by Penny Reid
“What? Why?”
“I can’t imagine what you went through with that woman, when you told her you were pregnant. I’m sorry you had to do that alone.” Bryan reached forward, dusting my hair away from my temple and cradled my jaw. “I’m sorry I made it impossible for you to tell me the truth. But I want to be here for you now.”
“Just be there for Patrick,” I said, covering his hand with mine.
His grin returned and he opened his mouth to respond, but he was interrupted.
“Oh my God.”
I straightened and turned at the sound of Josey’s voice, finding my friend gaping at us with plain shock.
“Ah, Josey.” I stood and embraced her, then turned to introduce Bryan. “This is Bryan, I hope you don’t mind if he joins us for—”
“Are you kidding?” She giggled, the sound somewhat crazed, and made her flirty eyes at him. “Of course I know who you are. Everyone knows who you are.”
Bryan’s smile wavered, looking momentarily blindsided by her exuberance, and I tried to hide my grimace.
Recovering swiftly, he extended his hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“You, too.” Her eyes grew impossibly wide, and she shuffled closer to him, maybe a little too close. “I can’t believe I’m actually shaking your hand. I’m such a big fan. You smell so good. You’re completely brilliant, and I can’t believe how tall you are. I mean, you’re so tall. So very, very tall.” She continued bobbing their hands up and down, holding on to his far too long and clearly making him uncomfortable.
I debated whether or how to intercede, mostly just wanting to crawl under the table.
Finally freeing himself, Bryan took a step away from her and tucked his hands in his back pockets, sending me a quizzical look. “Can I get you ladies anything? Coffee?”
“Coffee would be great.” I gave him what I hoped was an apologetic smile.
“Are you really going to get our order? That’s amazing,” she enthused. “I’ve never been served by a professional athlete before.”
Behind her, I let my forehead fall into my hand, shaking my head, making a mental note to apologize to Bryan profusely.
“Two coffees then?” he asked lightly, being more than gracious by ignoring her loony behavior.
“Yes. Two coffees. Thank you,” I answered for both of us. He nodded once tightly, bolting for the line at the counter. I didn’t blame him for wanting to run—first my mother, now my friend.
Waiting until he was out of earshot, I tugged Josey on her arm and quietly demanded, “What is wrong with you?”
“What is wrong with me?” she asked, her rushed whisper echoing mine. “That’s Bryan Leech! You didn’t tell me he was coming. You didn’t give me time to prepare. I’m . . . overwhelmed by how sexy he is. And it’s everything; he’s just so everything. He’s like a vagina magnet. I mean, my vagina felt magnetized. He’s so tall.”
“Yes. I know. You commented on his height like three times.”
“Oh no, that was weird, right? I should apologize.”
“No. Don’t apologize, that will only make it worse. Just act normal. He’s just a man.”
“Just a man?” she repeated, as though I’d called him just an amoeba, offending her. “That, my friend, is not just a man. That is an orgasm guarantee. Every. Single. Time. Probably three or four times a day. I bet he doesn’t even have to go down on you first. He just looks at you and, BAM.”
“Oh my God, please stop talking.” My eyes flickered to where Bryan was standing—thank the Lord—now ordering, his back was to us. “You need to get control of yourself. You are a grown woman, please act like it.”
“I don’t know if I can.” She shook her head, her eyes wide with worry. “I’ve never met anyone like that, let alone been with someone like that. You know how horny I am. I’ve always been this way. It’s why I stopped waxing.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“Waxing just makes it worse, it makes me lustier.”
Despite the situation, I laughed. “You are so crazy.”
“I have to leave,” she said resolutely. “I can’t handle that level of perfection.”
“He’s not perfect, Josey. Stop focusing on what he looks like.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t. You don’t understand. You’ve always had this confidence in yourself, and you should. You’re so beautiful and tall and graceful. And smart. But you don’t know what it’s like for us mortals.” She backed up, shaking her head. “Next time warn me, okay? So I can take a Xanax? I’ve got to go.”
