I nodded, not able to trust my own voice as we walked into that beautiful bathroom. Connor went over and turned the shower on, the steam starting to fog up the glass walls of the bathroom. Outside it was a beautiful day at the beach, people already starting to enjoy the sun and the ocean.
“I bet you’re wondering if I put on a regular show for them out there.”
I turned around and found him watching me with a lopsided smirk on his face, my heart aching at the sight. He could be all mine, if only I let it happen. “I hope you charge admission.”
He chuckled and walked over to the windows, pressing a button near the shower. Instantly the view started to distort, the glass going from crystal clear to frosted in a matter of seconds. “Oh, that’s cool,” I said, impressed. If I was going to block a view, a curtain or blinds were about the only things I would have thought of.
“It pays to be loaded sometimes,” he said, releasing the sling that held his shoulder in place. “Oh god, that doesn’t feel real good.”
“You’re supposed to let it dangle, remember?” I reminded him, my searches on the internet on how to take care of his injury really coming into play. He dropped his arm, a pained look coming across his face. “Easy now.”
He sucked in a breath, and I walked over, grabbing the edge of his t-shirt and helping him slide it over his head and his injured shoulder, revealing the slim bandages taped to his skin. Gingerly, I helped him remove them, surprised to see only three small incisions on his otherwise perfect skin.
“All that pain for those?” he scoffed, looking in the mirror. “I was expecting something gruesome.” I came up behind him and slid my arm around his waist, pressing my lips gently to one of the marks. He gave me a look in the mirror as I caressed his abdomen with my fingers, reveling in his body against mine, my breasts pillowed up against his strong back.
“Why am I here, Connor?” I asked softly. His expression grew tender as he looked at me in the mirror.
“I think you know the answer to that.’
“Why don’t you tell me?” I asked, my heart pounding in my ears. This was it, the words from him that I had been waiting on.
“To wash my back, of course.”
He was still a bastard… though a funny one. A bit disappointed, I put on a bright smile and playfully slapped his stomach, unwrapping myself from around him and turning to the shower so he couldn’t see the hurt look in my eyes. I could have sworn he was going to say something else. “Come on, then. Let’s get you clean.”
I heard his pajama bottoms hit the floor and I swallowed hard, pushing aside my own torment for something that lingered much deeper. He was getting naked behind me. I didn’t know how to feel about that. Actually I did know how to feel about that but I didn’t think Connor would be too happy with me if I pushed him down on the floor and had my way with him. After all, his shoulder was healing.
“Take one with me, April,” his voice soft to my ears. “Join me. You’re going to get wet anyway.”
“Connor, I don’t know,” I started, my mouth dry. There were things we couldn’t do right now.
“Please,” he begged, stepping in front of me. Oh god, he was beautiful, his chest at my eye level. I wanted to reach out and touch his skin, feel his steely strength. His good hand cupped my cheek and he forced my gaze up, his eyes blazing with the heat I felt. “I promise I won’t touch… I just want to watch you.”
“O-okay,” I responded, my knees weak. It wasn’t like he hadn’t already seen everything before anyway. With my gaze on him, I reached down and pulled my shirt over my head, unclasping my bra and letting it hit the floor. His eyes dilated as his hand roamed down to them, his fingers brushing my already erect nipple. “Damn, I’ve missed you,” he said as I arched against his touch.
“You said you were just going to watch.”
“I lied.”
With trembling fingers, I pushed my shorts down and stepped out of them, hearing his swift intake as he realized I wasn’t wearing any underwear. “You’re killing me April.”
I gave him a wink and walked to the shower, stepping inside and allowing the warm spray to hit my bare skin. Connor followed close behind, carefully closing the door and encasing us in the glass shower which was already steamed up from the hot water. When his hand touched my stomach I turned in his arm slowly until we were pressed skin to skin, feeling his heavy need against my stomach. “I want you so fucking bad,” he said, leaning down to kiss my lips, his hand caressing the top of my rear end.
