Dirty Player: A Rough Riders Novel Page 6

  No woman had ever acted like she wanted to hide from me. It was quite the opposite, generally.

  I liked this new game.

  I couldn’t resist. Reaching out, I slid a finger along her cheek and smiled when she shivered from the slight touch.

  She felt this…whatever it was that existed between us. I just had to find a way to burn it out quickly.

  “I think this was a mistake.”

  “No way in fuck it was. It was going to happen, and it’ll happen again.”

  “Threatening me?” She arched a brow, a challenge in her eyes as her shoulders rolled back.

  I shook my head. “No, I’m talking about living out those fantasies of ours. I still want to hear the ones you had about me, and maybe if I’m feeling generous, I’ll give it to you.”

  She swallowed slowly. A battle raged in her eyes. I was promising her nothing but hot fucking.

  I couldn’t promise her more than that—I wasn’t built for it. Not anymore.

  “One night.”

  I fought the urge to grin. “It’s going to take longer than that.”

  The words were out before I could reel them back in, yet I didn’t resent them either.

  “What are you thinking?”

  “Through preseason.”

  My half-hard dick was apparently calling the shots. No one ever spent more than one night in my bed, much less a month.

  Her eyebrows jumped on her forehead, arching into perfect points. “Excuse me?”

  I was as baffled as she was.

  I pulled her toward me then, her chest against mine, and peered down at her. She was so small in my arms, so soft against me.

  “You feel this,” I said. “You know I’m right. One night is only going to make things worse. We need to burn out this attraction between us.”

  She flinched for a moment, and I thought I’d lost her. I’d deserve it.

  She’d essentially told me her guy had cheated on her, and I wasn’t offering anything more stable. Plus, she had to have known my reputation.

  But after Serena left, I didn’t give a shit who I fucked.

  “I won’t fuck another woman when I’m with you. You have my word on that.”

  Because cheaters were worse than players. They were liars. I was as honest as they came, except for maybe with myself.

  “A month.” She tested the words on her lips, thinking it over out loud. “I have a new job to start. I can’t be distracted.”

  I’d assumed she was living off Beaux’s income. Fortunately, I was smart enough to hide my surprise. I wouldn’t ask her what she did. It didn’t matter.

  “Tell me. If you go home tonight, and are in bed alone, will you be thinking of me? Running your fingers through your wet slit and wishing it were my cock?”

  She shivered again, her silent answer.

  “Take me up on this, Shannon. I think you need it as much as I do.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  “Because you just had someone use you and treat you like shit. I might use your body, but you’ll always have my respect.”

  Her lip curled in that unhappy manner and I wondered if I had crossed a line.

  Surprise ignited my senses when she smiled. “Okay. Deal. One month.”

  I turned to unlock the door. “Let’s go tell Beaux we’re leaving then.”

  “Oh no, no, no, no.” She pressed her hand against the door, her eyes frantic. “There’s no way I’m going back out there. Not after this…thing.” She waved her hand between us, and I smiled.

  “This…thing?”

  “Yes.” She gasped and tugged at her hair.

  I was quickly learning that playing with her hair was her nervous habit.

  “They’ll all know. All of them. The team…the women. Oh my God!” Her eyes flashed wide and feral. “They’ll think I’m what you think I am!” Panic struck her then and her palm went to her chest. “That’s what they’ll think of me. That I’m just some gold-digging slut, someone who spreads her legs—”

  “Enough.” I pulled her toward me without thought and slammed my lips over hers. It was bad enough when I heard myself say the words, a thousand times sharper when she repeated them. She leaned into the kiss, surrendering and submitting like I wanted her to. Perfect.

  I pulled away. “No one will say shit, and if they do, I’ll fucking handle it.”

  “You don’t know what the women are like. How catty and vicious. Jesus, I’ve seen it before, heard it before, but now what they’re saying is true.”

  “And none of their fucking business. Whatever girlfriend down there says shit, it says more about them than you or us. We know what we’re doing and that’s all that matters.”

