by Kylie Walker
Was I still pissed at him? Yes. It was one thing for him to try to play a teenager, but five years down the line? That was just plain pathetic. On the other hand, being so physically close to the man who had, in all essentiality, taught me what good sex was…let’s just say I came home with my panties drenched, pissed or not.
I spent half the evening warring with my baser self as all the memories from that night came rushing back. His hands moving deftly over my skin – plucking at nipples that hardened instantly under his touch, the way he smelled and the way he tasted. Shit. Five years should have dulled all of those memories. Instead, being close to him and touching him had brought them all back to the surface as if it had all happened yesterday. Making it all worse, he looked even better now and smelled just as good and I imagined, tasted even better. I had to ask myself what the hell I was getting myself into here.
It’s not like I have a choice though, is it? This is my job, my career. I’m a professional and my career is important to me and that’s the bottom line. What I do is a huge part of me. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do and I worked hard to get here and I’ll be damned if I’m going to ruin it for a gorgeous hunk with a panty-melting grin and a magic touch. I’m going to ignore the wet panties and the butterflies in my stomach and the fire in the deepest pit of my core and I’m going to do my job, period.
I grabbed my bag and headed out the door. As I was going out Adele was coming in. “Hey girl!”
I raised an eyebrow. “Hey girl yourself, where have you been all night?”
Adele had a mischievous little smile on her face as she asked, “What makes you think I’ve been out all night? Maybe I just got up really early and went out for a long walk.” She couldn’t keep a straight face for her own joke. She busted up laughing and said, “Okay, me up really early for exercise is funny. I went to a little party last night and I had a few too many drinks so I crashed on the couch. That’s it, no exciting story to tell. You on the other hand had your first session with Brett Kinney at his house, no less. I want details.”
I shrugged and looked at my watch. “Nothing to tell and I have to run now or I’ll be late for our second session.”
She raised both eyebrows. “Nothing to tell? You haven’t seen him in five years and suddenly your job involves touching that hard, hot body…and you felt nothing?”
It was pointless to try and keep anything from Adele. She’d finagle it out of me somehow no matter how hard I tried. “I didn’t say I felt nothing. I felt all kinds of things. I just didn’t act on any of them.”
She wrinkled her nose and said, “What about Brett?”
“What about him? His ACL is torn, he can’t play football, he’s pissed…”
She rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean. What was he feeling?”
“I didn’t ask. Honey I really have to go.”
“Did he ask why you ran off and never spoke to him again?”
Sighing heavily and rolling my own eyes I said, “Yes, he asked.”
“Then he was feeling something. He still wants to know why. Did you tell him?”
“No, I didn’t tell him. Unless he’s an idiot he should be able to figure it out.”
“Think about one thing for me Erica, okay?”
We had been standing in the entryway this whole time. I finally put my foot out the door and said, “Quickly.”
“You didn’t even know that Brett was on the team until you were transferred and he became your patient. Doesn’t it stand to reason that if he was a ridiculous player he’d be the star of every tabloid at the front counter of the supermarket?”
“I don’t know if he is or not, I don’t read tabloids. I have to go.”
“Who is Mark Lyons involved with?”
“You know who he’s involved with,” I said without thinking about it. “He’s dating that dancer who was suspected of…Shit.”
“You read them while you’re in line at the supermarket whether you want to or not. Brett is never in them. I’m sure if you looked him up on line you’d see him out at events with different women on his arm, but I’d also bet you won’t see him getting accused of domestic abuse, knocking someone up. He’s also really involved with his family still. I haven’t seen his sister in years but we’ve all grown up and have our own lives to deal with. I do know from some of the other guys I’ve met on the team that he takes time off every month to go spend with them. He’s a good guy.”
“You haven’t seen him much more in the past five years than I have so honestly sweetie, you don’t really know that.”
“I know that he always had a good heart and he comes from a good family and that doesn’t change. It’s part of who someone really is and although behaviors change, who the person really is never does.”
“You’re such a romantic.”
“And you my cousin are a cynic. I suppose we both need to find the middle, huh?”
I smiled. “Maybe, but I love you the way you are.”
“I know and I love you too. I want you to be happy. Stop denying yourself.”
“Bye Adele.”
She laughed and as I headed out the door I heard her say, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.” That left a whole world of possibilities wide open to me. I did however think about what she said on my way across town to Brett’s apartment. Adele was a big part of his family’s life five years ago. Something happened with his other sister, the one that was only a year younger than him a few years ago. Adele never really found out what it was, but that was when she ultimately lost touch with Brett and his younger sister. She’d said whatever happened had taken the family to ground to recoup and lick their wounds. Looking at Brett now I don’t see that any of it affected him much. He’s still the same cocky, arrogant hunk of flesh he was back then.
