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  “And he’s keen on her too.” I launch into the details, how we grew up together, what his friendship means to me, how I rely on him for everything. “We used to bike to school together starting way back in third grade. Our parents worked their asses off and neither one of us had much, and sports were everything to us. We were those kids you see around the neighborhood, shooting hoops and riding bikes. We biked to practice together, to the basketball courts in the off season, to the community pool in the summer. We just got up and did it.”

  “Because you loved it. Because it was your heart. You couldn’t not do it,” Dani says, just getting it. Getting us.

  “Exactly. And even though we played football together in high school, Jason knew then that I was more likely to go pro. I don’t mean that to be cocky, but he was the one who said it. It was crazy, but he could tell. He believed in me, and kind of looked out for me back in the day.”

  “How so?”

  “Helped me weigh the different offers from college teams. Went over them one by one to really figure out the best fit. He’s always done that for me. Makes sure I’m considering everything. Just looks out for me like a brother.”

  “He’s your horseman,” she says warmly.

  “Yeah. He is. But I only have one. Don’t need four like LeBron,” I say, since the basketball player is famous for relying on his four best friends from childhood to help with his business decisions. “What about you and your sister? You’re close, right?”

  “Very close. She’s one of the reasons I work so hard. I love my job, but I’m also taking care of her,” she says, and then I learn she’s putting her sister through nursing school. “I was very focused my first few years out of law school, working late nights and getting ahead, but it was time well spent since I could pay off all my school loans. Now, I’m in a position to help her so she can just concentrate on school now, and then on being a nurse practitioner when she graduates.”

  “Damn. That’s impressive,” I say with a whistle.

  “She’s worth it. And hey, I’ll have someone to take care of me in my old age.”

  “Ha. It’s good that family can do that,” I say, then glance at the clock. Nine p.m. I need to be awake in nine hours for a run.

  “I should let you get your sleep,” she says, as if reading my mind.

  “Wait. You can’t go without me telling you how gorgeous you looked tonight.”

  “By all means. Tell me.”

  I scrub a hand across my chin as I remember how she looked. My cock stirs at the memory. “As soon as I saw you I was thinking about unzipping that dress you wore and having my way with your body.”

  There’s a pause on the phone, a rustling of sheets. “You were thinking about me naked at the Skee-Ball machine?”

  I laugh. “Can’t help myself. I see you and I think about you naked. I hope you don’t object to the way I undress you mentally.”

  “I hope you don’t object that I do the same thing.”

  “You pictured me in my birthday suit?” I ask and my dick now gives a full and proper hello when she says, “I sure did.”

  I sink deeper into the couch, my hand drifting down my chest. “How did I look?”

  “Drew, you have a beautiful body. I’d like to see it naked. Isn’t that clear?”

  I chuckle at her directness, then groan at her words. She makes me laugh and she turns me on. “Damn shame you haven’t stripped me down.”

  “Are you naked now?”

  “No, but I also know better than to send a naked selfie.”

  She cracks up. “I wasn’t asking for one. But why don’t you tell me what you’re doing . . .”

  “My hand is in my shorts now,” I say, as I reach into the waistband and grab my dick. I groan as I stroke. Fuck, it feels good to get some relief, especially as I hear her voice. Besides, this is the only way we can deal with all this fucking lust. Phone sex—I need it bad now.

  “Are you rubbing that fantastic cock of yours?”

  I wrap a fist around my hard-on and stroke down to the base, then back up to the head, squeezing at the tip. A jolt of pleasure ripples through my body, and I push my shorts down to my knees, freeing my dick completely from the confines of clothes. “I am. Wishing it were your hand, your mouth, your pussy.”

  “Mmmm,” she says her voice taking on a sexy purr. “I want that too. Tell me what you want most right now.”

  I pump faster, harder, desire surging through my body as I answer her.

  If you were here right now, I’d get down on my knees.

  Worship your body with my tongue.

  Bend you over my couch. Raise your ass, lick your pussy like that.

  Make you come on my face.

