Not Before Game Night (Bad Boy Bachelors of Orange County Book 4)

by Khardine Gray

  I knew she would never believe the answer, and realistically, she knew what I was like. We’d come full circle right back to that point where I was faced with something pure that I wanted to taint but shouldn’t.

  Time, however, had made me more eager, more selfish to get my dirty hands all over her.

  The nobleness or whatever that had come over me that night ten years ago was no longer there. What raged inside me was a fire that could only be satisfied by claiming her for myself.

  I knew she’d be on her way to Chicago at some point today too. I just wasn’t sure when I’d make my move.

  There was a dinner tomorrow, the night before the game, and it was supposed to be busy and a big deal. I was thinking of skipping that.

  We landed at O’Hare International, and when we got to the hotel, I went to the restaurant to eat lunch by myself. Mom would be here tonight for dinner.

  I’d just taken the last bite of my sandwich when Denver slid in the chair in front of me and looked me over with a mingle of concern and curiosity.

  “You cool?” he asked.

  “As a cucumber,” I answered, not bothering to hide my sarcasm.

  “Cole, you and I have been friends for a few years now, and believe me when I say you are acting weird. What was up with you last night?”

  “What happened last night?” I asked, pretending that me grabbing Matt was nothing out of the ordinary.

  He rolled his eyes at me. “Dude, you nearly killed Matt.”

  I thought it was pointless to say he deserved what he got. There was, however, something I had to say though. Specifically to Denver.

  “What is up with you? Didn’t know you cheated on Jayne so much. Aren’t you scared your dick might fall off?” I spat. He chuckled, completely missing the fact that I wasn’t joking.

  “Cole, we all do that shit. It’s a thing we look forward to on the road. Jayne knows how much I love her. She’s the long term; that doesn’t stop me from enjoying myself with my fans while I’m away, or otherwise.” He laughed.

  As I looked at him, I realized this was probably exactly the way my father had been. Same player ethos.

  Mom was long term at home with me, the kid. She was the wife, but he couldn’t see anything wrong with enjoying himself with others. Fans and groupies.

  “It’s not cool, Denver. It’s not, and not everyone does that shit. I wouldn’t.”

  “Lord have mercy. What the hell has gotten into you? When did you become Saint Coleridge? I swear it was you the other week all over the National Enquirer with three models, not just one. Then the week after, there was someone else. That’s just you, Cole. I’m the one who’s a saint compared to you.”

  “Maybe that’s true, but I don’t have a girlfriend. It’s different,” I pointed out. He stood up and shook his head at me.

  “Man, I’ll come back when you take your Midol. I can’t talk to you when you’re talking shit.”

  He walked off before I could say anything else. It was fine because I didn’t have anything more to say. The guys could go on like a bunch of sheep nodding and agreeing with him, making him a bigger ass than he was, but I wouldn’t do it.

  I got up to go and stopped short when I saw Gage Cartwright walking through the restaurant door and heading over to me.

  Great.

  I actually hated that guy from way back when and couldn’t stand a bone in him now.

  He always had that holier-than-thou expression on his face that irked me.

  He waltzed up to me and squared off like we were going to fight. He had done that once before, and I’d truly thought he was going to punch the life out of me. The thing was, I kind of would have deserved it.

  It was back in high school when I let loose that his father was a cheat.

  No one knew I was just acting out in the classic cry for attention because prior to finding that out, I’d caught my father in bed with some woman I’d never seen before.

  I’d caught him in the bed he was supposed to share with my mother, and the man had had the audacity to try and pay me to keep quiet.

  Then the said woman, who’d turned out to be a prostitute, went to the papers and broadcast it everywhere. How she’d bagged my father while his wife was visiting her sick mother. That was the first time my mom found out who my father was. Me too.

  “Gage Cartwright,” I mused, standing a little straighter as he stopped before me. “What can I do for you?”

