by Kathy Lyons
“Definitely a wizard in the kitchen,” Cassie quipped. “And on the baseball field.” Her eyebrows waggled. “But I want to know how he is in the bedroom—”
“No ice cream for you!” I interrupted as I snatched the empty plate out of her hand. Naturally, she let loose a peal of laughter that warmed me so much, I softened.
It was so good to hear her laugh. Strange, too, to hear Gia’s giggles chime in. It was female music that unsettled me. But it was good to hear, even though I didn’t trust it. I didn’t like that Cassie was so free and easy with someone who wasn’t me.
It was stupidly protective, but I didn’t trust Gia’s motives yet. I didn’t want her anywhere near my little sister until I knew for sure what I thought of her. And yet, I couldn’t deny the joy their combined laughter gave me. It was such a happy, carefree sound. I’d rather cut off my own arm than take that away from my sister.
Meanwhile, Gia answered the unspoken question. “I have no idea what your brother’s like in the bedroom. And no woman has ever returned to tell the tale.”
“And that’s enough talk about me,” I said firmly. “Let’s watch your tape.”
Cassie shook her head as she threw out her trash, then rinsed her dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. “I can’t. Gotta get back and study.”
I stopped with my hand on the freezer. “But what about ice cream?”
She laughed. “You just told me no.”
I glowered. “You know I—”
“And I’m on a diet anyway.”
I straightened up. “You look fine. You don’t need—”
“To fit into my sexy nurse costume for Halloween?”
“What?” We were a month away from that, and I didn’t want to think of her in anything sexy. But I knew what an important step this was for her—normal college parties, sexy outfits and all—so I tried to quash my urge to suggest she wear a nun’s habit. Apparently, I failed, because my sister rolled her eyes again.
“Relax,” she said with a grin. “I just wanted to see your face.” She looked over at Gia. “I’m really planning to go as Goldilocks. I’ve already started auditioning guys to play my three bears.”
That was when Gia burst out laughing. Probably because I growled or something. I don’t know what I did, except that both females apparently thought it was hilarious. Meanwhile, Cassie grabbed her backpack, but I caught it before she could swing it onto her shoulder.
“Stay. You can study here.”
“No, I can’t. You’ll just want to show me more footage of my volleyball games.” She looked at Gia. “He tries to give me pointers. Apparently, he doesn’t understand that volleyball and baseball are different sports.”
“There are similarities in technique—” I argued, but Cassie cut me off.
“See! He’s awful.” Then she stretched up on her toes and kissed my cheek. “But he’s my brother, and I love him.”
“It’s late. Let me take you back to the dorm,” I offered, but she flashed her phone at me.
“Already called an Uber. And it’s here.”
“An Uber. But…” I stopped myself before I could say something stupid. “Cancel it. I’ll drive you—”
“Stop it,” she interrupted with her serious voice. Then she lifted her chin and looked at me, her jaw firm, her eyes steady. I recognized the stance because I’d taught it to her. “I am leaving now in an Uber. And no, you may not come downstairs to intimidate my driver.” Then she patted me on the cheek as if I was her doddering old grandfather. “But you’re cute when you try.”
“Cassie—” I protested, but she waved me to silence, and I knew I had to respect her choices. That’s what her psychiatrist had told me, in no uncertain terms. She was an adult, and I had to treat her like one.
“Bye, Big Doofus.”
I bit back my sigh and curled my fingers by my side to keep from grabbing her and locking her away inside. “Bye, Tiny Mutt. Call me the—”
“The second I get to the dorm. I know.”
Then she was gone, out of the apartment and off to her life. And I was proud of her independence even more because I knew how hard she’d fought for it. And yet it was still so damned difficult to watch her leave that I held my breath as I listened to her footsteps down the hall. I heard the ding of the elevator as it arrived, and then the rumble as the doors closed behind her.
Cassie was gone, and that was a good thing, I told myself. She was doing great. She didn’t need me hovering over her.
