by Violet Paige
I pulled a pillow to my chest. “I don’t think I can watch.”
“The Warriors are the favorites to win. Stop worrying. He is going to kick ass today.”
I somehow managed to let the pillow drop low enough so I could see over the edge. Luke was on the field. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He looked powerful. In command. Strong and confident. I held my breath until he took the snap.
And then it was as if all my worries faded as I let the air from my lungs. He was faster than the defense. He was smarter than the other team. He knew how to outstep them. In a split second the ball was out of his hands and soaring down field. It landed in the arms of one of the Warrior receivers.
Helena gleamed at me. “See? He’s fine.”
I nodded with a smile. “He is.”
My shoulders relaxed. The jitters eased. My fears weren’t Luke’s. He didn’t look terrified. Nothing around him fazed him. He ruled that field.
“Are we having wine at this party or what?”
“Oh sorry.” There was a time out on the field for a referee review. “What would you like?”
“Whatever you’re drinking.”
I stopped. Was I drinking? It was absurd not to. I’d already decided the chance of me being pregnant was only my runaway tendency to worry taking over. But there was that thought in the back of my head. What if I was? What if I was carrying Luke’s baby and getting ready to douse it in wine?
“I’ll find something,” I offered.
I had filled Helena in on what happened with Luke—everything except the broken condom. It was the one piece of the story I had deliberately left out.
I looked through my liquor cabinet to see what I could concoct. I pulled out the cranberry juice, vodka, and spritzer. In one glass I added vodka. In the other I doused an extra splash of the spritzer. There. She’d never know I wasn’t drinking.
I returned just as the game came back from commercial.
“Here you go.” I handed her the tall Cosmo.
“Oh, yummy.” She took a sip. “Delish.”
“Good.” I wiggled back onto my spot on the couch.
The Warriors won the dispute and Luke had the ball again. His eyes were narrowed in concentration.
I’d never felt such a rush before watching football. I think it made me miss him more.
There was a deep pang in my chest and an ache in my core. I curled into a ball. I was glad Helena was here, but I wanted Luke. I wished I could be there with him after the game.
“So, we haven’t even talked about tomorrow.”
“What do you mean?” I was trying to focus on the next play.
“The Country Year Awards are going to be announced and you aren’t even batting an eyelash about them.”
Someone crossed over the line and grabbed a fistful of Luke’s jersey. I jerked to the edge of the couch. He had thrown the ball before the defender got to him. He was fine. Yelling enough curse words to fill a sailor’s bible, but fine.
I turned to her. “I’m not hung up on that stuff. You know that.”
“Yeah, but Jake is.”
“Can we not talk about him?”
I didn’t want my good mood to sour.
“Sorry.”
“It’s ok. He and I aren’t on the best of terms right now and it’s going to be a long time before he forgives me for spending an extra day in Austin. All he can talk about is how my image has taken a hit from being seen with Luke. I’m tired of hearing about it.”
“And you can’t tell him that?” Helena always wanted me to stand up to Jake, but she didn’t know the full story.
“No.” I lowered my eyes and voice together. “It’s complicated with Jake.”
“Oh look, they’re going for it.” Helena’s eyes darted to the TV.
We both jumped from the couch when we saw Luke rear back and throw the ball to the other end of the field. That had to be at least forty yards, but I wasn’t paying attention. All I saw was his form. His body. His touchdown.
Helena reached in the air for a high-five. I giggled.
My crush was bad. So so bad.
22
Luke
The locker room was always fucking loud, but after a win like tonight, we might as well have been in the middle of a mosh pit. I couldn’t hear the guy next to me. We had crushed the them. We ran up the score, and I didn’t give a shit.
I had proved a point tonight. The Warriors needed me—no matter what my image was. They could fuck off.
“Canton, going out for drinks with us?”
I eyed the rookie tight end. He had done his job. When it came to clutch time, James had been solid.
The locker room already smelled like a fucking brewery. I thought about grabbing a few beers with the guys, and then I thought about stumbling home alone. I’d walk into the ranch. Dark. Cold. Empty.
I could do what I usually did after a game. Find a piece of ass that wanted to fuck me. A girl who knew I wouldn’t call her tomorrow. A girl who wanted to get her claws in me as long as I put my cock in her.
But I didn’t want that.
“Maybe I’ll see you out there.”
I knew I wasn’t going to a bar. I wasn’t going to hook up. I wasn’t taking a stranger home. There was only one person I wanted to spend tonight with.
“I’ll text you,” James offered.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
I didn’t care that my body was sore and bruised. I didn’t care tomorrow was a rest day. It had been four days since I had seen Alexa and that was four days too long.
I grabbed my bag and walked out of the tunnel. I had press to do, but as soon as I was done I was headed to the airport.
It was dark by the time I pulled into the windy driveway. I looked around expecting to see a guard gate, but I had to remind myself this was Nashville. I was in the country. Not everyone had the kind of access I did to tracking down Alexa’s address.
I hoped she at least had a security system. She needed to be careful. There were crazy fans out there. People who could show up here. I needed to talk to her about adding some level of security.