  The last time we stood this close was back then, and I’d actually taken pride in the hurt in his eyes because the perfect Cartwrights weren’t so perfect. Them with their perfect everything. Especially him. I’d heard our maids talking about the scandal between his maid and his father. That was how I’d found out. It was something I should have kept to myself.

  “You… I do not like you,” he answered.

  “Okay, I guessed that awhile back, but thanks for telling me. Now I know for sure.”

  “Don’t be a dick and fuck with me,” he warned.

  “Okay, I won’t. Wasn’t on my to-do list. So, you came to tell me that here? Didn’t think football was really your thing or that you’d fly all the way here to give me the news.” I wasn’t in the mood for this shit.

  “I’m here to watch you,” he informed me.

  “Me? Wow, well, I didn’t realize you admired me so much.”

  “Buchanan.” He stepped right into my personal space. Anyone else who did that would be on the floor right about now, but I’d let him off on account of the past, and also I didn’t think it would bode well for me with Vanessa if she found out I’d gotten into a fight with her cousin. “I told you. Don’t be a dick and fuck with me. I’m here to watch you because my cousin has this thing for you, and I really don’t know why. So, I’m telling you now. Leave her alone if you plan to make her some kind of addition to your ever-growing list of bed friends. She is not that. She’s not even your type. The loose, classless women I see you hanging around with is not her. If you plan to hurt her, you leave her alone.”

  Leave Vanessa alone...

  Maybe that was an easier path. The pompous prick looked at me too like I would take that route. It would be easier than have him on my ass. He just didn’t know I couldn’t leave her alone, even if I tried. I’d tasted too much and gone too far. Wanted her too much.

  I smiled at him and flicked the lint from the shoulder of his pristine Armani suit.

  “Don’t worry, Gage Cartwright, I don’t plan to hurt her.” I gave his shoulder a little pat, surprising him.

  I started walking off, but he called out to me. “You better mean that, Buchanan.”

  I glanced at him over my shoulder. “I mean it.”

  All I had to do was get the girl.

  Game on.

  Chapter 10

  Vanessa

  Mia sat down on the bed across from me.

  We’d landed in Chicago a few hours ago, had lunch with Gilly and Eric, and when I tried to dismiss myself so I could be alone in my room, she and Abby came with me.

  It was most unusual that Abby the drama queen had kept her silence.

  Anyone who took one look at me could tell something more than the bad spell I’d been through had happened. They could see something else was up, and it had gotten to me.

  I hadn’t exactly done a good job of hiding it either when anyone spoke to me.

  Even Dad. We’d flown over here with him, Gage, Uncle Patrick, and Grandpa.

  I’d sat next to Dad with my head on his shoulder while Grandpa told us one of his crazy stories. This one was about how his eye fell out when he apparently fell over a fence and hit his head.

  Oftentimes, I questioned the truth in his stories because they were so bizarre. Anyone who knew my grandfather knew he was the essence of whacky. He was a big, burly guy who loved talking about what he used to get up to as a boy growing up in Ireland. Most of the time, he was drunk, and it was at those times when his accent was more pronounced and he would tell us all sorts of things.

&nb
sp; Abby sat next to me on the bed, took a lock of my hair, and started braiding the ends the way she did when we were little.

  She was the eldest, Taylor the second eldest, Mia next, and I was the baby.

  “So, is this how this trip is going to be?” Abby asked. “Us tip-toeing ever so carefully around an obvious problem?”

  “No,” I answered and glanced over my shoulder at her.

  Mia raised her perfectly arched brows at me. “Well, I could talk about whether or not I think Eric might propose to me while we’re here, but I feel like we’re all talked out about that.”

  “He won’t propose here,” Abby answered with a little giggle.

  Mia frowned. “Why not? Chicago is a romantic place to be. It’s pretty and busy. Also he said weeks. He said I’d know something more in weeks. It’s been weeks.”

  “Mia, please, sometimes I wonder about you. The man’s not going to propose to you in the middle of a serious game season.”

