by Julia Bright
When a text from Kady came through on her Bluetooth, Presley welcomed the interruption to her crazy thoughts and listened to the message.
“I’ll ride with you. Let’s go get Maddie tomorrow night. She’ll make us feel better. I can babysit when you have to stay late at the gym.”
Presley replied, speaking her text back to Kady. “You know me so well. I’m really a mess about this. Thank you.”
Kady replied as Presley pulled into her designated parking space out front of the apartments. “I was going to wait to tell you, but I spoke to our legal department today. I’m encouraged after talking to them. He’d have a fight on his hands if he comes after you.”
Presley put the gearshift in park and sat there thinking about that. She had so many conflicting thoughts. After a second more, she closed her eyes and dropped her forehead to her steering wheel. That one image of Roan with his eyes closed and a small smile touching his lips as he came inside her was all she saw. How could she still be thinking like that after everything she’d gone through? Dear God, she was so screwed.
Chapter Eleven
Two weeks later
This bordered insanity. Roan downshifted his sports car, trying to avoid turning the corner a little too sharply as he berated himself for his actions. No matter how he swung this in his head, Presley’s cheerleading gym wasn’t on his way home from the training facility where he worked out, unless of course a person considered a thirty-minute detour in the opposite direction from his house to be on the way home. Since he’d repeatedly made this his route home, it no doubt classified as stalking, and he seriously needed to get a grip.
Yeah, that didn’t stop him from slowly progressing toward the industrial park that held her gym. He’d done this so many times Roan had learned her business’s routine. This was day nine of the drive-bys. He hadn’t built enough courage to actually park and walk inside, but he was getting close. Just like in his younger days, his unhealthy attraction to Presley had her worming her way back inside both his head and his heart until she was all he could see. Which technically wasn’t a bad thing. Thoughts of Presley had always leveled him out, grounded him, and kept his demons at bay.
And besides all that, by God, he seriously needed some answers. He thought he knew the whole story, but…how had the whole Blaine being gay thing played out?
Roan had never doubted that Presley had picked Blaine that life-altering morning. So many times over the last couple of weeks, Roan had relived that whole scene in front of the Hilton as if it were in real time. He watched Presley smile brightly and hug each of Blaine’s parents. He watched her stand in the circle of Blaine’s arm. He saw her tilt her head to his shoulder, even reach up to kiss him. That was where he always shut those wayward thoughts down. That same instantaneous jealous streak flamed inside him.
Those were his lips to kiss, not Blaine’s. She’d given herself to Roan, then taken it all away in a matter of a few minutes.
“Stop, Westfield,” Roan muttered, trying to rein in his flare of aggression. Finding answers was a far better, more productive solution than letting this resentment continue to eat at the rocky foundation of his life.
Maybe the unwanted thoughts fueled him, but tonight, Roan grew bolder. Once and for all, this whole unstable side to his personality needed to end, and putting closure to Presley might just be the way to finally balance himself out and stay that way. God, he relished that day. For ten years, he’d reacted to life with Presley Adams at his core. For years, he’d either wanted her from afar or despised her from a distance. Her memory had turned him destructive, never giving him much peace, always lingering on the edge of his thoughts. It would be nice to be done with that chapter and find some fucking happiness again.
With that sole purpose in mind, he whipped his sports car into a parking space in front of the building. It was late. He assumed class had ended since girls were leaving out the front door of the building. Roan slipped the gearshift into first while cutting the engine. He’d seen enough in his week of drive-bys to know that was probably Presley’s car parked up front and the space beside hers was empty.
Determination pushed him. Roan got out and absently let the car door slam shut as he stared at the front door of the building. He clicked the key fob to lock the doors. With the appearance of more confidence than he actually had, he let his long stride eat up the distance to the entrance. He ignored the looks he got along the way from every single group of girls who stopped to watch him pass by. He wasn’t a hundred percent sure why they were interested in him, but he stayed focused on his goal. He had more pressing concerns running through his head as he took the couple of steps leading to the front door.
The bell hanging on the inside doorknob rattled insistently as he pulled opened the door. He walked inside and let it slam shut behind him. No one greeted him. There was a long hall decorated with team pictures and trophies, and a closed office door to one side. He tried the doorknob there and found it locked. The end of the hall opened to a large space filled with springboard mats with a wall of mirrors on the far backside. There was no air conditioning, just two large fans that were both turned off. Roan’s heart stopped in his chest when he saw Presley dressed in little more than a tricked-up sports bra and tight fitting shorts, picking up debris scattered around the floor. She had her purse slung over her back and a jacket over one arm.
Roan had seen her dressed like this hundreds of times, but it still stole his heart. Nothing had changed over the years. She was muscular and fit, maybe a little curvier, still gorgeously enticing. The unprepared-for jolt of lust had him stopping in his tracks as his mouth watered for a taste of her. His hands ached to reach out and touch her. Any contact to see if just her presence truly made everything better in his life. He took two steps forward, watching as she tossed her long ponytail out of her face. Her head cocked to the side then her beautiful blue gaze lifted and landed on him.
After all this time, she still felt like home.