  “Do we?”

  No. I had no fucking clue what we’d just agreed to.

  “Yes. We’re giving each other what we need, no secrets, no hidden motives. Who cares about them?”

  I sure as hell didn’t.

  Before she could panic again, I threw the bathroom door open and pulled her out of it. “Go downstairs and out the front door. I’ll go talk to Beaux.”

  “No. Just…let’s go. I’ll text him so he doesn’t worry. Tell him I’ll be home later.”

  “Tomorrow morning.”

  This was getting out of hand faster than I could stop it. My mouth kept speaking what my dick wanted.

  “I have to be at work early,” she mumbled.

  I couldn’t remember a time when I had a woman on my arm thinking more about her job than the orgasms I’d promised to deliver.

  Strangely, it wasn’t a hit to my ego.

  “Early tomorrow,” I agreed, unable to hide the satisfaction in my smile. “Promise.”

  “Okay.” She nodded and flitted her eyes to me, questioning. “Okay then. We’re good to go, then.”

  She was trying to convince herself. If I were a gentleman, had any morals or values left inside of me, I’d ask her if she was certain she wanted this. I wasn’t going to force myself on someone.

  Coercing gently, though…that was another matter. Not giving her time to change her mind, I pulled her down the stairs, weaving through the maze of hallways in Kolby’s mansion and out to my car.

  It took work to get my Audi A8 out from the line of cars closely parked together, and not for the first time, I rued the day I’d sold my pickup in favor of a sports car.

  Look the part, play the part, be the part. It was something my old man had drilled into me since I first caught a whiff that I could be good enough for the NFL.

  Old and beaten pickup trucks screamed small-town hick, not athletic superstar.

  Still didn’t mean I didn’t miss it, though—especially when the urge to go off-roading and mudding took hold during the off-season months. A man, a truck, a few beers…God, sometimes I missed it when life was simpler.

  ***

  “This is your house?”

  She covered her mouth with her fingers to stifle her giggle.

  I glared at her. “Yes.”

  I loved my house. Liked that it was out in the middle of nowhere so on the rare occasion I brought a woman home with me and then took her back to wherever the next day—if I didn’t just call for a cab—there was no way in hell she could find her way back. Plus, it was the only place I could find a few years ago when I wanted to get out of the city and back to where I was most at home.

  “You have a barn.” Her eyes widened further as she took in the horse paddock and the white barn to the left of the house. “Horses?” She spoke slowly, as if I was hard of hearing or didn’t understand English.

  “Why do you sound like you’re about ready to go into shock?”

  I knew why. No one expected this of me. The few teammates who had seen my house still gave me shit for it. No one ever saw it during the daytime.

  Usually, I took them to the hotel room I kept during the season.

  My home was my secret. My place. All me.

  Why I chose to bring her there during the day when she could actual
ly see it was something I hadn’t considered until I saw her expression.

  “It’s so small.” Her eyes were back on the house. It was. A small, yellow ranch that I kept meaning to paint in the off-season but continued putting off. I could have hired someone, but I wanted to do it myself. “And yellow.”

  She lost the control on her laughter then and let it loose.

  My knuckles tightened on the steering wheel as I pulled the car into the garage before I relaxed.

  I had essentially bared who I truly was to her, by accident, and she was laughing in my face.

  For some reason, I didn’t want to pull out and take her back home. “Keep laughing at me and you’ll be sucking my dick for dinner.”

  That stopped the laughter. Her head whipped around to face me and her lips parted. Pink bloomed on her cheeks and it was my turn to laugh.

  “Holy shit, it makes you so fucking sexy that you like the thought of that.”

  I couldn’t help myself. She kept getting better and better. Every disgusting word I spoke seemed to light something inside of her.

  “Shut up,” she murmured before blushing harder and putting her hand on the door handle to escape. Not like she could go anywhere. I had thirty acres of empty land all around me. She could run and hide in a few of the buildings sprinkled throughout the property, but I’d enjoy searching for her.