I parked my car on the street and carried my bag up to his apartment building. When I knocked on the door I heard him call out, “Come in.” I chastised myself then as the sound of his voice sent a little thrill all the way through me. Jesus, I’m a mess. I opened the door and found him sitting on the couch in a pair of basketball shorts and a white wife-beater tank. His hair was wet like he’d just gotten out of the shower and his bare legs were stretched out onto the table in front of him. If not for the brace on his right leg he would have looked like an ad for the energy drink he had in his hand. Without the shorts I’d bet he looked like a fucking centerfold. Shit! Why does he have to be so damned gorgeous? “Hey,” he said with a grin.
“Hey. Are you ready?”
He chuckled. “Right to work, huh?”
“That’s what I’m here for.”
He rolled his eyes. “Okay, but before we start and you get a chance to run out of here, can we talk about why you never answered my question yesterday?”
“Nope.”
He laughed again. “No talk, no work-out.”
I sighed and rolled my eyes. “Fine, you’re only hurting yourself.” I turned toward the door and in a soft voice that didn’t even sound like him he said,
“Erica, what are you afraid of?”
I turned back toward him slowly. “I’m not afraid of anything. I just don’t see the point in dredging up a completely insignificant part of the past.”
“It’s not insignificant to me and I’d be willing to guess that it’s not to you either.”
I sat my bag down and shook my head at him. “Still so full of yourself.”
He grinned. “I know my own worth, but that’s not what this is about. You seem angry at me. You left without a word after one of the best nights I’d ever had.” I didn’t miss the way he said, “one of.” “I can’t apologize for what I did so that we can move on, if I don’t know what I did.”
“The only thing we need to move on to is your workout and massage.”
The look on his face then was pure lust. He ran his tongue across his bottom lip and said, “I’ve been thinking about that massage all night. I can’t wait to get to it.�
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I ignored the sexual tone, at least outwardly and said, “Then you should stop talking about the past and let us get started.”
“Nope, not until you tell me. Why did you leave without a word? Why didn’t you take any of my calls? Was the sex that bad?”
I nearly choked. I wasn’t about to tell him I’d never had sex before or after that was that good. I’m sure he assumed it. He’s so damned cocky. The more I thought about how much nerve he had the more pissed off I got. “The sex was over for about five minutes before you had your hands all over your next victim…so maybe I’m the one that should be asking that question.”
He looked genuinely confused. He sat up straighter and said, “Erica come and sit down.” I raised an eyebrow at him and he said, “Please.” I decided that it was high time we got this over with. I went over and took a seat in the recliner opposite the couch where he was sitting. “I’m confused.”
I let out a nervous little laugh. “About what?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I was getting even more pissed off. He’s the one that pushed this and now he was simply going to lie about it. “You must do that a lot then.”
“Do what?”
“Leave one woman in bed and go feel up the next one.”
He drug a hand through his already messy hair. It only served to make him look hotter. The bastard. “Okay, maybe I’m just an idiot but I’m going to need you to break it down for me. When did I “feel up” another woman, exactly?”
“You’re either crazy, still really drunk or one hell of a good liar. I woke up and you were gone. I put on a t-shirt and made my way down the stairs to find you. I saw a bunch of idiots cooking left-overs in the backyard and bodies passed out all over. I side-stepped all of that and just as I was turning into the dining room to make my way to the kitchen I saw you. You were talking to some skinny blonde with big tits…”
“Oh fuck! Blaire.”
“Of course her name is Blaire,” I said with an eye-roll. “It’s a perfect blonde bimbo name.”
“Erica you have it all wrong.”
“Oh do I?” My words dripped with sarcasm.
“Yes, you do.” He tried to sit up further but he winced and dropped back into the couch.
“I think we’ve wasted enough time. We need to get back to business.”
“No, not yet. I need you to hear me out. Blaire was my ex-girlfriend. I didn’t invite her to that party, she just showed up. She was babbling about being late and I started to tell her that she hadn’t even been invited but I remembered our break-up. She made a huge scene. I’d broken up with her a few weeks before that at my friend’s graduation party. She was loud and she cried and wailed and called me all kinds of names. After that I got texts and phone calls from her every day. She was like a woman obsessed. One text would be friendly and sweet and she would be talking like she had no clue that we’d split up. The next one would be angry and ranting. So that morning I took her into the kitchen and re-iterated that we were over. She had another melt down and an hour later I had to have two of my friends help me haul her out to her car because she was kicking and screaming and acting like a fool. I told her that if she came back I’d get a restraining order and I blocked her from calling or texting me. I haven’t seen her since that day. I saw on Facebook that she had her clutches into some other poor sap only a week later. Erica the only reason I had my hands on her that day was because I was trying to get rid of her. I was completely satisfied when I got out of bed with you. Our night together was fucking amazing. Why did you think I kept trying to get ahold of you?”
I listened quietly with the urge to interject several times. I forced myself not to. As much as I protested, I really had wanted to hear his explanation. Now that I did I wasn’t sure whether to believe it or not.
