Unexpected Rush (Play-By-Play #11)

by Jaci Burton

  She leaned against the desk. “Tell me why you think you’ll hurt me.”

  “I am going to bring your brother into this. You know how protective he is of you. He’s also my best friend and my teammate and the last thing I want to do is piss him off. He wouldn’t like the two of us together.”

  She shrugged. “Drake doesn’t like me with anyone. He doesn’t think anyone is good enough for me.”

  He leveled a smile at her. “That’s because he cares about you.”

  “No, it’s because he’s overprotective.”

  “Either way, I’m being selfish about this. The last thing I want is to get in the middle of a battle between the two of you. Or even worse, do anything to damage the friendship I’ve built with Drake. This has disaster written all over it, Harmony. Even you have to see that.”

  Maybe she did and maybe she didn’t, but the last thing she wanted was her brother to interfere in her life in any way. Especially her romantic life. “I can see where you’re coming from, Barrett. But I won’t let Drake dictate the terms of my life.” She shoved a finger at his chest. “Nor should he yours.”

  “Yeah, I know. But there’s more than just Drake involved in this. Say you and I get all hot and heavy.”

  “I like the sound of that.”

  He gave her a sexy grin. “Yeah, me too. But then what happens if it doesn’t work out? If you and I have a big blowout of a fight, or we decide we’re not compatible? Can you imagine the mess that’ll make? And then what happens to my friendship with your brother when he does find out that I’m the one who broke your heart?”

  She appreciated that he’d thought this all out, but she wasn’t one to think long-term. “That’s easy. Don’t break my heart.”

  “Harmony. I can’t make that guarantee and you know that. I can’t guarantee you anything other than right now.”

  “I know that. Which is what I’m trying to tell you. I just want today, Barrett. You and me and right now. I know there are no guarantees of tomorrow and I’m sure as hell not asking you to fall in love with me. I just got out of a relationship. I wasn’t looking for a commitment or a boyfriend. I just wanted sex.”

  Leave it to Harmony to put it out there, straight and with no bullshit.

  He didn’t know why he’d been so reluctant.

  Or so stupid.

  “Okay.”

  She gave him a wary look. “Okay?”

  “Yeah. We’ll dive in and give it a try and see what happens.”

  Her lips curved. “Okay, then. So what happens next?”

  “You’re still coming to San Francisco with me?”

  “Well, I hadn’t planned to after last night.”

  “But I’m forgiven now, right?”

  “Does that charm always work?”

  “Usually.”

  She came up to him and dug her nails into his chest. “You’ll find I’m a harder sell, Barrett Cassidy.”

  He wrapped his fingers around her wrists and drew her against him. “And you’ll find me hard around you. Probably all the time. You said all you want is sex. That I can give you.”

  “That’s all I want.”

  “Then that’s what you’ll get. You ready for me, Harmony?”

  “Yes.”

  He ran his hand down her back, letting his fingers wander over the soft material of her dress.

  “I want to kiss you, fuck you right now. I want to bend you over your desk, lift that pretty yellow dress you’re wearing over your hips and drive into you and make you come over and over again.”

  He watched her lips part, her breaths increase.

  “So that’s how it’s going to be,” she said, her breath a low whisper.

  “That’s how it’s gonna be.” He moved into her, letting her feel how damn hard he was. “That’s what you do to me, so don’t ever think you don’t turn me on. Don’t ever think I don’t want you.”

  He took a step back, saw the disappointment on her face. He knew the feeling.

  “But your assistant is out there, and your blinds are open. So this isn’t the right time or place. Because when I fuck you, Harmony? I’m gonna make you scream.”

  Now he saw the passion flare in her eyes. He wanted her more than anything right now. Dammit.

  “I’m counting on it.”

  “Tonight.”

  “Just like that?”

  He cocked his head to the side. “You got another date?”

  “No.”

  “Then tonight. Your place, my place, I don’t care. But tonight. I’m not waiting any longer.”

