by Skye Warren
The neckline of my black dress was cut low, and my breasts were on display for the first time in a long while.
“That’s nowhere near as scandalous as you think it is,” Tiana said. “Trust me, if you see what some other girls are wearing these days, you’ll feel like a nun.”
“So you think he’ll take me seriously?” I said, doing a twirl to show her the back of the dress.
“I think he’ll take that ass seriously,” she replied. “Damn, it looks good.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I’ve been doing a lot of lunges lately.”
“Yeah, I can tell. Anyway, don’t worry, you’ll knock him dead, and hopefully get some good quotes along the way. You better head off now, though, or you’ll be late. I’m going to head home and Skype with my parents.”
“Aren’t you coming with me?” I asked.
She shook her head. “You’re the one he invited. I don’t think he wants me tagging along.”
I sighed and nodded as I picked up my coat. “Okay. Wish me luck.”
“You don’t need it, but good luck!”
Twenty minutes later, I was back at the stadium, and I teetered on my black heels as I headed toward the party, trying to avoid slipping in any ice. The celebrations were being held in one of the big media rooms which stood on the far right side of the stadium, and when I arrived, I saw that the room had been transformed into a rocking Christmas party setting. It was the right blend of naughty and nice—tinsel and holly decorations along with an open bar and female dancers dressed in tiny elf outfits, grinding their hips to the pumping bass of the music.
Sprigs of mistletoe hung haphazardly from the ceiling, and I saw a North Stars player passionately kissing a partygoer under one of them, groping her ass with one hand as the other crept up her skirt. It looked like Santa was going to have an easy time finding the naughty boys and girls this year—all he had to do was come to the stadium and walk into this party.
I caught sight of Dane only seconds later. He was sitting alone on a black leather couch on the far side of the room, and I smiled as I saw him shake his head and bar someone from sitting next to him. “Sorry, this seat is taken,” I heard him say to the person as I drew closer.
“Hi, Mr. Christ…er, I mean Dane,” I said as I stepped up to him, pasting on my best confident smile and failing miserably at actually being confident.
“Hey, Lara, glad you made it,” he said, revealing his teeth in a dazzling white smile. “Wow, you look amazing.”
“Thank you.”
For a moment I wondered if Tiana had been right earlier. Maybe Dane wanted more than just an easygoing interview. After all, he’d picked me out of the crowd of reporters and invited me to a party, and the way his eyes were roaming over me now filled my mind with all sorts of sinful ideas.
Then again, he had a reputation as a ladies’ man. He probably didn’t mean to flirt; it was probably just second nature to him.
“Come, sit! I’ll grab you a drink,” he said.
“Oh, I’m fine.”
“It’s just eggnog. It’s pretty weak,” he replied.
I smiled and nodded. “All right, then. Just one.”
He returned to the couch a moment later, holding two cups, and he handed one to me. “There you go.”
“Thanks,” I replied, taking a quick sip and savoring the custardy flavor. “This is good.”
“Yeah. So are you okay with an informal interview right here?”
“Sure. Let me just get my phone out to record you,” I said, disappointed as I realized I’d been correct a moment ago. He hadn’t been flirting with me—he wanted to get this interview started as soon as possible without wasting time on idle chatter with me.
I started out with the basic questions, like where he was born, where he went to college, and how he decided on football as a career. It was surprisingly easy to talk to him despite how nervous he made me, and as we chatted and laughed together, I found myself wondering why he’d never done interviews with anyone else. He clearly didn’t have any issues talking to people.
Or it’s just that he has no issue talking to you in particular, the devil on my shoulder said. I brushed the thought aside. I’d already established that he wasn’t flirting with me, and I didn’t want to get my hopes up only to be disappointed later.
“So what’s it like playing a Christmas Eve game?” I asked. “Wouldn’t you all rather be at home with your families?”
Dane shrugged. “Some of the guys on the team probably would, sure, but for the rest of us, the game is our life. And it’s like that for our most devoted fans, too. If they have no problem putting their hats and scarves on and coming out to watch us play the night before Christmas, then why should we deny them a game?”
“That’s a nice way of putting it,” I said with a smile.
“What about you?” he asked. “What brought you to a game on Christmas Eve?”
I sighed. “Well, my sister is on the other side of the country, and my parents are vacationing in Bermuda to escape the cold. So I’ll pretty much be spending Christmas by myself.”
When I actually said it loud, it made me feel glummer than ever. What could be worse than spending Christmas day alone?
“What about your boyfriend?” Dane asked. I could’ve sworn his right hand crept a little closer to my thigh as he spoke.
“No boyfriend. Not since last Christmas, actually,” I replied.
“Can I ask why?”
“I caught my ex sleeping with the neighbor when I got home early to start wrapping his gifts. Apparently he was more interested in wrapping his arms around her instead,” I said, before mentally kicking myself for revealing so much. This interview was meant to be about him, not me.
Dane frowned. “Shit, I’m so sorry. That’s awful. Are you okay now?”
“Yes, I’m fine,” I said softly, looking down at my lap as I tried to count how many days it’d been since I was last intimate with a man.
Too many.