Chapter 9
BRETT
I was laying on my stomach with a towel across my bare ass. I felt her standing over me. Keeping my face down in the hole on the table I waited to feel her soft hands on me. I wasn’t disappointed as her oil-slickened hands began to massage my calves and work their way up my legs. I flinched slightly and I may have groaned a bit when she got to the back part of my right knee where I was still sore as hell. The pain quickly turned to ecstasy as her fingers worked their magic.
She continued up to my hamstrings massaging the first one and then the other. Each time her hand would slip down into the inner part of my thigh, my cock would throb. I wanted her to touch it so badly, but I knew that she wouldn’t. She’s a professional and in spite of our talk earlier, she was still pissed at me.
I felt those magic hands work their way from my legs to my spine, skipping over my glutes that were also aching for her to touch them. She worked her fingers up my spine and back down. I was surprised when I felt the towel be whisked away and her hands suddenly on the cheeks of my ass. I felt a warm dribble of oil and then she began to work it into my sore ass with the palms of her hands. She kneaded and massaged and occasionally let her fingers slide down the crack and lightly skim the tops of my balls. I was shaking all over even before she slid her hand all the way down and cupped my sac gently. She lightly massaged it as I moaned and then finally she slid her hand further up wrapped her entire hand around my throbbing, aching cock. I moaned and pushed my hips up to allow her better access. She used her slick hand to stroke me a few times. I was already on edge. Just the sight of her made me crazy. Her touch was threatening to send me into a premature ejaculation the likes of which I hadn’t had since I was sixteen.
She suddenly released my cock and I felt more warm oil dribble between my legs. She slid her hand back between my thighs and once more began her exquisite massage of my balls. My cock was harder than it had ever been and probably drilling a hole in the table underneath me. Just before I made a mess on her table she moved her hands again and began to rub and massage my lower back. That felt good, but my cock still wanted her attention. She ran her hands back down my ass and between my legs. Just as she took my cock back into her expert hand my phone rang, fuck!
I opened my eyes and realized that I was in my own bed, alone and drenched in sweat. Erica had left a long time ago after leading me through a torturous work-out and then giving me an amazing but very non-sexual massage. I don’t think she believed me about Blair.
The phone stopped ringing and I closed my eyes again, trying to re-capture the dream. Only seconds later it started again. Fuck! I pushed myself up on my arms and reached over to the nightstand. It was Josh Durham the first string kicker on the team. I thought about ignoring it but I was up now and frustrated as hell. Maybe a distraction would be good. I slid it to answer and said, “Hey Josh what’s up?”
“Hey man! I need you.”
I looked down at myself completely nude and stuck with sweat to the white sheet. Erika had made me put my brace back on before she left so there was that too. In the center of it all was my still semi-hard cock. I doubted sincerely Josh would want me for anything in my current state.
“Yeah? What do you need?”
“I’m having a party tonight for Wes Holliday.” Josh is from the south. Occasionally getting him to the point took hours. I wasn’t in the mood to spend that kind of time on the phone with him.
“Okay, are you getting to the part that involves me?”
“Wow! Somebody had piss in their Cheerios this morning.”
“I swear to God Dirt if you don’t tell me what you called for in ten seconds…” Dirt is his nickname. It’s a play off of his last name, but also because he never makes it through a practice without getting covered in it.
“Okay, alright. I need you at the party.”
My fucking head was about to explode. “Why?”
“Because you’re my friend.”
“And?”
“Because I have no good reason to invite your therapist.”
Fuck. “Why do you want to invite Erica?”
“Don’t get that defensive, territorial attitude all worked up. I don’t want your girl.”
“She’s not my girl.”
“Oh, well in that case…”
“I’m hanging up.” He cackled out a laugh.
“Sorry man I’m just messing with you. But seriously, she stopped by here earlier and she had this girl with her. She introduced me to her as her roommate and cousin. I want you to invite them both.”
Shit, Adele. “Was this cousin a bombshell blonde?”
“Damn straight. I need me some of that.”
“I don’t want to get involved.”
“Aw come on man. Look at it this way, you haven’t been anywhere since you messed up your leg. I know you must need to get out and if you do this for me, I’ll owe you one.”
I laughed. Dirt owed me at least thirty where women were concerned. He had a habit of picking the ones that wanted to bleed him dry. By the time he realized they were with him for his money and not his southern charm he’d invested in them heavily. I guess I could be a good friend…with the added bonus of seeing Erica outside of the whole professional environment she wants to keep us shrouded in. She’d probably tell me to go to hell before she’d go to the party though. But Adele on the other hand…I was smiling as I told Dirt, “I’ll see what I can do.” He whooped too loudly in my ear. When it stopped ringing I said, “One of these days I’m going to cash in on all of these favors you owe me.”
“Sure man, of course. The party is at my place at about eight. I got a ton of meat to throw on the barbecue and a ton of beer.”
“By the way, were you not going to invite me to this party before you needed a favor?”
“Are you kidding? Man you’re the life of the party! Did you not get your invite? I sent them out on Facebook last week.”
“Bye Dirt.” I was shaking my head. Nothing like having a bunch of conceited, self-centered football players as your best friends.