I tried to catch her arm, but she was quick, weaving through the tables lightning fast. I blinked at her back, too stunned at first to move, and then she was gone.
19
@THEBryanLeech: Ever notice how pineapples are made of neither pine nor apples? #mindboggled
@ECassChoosesPikachu to @THEBryanLeech: So I come check out your feed and this is what I find. Riveting stuff.
@THEBryanLeech to @ECassChoosesPikachu: I’m riveting enough in other areas, love. xxx
*Bryan*
I was covered in sweat after an early morning training session. The boys were bantering as we headed inside to shower, and I grinned at their antics. Put a bunch of grown men together and no matter their ages or maturity, the topic will inevitably fall to the lowest common denominator.
“Under boob wins over side boob. Hands down,” said Doyle.
“No way, side boob is so much better.” This was Fitzpatrick. Course it was. I could tell by the smirk on his face he was disagreeing purely to rile Doyle. The man took his under boob way too seriously.
“What about good old fashioned top boob?” I put in. “Ya can’t beat a bit of classic cleavage.”
“Nope. Under boob is still the best,” Doyle stood firm. “It’s got the most heft.”
Will’s face at Doyle’s use of the word “heft” to describe the female anatomy was comical. He looked like he was thinking about it way too hard.
“You’re the under boob of society, Doyle. Of course you’re going to favor it,” Cassidy interjected, taking some fancy lip balm out of his pocket and applying it to his lips. I never really paid much attention to my appearance, not like Sean. That guy had one locker for his uniform and one for his abundance of lotions.
But I decided tonight would be different. I wanted to look good for our date. More than that, I wanted Eilish to feel like I was good enough for her. I wanted her to feel proud to stand beside me when we went out.
Sean continued, “I myself have always harbored a fondness for large conservative matron boobs. Give me Pam Ferris in a low-cut blouse and I’ll be a very happy man.”
Fitzpatrick chuckled. “I thought Doyle had issues, but you take the cake. Does my sister know about this secret fantasy?”
Cassidy smiled with teeth. “Why, of course she does. Your sister is well aware of all my sexual appetites, explicitly aware.”
That wiped the grin right off Ronan’s face as he shot Cassidy a disgruntled scowl.
“Hey, you dug your own hole with that one,” I said, casting him a look that said what did you expect?
We were inside now, heading toward the showers when I caught sight of Eilish. She was just finishing what appeared to be a heated conversation with Connors, and my protective instincts kicked in. Cassidy noticed the same thing, but as soon as he saw the look on my face and my determined stride, he stepped back and let me handle it.
“Everything okay here?” I asked.
Eilish jumped a little at the sound of my voice. Connors cast me an irritable side glance. When I made eye contact with Eilish, I instantly saw how stressed she was. It might not have been evident to the average person, but it was to me. I could see it in the tight line of her mouth and the crease in her brow. I didn’t want her stressed, not when we were supposed to be going on our first proper date today. I could murder Connors for whatever he’d done to upset her.
“This is a matter for the physio department. None of your
concern,” Connors said with a dismissive wave of his hand. Had he seriously not learned by now I didn’t take that kind of shit from him?
“If it involves Eilish, it involves me. Now what’s going on?”
Eilish cast me a pleading expression. “It’s fine. I’m fine. Go shower. I’ll see you in a little bit.”
I studied her a moment, then turned my attention back to Connors. “Whatever this is, give it up. We both know she’s done nothing wrong, and you’re just being a cantankerous arsewipe.”
Connors’s face turned red with anger. “She was in my space, meddling with my things. She had no right.”
“I was attempting to clean the place up a little,” said Eilish, her tone decidedly calm. I was proud that she wasn’t showing Connors any weakness, even if it was clear to me she was upset.
Our backgrounds weren’t as dissimilar as I’d originally thought. Her family was old money, but my father’s position as a high court judge gave me some perspective on her upbringing. Both our fathers had left when we were young, leaving us to the devices of our mothers.
