RUNNING GAME (A SECOND CHANCE SPORTS ROMANCE) (9 page)

I
’d never once kissed
a girl before she left and wished she hadn’t gone afterwards. But here I was, alone in my apartment once again, and wishing I could live the last few hours over again.

My knee hurt like a motherfucker, though. I hadn’t felt any pain earlier, but now that she was gone, now that my cock wasn’t standing straight up in the fucking air… I wasn’t concentrating on making Maisey’s beautiful face contort in pleasure, I was very aware of the pain in my knee.

Shit. I’d probably set my recovery back a whole week, but what was I supposed to do? Lay there like an invalid? Fuck that.

Maisey’s body required the pleasure than only a real man could provide and that’s what I was going to give her every time, pain or no pain.

If there was a next time, that is.

Who knows? Maybe Maisey had her own rules. Maybe she’d never sleep with me again, never let me caress those sweet luscious curves of hers. But I sure as hell hoped not.

We’d fit together perfectly, our bodies coming together like old friends who hadn’t missed a beat.

I was still reeling from it all, my body buzzing with the afterglow despite the throbbing pain in my leg.

She was so fucking beautiful. She’d started out cold and detached, but her sweetness was shining through now that she’d warmed up a little. Her femininity was divine, and I’d loved watching her smile spread across her gorgeous face as she snuggled up against me.

Suddenly, all I wanted to do was make her happy. In bed and out.

I wasn’t really sure how to do that out of the bedroom, but I had a few ideas.

I picked up my phone and began dialing.

I
caught
a cab outside of Jesse’s high rise. My car had died on the side of the road on the way to Maddy’s school this morning, making for a crappy start to my day.

But now? After that scene up there?

There wasn’t much of anything that could have put a damper on my day at this point.

Sure, I shouldn’t have done it.

Sure, it was a huge mistake. Huge.

But holy hell, it had felt
amazing
. There was no way I was going to lie to myself about it. More than anything, I wish I had someone to call up and share the information with. I thought about calling Eddie, but he’d just be so upset that I hadn’t told him about Jesse in the first place.

No, I couldn’t tell anyone. I’d have to keep this delicious secret to myself.

Of course, I’d need to do damage control, I knew that too. I’d have to make sure that Jesse didn’t read anything into this. I had to make sure that I had the strength to say no next time.

I’d done it, though, there was no going back. And it was out of this world. Even better than I’d imagined it might be during the last ten years. Even better than it had been that one time so very long ago.

At least now, I had even more memories to keep with me for the rest of my life.

Now that I had a little distance, and I wasn’t lying there in the comfort of his warm embrace, I knew that resisting his temptations the next time was essential.

I reminded myself that I was strong. I had it in me to say no, no matter how out of this world sexy he was.

No matter how much I wanted him.

No matter how good it felt.

I could do this.

Now that I’d gotten it out of the way, we could move on.

Right?

“
I
have
the information you wanted,” Maria’s voice boomed through the phone. She was a boisterous woman, retired from the police force for five years and making her living as a private investigator now.

“Excellent, thanks Maria, what did you find out?”

“Well, I ran a criminal check on her, but there’s nothing there. Ms. Jayne, as you know, has been working at Steadman Hawkins for the last year. Before that, she spent most of her time in school, working on becoming a physical therapist. She lives in a small rental home in Greenwood Village. No partner to speak of. One daughter.”

“Daughter?” Maisey had never mentioned a daughter.

“Yes, she has a daughter that goes to Greenwood Elementary.”

“I see… And no father in the picture?”

“Not as far as I could tell, no. No boyfriend, nobody at all like that, actually. I watched her for a few days. Her car broke down this morning. She’s been taking cabs everywhere all day. Spends most of her time working, at your penthouse, or home alone with the kid.”

“Okay, anything else?” I asked. I’d learned basically nothing about Maisey, outside of her having a daughter. That was a pretty big secret to keep from me, though.

“Nope. Should I keep digging?”

“No, that’s fine. Thank you. I’ll send you a check in the mail.”

“Pleasure doing business with you,” she said, before hanging up.

So Maisey had a daughter, huh? She’d never mentioned her at all. But why would she? To her, I was probably just a nuisance or someone that she had to endure. Yeah, we’d had sex, and it had been incredible, but that didn’t mean she wanted to let me into her life.

