Final Score (22 page)

She raised her head and looked up at him, closing her eyes and kissing him deep as the sound of Donna Summer still thudded hard and heavy from the club outside.

‘Pull out,’ she whispered, her mouth not leaving his as she spoke.

‘I don’t want to,’ he said, biting down gently on her bottom lip.

She took his hand and pulled him out of her, moving him away from the cubicle door and turning around so she had her back to the wall. He knew where this was going now. He knew, and he was just going to roll with it and know he was going to be so fucking tired in the morning and he wouldn’t give a shit.

Lifting her up he slammed her back against the wall as her legs wrapped around his hips, and even though he had no idea how he was doing this, he was hard all over again, ready to sink back into that beautiful warm place he never really wanted to leave. She was still so wet, still so ready to take him any which way he was willing, and as he thrust in and out of her, every one of those thrusts pushed her back against the hard wall so violently he could almost feel the bruises on her back begin to appear, but she didn’t seem to care as she clung onto him, her legs gripping him so tightly he didn’t think she’d ever let go.

‘I love you so much,’ he breathed, feeling that familiar rush begin its journey, even though he had no idea if he had anything left to give. She’d practically squeezed every last drop out of him, but he still felt it, felt something about to explode as her legs gripped him even tighter, pushing everything he had in him out into her. ‘So fucking much.’

‘I love you, too,’ she gasped, her fingers buried in his hair as she continued to squeeze him with her legs and muscles so taut and tight he felt another wave flood out of him just thinking about it. ‘I love you, too.’

‘Jesus, baby girl, you really have fucked with my head tonight.’ His throat was sore with the sheer exertion of breathing so hard and heavily for what had felt like an eternity, but had only really been for a few minutes. Minutes he was never going to forget.

She kept her fingers in his hair as he gently put her down, his hand sliding up under her dress again, but only to stroke her naked thigh as he kissed her slowly, enjoying the feeling of calm that followed the most insane few minutes of his life.

‘If we weren’t already married I would be down on bended knee right now begging you to make me the happiest man that ever walked this earth. But you’ve already done that. Baby, you are my world, and I can’t believe we’re here and we’re doing this and I am so freaking high I can’t even explain.’

‘It wasn’t too much?’ she asked, those beautiful pale-blue eyes of hers so wide as they looked into his.

‘Too much? Oh, honey, no. No. It was my freaking fantasy wedding night. Like I prayed to God and he just made every dream I ever had come true!’

She smiled, gently stroking his face with her fingertips. ‘I love you so much, Jim.’

‘Hey, I love you, too. And right now, I don’t think I ever want to leave this place.’

And right at that second he meant that. So much shit was about to hit the fan when they got back to the UK, and as he looked at Amber, at her beautiful face with its olive-toned skin and those baby-blue eyes, he hoped with every fibre of his being that this was it for them. That this time, forever really was a possibility because any other option scared the hell out of him.

‘I’ve really got to pee,’ she said, removing his hand from underneath her dress, kissing him quickly before sitting down on the toilet.

Jim leaned back against the cubicle door, folding his arms. ‘Everything
will
be okay, Amber. You know that, don’t you?’

She looked at him. ‘Yeah, I know. We’ll make sure it’s okay, won’t we?’

‘Yeah,’ he said quietly. ‘Yeah. We will.’

She flushed the toilet, letting her dress fall back down over her thighs as she reached into Jim’s pocket to retrieve her panties. ‘I should probably put these back on.’

‘Do you have to?’ He threw her a smile so sexy she really could have hoisted that dress back up and opened her legs so wide for him he wouldn’t have been able to refuse, but she had other things she wanted to do tonight. They were living on Las Vegas time, and in this world it was still early. There’d be plenty of time for more of what they’d just done here later.

She smiled, wiggling back into her knickers, kissing him slowly as she did so.

‘Jesus, Amber, even you putting clothes back on is a fucking turn-on.’

‘
You
did this to me,’ she whispered, still smiling, her mouth resting on his. ‘You. You did this.’

He grinned, sliding an arm around her waist. ‘I knew I was good at something.’

She closed her eyes as he kissed her again, her body melting against his, and there really was a part of her that didn’t want to go anywhere just yet. But there was another part that still wanted to party.

