Third and Long: A Sports Romance

by Caitlyn Maxwell

  We keep stealing awkward looks at each other. Whenever I put my coffee down, I look over and catch her staring at me. The same happens when she occupies herself with her food. I can’t help it. She’s so fucking gorgeous. I can’t get over the way her brown locks frame her cute face and those beautiful lips. I want to kiss those lips. The fact that I can’t makes me want her even more.

  Mom is focused on her food. I don’t trust her. She’s been awfully polite given how they really feel about Tamber. M-y fake fiancée did make a great impression when Jeffrey introduced her, but there’s nothing she could do to make up for her “lack of breeding” as my parents put it.

  “Tamber,” my mom says. I grip the countertop knowing that she’s about to start grilling the poor girl. I look to Tamber, but damn if she isn’t focused on my mom.

  “Yes?” Tamber asks.

  “Logan hasn’t told us much about your work at the university. Care to enlighten us?” she asks.

  “Well Jessica, I’m getting my MBA,” Tamber says.

  “That’s lovely dear. What do you plan to do with it?” she asks.

  I hope Tamber realizes what my mom is doing. She’s going to start asking more and more involved questions, waiting for the moment that Tamber slips up. I’ve brought girls home before, but they were the vapid kind of girls that the paparazzi is fond of photographing me with. They all failed my mom’s line of questioning spectacularly. Like my dad, no one but a certain kind of well-bred debutante will be good enough.

  “My plan right now is medical management. Hospitals. That sort of thing. I have an internship lined up next semester with St. Joseph’s,” she says.

  “Excellent, and what will you be doing?”

  “A variety of things: scheduling, payroll, inventory, among other administrative tasks,” Tamber says. “I like to stay busy.”

  “And what draws you to that?”

  “To be frank Jessica? Money. Administrative roles in the medical field are projected to grow by 17 percent over the next ten years,” she says.

  My mom actually nods in approval. I haven’t seen her do that since my sisters got accepted to university in France. Not like she’s ever approved of me playing football. It sounds crazy, but I’m suddenly very jealous of Tamber Long.

  “And do you see yourself doing that in ten years?” my mom asks.

  “I see myself married to your son in ten years,” Tamber says, shooting me a playful little smirk.

  Holy shit, how is she so good at playing this game? I’m actually in awe. This is not the Tamber that I’ve come to know. What is this side of her?

  “Indeed,” my mom says. My dad actually looks up at that statement before going back to his stock numbers.

  “As to whether I’ll still be working administration in hospitals? No, of course not. The real money is in consulting,” Tamber says.

  “Here, here,” dad says, holding up his coffee cup.

  My mom smiles and goes back to her food. No one except me notices when Tamber lets out the biggest, longest sigh of relief that I’ve ever seen.

  We’re both good actors it seems.

  The family makes idle chatter after that. Dad asks me basic questions about football making it quite clear that he hasn’t read my stat line lately. Mom asks Tamber if she likes watching me play to which Tamber enthusiastically describes my performance against Ole Miss.

  By the time Jeffrey comes back to freshen our coffee and take away our dishes, it seems like Tamber has survived. Not only has my gorgeous fake fiancée survived a round of questioning from my mom, but also it seems like she has endeared my parents to her charm.

  There’s this gnawing fear in the back of my head that my mom is only playing nice, that she has no intention of staying this way. After all Tamber was given the mother of all cold receptions last night. It seems impossible that they’d warm up to her especially since they seem so sure that I’ll be marrying Katerina.

  I don’t dare mention anything at the table. Best not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

  “You’ll be joining us for dinner tonight of course,” my mom says as she gets up from the table.

  “Yeah mom. We’ll be there.”

  She turns to look right at Tamber. “Good because there’s so much more I’d like to know about my future daughter-in-law.”

  The look she gives Tamber is honestly a little scary. There’s something going on in my mom’s head.