Into her life.

Is that what I wanted?

Of course not, I’d never wanted that.

I reminded myself of my original intentions, which I’d already achieved. One more time with Maisey. And now it was over.

But I couldn’t help but wonder why this unfamiliar feeling was sticking around so long. I wanted her to be happy. I wanted to make her smile, make her cry out my name again.

To say I was torn between my old ways of dealing with women that was so second nature to me and these feelings I was having about Maisey would be an understatement.

I was overwhelmed by all of this. So much so, that even in my confusion, I was still sitting here on the couch with another huge erection.

I watched the sun set over the Rockies in the distance, my mind filled with visions of her eyes, her lips, her curves, her touch…and I realized something.

I’d never felt this way about anyone.

Suddenly, my no-more-than-two-times rule seemed like the dumbest rule in the world.

Because I wanted to make love to Maisey a million times more. And then probably a million more.

I felt sick when I realized what was happening.

Was this love?
Or just nostalgic infatuation? Either way, she was under my skin, and I had no fucking clue what to do now, because this was so far out of my usual method of operating that I felt like a fish out of water.

A very horny, very confused fish.

I
paid
the cab driver and stood in front of Jesse’s building, staring up at the penthouse. My hands were sweaty and my stomach was fluttering like crazy. The morning sunshine was bright and warm, but I was still standing there with my nipples hard as rocks beneath my scrubs. Obviously, it wasn’t from the cold.

My body was pulsing with a confused mixture of desire and dread.

I had to go in. I had to do my job. I couldn’t just walk away.

But I also had to remember that I was there to do a job, not just live out my fantasies with Jesse.

I took a deep breath and steeled myself before walking through the revolving doors. Today was a new day. I’d faltered yesterday, but that doesn’t mean I had to make the same mistake twice.

I said hello to the ever looming Grady and knocked on Jesse’s door.

The smile that was plastered to his face told me he wasn’t going to make this easy on me. The kiss he plastered on my lips before I could even say hello to him told me my strong intentions to resist him were going to be fully tested.

But still, I let him kiss me. It was quick, casual, and the best I could hope for.

In the back of my mind, a little devil was telling me to keep going, to let this just be a casual thing until he was healed and moved on. It was my conscience that kept reminding me how stupid I was being, what a risk it was to be close to him at all.

I did my best to listen to that part of my brain and ignore the other part.

I walked in and sat down next to him on his huge couch, his smile disarming me right away.

“Jesse,” I began, “what we did yesterday was wrong.”

“It certainly was,” he agreed with a solemn nod.

“You agree with me?” I asked, shocked.

“Sure,” he nodded. “It was a complete violation of ethics.”

“Oh. Right, yes it was. I’m glad you see it my way.”

“Sure,” he said, inching a little closer to me on the couch. “How could I not? It’s obvious that it was so, so wrong. Totally and completely inappropriate.”

“Right,” I said, my eyes darting down to his full lips, remembering the way they’d felt between my legs yesterday. My body stirred with desire and I bit my lip. “Totally inappropriate.”

“Of course. Terribly inappropriate,” he whispered, his voice low and hypnotizing as he moved even closer. His face was inches from mine and my breath became ragged and shallow as he neared.

“Right,” I whispered, swallowing hard. “So we agree then? It can never happen again.”

That sexy, slow crooked grin spread across his face and he shook his head slowly.

“No, Maise. I don’t agree with you there.”

“But you said it was wrong.”

“That’s right, I did,” he said, his eyes locked on my lips as he leaned even closer. If I moved a half an inch forward, I’d be kissing him.

God, I wanted to kiss him.

“If it’s wrong, then we can’t —,” I began.

He reached out and put a finger on my lips, silencing me.

“It’s only wrong because of your job, Maisey. And guess what? I’m not going to tell anyone, and I bet you aren’t either, right?”

“No, of course not, but —,” he pressed his finger firmly against my lips again and I closed them.

“Then, what’s the harm? A little pleasure between two friends?”

“But your knee —.”

“My knee is healing thanks to your magic hands. Don’t worry about that. You said yourself that I need to be moving around and working on building flexibility in my knee… You’re helping with that.”

“But Jesse, I —.”

