Covering Kendall

by Julie Brannagh

  She was surprised at Drew’s questions. Most guys might be asking about her hobbies (besides reading, she really didn’t have a lot), if she’d been on vacation lately, or about her relationship status. He seemed more interested in finding out who she was. She’d like to find out a few things about him, most especially why she had the nagging feeling that she’d seen him before. Somewhere, somehow, she knew who he was, and she couldn’t quite remember.

  Maybe she was having one of those déjà vu moments. She’d read about the chemical in the brain that made a person feel like they’d been somewhere before and they really hadn’t. She took another bite of the chocolate caramel bar. She’d be doing some extra time in the gym for it, but maybe she should get one to-go for later.

  The Starbucks employees were zipping around the coffee shop, most likely doing their pre-closing responsibilities, and ignoring Kendall and Drew. He laid one big hand on the table between them and leaned back in his chair as he looked into her eyes.

  “To answer your question, I have to say that I am happy with what I’ve attained so far, but there’s always more.” He inched his hand a bit closer to hers. She had an almost overwhelming urge to lace her fingers through his. “There are plenty of things I’d still like to achieve.”

  What was she doing? They’d met a couple of hours ago. She didn’t know anything but his first name. The spark of attraction between them was almost overpowering. She remembered how his big, warm hand felt when he shook hers. She wanted more.

  She snapped out of her reverie as he said, “The book sounds interesting. Maybe I should grab a copy before they close up for the night next door.”

  At that moment, one of the coffee shop employees clicked the locks shut on the glass doors that separated the coffee shop from the bookstore. The bookstore lights dimmed too. “Last call,” one of the baristas joked. “Can we get anything else for either of you?”

  “I guess this means I’m not buying that book right now,” Drew murmured to Kendall.

  “Would you like to borrow my copy? It’s in my hotel room. I’d be happy to get it for you,” she said.

  “I would love that,” he said. “Plus, I can walk you home.” He glanced out of the panoramic coffee shop windows into the parking lot. “Is there anything else you’d like to drink or eat before we leave?”

  Kendall caught the eye of one of the employees behind the counter. “Are there any more of those chocolate caramel bars at all?”

  The employee smiled at her. “Welcome to your new worst habit. I’m in love with them too. How many would you like?”

  “How about two more?” Drew responded, and he had his wallet out before Kendall could object.

  “I can get it,” she said.

  “You’re letting me borrow your book,” he said. “Don’t worry about it.” He handed the barista some cash and handed the two small paper bags to Kendall to stow in her handbag. “A midnight snack,” he said.

  “Thank you.” She pulled up the hood on her jacket and indicated the still-trashed umbrella outside the front door. “That’s mine. I don’t know if it’s going to work,” she said.

  He glanced out of the window toward the parking lot. “The rain isn’t letting up, Kendall. I think it’s actually getting worse. Where are you staying?”

  “I’m at the Westin. It’s only a block or so. I’ll be fine.”

  She was going to be soaked by the time she got there, but she was glad she’d forced herself out of the room for a while.

  “Let me see if I can fix that umbrella for you.” They stepped outside, and she handed the shell of her formerly intact black umbrella to him. A path ran directly to the hotel from here, but there was going to be a drenching on the way. He didn’t seem alarmed by this. He managed to reconstruct most of the umbrella and handed it to her before he re-zipped his jacket. “We’re going to have to run, but we’ll make it,” he said. He re-opened the door and stuck his head inside.

  “Good night,” he called out to the employees still working.

  “Good night,” the barista shouted back. “Go Sharks.”

  He smiled. Maybe this was an unusually team-oriented coffee shop.

  She opened the umbrella as much as she could while looping the plastic bookstore bag and her handbag around her other arm. He reached out for the umbrella, holding it over her head, and took her hand with his free one.

  “Ready?”

  “Always.”

