by Aria Cole
I couldn’t even contain my laughter then. “I see you don’t need me to stroke your ego.”
The grin split his face, the sun glinting off his golden skin like it’d been painted with a master’s brush.
“Just stating facts.” He shrugged and pushed a hand through his hair as sweat dampened his taut skin.
I shook my head with a smile. “You very well may be the most impossible man I’ve ever met.”
“Oh, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet, baby.” He winked, then jogged backwards, giving me a small wave before he turned and ran off around the corner.
What was he doing?
What was I doing?
Every other girl I went to class with would kill for just one glance from Jenson Abbot. His rugged good looks and body built for sin made every American girl’s knees turn to jelly.
He turned my knees to jelly, too. That’s what had gotten me into this mess.
I was too focused for his advances, too driven to be settled. I had too much to accomplish and not nearly enough time to do it in. No way could I press pause for Jenson Abbott.
Let him find one of the other girls willing to give everything up for his pretty smile and golden body. That girl wasn’t me.
I turned and stepped through the doors of my favorite coffee shop, the familiar scent filling my nostrils and easing my anxiety.
I plopped down in my chair and opened up my screen, prepared to pound out a few hundred words before I even ordered my morning coffee.
The cursor stared back at me, blinking, taunting.
Damn.
I opened Google instead and typed in two words: Jenson Abbott.
I had soccer on my mind.
I managed to avoid Jenson for almost two full days.
I’d woken up Tuesday morning to a sweet little package tied with ribbon on my doorstep. My eyes darted up and down the sidewalks in search of his tall, broad frame.
I’d opened the gift minutes later to find expensive Swiss chocolate shaped like different types of undergarments—white chocolate shaped as thongs, bikini panties in decadent dark chocolate, and cute boy panties with adorable sugar designs in mouthwatering milk chocolate.
Thought I owed you a pair. J
I rolled my eyes but smiled deeply, stuffing chocolate high-cut panties into my mouth. I let the flavors of indulgence roll in my mouth, and closed my eyes at the sinful taste, then left for class.
By the time I returned home that night, there was another note tucked into the door jamb.
Two tickets to the MLS Cup play-off final, the very one he was playing in this coming Friday. My eyes widened in shock. I didn’t know how much play-off tickets cost, but it was way too much, that was for sure.
Taylor had squealed and clapped her hands behind me when she’d spied the tickets.
“We’re going!” she’d announced and darted off into her room. “What should I wear? Would a mini-skirt be too flashy for a soccer game? I want to look so good Luc can’t even focus on that damn ball.”
“We can’t go.” I burst her bubble.
“What, are you crazy? These are play-off tickets!”
“I’m not accepting his gift. It’s too much.”
“Who cares? He gets them for free. It just means he wants you cheering him on during the game. It’s sweet if you think about it.”
“It’s not sweet. He’s just trying to woo me. That guy has girls falling at his feet, why is he chasing me so hard?” I plopped onto her bed.
“Bethy, why wouldn't he want you? I mean, the glasses are a little nerdy, but some guys are into that. You have a gorgeous body. I wish I had your tits.” She plumped her own over her tank top and frowned. “You got all the good genes and you don’t even use them.”
“You’re ridiculous,” I huffed.
“Well, even if you don’t go, I’m going.” She quickly snapped the extra ticket out of my hands and shoved it down her bra, giving me a triumphant look.
“Taylor,” I groaned. “You know it’s your fault I’m in this mess in the first place.”
“Me? How?!”
“You dragged me out Saturday night. I’m still behind on my paper.”
“Oh, forget the paper. You’ll get it done, we all know that. The day you miss a deadline is the day hell freezes over. Now, what are you going to wear to the game?”
“I told you, I’m not going.”
“Yeah, right. No hot-blooded woman would pass up the chance to watch Jenson and Luc running around that field sweaty and sexy. Drop the act and get used to the idea that we have plans on Friday.”
With that, she spun out of the room.
I sighed, resigned to my ridiculously stubborn sister, who seemed to be on the same team as the ridiculously stubborn man pursuing me.
I lifted my phone and hovered over his phone number. I still hadn’t saved it to my contacts. I’d had no intentions of ever using it again.
“Hello?” He answered on the first ring.
“Thank you for the tickets, Jenson, but they’re too much.”
“Great, you’re coming, then?” The cheery tone of his voice made me feel like an epic asshole.
“Um, yeah, I guess.”
“Great! Ready for dinner now?”
“No!” I laughed at his dependable persistence.
“Okay, until next time, Bethany.” I heard his grin on the line.
“Jenson—”
“Sleep well, beautiful.”
“Jenson!” I called, but he’d already hung up the phone.
Damn him.
Chapter Eight
Jensen
I woke the following morning with the plan to beat all plans. One of the guys had told me about a gift he’d given his fiancée for their anniversary, and because I was enjoying keeping Bethany on her toes, I thought it was the perfect idea.