“I want you too,” I admitted, feeling the rush between my legs, my need as heavy as his was. “But we have to be extremely careful.”
He sighed and I roamed my hands down his chest, reaching down to touch his cock.
“And there is no doubt that I am going to be very careful with you.” I wasn’t just saying this in the heat of the moment, I knew he needed reassurance if this—whatever we were—was going to have any sort of future. I didn’t want to hurt him. I wasn’t Crystal or any other girl that he had been with before. His heart was going to be safe with me if he allowed me to have it.
He groaned and I slid to my knees, the warm spray hitting my back as I took him into my mouth. He was hard and pulsating in my mouth as I swirled my tongue around his swollen head. “April,” he choked out. I hummed back and moved my hand up the length of him, gripping him softly. I could tell it wasn’t going to be long for him. When he grabbed my shoulder and pushed me away from him, I was confused, looking up at him as I stood.
“We do this together,” he said through clenched teeth, his hand stroking his cock where my mouth had been. “Touch yourself for me.” I bit my lip, thinking I hadn’t ever done that for anyone in my life. It was a private thing, something that I did in the comfort of my own bedroom… but then I remembered, he had seen me do this before, all those weeks ago, I just never knew about it at the time. He sensed my hesitation and stilled his own hand, his fingers wrapped around his cock. “It’s just me. I want to see you come undone again. Can’t you see how much I want you?”
“I just, I’ve never,” I stammered, my face turning red. Not that anyone had ever asked me to either. His expression softened then and he dropped his hand, running it over my arm. “I’m sorry. I wouldn’t want you to do anything you weren’t comfortable with. Forgive me.” He looked so miserable that he had even suggested it that my heart warmed. Had I really changed the playboy? I had expected him to get mad, to storm out of the shower or something. I hadn’t expected an apology. It spoke volumes.
With a trembling hand, I reached down and touched myself, my eyes following his as he watched me. It was a powerful moment, knowing that I was holding his attention, that I had some kind of control over him. I slipped one finger into myself and was surprised at the wetness I found there, observing when Connor’s own hand strayed down to his cock again, his hand moving up and down its length.
I allowed my fingers to trail up to my hard swollen nub, the electricity of my own touch and his constant gaze causing me to shiver. My eyes strayed to Connor again and I saw that he had picked up the pace, the strain on his face evident as he watched my hands. I did the same and was surprised when the orgasm overtook me, my knees buckling and forcing me to rest against the wall for support. Connor let out a groan and came as well, milking it until there was nothing left. Instead of embarrassment, I felt emboldened in what I’d done with him, the intimacy we had just shared without actually touching one another.
“I have a feeling we will be doing that a lot over the next few weeks,” he joked as I peeled myself off of the wall. “Unless we can get creative.”
“Creative is good,” I replied, giving him a smile. He returned it and then reached for the soap that was sitting on the shelf, holding it up. “Ready for your sponge bath?”
CONNOR
I nervously grabbed my sunglasses and the keys to the car, feeling like I was either about to make the biggest fucking mistake of my life or the best damn thing I could do. After our shower, Ap
ril had shyly dressed me, a grin on her lovely face as she buttoned up my shirt and helped me into the sling to protect my shoulder.
What we had done in the shower still was running around in my mind and I wanted desperately to throw her on the bed and fuck the hell out of her. But not yet. There would be time for that later; first, I had some business to deal with.
“You ready?” I asked as she walked into the living room, dressed in a pair of jeans and one of those blousy tops I loved, her tan still visible on her sumptuous body. I vowed to take her back to somewhere tropical once I was able to get rid of this uncomfortable sling, so I could see her naked in the surf again, her golden tan glowing.
“I am,” she answered, tucking her hands in her back pockets. “Though you still haven’t told me where we are going.”
