by Mina Carter
“Hey!” She couldn’t stop the grin that spread over her face. He didn’t seem opposed to her almost trampling him or inclined to let her go. That was good. She liked it here in his arms. Tilting her head, she looked up at him.
“Yeah, I thought you’d—” Breaking off, she waved her hand in the direction of the gent’s toilets. Heat exploded over her face. God, that sounded bad. She babbled on. “Not that I was going to search for you in there. Oh no, that sounds even worse. I’m an idiot.”
He laughed, but not a harsh laugh at her, more an amused chuckle. His eyes were warm. Their hazel color startling under the overhead lights. His fingertips pressed against her lips, and she froze.
“Stop talking and dance with me.”
His fingers moved, a thumb taking their place, and he stroked over her lower lip, gently tugging at the full curve. She held in a moan, fighting the urge to drop her head back as he bypassed all her defenses in one slick move.
“I’ve wanted to hold you in my arms since the moment I first saw you.”
She swallowed. What did a woman say to that? Especially when it was delivered in such a damn sexy voice with an intense, focused look.
She struggled to keep up with the changes. Harry had always been the hot one with the funny comments and light, easy nature. Yet, somewhere along the line, he’d turned serious. And the switch was devastating.
He took her silence for assent, turning and leading her by the hand to the rear of the bar. Neither spoke as the music surrounded them, changing to a low, sensual beat as soon as they set foot on the dance floor.
He turned, taking her into his arms and easing her against him. He didn’t go for the close clinch. Instead, he held her like she’d seen ballroom dancers do on the TV, clasping one of her hands in his and putting the other around her waist. Somehow, that was far more erotic than if he’d gone for the full-on bump and grind. To her surprise, he was an excellent dancer, moving with a confidence and assurance that meant they didn’t bump into anyone.
The occasional brush of his body against hers was sweet torture. Biting her lip, she went with the flow, enjoying the easy movement lulling her body into a state of relaxation despite the butterflies in her stomach.
She snuck glances at his face while they danced. The set of his jaw was firm, and the light stubble that covered it screamed at her to explore with fingertips and lips. He was so tall that to do that, she’d have to lift up on her tiptoes and pull him toward her. Still, it was doable.
He glanced down, and smiled. Her heart stuttered at the heat in his eyes. Their movements stilled until they came to a stop right there in the middle of the floor.
He reached out and tugged a strand of her hair free to wind around his finger. The movement, and the whisper of anticipation and pleasure that surged through her, divided her attention for a second.
“You know…I think you’ve forgotten something.”
“What’s that?” She frowned, checking her purse was still looped over her shoulder. It was, and she hadn’t brought anything else with her.
He smiled, a small, sexy quirk of his lips that made her want to moan and demand that he kiss her. He spread his hand across the back of her waist. Not pulling her toward him—the move was too gentle and subtle for that—but easing her into his embrace until they stood pressed together, chest to hip. It felt natural to rest there, the soft lines of her body nestled against the harder plains of his.
“We won, and someone promised me a kiss.”
He released her hair to brush his fingers under her chin, lifting it as he bent his head. Tension swirled between them, a spell that held her prisoner as his lips descended toward hers.
“They did?” She couldn’t resist the small tease even though his lips mere millimeters from her own. “Well then, you’d better go and find them.”
She held her breath, and as she waited for that first touch, her eyes fluttered closed. He smiled against her lips, the movement more felt than seen. It was worth the wait.
His lips were warm and firm. Not hard and demanding, nor soft and wishy-washy, but just right. The first brush became another, then another. Gentle, exploring kisses. Warmth and pleasure flooded her body, an intense flutter of anticipation that she’d never felt before. She wanted to burrow into his arms and stay there forever.
She tried to hold it in, but the moan escaped anyway—a pleased whimper from deep in her throat. He lifted up to look at her, and she opened her eyes. She didn’t say anything as their gazes locked. Couldn’t, didn’t want to, break the spell, she just gazed back, the moment drawing out between them.
