I wasn’t sure if I could.
PRESENT
I knew what was going through Travis’s mind.
It was the same thing I couldn’t stop thinking.
“I should go. It looks like the guys are gathering with the coaches on the field.”
He hesitated, as though his business wasn’t finished.
“I don’t want to get you in trouble,” I said, shooing him away.
I didn’t say how much trouble he could get me into if he kissed me like we both wanted him to.
“We’ll talk later.”
The tight white practice uniform did nothing to hide the bulging muscles underneath as he jogged away across the emerald grass and crisply painted lines.
“How the hell do you know Travis King? He’s practically a god in this country.”
Dr. Kent had approached as I watched the quarterback lope away.
I was far too busy thinking about the conversation with Travis to pay much attention to what came out of my mouth.
“We had a fling on spring break about five years ago. I didn’t think I’d ever see him again.”
You made sure of it by avoiding all references to the league for the past five years. You didn’t want to see him in the papers standing next to a trophy wife.
“Will this be a problem, Juliette? You two looked… intense.”
Were we ever intense back then.
“Of course it’s not a problem,” I replied. “I’ve dreamed about this for years.”
Dr. Kent’s next words snapped me out of my reverie.
“I have to take you off this study, Juliette.”
That captured my attention. I took my gaze off Travis’s backside to catch the expression on Dr. Kent’s face. His eyebrows were furrowed and lips pursed.
“What? You can’t do that, professor. This study is my thesis project!”
“That doesn’t matter. Don’t you remember that massive contract we were given this afternoon? I’ve been trying to gain access to run this study for over fifteen years, and the league will do anything to retract their permission. If you get involved with the team’s quarterback, they’ll kick us out faster than you can blink.”
I stared at him. “We were just talking!”
It wasn’t fair. This thesis was not only my ticket to my graduate degree, but being a co-author would give me the credibility to launch a respectable research career.
“I saw the way he looked at you, Juliette. You don’t know how football players are. He won’t have any respect for the rules—it won’t be him that suffers the fallout.”
I know football players. This one, at least.
Dr. Kent may have a point. But I wouldn’t give up without a fight.
“Please, sir. I promise, I have things under control. Nothing will happen between me and Travis King. Nothing.”
No matter how much I want it.
He crossed his arms and tapped his hand on his elbow. “If this study gets messed up because of you, Juliette, your academic career is over, do you understand? This will be my crowning achievement, and if it’s taken away from me because you can’t control yourself around that man, then I will make sure no college in the country will ever accept an application from you again.”
I had never seen this side of Dr. Kent. The kindly older man had turned fierce and demanding.
The men on the field had broken into squads, and Travis controlled the ball at one end of the field. His teammate broke off into a sprint, eating up a huge number of yards in just a few seconds.
Travis waited. And waited.
He finally uncocked his arm and let the ball loose, the powerful movement unleashing the football in a tight spiral that arced down the field. The receiver had run far, further than should have been reachable. The ball carried dozens of yards, passing overhead of the defenders and perfectly over the shoulder of the receiver just as he entered the end zone.
Loud whoops echoed across the field as a few of the men jumped around Travis and gave him high fives.
I never thought I’d see him again. Now that he was back in my life, could I resist him?
“It won’t be a problem, Dr. Kent. I promise. I’m dedicated to my career and I will make sure that nothing gets in the way.”
Chapter 4
~Travis~
PAST
I can’t believe how fine she is.
The brunette had started off meek and mild on the dance floor, but she had soon thrown propriety out the window.
I held her tight body close against me, running my hands down her back and across her ass as we moved in rhythm to the beat. The dance floor was hot and muggy, but the sweat just added to the experience.
She turned around to push her ass back against me and took hold of my hands to guide them to her hips. The house music pounded as we lost ourselves in each other, ignoring the world, two more drunken revelers amidst a sea of young adult hormones.
No one could judge us because everyone else was doing the same thing.
I pushed the boundaries every chance I got, first running my hands along her sides, brushing the underside of her impressive bust, and sliding down to flirt with the edges of her short shorts. The halter-top she wore bared her midriff, allowing my fingers to dance across her smooth skin.
I turned her back around.
Our bodies pressed together as tightly as possible, and her face was inches away from my own.
“You’re so sexy, Sexy,” I said.
We stared at each other for a moment before our lips touched.
The softness of her lips was balanced with the need in her mouth as we sank into a fierce embrace.
Sexy wrapped a leg around me, and we continued moving to the beat, lost in sensation as music thrummed through our bodies and blood rushed in our ears.
My hands wandered further and further, running over her breasts and the front of her shorts, using the press of the crowd to hide our actions.
My cock had risen to full strength under the intense physical action, straining against my shorts. Sexy pressed it against her body, and I could feel the moans inside her mouth even if I couldn’t hear them. Her hand covered the front of my shorts, wrapping around my shaft through the fabric.
