Managed Hearts (Players of Marycliff University, #3)

by Jerica MacMillan

  She handed the robe to Megan, who took it and swept her eyes over Hannah’s body, her gaze assessing. Megan made a little face. “It’s not great, but it’ll have to do. I’m assuming you don’t want to pose nude.” Megan looked at Hannah, her dark eyes twinkling, her lips curved in an impish smile.

  Hannah felt herself grow even warmer, but figured Megan was joking. At least mostly. She shook her head. “Uh, no, thanks. I’d rather not. This is pushing it for me.”

  Megan’s grin grew wider, and she turned to Daniel. “Alright, pants off. Let’s get you two in position.”

  Daniel grinned, a low chuckle rumbling in his chest. “Careful, Megan. You’re sounding a little porny with commands like that.”

  Megan narrowed her eyes at him, and Hannah felt herself blushing even more, the prickly heat spreading down her chest. “Watch it, Carter. You’re making your partner blush. While the pink is pretty, it’s not what we’re going for today, so cut it out.”

  Daniel’s grin didn’t falter while he stripped off his pants, leaving him in brown briefs that didn’t quite match his skin tone. Neither did they hide the bulge in the front.

  Hannah ripped her gaze from the front of his briefs, and her eyes clashed with Daniel’s, who just chuckled some more.

  “Daniel!” Megan snapped. “I told you to stop embarrassing her!”

  He just shrugged, still unrepentant. Megan came over and began arranging the way they should stand. She had Daniel stand right behind Hannah, one arm around her waist holding her close so that her whole back pushed tightly against his front. Then she had them shift their legs so that the left was more forward and had them lean forward slightly as well, so that it felt like Daniel was wrapped all around her. Hannah felt a little strange being pressed so intimately against a guy she didn’t know. This was nothing like what she’d expected.

  Megan stood back, the assessing look back in her eyes as she looked them over. With a nod, she stepped back to where her easel stood, an open sketch pad on a table next to it. “Alright, are you guys comfortable? Can you hold that position for a little while?”

  Hannah nodded, and felt Daniel speak his agreement through where her back was pressed against him. He was taller than her, but not as tall as Matt. Her head came up to his ear, and her bottom was nestled against his hips. She reached up and rubbed at a sudden itch in her nose, shifting slightly. Something twitched against her ass, and she stiffened a little in surprise, unable to help herself from shifting again. When she felt another twitch, prickly heat rushed over her from her chest up to the top of her head.

  Megan’s head snapped up. “What the hell, Daniel? Whatever you’re doing or saying that I can’t see needs to stop. She’s blushing again.”

  “I didn’t do anything!” Daniel’s arm clamped tighter around Hannah’s middle, and he bent his head a little to whisper in her ear. “Seriously. You can’t wiggle like that. I’m not trying to molest you, but you can’t expect me to keep it down with an almost naked hot chick wiggling against it, can you? Be still, and we’ll be fine.”

  “Fucking hell. Now you’re both fidgeting. Get it together, you guys.”

  Hannah couldn’t suppress the smile that came to her face while Megan muttered to herself and started sketching. “It’s a good thing I need to get the lines down first. That gives Hannah time to quit blushing like a schoolgirl before I have to mix my colors.”

  The modeling session seemed to take forever, even though it was only two hours. They calmed down quickly, and Hannah found herself growing comfortable with Daniel’s body pressed against hers and his arm around her. Megan turned on music so they weren’t just sitting there in silence. Every so often Daniel would try to start a quiet conversation with her, but Megan kept glaring at them, so he eventually stopped trying. Megan gave them a couple of breaks to move and shake the stiffness from their muscles.

  Hannah was grateful when Megan declared that their time was up. “The guys’ll be back soon if they’re not already, and Chris and I have plans, so I need to shower and change soon. Thanks so much for your help.” She handed Hannah her robe and Daniel his track pants. “Can we schedule another session? Can you guys do next Saturday at the same time?”

  Daniel groaned, adjusting the waistband of his pants. “How many sessions are you going to need, Megan?”