What did she say to a guy who’d, totally unexpectedly, just given her the sweetest kiss of her life?
Harry stared into Ashley’s eyes. They were soft, and unfocused, dark with desire. The sight hit him down low with the force of a freight train. Blood surged, heating every cell, and his cock, half-hard from the moment she arrived, punched to fully erect.
Her lips…
He didn’t have the words to describe what kissing her felt like. Not and do the experience justice. All he knew was that he wanted to do it again, but not in the middle of a crowded dance floor. The way he wanted to kiss her; hot, dirty, and heading toward horizontal nakedness, they’d be arrested for public indecency. No, he couldn’t do that here…but perhaps in one of the darkened booths clustered at the edge of the dance floor.
Stepping her backward with that very aim in mind, he marveled at how tiny she was. He wasn’t as tall as some of the runners on the team, but he had most of them beat in terms of sheer power and muscle. On the pitch, that was awesome, but off it, it had the sum total of making him feel an unworthy brute next to her delicate slenderness.
His hand dropped to her waist, caressing the curve there as he stole another kiss, then another. She moved easily, her soft lips clinging to his until he was almost blind with need and lust.
They reached the edge of the floor and tumbled together into the nearest booth. It was empty, which was good, because he hadn’t checked before urging her onto the seat. Hell, with her lips under his and her soft curves pressed up close and personal, he was having trouble remembering anything past his own damn name.
Shifting position, he used the width of his shoulders to block the view from the bar. One arm along the back of the seat behind her neck, he eased her chin up so that he could trail a line of kisses down the side of her soft throat.
She shivered, the whisper running through her body and transferring to his where they touched. And touched they did. Nestled into him with her arms around his neck and both her legs over one of his, the side of her body fitted into his perfectly. The curve of her breast pushed against his chest and when the side of her thigh brushed his cock, he sucked in a hard breath, and held it until the fire in his blood and the instinct to take her right there receded.
Grazing the underside of her jaw with a kiss, he worked his way up to her lips again. He couldn’t believe she’d come tonight. Despite his words earlier and the challenge he’d thrown out there, he hadn’t believed she’d take him up on the offer. Even if she had turned up out of politeness, he’d anticipated a pleasant evening before the inevitable brush-off. At the most, he’d expected a peck on the cheek.
He hadn’t expected to get her into his arms. To kiss her…
A soul-deep shiver worked its way along his spine to settle behind his cock and balls. He’d thought she’d laugh and say no. A groan worked free as he claimed her lips again, harder this time. More demanding, he used his tongue to part them. It was as gentle a move as he could manage with her all soft and welcoming in his arms.
Triumph surged through him when she opened for him with the smallest murmur. No over-dramatic groans or moans. His tongue found hers, stroked along it and tempted her to come play with him. The wet slide of sensation dragged another groan from deep in his chest. Even kissing, she was as delicate and refined as she’d always been. He liked that.
Yeah, sure, all the lads joked about wa
nting an easy lay…there were enough hangers-on around the club on a night out, all trying to hook a player who was or might end up International and become famous, so it was easy to find a girl like that. Hell, he’d picked up a couple himself at his former club. Strictly one-night stands, don’t-call-me in the morning deals.
Ashley was different. Very different. She wasn’t the sort of girl he could pack off in a taxi in the morning with a peck on the cheek. No, if they did this, if this got any more serious than a hot kiss in the darkness of a club, then she was a relationship kind of girl. Especially with the fact that they worked together.
He caressed the hollow of her waist again, fingers learning the sensuous curve there as he pulled her closer. Her hands weren’t idle, fingers threading through the short hair at the nape of his neck, playing with the short strands as she kissed him back. Small touches that threatened his control in a serious way. Ignoring the need raging through him, he resisted the urge to move things along faster.