  She moans loudly, and it’s a long, lasting sound. “Oh God, that sounds so hot. I want that so much,” she says breathily, and I picture her hand between her legs right now, her fingers flying, her thighs spread wide.

  The images make me harder, as lust rattles through my veins with every rough stroke. “I want to make your legs shake, your knees weak. Want you to tremble as I kiss you between your legs, and fuck you with my tongue.”

  Her breath catches, and her moans turn into a cry.

  “Are you fucking yourself?”

  “I am,” she says on a loud pant.

  “And you’re picturing what I’m saying?”

  “Perfectly.”

  I grip tighter, my fist flying. “You want me to eat your sweet little pussy, don’t you?”

  “I want that so much.”

  My hand shuttles up and down my length, desire shooting through my body. I punch my hips, fucking my fist harder and faster. “I’d make you come so fucking hard, then I’d put you on all fours, and slide into you. I’d take you like that, Dani. I’d fucking take you so hard.”

  She cries out, her sounds telling me she’s nearing the edge. I’m so goddamn close too, and I can’t stop telling her what I want right now.

  Grab your hair.

  Pull it in my fist.

  Grip your hips. Drive into you. Fill you all the way.

  Watch your back bow as I fuck you.

  “Oh God, please fuck me, please fuck me, please fuck me,” she says, calling out, crying, chanting, begging, as she comes undone on the phone to the image I painted.

  Seconds later, my visions blurs, and an orgasm barrels down my spine, as I come in a powerful release that makes me want her even more.

  After I clean up, I laugh lightly and say, “Can I come over now?”

  “I wish. I want that so much.”

  I sit up straight on the couch, dragging a hand through my hair. I’m at once satisfied and frustrated. “Don’t get me wrong. That was awesome. But I really want the real thing right now.”

  She chuckles. “You have a voracious appetite.”

  “I do. But I’m also a physical man. That means I like touching you, and it’s killing me when I see you in public to not touch you the way I want. I don’t even mean the dirty stuff, Dani. I mean giving you a kiss when you show up at the whack-a-mole game. Putting my arm around you in between Skee-Ball rounds. Taking your hand in mine as we leave together,” I say, and she sighs softly. It sounds wistful.

  “I wish we could do that too.”

  A surge of adrenaline courses through me, and I’m ready to rush down the field right now. “Is it really such a bad thing if we were together? I just don’t know that I see it that way,” I say, because I’m not a triple baby daddy to three different moms who just knocked up a fourth girl. Dani’s not a nineteen-year-old fresh-off-the-bus cheerleader. I’m not smashing cars or trashing hotel rooms. I’m just a twenty-six-year-old guy who’s got his shit together and wants to go out with a woman he works with—a woman who has her act together too. That adrenaline fuels me, pushes me on. Maybe it’s the orgasm high, or maybe it’s just reality. But is this so wrong for me to want to at least pursue something with her? My game is on, we’ve played like rock stars, and the way I feel for her hasn’t hurt me on the fi
eld at all so far this season. Whatever Dani and I have had so far—clandestine as it is—hasn’t done an ounce of harm. The only issue I see now is the team, and I just don’t think Dani and me are a problem for the Knights. “Did you see how Stuart looked at you, then at me tonight? It was almost like he was pleased,” I say, and I can’t mask the note of hope in my voice. I don’t know that I agree with Jason’s assessment anymore on the risks of being with Dani.

  “I did see the look on his face,” she says cautiously.

  “But he didn’t seem suspicious. More like curious.”

  “Maybe.”

  “So, Miss Maybe. What do you think? Can we make a go of this? Can we figure out a way to not have to fucking hide or just settle on phone sex? I’d like to take you to the movies, and then take you home.”

  She sighs. “I’d love that. Trust me. I’d really love that. I just need to think on whether that’s really going to be okay. This is a risk, and I have to think about how to navigate the risk,” she says, ever careful, while I’m ready to charge full speed ahead into danger. “All I know is, I wish you were on your way over now too.”

  But I don’t go over, of course.