  She tilted her head and thought for a second. “Hopefully just one more. But I might need another after that. We’ll have to see how much we get done next time.”

  He sighed and dropped his hands at his sides. “Fine.” He narrowed his eyes and pointed a finger at her. “But you better be trying your best to get this done asap. I know how much you love looking at my body, but I’m no cheater, and you’re taken.”

  Megan laughed, slapping his hand down, and Daniel smiled again, his straight white teeth contrasting with his dark skin. Hannah could see why Megan, with her painter’s eye for color, would find such contrasts intriguing enough to devote a whole series of paintings to it. Enough for a show, from what she’d said before.

  Daniel gave Megan a friendly hug. “Same time next week works for me. You okay with that, Hannah?”

  “Yeah. I can do that.” Hannah had wrapped the robe back around herself and, even though she’d gotten more comfortable with the modeling, she was looking forward to getting her clothes back on. “Should I leave the bra and panties here or take them home?”

  “Take them home. I’ll lose them if you try to get me to keep track of them for you. You’re lucky I thought to buy some for everyone. My original plan was nude models, but Chris told me that none of the guys would go for that, and that I’d probably have a hard time finding girls who weren’t already life drawing models to pose nude too.”

  Hannah didn’t know what to say to that, so she just nodded. Daniel moved to the door and held it open for her, following her out with his shirt in his hands. A touch on her shoulder made her turn to look at him. “You busy after this? Want to go get some coffee or something?”

  Before Hannah could answer, a door opened, she heard, “What the hell?” She turned her head to see Matt standing in the doorway to the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his hips, his face thunderous. “Hannah? What are you doing here? What the hell is going on? Did he just ask you out?”

  Hannah looked back and forth between the two shirtless guys flanking her. Matt was just as chiseled as Daniel, and taller, the anger on his face making him more intimidating. She swallowed, but before she could answer any of the questions that had been thrown at her, Matt’s hand had clamped around her arm and dragged her closer to him, his stare challenging Daniel over the top of her head.

  Daniel held his hands up, palms out. “Hey, man. I had no idea.” He pulled his shirt over his head before focusing on Hannah again. “It was nice meeting you. See you next week.”

  With that, he turned and left. She could hear him talking to Chris in the living room but wasn’t paying attention, her focus now on the furious man who still had his hand on her arm and her body pulled close against his naked chest.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Matt waited until his former teammate was out of sight before turning his attention to Hannah, who appeared to be only wearing a robe. She pulled against the grip he still had on her arm, but he didn’t let her go. Instead, he pulled her behind him into his room and closed the door.

  Once inside he let her wrench her arm free, her other hand rubbing where he’d held her. Her eyes flashed green fire. “What the hell, Matt? Don’t manhandle me like that.”

  His grip on the towel wrapped around him tightened. “Would you rather Carter did the manhandling, then?” She raised her eyes from the arm she was still rubbing, and a sliver of guilt stabbed his chest, but he pushed it aside.

  “Seriously? If you’re going to act like an asshole, then, yeah, maybe I would rather hang out with Daniel. What the hell are you even doing here?”

  Matt forced himself to take a breath, calming his voice so that it dripped ice instead of fiery rage. “I
live here. Since you’ve been here to visit me most of the week, I’d have thought you would’ve known that by now.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “Watch it, Matt. I’m not stupid. Don’t treat me like I am. Megan said you were working out with Chris. I didn’t expect to bump into you on my way to get changed.”

  “What the fuck were you doing here with Carter? And why would Megan set you up with him?” The icy tone was slipping, melting back into the rage that boiled inside him. He’d never felt this possessive of anyone before, but he couldn’t help it. Seeing Carter’s hand on her had him seeing red. She was his. And he intended to make sure no one had any reason to doubt that.

  Hannah had crossed her arms over her chest and now rolled her eyes at him. “You’re the one who told me I should pose for Megan to help with her project. Daniel is the other model for the painting.” She said it like she was pointing something out to a small child.

  It was his turn to narrow his eyes at her, his nostrils flaring. “You’re posing with him?”

