by Bella Andre
Melissa raised her head. "No. I already put myself on the line once and got an emotional smackdown. I'm not interested in setting myself up for another big fall."
Her friend looked stern. "If it were me, I'd rather break my own heart than let some guy do it for me. Even if the guy is impossibly hot."
"It's just a fling," Melissa repeated. "No strings attached. When it's over, we'll both go our separate ways with no recriminations."
Alice gave her a look that said she was full of it. "You just keep trying to tell yourself that. Maybe one day you'll believe it."
A loud knock sounded on the door. "If you're not dead in there, could you open up before I pee on the floor?"
"You want me to deal with her?" Alice said in a scary voice.
"No. Let's get out of here. I've got an important photo op waiting."
Dominic kept a respectable, professional distance from her as the photographer took dozens of shots. But his eyes followed her around the aquarium the rest of the night as she networked with players, agents, sportswriters, and the coaching staff.
How could he make her so wet with nothing but a glance? He hadn't touched her, yet she was as hot for him as she'd ever been. Maybe even more so, given the hours of anticipation. When was he going to make his move? The waiting was killing her.
Then she thought, what if she propositioned him tonight? What if she was the one who did the dragging into a dark corner, rather than being dragged?
A small smile played around the edges of her mouth. That was exactly what she'd do. Now the only question was, how?
Dominic looked to be deep in conversation with the general manager of the Outlaws across the room. But Melissa knew better: He was keeping tabs on her. He would notice if she left the room.
Beyond the newly finished entrance, the aquarium was still a construction zone.
Melissa grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing waiter and headed for the back corner, near a door marked CONSTRUCTION CREWS ONLY. Without so much as a glance behind her, she pushed the door open. Ah, just as she had hoped: a completely deserted space. The walls and roof were on, but it was mostly bare plywood here.
She sipped from her glass, her heart skipping. It wouldn't be long now. And then she heard the faint squeak of the door hinges. She waited a beat, letting him move closer before she turned around.
"Decided to take a tour?" he asked, his deep, sensual voice washing over her.
She set her glass on a stack of Sheetrock. "I couldn't wait any longer."
"I was feeling exactly the same way."
She walked into his arms, and as he slid one hand over her ass, she shivered with excitement.
"I don't feel any panties but I'm not sure I can trust my hands."
His fingers found her zipper, and as he began sliding her strapless dress off, her legs started trembling. A moment later, she was standing nearly naked in front of him, wearing only garters, heels, and the beautiful necklace he'd given her.
A growl emerged from his throat. "Sweet lord, you're beautiful."
No one had ever looked at her like he did--like he was the luckiest man in the world. She felt impossibly beautiful in his eyes.
He was already kneeling in front of her, his breath hot on her clit. His hands came around her hips, holding her upright for his sensual invasion. His tongue found her first, warm and so knowledgeable about the perfect way to make her come. He didn't bother teasing her, since the whole night had been foreplay, but licked her with long, smooth strokes from her labia to her clitoris. The orgasm came before she was even aware of it.
The next thing she knew, she was in his arms and he was carrying her across the room. He took off his jacket without putting her down and laid her on a table, cushioned by the black fabric. She reached for his zipper but he was two moves ahead of her, his sheathed cock ready and waiting for her to take it in.
"All night long I've wanted you," he said. "Every goddamn second. You're so sweet, Melissa. So perfect."
He drove into her, his kiss rough and possessive as he claimed her, and she took him deeper, wishing this moment would never end.
She was his. Forever.
What the fuck am I doing? Dominic asked himself thirty minutes later, when he and Melissa were back out mingling on opposite sides of the room. Things were getting out of hand.
One accidental fuck could easily be accounted for, especially considering how long he'd wanted her. But instead of getting her out of his system, each time they had sex he wanted her more. Anyone could have walked in on them in the construction zone. They'd gotten lucky. Again. He couldn't count on that luck forever.
In fact, part of him wanted the chance to come clean. To tell the world that she was his woman. His.
Shit. Now wasn't the time to think about that. Not when all he could think about was taking Melissa home and making love to her all night long.
Out of the corner of his eye he watched her leave. If he'd had any self-control, he would have let her go home to her apartment alone and get some sleep.
Forcing himself to do his duty as an Outlaw, he socialized awhile longer, then extricated himself from the party. His cock was rock hard and he broke a dozen traffic laws getting out of Golden Gate Park. He passed the parking lot where she'd ridden him doggy-style, and a drop of precome emerged on the head of his dick.
At this rate, he wasn't even going to make it to her place. He raced up her steps and rang her doorbell, feeling like a kid on Halloween, with Melissa as the candy.
The building door buzzed open, and when he got to her apartment door he barely let her open it before his mouth was on hers and he was kissing her as if he hadn't seen her for weeks.
When he finally let her catch her breath, she said, "I was just putting together something to eat. I thought you might be hungry."
He nodded, following her into the kitchen, one hand threaded through hers. His stomach growled, but it would have to wait.
She looked up at him. "That was pretty wild tonight, wasn't it?"
He nodded, forcing himself to reply, trying not to be such a sexed-up ogre. "Wild."