  “So, you think he’ll do it toward the end?”

  I was praying he would do it soon because she was driving me crazy.

  “Mia, please. For God’s sake. I’m putting you on pause for the day. This sister is in more need than you,” Abby said in reference to me.

  I huffed. “I am not in need. I am fine.”

  “Vanessa, we’re your sisters, and one thing you can’t do is lie to us about something like that. I must make you aware too that I have purposely kept my nose out of your business. It was very hard, but I figured you needed me to be tactful given the nature of your condition.”

  I had to laugh. “What condition, Abby?”

  “The untouched, as far as I know.”

  Mia started to laugh. I twisted around to face her and frowned. They were obviously talking about me again.

  “Mia, you told her?” I asked.

  Mia shook her head. “Not a damn word.”

  Abby sighed a deep exaggerated sigh. “I already knew, same as I know there’s something going on with you and that Cole Buchanan.”

  That Cole Buchanan.

  The way she said his name and wrinkled her nose. I knew why. The past and present were enough. Plus I was certain being married to Gilly she must have heard all sorts about the players on the team.

  “There’s nothing.”

  “Right, and I’m the Mother Goose. Every time someone mentions his name, you blush. You’ve had the biggest crush on him since the dawn of time, and since he’s been back, you’ve been the reserved can’t-tell-what’s-up-with-you self.”

  Mia chuckled and swiveled around to hug her knees to her chest. “Out of interest, did you pick the rebel or the gentle guy in the book?” she asked me.

  “What book is this?” Abby’s eyes sparkled.

  “Madam Phoebe’s sex book. It has everything she’ll ever need to know.” The sly look on Mia’s face said she’d read that book from cover to cover, and many times too.

  “Oh my God, you gave her a sex book?” Abby giggled.

  “I did.” Mia looked proud of herself. “Did you read it?” She focused on me again.

  “I read some,” I replied.

  “Good, so what was it, then? Gentle guy or rebel?”

  “The rebel,” I answered.

  She laughed out loud. “Everyone always picks the rebel. No one wants the gentle guy for fear of boredom and… they turn to the poor explorer last, not knowing he’s a combo of the two.”

  She got my interest. “Is he?”

  “Yes. The explorer is the right dose of the gentle guy and the rebel. One minute, the explorer has the ability to shock you with his wild sexy ways, and the next, he does something completely out of character. Eric’s the explorer. A complete jock who shocked me to no end when he started reciting poetry to me and talking to me about Shakespeare. Then he took me to the ballet.” She spoke with so much love and pride.

  “I like that you got the explorer,” I told her.

  “The thing is…” Mia raised her finger. “No one is exactly one thing, but you get to decide what appeals to you most, and no one can tell you what to choose but you.”

  “So with that in mind, want to talk to us about Cole?” Abby asked.

  “He knows.” I nodded.

  Mia straightened. “He knows what?”

  “That I’m a virgin.”

  “You told him?” She looked surprised.

  “Not in so many words, but he guessed it.” Talking to them felt good. It made me wish I hadn’t kept myself away from them all these years, wanting my own space because they were all so sex-crazed. Maybe I would have known how to deal with my current situation myself.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m not doing anything. It’s best. I don’t want to…” I stopped and thought about it. “I just think it’s better. I should keep my distance.”

  “Really? Do you think you can?” Mia said that like it was a challenge.

  “Yes.” I would. “He’s wrong for me. He’s fun guy.”

  “Nothing wrong with a little fun.” Abby intoned in a sing song voice.

  I groaned inwardly. I’d considered the notion of fun.

  It would be what I’d be opening the door to it I allowed myself to be tempted by Cole.

  Fun.

  It was all I could expect from him and no more. What got to me was I knew that and there was still a part of me that yearned for him. Just as he’d said when he’d come to my house and made me dinner.

  I was the good girl who wanted a taste of wild.