  She nodded. “Come on over to my place. Is seven thirty all right? I could cook—”

  “I don’t want dinner, Harmony. I just want you.”

  “All right, then. Seven thirty.”

  He was glad his T-shirt covered his raging hard-on as he walked out of her office, and he was also glad her assistant was on the phone as he walked by.

  He climbed into his SUV and fired up the air conditioner to arctic levels.

  It was going to take a lot to cool him down, especially since all he could think about was how many hours until seven thirty rolled around.

  Eighteen

  Harmony had wanted to call Alyssa, to talk about and examine everything she and Barrett had been through and talked about.

  But in the end, she had finished up her workday and had gone home, first stopping at the store to pick up some beer and wine. And despite Barrett’s warning that he didn’t plan on having anything but her tonight, she also bought a few snacks.

  They might not be hungry before, but she intended to make him burn off a few calories tonight, and he might have an appetite later.

  She had a light dinner, then took a shower and dried off. She felt a tingly awareness all over her body, as if every cell awaited Barrett’s touch.

  Kind of crazy. She’d never felt this sense of anticipation before. Barrett had been all she thought about as she’d gone through the remainder of her day today.

  She lotioned her body, fixed her hair and makeup, and decided on an easy-to-remove silk sundress. She considered lighting candles in the bedroom, then decided that was a little too cheesy.

  She went downstairs and thought about opening the red wine to let it breathe.

  No. All he wanted was sex.

  She lifted her head and stared out the doors to her balcony. Was she upset by that? She thought about it for a few seconds, then decided she wasn’t.

  She’d just gone through a breakup and she’d been honest with him when she’d told him she wasn’t looking for a boyfriend or a relationship.

  She was attracted to Barrett. All she wanted was sex, to feel desirable.

  He most definitely desired her, and, for right now, that was all she needed.

  When the doorbell rang her heart began to race—like teenage-girl, first-date race. Which was ridiculous. But also made her feel giddy, and what was wrong with that?

  A man should make a woman feel like that, shouldn’t he?

  She went to the door and opened it. Barrett was leaning against the doorway, and when he gave her a smoldering half smile, parts of her quivered.

  All the good parts, of course.

  “Evening, Harmony.”

  “Barrett.”

  She held the door open for him and he stepped in. She shut and locked the door behind her, and for good measure, turned the dead bolt.

  Barrett looked delicious in dark jeans and gray T-shirt. She wanted to lean into him, to run her arms over all that delicious muscle. But she resisted.

  Soon.

  She walked into the living room, unsure how soon he planned to throw her to the ground, lift up her skirt and shove his cock inside of her. The thought of it made her tingle.

  Okay, maybe not soon enough. She turned to face him. “Would you like some wine or a beer?”

  “No, I’m good. But if you need a glass of wine to relax you, go ahead.”

  She felt his energy. It fueled her own. “Honestly, Barrett, I’m
so pent up right now I don’t think it would help.”

  He stepped toward her and smoothed his hands up and down her arms. “Pent up?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do I make you nervous, Harmony?”

  “No. I’m never nervous around you. Not anymore. More like . . . aware of you.” She laid her hands on his chest. “The way you stand, the way you cock your head to the side when you’re thinking about something, your crooked smile—”

  “You notice a lot.”

  “About you? Hard not to, you being all imposing and hot.”

  He laughed. “Thanks for the compliment. Now let’s talk about you.”

  “Me? What about me?”

  He tipped his finger under her chin and tilted her head back. “You have the prettiest eyes, Harmony. And the way you smile makes me catch my breath. And your mouth—damn you have a sexy mouth. Your laugh makes me turn my head whenever we’re in the same room. It’s like you put your entire soul into your laugh. It’s genuine, and if there’s one thing that makes a woman attractive to me, it’s when she’s real. And everything about you is real. There’s no bullshit about you. I know when you say something, you mean it.”