  And I’m beginning to wonder how much longer we can last like this.

  Chapter Ten

  Dani

  As a beautiful blue crest swells, I drop into it, popping up onto my board a second later. My mind is as crystal clear as the sky above. In this moment, all that matters is the wave and the chance to ride it without crashing. It’s control and letting go, and when the surfing is best, it’s both at the same time. Like now, as the morning sun warms my shoulders and the ocean lets me take it for a joyride.

  When I’m done, I paddle to the shore, bring my board out of the sand, and turn once more to watch the vast expanse of the sea. Surfing is my escape, but it’s also my pleasure. It’s been my outlet, my fun, the thing I do when I’m not working. Today though, it has another benefit. It gives me clarity, and I know as I head home and wash off the sand that I need to try to find a way to have both.

  I want Drew. I want work. I want that fine balance in my life without falling.

  More than that, I’m also confident we’re not a problem. Once upon a time, I was terrified of how a pairing between the two of us would look. Now, with my time today on the water, the great outdoors has done what it’s so good at—given me a calm, clear sense of certainty.

  Here’s what I know from both the evidence in the past, and from my own gut. The trouble that players rained down upon the team was honest-to-goodness trouble. Those players could never have asked permission for what they did because what they did was wrong. But Drew and I are in a different place. We can ask permission and that’s the key difference between the past woes and my present wish.

  I’m not sure how to get there. I don’t know when to jump into the wave or when to leap out. But I know this much as I drive into work—I need to test the waters. I want to put myself out there. And that means it’s time to at least have a conversation with Stuart. I’m not sure that I’ll tell him everything. I’m not sure that I’ll tell him anything, for that matter. I’m not the only one involved in this situation, so I won’t do anything to compromise Drew. But Drew made it clear last night on the phone that he’s ready. I want to find a way, and that starts with talking about the issues and the challenges.

  As I park in the stadium lot, Ally calls and we catch up on her date with Jason last night.

  “You really like this guy?” I ask as I walk across the asphalt.

  “Um, yeah. Haven’t you been listening?”

  “I heard every word. I’m just making sure,” I say as I grab the handle and open the door to the front office. “I’ve got to look out for my baby sister.”

  “And I thank you for that. But rest assured, he’s a total gentleman, and a sweetheart, and he makes me laugh, and he also has like an eight-inch—”

  I cut her off. “—La la la la. I’m pretending you didn’t say that.”

  She cracks up. “What? Did you think I was the Virgin Mary?”

  “No, I just don’t want to hear about Drew’s best friend’s Wiener schnitzel.”

  “Does that mean you and Drew are going to date for real now? Which would mean you’d be in a situation where you’re out and about with Drew and me, and Jason and his Wiener schnitzel?”

  I shake my head in amusement. “No, no, and no. Because he’s still off-limits.” I head down the hall to my office.

  “And that is a crying shame.”

  “But maybe that can change,” I say softly, floating the idea.

  Ally latches onto it. “Really? What are you going to do?”

  “I honestly don’t know. But I think I should at least talk to Stuart. Try to understand what’s possible. I know how to ask things without implicating myself or Drew. Just to assess the situation.”

  “You should. You totally should,” she says, her enthusiasm loud and clear.

  It’s everything I need to hear.

  As I enter my office I tell her good-bye, set down my phone and purse, and settle in at my desk. By ten I’ve plowed through a contract from a vendor, and by ten-thirty, I’ve responded to some emails from colleagues needing legal eyes. At eleven, I dive into some research on employee-player relationships to see what I can find out. There’s not much out there. With very little precedent, I’ll be winging this. But it’s what I need to do. I take a deep, fueling breath, push back in my chair, and stand up so I can find Stuart.

  Only, there’s no need to track him down. He’s knocking on my open door. My stomach nosedives. I’m hardly ready. I don’t know what to say, or what I’m even asking for. I gulp, trying to sort out the pieces of my bizarre love life in my mind. Hey Stu, what would you think if I dated the quarterback? Stuart . . . are you one-hundred percent positive that it’s a horrid idea for the team lawyer to date a player? What if I told you I wanted to ask the quarterback on a date? A hot, sexy, dirty, wild date . . .

