Enjoying the Chase (53 page)

I frowned. “Why would she blame you? She
was the one that cheated on her boyfriend. Anyway, it
’
s not as if it would have been anything serious between them
at fourteen,” I scoffed, shrugging, not
really understanding what her problem was. If she cheated and got caught then
that was her fault not Nate
’
s.

“She wasn
’
t fourteen. She was nineteen,” Nate answered.

My mouth dropped open in shock. “Wow,
cougar!” I muttered, looking back at her.

Nate chuckled and nuzzled into the side of
my neck. “And it actually kind of
was
my fault that her guy dumped her.
I was bragging about it all the next day to my friends, and he heard, so I can
see why she blames me,” he whispered.

I chuckled and bit my lip. “
S
erves her right for cheating in the first place.”

He nodded. “That was my point too. If she
comes over and kicks me in the balls then you tell her that, okay?”

“
Ooh, beach
volleyball!
” Coraline suddenly squealed, changing the
subject, clapping her hands excitedly and looking over my shoulder. “
Peters verses Coopers!
” she shouted.

I looked at Nate, confused. He smiled.
“Coraline is a Cooper, she lives next door. We have a competition each year to
see who wins. Team Peters kicks ass every time, of course,” he boasted,
smirking
at me.

By the time we got over to the net that had
been set up, Evan, Paige, Hannah, Robert, Dawn and Lisa were already there,
along with some other people who I assumed were Coraline
’
s family. There were seven Peters but only five Coopers, and me.

Nate gripped my hand and pulled me to his
side. “Stripes is a Peters,” he muttered.

Coraline gripped my hand and pulled me back
to her side again. “No way, you already have more people, it
’
s not gonna be fair because Nick and Jenny
aren
’
t here
.
”

Nate reached for my hand again and I laughed
as he tugged me back to him. “Er, my girl is a Peters. You can have Robert.” He
nodded at Hannah
’
s boyfriend.

Coraline put her hands on her hips and
shook her head. “She
’
s not a
Peters yet, I
’
m officially
adopting her.”

“Just because she hasn
’
t got my name yet doesn
’
t mean she
’
s not a
Peters in spirit. Right, Stripes?” he countered, looking at me.

I was dumbstruck.
‘Hasn
’
t got my name yet
’
seriously, was he thinking about that kind of thing? Was he
insinuating that there was even a slight possibility that I
would
have
his name one day? Or was I reading too much into this?

Dawn
clearly didn’t think so – her eyes
were shining after what Nate had said. This would have to wait though – a game
of volleyball wasn’t the time to start grilling your boyfriend about his
intentions.

I looked around the group feeling like I
was totally stuck in the middle; I did a mental count of the people. With
Coraline
’
s dad and two brothers,
there was actually six guys and six girls standing there. Perfect.

“Why don
’
t we just go for girls versus boys? That
’
ll stop the arguing,” I suggested.

Nate pouted.
“Fine,
but you still get Robert, he
’
s a
girl anyway,” he chuckled, shoving Robert towards us playfully.

I laughed as Robert grumbled in protest but
came to stand with us anyway; I think he was too scared of Nate to say anything
back. Hannah linked her arm through his and we all headed over to our little
huddles to talk strategies. As I leant in, they were already complaining that
we were going to lose. Apparently Evan and Nate were awesome players, as was
Coraline
’
s dad. With these teams,
the three best players were all on one side. That was probably why Nate had
given us Robert, to try and even it out a little.

I smiled over my shoulder at Nate. He was
watching me curiously, a small confident smile on his face. “I can distract
Nate easy enough,” I assured my team.

D
awn arched a brow.
“Distract him? How are you going to do that, sweetheart?” she asked
.

“With the only thing I know that will make
Nate lose all interest in the game. You won
’
t need to worry about him, just concentrate on the other players
.
”

Coraline smiled. “Gonna dress up like a
mermaid?” she asked, waggling her eyebrows at me, making me laugh harder.

Dawn frowned. “Why would she dress up like
a mermaid?”

I waved my hand dismissively, not wanting
to get into this conversation. She thought it was sweet that her little boy
used to watch
The Little Mermaid
over and over; I didn
’
t want to taint that memory by telling her
that her son was actually a fish pervert.

“You girls ready to admit that men rule
all?” Evan taunted, grinning wickedly.

I laughed and looked back at Nate to see
him slap his dad a high five, laughing wickedly as Robert grumbled again. We
broke apart, and I walked up to the net so I could speak to Nate. He looked at
me confidently.

“Want to jump ship and come play with the
big boys?” he teased, waving at his team.

I shook my head. “I was just wondering if
you wanted to make a little wager,” I offered.

He grinned. “A wager? Most definitely.”

I smiled and looked around to make sure no
one could hear us. “Okay, well if I win then I get to do anything I want to you
tonight.
Anything
,” I bartered, looking at him suggestively.

He shifted on his feet. “We agreed no sex.”

I sighed in defeat and closed my eyes.
“Fine, no sex, but I get you naked, and I can do anything else that I want to
you, and you
’
re not allowed to
protest
.
”

“Stripes, I want to wait until you
’
re ready. I told you that
.
” 

I shrugged. “So you think your team will
lose?”