My grand plan about to start. “Well, I thought since I didn’t get to give you a tour of the stadium the other night that I would do so today. I have to go by there anyway so it will be a perfect time.” Actually I didn’t, but she didn’t need to know that.
“Are you sure you feel up to it?” she asked, some concern in her expression. “You really should be resting up.”
“Babe, if I stay in this house much longer, I’m going to go stir crazy,” I replied, holding out my good hand that held the keys. “Can you drive?”
“What about the driver Jay hired?” she asked, looking at the keys. I shook my head, mentally crossing my fingers at the white lie I was going to tell. God knows I’d lied to her before and it had blown up in my face, but this was different. “It’ll take too long. I need to go now.”
She looked at me and I gave her my best smile, hoping she wouldn’t realize the truth. There was a reason I needed it to be just the two of us and she was about to find out why.
“Okay,” she finally said, reaching out to get the keys. “But I can’t be held responsible for anything that happens to your car.”
I chuckled and winked at her, walking to the door and throwing it open. A smile crossed my face as I slid my sunglasses on and stepped out, walking down the stairs and waiting for her to catch up. When she reached the bottom stair, I took her hand and guided her toward the gate, where there were just a few reporters still milling around. As soon as they saw me, it was a mad dash to push the microphones through the iron slats of the gate, clamoring for a good spot.
“Connor! Connor can you tell us about your injury?”
“Is it career-ending?”
“How long will you be out?”
I felt April’s hand tighten around mine, but I brought her to my side anyway, sliding an arm around her waist. “Hey, guys. My shoulder is good, healing well and you should all receive an update next week from my agent. I just wanted to publicly thank my girlfriend here for taking such good care of me in the meantime.”
“What are you doing?” she hissed as I tightened my arm around her waist.
“April! Was it love at first sight?”
“Did you steal Connor away to ruin Crystal’s wedding?”
“Aren’t you worried he’ll dump you too?”
“That’s all folks,” I said, holding up my hand. “See ya’ll later.”
There was a chorus of questions as I forced April to walk away, waiting until we were inside the garage and away from prying eyes before I released her waist. “What the hell was that? Who said I was your girlfriend?” she asked, whirling around to face me. There was no anger in her expression, but there was hurt, and I didn’t understand. Didn’t she understand what I had done for us?
I pulled her close, my hand rubbing circles on her lower back. “Do you not want to be my girlfriend?”
“I, of course, but we still have things to figure out,” she stammered, something akin to softness appearing in her eyes.
“And we will. I know I screwed up. But I will do anything to have you with me. I need you by my side, April.”
“Are you sure?”
“About what? About us? I’ve never been more sure of anything in my entire life,” I said, kissing her gently and trying to show her I meant every word. She sighed against my mouth and I knew I had won the first round. One more round to go. “Now, I owe you a tour. Ready to go to the stadium?”
She nodded and I released her, seeing the blush steal across her cheeks. The thought of making her happy bloomed inside of me, making me feel like fucking Superman. That had been the plan. I had no intentions of letting her go.
35
APRIL
I gave the guys a smile as they all came up to greet Connor, releasing his hand so he could shake theirs. True to his promise, he had given me a tour of the facility, even snagging me a jersey that had his name emblazoned on the back, along with his number. Guess I was a Lions fan now.
They were all so friendly, a couple of them even coming up to me and apologizing again for the seedy bet they’d concocted. But they were all big teddy-bears at heart, most of them with wives and girlfriends themselves, and encouraging me—and not so quietly either—to give Connor a second chance.
I was also still dizzy from his earlier stunt with the reporters; he’d all but made a claim that I was his girlfriend. It wasn’t love, but it was commitment and I couldn’t believe it. He had done it so publicly, and by the end of the day, I was sure the video was going to play on all the entertainment sites. It wasn’t that I was disappointed by any means. He had just told the world that he intended on making this work, and I was beyond over the moon about it. I was already calculating on how I was going to tell him that I loved him tonight and hoped (fingers crossed) that he felt the same way about me. Even if he didn’t express it, I was willing to wait. He was worth waiting for despite his faults.