Still, even looking at her now, I didn’t feel like I deserved her. I felt unworthy somehow, stained. She just seemed so wholesome, too noble for the likes of me. Maybe that’s why I wanted her so badly. The devil always looks for virtue to corrupt.
Except, that friend of hers . . .
“There’s absolutely no need to talk to me in such an unprofessional manner,” Eilish lifted her chin, peering down her nose at Connors, her tone high and mighty.
“I’ll speak to you any way I like. And you’re one to talk about unprofessionalism. You only got this job through nepotism and spreading your legs for the players,” Connors bit out, eyeing me pointedly.
Oh, hell no.
I stepped in front of Eilish and got in his face. “The fuck did you just say?”
At the same time I could hear Eilish sing-song, “Sacha Baron Cohen in pleather hot pants” under her breath.
I almost laughed at her reference, but I was still supremely pissed, especially when Connors spat back a cutting, “The truth.”
“You know, one day you’re going to steal the wrong lunch.” I put a hand on his shoulder, ready to do something unwise, when familiar hands pulled me back.
“He’s not worth it,” Eilish urged. “Like you said, he’s just a bully. That’s all he’ll ever be.”
But he called my girl a whore and should be destroyed!
No one should get away with such vile speech, especially not pointed at Eilish. She was ridiculously intelligent, dedicated, and bloody good at her job.
“Bryan, please.”
It was her voice that centered me, her touch that brought me back to my senses. Roughing Connors up wasn’t going to achieve anything. More than that, I was still proving myself to Eilish and violence would only undo all my hard work. It would show I was unpredictable, a livewire, when the person I wanted to portray was a steady hand.
But it sure would feel good.
I inhaled a deep breath and dropped my arm.
“That could be considered assault, you know,” Connors sniffed.
“If you think that’s assault then you need to get a fucking reality check,” I shot back.
“Okay.” Eilish threaded her arm through mine and pulled me away, holding me to her side. “Mr. Connors, I understand you do not wish to have me go through your things, but that wasn’t what I was doing. I was simply tidying up my workspace, as I have every right to do. It’s in the best interests of both the players and us that we treat them in a sanitary environment, so I’ll be reporting the conditions of the physio rooms to HR first thing on Monday morning.”
He narrowed his gaze. “You wouldn’t dare.”
Eilish stared at him dead on. “Oh, but I would.”
With that we walked away, and I glanced down at her proudly. There was a steely reserve in the way she held herself, and I had a feeling, quite surprisingly, that Connors had met his unlikely match in Eilish Cassidy.
“That was kinda sexy,” I bent to murmur in her ear. Her skin pebbled where my breath touched. “Seeing you put Connors in his place like that.”
She turned to face me, a smile at the edge of her lips. “It wasn’t about putting him in his place. I’m thinking only of the team’s well-being.”
“The team, eh?” I held the door for her.
“That’s right.” She nodded as we passed into the hall, turning her back against the wall to face me as the door swung shut.
We were alone, our voices echoing in the lonely corridor. That potency that always seemed to linger when it was just the two of us materialized again. Eilish’s gaze traveled down my body. Her pupils dilated and her breathing deepened. My cock stirred. Of course it did.
Oddly, I thought back on the brief encounter in the café with her friend. Something about it had bothered me more than it should. Josey had looked at me with stars in her eyes and an invitation lingering behind a flirty smile. It had made me uncomfortable, and not just because she was Eilish’s friend, although that was definitely a big part of it.
I knew Josey didn’t see me, not truly. Best-case scenario, she saw a guy who worked hard on his body. Worst-case scenario, she saw money. I used to eat up that kind of attention. Not only that, I used to take advantage of it.
I blinked out of my thoughts and returned my attention to Eilish. She was still looking at me like she wanted to do naughty things with me. Huh. Maybe looking good for her didn’t require a shower, a shave, and a sharp suit. Maybe she liked me just as well in a dirty rugby shirt, scrum shorts, muddy boots, and a layer of sweat. The way she swayed toward me seemed to confirm it.