Well, if home was a shocked, stunned place that stood straight and took two solid steps backward, away from him. Presley said nothing, but the litter she’d held in her palm slipped free as she raised her hand to her heart. On instinct, he took careful steps her direction. His animalistic side had found his prey, and he didn’t want to scare her away.
Struck speechless, Roan had no idea what to say, and clearly, as Presley opened her mouth only to close it again, he had completely surprised her. As if she sensed danger, Presley took another step away from him. He was compelled to take two toward her.
“I left my jacket.”
Roan hadn’t even heard anyone behind him. He tore his gaze from Presley to see the teenage girl jogging across the floor to the lockers on the other side of the gym. When she was on her way back out, it was then that she ventured a look at Presley then at Roan and slowed down. Uncertainty marred her young face. “Are you okay, Miss Adams?”
Roan turned back to Presley, waiting for her response. The girl had just given Presley her out. She could end this meeting before a word was spoken between them, but thank God, she didn’t. With effort, Presley masked her face and forced a fake smile. “I’m good, Karin. Can you twist the front door lock on your way out?”
“Yes, ma’am.” The girl didn’t immediately go. Instead, she stared at Roan for several long seconds before looking back at Presley. Then she shook her head and jogged down the hall. Presley didn’t speak until the bells rattled again.
“What are you doing here?” Presley’s tone was clipped and defensive while she stayed rooted in her spot. He decided that was a building-of-the-spine type of stance. She was prepared to stand her ground and stand up to him.
Roan started toward her, moving in long, slow strides. When he got more than halfway to her, Presley’s eyes grew wild, and she began to counter each move by stepping backward, away from him.
“Answer me. Why are you here?”
“I’m not sure,” he finally confessed and never stopped moving closer. He was such
a foolish man. Every single part of his old infatuation resurfaced. How he’d ever managed to stay away from her spoke volumes to the strength of will his anger could produce. All he wanted, more than anything in the world, was to share air space with Presley Adams.
“Please leave, Roan. We have nothing to say.” Her words came out all breathy and rushed. The heaving of her chest and feral gaze were in direct contrast to those sternly spoken words she’d just spoken.
His cock hardened, plumping as it focused on all it had ever truly wanted. “I can’t stop thinking about you, Pres. Not since I saw you.”
He stopped speaking as he got closer, and she grew frantic. Presley’s back hit the mirror, and she started to dart around him one way. Fear of losing her had him countering that move. Leaping out to stop her escape. She immediately ducked the other way. Roan tossed out an arm, keeping her in place. “Please give me a minute.”
“Then stay back there.” She lifted her hand, motioning for him to move back across the gym. His response was to reach out and grab her fingers, holding her with a firm grip. When she tried to yank her hand free, he strengthened his grasp, not letting her go. Instead, when she jerked her arm back, he moved with her, coming to within a foot of her. The simple act of touching Presley settled Roan in such a way that peace and harmony descended over him. Something he hadn’t experienced since the morning he woke with Presley in his arms.
Crowding Presley against the mirror, he watched her panicky face turn to something genuinely fearful. What would cause such a look? Presley reached out to shove him away with her other hand. When her palm made contact with his chest, she didn’t actually push him away, and Roan gently covered her hand with his as her jacket fell to the floor.
“You saw me at the stadium, didn’t you? You knew it was me.” Every emotion possible played across her face until anguish had her eyes closing, dropping her head in defeat. Intuition, not reason had him stepping fully into her, wrapping a strong arm around her back, pulling her against his body. The other hand lifted to cup her neck as his thumb caressed the tender skin underneath her ear. Her breath heaved and her heart pounded against his chest where they touched. With a ragged voice, he whispered the dreaded truth, “I’ve spent years trying to forget you. Now I know that’ll never be possible.”
What the hell was happening?
Presley willed herself to pull her shit together. She had to find perspective.
His all-male scent flooded her senses, and his touch set her body on fire. When he tightened his hold, drawing her fully against him, Roan’s hard cock ground into her belly, Presley’s brain misfired. Her knees grew weak and buckled as desire rippled throughout her body. The hand that had pushed him away now fisted into his tank, and she hung on, trying to keep herself upright. This was the man she’d given herself to and the same man she’d thought about every single day since. He had always induced so much emotion in her—fear, hate, worry, mixed with a deep unbridled passion that set her senses ablaze. Lust and desire were a heady mix that suddenly assaulted her.
Again. What the hell was happening?
Roan always messed her up, turned her into mush until all she could do was hang on and try her best to keep herself together. Presley didn’t open her eyes as she lifted her head and let the breath she held slowly escape.
“I don’t even care about the reasons anymore.” Roan’s lips touched hers, and that was all it took. On a quivered inhale, Presley opened to him, letting his tongue slide tenderly over hers. Roan made love to her mouth, kissing her with all the longing and pent-up desire she’d had hidden inside her heart for all these years. Seconds passed, maybe even minutes as he tenderly and passionately explored her mouth, guiding her by the neck, angling her head to deepen the kiss, taking everything she hadn’t wanted to give.
Breathe. She needed a breath.