  For the first time all morning Tamber gives me a look of concern. We both let out a huge sigh of relief when my parents leave us alone on the patio.

  However, now that we’re alone everything is awkward. Last night we kissed, I picked her up and held her. She definitely felt my cock and she definitely wanted me until she abruptly turned me down. I can respect that even as I want nothing more than to take her back to my bedroom.

  We stare at each other. Tamber eats a piece of cantaloupe and I can’t help but stare at her as she bites into it.

  “What the hell was that?” I ask finally breaking the silence.

  Immediately she drops all pretense. “Oh thank fucking God. I thought I was going to explode. I’ve never been that prim and proper before.”

  “How?” I ask. I don’t even have to say anything else. She knows what I’m asking. We may be fake engaged, but I know enough about Tamber to know that she’s anxious and self-conscious to a fault. Completely not the person who impressed the hell out of my mom over breakfast.

  “That’s business me,” she says.

  “What the hell is business you?” I ask.

  “When I’m on the job, I can focus, say things I’d never say in my every day life,” she says.

  “So that’s what this is for you? A job?” I ask.

  She looks every which way but at me. “Logan, let’s be real. You brought me out here as a friend, to help you out. Yes, it’s a job. You’re paying me in your parents’ opulence.”

  “About last night…” I’m searching for something, anything to say.

  “Let’s not worry about last night,” she says smiling. Sounds like a great plan to me. If she’s bound and determined to be nothing more than friends, I certainly shouldn’t dwell on the touch of her skin against mine.

  “Want to go riding?” I ask.

  “Like on a horse?” she asks.

  I grin and point to the stable that lies in the distance on our property.

  “Uh… yeah!” she says in the nerdiest and most adorably excited voice.

  Now if only this boner would go away before I need to get on a saddle. Don’t blame me, she’s the one who decided to come to breakfast looking like a beautiful princess.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Tamber

  I’m on a horse. I’m on a horse, and I don’t give one single fuck about anything in the world. This is completely ridiculous! Logan’s mom tried to grill me, and I had an answer for everything. That’s business me. Business me handles—well—business for lack of a better word. All the anxiety and nervousness I feel in my day to day goes away when there’s a job to be done.

  That’s what Gwen calls my workaholicism.

  Logan grabs the reins of Surefire and stops our trot. He pulls out his phone to check the time. I do the same, but to send off a text to Gwen.

  I’m on a horse bitch!

  In the end I owe Gwen. I thought I was going to hate this weekend. To be fair when his parents gave me the cold shoulder, I felt pretty confident that I would. But now? I’m on a horse!

  After breakfast on the patio, another room bigger than my apartment, Logan walked me out to his parents’ stable on the far side of their grounds. We passed by their enormous pool and guest house. In the distance Logan pointed out their greenhouse which they apparently use mainly to brew beer. He promises later to show me the underground entertainment center. In all I feel like I’m at an all-expenses-paid resort. The only thing missing is the beach.

  Every single horse is a beauty all bred from racehorse stock. According to Logan, his father’s bi
ggest dream in life is to breed a horse that can win a Triple Crown. So far they haven’t had much luck.

  I won’t lie, during the entire walk out to the stable, I had to fight every urge in my body to hold Logan’s hand, to kiss his lips, to let him touch me in the ways that I know he wants to. We’re the worst “just friends” ever.

  Riding is actually a tremendous relief because it gives us something to talk about other than each other and our fake engagement. Of course, it’s the first time I’ve ever ridden a horse, and I am absolutely, embarrassingly terrible at it. Thankfully Logan’s a great teacher.

  On our way out from the stable, I nearly fall off three times. Each time Logan graciously steadies my horse.

  Surefire is a beautiful horse. He was given to Logan a few years ago when he became the starting quarterback for the Lions. Apparently his parents only ever acknowledge his accomplishments through gifts rather than praise.