“How’s Patrick been?” I asked throatily. Maybe discussing our son would help me behave, because I was two seconds away from pushing her up against the wall.
She swallowed, her voice equally rough. “He’s good. He keeps asking about you.”
My heart gave one hard thump and my lungs filled with air, glancing at the wall over her shoulder.
I was constantly eager to know how he was doing, and the fact that he’d asked after me personally got my thoughts all twisted up. It was like there was a string tied around my heart and I had this need to know he was happy and safe at all times. The scary thing was, now that I knew he existed I felt like it was always going to be this way, whether he was four or forty.
“Yeah?” I asked, bringing my attention back to Eilish.
“Yeah. He thinks you’re hilarious. He keeps talking about how you did this trick with your thumb to make it look like you’d cut it off.”
I smiled fondly. “Most kids find that scary. But for some reason our boy thinks it’s the funniest thing ever.”
Something flickered in her eyes when I said “our boy”—something warm—and suddenly, I wanted to fuck her.
What was I thinking? I always wanted to fuck her. But now, right now, an urgent pounding at the base of my skull made it hard to think.
“He’s something else.” She chuckled, forcing my thoughts back to the conversation. “Nothing fazes him,” she continued. “I left him alone in Sean’s bedroom once and came back twenty minutes later to find he’d been climbing to the top of the wardrobe and dive-bombing onto the bed.”
I laughed loudly. “Are you serious?”
She nodded. “Yes, I swear to God, I almost had a heart attack. He wasn’t allowed sweets for two weeks after that.”
“Maybe we’ve got ourselves a little stuntman in the making, huh?”
Eilish shuddered. “Don’t say that. I’m not sure my heart could handle it.”
I reached out and touched her shoulder. “Nah, he’s just a little crazy, I guess. Gets it from me. I was a hell-raiser when I was a kid.”
Her gaze wandered over me, her voice quieter now. “I bet you were.”
I stared at her, stared until something passed between us, something heavy and needful. I cleared my throat and stepped away.
“I better go shower. Want to meet me out
front in half an hour?”
“Sure. I have to go freshen up and call the babysitter to check in on Patrick,” she said and then paused, biting her lip. “By the way, do you want to tell me where we’re going? I have no idea what to wear.”
“Something comfortable. Nothing fancy.”
“You do realize that makes me more nervous than if you’d told me to dress fancy, right? I don’t know how to be outdoorsy. At. All. Just giving you fair warning.”
“Stop worrying. I promise you’re going to enjoy yourself.”
She narrowed her gaze but I could tell she wanted to smile. “I’ll hold you to that.”
* * *
Half an hour later, I was showered, dressed, and standing by my car, waiting for Eilish. She emerged from the building in boots, a jacket, and leggings that molded to every inch of her long, sexy legs. I could barely keep the grin off my face as she walked toward me, a rush of adrenaline followed, knowing I had her all to myself for the rest of the day.
Not touching her is going to be torture.
“You look gorgeous. Hop in,” I said and opened the door for her. She flushed a little at the compliment, and I went around to get in the driver’s side.
“Did you talk to Patrick?” I asked as we buckled our seatbelts.
Eilish nodded. “Yeah. He’s fine. Watching an episode of Bob the Builder.”
“I need to get to know what he likes. Buy him some stuff.”
“Believe me, Sean spoils him enough. He has so many toys I’m running out of places to store them.”
“Huh. How about I get some new storage then? Building furniture has actually become a bit of a hobby of mine. I made this giant set of shelves for my living room last week.”
Eilish shot me a funny look but didn’t say anything.
I glanced between her and the road. “What? What’s that look for?”
She shrugged. “It’s just, something weird about me. I love assembling furniture, organizing spaces. It’s like meditating. I love it.”
“Yeah? We should build something together sometime,” I said in a low voice.