But now that she was gone, what the hell was I going to do with Gia?
Chapter Eight
Gia
I’d seen Connor in many moods, but this one was new. His gaze was focused, yet abstract, which was weird. Cassie had just left, but he was still staring at the door with an intense fear that he had to visibly restrain. I saw it in the way he clenched his fists but hid them inside the pockets of his sweatpants. His gut was tight, his belly sucked in and his shoulders rigidly broad.
It took me a moment to understand why he was acting so odd, but then I heard the elevator ding. He was listening as Cassie departed. And he was keeping himself from running after her.
This was Connor at his most protective, and it shocked me to the core. His feelings were raw and intense, and ten times more powerful than anything I’d seen in a game. He was desperately afraid for Cassie, and yet he was holding himself back so that she could be a normal college student.
Admirable. And so damned sexy, I felt a wave of desire like I’d never experienced before.
Because in that one stance, I saw Connor as a husband and a father. Love for Cassie pulsed like the vein in his neck. It beat out loud and clear, and I knew that he would do anything for his younger sister, without hesitation.
What would it be like to be loved like that? Not only that fiercely, but with the strength to hold back, to not smother?
I never knew my biological father, and my mother had lost her battle against drugs by the time I was nine. I’d been a street kid. Even though foster care had picked me up soon after her death, I vividly remembered scrounging for food, wondering who or what waited around the next corner. A rainstorm meant a miserable, freezing night, and a snowstorm could mean death. Even though my adoptive family was the best, I had a desperate need to be loved and protected. And here it stood, right in front of me.
Connor, listening carefully as his sister got into the elevator.
I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t. When the elevator doors shut, he took a slow breath. Then he turned to me. His expression was weary now, almost sad, as if this desperate love he had for his sister was quietly wearing him down. But his focus now was 100 percent on me, so maybe it was my presence that exhausted him.
“What do you want from me, Gia?”
That, my soul answered. I wanted what he felt for Cassie, only man to woman. I wanted someone to love me so deeply it exposed him like a raw nerve to anyone who looked. And even more, I wanted to love someone that fiercely, myself.
Was I even capable of loving like that? I mean, I loved my adoptive family. Totally. But there was a tiny core inside me that I had walled up. I protected my deepest self. I don’t think I would cut off my own arm to save my parents or even the sister who lived with me. I would give a lot, but the unthinking devotion I saw in Connor wasn’t inside me. A tiny part of me always said, Think of yourself first.
When I didn’t speak, he sighed and leaned against the back of his couch.
“Gia.” The way he said my name sent shivers down my spine. The feeling wasn’t exactly pleasant, but it was definitely intense.
I should have told him that I was here to get an interview, to make him talk to me. But instead, I confessed, “I planned to blackmail you into giving me what I want.”
His eyes widened, and then he narrowed them abruptly in a scowl.
“Blackmail me, how? I haven’t done shit.”
True enough. “But you are super private. I was going to…” I swallowed and rephrased my st
atement. “I am showing you that I found stuff out about you. I know where you live. I know Cassie and have been to her games. I know that she was hospitalized her senior year in high school and that Sophia never graduated from college, even though she lists it on her website.” I had more details, like where his favorite restaurant was and even some of his web-surfing habits, though nothing salacious had popped up. But I never got a chance to voice them. At the mention of Cassie’s name, he growled and rushed forward.
I skittered back, startled, but he didn’t touch me. He stopped just short of that, his expression livid, his hands hovering in the air inches from my shoulders. It was like he wanted to throw me out of his apartment but he stopped himself.
I quickly threw up my hands in surrender. “I know stuff, Connor, but I’m not printing it!”
So much for my strong blackmailer stance. I’d caved the minute he stepped into my personal space. And worse, my sudden confession didn’t stop his glare or the way his hands tightened as he drew them back to his chest.
“I need you to go along with this,” I pressed. “I need you to talk to me.”