The misfiring neurons made reason impossible. Gasping for air, Presley tore free of the kiss only to have a primitive moan escape her lips as Roan mouthed his way along her jaw to her ear. He roughly shoved her back against the mirrored wall. Roan’s hand fisted into her ponytail, yanking her head to the proper angle for him to thoroughly feast on her mouth. He ate at her as his hands became octopus-worthy. Wild and insistent, he shoved his fingers underneath her sports bra, pushing the material up, freeing her breasts. His determined mouth headed lower this time, fastening on one taut nipple. Not the simple exploration she remembered from the brief time they’d spent together all those years ago. No, this time he boldly, almost painfully, sucked the entire areola between his lips, his teeth nipping at her skin as his tongue laved the small bud. Shards of pleasured excitement raced along her spine. Her fingers tangled in his hair, holding him securely to her breast.
Roan dropped to his knees, shocking her beyond comprehension when he took her shorts and panties down her legs as he went. Roan built a crazed need within her. Presley reached out, grabbing his shoulder as a growl tore from Roan. He shoved her thighs apart and reached a hand in, spreading her center wide open as he pressed his head forward. Presley cried out when his tongue licked against her sensitive clit and two fingers eagerly pushed inside her soaked core.
Something unknown raced around the edges of all this unreason, begging her to pay attention. Roan hadn’t been inside this gym more than a few minutes and he was already going down on her. His hands went to the sides of her hips, arching her forward to better reach where he wanted. Presley let out a huffed moan, fighting for sanity. She had to stop this. A desperate kiss was one thing; sex was another, and Roan was the enemy.
He picked up the pace after one long swipe of his tongue and lapped at her clit while pumping a third finger relentlessly in and out of her body.
Her own fingers barely had time to run through his hair before he bolted upright and roughly ground the steel of his athletic-shorts-covered cock against her hot center. The move was so enticingly unrestrained even before Roan hovered inches from her mouth.
“I’ve craved this taste. Our taste. Taste yourself on me.”
She did and all was forgotten. Roan shoved his tongue into the farthest recesses of her mouth, branding her with their taste. It was the most erotic moment of her life. She almost missed Roan lifting her off her feet, her panties dangling around one foot as his rigid length impaled her. She had no time to do anything more than hang there, then wrap herself around Roan as he absorbed her full body weight. He was unstoppable. Roan held on tightly, pumping wildly in and out of her while Presley did little more than tighten her hold, bury her face in the crook of his neck, and ride the sensations of the moment.
His hands gripped the back of her thighs, spreading her more fully open. His movements turned frantic. He shoved her back against the mirror before releasing his grip on her legs, then he ripped her arms from the tight hold she had around his neck to pin them against the cool mirror, restraining her there as he continued the unrelenting jackhammering inside her. Presley tightened the hold her thighs had on his hips while dropping her head forward and muttering incoherent words, begging him to help find her release. Somehow, he seemed to innately understand her need.
Roan reached between their bodies, pressing a finger against her desperately needy clit, and Presley’s world exploded under his touch. Fireworks rocketed through her head as she gave everything over to the crashing orgasm that momentarily stole all her senses. She collapsed into Roan’s hold, dropping her head to his shoulder, barely able to hang on as he continued to piston in and out of her clenching core. Darkness faded the world around her.
Reality intruded, and Presley woke with a start, jerking awake from Roan’s heavy breath coating her face. He held her cheeks between his palms, his gaze searching her face and his body trapping hers against the mirror. Uncertainty more than anything had her looking around and trying to figure out what in the hell just happened. Her body was nothing more than a bundle of overly sensitive nerves. They were still in the gym, and Roan held her suspended. She didn’t seem to have working arms and legs.
Neither of them moved as she took inventory of her body.
Shit.
He had come inside her. The sensation between her legs revealed that truth. A pestering thought that she shouldn’t have done this entered her mind, but for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why and slowly closed her eyelids again as she sank into his embrace.
Maddie!
The earth’s rotation stuttered, abruptly dropping her back into reality. Presley’s eyes popped open. Roan’s searching expression froze as whatever he saw on her face caused a mask to descend over his stupidly handsome face, removing all emotion as she immediately started to struggle to be set free of his hold.
How could this be the first time she’d thought of her daughter?
Roan tried to be gentle with her. He held her at least a foot off the ground, but she wasn’t having any of his kindness. The struggle was real, causing her to fall to her knees and scamper toward her forgotten Soffe shorts.
“We shouldn’t have done this.” She tried to shove one foot through the hole of her shorts, but missed the opening. “Oh God! You didn’t use a condom. Not again. Oh my God, Roan. Why did you do this?” She tried again, then again until she managed both feet inside the shorts. “You were such a huge jerk and I hate you and I did that again with you. God! What’s wrong with me?” Presley jumped to her feet, tugging her shorts on then desperately reached for her purse and jacket on the floor nearby.
A true panic set in. She couldn’t have been more reckless. How could she have let this happen again? More unsettled than ever before, Presley needed space between them as the gravity of her actions stole her senses, made her skittish as her body began to tremble all over.
On unsteady feet, Presley scurried away from Roan, putting distance between them as he slowly pulled up his athletic shorts, tracking her every move.