  “Well, that’s true.” She loved that he told her what he liked about her. It made her toes curl.

  And when he leaned in, his breath sailed across her cheek. He cupped the back of her neck. “Did I mention how much I like your mouth?”

  Her breath caught when he kissed her and she grasped his arms, digging her nails in.

  He groaned, then wrapped his arm around her back, tugging her closer, fitting his mouth firmly with hers and sliding his tongue inside to lick against hers.

  She was swamped with sensation. She breathed in his crisp, clean scent, taking in how hard his body felt as he pushed her against the counter. Her nipples tingled and she pulsed with damp desire as he cupped her butt to draw her in closer to his erection.

  And when he arched against her, rubbing his cock against her pussy, she wanted to lift her dress, draw down her panties and get off against him. She needed release, the kind only Barrett could give her.

  She’d fantasized about this moment for years, of what it would be like to have him touch her and make her come. It was almost surreal to believe it was about to become reality.

  When he pulled his mouth from hers to rain kisses along her jaw and her throat, he whispered in her ear.

  “I’ve thought about fucking you, Harmony. I’ve thought about it for a long time.”

  She leaned back, searching his face to see if she could read that as some kind of bullshit line men laid on women.

  All she saw on his face was earnest desire. “Did you?”

  “Yeah. Last year at New Year’s Eve at your mom’s. You leaned over to get something out of the oven and your dress rode up. I wanted to come up behind you and lift your dress and touch you. Hell, if I’m being honest, I wanted to do a lot more than just touch you.”

  She shuddered at the visual. “Why didn’t you ever say anything to me?”

  He ran his hands down her rib cage and over her hips. “You know why.”

  She most definitely did not want the topic of Barrett’s friendship with Drake to interfere in what was happening with them tonight. “Touch me now. Do whatever you want to me now. I’m here and I’m all yours.”

  He had a handful of her dress and bunched it, then lifted it over her hip, smoothing his hand over her butt. “I love your ass, Harmony. So soft and curvy. You’re built like a woman. Did I ever tell you how much I appreciate your body?”

  She was going to swoon in an embarrassing way if he kept tossing out the compliments, not to mention feeling weak in the knees from his hand on her ass. She clutched his shirt and drew his mouth to hers.

  When he kissed her, it was an explosion of hot passion. Suddenly his hands were everywhere, lifting her dress, his fingers on a quest inside her underwear to grab her butt. She was out of breath as he pulled her closer to his erection.

  Oh, why weren’t they naked yet?

  He lifted her as if she weighed nothing. She wrapped her legs around his hips and he walked up the stairs toward her bedroom.

  “You don’t have to carry me,” she whispered against his lips.

  “Faster this way.” He set her down next to her bed, then untied the straps of her sundress, letting it fall to the floor. “And if I didn’t get you up here right now, I was going to fuck you in the kitchen.”

  Her lips curved. “I would have been all right with that.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind for round two.”

  She was happy to hear he was game for round two. She’d already made sure to clear her calendar for tomorrow morning. She intended to keep Barrett up all night.

  But first, she needed him to shed some clothes. She lifted his shirt and he helped her out by pulling it over his head and tossing it to the side.

  Now she had access to his beautiful skin. She splayed her hands over his sculpted abs, letting her fingers map a trail along his muscular torso. She slid her hands up his chest, lingering where his heart was, to feel the mad pumping.

  She tilted her head back to look at his face. “You’re heart’s beating fast.”

  The wickedly sexy look in his eyes seared her. “Yeah, you do that to me. You turn me on. I like your hands on me.”

  Keeping her focus on his face, she let her hands drift lower, over his abs and down to his jeans, where she undid the button. His cock was hard, straining against the zipper as she drew it down.

  She grasped his jeans at the hips and shoved them down to pool at his feet. He toed out of his tennis shoes and kicked them off, then stepped out of his jeans, leaving him in only his boxer briefs.

