He twitched against me the moment my tongue made contact. Delicately, I kissed and licked up his length. I kept my eyes open the whole time. I wanted to watch his body quiver and tense from my teasing licks. And I loved the way his hard abs rocked and rolled with each stuttering breath. My tongue flattened along the underside of his shaft as I made my way up to the tip.
As soon as I sealed my lips around his crown his hips bucked up a little and his hand clutched at the top of my head. I dropped down a little farther, easing him inside as my tongue rolled. He flexed and rocked underneath me. I could practically feel his body pulse with the throbbing of his length. He lurched up a little more, forcing himself a little farther past my lips.
He was close. I could feel it.
His grip tightened in my hair and just as I was about to bring him to the end, I drew back and sat up. His eyes were hot and heavy with passion. I could only imagine I looked the same.
“I want to feel you inside of me.” I confessed, flopping back onto the bed beside him. Hayden gave me a little smile as he scooted off the bed, kicked his pants off, and reached for a condom inside his nightstand. I quickly sat up and threw my dress off and over my head.
As soon as he knelt back down onto the bed I pulled him down for another kiss. He moved between my legs, nestling himself down against me, his hardness teasingly pressed against my wetness. I sucked in a deep breath through my nose as he rubbed against me and dared entrance. I rocked and angled and shifted my hips as I tried to beg him inside.
Hayden reached down in between us to aim his crown against me. My body froze as my eyes found his. Neither of us breathed or blinked as he slowly eased inside, not breaking eye contact for a second. My chest deflated with a heavy sigh as I felt my body envelop around him. He pulled back slowly before easing back in deeper, pushing against my trembling body. My head dropped back and I rolled my hips to meet his.
Tiny tingles crawled down my collarbone as he leaned down to plant more kisses along my neck. My arms wrapped around his shoulder. I held on tight as my body whimpered and jolted. The rhythmic sound of our bodies meeting electrified the room. His hand cradled the side of my head as he kissed me deep and forceful. There was something different about the way he touched me. It didn’t feel lustful.
It felt like passion. It felt like want and desire.
My heart pounded against my ribs and my breathing grew shallow. I was getting close again. And the way he was bumping and panting against me—he was close too.
His hand cupped my breast as he skimmed my pert nipple with the tips of his fingers. My hips rolled. His thrusts grew long, and deep. My nails clawed at his shoulders and I gave one last whimpering moan. Just as I came with a force so hard my body trembled, Hayden fell on top of me and pushed in deep—his length buried inside of me as he pulsed and trembled to completion.
We laid there for a moment in each other’s arms, enjoying the pleasant tingles flowing up and down our bodies. We stayed still until our heart beats slowed and our breathing steadied. Hayden left one last gentle kiss on the side of my cheek before he rolled over to his side with a deep sigh. I stared up at the ceiling as the final buzzing tingles left my toes.
“Ali.” He said as he propped himself up on one elbow.
“Yeah?” I turned to look just in time to see his eyes studying my face yet again.
“I want to tell you something.”
There was something about the way he spoke that made my stomach lurch. What could it possibly be now? Was I incapable of enjoying a single moment of peace and tranquility without having something ruin it.
“What is it?” I asked, fearful of the answer.
His face slowly morphed into a smile. “You have perfect ears.” I let out another surprised giggle.
“I know,” I laughed.
We sat there for a little while talking about nothing in particular. Hayden offered for me to stay the night, but I was quickly starting to come back to reality. As soon as the passion and desire began to fade, I quickly remembered just who this man was.
My emotions were starting to get even more muddied and confusing. Staying with him was definitely not the best idea. Sleeping with him probably wasn’t either. I politely declined so he had a driver take me home soon after.
The moment my apartment door clicked shut behind me I let out a deep sigh and clenched my eyes shut.
“What the hell are you doing Ali?”
Chapter 7- One Last Try
It was two days later and I hadn’t spoken to Hayden at all, not even a brief text message. It didn’t feel like a cold silence. It wasn’t a standoff and to some degree I welcomed the distance. After what had happened the other night, I felt like I needed a little bit of time to get my head on straight. As soon as I actually did manage to start thinking clearly, the panic started to set in.
He was a busy man and I was a woman with too much time to pace around and fume over my situation. Having come to the conclusion that the only way things had a shot of getting better was if Hayden changed Via’s appearance, I was gearing up to call him and actually ask for a meeting. I knew that was incredibly difficult and highly unlikely, but it was something I had to try. As Friday’s work hours drew to a close, I finally summoned the courage to call him. He answered after only two rings. I was thankful to have his personal cell phone number.
“Hayden, I know you’re busy.”
“I have time to pick up your calls,” he replied.
There was awkward silence during which I felt my stomach do a somersault, but I pushed past it. “Would you have time for a quick meeting?”
“Uh-oh, sounds like you mean business.”