Connor grabbed my hand and squeeze it, his grinning face turning toward me. “Ready? We have one more stop to make.”
“Sure,” I replied, giving him a smile. “Lead on.” I waved goodbye to the guys and he led me out of the locker room, then through the tunnel to the field, devoid of anyone else. It looked so big from this vantage point, and I couldn’t imagine being Connor as he ran out onto the field to a roaring crowd. It had to be exhilarating.
“Come on,” he said, tugging on my hand. “You’ve got to see it from the fifty. There’s nothing like it.” With a laugh I followed him onto the dazzling green field, reveling in the fact that I was dating a football player. Not just any football player, but a quarterback in the professional league. And I was going to do all I could to get him back to the game he loved.
We reached the fifty-yard line and he released my hand, looking all around the stadium. “I love this place every time I come here,” he replied, his voice belying his emotion. “I couldn’t imagine loving anything like I love playing football. It’s in my blood now.”
I laid a hand on his chest, my heart aching for him. “You will be back better than ever. I have no doubt about that.”
Connor looked down at me and clasped his hand over mine, his thumb stroking the skin on the back of my hand. “I thought football was my only real love, but then I met you. Girl, you turned my damn life upside down the first night you stormed into that club and threw that drink in my face.”
“Not my finest moment,” I said slowly, the blood rushing to my ears. He chuckled and shook his head, a tender expression coming over his face. “It was the best damn thing to ever happen to me, April. After all of the examples of love in my life, I thought I would never truly feel it. Hell, I didn’t even think it was real.” To my surprise and complete shock he knelt down before me, holding my hand in his. “I love you, April Matthews. I have never said it to anyone else, and I actually mean it. You have stolen my heart and I don’t want you to give it back.”
“Connor,” I breathed, tears gathering in my eyes. He loved me. I could see it in his eyes shining up at me, I could feel it in my chest. He wasn’t just saying the words, he was feeling the words and there was no doubt in my mind they were coming from somewhere deep down inside. I had my own words to say and I wasn’t going to h
old them back any longer. “I love you too.”
“Thank god for that,” he said with a smile. “I don’t know why you do, but I will never take that for granted, April. I know my track record isn’t the greatest but it ends with you.” I reached down and framed his face with my hands, tears streaming down my cheeks. “I don’t care. I’m just glad I have you now. Just don’t you ever lie to me again.”
“I promise.” His smile was tender as he released my hand and reached into his pocket, producing a small box. I gasped as he opened the lid, a sparkling princess cut diamond ring catching my eye. “I know we haven’t known each other long, but I feel that I can’t live without you by my side. Will you do me the biggest honor and become my wife?”
I nodded immediately, unable to speak as he pulled the ring out of the box and slipped it on my finger before rising to gather me against him. Boisterous applause broke out and I looked over my shoulder at the sideline, seeing the entire team clapping and cheering. “Did they know you were going to do this?” I whispered as he kissed my neck.
“Of course,” he whispered back, his lips grazing my ear. “Who do you think approved the ring? Hell, I thought they were going to spoil the surprise.” I laughed then, unbelievably happy in the moment. Connor loved me, he wanted to marry me. It was beyond my wildest dreams. “I love you so much,” I said, gripping him tightly.
“I love you too, babe,” he replied, his lips pressing into my hair. “Thank you for giving me a chance to steal your heart. I won’t ever let you down again.” He released me and grabbed my hand. “But I’m not done yet, we’ve got one more stop to make.”
CONNOR
I got April to pull the car over into a parking lot on a popular street in town, grinning as I caught a glimpse of the massive diamond on her finger. When I thought I would start to feel that pull of panic in my chest, I actually felt light and fucking happy. The love I had for her was scary and exciting at the same time and I just hoped I could be worthy of her.
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