  Hannah chuckled, before speaking even more slowly. “Yes, Matt. I’m posing with him. I don’t get why you’re making this into a big deal. Aren’t you posing for her paintings too?”

  He stalked closer to where she stood in front of his bed, his gaze dropping to where her cleavage pushed up over her crossed arms, visible through the gap in her robe. He doubted she realized that her posture—feet apart, one hip cocked—caused the bottom of the robe to gape too, exposing more of her pale thighs, almost to the juncture of her legs. God, was she really naked under there? Had Carter seen her—touched her—naked body while they posed for Megan? His fists clenched, and he forced another deep breath at the thought. Dammit, he hadn’t even gotten to touch her naked skin yet, and now some other asshole got to have his hands all over her. And the worst part was that he had told her to agree to pose for Megan.

  “Yeah, I’m posing for her. With one of the linebackers. Wells.”

  Hannah snorted at that.

  “You think that’s funny?”

  She laughed out loud, and he stepped even closer until he could wrap an arm around her and pull her against him once more. “You think it’s funny that I’m posing with another guy, while you get naked with one of my other teammates?”

  Her laughter stopped abruptly. “Yeah, I think it’s funny you’re posing with another guy because I was imagining you posing like we were. But I wasn’t naked. Neither was Daniel.”

  Matt’s nostrils flared again. “How were you posing? Was he touching you? Did he have his hands on you? Did he see your tits?”

  Hannah drew in a sharp breath. “I told you, we weren’t naked—“

  “Bullshit, Hannah. I can tell you don’t have anything on under this robe.”

  She pushed on his chest, trying to get away, but he didn’t let her. “You don’t believe me?” The anger was back in her voice. “You think I’m lying? You wanna see what I’m wearing under this? Should I tell you how Daniel touched me? Would that make you feel better?” She pushed hard against his chest once more, almost hitting him with her determination to get free, and he abruptly let her go.

  She fell back on the bed, her legs spread, the robe gaping further. Her eyes flashed and her nostrils flared as she caught herself so she didn’t sprawl full out on the bed. Yanking on the sash, she pulled the robe open and let it fall off her shoulders. Leaving her ... in a nude bra and panty set.

  He grunted when she pulled back and punched him in the gut. That had been unexpected, but he reacted on instinct, catching her hand by the wrist. He pulled her up, taking one step back so she could stand. “How were you posing?”

  Her nostrils flared again. She was breathing hard, her face still set in lines of anger. Turning in his arms, she planted her ass against his dick, reaching back to grab his left arm and wrap it around her waist. “Like this.” She pushed back on his right foot with hers, trying to get him to step back and widen his stance. “We stood with our right legs behind our left, and he leaned us forward a little.”

  Matt pressed his chest against her back, his feelings chaotic. He relished the feeling of her bare skin against his, the long wait to get to do so now over. Jealousy roared through him that someone else had been feeling this same skin while he was off running drills and lifting weights with Chris. Desire burned in his veins, the need to claim her, to declare that she was his so that there was no room for doubt in anyone’s mind—especially hers.

  When Hannah had pulled his hand around her, it had forced him to let go of the towel he’d held around himself. Now, only the pressure of her ass against him kept it up at all. He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Did you like having Carter pressed up against you like this? Did he grind himself into your ass to let you know he liked what he saw and felt?” Matt demonstrated the action he’d just described, his cock growing harder against her ass.

  She gasped. “N-no. What? No. We were just modeling.”

  “He likes you, Hannah. He just asked you out.” His voice was a low growl. “Do you like him, too?”

  “He’s nice and funny.”

  “Did you like seeing him without a shirt on?” When she didn’t answer he bit her earlobe, not too hard, just enough to get her attention, and was gratified to see the goosebumps spreading down her neck and chest. “Answer me. Did you?”

  “He has nice abs.” Her voice was a whisper.

  He moved his hips back slightly so he could land a quick smack on her ass. The towel fell away completely in the process, bunched at his feet, and he pressed his naked cock against the fabric of her nude panties, really wishing now that she was naked.