I climbed the wide steps, noticing the swing on the wraparound porch. I pushed the button for the doorbell. Small flames flickered in gaslight lamps on the porch. The place had the right amount of charm, but I could definitely tell a woman lived here. I’d never have a swing or copper lamps.
The door cracked slightly and then I heard a squeal before it opened wide.
“What are you doing here?”
I picked her up in my arms. “Surprise visit.”
My mouth covered hers in hungry pursuit of her lips. I growled, sucking them and holding her close to my body. Her lips parted as my tongue twisted along hers with dominate strokes.
Her legs wrapped around my waist and I pressed her into the closest wall, grinding into her.
“Oh God, this is the best surprise,” she whispered between kisses.
“I thought so.” I dipped to the V at the base of her throat.
She was wearing cutoff shorts that rode up the curves of her ass. My fingers dug into her skin.
“I can’t believe you’re here. I just saw you on TV.”
“You watched the game?”
She nodded. “All the way to the end,” she moaned when my teeth took her earlobe with a rough nip. “And that turn over …,” she moaned.
“Keep talking football to me, baby.”
“The touchdowns. I loved the touchdowns.”
“Fuck, say touchdown again.”
“Touchdown.” Her voice was laced with raspy seduction.
Too fucking hot.
“I was happy you won.”
“Me too.”
I had to get her out of these clothes. I had to feel her. Taste her. Touch her. Fuck her senseless. My cock hardened. I wanted to be inside this girl more than I’d wanted anything.
“Do you want me to guess where your bed is?” I asked, squeezing her bottom urgently. “Or should I fuck you here?”
She sucked in for air. God, she was so dirty. So horny. So fucking perfect. She was thinking what I was. The bed was too many steps to walk. I turned and deposited her on a round table in the foyer, gripping the band of those tiny shorts.
I dragged them over her hips and off her thighs. Her hands wrapped around my neck, drawing me back to her lips.
“Fuck me here,” she pleaded.
“Oh, I am, baby. I was only asking to be polite.” I grinned wolfishly.
I slid her panties to the side enough to push my fingers inside her soaking entrance. I growled. Fuck.
She whimpered when I withdrew them and reached in my back pocket for a condom. I’d put one there as soon as I packed my bag at the ranch, anticipating this exact moment. I shed the jeans, and shoved my boxer briefs to my ankles. Alexa sighed at the sight of my cock bobbing along with my throbbing ache. I rolled the condom on. I hadn’t forgotten what I promised her. One day I was doing this without one of these damn things.
I yanked the T-shirt over her head, smiling at her perky breasts. I licked each one while I nestled my cock between my legs and with a solid thrust I buried myself inside her.
Her heels dug into my ass as she screamed out. I planted my palms on the table, driving into her again. It was fucking nirvana being inside this girl. She was tight. She was wet. She was hotter than a roaring fire.
She looked sexier than fuck with the tatters of her panties clinging to her hips while my cock pulsed in and out of her.
“You’re fucking gorgeous, baby.” I cradled her face, sucking a kiss from her lips.
“Ohh, God. You don’t know what you do to me, Luke.”
I pushed deep inside her. “I think I do.” I squeezed a nipple between my fingers and twisted slightly until she cried out. “It’s what you do to me.”
“Ahh, please. I want more.”
My spine tingled and seized. I was ready to come. Ready to fuck her hard.
I picked her up, she wrapped her body around me. I kissed her, inhaled her, devoured her, roaming her halls. Stopping every few steps to slam into her the wall with my cock.
“Oh, fuck, Luke.” Her hands splayed in convulsive quickness. I pumped a few times, knowing I was reaching my peak, before I peeled her off the wall and took a few more steps.
I had no idea where I was in the house. We weren’t talking. We were fucking. I wanted to sear my cock inside her pussy. I wanted her to know Luke Canton didn’t fly a thousand miles just for anyone. He didn’t do shit like this.
I was here because I wanted her.
23
Alexa
Luke turned down another dark hall. I couldn’t see his expression, but I could feel his hands clutch my ass before he shoved me against another wall and drove into me with an explosive thrust of blinding ecstasy. Every time I felt his muscles go rigid as if his release was about to be uncaged, he would hold off, showing more restraint than I had. Luke was in complete control. I never knew when the next wave was coming. It was dark and he was unpredictable.
I didn’t care what room we found. I only cared that he kept pumping in and out of me like this. Like he missed me. Like he couldn’t wait to be with me again. Like he was trying to tell me we belonged to each other.
My hands tangled in his hair. He stopped again and I felt the tip of his cock pull out before he reared back and slammed into me.
“Fuck, Alexa,” he growled.
“Oh, God.” It was building. We were throwing gasoline on a fire. A fire that wasn’t going to be satisfied tonight, or any other night.
He kicked a door open. I half-opened an eye to see that we were in the game room. It was one of the rooms my designer insisted I needed as a celebrity. I never came in here. It was a complete waste of money.
“What’s in here?” he asked.
“Game stuff,” I answered roughly. “It’s a play room for fun.”