  THEY ARRIVED AT Kendall’s hotel soaked to the skin. The rain was falling in sheets, the wind was blowing, and she’d never been so thankful to see a hotel lobby. She hadn’t let go of Drew’s hand, either. He left the umbrella outside the hotel doors to dry. The doorman ushered them inside, and a hotel employee approached them promising to send more dry towels up to her room.

  Drew pulled her toward the elevator banks. She was already shivering. He must be freezing too. He didn’t have a hood on his jacket, and the rain must have been pelting the back of his neck. They dripped all over the elevator while the car carried them to Kendall’s room on the twelfth floor.

  He still held her hand, but now he rubbed it in both of his. She knew she should feel the cold, but at the moment, the sizzle she felt at his nearness was a pretty major distraction. He moved a little closer to her. She inched closer to him. The elevator stopped, and she pulled him through the open doors. “I’m in 1230,” she told him and they hurried down the hallway to her room as she yanked her card key out of her coat pocket. She was shivering so hard she missed the card slot the first time. He reached out for the credit-card sized key, slid it into the reader, and heard the lock click open.

  She’d already made the decision while they ran through sheets of rain: She was inviting him in. She was a little nervous about it, but the fact she wanted to spend a little more time with an unimaginably hot guy won out over her hesitation. There was a coffee maker in the room stocked with tea and hot chocolate. If he didn’t want coffee, there were other options available. They could dry off with the extra towels at least.

  “Come on in,” she said.

  The room was dim. The only illumination spilled through sheers-covered windows from a streetlight floors below. Kendall heard the door click closed behind them, and she tossed her handbag toward the luggage stand in one corner of the room. She ran one hand over the wallpaper searching for the light switch. She felt Drew’s big hand over hers.

  “Wait,” he said.

  He reached out to pull her into his arms, and his mouth found hers, warm and gentle. She tasted rain. She also tasted the spicy-sweet of chai tea on his tongue as it slipped into her mouth. Water dripped off of his knit cap onto her nose, but she didn’t care. She wrapped her arms around his midsection. He backed her up against the wall she imagined the light switches were on, but she made no move to pull away from him or turn on a light. His body surrounded her. He pressed himself into her and leaned his forehead against hers.

  “I had to kiss you,” he murmured.

  She leaned her cheek against his wet coat, slid her hands up his chest, and wrapped her arms around his neck while she tried to catch her breath. Right now, breathing was overrated.

  “Do you want to kiss me again?” she whispered.

  “More than my next breath.”

  It was dark, but his hands were sure on her. His mouth slanted over hers. Her tongue slipped into his mouth, moved around his, and she felt his hands unbuttoning her coat. “Good idea,” she tried to tell him, but she couldn’t talk right now. She was too busy kissing him. Plus, she was now searching for the zipper pull that would get his jacket off him in the shortest amount of time. Their wet clothes weren’t exactly comfortable, but even more, she wanted to touch him. Her shivering turned into trembling as he managed to pull her coat off and drop it onto the carpeting. His sweet, gentle kisses turned long and hungry. She was still trying to get the zipper on his jacket down as his hand moved over her abdomen and up her ribcage until he cupped her breast over the thin sweater she wore. His thumb did a s
low back-and-forth across her nipple. She arched into his hand and temporarily forgot getting his jacket off as she reached out to drag her palm over his erection.

  He let out a groan.

  “I can’t get your coat off,” she said. “I have to touch you.”

  He let go of her for a moment and pulled both the jacket and his long sleeved shirt off over his head. He reached out for her again, and he pulled her sweater off over her head. Her bra was soaking wet. Her panties were wet too, but that had nothing to do with the rain. He unbuttoned her jeans, slid the zipper down, and shoved them off of her in one smooth movement.

  She tried to get the pants off over her shoes. It wasn’t going to happen. He reached out to pick her up, stepped on the pants, and pulled both pants and shoes off as she wrapped her arms and legs around him.

