Defensive Zone

by Catherine Gayle

  I cut him off by stretching up on my tiptoes, putting both arms around his neck, and kissing him like I meant business.

  Because I did.

  Hell, this might as well be war, and I wouldn’t be happy with only winning a couple of battles. I didn’t care what the hell my father thought he knew. Maybe he believed he knew what was best for me, but I knew what I wanted. And wasn’t that more important? Besides, this was my life. Mine, not his.

  For years, I’d watched the way Dad had hovered over Katie while she and Jamie had danced around their relationship. I’d had a front-row seat to how my father constantly attempted to run Jamie off, telling him not to be an asswipe. And while the whole overprotective father thing was sweet in a way, especially because she’d been dealing with cancer, it was also ridiculous. Because if Dad really loved her, shouldn’t he just want her to be happy and loved? Really, truly loved?

  Don’t get me wrong, Jamie Babcock was a bit too perfect for my tastes, but he had always treated my sister like a princess. No one could look at the two of them without realizing they were meant to be together. But still, Dad had done his damnedest to keep them apart, just because Jamie was a few years older and had been one of Dad’s (much, much younger) teammates.

  Well, I called bullshit on that. I wanted no part of it for myself or any of the guys I dated. Throughout my teen years, I’d done everything possible to keep my love life on the down low when it came to my dad because I didn’t think any guy needed to go through what Dad would have put him through. I wasn’t sure how to protect Harry from it, but seriously—Harry was a grown-ass man. He could fend for himself when it came to my father.

  And if he had a problem with standing up to Dad over whatever this became between us… Well, I hoped I wouldn’t have to deal with that. Because come on. We were all adults here.

  But this. This was what I wanted, at least to experience right here and right now.

  I fisted my hands in Harry’s hair. His mouth crushed against mine with just as much hunger and lust and desperation as I felt. Those big, strong hands splayed against my rib cage, one inching up and forward, the other inching down and back. He dragged me closer, squeezed me harder.

  His hands were heaven. I wanted them on every part of me.

  I wanted him on every part of me.

  I hooked one leg behind him, attempting to hoist myself up so I could wrap both legs around his waist and grind, but he pried his mouth away from mine. “Goddamned determined flirt.”

  Before I had a clue what he intended, he had me down on my feet again and took me by the elbow, practically hauling me across Jamie’s driveway toward the passenger-side door of the car.

  “What are you doing?” I demanded.

  “We’re not doing this here,” he growled. “Get in. We’re going somewhere we won’t be putting on a show for the whole fucking team.”

  Driving somewhere was a bad idea right now. It’d take too long when I was this horny. “Katie’s house,” I forced out, dragging him across the lawn. He came along with me surprisingly easily. Maybe I was starting to wear him down.

  Finally. Freaking took him long enough to get with the program.

  “You have a key?” he asked. In fact, now he seemed almost more eager than me, practically dragging me toward the porch.

  “Don’t need a key. I didn’t lock it since I was just—” Next door died on my lips as he flung open the front door and nudged me inside.

  No sooner did he have the door closed than he pressed me back against it, devouring my mouth with his. I’d never been kissed so thoroughly in all my life. And why the hell hadn’t I been? A girl deserves to be kissed like a man’s life depends on it every now and then. Just saying. And that was exactly how this felt, like Harry might very well expire on the spot if our lips weren’t virtually melded together.

  He forced his way inside with his tongue, his teeth clashing with mine while he ripped my shirt free from the waistband of my jeans. His knee split my legs. He put pressure on my clit with his powerful thigh while his nimble fingers undid the button and zipper of my fly.

  This was going to be everything I wanted and more. Frantic, pissed off, against-the-wall sex with Dirty fucking Harry.

  In moments, he had my jeans and thong down past my hips. He spun me around, both of us panting.

  “I should spank you for being such a demanding minx,” he ground out, gripping one of my butt cheeks in his big palm and squeezing so hard it stole my breath.

