Empty Net (38 page)

“Well, on and off, but I haven’t declared it yet. I want it to be special.”

“Tell her during sex, girls dig that.”

Tate let out a booming laugh. “They do not!”

“No, really, Fallon goes nuts for it. Audrey’s her sister, so I am pretty sure it will work.”

“You are an idiot, dude.” Tate held his gut as he laughed. “No, I’m going to wait for the right moment. Maybe Christmas morning?”

“That’s cheesy, dude.”

“Hey, it is not.”

“Yes it is. What are you going to do, put it in a present?”

Actually, he was thinking of that. “Shut up.”

Lucas laughed, shaking his head. “All joking aside, even though I think it is cheesy, Audrey will eat it up. She is a complete romantic. So doing the whole under-the-mistletoe-I-love-you shit would work with her. Fallon, on the other hand, dude, I had to fight for that chick because of our past. You’re lucky. You guys have a clean slate; no hurt, no regret, just you two. I know for a fact that Audrey is completely in love with you.”

Tate eyed him, his lips tugging at a smile at the thought of Audrey loving him. “How do you know?”

“By the way she looks at you. It’s the way Fallon looks at me.”

Lucas was a hard-ass, but moments like these, Tate knew that whatever heart he had belonged to Fallon. “Even if I wanted to do it on Christmas,” he said, “I couldn’t. We are coming to your house and her family is going to be there.”

“So? She’ll love it if you do it in front of everyone.”

Tate nodded, but something didn’t seem right about that. “Maybe.”

He didn’t know if it was the idea of saying it in front of everyone, or because he would be meeting Audrey’s family for the first time and the idea of it made him nervous. He wasn’t worried about her mother, but picturing her father had him sweating bullets. It was going to be tough, but thankfully, Audrey would be by his side.

“Enough with all that, here is the real question.”

Tate looked up questioningly. “What?”

Lucas was grinning at him. “Are we going to get a repeat of your amazing dancing skills tonight? I need to see that in person. Facebook didn’t do it justice.”

When Tate appeared at the door, Audrey’s mouth started to water. How the hell was she supposed to get through the night with him looking like that? Shit, her panties were wet already. He smiled, looking her over before he jerked his head at the door.

“Love, we’re late. You ready?”

Audrey made her way toward him. “Yeah, do I look okay?”

Tate nodded. “Gorgeous, baby, let’s go.”

Narrowing her eyes, since she didn’t like his quick answer, she said, “You look great.”

“Thanks, come on.”

“Are you sure this dress is okay? I think I look fat.”

“What? Stop being stupid, come on,” he said, rushing her out the room.

“Wow, thanks for the reassurance!”

“Reassurance? Audrey, I look at you and I’m hard, I mean, fuck feel it,” he said, taking
her hand and pressing it to his rock-hard dick. Audrey gasped, looking up into his dark-with-lust blue eyes. “I want you, all the time, baby. You are gorgeous with clothes on and without. Don’t you ever forget that. Now come on. We are late.”

Well now she really needed to change her panties. “Tate, give me a second,” she gasped, one hand on her chest, the other still in his. “You can’t say something like that and then expect me to be okay. I want to climb up your body and hump your face, not go to some party. Sheesh.”

Tate’s mouth quirked up on one side as he moved his arms around Audrey, pressing his hardness against her. “You want to climb me?”

“Like a damn tree.”

He chuckled, his nose moving lazily up her neck, trailing kisses before he nipped at her earlobe. “And hump me, is that right?”

Audrey could only nod to his low, throaty voice. He knew it made her drip with want, and he knew what he was doing when he pinned her with bedroom eyes. So he shouldn’t have been surprised when she grabbed his face and pressed her lips to his in delirious need. He took her by her hips, lifting her up so she could wrap her legs around his waist. When he assaulted her mouth with his tongue, she felt his hand go between their bodies, freeing his throbbing cock and pushing aside her panties before he entered her with one smooth thrust. She was so wet, he just slid right up to the hilt. She gasped, moaning as he filled her completely, his fingers still teasing her lips as she moved up and down his length.

“Is this the humping you were hoping for?” he asked when he parted from her mouth.

Audrey smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck before rocking against him fast and frantically. Tate moved her back up against the wall, positioning her as he took control. Slamming into her, she started bucking and arching against him, until they were colliding in a
perfect rhythm. It was fantastic, and when he pulled the top of her dress down, taking her nipple in his mouth, she came. Harder than ever. Screaming, she dug her nails into his shoulder as her heels dug into his butt and her body squeezed his.

Audrey let her head fall back as Tate feasted on her breast. He had snaked his arms up her back to hold her shoulders while continuing to pound into her as little gusts of air left her lips. When he came, he bit down on her breast, and the pain was actually pleasing, causing her to let out a hiss. Taking a gust of breath, he leaned his head against her neck. She had her eyes closed as her body shook with aftershocks.

Tate pulled back and grinned at her. “So are you reassured that you are the hottest woman ever to me? I can’t even control myself around you.”

As she smiled, her cheeks warmed and so did her heart. “Yeah, but now I’ve gotta change.”

“So my plan of not being late backfired.”

“Yup, ’cause we are so going to be late now.”

Audrey held onto Tate’s arm tightly as they walked into the Assassins Christmas party. She was breathless. The whole place was filled with white lights; they hung down from the ceiling, around the foliage, and covered the huge white gazebo in the middle of the room. There were Christmas trees everywhere, also trimmed with white lights. Each player’s number was hung with purple and black ribbon as an ornament on the trees.