She backed off from the kiss, the first break in enough songs that I’d lost count.
Her eyes were wide. “You weren’t kidding, Cocky. You do have a big heart.”
I winked and squeezed her ass. Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment.
“Do you want to go back to my room? I’d love to dance more with no one watching.”
She hesitated, but her hands never left my cock. She bit her lip.
“Fuck it. It’s spring break. Time to live a little.”
I didn’t know what she was talking about, and I didn’t care.
“Let’s get out of here.”
PRESENT
The practice went according to plan.
The only way we would win games this season was if I could give them the confidence and faith in themselves to believe they could.
I did everything I could to dazzle my new teammates, giving a full effort with every throw, doing what I could to convince them that the hype around my arrival wasn’t misplaced.
Hampered by a season that saw career-ending injuries to both their starting quarterback and primary backup, it had been a long time since many of the men had been on the receiving end of such a crisp pass.
There was even a familiar face running routes down the field.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” Ricky said. “It’s just like old times when we dominated in college, isn’t it?”
The wide receiver clapped me on the shoulder. He’d been selected by Los Angeles in the same draft that had sent me to Portland.
“If we can win a national championship like we did then, I’ll be happy.”
The sun beat down with an intensity I wasn’t used to. Playing in Portland at this time of year was much cooler than the hot Los Angeles sun. Practice in thes
e conditions would be brutal until my body acclimated.
“All right, that’s enough!” Tony shouted. “Good work, everyone. Go hit the showers, then we’ll have a team meeting.”
I looked for Juliette as we streamed off the field, but she wasn’t on the sidelines any longer. She’d watched most of the practice—I couldn’t stop looking over between each play. Looking at her satisfied a deep thirst within me, like a barren field receiving rain after years of drought.
“Hey, Travis, you hear about that concussion study bullshit they’re forcing on us?”
We stripped and walked into the showers.
Another teammate chipped in, one of my offensive linemen, Leroy.
“I heard we’re the only team that has to let them trick us out with sensors. It’s not fair, man.”
Ricky slapped the wall. “It’s brutal. We’ll get weighed down by this shit, and all it will do is lead to them telling us we can’t play anymore.”
“Isn’t it better to have that information than not?” I asked. “I mean, if playing football actually meant we were more likely to die in our forties, shouldn’t we at least know that rather than stick our fingers in our ears and pretend everything’s okay? It’s still our choice to play.”
Ricky gave me a dirty look.
“It won’t play out like that, buddy. It doesn’t matter what you or I want. We live in a nanny state that’s desperate to show they know what’s good for you better than you know yourself. Just wait. There will be so many new regulations and rules over the next five years that it won’t even be the same game anymore.”
“Man, fuck that shit,” Leroy said. “I just wanna play football.”
I put out my hands to calm them. “Relax, guys. It’s a preliminary study. They won’t even have results out for another few years.”
“It’s coming, though,” Ricky said. “Before you know it, we’ll be playing touch football. It’ll kill all excitement in the game, no one will watch anymore, and the money will dry up. You want that big, fancy quarterback salary of yours to go away? Because that’s what’ll happen.”
Ricky hadn’t changed. Once he had his mind set on something, he would never alter it even if proven wrong by a thousand reputable sources.
It was impossible to argue with some people.
“Whatever. The study’s here, and that’s that. No use complaining about it.”
Leroy “humphed” and turned his back to the spray.
Ricky shook his head. “We’re the players. We have the control. If they don’t have us, they don’t have a product. I say we band together and tell the league we won’t play this year if they make us go through with this. And if that fails, then we make it clear to those scientists that something bad will happen to them if they don’t pack up their shit and run back to their school.”
He said “scientists” as if it was a dirty word.
I would not let Ricky threaten Juliette. Not when she had just re-entered my life.
“Leave them alone, Ricky. That’s an order from your quarterback.”
“Or what?” he sneered. “You’ll get yourself traded away?”
I let all expression drop from my face. “If you do anything to interfere with this study, then good luck getting a single pass this season. You’re in a contract year, right? How easy do you think it will be to sign for a lot of your precious money if your stats are horrendous this year? That will be a tough sell at the negotiation table.”
Leroy whistled, watching the exchange as he used a hand to soap up his butt crack.
Ricky paled. “You wouldn’t. I’m one of the best receivers on this team. I know your ambitions—if you don’t throw to me, you’ll toss the season away.”
“I also have morals. Guess which is more important. Try me.”
I stared him down until he backed away.
“Fine, you asshole. I’ll leave them alone. But if they try to tell me I can’t play because I took a hit, I’ll take their sensor and punt it across the field right before I take a shit on it.”
The rest of the shower concluded in stony silence.
The altercation pumped me up, giving me energy to burn. Despite the hard workout in the scorching sun, I had to put the energy to good use. I headed to the weight room.
