The Perfect Catch_A contemporary sports romance book

by Shania Tyler

  “There is no way I am sleeping nude in your hotel room,” I told him. “Have you got anything I can wear tonight?”

  Major sighed as though I was rapidly testing his patience and then he turned and headed over to the drawer close to the bed. I watched as he pulled out two t-shirts, one black, and one white. Deciding that it wasn’t the best option to wear a white t-shirt with nothing else on underneath, I took the black one from him and smiled. “I’ll change in the bathroom.”

  “You do that,” he told me as he placed the other t-shirt on the end of the bed ready for the morning. I headed over to the bathroom and paused at the door to watch him pull the top blanket off the bed and wander over to the couch to throw himself down. “Make sure you turn out the lights when you’re finished, will you?”

  “Will do, boss.” I saluted him much like he had done to me before, and I knew that my use of the word caused his jaw to tense. That was more than a little satisfying as I headed into the bathroom to change into the t-shirt he’d given me.

  I slipped out of my favorite dress and took a moment to mourn the fact that it was now ruined before I pulled on the t-shirt. The smell of it washed over me, and I realized that save for the fact it was clean, it definitely smelled like Major. He’d only been close enough to me for me to smell him a couple of times, but it was a scent my brain had remembered.

  I lifted the hem of the collar to my nose so that I could give it another quick sniff. I tried to tell myself that it was simply because I hadn’t smelled the great scent of a man in so long, but I was almost sure there was more to it than that.

  * * *

  15

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  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

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  Major

  I threw myself down on the couch because it was the only thing I could do to control myself. The thought that Ruby was in my hotel room, half naked and soon to be even more naked in my bathroom, overwhelmed me with desire. There was nothing I wanted more than to rip that dress right off her curvy frame and take her to bed myself. If she hadn’t been my boss, I would have wasted no time in doing that, but she was my boss and I had to respect that.

  Even as I laid on the couch and closed my eyes in an attempt to get to sleep because I had to be up for work in the morning, I couldn’t help but listen to her moving around in the bathroom. I heard her turn on the tap. I could hear her walking around, her now bare feet slapping against the tiles. Even those sounds caused me to want to rip off my blanket and head over to the door, knock, and let myself in. I wanted to take her in my arms and kiss her and do so many other things to her, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

  My lips still tingled where she had pressed her own against my mouth with such force that she had almost knocked me backward. I was already cursing myself for refusing her, but I would never take advantage of any woman who had drunk too much, and the fact was that if anything was going to happen between the two of us, I wanted us both to be one hundred percent sober when that happened. I didn’t want to leave any room for regrets on either of our parts.

  Stop thinking about it and planning it because it is not going to happen. I screwed my eyes shut even tighter and attempted to turn my ears off to the sounds of her moving. When I heard the bathroom door click open and her slip out to head over to the bed, I couldn’t help but risk a peek.

  My cock hardened instantly as I saw the lace panties peeking out from under my black t-shirt that was too short to have been considered anywhere close to dress length. Lucky for me, she didn’t glance in my direction or she would have seen me ogling her like a schoolboy. Even in an oversized t-shirt, she was the sexiest woman I’d ever seen, and I found myself struggling even harder not to go to her.

  “Major? Are you awake?” she called over to me as she slipped under the blankets and into the bed, the bed where I had slept every night for the last month or so since the lease on my apartment had run out.

  I decided that it was best to pretend that I was in fact asleep. The more I spoke to her, the more she would draw me in with her charm and her beauty. I had to keep a safe distance from her until I could get her home the next morning.

  I quickly closed my eyes again, hoping she wasn’t close enough to see that they had been open and barely managed to stop myself from pretending to snore. I was a terrible actor, and she’d know that I was faking as soon as I tried it.

  As though she had bought it, she turned over in the bed and laid down. I barely managed to stop myself from sighing with relief.