  The front placket of his jeans rubbed against her as he moved through the darkened room, sending jolts of sensation through her. This was a new record for her; a couple of hours between “Hi, my name is Kendall” and ending up in her underwear in a hotel room (crazed with lust) didn’t usually happen. She wasn’t into one-night stands, but she wanted Drew. He wanted her as well, if the erection straining against the zipper on his jeans was any indicator. They had to get warm anyway. Stripping to the skin was sounding better and better, especially when she remembered there were condoms in her handbag.

  “I don’t do this without protection,” she said.

  “I don’t either, Kendall.” He laid her down on the bed, reached into his pocket, and pulled out his wallet. She heard the soft sound of a wrapper hitting the nightstand. “I have a condom too.” He grabbed it off the nightstand and put it into her palm. “Would you like to put it on me?”

  Would she? That would be a hell, yes. She tried to maintain some dignity. It wasn’t working. “I want you so badly.”

  “That’s good, because I want you too,” he said.

  The room was dim, but she heard two thuds as he kicked his shoes off. Next, she heard the zipper sliding on his jeans. She might not be able to see him clearly, but she couldn’t wait to run her hands all over those bulging muscles and that gorgeous golden skin.

  “Hurry,” she said.

  His laugh was low and sensual.

  Seconds later, they both heard a loud knock at the door.

  “Shit. Must be the towels,” he muttered. “We’ll be right with you,” he said.

  She resisted the impulse to blurt out a particularly descriptive four-letter word and scrambled out of the bed.

  “I’ll get it,” he said. “You lie down and warm up.”

  He must have had the vision of a bat; he didn’t fall over anything on his way to the door. She heard the door open and an unfamiliar voice.

  “Here are the items Ms. Tracy asked us for. I also took the liberty of adding a robe as well. There is another robe hanging in the coat closet to your right.”

  “Thanks so much,” Drew said.

  She felt slightly embarrassed that the hotel staff knew she was in here with a man she hadn’t checked in with. Hotel staffs were probably used to this kind of thing.

  “If you’d like us to dry your clothing, please dial zero and we’ll send someone up from housekeeping to get it.”

  “Please add a tip to my bill for this,” Kendall called out.

  “That’s not necessary,” the employee said. “If there’s anything else we can do, let us know.”

  “Thank you. Good night,” Drew said.

  The door closed, and she heard the sounds of Drew locking the deadbolt. His shadowy form moved through the room again as he dropped the bundle in his arms on top of what must have been the computer desk in the corner. He shoved his pants off. Seconds later, he climbed into the bed and back underneath the blankets.

  “It’s so cold,” she said.

  “I think I’d better kiss you again.”

  Drew made quick work of ridding them both of underwear, soaking wet socks, and she watched him tug the knit cap off his head and send it sailing across the room. She reached up to take his face in her hands, and soft, slightly damp hair slid through her fingers. Long, soft, slightly damp hair.

  The blond stubble on his face, the piercing cornflower-blue eyes, the brilliant smile, the amazing muscles, Go Sharks—all coalesced in a split second in Kendall’s memory. She knew where she’d seen him before.

  Despite the fact the hormones coursing through her screamed in anguish, there was no way she could sleep with this man.

  Chapter Two

  * * *

  KENDALL JERKED AWAY from Drew like she’d stuck both of her hands in an open flame. She flung herself out of the cocoon of blankets and Drew’s body, fumbling around until her fingers found the switch to the bedside light. The room was lit seconds later, and so was the face she couldn’t believe she hadn’t recognized immediately.

  “You’re Drew McCoy,” she cried out.

  She scooted to the edge of the bed, clutching the sheet around her torso as she went. It was a little late now for modesty. Retaining some shred of dignity might be a good thing.

  She’d watched Drew’s game film with the coaching staff. She’d seen his commercials for hair products and sports drinks and soup a hundred times before. His contract with the Sharks was done as of the end of football season, and the Miners wanted him to play for them. Drew was San Francisco’s number one target in next season’s free agency. She’d planned on asking the team’s owner to write a big check to Drew and his agent next March. If all that wasn’t enough, Drew was eight years younger than she was.