I walked to her house after my work out later the following afternoon, gift in hand, more determined than ever to get the girl to share a meal with me. Just a few hours of her time was all I was asking. Just enough to see if this thing between us was as real and true as I had a feeling it was. I’d never been much for dating, too focused on my career and the sport to take time out for a relationship, until I’d wrapped Bethany in my arms on that dance floor. Not only did her laugh send anxious butterflies battering around my stomach, but she was sensual, funny, sexy, and smart. I couldn’t get enough of her.
I knocked twice on the door, waiting on the top step.
“Jenson,” she half groaned when she greeted me.
I smiled brightly, unwilling to be outdone, and thrust the bouquet at her. “Up for dinner?”
“It’s going to look like a funeral parlor in here!” she giggled.
“One helluva funeral parlor then.” I winked at her mischievously when she took the bouquet, now close enough to see the detail.
“Jenson!” she squeaked, her cheeks flaming red. “Are these panties?”
I laughed at her coy embarrassment before taking another step closer to her. “One dozen of them. I only hope I’m the one who gets to see you model them,” I whispered in her ear. A shiver ran through her body as her breathing hitched a moment. She was affected, I could see the physical reactions all over her body.
“I can’t believe you did this.” She fingered the delicate laced edge of one pair of dark red panties, twisted up in a thousand folds to look like a rose.
“Share a dinner with me?”
“You are persistent, aren’t you?” She grinned, then stepped aside. “Come in.”
“Finally, entering the sacred lair.” I stopped as I passed her. “I’ve missed you.”
The kiss I placed on her forehead surprised her, ocean-blue eyes widening in shock.
“Don’t get your hopes up. I don’t have time for dinner, but I’ll get changed and we can run out to a deli. Or takeout maybe.”
“I’ll take it.” I grinned and winked as I stepped into her apartment.
“Just give me a minute to change. I’ll be righ
t down and we can leave.” She smiled sweetly, eyes glancing from me, back to the bouquet of panties, then back to me.
“Love seeing that smile.” I traced the elegant curve of her lips with my thumb. Her pupils dilated, and her thighs shifted. She cleared her throat and pulled away.
“I’ll be right back.”
She ran up the stairs, her leggings hugging her sweet little ass as she went. I hoped at some point I’d get it in my hands again, get her under my body to kiss and claim and take care of, but she needed time, and that I would give her. I understood a woman with drive and motivation. I’d been raised with a working mother myself. I loved strong, independent woman who knew what they wanted, and maybe gave me a bit of a hard time while they were doing it. Challenges excited me. I was a competitive man.
Bethany sped back down the stairs minutes later, panty bouquet decidedly absent from her hands.
“You look beautiful,” I said when she reached me, a light floral dress swishing around her creamy thighs.
“Thank you,” she replied, a little shy in accepting my compliment.
“What are you in the mood for?” I looped her arm with mine when we set off down the sidewalk.
“There’s a hot dog stand around the corner. It’s so good.” Her excitement for the kid’s meal took me by surprise.
“I finally get to take you out to eat, and you want hot dogs?!”
She laughed at me then, her giggle sprouting wings in my heart. “I told you I didn’t have much time. And I promise you, best hot dogs ever.”
“Okay, you win, you win.”
“We can eat them in the park.” She looked up at me, as if in compromise.
“Can we sit? I’d like to actually have a proper meal with you.” Without thinking. I reached for her hand, locking it in mine. She froze for a minute, not responding, her eyes glancing down at our locked hands.
“Jenson.” She pulled her hand from mine. “Why are you doing this? Why are we here? What do you even see in me?” Her questions threw me for a total loop.
“What do you mean, why am I doing this?” I stopped us in our tracks and turned to cup her chin gently. “We’re doing this because I like you, Bethany. Because I’ve already had you in my bed once and I can’t stop thinking about it. Your skin under my hands, my lips across your body, the taste of you, the feel of you…I want more.” My eyes burned into hers, and I hoped she would see I meant it. No lies here. I wasn’t one of those asshole players on the team who banged every groupie in sight. I’d stayed away from that on purpose, realizing that someday, when I did find the right one, I wanted something special still between us.
“Jenson, you’ve either got to be the most romantic man I’ve ever met, or the best liar on the planet.”
“Your words wound me.” I covered my heart teasingly. “Look, I don’t want to push you into anything you’re not ready for, but I’m here waiting. Okay? That’s all you need to know. I’ll be waiting.” I placed a kiss on her lips, knowing I was taking a risk, but I was surprised when she kissed me back, tentatively at first, then pulled away slowly.
“Thank you for saying those things. I really do like you, but if I’m being honest, I don’t think my schedule is going to lighten up anytime soon.” Her eyes burned with emotion, and I sensed she was telling the truth. She did like me, she just really didn’t have the time for anyone else right now.
“Well, the offer still stands. And whenever you’re hungry, I’d love it if you could call me for a meal. We can be friends in the meantime.”
“The meantime?” A smile split her face.
“Until you realize how much you can’t resist me again and attack me like a rabid animal for sex.”
She choked on her laugh, covering her mouth as she giggled.
“That just became my favorite noise,” I laughed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and placing a kiss on her forehead. “Now let’s eat. You’ve kept me starving waiting on you to share a meal with me.”