  * * *

  I wasn’t sure when I got to sleep but I woke up to screaming. The shrill, terrified sound made me instantly sit bolt upright on the couch. In the darkness of the room, I could barely see the writhing form atop the bed, but the screaming was enough to tell me that Ruby was in quite a lot of distress. From the way she thrashed about, I knew she was still asleep and as I jumped up from the couch and rushed over to her, I realized she must have been having a nightmare.

  I dropped onto the bed beside her and pinned her to the mattress by her shoulders so that she couldn’t hurt herself. Shaking her gently, I whispered, “Ruby, Ruby, wake up.”

  Her eyes flew open, red and wide with terror. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyelids and the sight caused my heart to wrench. She writhed free of my hands, backing away from me as though she thought I had been trying to attack her.

  “Get away from me!” she screamed, and I felt my heart ache for her.

  “Ruby, it’s all right.” I quickly flicked on the lamp on the bedside table. “Ruby, it’s me, Major.”

  Slowly recognition dawned on her face and tears began to stream down her cheeks, “Oh, Major! It was awful!” she gasped as she rushed forwards and wrapped her arms tightly around my neck. I could feel her bare breasts pressed up against my chest and I barely managed to contain myself. If she hadn’t been weeping I might not have been so controlling.

  “It’s all right, you are all right.” I comforted her with a hand stroking down her back as I held her close to me. “I’m here. I’ve got you.”

  There was something so calm, so intimate about the moment that I felt myself falling into her, melting into her arms as she held on so tightly to my neck that she almost choked me. She was strong when she was scared, and I was suddenly surprised that she hadn’t been able to fend her attacker off in the alley.

  “I… I’m sorry,” she gasped as she suddenly remembered herself and quickly pulled away from me. Disappointment lit inside me like a forest fire, and I barely managed to stop myself from taking hold of her and pulling her back into my arms.

  “You don’t need to be sorry.” I told her as I reached out and placed my hand on hers instead, “You had a nightmare and I’m here for you. There’s nothing to be sorry about in that.”

  I squeezed her hand gently until she smiled sadly to me.

  “I don’t know how I am going to go back to sleep after that.” Her hand trembled beneath my own. “It felt so real.”

  “I know.” I sighed. “Dreams often can.”

  “Will you lie with me?” she asked suddenly, and I was shocked by the request. Anyone would thing that she had just asked me to jump on top of her and bang her brains out, but the truth was all she wanted was for me to lie with her and

  I was more than sure I could handle that request, at least if the animal inside me didn’t try to take over for a while.

  I gritted my teeth as I slipped farther onto the bed, kicked off my shoes and held out my arm. She hesitated for a moment before she settled down with her head on my chest. “Tomorrow this never happened, okay?” she told me.

  “Tomorrow this never happened,” I promised, although deep inside my heart ached at the thought of having to pretend it didn’t. If promising something like that was what it took to hold this woman in my arms, even for one night and never to really get to be with her, then that was what I would do.

 
I tried my best to relax back against the pillows as she rested her head on my chest and placed her hand on my stomach. Her fingers played with the front of my t-shirt and the sensation of her fingertips grazing over my flesh, even through the material, was enough to make me quiver.

  Her hands were soft but insistent. I tried to keep my thoughts on something else, anything else, but her fingers were running up and down my chest. It was part relaxing and part incessantly erotic. I tried to shift my hips, trying to will down the massive hardon I knew was going to be visible if she opened her eyes. When her fingertips grazed my nipples through the shirt, it lit my entire body on fire. She was killing me with only the lightest of touches.

  Suddenly, her fingers splayed wide. They measured my pecs, trailed down to my ribs. Her soft voice was closer to my ear than I thought when she whispered, “What’s wrong?”

  I fought the urge to laugh. What’s wrong? I wanted her so fucking badly my entire body was strained in her direction. All sorts of scandalous thoughts were coursing through me, hotter than blood. “Nothing,” I grunted.

  She laughed softly. “Do you just not like cuddling?”