“You know not all guys are like that, Lara.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“There’s definitely someone out there for you,” he continued. “Maybe even someone sitting right next to you,” he added in a low voice.
My face turned hot as I realized he was actually flirting with me, and I abruptly changed the subject before I melted into a puddle on the couch.
“What about you?” I asked. “Who are you spending Christmas with?”
“No one. My family’s back in California, and I didn’t have time to fly back and see them, given the game schedule for tonight. So I’ll be all alone for Christmas too.”
“Oh, that’s a shame.”
He gave me a wry smile. “It is what it is.”
“Well, speaking of California, can we talk about your old team and the trade?” I asked, hoping my segue wasn’t too shameless.
“Sure. You want the whole story, I assume.”
I nodded. “I did a bit of Googling before I got ready for this party, and you were the top pick for the Brawlers last year. You had an amazing debut, not to mention your stellar college career….so what on earth happened?”
He looked at me, a smile playing on his lips. “You know, I like how you didn’t dance around that question. I’ve had other reporters try to ask me in really roundabout ways when they requested interviews with me, and honestly, it’s insulting. I’m not going to curl up in a ball and cry just because someone asks why I got traded. Truth is, I fucked up and I know it. All I can do is try to get better.”
“Could you expand on that?”
“I got too cocky after my first few games. Started slipping. From there it was like I was in a tailspin. I’d worry about fucking up again, and that nervous energy would ensure I did fuck up again. Vicious circle, you know.”
“I see.”
“So by the end of the season, I had a sinking feeling that I was gonna get traded. And I did. But I’m glad I got given the opportunity to start tonight for my new team. I plan on tryi
ng my best to lead us to many wins, and I also plan on trying my best to make up for the crappy run I had last year. I’m not going to let one bad season get me down. Yeah, I threw a lot of interceptions last year, but you know what? There’s only one way to never throw one.”
“What’s that?”
“If you never throw the ball at all. Of course, never throwing it in order to avoid an interception also means never succeeding. And I don’t want that. I want to try. I want to get better.”
“That’s a good attitude to have. I think the North Stars are lucky to have you,” I said. I meant every word.
“You mean you think they’ll be thanking their lucky North Stars for recruiting me?” he said with a chuckle. “Sorry, that was a terrible joke.”
I grinned. “I’ve heard worse.”
We kept talking football for another twenty minutes, and when I’d run out of sports-related questions, I moved onto general lifestyle questions, like which neighborhood he lived in, which restaurants were his favorite, and so on.
“How are you adjusting to the weather here? It must be hard, given that you come from somewhere so warm,” I said.
Dane’s lips quirked up in a smile, and his hand crept onto my left hand as he replied. “Well, it’s fucking freezing here,” he said, moving his other hand over my phone so that he wasn’t being recorded anymore. “But luckily, I’ve met a beautiful woman who might be able to help warm things up for me.”
I gulped as I felt my cheeks turn fiery-hot again. “Excuse me,” I squeaked, flustered. I needed to take a break from being this close to him in case I lost all self-control and leapt on him right here on this couch. “I need to use the bathroom.”
Dane looked a little disappointed, but he smiled anyway and gestured to the other side of the room. “Sure, it’s over there.”
I went and splashed my face with some cool water, my mind racing. Could I really do this? Could I take a famous football player home? I knew if Tiana was here, she’d be vehemently encouraging me to do it, but I wasn’t so sure. I only just met the guy. On top of that, he had a reputation as a player. I’d already spent last Christmas having my heart shattered by an asshole player….so did I really need to set myself up for more disappointment by sleeping with someone who might not speak to me ever again once he got what he wanted?
On the other hand, the sensual side of my brain was begging me to do it. You deserve a good lay, and what better guy to do it with than a hot as hell NFL player? Plus, you already know he wants you…he’s made that pretty damn clear.
I looked at myself in the mirror and gave myself a confident nod as the naughty part of my brain won out. I could do this. I could take Dane home. He was right earlier—not all men were pricks like my ex, and so far, he seemed perfectly nice. He hadn’t given me any reason to distrust him, and until he did, I had no real reason to reject him.
Until a reason practically fell in my lap. Or his, to be more specific.
As I headed out of the bathroom and back into the party, I was stunned to see Dane getting what appeared to be a lap dance from one of the scantily-clad female ‘elves’. His hands were on her hips as she gyrated on him, and my stomach lurched. Wow. I walked away for just four minutes and this was what happened? I guess he didn’t want me as much as he’d insinuated, and four minutes was all it took for him to find some other girl to take home for a Christmas quickie.
Ho, ho, ho…literally. The gossip sites had been right all along—he was a man-ho playboy.
He might love to play games, but I didn’t, and I wasn’t going to let him play me. I had everything I needed to put together a decent interview article without speaking to him again, so with one last glance over my shoulder at Dane and his elf, I turned on my heel and swept out of the party.
As I strode out into the parking lot two minutes later, I was reminded of my poor decision to wear high heels as I slipped in a patch of ice. I immediately skidded and fell backwards, and my heart pounded with terror in that split-second as I screamed, knowing my head was about to meet hard asphalt.