We ordered our dogs—mustard only on mine, ketchup only on hers.
“I have a feeling we’re total opposites,” she teased when he’d passed us our dressed hot dogs.
“Well, I happen to believe opposites attract,” I responded, locking her hand in mine again. We turned and headed the few short yards to Central Park. We ate in silence, watching joggers and families with fluffy fancy dogs play as we finished our poor excuse for a dinner.
When she was done eating, Bethany laid back on the picnic table we'd been perched on, her hair splayed around her as she looked up at the sky.
“You're so beautiful.” I danced my fingers down the underside of one arm watching a chill erupt across her skin. “Your skin is like silk under my fingers.”
Without saying anything, her eyes fluttered closed, her thighs shifting as she soaked in my compliments. “I'd take you right here if you'd let me, in front of everyone to see.” I dusted my fingers at her upper thigh, registering her breathing picking up.
“You're dirty, Jenson.” She mused as a smile turned her pretty lips.
“You like it.” I glanced around, thankful we'd chosen a table tucked into a private corner of the park. My fingers inched further up her thigh, landing at the delicate crevice of her leg and her soft, sweet center.
“Mm...” she husked as her hips shifted back and forth.
“Did you miss my fingers on you? In you?” My fingers drifted across the delicate mound of her pussy, only her cotton shorts separating me from the promised land. I twisted and caged her in beneath me under one deft arm, my fingertips never leaving their place, dragging up and down the seam of her shorts. I lifted the hem of her t-shirt and dragged my nose across the flesh at her waistband, my tongue darting out for just a taste. “I can smell how much you want me, Bethany.”
The words had fallen from my tongue without thought, and as if she'd lost herself in a cloud of lust, her hips bucked and brought my fingers to land at the perfect little bud of her clit. “Should I send you home with an orgasm?”
Her eyes darted open, as if she'd suddenly just become aware that there were others around.
“No one's watching, you're safe.” I dragged my teeth down the shell of her ear on that last word. “Show me how much you missed my hands, Bethany. I want to hear those sweet moans again.”
My fingers sped up their assault on the little cotton-covered nub, her hips rocking as her fingertips dug into the wood of the tabletop. “I've missed your body so much. Every night I close my eyes and I see you, I wake up in the morning and you're the first thing on my mind.” I urged her on with my words. “That's it, let it go.”
Her eyes slammed shut and small pants fell over her lips as the muscles in her thighs bunched and shook. Her chest heaved, and her hands gripped at my elbows as her release pummeled through her. “Jenson...”
“Mmm, so beautiful sweetheart.” I kissed my way up her body, catching her cheeks in both hands and kissing up the line of her neck.
“I-I can't believe we just did that.” She stumbled for words before she twisted out from beneath me, running her hands through her hair as her eyes cast around the immediate area.
“I'm so glad we just did that.” I tossed her a cocky grin.
“I hate to say it, but I should head back. I’ve got to finish some research tonight. Paper due at the end of the week,” she said, a frown marring her lovely face.
“Mm, okay, Bethany.” I recognized now running was her defensive mechanism. Whenever things got a little too intimate, she bolted. I was beginning to know her better than myself at this point. “Thank you for sharing a dinner with me.” I locked her hand in mine after we’d thrown away our wrappers and started heading back to her apartment, her legs heavy and sated from the orgasm I'd just given her.
“Thank you for being so concerned about my diet,” she laughed, and it made my damn heart sing. It felt like I was thawing her. Her words may say one thing, pushing me away and constantly reminding me that she was too busy for this, for us, but her physi
cal reactions told me something entirely different. They gave me hope.
“Until next time?” I grinned when we stopped on her step.
Her eyes cast down at our feet, and she nodded. “Until next time, Jenson.”
We stood silently, long beats passing between us. “I really want to kiss you,” I uttered, saying the only thing running through my mind.
She glanced up, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. “Jenson—”
“But I won’t, not until you’re begging me for it.” My eyes gleamed, and I settled for a soft kiss across the apple of her cheek. “Next time.”
“Good night, Jenson,” she called, her sweet voice haunting me the entire walk home to my lonely apartment.
Chapter Nine
Bethany
The following night, my phone lit up with an incoming call. I paused the movie I’d just started and darted into my room, surprised to find Jenson’s number on the screen. A smile flashed on my face when I answered. I’d come to look forward to his daily nagging.
“Hello?”
“Hey babe, what’s shakin’?”
A giggle erupted from my throat at his answer.
“Not a lot,” I said when I’d composed myself. “I just started an awful documentary I have to watch for class. It’s torture.”
“Need a friend to be tortured with?”
“You want to come watch with me? I’m telling you, no one should have to be subjected to this stuff.”
“Sure, I’ll come snuggle on the couch and watch bad TV with you. No need to twist my arm, Bethany.”
I burst out laughing again, finding I was actually looking forward to spending some time with him.
“I’ll pop some popcorn.”
“Well now, that’s starting to sound suspiciously like a date.”
“I can assure you, it’s definitely not,” I laughed.
“Well, either way, it sounds like a good time. I’ll be there in ten?”