  My eyes closed shut quickly then reopened. I could be honest with her, or I could pretend like everything was fine and attempt to be a friend right now. Friend. Yikes. When had that become something I wanted to be? “I like cuddling just fine, Ruby.”

  She pushed herself up on one arm, looking at me in the dim lighting. “Then what is it?”

  It was everything. The smell of her perfume and womanhood. The feel of her warm body against mine. The thought that if I shifted my hand just right, I could rub the nipple currently poking through my black t-shirt. I could tease it, play with it, suck it, fuck it. My body shuddered at the thought.

  “Major, just tell me,” she sighed. “If this is too weird for you, I’m sure I can—“

  With a groan, I gave up the fight. Maybe it was the way she said my name. Maybe it was the feeling of her full breast against my chest. Maybe I was just so damn tired of fighting my attraction to her. Whatever the reason, I gave up trying to fight it. With one arm, I tangled a hand in her hair, pulling her to me so hard that she gasped. I gentled my grip. With my other hand, I felt up the curve of her waist.

  My eyes flicked closed, trying to keep any semblance of control because I had to know something. I had to know it before I could continue. “Tell me if you don’t like this. And I’ll stop. Quickly.”

  While she stared at me, confused, I crushed my mouth down on hers. And then groaned aloud. She tasted like raspberries and chocolate and woman. If I was hard before, I was a rock now. My cock had never ached this bad for a woman. My mouth tugged hers, drawing her into me and my embrace. I sucked on her bottom lip, absorbing her moan. Our tongues tangle together, a violent make out but no less hot than I’d be expecting. Hell, it was more like an inferno.

  After a few minutes, I came up for air and stared at her. Her mouth was swollen, moist, and so delicious red that it was a miracle I could restrain myself from kissing her again. “Tell me if you didn’t like it. Tell me now and I’ll stop.”

  She stared at me, her eyes light even in the darkness, her cheeks flushed and pink. With a daring look, she inched closer to me until our lips were a breath away. That took all the willpower I had, not to crush her to me and force her underneath me again, if only for a moment. But I waited. I had to. I had to know that she comprehended I wasn’t forcing her simply because I was bigger, like the guy at the bar. It had to be her choice, even though she was killing me with every moment she waited.

  With a little smirk, her lips pressed into mine and her body stretched in a lithe movement that thrust every part of her onto my hard body. It literally took my breath away to feel the hard points of her nipples through my shirt against my chest. My other hand rose to secure her against me, certain that I was not going to let her go unless she made me. With a growl, I admitted, “I want you so fucking bad, Ruby Bowman.”

  She let out this little mewl of a sound that had my cock twitching in response. Her arms wrapped around my shoulders, lifting the globes of her breasts until they settled against me like we were made to fit together. With a single motion, I pulled off my t-shirt, leaving only one of us clothed in my cotton shirt. With a devilish glint in her eye, her soft fingers started rubbing my chest. My breath came out in heaving gasps, her fingers lighting fires wherever they touched.

  Her fingers kept splaying out, then squeezing shut, feeling the sparse hair on my chest. While I was focused on dropping the shirt from my hands onto the floor, the little minx started to kiss and lick my bare chest. “Fuck,” I groaned.

  It felt amazing. She felt amazing. My cock pressed into her, wanting its own turn, but I knew if she touched me, it would all be over. I wanted it too badly, wanted her too badly to control myself any longer.

  With a grin, she ran her tongue from my nipple, down my ribs to the elastic waistband of my athletic shorts. The air expelled in my chest, feeling the wet heat of her tongue as it slid just below the elastic line, teasing, dipping. “Ruby. God.”

  Instead of answering, she tugged down the shorts. I was naked underneath them. Really, I’d only donned them to make her feel more comfortable. Her tongue teased the top of my crotch, my entire groin seizing up into one big ball of sensation, awaiting the pressure of her moist tongue.