  Spank me? The thought raced through my head like a squeak of surprise. “You should,” I breathed, surprising myself because I meant it. He should absolutely spank me. I didn’t know why I wanted it, but now that he’d said it, there wasn’t anything I wanted more. His big, strong hands smacking my ass. The sharp sting. I had no doubt he’d soothe me afterward. Maybe that was what I was looking forward to more than anything. The very idea of it sent a molten flood of need through my core.

  “I should take you into the other room, pull you over my knee, and spank you until you think twice about it before you do something so reckless again.”

  “Reckless?” My brain wasn’t keeping up. I was too busy feeling to think.

  He slipped his other hand under my shirt and eased it up my belly toward my breast. “Like messing with me. You’re playing with fire.”

  Fire, like his hair. Yes, please. I’d never wanted to be burned more in my life. My heart felt like it might thunder out of my chest. “Yes,” I said. “Teach me a lesson. Do it. Spank me, Harry.”

  He found one of my breasts and tweaked my nipple just hard enough to have me sucking in a sharp breath. “You don’t tell me what to do,” he bit off. “Got it? And my name’s Cody.”

  He could be Cody if he wanted, but he’d always be Dirty Harry to me. Still, I wanted him to get on with things, so I nodded my agreement.

  “Hands on the door,” he said. “And arch your back. Put that ass up where I can get to it.”

  Having him spank me against the wall seemed almost as thrilling as having him spank me over his lap, not that I’d ever experienced either before, so I couldn’t exactly compare the two. Nonetheless, I hurried to comply.

  He put a foot between both of mine and nudged them shoulder-width apart. “Don’t move your hands. Understand? Keep them right there against that door.”

  I nodded.

  “I want to hear you answer me, Dani.”

  “I understand,” I said, anticipation making my pulse roar through my head.

  But he didn’t spank me. What he did was so, so much better.

  He reached around my waist and slipped one of those glorious hands between my legs, and he started fingering me like there was no tomorrow. Two thick, long, callused fingers went up inside me, and he used his thumb to swirl tight circles around my clit. I’d already been wet enough to clear up a drought before he touched me, so he was able to slip inside all the way to his knuckles in a single go.

  “Oh God,” I moaned.

  And that was even before he started pumping those fingers into me like he was doing now. He curved them upward, and I swear, those fingertips hit my G-spot. At the same time, he worked my bra loose with his other hand and went to town kneading my breasts.

  The dual focus of his attentions had me arching my back even further and rising up onto my toes to get closer to him. He seemed to like that, urging me higher. I put one hand over his to guide him where I wanted him, but he pinched my nipple harder than he had been. I sucked in a sharp breath and whined in complaint.

  “I told you to keep your hands on the door,” he repeated, adding a third finger to my already full pussy.

  Got it. If I kept my hands where he wanted them, he was going to send me to my own personal version of nirvana. If I didn’t, I would immediately wish I’d listened. I nodded, incapable of speaking anything coherent.

  His hot breath spread over the space where my shoulder met my neck, and he followed that up with a lick and a nibble. I felt his teeth all the way to my mo
st sensitive places, and my toes curled in exquisite pleasure.

  Harry was the absolute antithesis of every other guy I’d ever been with before. They’d all been gentle and careful with me, determined not to do anything too hard or rough, lest they hurt me. Harry did everything hard and fast, like he knew how much I could take, how much I craved, how much I needed.

  Still on my tiptoes, I started to shake from head to toe with the orgasm to end all orgasms building inside me. “Oh, shit!” I called out, pressing my head forward to rest against the door.

  But Harry wrapped my hair around his hand and tugged my head back, forcing me into an even deeper arch. “Look at me,” he said. “I want your eyes on me when you come.”

  I’d only thought things couldn’t get hotter. I was wrong. Staring into those intense blue eyes, I might as well be standing on the surface of the sun.

