by Bella Andre
“Vegas.”
“What about your parents?”
He gave her his standard answer. “I don't have that many memories of them.”
“How old were you when they passed away?”
He’d been asked this question a thousand times at press conferences and interviews, but never with such palpable concern.
Never by anyone who really cared.
“Five.”
“Cole.” She stroked his cheek, her fingertips feathering pleasure across his skin. “I’m so sorry.”
He forced a shrug. “My grandmother took care of me. She was great.”
“You’re great, Cole.”
And then, finally, he was back to where they started, with his mouth a breath away from hers.
The chorus to I Just Called To Say I Love You played from her purse.
“Oh no. I need to get that.”
She pushed out of his arms and pulled the phone out of her purse on the kitchen counter. “Hi, Mom. I was going to call, I swear. It all happened so fast.” She shot him a wild look. “You want us to come over? Right now?”
Cole fought back panic. Meeting the parents wasn’t something he did. Hell, there’d been no chance of that from one-night stands.
But he’d married Anna.
And her family wanted to meet her husband.
Fuck.
It had all seemed so simple in the club, when he was kissing her, and holding her, and looking for a Hail Mary pass that would fill his grandmother’s dying wish.
First the paps. Now Anna’s parents and siblings.
What would be next?
Anna looked so panicked—he hated to see her doing anything but smiling or crying out in ecstasy—that when she sent him a silent question with her eyes, he found himself nodding.
“Okay. Yes, we can come. Back in San Francisco. No we haven’t eaten.” Her eyes grew bigger. “Everyone’s going to be there?” She swallowed hard. “Fantastic.” She put the phone down. “We’re having dinner with my family.” She put her face in her hands. “What am I going to tell them?”
Shit. He’d asked her to lie to his grandmother. But he couldn’t ask her to lie to her own family.
“The truth.”
She lifted her head. “Are you kidding?”
“I know how important family is, Anna. I’m not going to ask you to lie to them.”
One corner of her mouth lifted, but it wasn’t a smile. It was a grimace. “I appreciate that, Cole. But I can’t tell them the truth.”
“Why? You think they’d tell the press that this isn’t a real marriage?”
Pain flashed in her eyes. She blinked and it was gone. “No. They would never betray me like that. I can’t tell them the truth because they’ll think I’m a desperate fool who had to marry the first man who asked.”
Hating to hear her talk about herself like that, he had to pull her back into his arms before he set her straight. “No one who knows you would ever think you were a desperate fool.”
He felt her relax in his arms and let himself enjoy holding her. Until now, he’d been totally focused on sex. But this, the warm, soft comfort of her, knowing he was comforting her too, was surprisingly nice.
She lifted her head. “I have a feeling things could get pretty messy tonight. Can you follow my lead?”
Did she have any idea what she was asking him to do? Cole Taylor wasn’t a follower. He was a leader. And yet, this tiny woman was asking him to hand over the reins.
Even stranger was the fact that he actually wanted to do it, wanted to help her, any way he could. Because she didn’t deserve to have her life turned upside down by a football player with ulterior motives.
“I’ll do it. On one condition.”
Her sweet lips parted slightly, the plump lower lip slightly damp from where she’d been chewing on it. “You’re making this a trade?”
“Oh, I think you’ll like my terms.”
Her skin flushed and her eyes gave away the desire she didn’t have the first clue about hiding from him. “You’re awfully sure of yourself.”
“That’s because I know I can deliver.”
“Deliver what?”
“I want you to promise me you’ll do anything I want the next time we’re in bed.”
Her body heated up against his, the vee between her legs the hottest of all, like a beacon drawing him in to her. “What could you possibly want to do that we haven’t already done?”
He had to smile at the fact that she hadn’t just said no. She was looking for details instead. Because she was interested. Because she wanted to say yes.
“Make you feel really, really good.”
Her response came, honest and unfiltered. “You’ve already done that.”
He slipped his hands around her incredible ass and tucked her up against his hard-on. “I’m very glad to hear it, sweetheart. But trust me. There’s more.”
“More?” Disbelief warred with anticipation on her beautiful face.
He had her.
“Is that a yes?”
She bit her lip again. “Yes.”
He couldn’t stop grinning—or thinking about how badly he need to fuck her right fucking now. Especially with the way she was pressing herself against him, little circles of sweet heat that had him a heartbeat away from ripping her clothes off and taking her on the floor in the middle of his kitchen.
“When are your parents expecting us?”
“Right away.”
Meeting her family for the first time looking and smelling like they’d just been fucking each other’s brains out was wrong. That was the only thing that could have stopped him from picking her up and making a meal out of her on the kitchen island.
Still, that didn’t mean he couldn’t kiss her, didn’t mean he couldn’t shift his thigh between her legs so that she was pressing herself into him with a desperate little moan.
On the verge of no return, he forced himself to pull back. “So, what’s your plan?”
Her eyes were hazy with desire and he felt a deep sense of pride at how long it took them to clear.
“I wish I knew. I’m hoping I’ll figure it out during the drive.”