‘How about we hit the casino?’ he said, his hand dropping down onto her bottom.

‘I think you just read my mind, handsome.’

He reached out behind him, unlocking the door to a sea of impressed faces and a round of applause, and for the first time in her life Amber saw Jim Allen in a whole new light as he took in the praise and the applause and fended off the outrageous flirts women were throwing his way, grabbing the opportunity gladly while Amber quickly washed her hands.

He was loving it, and at that very moment in time she’d never seen him so animated, so alive. She’d never seen him look so sexy. And as she grabbed his hand, letting him pull her out of there, she couldn’t help but mouth
“he is HOT!”
back at everyone, and nobody disagreed. Not one of them.

‘I can’t believe we just did that,’ he laughed, stopping for a second outside in the corridor, leaning back against the wall as he tried to catch his breath.

‘I don’t ever want to forget this, Jim. I don’t ever want to forget how this place made us feel.’

His arm circled her waist again, pulling her against him, his fingers intertwining with hers down by their sides. ‘I don’t think we’ll ever forget this, do you?’

She smiled, her stomach flipping over at the thought of him touching her, his fingers on her skin, his body deep inside hers. ‘No. I don’t.’

He pushed her harder against him, kissing her slowly, mouths opening, tongues touching, and Amber felt so happy, so in love; she’d had no idea she could feel anything more for this man than she already did, but right now, as he held her hand and kissed her gently, she knew she was still falling in love with him. She was still falling deeper and deeper and there really was no way back now.

‘Let’s go hit that casino, huh?’ Jim smiled, stroking her cheek with his fingers, his eyes staring deep into hers.

‘Jim – thank you.’

‘For what, honey?’

‘For opening up to me. For coming back to me.’

‘Baby, I never went away. I never went away.’

‘If I lost you…’

He silenced her with a kiss, and once more she just fell against him, a ridiculous need to be constantly close to him taking over. ‘I’m not going anywhere, Amber. Believe me, baby. I’m not going anywhere.’

And all she had to do was believe him.

Chapter Fourteen

‘You should go.’ Ryan stood at the back of the room, watching as Ellen pulled on her clothes, running her fingers through her hair.

She looked at him. ‘Now? Don’t I even get the option of staying for breakfast?’

‘I need to see to Rico. He’ll be awake any second now and…’

‘I get it.’ She cut him off, her tone quite abrupt. But then, this wasn’t working out quite the way she’d planned. She hadn’t banked on Brandon being at Tynebridge for Jim’s final game in charge, and she certainly hadn’t banked on him seeing her with Ryan. And even though Ryan had asked her to come home with him last night, and she hadn’t even had to think twice about her reply, despite what had happened with Brandon, she hadn’t expected to share him with his four-month-old son. ‘I’ll be out of your hair as soon as I’ve got my things together.’

Ryan threw his head back and sighed heavily, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans. ‘You can stay for a coffee. I’m not gonna throw you out on the street, I just meant that I really need to be with my son today, that’s all. Amber’s back home tomorrow, and I want to spend as much time as I can with him before she takes him down to London.’

Ellen looked at him. He was just-stepped-out-of-the-shower handsome in nothing but the sexiest of low-slung jeans, with those incredibly hot tattoos on show. All she wanted to do was throw him back on that bed and spend the morning underneath him. She was desperate to have him again, to feel him making love to her, as he had done for most of last night. But that baby of his was becoming a major form of extremely unwanted contraception. As cute as he was, she wished Amber would hurry up and take him away so she could concentrate on winning this man back.

‘Don’t you feel in the least bit guilty?’ Ryan’s voice interrupted her daydreaming of endless sex with one of the country’s hottest football players.

‘Guilty?’ She knew what he meant, she just couldn’t quite get her brain into gear quickly enough today.

‘Brandon. Don’t you feel guilty about what you’re doing to him?’

‘He doesn’t want to speak to me,’ Ellen said, rummaging around in her bag for her phone.

‘That’s not what I asked, but, can you blame him?’

Her head shot up as Ryan said that, agitation suddenly flooding her. ‘When the hell did
you
get so holier than thou, huh?’