  I forced myself to keep my eyes on his as he rammed his fingers home, his thumb keeping up a never-ending assault on my clit. Three more thrusts, and I shattered, my muscles clenching and spasming even as my bones melted to mush. I was almost certain I screamed. In fact, my cries were probably loud enough for Jamie and Katie’s guests to hear them over the noise of their party, but I didn’t care.

  Because after this? Dirty Harry was mine. All mine. I freaking owned him now. Or maybe it was the other way around…not a thought I was in the mood to entertain at the moment. It would require too much brain power, and my brain was nothing more than mush.

  He kept a grip on my hair while he circled my clit a few more times with his thumb. I was so sensitive that every tiny touch had my legs twitching for more.

  But I couldn’t possibly take more. Not right now.

  Not unless he was going to give me everything. Like that big, hard cock that was straining against my butt even now.

  I couldn’t help myself. I rolled my hips back into him, grinding myself against what I wanted. He could absolutely destroy my vagina tonight, but I wouldn’t hold it against him. In fact, I’d thank him for it before begging him for another round.

  He tugged harder on my hair, compelling me to look at him again. “Fucking insatiable flirt.” But instead of stripping down and finishing me off in style, he removed his hand from my sex and slipped his fingers into his mouth, sucking them clean.

  I couldn’t look away, completely riveted. When he took his hand away, his lips were wet with my juices.

  Holding me in place, he lowered his head and kissed me again, just as hard and unrelentingly as before. I tasted my own desire on his lips, his tongue. It was as hot and filthy and perfect as everything I’d ever imagined.

  But when he broke away from me, he reached down to pull my thong and jeans back into place, then did up the zipper and fly. “I’ve got to go.”

  “You’ve… What?” I asked, dazed. Because this was supposed to be it. This was when he would finally get over whatever the hell my father had said to convince him he had to stay away from me. When he was going to take me to bed and screw me into next week.

  “Next time you sit on my lap uninvited,” he said, “I’m going to pull you down over my knee, no matter who’s watching, and I’m going to give you the spanking you deserve. You got that?”

  Without another word, he shuffled me out of his way, opened the door, and walked out, leaving me standing there with my sex juices drenching my pants and my bra shoved up around my shoulders.

  What the hell just happened?

  AFTER A PERFORMANCE like that, I might as well not even bother to unpack or try to settle in for the new season.

  Word was bound to reach Webs about that incident with Dani. About what had gone down in the house…and the front yard…and how I’d then dragged her into Katie’s house next door. He might not know the specifics about what we’d done once we were alone, but the guy could fill in the blanks. Hell, he’d probably fill those blanks with all sorts of things I only wished I’d done, because I sure as hell wouldn’t get the chance to do them now, but it didn’t matter. The second his imagination ran away with him, he’d be beating down the general manager’s door and insisting on the team shipping my ass off to Timbuktu.

  I got in my car and hit the road before Dani could pull herself together enough to chase after me again, not that I had the first clue where I was going. I’d intended to stick around and catch up with a few of the guys, and maybe even go out with a couple of them afterward if they were heading to the bar or something. But I couldn’t turn around and go back there now. There wasn’t a chance in hell I’d be able to avoid Dani if I did, and I could not run into her again right now.

  My head was all kinds of fucked up, though, and I didn’t need to be alone right now. I’d only end up thinking about Dani some more—the taste of her covering my lips and tongue, her soft, curvy ass arched back into me, the wild sounds she’d made when she came—and that would only serve to hasten my trip to where-the-fuck-ever the team decided to send me.

  Because I might be dumb enough to act on it more thoroughly than I’d already done.

  Right now, I felt more out of control—in a bad way—than I had in years. In almost two decades, actually. Dani was doing a number on my head, and I didn’t know how to slow things in my life down and find a sense of balance again. She’d taken my equilibrium away from me. I might as well be a twelve-year-old kid trying to hold it together for my two younger sisters while the ER doctors and nurses carted our parents off to emergency surgery again, because that was all the control I felt I had right now: none. Zip, zero, zilch.

