by Natalie Rios
He nods slowly, gnawing at his lower lip. “Okay. I want to promise that something like this will never happen again, but I can’t. Going pro means even more attention. The media can twist things and the groupies love to spread rumors, but if that happens, talk to me. I promise I’ll always tell you the truth, even if it’s something you won’t like hearing.”
That’s all I want from him. Open and honest communication. “Okay then.”
There’s a groan followed quickly by a hiss when I squeeze my hand around him. “Uh, Allie? What are you doing?”
“Having you.” His eyes close and he lets out a hoarse moan while I run my palms up his chest and back down again. I tug on his shirt to pull him into me again, sliding my tongue over his lips in invitation.
“I thought we were supposed to be talking?”
“It’s called multitasking. I’ve been doing it for the past five minutes. Try to keep up, Montgomery.”
Theo tugs his shirt over his head before pulling me against him. “You and your sassy, beautiful mouth. So fucking perfect.” My legs wrap around his waist and I suck in a tight breath when his cock presses against my center. A low growl fills the room and suddenly I’m airborne, my body wrapping around his torso as he walks us to his bedroom. Three steps later, he’s lowering me onto the bed.
Resting on my elbows, I watch him kick off his shoes and pants. “Since you’re such a fan of multitasking…” In one smooth move, he yanks off my leggings along with my underwear. Kneeling on the bed, his hands land on my knees and push my legs apart. “Tell me what else you need from me to make this relationship work.”
With a wolfish grin, he drops his head between my legs.
“Oh, shit,” I moan, back arching off the bed. My hands reach down to grab handfuls of his blonde hair because I need something to hold on to while he swipes his hot tongue against my clit.
“I’m not hearing any talking,” he says, words coming out muffled against my folds.
“I can’t – oh, God.” His tongue dips inside and my legs are shaking, thighs trembling uncontrollably against his ears. I’m panting and moaning his name over and over again, my hips rocking up to push against his face. The sensation is just on the edge of being too much and not enough.
When he moves his mouth up, open and directly over my clit, the air leaves my lungs. I’m tugging on his hair so hard, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s missing a patch later. But Theo doesn’t seem to mind. If anything, it drives him a little crazy. Sliding my legs over his shoulders, he sucks harder, speaking more words against my flesh. But I’m too worked up to process what he’s saying.
I want to tell him I love him, how no one’s ever made me feel this good and I don’t ever want him to stop. How I can’t get enough of him and want to be with him forever. But the only sounds that escape my mouth are gasps and whimpers, my hands fisting into the bedspread as the orgasm tears through me.
“Wow,” I pant, closing my eyes as I try to catch my breath.
“So much for multitasking, huh?”
I open my eyes to find him smirking down at me. “Remind me again why I agreed to go out with you.”
"Well, it was inevitable you would succumb to my charm eventually."
I playfully shove the side of his head. "You're impossible, do you know that? Impossible and cocky."
Theo moves up my torso, face nuzzling the crook of my neck. "You love me." He moves so his mouth covers mine and then suddenly his cock is there, right there, at my entrance. With one small wiggle from me, the tip slides in so smoothly, so easily.
“I do,” I pant. “More. Give me more. I want everything.”
“Always,” he says, eyes dark with desire. His lips find my neck, nibbling and sucking until my whole body is trembling beneath him. Then he’s rising over me, cupping my bent knees and spreading my legs wider. “You’re mine and I have no intention of ever letting you go.”
Holding me still, he continues to thrust with slow, steady strokes. With each thrust, he pushes a little bit harder, reaching a little bit deeper. Until finally he’s in all the way, so deep I can’t even breathe from how good it feels. His eyes remain glued on mine, taking in my every breath and reaction, almost like he’s unable to look away.
His fingers skim my face reverently before resting his forehead on mine. Our faces are so close we’re practically sharing a breath. This. This closeness, this connection. This is exactly what I’ve been looking for.
“So beautiful,” he whispers. “So sexy. So mine.” He kisses me then and it’s not a sweet or pretty kiss either. This kiss is sloppy, wet and desperate as his hips begin to move faster. When his tongue plunges into my mouth possessively…holy shit.
I come just before he does, everything around me fading to black. The whole damn world fading away until all I can hear is Theo and the only thing I can feel is the pleasure coursing through us.
Theo wraps an arm around me and even though I'm effectively anchored to his chest, it still feels like I'm floating.
"It gets better every time."
I hum my agreement, enjoying how big and warm his body feels against mine. “Theo?”
“Yeah, Allie Cat?”