I’d only been shown through the halls a couple of times, so I had to look through windows on my way to figure out where I was.
Conference room. Kitchen. Film room.
The next window revealed a white room with a few sets of cardio machines, but it didn’t look like a gym. Stacks of monitors and wires surrounded each station. I had enough experience with fitness tests to recognize a lab setup when I saw one.
A figure stood in a corner, fiddling with a helmet.
All thoughts of lifting weights deserted me at the sight of Juliette and the opportunity to speak with her privately.
Chapter 5
~Juliette~
PAST
Oh, my God. Oh, my God!
“Oh, my God! How are you doing that?”
Cocky’s face was buried between my thighs, and his tongue was doing something I’d never felt before.
Our clothes hadn’t lasted more than a minute after getting into his room. Already so ready from the dance floor, I hadn’t objected when he pushed me onto the bed and kissed down my body.
But I hadn’t been prepared for this.
“Fuck, yes! Right there!”
The man was a god with his tongue. I was soaking wet, and in moments, he had me writhing in pleasure.
Jim had never given me an orgasm from oral—I’d assumed that it just didn’t work for me like it did for other women. It was sad, but I enjoyed the act of sex itself enough that I hadn’t felt like I was missing anything.
Until now.
“God! Yes!”
My fingers found Cocky’s head, gripping his hair hard enough that it probably hurt him, but I couldn’t help myself.
Just when it couldn’t get any more intense and I was about to blow, his finger slid inside my pussy and touched something inside me.
My mouth opened to swear again, but words deserted me as the blinding climax burst through my body, cascading along my nerves like pulses through a network, liquid fire filling my veins.
Despite my bucking hips, Cocky rode out my orgasm, providing everything I never knew I needed, coaxing me through the insane convulsions until I quivered on his bed—a shivering puddle of limbs.
That cocky grin looked up my body, watching my breasts heave as I fought to catch my breath. “God, you’re sexy when you come. I’ll have to do that again so I can watch and hear you some more.”
He crawled onto the bed above me, his body built like a Greek god. The dim light coming through the window caught his abs and pecs, the definition unlike anything I’d seen or felt in person.
“You are way too good at that,” I said. “I just might pack you up and take you back to L.A. with me so you can lick me every day.”
“Be careful what you wish for, Sexy. I just might take you up on that.”
He leaned over me and slid open the bedside table to grab a foil packet.
Stretched out like he was, when I gave a hard shove on his shoulder, he toppled to the bed beside me.
“Whoa!”
I pushed myself up and straddled him. “My turn to take control.”
“Think you can handle me?”
“I can manage.” I plucked the condom out of his hand. “Magnum. Nice.”
Despite my words, I was a little worried. I’d felt how big he was on the dance floor. I’d only been with Jim before, and the difference was almost comical. By being on top, I could make sure he didn’t destroy me.
I opened the wrapper and scooted back a bit to put it on him.
“Shit…” Without any clothes in the way, it felt even more substantial in my hand. It had a heft that Jim’s never had.
Once the condom was rolled down to his base, I rose to rub it along my entrance. Cocky’s oral work had relaxed
me and made me even wetter than before, and I spread it around using the tip of his large manhood.
The stretch of his head pushing into my body was unlike anything I’d ever felt. It split me open, and I had to take long, deep breaths to force my body to relax enough to accept him.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “Take it slow.”
I stuck my tongue out at him and laughed, but I appreciated his understanding.
“Damn, you’re big.”
It took what felt like several minutes to work him inside, sliding down his shaft half an inch at a time and waiting for my unprepared internals to adjust. When my ass finally pressed against his thighs, I collapsed against his chest and wallowed in the sensation.
Cocky’s hands never stopped moving along my body, caressing my breasts, pulling at my ass, and coaxing me to grow more comfortable with him.
As I relaxed, I moved my hips, creating the sweet friction that lit my nerves on fire. Already primed from the orgasm his tongue had given me, it didn’t take long before I rode high on the verge of another incredible climax.
He spanked my ass, the shock and flash of pain adding to the pleasure and building it even higher.
I had never let Jim hit me like that, calling it disrespectful, but in Cocky’s hands, I could let go and be a sensual creature.
“Fuck! Do that again!”
He didn’t need to be told twice. I quickened my pace on top of him, and his own breathing grew heavy as I climbed the peak.
“Right there,” he grunted. “So close.”
Knowing I had taken him to the brink was enough to launch me into my own orgasm. With one last spank, I sank all the way on top of him as my muscles clenched and quivered, milking the large cock inside me as we came together.
I fell to his chest, and his arms came around me, holding me tight.
I guess I found somewhere to spend the night after all.
PRESENT
The door to the lab opened, but I ignored it as I concentrated on activating the helmet’s sensor. The little chip contained an accelerometer and a wireless transmission signal so we could assess the data in real time on the sidelines.
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