"I can't believe we did that," she said, and it finally occurred to him that she looked nervous.
He pulled her against him. "It was incredible. You're incredible."
She pressed a kiss to his lips and whispered, "Remember what you said to me this morning?"
He looked into her amber eyes. "About fucking you on the kitchen table?"
She nodded. "What are you waiting for?"
An instant later she was facedown over the kitchen table, her skirt at her hips, her sweet, round ass beckoning him. He couldn't get his pants off fast enough, could barely manage to slide on another condom.
He drove into her with an apology on his lips. He'd never started to come this fast, didn't know what was wrong with him. But she was writhing and crying out beneath him, and as he pushed down the top of her dress to cup and squeeze her breasts, he realized she was coming, too.
Melissa was any man's wet dream.
Chapter Nineteen
Dominic left early the next morning for an appointment with the Outlaws' physical therapist and she decided to head into the office to watch JP's game tapes and take notes.
Which was when she realized exactly how screwed she really was.
She'd always had a good instinct for players--even her father thought so, which was high praise-but not this time. Although JP had all the right moves, they just didn't come together into a cohesive package. Obviously he'd gotten into the pros because he was a natural athlete. But making it in the pros took a whole lot more than innate talent.
Had her father ever dealt with a situation like this? She didn't think so--but she couldn't exactly ask him. Not when she'd made a point of being able to handle everything on her own.
Maybe she'd ask Dominic tonight. He'd promised to make her dinner, and sworn that they'd actually eat it this time.
Suddenly the door was flung open.
"Have y
ou seen this yet?" her father asked in a hard voice as he waved a newspaper clipping in the air.
She frowned. "I don't know. Let me see it."
He wadded the paper into a ball and threw it at her. It was the most unprofessional thing she'd ever seen him do. Holding on to the tenuous thread of her pride, she fished it out from beneath a row of chairs and smoothed it out. Her father flicked the light on and she blinked in horror.
Last night at a benefit for the San Francisco Aquarium, unrestricted free agent JP Jesse told us that his new agent is "one hot babe." Which begs the question: Exactly how close is the lovely agent with her new client?
Angered by her father's low opinion of her taste in men, she said coldly, "JP is my client. That's all. I'll talk to him about watching his mouth."
"I don't want to see something like this in the press about one of my agents ever again. Understood?"
"Understood."
Her father was right, and she'd been skating on thin ice with Dominic for too long. She had to decide between being with Dominic and being his agent. Given that Dominic didn't want to be her "real" boyfriend, the choice was easy. Now she just had to tell him that they were through.
A few hours later, she knocked on Dominic's front door. Opening it, he kissed her as if he were dying of thirst and she was water. Following him into the kitchen, her heart in her throat due to what she had to say, she noticed that he had a faint limp. One of the hardest-working guys on the Outlaws, Dominic pushed himself every day, both on-season and off.
"How was practice today?"
He pulled ingredients out of his stainless steel Sub-Zero refrigerator. "A bitch. Like always." He grinned. "You want to know what got me through?"
She had a sinking feeling that whatever he said was only going to make it harder for her to break things off.
He pulled her against him. "Thinking about the next time I take you, someplace you aren't expecting to make love. The way you're going to have to swallow your moans of pleasure so no one in the next room hears how hard you're coming."
She swallowed hard. Just as he leaned in to kiss her, she said, "I watched JP's game tapes today."
Dominic stiffened and released her. She hated how cold she felt without his heat. "What'd you think?" "I'm not--"
Her purse started vibrating on the counter. She unzipped it and reached for her cell phone, checking the caller ID.
"It's JP." She was pleased at how furiously Dominic started to chop the celery as she clicked her phone open.
"Ms. McKnight?"
She rolled her eyes. At least he wasn't calling her babe anymore.
"You're not on a hot date tonight, are you?"
She glanced up at the gorgeous man standing five feet away, busily preparing a gourmet dinner for her. She most certainly was.
"No, I'm not."
"Good," JP said, sounding like a little kid who'd just been given his favorite treat. "I need your help with a very important decision."
"What is it?" With a guy like JP, it could be which shirt to wear.
"I'll tell you when you get here," he said.
The signal went dead and she held her phone away from her ear and stared at it.
"What's the little punk need now?" Dominic asked.
She shook her head. "I don't know. But evidently it's urgent."
Dominic looked her in the eye. "Don't go."
More than anything, she wanted to stay here with Dominic. But she couldn't do that. She had to tell him they were through. Done. Over.
Yet she couldn't spit it out yet; everything in her heart rebelled against it. She'd tell him soon.
"I have to go."
"Stay," he urged, moving toward her.
But if she let him touch her, she'd never be able to get away. And once she was naked in his bed, she'd never be able to tell him to get lost. Soon someone in the business would find out about them and share their dirty little secret with the world. JP would demand a new agent because he was pissed at her for not showing up, and it all added up to one thing: nothing. If he touched her, she'd be left with nothing. No hot sex and no clients.
"He's my client. He needs me."
Dominic snarled. "He needs a babysitter."