  He rides Daisy, a horse that belongs to Carolyn, his oldest sister. She sounds fun. I almost want to meet her. Logan explains that both of his sisters are studying chemistry and biology respectively at a university in Paris. He doesn’t say it, but I get the sense that they took off out of the country to get away from his parents. He seems jealous.

  He keeps reminding me that his parents are old school, which means even though he’s the youngest, they expect the most of him since he’s a man. They expect him to step in as the patriarch of the family, a role that he could not care less for.

  We trot around the grounds, and I’m already starting to feel pain run up my thighs. Having never ridden a horse before, I’m struggling to get used to the stance. When we pass by the front of the mansion, Logan offers to show me how to ride side saddle.

  “I realize we haven’t known each other for very long Logan, but at this point you should know that I’m not very amenable to doing things differently just because I’m a woman,” I say.

  “I’m starting to figure that out,” he says. “You’ll get used to the pain.”

  “For one I’m not used to spreading my legs this far apart.”

  “Tell me about it,” he says with a wry smile.

  “Oh I didn’t mean it that way,” I say. “Besides if you can stand to ride that way with your big fucking cock in the way, I’m sure I can figure it out.”

  “Come again?” he asks, smirking like a school boy.

  “I think Gwen is rubbing off on me. Don’t get any ideas, cowboy.”

  I can’t believe I said that to him. My cheeks are ready to turn bright red. First time on a horse, first time addressing the size of a guy’s cock out loud. I wonder what other firsts I’ll have today.

  “Tell me about your sisters,” I ask him as we trot around the vast side yard of the mansion.

  “What’s there to tell?” he asks sheepishly.

  “Which one beat you up as a kid?” I ask.

  “Jillian,” he mutters.

  “Isn’t she only a year older?”

  “Yes, but fierce as fuck. One time in seventh grade, a girl dumped me on Valentine’s Day because she wanted to go out with Bobby Derek, and Jillian kicked her ass.”

  “Oh my god. That’s terrible and funny at the same time.”

  Surefire and Daisy guide us over well-trodden ground. Logan smiles when he talks about his sisters. I take that to be a good sign.

  “So tell me something about Carolyn,” I say.

  “She’s the pot smoking champion of Houston, Texas,” Logan says as he nudges the horses toward the front of the mansion grounds.

  “Having met your parents, I would not have expected that.”

  “That’s exactly why you should have expected it,” he smirks.

  There’s something about being away from college that makes me feel like I can give my obligations a rest. Logan guides my horse. He makes sure that I won’t get bucked off by Surefire. He’s taking care of me, and I like that. Not to mention that he looks fucking handsome riding tall in the saddle.

  As we near the front of the mansion, Logan grabs the reins of my horse and leads us across the brick drive. Down the drive by the garage, Gregory washes the limousine that drove us out here. Some landscapers care for the trees that line the drive up to the front. I wonder what his parents are up to right now because there’s certainly nothing that needs doing out here.

  “How many people do your parents employ? I feel like I’m in a Disney movie and all the candlesticks and shit have turned back into humans already.”

  “A dozen or so. Can you figure out why my sisters took off for Paris yet? Imagine sitting around here waiting for my dad to marry you off.”

  I shudder at the thought.

  We’re heading back to the stable. The ride has been nice. Peaceful, solitary. Just Logan and me. I could get used to being alone with him more often. He’s powerful yet sweet, strong but vulnerable. He’s an enigma. There’s so much more that I want to know about him.

  “You must have been so bored out of your mind here. Your dad wouldn’t even send you out to rake leaves or anything?”

  “I was kind of a sheltered kid yeah. Boring is one way to put it. They sent me to private school from kindergarten through high school. A lot of things were taken care of for me.”

  “So college was your first exposure to us commoners?” I ask.

  “I wish it came earlier,” he says.

  “You’re not one of those rich people with fantasies of being poor are you?”