  What the hell was wrong with her? It must have been the knit hat covering his famous hair, or finding him in a non-jock hangout like a bookstore. Maybe it was the temporary insanity brought on by an overwhelming surge of hormones.

  “Is there a problem?” he said.

  “I can’t have anything to do with you. I have to go.”

  He shook his head in adorable confusion. She couldn’t think of anything she wanted more right now than to run her fingers through his gorgeous hair.

  “This is your hotel room. Where do you think you’re going?”

  She yanked as much of the sheet off the bed as possible, attempting to wrap it around herself and stand up at the same time. He was simultaneously grabbing at the comforter to shield himself. It didn’t work.

  She twisted her foot into the bedding while she hurled herself away from him and ended up on the carpet seconds later in a tangle of sheet and limbs, still naked. Her butt hit the floor so hard she almost expected to bounce.

  The number-one reason why Kendall didn’t engage in one-night stands as a habit hauled himself up on all fours in the middle of the bed. Out of all the guys in the world available for a short-term fling, of all the times in her life she thought that might be an acceptable option, of course she’d pick the man that could get her fired or sued.

  He grabbed the robe he’d slung over the foot of the bed, scrambled off the mattress, and jammed his arms into it as he advanced on her.

  “Are you okay? You went down pretty hard.” His eyes skimmed over her. “That’s going to leave a mark.”

  He crouched next to her as he reached out to help her up. She resisted the impulse to stare at golden skin, an eight pack, and a sizable erection. She’d heard Drew didn’t lack for dates. He had other things to offer besides the balance in his bank accounts.

  “I’m okay,” she told him.

  She felt a little shaky. She’d probably have a nice bruise later. She was going down all right, and it had nothing to do with sex. It had everything to do with the fact that if anyone from the Miners organization saw him emerging from her room in the next seventy-two hours, she was in the kind of trouble with her employer there was no recovering from. The interim general manager of a NFL team did not sleep with anyone from the opposing team, especially archrivals that hated each other with the heat of a thousand suns. Especially a star player her own organization was more than a little interested in acquiring. Especiall
y before a game that would mean the inside track to the playoffs for both teams.

  Drew and Kendall would be the Romeo and Juliet of the NFL. Well, without all the dying. Death by 24/7 sports media embarrassment didn’t count.

  He reached out, grabbed her beneath her armpits and hoisted her off the floor like she weighed nothing.

  “I’ve got you. Let’s see if you can stand up,” he said. His warm, gentle hands moved over her, looking for injuries. “Why don’t you lean on me for a second here?”

  She tried re-wrapping the sheet around her so she could walk away from him while preserving her dignity. It wasn’t going to happen. She couldn’t stop staring at him. If she let him take her in his arms, she’d be lost. She teetered as she leaned against the hotel room wall.

  “I’m . . . I’m fine. I—”

  “Hold still,” he said. She heard his bare feet slap against the carpeting as he grabbed the second robe out of the coat closet and brought it back to her. “If you don’t want to do this, that’s your decision, but I don’t understand what’s wrong.”

  She struggled into the thick terry robe as she tried to think of a response. He was staring at her as she retrieved the fabric belt and swathed herself in yards of fabric. Judging by his continuing erection, he liked what he saw, even if it was covered up from her neck to below her knees. He licked his bottom lip. Her mouth went dry. Damn it.

  Of course the most attractive guy she’d been anywhere near a bed with in the past year was completely off-limits.

  “You don’t recognize me,” she said.

  “No, I don’t,” he said. “Is there a problem?”

  “You might say that.” She finally succeeded in knotting the belt of the robe around her waist, dropped the sheet at her feet and stuck out one hand. “Hi. I’m Kendall Tracy. I’m the interim GM of the San Francisco Miners.” His eyes widened in shock. “Nice to meet you.”

  “You . . . you can’t be,” he blurted out. “Their GM is one of the owners—”