“I am crazy stupid in love with you.”
He doesn’t open his eyes, but I can feel him smiling into my hair. “About damn time.”
EPILOGUE
FIVE YEARS LATER…
Allie
Theo: Are you watching the game today?
I TURN to arch a brow at him “Why are you texting me when we’re both lying in the same bed?”
“It’s tradition.”
“Aren’t you early? The game’s not for another six hours.”
“Didn’t want to forget later.”
“Why would you forget later?”
He taps my phone with his. “Text me your excuse, woman.”
He still does this. Every game day, he texts to ask if I’m watching and no matter what the real answer is, I’m supposed to give him an excuse why I can’t. I know better than to argue with him. Theo is superstitious as hell and he’s convinced I’m his good luck charm. He declared it official when he was drafted to play for the Giants.
Me: Nah, got lucky last night and now I can barely move. My boyfriend is an animal.
I watch his cheeks pull back tight into a grin.
Theo: Just trying to keep you satisfied, baby :-)
Me: That’s Allie Cat to you, mister. Dr. Perez if you’re nasty ;-)
I graduated from Yale Medical School earlier this year. Yes, Yale. Theo encouraged me to go wherever I wanted, even paid for us to both fly out and tour Stanford just to be sure. But I ended up falling in love with Yale. Not only did I love their program, but the location was a huge plus. New Haven left me two hours south of Camilla and Lia who remained at Carlton and two hours north of Theo and my family in New York City.
Two hours might not seem like a lot, but it felt more like twenty during football season. The Giants’ practice facility is a good two hours south of New Haven, which made living together all but impossible. Between both of our crazy schedules and Theo’s traveling, we often went weeks without seeing each other. For the past four football seasons, our relationship consisted of lots of texting, FaceTime, and phone sex (we’ve gotten really good at that).
Once upon a time, this would have worried me. There are more groupies in the NFL. More women who will try anything and everything to land a professional athlete. But after he was drafted, Theo and I talked – in great detail – about what was to come next. Meeting other WAGs (wives and girlfriends) also helped. They had great advice on how to deal with rumors, when to speak out and when to do nothing.
I’m not saying it was easy. There were a few bumps along the way, including a false paternity case that set us both on edge. The press are like vultures waiting for their next hit. It doesn’t matter if the story is true or not, they’ll run it just to make a quick buck. But I trust Theo and I know he loves me. I’m still not entirely comfortable
with the media scrutiny, but I’ve learned to deal with. We have learned to deal with.
We work through it because we’re worth it.
Hopping out of bed, I stretch my arms. “If I’m going to catch the game, I should start unpacking soon.” I moved into Theo’s apartment yesterday and it feels like we’re swimming in boxes.
“You can unpack tomorrow.”
I frown and shake my head. “I start my residency tomorrow, remember?” It’s not like him to forget. And is it just me or is he fidgeting?
“Right, right.” Cracking his knuckles, he reaches underneath the bed and retrieves a large box. With grey eyes full of hopeful anxiety, he flashes me a one of his dimple smiles. “Well, might as well start with this one.”
The box has my name written in black marker across the top, but the handwriting is his, not mine. Which makes me suspicious. “How did that box get down there?”
“Must have kicked it under the bed while I was ravishing your pussy last night.”
Now that’s more like it. Grinning, I crawl back into the middle of the bed and take the box from him. “Unsealed. That’s not suspicious at all,” I tease.
His smile dims a little, his eyes looking more anxious than ever. “Don’t shake it,” he warns.
Untucking the folded flaps, I find Hogwarts Castle – well, a replica made of LEGO pieces. “This is amazing!”
The castle is so big, the details so intricate, it must have taken him days to put it together. There’s a tower that contains the various common rooms, with Harry Potter himself hanging out in the Gryffindor Common Room. At the top of the Astronomy Tower is an observation deck, complete with a swiveling telescope that is being protected by Professor Snape.
I’m so busy gawking, moving pieces around and excitedly babbling about every little detail I find, that it takes me a minute to register what’s in the Great Hall. Hermione and Draco, separated by a very non-LEGO looking small box.
A small black velvet box.
My heart stops, eyes flying up to meet Theo’s steady gaze.
Tugging me out of bed, he takes the box and flips it open before getting down on one knee. “I love you, Alma Perez. You have always been mine, but I want to make it official. I want to give you my name. I want to give you a family. But most especially, I want to give you me. Marry me, Allie Cat. Be mine forever.”
Tears well up in my eyes, but by some miracle, I manage both not to cry and not to jump in his arms screaming the word yes.