  She gasped again at the impact of his hand on her ass. “What was that for?”

  “For admitting you liked looking at another guy.”

  “I have eyes, Matt.” Her voice was sarcastic. “There are lots of attractive guys in the world. I appreciate seeing a ripped, shirtless guy as much as you like seeing a topless chick with big tits.”

  He smacked her ass again, a little harder this time, rubbing the spot before grinding himself against her ass again. “Watch it, or I might have to take you over my knee again.”

  She let out a gasp and sagged back against him. “For what?”

  Matt couldn’t contain his smirk. She liked the idea of going over his knee again. She didn’t protest, and her body language screamed her assent. One thing he’d perfected on the defensive line was reading body language. The language was different in the bedroom than on the football field, but the skills transferred pretty well.

  Instead of answering her question, he asked his own. “Would you like that?” He tightened the arm around her waist while he rubbed her hip and thigh with his other hand. “Do you want me to sit on the bed and pull you over my knees and spank your bare ass until it’s red?”

  She didn’t answer verbally. All he got from her was a gasp and her head lolling back against his chest. That seemed like a yes to him. He spun them around and sat on the bed, bringing her across his thighs before she could register a protest. His cock pressed against the bare skin of her side, and her breasts and belly rubbed across his thighs as he positioned her.

  He rubbed her ass over the thin panties for a moment before smacking each cheek once. “You like that?” She still didn’t answer, so he did it again. “You like having me spank you, Hannah? Is this better than having Carter wrapped around you while Megan painted your picture?” Still nothing. “Answer me, Hannah.” He put an edge to his voice, and slapped her sharply on her upper thigh.

  That brought her head up in surprise, looking at him over her shoulder, her eyes wide. He rubbed her ass while he waited, his eyes not leaving hers. She turned again so she wasn’t facing him anymore, but he heard her answer clearly. “Yes.”

  He grinned and ran a finger under the waistband of her panties. “These are coming down now.” Her answer was to sigh and push her hips up against his hand. His smile grew wider as he tugged them down to her knees. The skin of her ass held a pi
nk blush from the spanks he’d already given her. He rubbed his hand over her cheeks, stroking, caressing, enjoying the feel of her skin against his. She squirmed under his hand, and he bit back a groan at the friction against his bare cock on her side.

  “Do you want me to spank you some more?” She pushed against his hand again, but didn’t say anything. He didn’t respond to her wordless request, though, just continued to let his hand glide over her skin from her lower back, down to the tops of her thighs, all over. “Say it, Hannah. Tell me you want me to spank you some more. Ask me nicely.”

  She hissed, and for a second he thought maybe he’d pushed too far, that she couldn’t bring herself to admit it with words, to ask for what she wanted like this. But then her voice came out, barely more than a whisper. “Please spank me?”

  His hand slapped against her bare skin, the sound disproportionately loud compared to the actual strength behind it. She jerked against him, and he sucked his breath through his teeth, loving the way she squirmed on his lap. “Like that?”

  Her hair moved and he could tell she’d nodded. He was tempted to push her to verbalize again, but his connection with Hannah was still tenuous. He’d expressed his interest, made it known what he wanted from her, but she’d been hesitant. The fact that she was allowing this was huge, and he didn’t want to ruin anything before they could get started. And he didn’t think his cock could take it if she called things off just as they were getting good again.

  So he spanked her again. And again. Alternating the slaps with rubs, varying the intensity and placement until her whole ass was a dark pink and warm to the touch. She jerked with the harder slaps, her legs kicking up, only the panties still around her knees keeping her thighs from parting more each time. When he’d decided she’d had enough, he dragged the panties down the rest of the way and off, her movements during the spanking having freed them form where they’d been trapped by her legs against his. He continued stroking over the skin of her ass, enjoying her sharp inhale when he squeezed the reddened flesh or scratched lightly with his fingernails. She bucked against him and her legs fell further apart. He ran one hand down the back of her thigh, then back up along the inside to see how she would react. Did she want his touch there? Should he ask her? Or make her ask for that too?