  “I like it.” I reached for her arm before she could get out of the car. “It makes me hard all over again thinking about the way you liked my dick in your mouth. No fucking joke, Shannon, hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  She relaxed under my touch, and I released her, climbing out of my car and meeting her at the passenger side as she got out.

  “So. Tour of the place or do you want to go straight toward my bedroom?”

  “Tour.”

  I knew she’d say that. I didn’t know the last time I’d offered. But for her, I knew just where to begin.

  “You ever been on a farm?” I asked, sliding my hand to hers until they were entwined together. I didn’t have to think about it.

  Touching her was natural; so was her being here.

  She shook her head, her gaze on the barn I was walking her toward. As we stepped on the gravel I stopped her and cursed.

  “Shit. You don’t have decent shoes on.”

  “What?” Her brow furrowed and she looked down at her feet.

  I pointed toward the ground. “Stay here.”

  Turning, I rushed into the mudroom of my house, not looking back to see if she stayed.

  When I reached the room, I kicked off my sandals and pulled on my work boots. Then I searched through the closet and dug out the ones my mom wore when she visited. She hadn’t been here in over a year and the leather was dusty and hardened, but I figured they’d work. My mom wasn’t that much taller than Shannon. If they were too big, they’d still be better in the dirty horse barn than the sandals she was wearing.

  I walked out of the house and back through the garage to see the spot I’d told her to park it empty.

  Instead, I found her at the white fence. One arm draped over the top railing, her other hand blocking the sun while she looked out at the fields.

  I paused in my tracks, taking in the view of her delicious, barely covered ass before I walked toward her.

  She was beautiful. Curvy but thin, so soft in my arms. My dick was already half-hard again by the time I reached her.

  “It’s so beautiful and quiet here.” Her voice was soft, almost as if she was talking to herself.

  “You’re from Iowa—land of farms and corn and soybean fields.”

  From her profile, I saw her lips tilt into a smile. “Yeah, but I lived in downtown Des Moines. It’s not a big city, but it was never as quiet as this.”

  It shouldn’t have made me smile that she liked where I lived.

  I held out the boots to her. “Put these on.”

  She looked at my outstretched hand and frowned. I knew what she was thinking. She’d be a shitty poker player. Every expression she had was plain and unhidden on her face.

  “They’re my mom’s. No one’s worn them in a year, but they’ll keep you cleaner than the sandals.”

  Her eyes flickered to me before she finally took them from my hand.

  Once she’d kicked off her sandals and slid on the boots, she stood up and grinned.

  And damn it if that grin didn’t burn straight to my chest. She kept nothing hidden, not her fear or her happiness.

  It was that moment I knew that whatever we’d decided was a mistake. A stupid agreement for meaningless sex—even if it was dirty, raw, and fucking amazing sex—was going to ruin every wall I’d built since Serena walked away from me.

  I was smarter than this. Knew what I needed to do to keep my head in the game and my eye on the ball. I should have picked her up, thrown her in my car, and taken her to Beaux’s immediately.

  I didn’t do anything I should have when she looked at me, giggling before she looked down at both of our boot-covered feet. “We look ridiculous. Swimsuits and boots.”

  Still thinking with my cock, I reached out and took her hand in mine and pulled her toward the barn.

  “I’ve got three horses,” I said as we walked. “You ever ride?”

  “Once. When I was ten.”

  I looked down at her and waited for a better explanation.

  “I had a friend who wanted to ride horses. She took a bunch of us for her birthday party to a place where we could ride horses on a trail. It was only an hour and I was so young.”

  “But you liked it.” I could tell by the way her eyes went hazy as she pulled the memory to the front of her mind.

  “Yeah.”

  That one word made me happier than it should have.

  I opened the door to the barn, dropping her hand from mine to unlock the double doors and push them open. As we stepped inside, the unmistakable smell of horseshit and hay and dirt made her crinkle her nose.