  The man was so incredibly sculpted, with amazing, well-muscled thighs, strong calves, and the package—well, the package was eager to escape the briefs and she had to admit she was just as anxious to get a peek.

  She met his gaze again, and he leveled his signature crooked smile on her that signaled he was happy to let her do the unveiling.

  She dropped to her knees and pulled his boxer briefs down. His cock sprang up and she looked up at him and smiled, then wrapped her hands around his thick shaft.

  “Oh, hell yeah,” Barrett said. “Put your mouth on my cock and suck it.”

  His command raised goose bumps on her skin. She flicked her tongue over the wide cockhead, using her hand to stroke him. He was so hard, so impossibly thick, and when she put her mouth over the head and fit her lips over him, bringing his cock into her mouth, he shifted forward, sliding the shaft along her tongue.

  “Yes, like that. Flick your tongue along the head.”

  He cupped the back of her head, controlling her movements. She had to admit it was such a turn-on to give him pleasure, to hear his groans and the way he spoke to her as she rolled her tongue over the shaft, pulled it out of her mouth, then engulfed him.

  “Christ, that’s good. Now take it in deep. I want to see your mouth filled with my cock.”

  She breathed in the musky scent of him, then slid her lips around his cock and pressed down, giving him suction, taking his cockhead all the way to the back of her throat.

  “Fuck yeah. Like that.”

  When he withdrew, he bent and lifted her to stand.

  “Any more of that and I’ll shoot come down your throat. God, you’re good at sucking me, babe.”

  Before she could say anything he took her mouth in a deep kiss, his hand coming around to unhook her bra. He smoothed his hand over her back, then around the front of her, sliding down to slip his fingers inside her panties.

  She moaned against his mouth as he dipped his fingers along her sex.

  “You’re wet,” he whispered against her mouth, pulling back enough to look at her. He slipped a finger inside of her. “Wet and hot.”

  She couldn’t speak, could only gasp as he tucked another finger inside of her. “Do you feel that? Do you feel the way your pussy grabs onto my fingers?”

 
“Yes.”

  He withdrew his fingers, then pulled the straps of her bra down, tossing it onto the floor. He laid her on the bed and she wriggled onto the center. He grasped her panties and pulled them off, then joined her on the bed.

  She expected him to grab a condom—she’d laid a box on her nightstand in clear view. Instead, he nestled in next to her, pulled her against him and kissed her—thoroughly, his hands roaming over her breasts, teasing her nipples with light brushes of his fingers until she writhed against him.

  He pushed her onto her back and fit a nipple into his mouth, gently sucking until she thought she was going to die from the sensations that shot from her nipple to her sex. Was there anything Barrett didn’t know how to do, and do perfectly? He went from one nipple to the next, gathering her breast in his hand and lavishing attention on each nipple, nipping and sucking on them until she arched against him, either needing him to do that forever because it felt so damn good, or please get to her pussy because she needed to come right now or die.

  But he lifted his head and gave her that smile. “You have the softest skin,” he said, before licking his way over her belly and lower. “And you smell so damn good.”

  He nipped at her hip bone, making her moan before spreading her legs and kissing her inner thighs. He teased her, kissing and licking just above her sex.

  “Barrett.”

  He raised up. “Yeah, babe.”

  She looked down at him. “Nothing.”

  He teased his thumb around her clit. “Something you need?”

  “You know damn well what I need.”

  “Yeah, I know damn well what you need. But I like playing with your pussy. You smell and taste like tart honey down here.”

  She was quivering all over, anticipation making her feel like a needy addict jonesing for a fix.

  She was addicted all right. To the man nestled between her thighs. And when he put his mouth on her, she couldn’t help the long, low moans that fell from her lips. His tongue was hot, wet and exactly what she needed as he lapped her up from her clit to her pussy. He slid his tongue inside of her, and all she could think about was that the reality of this was infinitely better than any of the fantasies she’d had about Barrett.