Slowly, he slid his hand up her side. Careful movements so that he wouldn’t scare her off. It was a good thing she couldn’t read his thoughts, or she’d take out a restraining order.
His thumb grazed the underside of her breast, and she jumped a little, her moan lost into his mouth. He murmured an apology, moving his hand away. Not so fast, he chided himself. There was no way he wanted to fuck this up, push too much and make her run. His entire body ached from playing nice. But he could do it. No, more than that. He would do it.
Her response was to move, but instead of putting distance between them, she grabbed hold of his hand and put it back where it had been. Startled, he pulled away to look into her eyes. Even with the semi-darkness around them like a cocoon, she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. As was the sultry look in her eyes.
“I’m a big girl, Harry.” Her voice was soft, low. Just for him. “I’m not going to get scared, change my mind, or break.”
Fucking hell, yes! Taking a deep breath, he dropped his head back for a moment to regain some of his composure, and then looked at her. Tension and awareness caught, stretching out between them. In a slow movement, he stroked his thumb along the soft swell at the underside of her breast, watching her. “Are you sure?”
At her nod, his cock jerked savagely. He slid his hand up further to cup her breast. Her lips parted, the pink tip of her tongue wetting them, and her eyes darkened. His instincts screamed at him to pull her over his lap, push aside whatever underwear she was wearing, and get himself balls deep inside her. Now.
“I want to take you home. Take you to bed,” he whispered against her lips before claiming them again.
Her answer was everything he’d hoped for, and more. “Well, what are we still doing here?”
Harry lived alone, a fact which surprised Ashley, but not as much as the neatness of the flat he let her into. They’d slipped from the bar without any of the team noticing and grabbed a taxi. They hadn’t talked on the way home, the silence in the cab laden with expectation.
She shivered as she stood in the middle of the small living room. Harry’s keys hit the coffee table by the door in a clatter, a background noise as he headed her way. He stopped less than a step away, the heat of his body beating at hers through her thin dress.
The room was in darkness, the street lamps outside the only illumination. Shadows made his features harsh, but the shiver that chased over her skin was nothing to do with fear. He reached out to slide an arm around her waist and pulled her to him. Hard. Pressed against him from chest and to thighs, her breath left her lungs in a shudder. The long, thick bar of his cock pressing into her belly left her in no doubt of his feelings.
She bit her lip, holding in the whimper of pleasure that wanted to escape. This wasn’t the smiling, laughing man she knew. Instead, he was harder, darker…letting her see the alpha male beneath the smiling mask. She knew he had a temper. She’d seen it flare on the pitch in altercations with opposing players, but she couldn’t imagine him mad at her. Right now, her imagination presented her with all sorts of different scenarios, none of them featuring him angry. Some had him dominant and forceful, yeah, but not pissed at her.
“No,” he whispered, driving a hand into her hair. “Don’t hold back. Not with me.”
She didn’t get a chance to answer. His mouth covered hers in a kiss that stole her ability to think. In fact, every kiss he’d given her short-circuited her brain, leaving her operating on pure instinct. Like her body had decided not to let her sensible side, the one that wanted to scream about the age difference and other issues, ruin things.
Pleasure hit her in a hard shimmer, surging through her veins. Not bothering to hold in her whimper of need, she wound her arms around his neck. He responded with a hard sweep of his tongue to part her lips, and then drove inside to plunder the sweetness within. Her moan was lost in his mouth, her knees threatening to buckle underneath her and spill her to the carpeted floor in a boneless puddle of pleasure. She’d never have guessed that his kiss would be so damn hot.
He stroked his tongue along hers, the caress hot and torrid. Her breathing shortened, heart picking up pace as the fluttering low in her belly intensified. He broke away to nip lightly at her lower lip, and chuckled softly at her start of surprise. The brush of his tongue over the abused flesh made her pussy clench hard and drew another soft murmur from her.