Cole surprised himself with the rumble of laughter that escaped his chest at her completely honest response. Usually when his dick was this hard—fuck, had it ever been this freaking hard?—he wasn’t sitting around thinking how cute the woman was. He was just focused on fucking her.
Somehow, Anna managed to be both astonishingly sexy and cute as hell.
“Stop laughing. It’s not funny.”
But now that he’d started, he couldn’t stop, and then, neither could she.
It felt good to hold her and laugh together.
Damn good.
* * *
“Cole and I have been together secretly for months.”
Half a dozen gasps rang out throughout her parents’ living room and Cole worked like hell to keep a straight face.
They’d literally just walked in the front door. Her father and her sisters’ husbands were all clearly starstruck, which he hoped would work in their favor. Her sisters looked surprised, maybe even a little envious.
Her mother just looked mad.
No, he quickly realized, it wasn’t anger. She was hurt. And disappointed.
Guilt knocked into Cole’s gut. Last night at the club when he’d asked Anna to marry him, he hadn’t thought about anyone else. Just himself. And now eight strangers were looking with confusion at the woman he’d dragged into his mess.
He hated the thought of anyone being upset with Anna.
She really was a good girl, in the best kind of way.
Whatever he had to do to make this up to her in the end, he’d do. It wasn’t going to be money, he knew that now. Hell, even pleasure wasn’t enough. He needed to give her something more, something bigger even than riches and mind-blowing sex.
But what?
What could he give her that she really wanted? And that could only come fro
m him?
Clearly nervous, but determined to continue the riveting little story she must have concocted in the car, Anna said, “Cole wanted to meet you long before now. He practically begged me to come clean with everyone about us, didn’t you, honeybuns?”
Honeybuns?
Shit, he couldn’t laugh. Not now. Not when she was trying so damn hard to make it all sound real.
Obviously not realizing she’d just given him a totally ridiculous nickname—although he did have a pretty awesome ass—her expression was totally earnest as she reached for his hand, gripping it so tightly that her nails dug into his palm.
Crazy bastard that he was, he actually found himself hoping she’d mark him so that he could have a reason to bend her over later and “punish” her by spanking her sweet, round ass.
He somehow managed to get the words “I did” out with a straight face.
“It’s just he’s so famous and I really wanted him all to myself, at least for a little while.”
Surprised to find himself wishing they’d actually had some time together out of the public eye, he agreed. “The press can be pretty hard to deal with.”
“But Anna, how could you get married and not tell your own family?”
Anna’s face fell at her mother’s soft question and he wanted to jump in and save her so badly he had to grit his teeth together to keep his mouth shut. They’d made a deal. He was going to let her lead at dinner...then she was going to follow his lead in bed tonight.
His dick jumped to life in his pants. Crap, that was the wrong thought for a family gathering.
“I’m really sorry, Mom.” She looked around at everyone, her lower lip starting to quiver. He pulled her closer. “You’re right. You all should have been there. It’s just—I didn’t want to take away from Jeannie’s special day.” And then she looked up at him. “And I finally had a chance to do something special with Cole. I had to take it.”
He couldn’t look away from her, couldn’t stop himself from leaning over to kiss her sweet, trembling lips.
“This just might be the most romantic thing that’s ever happened.” Jill was the first one to hold out her hand. “I’m Jill. It’s so nice to meet you. This is my husband, Brian.”
Cole shook hands with Jane and Alan, Joanne and Chris. Anna’s father moved out from behind his kids. “I’m not going to pretend that we don’t wish we’d known about you before now. But anyone who makes my Anna happy is welcome in my book.”
There wasn’t understanding in her father’s eyes, but neither was there condemnation. And when his gaze shifted to Anna, love shone out strong and pure.
What a shame there hadn’t been time to ask her father for her hand. But that didn’t make sense. Cole hadn’t even known her yesterday, wouldn’t have ever sought her out if not for his grandmother’s wish.
“Thank you, Mr. Davis.” He shook her father’s hand, a strong handshake from the kind of man Cole would have loved to have had around when he was a kid.
“Call me John.”
Anna’s mother turned and walked into the kitchen and Anna stiffened against him.
“Go,” he said in a low voice that only she could hear.
But when her hand slipped out of his, he found he already missed her. Not just the soft press of her curves, but the sweet pleasure of holding her hand in his, of knowing that he could fall back into pass coverage if she needed his support.
But he didn’t have long to dwell on the thought, not with seven people he was now temporarily related to all peppering him with questions and compliments.
* * *
“Are you mad at me?” Anna asked her mother.
“Should I be?”
Anna’s mother, Jackie, had always been there for her daughters with a hug and smile and chocolate. And, sometimes, when they needed it most, tough love.
Anna wished there was something for her to do in the kitchen, for some place to put her hands and eyes so that she wouldn’t completely give herself away.
“I know my marriage is really unexpected, Mom.”
“Do you love him, Anna?”
She met her mother’s gaze on a swift intake of breath. It was the one question she’d hoped no one would ask, the one thing she’d hoped they wouldn’t pick up on from her explanation.
“He’s a wonderful man.”