“Nope,” he protested, trailing his finger away from my lips and outlining the edge of my jaw. His finger moved so slowly, seducing me into believing that I wanted more than just the tip of his finger on my skin. “There’s nothing you can say that will convince me that making love to you isn’t amazing.”

“That’s not what I —.”

“Nope. Shhh, Maisey!” he said, finally bringing his lips forward and kissing me gently to quiet my protests. “Tell me you didn’t enjoy yesterday.”

“I - I can’t,” I replied, my eyes glued to his hungry gaze.

“That’s what I thought,” he smiled a sly smile. “Tell me something else, darlin’. When’s the last time you felt that good?”

“Jesse,” I replied, shaking my head. “Don’t…” I didn’t want to answer his questions, because I didn’t want to admit the truth to myself. The truth that he and I both knew. The answer was never.

“You don’t have to say it, I could
feel
it,” he replied. “You want me just as bad as I want you, Maisey. You can’t deny it. I saw the way you shuddered under my touch,” he said, trailing his finger down my jaw, sliding it slowly down my neck and into my shirt, into my bra, twirling quickly around my hardened nipple. I shivered beneath his touch, my body proving him correct. “Ah, yes, that’s my girl. See?”

His touch shot electricity through my body and I sighed.

“Fuck, Jesse,” I whispered, his fingertip still tracing circles around my nipple. I arched my back, giving him easier access to my breasts, despite myself. He reached his entire palm into my shirt, pulling out my left breast, his head falling to take it into his mouth. His tongue circled my nipple, taking the place of his finger, the feeling of his mouth on me so delicious I almost leapt out of my skin. I moaned and leaned back on the couch, pulling him with me. He sucked my nipple into his mouth, biting gently as I squirmed beneath him.

This wasn’t supposed to be happening.

I was supposed to be doing something else, anything else, besides this. Massage, stretching, those kinds of things. Work, not play. Not this excruciatingly pleasurable assault I was gladly welcoming.

“No!” I said, summoning the strength to push him away. I looked over at him and was surprised to see hurt in his eyes, mingled with the same desire that I knew was in mine. He was so fucking sexy, so real, so in the moment, so right there with me. He was pure sex, his flashing eyes, his soft hair, his fucking perfect body. And he obviously had no intention to hurt me.

What the fuck was I thinking saying no?

“Oh, fuck! Come here and kiss me!” I said, pulling him to me, our lips crashing together in a delicious passionate explosion. Our arms wrapped around each other and we laid together on his couch making out like a couple of teenagers.

His large hands pulled my shirt off, and I had a flash of awareness that he’d not seen me wearing anything but scrubs. He didn’t seem to mind, though. At least they were easy to get off. He pulled off my pants quickly and stood up, dropping his shorts and pulling his shirt over his head, leaving me gasping at the sheer masculine beauty he possessed.

Before he could lay back down with me, I stopped him, grasping his shaft and sliding it between my lips, the velvety softness of him throbbing in my mouth. My tongue twirled around him, and I delighted at the moans and gasps coming from him. His fingers tangled in my curls, holding my head gently as I pulled him in and out of my mouth.

“Maisey, my god, Maise, that’s amazing,” his voice was ragged with emotion, his cock swelling in my mouth as I slid up and down, pulling the pleasure from his body.

“Stop, baby, stop,” he growled, pushing me back and laying on top of me, quickly mounting me, his swollen cock sliding into my pussy with perfect ease. He moved against me, filling me up deliciously with his massive hardness. I whimpered below him, wrapping my thighs around him, and holding on for the ride.

And what a ride it was.

Gentleness faded away, and our bodies slammed into each other, working together with one hungry purpose, one starving mission, harder and faster and deeper, over and over and over until we exploded together in a chorus of moans and cries that echoed through his penthouse until we lay spent and gasping for air together, a light sheen of sweat sliding between our skin. He kissed me for what seemed like an eternity, our arms wrapped around each other, both of us holding on tightly.

I don’t know about him, but I never wanted to let go. I never wanted this moment to end. I pushed all the warnings away, and stayed in the moment with him, letting everything else except his perfect body and his comforting touch fade far away.

“Your knee is never going to heal this way,” I whispered.

“Fuck my knee. It’s my cock that needs your attention.”

I laughed, and he rolled back over on top of me, his cock hard again and sinking into me once more, as if to perfectly prove his point.