel and catch the God damn ball! A fucking butterfly could do a better job than you.”

  Mason ran back to his position on the field, ignoring everything that spewed out of Coach Ryan’s mouth. The offensive line had stayed at practice later than everyone else on the team, once again, working on routes and making sure their turns and jukes were precise. Mason could feel the burn in his legs and couldn’t wait to stick the bottom half of his body in the ice bath, even though the ice bath would feel like a million needles piercing his skin. He was so damn sore.

  Mason looked over at his coach, who was looking at the plays on his clipboard and discussing with Jesse, their quarterback, the routes he wanted to run. Mason didn’t know how much more he could take from his coach. He knew the man was new and young, but he didn’t think he was going to be a giant douche and work the players until they were practically six feet under. They had a week until their first pre-season game, then the season would be underway. Mason knew he was more than ready; but if he didn’t get a break soon, he wasn’t going to be physically ready for their games. He needed a little bit of time off to rest his body.

  “Run green forty six again and this time, actually run to your spot Dashel. We know you’re a pretty-boy, but we don’t need you prancing around on the field like a Nancy.”

  Mason bit down on his mouth guard and warned himself not to make any kind of comment toward his coach, now was not the time.

  Jesse counted out and the center snapped the ball. Mason ran straight toward the end zone and then quickly hooked to his right where the ball smacked him dead in the chest and then bounced onto the practice turf. Shit.

  “God Damn it!!! What the fuck
is wrong with you? You are a worthless pile of shit, you know that? Why the hell are we paying you an obscene amount of money to catch a God damn ball, when all you do is let it hit you in the chest? Jesse, I’m afraid we’re going to have to start having you run the ball to him and toss it gently. Mason can’t handle catching such accurate and precise throws. Shall we send him back to pee wee ball?” Their coach looked around and all the players had their heads lowered, either playing with their straps or kicking the turf with their cleats.

  “Is no one going to answer me?”

  Mason felt his fist starting to curl and an itch to punch his coach square in the face crept over his body. He started to raise his hand when Jesse chimed in. “Coach, we can’t keep doing this. You’re running these guys ragged.”

  “You seem to be doing fine.”

  “I’m not sprinting up and down the field, being knocked around by my teammates. If you keep running us this hard, you’re not going to have an offensive line come the first game of the season.”

  Coach Ryan got right in Jesse’s face. “Well, at least one of you is man enough to say something.” He looked around the field and said, “Get the fuck out of here and take the next three days off. I better see some improvement when you get back here.” Coach eyed Mason, but Mason turned away before he lost his ever-loving mind.

  Mason shucked off his gear, grabbed his phone and headed for the ice bath. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. He just wanted to isolate himself. The last couple of days had been hell. He tried contacting Piper to see if she wanted to hang out, but she either didn’t answer him or was busy. When he went to visit her at work, she barely spoke to him.