  I gulp.

  “Come in,” I say, glad he can’t read my mind.

  He claps his hands together. “Hey Dani.”

  “Hey Stuart.”

  I wait for him to go next. I point to the chair across from my desk, and he plops down in it. “About last night . . .”

  I sit up straighter, nerves tightening. “The children’s hospital event?”

  He nods and points. “Bingo.”

  “What about it?” I ask carefully, worry thrumming through me. Did he overhear the things Drew said to me at whack-a-mole? In that instant, a cold fear seeps into my bones. Just because I was about to march into his office for a heart-to-heart doesn’t mean he’ll embrace my wishes with open arms. Not at all. In fact, chances are I’ve miscalculated.

  Badly.

  All my clarity from earlier slinks out the door, and I’m left with only hard cold facts. I need this job. I take care of my sister. I take care of myself. I can’t risk this.

  “You and number fourteen,” Stuart says.

  A weight lodges in my chest as his meaning becomes crystal clear. So much for my plan to take the temperature on a possible out-in-the-open relationship. Best to reel in that bad little idea, and act like nothing has happened.

  Stuart clears his throat. “Did I pick up on a vibe?”

  I frown, doing my best to appear thoroughly confused. “What vibe do you mean?”

  He holds out his phone and slides his thumb across the screen. The weight sinks down into my gut. Oh shit. Oh hell. Pictures. Someone has pictures of us. That’s how players get busted. Cell phones are the devil.

  My body is a high-tension line. Every muscle tightens with the fear that I’m getting the boot. That I’m raining scandal down on the team. Even though the reasonable side of me asks, for what? But the reasonable side of me is parked in the backseat. Defensive Dani, who can dart and dodge, is driving the car now. Doesn’t matter that I was hoping to ask for permission. Now it’s time to play cover-up and save our asses.

  S
tuart turns the screen in my direction and shows me a photo from last night. It’s on some sports news and gossip site. The shot is Drew and me by whack-a-mole. There’s nothing inappropriate in it.

  “Cute pic,” he says, then swipes the screen again and displays another. “Just like this one the reporter found.”

  He shows me a picture I’ve seen before—the one taken at the first event at the hotel. It’s a shot of us by the banner for the charity.

  “And that gave you a vibe?” I ask keeping my tone even, revealing nothing.

  Stuart scratches his head. “A little. But then I came across this shot.” He hands me the phone once more, and I jerk my head back. The picture shows the four of us leaving Heaven Can Wait. It looks like it was taken from a distance. I have no clue where that came from. I didn’t think Drew was at the level of paparazzi stalking him.

  “Where’s that from?” I ask out of sheer curiosity.

  “Flipper’s Taco Truck posted it. Owner said he met Drew earlier that night. That Drew enjoyed a couple fish tacos, then movies with friends.”

  The corner of my mouth dares to curve up as I remember the movie, and how we held hands in a popcorn bucket. I lower my face while the memory washes over me, bringing a rush of warmth across my skin. Looking up, I school my expression, putting the poker face on once more. “We ran into each other. I was with my sister, and he was with his friend, so we all saw the movie together,” I explain, feeling like I’ve been called into the principal’s office even though Stuart’s not my boss. But he is in charge of the team’s image, and that’s what’s at stake.

  “You two just seemed . . .” He pauses, weighing his words. “Forgive me for playing matchmaker, but you seemed like you liked each other.”

  I swallow, saying nothing.

  He shrugs and flubs his lips. “Guess I was wrong. And that’s completely fine. Part of me was hoping I was right, though.”

  His words don’t compute. For a moment, I’m sure I’ve misheard him. He can’t have said what I think he said. “Excuse me?”

  “Gotta say, Dani, you two seemed like a happy couple. Like there was something brewing. Personally, I was happy about the possibility because I like you, and, selfishly, I like the idea of this happy couple on the team.”