  But she said nothing. She walked forward, down the row to the last few stalls where the noises from the horses grew louder.

  “That’s Winne,” I said as she stepped up to the first mare. If I was honest, she was my favorite horse. I’d bought her when she was two and she had been mishandled and skittish. It took forever to tame her and get her to trust anyone, but the results had been worth the work.

  Now she was kind and gentle, all brown and black. Shannon stepped closer to the door and Winne’s large eyes turned excited as she blinked at the newcomer.

  She neigh, pulling her lips back, and Shannon yanked her hand back in surprise.

  “It’s okay,” I murmured, speaking quietly to calm Winne. I reached down and took Shannon’s hand in mine and I held both of our palms out toward the horse. “She’ll sense if you’re nervous. Let her sniff you and she’ll let you pet her soon.”

  “Okay.” Her voice trembled much like her fingers and I tightened my grip on her hand.

  It only took a few seconds for Winne to register my scent and Shannon’s before she dipped her head, took a step closer, and turned her neck.

  “There you go,” I whispered to the horse as much as to Shannon. “That’s a good girl.”

  I laid my hand on Winne’s neck and held it there while Shannon gently began brushing her hand up and down the horse.

  We were silent, the only sound coming from the other horses stepping on their hay, eager for their turn and snacks.

  “Keep petting her. I’ll get her treats.”

  I needed space. My heart was pumping faster than it should have been. Seeing Shannon in the barn, touching my horses—lovingly—an ache grew deep inside my gut.

  Only an hour into a month-long agreement and I was already debating if I should end this as fast as I could. I should have known this would be her reaction. So far, she’d busted through every preconceived notion I had of her. What the fuck did I think was going to happen when I brought her in here?

  I grabbed a couple handfuls of apples from the horses’ s
nack bin and walked back to Winne, holding an apple out to Shannon.

  We’d feed them. Then we’d fuck.

  And after eating dinner, fuck again.

  “She’s so beautiful,” Shannon said when Winne reared back and gobbled the apple out of her hand. Shannon squealed as the horse’s lips grazed her palm.

  “Don’t close your fingers—keep them straight out or she’ll eat those too.”

  Shannon flashed me wide, disbelieving eyes, and I shrugged, juggling the remaining apples in my hands.

  “Did you name her?”

  “I did.”

  Her lips pressed together. “It’s a pretty sweet name for a horse.”

  “She was a rescue.” Why was I bothering to explain? After tonight there was no way in hell I was ever bringing her back to this place. She was already looking too comfortable and we hadn’t yet gone inside.

  From now on, I was fucking her at the hotel.

  “She hadn’t been taken care of and was hard to train. But since then, she’s been the gentlest horse I’ve ever had. She needed a name to match.”

  I looked away when Shannon’s eyes went soft. She was thinking things about me that she shouldn’t.

  I broke the moment and walked to Ralph’s stall. He was old, probably wouldn’t live much longer, but I’d had him since I was in high school. He was the first horse that was all mine and the reason I’d bought the damn land to begin with. After living without horses and space for so long, I couldn’t stop missing him.

  There was something that was so freeing about getting on a horse at the end of a shitacular day, when every muscle ached to the bone and I’d royally fucked up at a game. Ralph had always understood what I needed.

  Now, he was too old to ride too often, but I still made sure he got the exercise he needed. He’d lost the energy and pep he used to have and when I walked up to him, knowing Shannon was following me, he brushed his head against mine.

  “Settle down, boy,” I said and handed him an apple. He took it slowly, knowing I’d give him an extra one. He always got two—because he was old and my first and I babied the shit out of him.

  God, I had never realized how big of a pussy I became around my horses until I was taking care of them under Shannon’s soft and watchful gaze.

  I rubbed him down, whispering words to him that I wouldn’t let her hear before I turned back and saw her walking to the stallion’s stall.