  He laughs as we arrive back at the stable. Since he doesn’t answer me, I figure there might be a little something to my comment. Logan catches me in his strong arms as I awkwardly dismount from Surefire. He leads Daisy and Surefire back into their stalls.

  While it’s not the most romantic place in the world, it is away from his parents. The smell of rain water lingers from last night’s storm, and the wooden walls of the stable creak as they settle into the wet ground.

  I watch as he gives each horse some feed and water. Leaning against the wooden wall of the stable, a chill wind blows through reminding me that it’s still October. Part of me wonders what this place looks like during the holidays. If his parents are as old school as Logan says, then they must do it up big.

  “Remember when I told you why I play football?” he asks, draping Surefire’s saddle over a painted wooden railing.

  “So you could prove yourself?”

  “So I could prove that I’m more than the son of a billionaire. I don’t want to be given things. I think we have that in common.”

  I roll my eyes. “Give or take a billion dollars.”

  “For real. You, by necessity, have to earn everything. It’s your whole deal. You need to make your way. I want that. I wish I could have that. My sisters didn’t go to France to study, they went to party. My parents think they’re studying really hard because they never take a minute to look at their Instagram.”

  “Your sisters sound really fun to be honest,” I say, feeling the conversation get a bit heavy.

  Logan walks to the stable door, and rests his strong forearm on the door frame. He takes a long look at his parents’ house.

  “If I got an MBA like you, if I went into the business world, people would be lining up to give me a job because of my dad. Football is the only thing where they’ll boot me off the team if they have to,” he says.

  “What I wouldn’t give to have your problems,” I say. He’s got a point. I’ll give him that.

  Logan turns around, the morning sun, peaking through that overcast sky frames, his gorgeous body in the door frame. I’ve never felt as weak around a boy as I do around him.

  “You want to know why I came to see you last night?” he asks.

  “It wasn’t just for my booty?”

  “Besides that,” he says smiling.

  I cross my arms and kick a leg up against the barn wall. He better have an awfully good explanation for barging into my room like that.

  “My dad’s retiring. He told me last night. If I don’t take over the busi
ness, then he’s going to sell it. That means a business that survived two generations of Olivers will be sold because the third generation couldn’t be bothered to continue it.”

  “That’s a lot of pressure,” I say.

  “You’re telling me. So what do I do? Do I do the one thing that I hate and take the business, or do I say fuck it all and play football? That’s what I was coming to ask you, but I—”

  “Got distracted?” I ask, feeling his eyes go up and down my body. He’s checking me out again! He can’t help himself.

  His piercing blue eyes practically stare through me. There’s a lion in him that’s ready to come out. His intensity, his stare, his muscles. Everything about Logan is so overwhelming. That’s why I don’t flinch when he crosses the stable, grabs me and pins me to the wall.

  His hands punch against the wall on either side of me, and his body presses into mine. Before I can react, we’re kissing again. I’m hesitant at first until I melt again, unable to resist him in any way. I’m losing it, losing the will to stay true to my promise.

  My mouth opens to him. His warm, supple tongue plays with me, taking what he wants. I touch his chest, feeling his muscles heave under my hands. I’m helpless to his power, yet there’s no place else I’d rather be.

  Then everything changes when his right hand slides down my pant leg. He looks me in the eyes as if asking permission, and I give it to him. Nodding slowly, my eyes say yes. I bite my lip.

  I feel his hand glide along my thigh as if my pants aren’t even there. Suddenly and fiercely he grabs me between the legs. His firm hands holds me there, rubbing against the inside of my legs.

  I can’t help but moan, lost to his touch as our tongues play with each other in a flurry of delighted flicks. His hand is so strong that it feels like there’s nothing between him and my sex. I can feel myself getting wet as he grips me, rubbing me.

  Soon I have to take my mouth away from his to let out a desirous moan. His eyes look into mine with an eagerness to both please me and make me do what he wants. I want him to take me. I can’t pretend anymore that I don’t want him.

  “Logan,” I murmur.