‘I’m not…’

‘You’re seriously going to stand there and take the moral high ground with me after everything you’ve done? After everything you’re still going to do?’

He narrowed his eyes as he looked at her. ‘I’m sorry? And what the hell is
that
supposed to mean?’

‘Oh, come on. The world and its frigging mother knows you can’t leave Amber fucking Sullivan alone. The second she sets foot back in this country you’ll be there, hanging round her ankles like some lovesick puppy…’

‘Like I said, Ellen, I think you should go.’

She closed her eyes for a second, breathing in deep, desperate to claw some composure back. The last thing she should be doing was pushing him further away. She’d just killed her relationship with Brandon Palmer. Was she going to allow all that to be for nothing? ‘I’m sorry, Ryan, I just… I’m just tired. I didn’t get much sleep.’

‘Yeah, well, that’s what babies do for you. They don’t always let you sleep.’ The sound of Rico’s crying immediately turned Ryan’s attention to the baby monitor on the sideboard. ‘I’d better go get him. Help yourself to coffee but then I really think you need to go.’

Ellen watched as he walked out of the bedroom, along the hall to the nursery. She listened as he spoke softly to his baby boy, so quietly she couldn’t hear exactly what he was saying but she felt a pain, a stab of jealousy so strong it cut into her chest that it shocked her. This baby meant Amber Sullivan had a hold over Ryan. She had something that meant Ryan would never be out of her life, and Ellen wished with all her heart that she had that same kind of hold over him.

She heard Ryan’s voice grow a little louder and she watched through the slightly open door as he made his way downstairs, his baby son balanced on his hip. He was still talking to him, and Ellen felt that jealousy burn even hotter now.

Taking a minute to compose herself, to try and get some rational thought back into her muddled head, she finally picked up her bag and made her own way downstairs. She could hear the sound of the TV coming from the family room adjacent to the kitchen, and the faint muffle of Ryan’s voice. Jesus, just what kind of conversation could you have with a four-month-old baby?

Walking through the archway that led to the kitchen and family room, she stopped, leaning against the wall with her shoulder as she watched Ryan, his son still balanced on one hip as he moved around the room, taking Rico’s bottle out of the microwave and checking the temperature by quickly drinking a bit. She watched as he smiled the biggest smile at his baby boy, leaning back against the counter as he cradled Rico in his arms, staring down at him as he took his bottle.

He leaned over and gently kissed his son’s forehead, and Ellen felt that pain, that jealousy rush through her all over again. She couldn’t watch any more. She turned on her high heels and walked out into the hall. This was going to be a lot harder than she’d ever thought it would be. But maybe there was a way to make it that little bit easier. Maybe there was a way…

*

The sun was just beginning to rise, but even at that early hour the Las Vegas streets weren’t exactly deserted, although they were far quieter than they had been a few hours ago, which was the last time she and Jim had ventured outside.

But, after a night of doing things they’d never dream of doing back home; of partying hard, fucking even harder, and playing the roulette wheel like their life had depended on it, the only thing they both wanted now was some fresh air. They hadn’t even known what time it was when they’d walked out of the hotel, but the fact that the sun was coming up told them the night was now over, and that another new day was dawning. Their last few hours in Vegas lay ahead of them, and even though she should be feeling like the only thing she wanted to do was sleep, Amber had never felt so awake. To sleep would be to waste what precious little time they had left in this place, a place that had made sure they forgot everything else and concentrated only on themselves. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to leave that behind just yet.

Leaning into Jim as she held onto his waist, his suit jacket flung loosely around her shoulders as they walked along the Strip, she felt like her sixteen-year-old schoolgirl self again. Her stomach was filled with butterflies, her heart couldn’t control itself whenever he looked at her; all she wanted to do was be with him.

‘Everything looks so different in daylight,’ she said quietly, her head resting against him as they walked.

He squeezed her shoulders, quickly kissing the top of her head. ‘Everything?’

She looked up at him, smiling slightly. ‘Not you. You look just as hot as you did when this night began. I mean this place. It looks different at this time of the day, when all the lights are turned off and the streets are quiet. I kind of like it. I’ve always liked this time of day, those early hours of the morning when so few people are out and about. It feels almost ethereal.’