A man who would do anything for his grandmother—including finding a nice stranger and marrying her—couldn’t possibly be bad. Even the fact that he’d lied to her no longer seemed all that bad. Not when she herself was doling out the lies by the bucketful.
“That wasn’t what I asked.” Her mother nailed her with a sharp glance. “Do you love him?”
Anna didn’t know how to lie, not to one of the people who loved her more than anything else in the world.
But just as she was about to say, “I don’t know,” she realized it wasn't true.
Oh my God, she was falling in love with him.
She was only vaguely aware of her own gasp, of her mother’s arms coming around her. “Oh, Anna. You always were different.”
Anna’s chest clenched. “And you’ve always felt sorry for me.” At her mother’s shocked look, Anna forced herself to step away. “The rest of your kids were all tall and blonde, they were all so popular, had so many dates, and won so many awards. I’ve never fit in, no matter how hard I tried.”
“Anna, honey, I can’t believe you think that.”
But twenty-nine years was an awfully long time to hold it all in, and now that the dam had cracked, she couldn’t keep it all from gushing out. “I picked out a new J name for myself when I was in first grade. Jennifer. But I never had the guts to tell you I wanted to change Anna so that I could be like the rest of you. Plus, I knew it wouldn't be enough. I'd still be me.”
She hated the spike of tears in the corner of her eyes. Damn it, for once she was going to be strong. Cole had helped her leap last night, showed her the strength—and adventurousness—she hadn’t seen in herself every time he made love to her. And no matter how much it was going to hurt when their marriage ended and they went their separate ways, she’d always be grateful to him for that gift.
Tonight she was going to have to take what she’d learned and trust that she knew how to fly on her own.
“You were Anna, honey, right from the start, right from the first time I held you in my arms. I’m sorry you didn’t feel that you belonged. But you always did. Your differences have always been special. Precious to me and your father and your sisters.”
Anna had needed to hear that for so long, she could barely take it in. And yet, at the same time, she couldn’t just back down. Not this time.
“You’re right, Mom. I am different. And this is how I want to live my life. Cole is my husband. I’m his wife. I’m sorry you didn’t meet him before now, but he’s here tonight.”
The pain in her mother’s eyes had her on the verge of an apology. And then her mother said, “Well, one thing’s for certain. He’s very good-looking,” and Anna knew that her mother was trying to mend the hole in their relationship any way she could. This was her way of saying she’d accept Cole, if that was what her daughter wanted.
* * *
Cole stood in the doorway and watched Anna laugh with her mother. Tension rode him from what he’d seen, what he’d heard.
Her mother was right. Anyone could see that Anna was different from the rest of her family. Not just the first letter of her name, not just her looks, but her spirit.
So full of sweetness it took his breath away.
She turned and saw him, then, pleasure lighting her eyes as she held out her arm for him. And as he walked toward his wife and took her in his arms, he wanted her with an intensity he hadn’t known he could feel.
But most intense of all, far more intense than his desire for her, was pride at the magnificent woman he held in his arms.
Anna was brave. Compassionate. Sexy as hell.
And all his.
* * *
&
nbsp; Two hours later, they were back in his car. Anna hadn’t said much through dinner and every minute that he’d been answering questions about his career, about the Outlaws’ Super Bowl prospects this season, he’d been watching over her, keeping her hand safely in his whenever he could. She hadn’t pulled away, but hadn’t held on too tight, either. Still, he’d known that small connection helped.
“You okay?” He reached over, stroked his thumb across the sensitive skin inside her wrist.
“I think so.” The moonlight was just bright enough for him to see her small smile. “You were great, Cole. Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me for anything, Anna.” Hell, he was the one who should be down on his knees thanking her. “And your family is great. Really great.”
She made a soft sound of agreement, her eyes closing at the stop light. Cole sat at the empty intersection long after the light turned green.
They hadn’t done enough sleeping the night before for him to get an opportunity to watch her like this. Her pretty face relaxed, her eyelashes long and curved across her cheekbones. The pulse moving evenly at the side of her neck.
His chest clenched at how beautiful she was. Desire was there—he already knew it would never be far from the surface between them—but it was another emotion entirely that had him unable to take his eyes off her. More than appreciation, stronger than respect.
He wanted to cherish her, wanted to devote himself to making her happy, to seeing her smile.
A car honked behind him and Cole stomped his foot down on the gas pedal, shooting them away from the light like it was a high-speed roller coaster ride. Anna stirred, but didn’t wake up.
Twenty-four hours. He’d known her twenty-four hours.
It made sense that he’d like her. That he’d lust for her.
But all this cherishing and devotion crap? Hell, that didn’t make a lick of sense.
Thirty minutes later, when Cole pulled into his garage, he had his head back on straight. No question about it, he’d lucked out by picking Anna as his temporary wife. But that’s all their relationship was. Just a brief union that was never meant to be anything more. Sure, Anna had said she didn’t want anything from him, that she would play her part solely for his grandmother’s sake, but Cole was going to find a way to pay her back. In a big enough way to make sure they could both move on with their lives as they’d been before Vegas. No regrets for either of them.