Tate placed a kiss on her temple, and she grinned up at him as her nervousness coursed through her body. “You look stunning, love,” he said softly.

Audrey’s face broke in a wide grin as she held his arm tightly. “Thank you.”

“I was hoping you would disagree with me.”

Her brows gathered together in confusion. “Why’s that?”

“I wanted to have my way with you again, to prove my point.”

She giggled, rolling her eyes. “We’ve already ruined one dress.”

And she wasn’t ruining this one. She’d changed into a long silk champagne-colored strapless dress, while Tate had to change his pants, and had been nice enough to change his tie to match her dress. They looked amazing together, but when she glanced up and saw his lazy grin, along with his lusty blue eyes pinned on her, she knew she was in trouble.

“And I plan on ruining more,” he said with a wink that went straight to her still throbbing pussy.

“You’re so bad,” she muttered as he chuckled.

They moved toward the party, looking for their table. They had missed the hors d’oeuvres, but thankfully not the dinner. Finding their table, which was with Lucas and Fallon, Tate pulled out her chair and Audrey sat down and grinned at Fallon.

“Hey you,” her sister said, smiling as she held her glass of wine in her hand.

“Hey, where’s Aiden?” Audrey asked.

“With Mom and Dad.”

Audrey nodded, then Tate said to her, “Audrey, this is Matthew Parra and his wife Roxy, and Bryan Rochester and his wife Ellen. This is my girlfriend, Audrey Parker,” he said to them, wrapping an arm around Audrey’s shoulders.

Audrey smiled, “Nice to meet you.” Matthew and Bryan both returned the smile, while the two women did a once-over of Audrey before sharing a look.

What the hell was that about? Audrey wondered as she looked over at her sister. Fallon was shaking her head, holding Lucas’s hand in her lap. Lucas shot her a wicked grin and said, “You look good, kid.”

Audrey grinned. “Why thank you very much.”

She glanced back over the table to see Ellen and Roxy still watching her and Tate. She didn’t know what their deal was, but it was unsettlingly to be under their scrutinizing gaze.

Finally, Roxy said, “What’s the age difference between you guys?”

Tate glanced up and then back at Audrey. “Excuse me?”

“It’s obvious you’re younger than her, I just can’t pinpoint the age gap,” Roxy explained with a condescending smile.

Audrey blinked a few times, taken aback by her rudeness. What the hell did it matter how old they were? It was their business, not hers. But before she could say anything, Tate said, “I don’t think there is an age gap between us. I don’t look at age. I look at the fact that she makes me happy.” His eyes locked with Audrey’s, and she smiled, squeezing his hand as he turned back at Roxy. “Plus, it is none of your business.”

That seemed to shut them up, and Audrey was beyond proud to be with Tate. Before dinner was served, he decided to introduce her to the rest of the team, and the two of them circulated through the room while he did. Later, even though she was happy, Audrey couldn’t help but feel the pang of jealousy at seeing Mary Ann and Elli’s pregnant bellies. She had found a man who didn’t care about having a child of his own, but it still hurt to the core that she couldn’t give it to him.

“Hey, are you okay?”

She glanced up to see Tate watching her intently. “Yeah.”

“Your time will come, Audrey.”

She smiled; he knew her so well. “Yeah, I know, but I just wish I could do it like they have. Like Fallon will do again one day. I want to carry my own child.”

“Well, you never know. The medical field has advanced so much in the last ten years. Maybe we can find a way. Don’t give up.”

Her eyes filled with tears and the words were right on her lips. She was going to tell him, right now, that she loved him, but before she could say anything, they were interrupted.

“Hey, Audrey.”

She knew his voice before she even turned.

Levi stood before her, wearing a crisp black suit, his hair in its regular buzzed cut and an evil grin on his face. Janet stood beside him, wrapped so tightly around his arm, Audrey was sure Levi was losing feeling in it. Janet wore a short black dress with ballet flats. Her brownish blond hair was down, framing her face, and Audrey couldn’t help but think, He left me for her?

It felt great to look as good as she felt and be in the arms of a man who cherished her. No one could touch her or hurt her anymore. The only person who could was the man who held her. Smiling up at Tate, she noticed that he wasn’t smiling. More like wishing Levi to the fiery depths of hell with his eyes. Looking back at Levi, she saw that he was staring at Tate with eyes that could kill.

“This is the new guy?” Levi asked, nodding at Tate.

Tate’s chest puffed up and Audrey spoke before he could. “This is Tate Odder. Tate, this is Levi Moss and … I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.”

Janet gave her a disbelieving look before saying, “My name is Janet, not that it matters.” Turning to Levi, she said, “Are we done here, Levi? I thought we were going to the table to eat?”

“We know each other. Lucas’s friend, right?” Levi said to Tate, who gave him a quick nod, still eyeing him. Levi shook his head, glancing from Tate to Audrey. “He’s kind of young, don’t you think?”

“I don’t think that’s any of your business,” Tate sneered.

Levi chuckled, rolling his eyes. “Calm down, kiddo, I was just stating a fact.”

“Levi,” Audrey warned, “is there something you wanted?”

He nodded and sent Audrey a small smile. It was the one he used to give her when they were alone. It was a real smile, only now it had no effect on Audrey at all.

No loss of breath, no dizzy spells. Nothing. She was completely over him.

“You are gorgeous tonight, Audrey. I don’t think I told you that enough before,” Levi said. Janet took in a sharp breath before dropping his arm and then stomping away.