He snorted confidently. “Not a chance in
hell.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about,” I
countered. “If your team wins then what is it that you want?”

He ran his tongue over his lips slowly, so
slowly that it made my legs feel a little weak. “If I win, then I get to take
you and DJ to my work
’
s family day
out in a couple of weeks, and for the rest of the day today you have to wear a
badge that says Team Peters on it.”

I was definitely getting off lightly there.
“Deal,” I agreed.

He smiled. “By the way, don
’
t you think it
’
s so wrong that my forfeit for the bet is to let you touch me?
Shouldn
’
t that be the other way
around? That I win and I demand that you run your hands on me, not if I lose,”
he teased, pulling me against his chest, running his nose up the side of mine.

“Yeah, but you
’
re the most frigid player I
’
ve ever met. I
’
ve got
to get those shorts off you somehow,” I replied, grinning wickedly at him as we
both laughed.

I smiled and pressed my lips to his,
kissing him forcefully, making sure to run my hand up his chest teasingly as I
rubbed my hip on his crotch. When I heard a little moan resonate from his
throat, I pulled away and sauntered back to my team who were waiting for me.

Dawn smiled at me. “Maybe I should try that
with Evan,” she whispered conspiratorially.

“In the next break you work on Evan,” I
suggested, winking at her.

I turned back to see Nate
’
s eyes firmly fixed on me. I smiled teasingly
as I grabbed hold of the bottom of my tank top and slowly pulled it off over my
head. My swimsuit wasn
’
t exactly a
one piece, but it wasn
’
t quite a
two piece either. It was black and had a bikini top, but there was a strip of
material running down the front of it. My waist and back were completely
exposed. It was kind of like wearing a two piece, but it just covered my
stomach a little too, I was self-conscious of my body because of carrying a
child. I never exposed my stomach.

I heard Nate groan; I looked up at him
through my eyelashes and bit my lip a little. His mouth and eyes were wide, his
whole body tight with what looked like stress. He wasn
’
t going to play very well today, especially if I had to jump or run
for the ball, gravity would draw his eyes away from the ball and to my chest.
All the girls had to worry about was the other players.

“Are we ready to start?” Dawn asked,
holding the ball ready to serve it. We all agreed, so she tossed it up and hit
it, sending it over the net and right into the side of Nate
’
s head – who, of course, hadn
’
t seen it coming because he was too busy
trying to see through my swimsuit. Everyone laughed as he rubbed his head and
frowned at her. “Oh sorry, poppet, I thought we were ready!” Dawn called
apologetically.

I choked on my laugh. “Poppet, can we have
our ball back?” I called.
Oh, this weekend is awesome!

Nate looked at me sternly, one eyebrow
raised, he didn
’
t look too
impressed. “Don
’
t,” he warned.

“Don
’
t what… poppet?” I asked, sticking my tongue out at him.

He sighed and shook his head, closing his
eyes. “This is
so
not fair. I swear this is a set-up, I
’
m being played!” he whined, shaking his head.

“Want to swap teams and play for the girls,
Nate?” Robert asked, grinning happily now as he gave Hannah a high five.

The rest of the game went like that. Nate
was as good as useless. I made sure I ran for the ball as much as I could and
jumped when he jumped. We teased and heckled each other back and forth over the
net as we played. It was really fun. And, much to my luck, the girls won.
Barely, but we won. So, tonight I was getting Officer Peters naked, and I was certainly
going to make him go back on the no touching rule that was for sure. I was
actually hoping that I could get him so excited that he
’
d forget the stupid no sex deal we
’
d made, I was confident in my ability to make the guy change his
mind. 

As the game finished, Nate grabbed me and
pulled me against his chest, frowning down at me. “That was not fair!” he
scolded, running his hands over the exposed sections on my swimsuit. “I have an
unbeaten record, and you
’
ve just
ruined it for me,” he whined, kissing me lightly.

I smiled and slipped my arms around his
neck. “It
’
s good to lose every now
and again. Don
’
t worry, tonight I
’
ll make you grateful that you lost,” I purred,
running one finger down his chest, slipping it inside the waistband of his
shorts, tracing the soft skin there. I could barely even wait for it to be
night time.

“And on top of that, I still owe you that
spanking,” he whispered, pulling my mouth back to his again. His kissing was
just beautiful, it made me lose all coherent thought. All my barriers that I
’
d worked so hard to build up after Josh, just
came tumbling down with one touch of his lips on mine. I felt like a teenager
again, like I wasn
’
t quite in
control of myself, like I was completely at this guy
’
s mercy.

When the kiss broke, he led me over to the
table where his family were sitting. The girls – and Robert – were bragging
about their win, giving play by plays of their points. I smiled and settled
myself on Nate
’
s lap, joining in
when needed and teasing the life out of my boyfriend. He didn
’
t seem to care though; his concentration was
firmly locked on my cleavage area, so I could have been saying anything and he
would have agreed.

After about an hour, he stood up and smiled
at me. “I
’
m going to go put on my
song for you, and then you and I, we
’
re going to start the dancing,” he stated, winking at me. 

I looked around and laughed nervously. “No
one else is dancing.”