“Why!” The word wasn’t a question. It was more like a demand, so loud it made me wince. And that made me angry. I was on his side. I was trying to help him and the Bobcats. And yet, here I was, worried about what he was going to do when I’d just seen him be stunningly loving toward his sister.
That set my back up, and I covered the ache inside with fury. I pointed my sharply manicured nail and poked him straight in the chest.
“Why? Because everyone wants this publicity except you. Joe loved the idea. Your agent has been harassing me for this since the day I started with the Bobcats. I have several outlets interested, but only if I write something amazing. The only one fighting this is you!”
He grabbed my finger and held it away from his chest. “Because it’s my life!”
“It’s mine, too!” I pulled my hand out of his. “I’m the lowest man on the Bobcat payroll. Joe didn’t even want to hire me at first, but I convinced him. So I need to produce something that’s really good.”
“Bullshit,” he snapped. “Your job at the Bobcats is secure.”
I snorted. “No job is secure, and you know it. Least of all mine.”
He frowned. “But you’re great at publicity.” The words came out grudgingly, which was how I knew he really believed what he was saying.
“So why are you fighting this?” He opened his mouth, but I cut him off. “And don’t say it’s because we’re all liars. That’s a lame excuse. You know you need us. Hell, your sister runs a publicity firm…”
That was the wrong thing to say, I realized as a blankness come over his features. WTF? After all the adoration he showered on Cassie, it was startling to see the wall snap up behind his eyes at the mention of Sophia.
I decided to investigate a little deeper. “There are lots of untruths on Sophia’s website. You have to research to find them, but she’s misrepresented or outright lied a dozen times.”
He didn’t answer, though his jaw muscles were popping.
“I haven’t told anyone. And I’m not planning to.”
He turned away. “Stay away from Sophia. She’ll only hurt you.”
Okay, so he wasn’t in the least bit protective of his older sister. Good to know. I folded my arms. “I really couldn’t care about either of your sisters, except in the most general sense. I’m trying to understand you. Why won’t you talk to me?”
He turned back to me, his expression hard. “I don’t talk to anybody. I don’t like publicity. I don’t want anyone looking into my life or—”
I stepped up to him. “It’s just your batting average—”
He touched me this time, putting his hand on my face, cupping my jaw as he lifted my gaze to his. “It’s you, Gia. I don’t want to talk to you.”
Heat shot from his hand to my skin, creating a flash fire in my body. His face was so close, and his eyes lasered into mine.
“It’s you, Gia,” he repeated, his voice a bare whisper.
I knew it was. Hell, he’d told me so in the bathroom. In the last week, he’d done everything possible to avoid me, and I’d hated it. I suddenly realized that what I really wanted was this. His hands on me. His mouth next to mine. And that harsh sound he made when he surrendered to desire. It would come any moment now. I could feel it.
And there it was.
A guttural moan. And then he was kissing me. Those earlier feelings that I’d tried to hide under anger—jealousy of his relationship with his sister and the need for his attention—they surged forward like an irresistible tide. And I did my best to pull him under with me.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed myself along his torso. He slid his hands down my back and cupped my ass, hauling me hard against his pelvis. I felt the hot press of his penis, and I wrapped my leg around him to deepen the contact.
Then suddenly, it was over. He pulled away from me, and though his nostrils flared, his words were not what I wanted to hear.
“Gia, no. We have to stop.”
No, we didn’t. Right there, with his hands around me, I knew the real reason I was here. It was for this. Why lie about it? So I grabbed his head and tried to kiss him again. But he was stronger than I was and held himself back.
“Gia, think! We work together. We—”
“I don’t care,” I said. An image flashed through my brain of him standing there, watching his sister. Five minutes ago, he’d exuded everything I wanted in a man. Strength. Love. Respect. I wanted that. And sure, it had been for his sister, but right now, that wasn’t important. I wanted to pretend it was for me. I wanted to be with him and think—for one night—that he felt that way about me.