Theo clears his throat. “So, normally this is the part where you say yes…” His face contorts with horror. “Unless you intend to say no?”
“I don’t know what to say,” I manage in an even tone. “You didn’t exactly phrase it as a question.”
“Jesus,” he mutters. “Really? You’re giving me shit? Now?”
“Theodore James Montgomery. When have I not given you shit?”
He shakes his head, but he’s grinning. We both know he loves it when I’m sassy. “Fine. Let’s try this again. Allie Perez, will you-”
I don’t give him a chance to finish. “Yes!”
He slides the ring on my finger and is barely off the ground when I launch myself at him. He falls back on the bed laughing, taking me down with him. “Are you sure? I’ve been wanting to ask you for a while now, but I wanted to give you time to get used to this.”
This lifestyle, he means.
“Of course I’m sure, silly.” Cupping his cheek, I kiss him. “Don’t you know? Together, we can handle anything.”
Thank you so much for reading Player! I hope you enjoyed it. If you have a few minutes, please leave a review on Amazon to help other readers find this book. Your voice makes the world go round ;)
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Do you like office romantic comedies?
Tame Me by Natalie Rios
The Wild Child. That's me. A loud and crazy former Park Avenue princess who just fell from grace. I went from traveling the world to making copies and fetching coffee for Satan.
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Okay, so my boss isn't really Satan. But he might as well be.
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Brody Connors is infuriating, incorrigible, unsympathetic, stern, and...gorgeous. Yes, he's a handsome devil. A large man of few words with the body of an action hero, a face sent from the heavens and the mannerisms of Lucifer.
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But sexy as hell or not, he's still my evil boss. And I need to keep this job. So that's all he can be, right?
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Right.
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Too bad our hormones didn't get the memo...
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***An office romantic comedy perfect for those who enjoy zany heroines and the sexy bosses they exasperate. Filled with hilarious encounters and enough sexual tension to start a forest fire, Tame Me is sure to keep you laughing and swooning all night long.
Read it now - it’s FREE on Kindle Unlimited :)
NATALIE’S RAMBLINGS
Every book, I issue myself a challenge. With Player, I had two:
1) Write a cocky hero and make him likable.
2) Write about a sport you know nothing about.
I know absolutely nothing about football. In fact, I have seen exactly two football games in my entire life (Giants vs. Patriots Super Bowl games in 2008 & 2012. If the Giants ever make it to a third Super Bowl, that will be game #3 for me. I'm from New York, so I have to support the home team, ya know?).
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When I told Mr. Rios I was going to write a football romance, the following conversation was had:
Mr. Rios: But you don't watch football. Why not pick a sport you actually watch? Like baseball or tennis?
Me: Because football is America's sport.
Mr. Rios: Do you even know anything about football?
Me: I watched Friday Night Lights.
Mr. Rios: ...
Me: It'll be fun. You'll see.
And it was fun! So much fun! The above conversation is the whole reason why Friday Night Lights has such a huge role in the book, btw. Mr. Rios teased me for months for that gem.
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Shout out to the D-1 football players who patiently answered my questions and only laughed once at my extra newbness - and bonus points for not even batting an eye when I said I was doing research for a romance novel! True princes, all of you.
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To any Spanish speakers out there who read this and thought "what the heck??? That's not what that phrase means!"...You're sort of right. Some of the phrases I used are Dominican slang. They say you should write what you know and since I'm Dominican, I figured why not make my heroine Dominican too?
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Savvy Spanish speakers might also be thinking that's not how you spell Camilla. Yeah...it's not. The Spanish version is Camila (one L, not two). In Spanish, double L's are pronounced kind of like a Y or J (depending on the region). My mother pointed this out to me sometime during editing, but I had already spelled it with the double L in Flirt so ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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If you want to hear more of my ramblings, sign up for my newsletter.
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xoxo
Natalie
ALSO BY NATALIE RIOS
Bar Harbor Series
(Sexy Romantic Comedy)
Tame Me
Catch Me
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Carlton University
(New adult, college)
Player
Flirt
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Natalie can't sing. Or dance. Or play an instrument. She can't ride a bike and doesn't know how to swim or drive. As a result, her husband often asks if she�
�s from Mars (the answer, in case you were wondering, is no. Unless New York counts as another planet). When she's not geeking out at her day job, Natalie can be found attempting to wrangle her overly energetic Westie, baking ridiculously chewy chocolate chip cookies, and watching so-bad-it's-good reality television shows.
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