He was speaking to me much more casually now. I would have to find out if that was going to help or hurt me once we met. “I do,” I told him honestly.
“Right,” he said. There was a pause before he asked, “Could you come in to the office tomorrow? I’ll even arrange for a driver–”
“I can,” I cut him off, “But no need for the driver. Thanks.” I was straight and to the point, but tried not to be cold. I didn’t want the conversation to drag on any longer than it needed to. Hayden must have sensed it because he ended the call as soon as we agreed on a time. I sat on my bed and stared at the wall. I was going back to his office in less than twenty-four hours and I had no clue how I was going to deal with people gawking at me. I had made it a point not to go out because the trailer for Mind Lash was still making its rounds on TV and online.
I bit my lower lip in frustration and stared at my phone, still clutched in the palm of my hand. Perhaps I could call my brother and ask for a ride, but that would involve filling him in on everything I had been up to. That was something I didn’t want to do. My fingers quickly tapped on the smooth surface of my cell phone before I decided to get my outfit ready for the next day. I was going to cover my face up, just like I had before.
After all, my little disguise had been a success up until I decided to show my identity to the security guard. After putting together an outfit, I soaked in a bath for a while before climbing into bed and reading. It wasn’t long before I dozed off, making a point of ignoring any thoughts that crossed my mind.
The next day when I walked up to the building in my disguise, a small crowd of five people eyed me suspiciously. Maybe they had seen me the first time I had come and were wondering if I was the same woman. I walked straight up to the guard and let him know I had an appointment with Hayden Dunn, skillfully handing him my ID so I wouldn’t have to say my name out loud.
As soon as he read my name, he nodded and let me inside. The lobby was cool compared to outside and definitely a lot quieter. I didn’t dare take off my headscarf and sunglasses until the elevator doors shut. By the time I stepped off on the fourteenth floor, I had fixed my appearance and curled my lips into a soft smile.
“I’m here to see Mr. Dunn,” I told the young woman at the front desk.
It took less than three minutes for me to be sitting in a chair across H
ayden’s desk.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” He seemed genuinely happy to see me and I wondered if he thought I had come to make peace. His eyes looked extra bright today and his sleeves were rolled up just enough for me to get a glimpse of his toned forearms as he leaned back in his chair. Flashes of the other night played out inside my head. I closed my eyes for a moment as I tried to regain control of myself.
“Hayden,” I told him quietly, “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.” I paused and looked around. There wasn’t much up on his walls, not even mock-ups or posters of Via or Mind Lash. His television was on, as always, but nothing related to his game was being talked about on whatever channel he had it set to. “I know promotions have started and things have been released, but don’t dates get pushed back all the time for all sorts of reasons?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Hayden, I need you to change Via’s appearance.”
“What?” He stared at me blankly, but that soon morphed into a chuckle. Apparently, he thought I was joking. When he saw my serious expression remain the same, he stopped. “There’s no way Ali.” Hearing him say my name so casually made me angry.
“Just like that?”
“Do you have any idea what you’re asking of me? Have you a clue what all it entails?”
“Do you have any idea what this has all done to me and how much worse it’s going to get?” I felt like I was one breath away from flying off the handle again. I clutched my purse tightly and stood up. I watched as his baby blue eyes pierced through me. Before those same eyes made me weak at the knees, now they only pissed me off even more. Now I couldn’t even look at his face without feeling a million emotions zipping around inside of me.
“This was a mistake,” I said as I quickly stood up and left, not daring to look back. I didn’t even give Hayden a chance to say anything else. The elevator ride down felt like an eternity. My foot tapped impatiently and my eyes stared at the numbers up top. I was so angry and disappointed I didn’t even bother to cover it up. I stormed out of the building past a small crowd of howling onlookers. A couple of them even followed me for a block, but finally gave up when I didn’t even turn around to shoo them away.
The moment I got home, I called Benjamin. I was still upset. It was obvious in my quivering voice. “I just had a meeting with Hayden,” I informed him.
“Hayden Dunn?” Benjamin was in disbelief.
“Yes,” I told him. “I tried to convince him to change Via Mace’s appearance but he didn’t budge.” My displeasure dripped through the last few words of my sentence.
“Why would he?” He asked. It stung. “She’s wildly popular and the amount of work it would take is ridiculous. What made you even think of asking him for that?”
“I don’t know,” I replied. “It wasn’t the first time I’ve talked to him and I guess, in my mind, that gave me a shot.”
“Wait,” Benjamin said with pause. “It wasn’t the first time you’ve talked to him?”
I shut my eyes and held back a sigh. I didn’t mean to say that. More specifically, I didn’t mean to invite questions from my brother about my relationship with Hayden. It was too late to turn back now so full disclosure was on the horizon, or at least some semblance of full disclosure.