His eyebrow waggled. Ok, maybe it was a complete waste of money to a girl. Luke liked the idea.
He peered into the darkness until he spotted what he was looking for.
I followed his stare as he carried me toward the custom made pool table with my logo embellished in the center. Every one of the balls had L W stamped on them.
“I like your table.” I shivered when his teeth grazed over my shoulder.
I could barely speak. I had no idea what he was planning.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“I’m going to love fucking you on it too.”
I sighed. I was aching for my release. For the orgasm that would rip through me with electric force and current. Every time he whispered in my ear, I wanted it more. I wanted to know where he could take me. What new plane my body would reach when Luke pushed me to test my sexual limits.
He never hesitated. And when I was with him I didn’t either.
My bottom hit the wooden border and he stepped back with a grin.
“Go on, baby.”
I looked in his eyes before I turned and crawled to the center of the table. I looked down at the swirly L and W. I was almost dripping with arousal for him. He’d fucked me through most of the house and now we were getting ready to blow the lid off the roof.
The table creaked as he climbed on behind me.
“So fucking hot.” He cupped my breast, raking his fingers over my sides and over the roundness of my bottom. “The sweetest pussy ever. You know that?”
I whimpered with want. He wasn’t touching me anywhere and I felt as if half of me were missing. I needed to feel him. I loved his body. His hands. His mouth.
“I flew here tonight because I missed this.” I felt his lips land on my lower back. “I’ve never missed anyone, Alexa.”
I dared to look over my shoulder. I couldn’t help it. I needed a connection with him.
“I missed you too,” I whispered.
His hands coasted down my thighs, prying my legs farther apart. It was almost here. The release. The spiral of bliss. The heat of his body burning inside of mine. My nipples perked and pebbled. My core twitched. My clit thrummed with pain.
My eyes locked on his as he nudged the head of his cock between my wet folds.
“What have you done to me?” he growled.
“The same thing you’ve done to me,” I answered.
Whatever it was between us, it was the same. I couldn’t think without him. I couldn’t breathe until he was in my space again, and my body sure wasn’t alive unless he was touching me.
“Who do you belong to?” His strong hands adhered to the contour of my waist, dragging my ass backward.
“You,” I moaned. “Please, Luke. Please fuck me.”
My nipples hurt. I wiggled toward him, but he had a constraining grip on me.
“Come with me,” he groaned. “Come on my cock so hard I can feel you.”
My eyes never left his as he slammed into me. One. Two. Three times and we both convulsed and shattered in violent jerks. He pulsed and surged, filling me, stretching me and I shook with complete abandon, letting the orgasm undo me.
My hips pushed into him harder. I sucked him inside me, begging him to take every space in my body and my soul. He had me. I was his. And he was mine.
“Oh, fuck, baby.” He kissed my neck and we collapsed together on the pool table.
I rested against his chest.
“I’m so happy you’re here,” I whispered. “Impulsive is hot.” My breathing hadn’t returned to normal.
He pressed his lips to my forehead. “Me too. I have to fly out tomorrow night to make it back for Tuesday practice.”
“I don’t want to think about that yet.”
We stretched our legs out to the end of the pool table. It was funny looking at the rest of the room from here.
“Think you can hide a six five QB for an entire day?” he teased.
“If by hiding, you mean keep you in my bed all day, then the answer is yes.” I giggled. I felt incredible.
“I get it if you have to go to the studio.” He drew
a circle over my navel and I wondered what he was thinking about.
“I can call in sick,” I volunteered. “I can be spontaneous too.”
“I’m not asking you to miss work.”
“I know you aren’t. But when am I going to see you again?”
He shook his head. “I’m on the road next weekend. I can’t do this again for a few weeks.”
My heart sank. It wasn’t the answer I wanted to hear. How was I going to handle weeks without him?
“Maybe I can go to one of your games,” I suggested.
He readjusted under me so he could see my face. “You want to meet me on the road?”
I nodded. I was positive. “Yes.”
“How are we going to keep this out of the press if you travel with me?”
I bit my lower lip, trying to sort through the logistics. “Ok. What if I fly out ahead of time to … where are you playing next?”
“San Francisco.”
I shook my head. That wouldn’t work.
“After that we play the Sharks in DC.”
“DC? That’s close. Ok. I can find one of my charities or something and go out on Saturday. And I can take in the game Sunday in a box. A dark box,” I added. “We’ll meet in a hotel after the game. We’ll at least have the night together.”
“You’re more conniving than I thought. I’m impressed. There’s more naughty girl in there still.” He grabbed my ass and pulled me on top of him.
I relaxed into him, relishing the firm muscles and security of his body.
“I can be really naughty,” I teased.
“You keep proving that.”
The pool table was starting to get uncomfortable. “Want to watch the late game?” I asked.
“You have the Wranglers on?”
I nodded. “I was trying to study up when you rang the doorbell,” I explained. “There is a TV in here, but I have more comfortable rooms in the house.” I laughed. “Want to see?”
We sat up.
“Yeah, but I’m hoping this place has as many bathrooms in it.”
“Oh, right. There’s one behind the pinball machine.” I pointed.