  She slid down my body so that she was at eye level with the appendage currently holding the most blood in my body. I closed my eyes, waiting for the gentle pressure. Instead, I was suddenly engulfed in pure liquid heat. I was sure I cried out, but I didn’t remember it. All I knew was that suddenly it was like a tight, wet, hot glove of pleasure wrapped around my dick. Her tongue licked and sucked me until I was practically writhing. I’d never felt anything like it before.

  If I would start getting too close, she’d pull back, licking the head in a swirl pattern that kept me hard but wouldn’t let me orgasm. It was driving me crazy and I wanted to explode, but I didn’t want it to stop.

  “Ruby, what are you doing?” I gasped.

  “Shh,” she whispered back to me. “Don’t think. Just feel.”

  The truth was that was all I could do as she began to stroke my cock up and down with her fingers and mouth wrapped around me. The movements were slow and agonizingly pleasurable, and I found myself biting my lip, tensing every muscle in my body against the urge to jump on her right there and then.

  “Ruby,” I moaned, knowing I was getting too close to hold back. “You need to—“

  But she didn’t wait for instruction. I’m not sure why I thought that she would. Instead, she let my cock go with a pop and a lick to the head, and then pushed herself upward and climbed onto me, straddling me with her perfect thighs. I felt as though I really had died and gone to heaven.

  “Is this what you want?” she asked as she hovered her pussy over my cock. She gripped him with her hand and rubbed the tip gently against her folds. My mind was blown when I felt the wetness of her pussy against my cock and I knew that she was ready for me. My hands tightened into fists in the sheets to stop myself from grabbing hold of her, whipping her over onto her back and ramming myself deep inside her.

  “Don’t tease me, Ruby,” I warned her. “I can’t handle it when you tease me.”

  She looked at me with a devilish smile on her face, and I knew that she knew she had me right where she wanted me, and I was right where I wanted to be.

  “Tell me, is this what you really want?” She swiveled her hips to massage the tip of my cock with her wet sex.

  “Yes, this is what I want,” I told her and when she slid herself down onto my cock, I gasped with pleasure. She was so tight that I could barely believe it, so tight that she took my breath away. I blinked up at her just in time to see a look of satisfaction on her face and knew that she was pleased with where she was sitting.

  “Take it easy on me, baby,” I told her as I reached down to grip hold of her hips. She began to rock backward and forward until I
felt my head spinning with pleasure. She was going to kill me. “Go easy on me.”

  The way she moved caused my entire body to erupt with pleasure and for the first time in my life, I found it impossible to hold on to the orgasm that was threatening to rip me apart. My entire world spun, and I continued to struggle on, holding my breath in an attempt to hold on to the pleasure just a little while longer.

  I needed her with me though. It was like it was my only goal in life right now. If she didn’t come first, I’d never be able to live with myself. Committed to the goal and throwing myself into it like I did everything, I started to buck my hips. I thrust so deep inside of her that the tip of my cock bumped her womb, causing her to moan and writhe on my dick.

  Reaching up, I fondled the perfect globe of her breast in my hand. When she gasped, I knew that I’d found her weak spot. “You like that, don’t you?”

  She moaned in response, a perfect answer if I’d ever heard one. I squeezed her nipple, thumbing it to a hard point before reaching up and sucking it into my mouth. She exhaled a breathy scream, and I teased the nub with my teeth. It was so fucking hot that she seemed to like it a little bit rough. Daring to go just a little farther, I tugged on her hair, forcing her neck back and teasing her soft skin with my lips, tongue, and teeth, my hot breath in her ear, saying, “I’m gonna fuck you so hard, you’re going to think about me every step that you take tomorrow.”

  She gave a shuddering scream, and her pussy clenched around me, milking me for everything I had. I lost control, rope after rope of cum sliding up into her greedy pussy. I felt her quaking, sliding and gripping me so tight that I swear I blacked out for a minute.

  “Damn it, baby!” I groaned as I bust the last of my load inside of her.