His grip in her hair tightened, drawing her head back so he could reach her throat. Off balance, she clung to him, her hands gripping his heavily muscled upper arms. Bent over backward, she wrapped her leg around his, trusting him to not drop her. He was so strong. Just being in his arms triggered all sorts of primal female instincts. To submit…to yield to his every whim and desire.
“Ashley…fuck, I can’t even think straight,” he groaned, resting his forehead against her shoulder. “So much I want…” He looked at her, concern shining bright in his eyes. “I know I’m a bulldozer at times, but I don’t want you to think you just have to go along with everything. I’m not that kind of guy—“
His concern melted her heart. Reaching up, she stopped the flow of words with her fingertips, a smile on her lips. “How about you stop thinking, and let’s just see where things go?”
She held her breath as he searched her eyes, then smiled and nodded. For all his laughing and joking around, and his fire and temper on the pitch, she was quickly coming to realize that Harry was a total sweetheart. The sort of man a girl would take home to meet her parents. The sort of man who, in her experience, was so hot he shouldn’t be that sweet. He should be a total jerk. But he wasn’t. Which meant it wasn’t just her damp panties that were in danger of being torn apart, but her heart could be on the line as well.
He slid his hands forward until he cupped her face, gaze intent. “I’m going to take you to bed, Ashley. Then I’m going to make you scream.”
Chapter 3
Oh god, yes please.
She barely managed to keep the words in her head, and nodded instead. He smiled, and her pussy clenched again, but not as much as it did when he swept in for another kiss, his lips dallying with hers.
Without breaking the kiss, he backed her up.
Step. Kiss. Another step. Another hot kiss.
The process continued through the living room and along the short corridor until he pushed a door open. Bunching her fingers in the front of his T-shirt, she backed up, leading him with what she hoped was a sultry expression on her face. Why he’d picked her when he could have any woman he wanted she wasn’t sure. She didn’t even know if he wanted more than a night with her, but right now, she didn’t care. If one night was all that was on offer, then she’d take it.
Letting go, she back-stepped until her legs bumped the side of the bed, then sat down. “Take it off,” she ordered, motioning in the direction of his clothes. “I want to see what I have to play with, just in case I’m not paying attention when we get to the screaming part. If we get to the screaming.”
“If? What’s this word
if?” He lifted an eyebrow and dropped his hands to the bottom of his shirt. He pulled up the fabric, revealing a taut, six-pack and her mouth went dry. “There will be no if, buts, or maybes about it.”
The shirt hit the floor. She swept her gaze upward. His chest was broad, and seemed broader with nothing covering it except a light smattering of hair. Heavy pectorals ran into clearly defined abdominals, the oblique’s tantalizing her as he twisted to toe his shoes off. Oh my, someone sure had hit the gym recently.
“Yeah?” She tried to sound normal. Like she was unaffected by the sight of a man, this man, getting naked mere feet from her. It didn’t work. Her voice emerged high-pitched and breathy. Too breathy. “Sounding awfully confident there, cowboy. Sure you can back up your claims?”
“Cowboy?” He started to undo his belt, strong fingers making short work of the buckle. “Well, you know what they say…”
She frowned, mesmerized by the movement of his hands. He unsnapped the first button on his fly, then the next, and the next. His cock sprang free from confinement, accompanied by a soft groan from the depths of his chest.
“I-I d….don’t know… What do they say?”
Reaching down, he wrapped a big hand around his shaft and stroked. She bit her lip and fought the urge to squirm in place on the bed. Crap, she was so wet. She daren’t move for fear he’d see the damp patch.
“Save a horse…ride a cowboy.” He chuckled, taking a step toward her as he stroked again. “You wouldn’t want those poor horses to suffer, now would you?”
He reached the bed, standing in front of her with the tempting thick length of his cock on a level with her face. To his credit, he didn’t try to shove it toward her like some men would. Instead, he just stood there, stroking himself while he watched her.