“I’ve had a meeting with him before. Then we met in the evening and I got to know him a bit,” I confessed. “He’s actually not bad, you know.” Without realizing what I was doing, I was practically confessing that I had feelings for him. It wasn’t explicit in my words but my tone of voice was a dead giveaway.
“You mean to tell me you not only went out with this guy, but you ended up developing feelings for him? Ali, what the hell is wrong with you?”
“What? You got it all wrong!” I felt myself growing frantic. “I didn’t go out with him. It wasn’t like a date or anything.”
“Sure,” Benjamin quipped. He wasn’t going to hold back from expressing disdain for me admitting feelings for Hayden. Even if I couldn’t accept it, he could tell it was the truth. “You say you want things to change, but then you pull this kind of stuff, Ali. You need to stay focused! You need to form a plan and stick to it. You can’t just run around going on pseudo-dates, allowing yourself to get charmed by the man. And all for what? It’s not like all that helped you convince him to change Via Mace.”
I was silent. I had no clue how to respond to him because, on some level, I knew he had a point. I allowed myself to get carried away and the main objective had somehow gotten mucked up. Agreeing to give Hayden the shot he asked for had been a grave mistake and I knew it.
The problem was there was no turning back now. That still didn’t take away the fact that I didn’t appreciate the way Benjamin was speaking to me. But when he interrupted the silence to tell me to set up a meeting between Hayden and his lawyers, I bit my tongue. He was going to help me and I wasn’t one to step on the toes of my older, helpful brother. He had been my caretaker for many years, after all, and much of what I had was thanks in large part to him.
Chapter 8- Not the World’s Craziest Coincidence
The following morning, Benjamin walked into the office building with his two lawyers. He was pleasantly surprised when Hayden agreed to the meeting fairly quickly, even setting it as his first appointment of the day.
“Good morning,” Hayden said as he stepped out of his office to greet the three men. He was more subdued than usual. He wasn’t even smiling. Although I didn’t make the reason for their meeting clear, it wasn’t hard to figure out. After all, the last time that Hayden and I had spoken I ended up storming out of his office.
“Benjamin McClane,” Benjamin said before motioning to the other two men. “Mr. Gerber and Mr. Wright, my lawyers.” The men shook hands before being guided to the conference room by Hayden. After offering them a beverage, which all three declined, Hayden asked what the visit was about given that I hadn’t divulged any of the details.
“I’m sure you know what it is regarding, Mr. Dunn,” Benjamin said smoothly. He was a tough man and, in his line of work, it had come in handy multiple times. The two lawyers, seated on either side of Benjamin, pulled out portfolios and legal pads.
Hayden eyed them wearily before responding, “Perhaps I should have brought in my lawyer too.” He held up a finger and excused himself, returning just a few short minutes later with a woman who looked quite older than him. “This is my attorney, Mrs. Hill. She’s agreed to join this meeting last minute.”
The three men across from them looked at each other and nodded before Mr. Gerber started talking. “Ms. Alice McClane, younger sibling to our client, shall look to file an official petition for the change of Via Mace’s visual appearance.”
“I already told her that’s not possible,” Hayden replied firmly, clearly exhausted with the point. Mrs. Hill looked at him, but said nothing.
“She never consented to being modeled in your game,” Mr. Wright piped in.
“I’m afraid,” Mrs. Hill responded, “Mr. Dunn’s right to maintain Via’s appearance despite the likeness is not to be argued. After all, it is stated any likeness is purely coincidental. As such, your client has no grounds to make such a demand.”
After her statement, not much was left to be said. The lawyers tossed a few more legal remarks back and forth before both sides had reached an impasse. Benjamin was too smart to voice his contempt aloud in front of Hayden’s lawyer so he settled on a glare. He walked out with his two lawyers trying his best to hide the fact that he was fuming.
“There has to be a way to rid my sister of this trouble,” Benjamin said once they were all in his car.
After a couple minutes of thought, Mr. Gerber finally spoke up, “The only way we can have a case that will change this Via Mace character’s appearance, is if we prove Hayden knew Ali before creating Via. If we do that, our argument that Via was made after Ali’s likeness can stand.” Mr. Wright nodded in agreement before making a note on a small memo pad he stuck right back in the oute
r pocket of his briefcase.
Meanwhile, Hayden was wracking his brain inside his office. Even he found it odd how exact the appearance was. It seemed impossible even to him that Via Mace could have every characteristic that belonged to me. So he started to search through the recent news articles to find pictures of me. He needed to have a starting point. Even though he had spent time with me on more than one occasion, he hoped that staring at my photos might drum up a long lost memory that would explain everything.
He tried to think of other ways to learn more about me as he sat back in his chair and wracked his brain for answers. He thought about my name for a moment and looked me up online after he remembered I was a corporate travel agent.
Fourth Down and Dirty: A Bad Boy Sports Romance Page 20