“Connor, I want this. Forget about work, the interviews, and everything else. I won’t tell a soul. No strings attached. Just…” I swallowed. “Say yes.”
His hands gentled on my ass, and I felt them like large, hot brands. I felt the way they trembled, and I saw the hunger in his eyes. Lust, pure and simple. I knew it was echoed in my face.
“I promise. I won’t tell a soul,” I said.
“Just tonight?”
My heart ached at that, but if those were his terms, I’d take it. “Come morning, it will be as if it never happened.”
He groaned. “That never works.”
“It will for us. I swear.”
“It can only be for tonight. Nothing more.”
I nodded, though part of me was crying out, Why? Why couldn’t I be a forever girl with him? But then, just as I was teetering on the edge of mortification, he changed, scooping me up in his arms and carrying me through his apartment.
I cried out, half in surprise, half in delight. I used my arms to stabilize myself on his shoulders while my legs wrapped around his torso. I kissed him deep and hard, thrusting my tongue into his mouth for a split second before he rapidly won that duel and pushed into mine.
We were still fused together when he bumped into his bed. I was busy tugging at his T-shirt, trying to pull it off him. I uncoiled a leg enough to support my weight while he tried to gently set me down on the mattress. We both ended up toppling over in a mass of arms, legs, and half-stripped-off clothing.
I laughed at the impact and saw a flash of a smile on his face. But then I sat up and pulled off my shirt and all humor fled from his face. His gaze was on mine, but as I inhaled, I saw his eyes drop to my chest, to where my breasts were full and aching beneath a black lace bra.
“Not copper this time,” I said, but then groaned.
He had extended a single finger and was tracing the lace along my breasts, drawing it over my tingling flesh while my breath stuttered in and out.
“Be sure, Gia,” he murmured. “Please be sure.”
“I am.” Then to prove it, I reached behind my back and popped the clasp. I let him pull away the bra, then shuddered in delight as both of his hands cupped me then kneaded my breasts. I fell back on the bed, opening my arms to him. H
e squeezed my nipples, and my sex pulsed. Then he leaned down and captured a peak with his mouth.
He was good with his mouth. Teeth. Tongue. Suction and nip. He toyed with my breasts like he did with a baseball. And I felt dizzy with hunger at each passing second.
I wanted to touch his body. I needed to feel those muscles under my fingers, feel the strength of him inside me. I dragged his T-shirt up.
He released my breast with a pop that had me arching as sensation shot through my spine. I hauled on the cotton fabric of his shirt, anxious to get my hands on his skin. He pulled it off with a rough jerk. I had my hands on his chest then, stroking across the flat disc of his nipple while his pecs rippled in reaction.
“All night,” he rasped. “All night?”
I nodded, too breathless to answer with words.
“Quick and fast okay? For the first one?”
I paused, not in surprise but because the hunger that shot through me momentarily froze my muscles. Hard and fast was exactly what I had in mind.
I pulled my hands off of him and immediately started unzipping my jeans in quick, jerky motions. He helped strip them off me, dragging my panties down with the denim.
“Condom?” I managed to ask.
He reached over and pulled open the bedside table drawer, while my hands went to the taut cotton of his sweatpants. He had an impressive erection tenting the fabric, and I had to pull twice to get the waistband up and over it before sliding them down his narrow hips.
I heard the rip of the foil packet, then watched with hungry eyes as he sat back and rolled it on. I reached out to touch him, but he brushed my hand back.
“I won’t last,” he said. “I’m holding on by a thread.”
I grinned. I loved it when a man wanted me as desperately as I wanted him. He stood up for a moment, kicking off his sweatpants and giving me a good look at his gloriously naked body. Every golden inch was satin-covered power. And he was coming for me.
He was wearing his game face. Focused and intent. His nostrils were flared, his body tight with intention. As he hooked his hands under my knees, drawing my legs up and apart, I flopped back onto the pillows. I felt like he was preparing me as carefully as he studied to make a perfect play.