"Then that's what I need to be." She threw the door open and practically ran down the hall to the elevator, and pressed the red button over and over. She really needed to stop leaving Dominic's condo like this.
When Melissa got out of the cab at JP's house, she was surprised to see several cars parked in his huge driveway. Suddenly she wondered if she was being played.
JP's front door was partially open and she walked in without knocking. Several very thin girls with fake breasts and tight, skimpy clothes were lounging in the living room, and they glanced at her dismissively. Melissa pulled her shoulders back. She was proud of her curves. Apart from sheer genetics, she enjoyed food too much to ever look like these women.
JP appeared at the top of the stairs. "My number-one woman is finally here!"
This was why she never dated guys her own age; they were so immature.
"Come upstairs," he said.
"Do you need us, too?" one of the other women asked in a breathy voice.
JP grinned at his harem. "Why don't you girls play a little strip Twister while you wait for me?"
Melissa nearly burst out laughing when the girls actually started rooting through JP's things for the game.
She followed JP down the hall to his bedroom.
"I had that bed specially made," he boasted.
"Great." Fatigue washed through her. It had been a long week. "What do you need, JP?"
He led her into an enormous walk-in closet. "I want a big endorsement this year."
She nodded. "I'm going to get you one. As soon as we find a team." A player like Dominic was an easy sell to advertisers. He was a good-looking guy who consistently won games and stole women's hearts. JP, for all his talent, might be a mere flash in the pan. Advertisers weren't willing to shell out the big bucks on a guy who might not be playing next season.
"Since I'm here, you and I might as well have a little talk."
JP flipped through a dozen identical black shirts. "Whatever you have to say is what I want to hear."
She said firmly, "JP, you need to get serious about your playing, about the reality of your prospects."
He shot her a glance. "I thought that was your job."
She nodded. "It is, but you need to help me out by keeping your mouth shut." She handed him the newspaper clipping. "I'm not your 'babe.' I'm your agent."
He cocked his head. "But I meant this as a compliment."
"I appreciate that, JP," she said in a softer tone, "but it makes us both look bad."
He looked at her with respect. "I like that you're willing to come over here on a Friday night and tackle my ass. And actually, I was wondering about your friend."
"Alice?"
His face lit up. "I can't figure her out. And I like a woman I can barely keep up with."
Oh? Judging by the women downstairs, what JP really liked were women he could run mental circles around.
"You think she'd come out with me tonight?"
"No."
He looked at her like a puppy she'd just kicked. "Call her. Ask her."
"She's busy." Melissa lied to protect her friend.
His face fell. "If you say so." He started taking off his clothes.
"What are you doing?" she asked, taking a step backward.
"Going out. I need you to help me figure out what to wear."
"I'm afraid that's something you'll have to figure out yourself. I'll give you some privacy," she said, furious with him for dragging her over to his house for no reason.
As she left, he said, "I want you to come out with me tonight so we can get to know each other."
"Okay." He'd readily accepted her criticism, and now it was her turn to give a little. Even though she had a sixth sense that nothing good could come of this outing.
As she
waited in the living room with the giggly groupies, she wondered if anything had happened between Alice and JP last night. Unable to find Alice at the aquarium, Melissa had taken a cab home from the party. And her friend hadn't answered her cell phone all day. Melissa desperately hoped Alice hadn't pinned any romantic dreams on JP: He was a player through and through.
Alice and JP would never work. Just like she and Dominic never would, either.
Chapter Twenty
Dominic couldn't remember the last time a woman had walked out on him. When he wanted a woman, he got her. Even as the years went by, he'd never felt threatened by the younger players, on the field or off. If a woman wanted to be with some young hotshot she could twist around her finger with a sexy glance, Dominic wasn't interested.
Melissa had never been that kind of girl. As far as he knew, she'd never dated an athlete, and certainly not one of her father's players. And she didn't sleep around.
Just the thought of another guy seeing her naked made Dominic see red. She was his.
He threw their dinner into the trash. JP had called only to fuck with her. Didn't she realize that? He didn't need business advice; he just wanted to get under her skirt.
Dominic yanked a paper towel off the roll so hard that the stainless steel holder broke away from the wall. He had to save her. Had to bring her back where she belonged: with him.
Dominic grabbed his keys and headed for the garage. It didn't matter what her father was going to say; it didn't matter than his practices had gone from okay to crap after two sleepless nights of loving her. It didn't even matter that he did risky-ass things when he was with her, that he was powerless to stop himself from having sex in locker rooms and empty buildings and construction sites.
She was his.
And he refused to let her go.
Guys like JP were religious about their Friday-night partying. Whatever that punk needed from Melissa wouldn't take longer than an hour--which gave Dominic time to buy her flowers.
There hadn't been a lot of wooing yet, and he wanted to change that. He wanted her to know that he cared about her beyond their explosive sexual connection. He wanted her to know that she was unlike any woman he'd ever known. Melissa was soft and warm, yet filled with an inner strength that he wasn't certain she fully recognized.
All at once, he could see her with their children-- a big crew of boys and girls with her wide laugh and expressive eyes. She'd been right there in front of his eyes for so many years--how had he managed to miss her?