  I’d promised Megan and Shelby that Mom and Dad would be fine. That they’d been hurt in the car wreck, but the doctors would take care of them and everything would be okay. But I hadn’t been able to keep that promise, because everything about it had been out of my hands. Mom never made it out of surgery, and Dad’s injuries had been so severe that he hadn’t been able to return to his job or any semblance of his former life. My aunt had come to live with us, but most of her time had been spent taking care of Dad. That meant I’d been the one left to raise my sisters.

  Nothing had been fine after that point, not for a very long time. And that was when I’d started to take control of every tiny detail in life that I could.

  By the time I got to be an adult, I realized it wasn’t healthy to micromanage everything and to live in such a completely regimented manner that even the slightest deviation would send me into a tailspin. That was what led me to Leather & Lace to begin with—a need to learn how to let go, in whatever small way I could.

  But ending up there now, when I was already feeling so punch-drunk, like I couldn’t get a handle on anything before it slipped between my fingers and drifted away…that would be a recipe for disaster.

  So instead of stopping at the club, I kept driving until I reached Waterfront Park. No idea why that was the destination I chose. It was like my car was on autopilot, like it somehow knew I needed to get out and walk around before I exploded. So I found a place to park, fed the meter, and hit the walking trail.

  The place was packed, even though the Saturday Market had already closed for the day. I supposed the weather was just too damn nice or something, and the entire population of Portland wanted to soak it up before the colder temperatures arrived. Everyone wanted to get out and move around, and Portland had always been the sort of city where people liked to get outside whenever they could. That was one of the city’s charms if you asked me. Definitely one of the things I’d miss most about it when I was gone, which would likely be much sooner than I’d anticipated.

  Still, even with all the other bodies either hustling or meandering along the trail, I was able to walk at a brisk pace without anyone bothering me. I took off along the edges of the Willamette and let the crisp air floating over the river fill my lungs.

  After walking for a few minutes, I was just starting to feel like myself again. The vise-like tightness around my chest that had taken root the second I’d seen Dani Weber in Babs’s kitchen was finally starting to rel
ease its grip and allow me to function when my phone rang.

  If that was Dani, I might end up tossing my phone in the river. If it was her father, maybe I should toss myself into the river.

  Yeah, I was fully aware…that might have been a smidge on the melodramatic side, but seriously. The guy held way too many cards when it came to my future.

  No matter who was calling me, it was probably better just to let the call go to voice mail. I reached into my pocket and pressed the volume button to silence the ringer.

  It had barely stopped vibrating in my pocket before it started up again. Whoever this was didn’t appear ready to give up, which almost definitely meant it was Dani. That girl was so determined as to be foolhardy.

  Goddamned fucking stubborn woman. What the hell was I going to have to do to get rid of her?

  I ripped the phone out of my pocket and pressed it to my ear without bothering to look at the screen, because seriously, how could there be any doubt? “What the hell do you want, Dani?” I shouted. And to say I was shouting wasn’t an exaggeration. A few dozen heads spun around to stare at me in the park. Christ, this woman. I headed closer to the river so I could find somewhere along the bank to sit. Maybe being closer to the water right now would help soothe my nerves.

  “First of all, why don’t you stop cursing at me?” my sister Megan demanded. “And second, who is Dani and why don’t we know about her? Unless it’s a him, in which case…”

  I blew out a frustrated breath and parked my ass on the grass. “Sorry. I thought you were someone else.”

  “Someone named Dani,” she said with a laugh. “So who is she or he?”

  “She,” I filled in for her. “And she’s a thorn in my side.”

  “More so than me and Shelby?”

  “Ten times more than you two were combined, at your worst.”

  Megan let out a low whistle. “Sounds like you’ve got it bad.”

  “Not the way you’re thinking.” Worse than she was thinking. Much, much worse. I’d never been so royally fucked in my life.

  “Maybe this isn’t the best time for us to talk then,” she said, sounding evasive. Which meant she was trying to shield me from something. Which pissed me off. If anyone needed to be shielded, it was my sisters, not me.