“Aargh!”
Chapter 4
Dane
“Dane, c’mon, you deserve a special Christmas treat after that performance on the field tonight.”
A skinny, tanned woman in a revealing elf costume stood in front of me, one leg up on the couch as she attempted to convince me to take her home.
“Sorry, I’m actually here with someone,” I replied, waving a disinterested hand at her.
“I’m not taking no for an answer,” she slurred, giggling and climbing onto my lap. She grabbed at my crotch as she began to gyrate in a drunken lap dance. “Looks like Santa has a big package for me this year.”
“Hey, I said I’m not interested!” I said, grabbing her by the hips in order to get hold of her and move her off me.
She pouted and slid onto the other side of the sofa, and I looked up to see Lara rushing out of the room. Shit. She must’ve seen me with the drunk woman on my lap and gotten the wrong impression. I’d shut the woman down as soon as I could, but it wasn’t like I could’ve manhandled her and roughly thrown her off me. I wasn’t like that; I wouldn’t hurt a woman no matter how much she was pissing me off by trying to hit on me.
Lara probably hadn’t seen it that way, because from her vantage point on the other side of the room, it would’ve looked like I was getting a lap dance and feeling the woman up.
“Lara!” I called out after her as I pushed my way through the throng of merry partygoers.
I’d already lost sight of her, so I made my way to the exit, assuming she left.
I couldn’t let her get away. I’d known from the first second I saw her that she was special, and I wasn’t giving that up without a fight. I needed to see her, needed to explain myself. Needed to be with her.
I hadn’t met anyone like her in years. In the short time we’d had together for her interview, I felt like I’d already known her for months. She was easy to talk to, and she asked all the right questions without probing too far. To add to that, she seemed to really get me, and I knew she wasn’t going to trash me in her article like some other journalists might try to do for attention.
No, Lara was too good for that, and it seemed like she actually liked me for me, unlike all the other women I met who were more interested in the fantasy of sleeping with a football player—any football player, no matter who he was.
As I descended the stairs and saw her dashing out into the parking lot, I sped up, the sound of my footfall muffled by the white layer of snow that now coated some of the ground. Lara was walking awfully fast for someone in such high heels, and my heart leapt into my mouth as I saw her slip on some ice.
I doubled my speed, and before she hit the ground, I was behind her, catching her just in the nick of time. “Hey, I’ve got you,” I said, helping her back to an upright position as she trembled in my arms. “Lucky I followed you out. That could’ve been bad.”
“I…uh….thank you,” she stuttered. “It was stupid of me to wear heels tonight.”
“Yeah, well, it was stupid of me to not explain myself to you properly,” I replied. “Look, Lara, maybe I wasn’t clear enough earlier, but I invited you here because I’m interested in you. No one else.”
She raised a disbelieving eyebrow. “What about that woman on your lap?”
I explained the situation to her, and she cast her eyes down, embarrassed. “Oh. I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions.”
“I guess I can’t blame you. I know the reputation I have with all the gossip bloggers in this country.”
“I suppose. Still, I should’ve asked.”
I rubbed her arms, trying to stave off the cold. “You forgot your coat, and you’re going to freeze out here. Why don’t I get you back inside? You can have a hot cup of mulled wine to warm you up, and we can finish the interview.”
She smiled shyly. “I think I actually already know everything I need to about you,” she said softly. Then she smiled. “But I’d love
that cup of mulled wine.”
I grinned and led her back to the party, and while we waited behind two other people in the line for mulled wine, I happened to look up and notice something above us.
“Look,” I said with a grin, pointing toward the ceiling.
“Mistletoe,” Lara said, following my gaze with her gorgeous brown eyes.
“No pressure, but I think you’re legally obligated to kiss me,” I said with a grin.
She laughed.
That laugh was the main thing that sealed the deal for me and made me set my heart on claiming her once and for all. It had this rich, tinkling sound that burst through the air like sleigh bells, and it was accompanied by a pretty smile which made my heart melt and my groin ache to be closer to her.
She looked up at me, eyes sparkling with mirth. “Well, I’ve never been one to break the law. I suppose I have to do it or I’ll…”
Before she could finish her sentence, my lips crashed down on hers, taking her mouth in a possessive kiss hot enough to melt every inch of snow surrounding the stadium. Lara came up for air for just a second before grabbing each side of my face and leaning back in, kissing me with frenzied desperation. My tongue darted into her mouth to entwine with hers, and then she pulled away again.
“Forget the mulled wine,” she said breathlessly. “Take me home.”
Chapter 5
Lara
Dane fumbled with a key in his front door twenty minutes later, and I stood behind him in a firm stance, waiting with excited butterflies in my stomach. Once upon a time, I might’ve considered a guy like him to be out of my league, but I wasn’t going to back down now. Not when the endgame meant so much to me.
I had him, and he’d made that fact pretty damn clear.
He pulled me into another embrace when we entered the warmth of his spacious apartment. The contact was electrifying. As we kissed, hot and hard, Dane’s hands roamed over my body, pulling my dress down, and a rush of warmth flooded through me; one which did nothing to quell the fiery desire already burning within me.