  “She’s right.” Mia joined in. “There’s nothing wrong with fun.”

  “I’m not sure fun is for me.” I raised my shoulders into a little shrug.

  I told myself that same thing the next day as we walked into the hotel’s function room for dinner.

  Everyone was here… except him.

  Cole wasn’t here.

  Half an hour passed, and there was still no sign of him.

  Not wanting to be the fifth wheel, I walked out to the balcony when Mia and Abby got with their guys.

  I beheld the scenic skyscrapers before me surrounded by all the city lights and got lost in my admiration for being somewhere new. I couldn’t help it. I was a city girl. I loved looking at the cities, particularly at night.

  My favorites were the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and London. The Golden Gate Bridge always looked to me like it was on fire, and London was just a mass of beautiful architecture and lights.

  I turned when I heard footsteps.

  Like every time I saw him, my heart stopped. Tonight was no exception, and the fact that he looked so good didn’t help my poor heart, which reached out invisible fingers to the man who gave me so much life in his paintings.

  He’d had his hair neatly trimmed so it looked sharper while still keeping the length and the subtle waves.

  He walked up to me and stopped in front of me. I could talk big the other night and tell him how much I didn’t want to be one of his women. But when he looked at me the way he was right now, all of that bravado faded from my mind.

  All of it. The look was filled with desire. Like he wanted just me, and it didn’t escape me that he looked at me like that knowing I wouldn’t have been like all the women he’d had.

  Not like the experienced women he’d been with who knew what to do in the bedroom.

  Vanessa the Virgin. He knew now, but it was as if that whole conversation never happened and all that was between us was that wild chemistry.

  The wild spark of the rebel who never did as he was told, and always what he wanted to do.

  He bent down and gave me that little smile of his he knew I would never resist.

  He crooked his finger, and like an obedient servant, I went to his lips. I kissed him, but he didn’t kiss me back. He just allowed me to kiss him.

  I moved back slightly so I could gaze up at him, but he caught my face and held me there.

  “Cole.” I spoke his name on the edge of a breath.

  “Shh
h.” He gave me his trademark smile and leaned in close to my ear, almost menacing. “No. Don’t you dare come up with some cock and bull tonight. You have something that belongs to me.”

  I twisted my head, brushing my nose against his cheek. “What?”

  “Your body. Your virginity. It’s mine. I’m taking it tonight.”

  The jolt from the sexual energy that rippled from his words swept through me, leaving me dazed and my mouth watering for him.

  He stepped back and stretched out his hand for me to take.

  As I looked down at his large hand beckoning me to be with him, the only answer in my head was yes.

  It was the only answer that filled my mind along with the anticipation of tonight when I took his hand and he led me away.

  Chapter 11

  Vanessa

  His room smelled just like him.

  Rich with the dark sandalwood fragrance of his aftershave.

  It curled through the air and seeped into my mind, deep into my memory.

  It would be part of what I remembered about tonight.

  A gentle breeze drifted in from his opened windows, and in the soft moonlight that filtered into the room, the curve of his cheek and the slant of his lips became more pronounced.

  Cole switched on the light and closed the door behind us.

  He’d released my hand a second ago so I could walk in. He looked at me and leaned against the door.

  “Are you scared?” he asked, and I didn’t know what to say.

  “Please don’t make fun of me if I say yes.” God, my heart was racing so fast I could barely breathe.

  Yet, there he was, cool and calm in his usual Cole Buchanan manner. Standing there looking like the perfect specimen of a man. A man who’d been with women who were compatible with him.

  “Why would I make fun of you?” The rich timbre of his voice steady and sure reached into me along with the penetrative stare he gave me. It was like he was trying to see my deeper most inner thoughts.

  “I’m not what you’re used to. I haven’t…” Damn it, my hands started to shake again. How did I go from strong woman who could normally handle herself in any situation to this person I’d become in seconds who was shaking like a damn leaf?