Fourth Down and Dirty: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (7 page)

I had completely
lost track of time and it was all because I allowed myself to get carried away
kissing Landon. I felt my face and the skin on my chest warm with a blush. It
was too much to deal with, but the question constantly in my mind was,
how
?

How
did I allow myself to kiss
him
, of all people? I barely had any
time to think about it as I rushed home. Which was probably a good thing since
I would have berated myself even more. My mother was alone. Who knew how long
she had been waiting if she needed help. I burst into the house sometime later
to see her sitting in an armchair in the living room. She looked at me like I
was a crazy person.

“Why are you so
out of breath?” She asked as she looked over at me. I was disheveled, panting,
and an all-around mess. I took a moment, leaning against the wall and placing
my hand flat on my chest as I steadied my breath.

“I’m so sorry,” I
finally choked out. “I’m sorry I left you for so long, mom. I didn’t mean to.”
I scurried over to her and knelt beside her, placing a hand on her frail knee.
“Do you need anything?”

She chuckled and
shook her head, placing a thin hand on my shoulder. “Take it easy, dear,” she
said slowly. A bit of tension left my shoulders. “Today was a good day,” she
happily informed me. “You know, I was actually able to get some work done
around the house!” She grinned, bringing a smile to my face as well. She
pointed at some plants on the living room’s window sill. “I repotted those,”
she told me proudly.

I slid down to sit
on the floor, a feeling of relief sweeping over me. Despite that and my mother
being in such high spirits, I couldn’t help the guilt I felt creeping up inside
of me. I had gotten lucky this time, but what if mom had experienced an
exceptionally bad day and I wasn’t around to help her through it? I needed to
be more careful. Kissing a boy wasn’t worth the risk of putting her through
more pain and discomfort than she already was.

Mom touched her
hand to my cheek and asked, “Why are your cheeks so red, dear?”

“Oh, uh, must be
because I ran home,” I tried to reason. I knew that wasn’t the reason. “Are you
sure you don’t need anything, mom?”

“No, dear, you go
on to your room and study or relax,” she reassured me. I smiled sweetly, leaned
in to give her a peck on the cheek, and grabbed my messenger bag to trot off to
my bedroom.

As soon as I
stepped inside I dropped it on the floor, locked the door, and flopped down
onto my bed. I rolled over and let out a heavy groan against my pillow. I still
couldn’t wrap my head around everything that had just happened. He was the
last
person I would have ever thought this
would happen with. I remembered my mother asking why he’d gotten under my skin.
At first I blew her statement off. I didn’t think he had gotten under my skin
at all. Now I knew it was true. My mother was right. But he had bothered me in
a way I could have never anticipated.

I shut my eyes and
took several deep breaths, counting the seconds in my mind. It helped to calm
me down when I started to feel overwhelmed, but the thoughts of Landon and his
kiss wouldn’t disappear. I sighed. As much as I hated to admit it, that kiss
was easily the best I ever had. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was as good at
other stuff
as he was at kissing.

 
“That certainly would explain some of his
insufferable confidence,” I mumbled.

I sat up and
started to really think about the repercussions of kissing him. Maybe for him
it was all a big game and something he could joke about in the locker room, but
it was a huge deal for me. It jeopardized my job. It was against the academic
handbook for a tutor to be involved with one of his or her students. That meant
anything with Landon was strictly off limits, including fiery kisses in the
library. If someone saw us or somehow they found out, I would surely lose my
job. It didn’t help that Landon Bryce was such a big name and came from a
powerful family, either. If anyone found out it would spread like wildfire.

 
I groaned and rubbed my hands over my face.
“How could I be so stupid?” That was it—things were going to be completely
professional from now on. There was no question about it.

The next tutoring
appointment I was filled with dread. I had no clue how he was going to act with
me, but I already made up my mind to take it as just one of his little games.
Like I told him in the library, he didn’t take anything seriously and I
couldn’t think of a single reason why kissing me would be the exception. I had
to make it clear that he was ONLY my student. I couldn’t risk losing my job.
The stakes were far too high.

Landon walked in a
few minutes earlier so he decided to kill time in the lobby by playing on his
phone, making it a point not to look over at me. This wasn’t lost on me and I
felt a bit nauseous. Things were going to be even more awkward than I had
anticipated. When it was finally time to start, he walked over to the desk and
took his seat. He seemed pissed off and dismissive. It was almost like he was
angry
with me. Instead of paying any
mind and figuring it out, I found it easier to assume he was just the asshole
jock I pegged him as from the start. He had his fun kissing me, now he’d moved
on to the next poor girl.

“Let’s start where
we left off with your term paper last meeting,” I began.

“You think?” He
responded sarcastically.

I glanced at him
sideways, but he was staring straight down at his notebook. He pulled out the
notes from our previous tutoring session and started tapping his pen on the
desk.

“Well, we were
talking about–”

“I know what we
were talking about, thanks,” he told me with a derisive smirk. “Just tell me
what you want me to do next to get this thing done.”

“Well, it’s not
about what I
want
, Landon.” He was
making me feel beaten down. Although I had prepared for a less than pleasant
experience I never banked on him being quite like this.

“Sure,” he told me
with a scowl. I jerked my head back and stared at him. He still hadn’t looked
at me even once. He was being cold and particularly difficult. I didn’t know
where to go from there and I felt my stomach sink. Kissing him had been nothing
less than a huge mistake.
 

“And what is that
supposed to mean?” I finally mustered the courage to ask even if I was afraid
of what he’d say next.

He scoffed and
shrugged. “Let’s get on with it.”

“You don’t get to
talk to me like that.”

Landon finally
looked up to meet my gaze and I saw anger in his eyes. I flinched. “I can talk
to you how I damn well please,” he hissed.

I slammed my hand
down on the table, “No you do
not
.
That may be the case elsewhere, but it won’t be here.” Now I was angry. His
entitlement had gone too far, even for him.

“Of course
everything has to be to your convenience,” he shot back.

I narrowed my eyes
and looked at him, trying to figure out just what in the hell he was talking
about. It was clear he was mad, but
why
he
was escaped me. “What?”

“You just took
off!” He finally blurted. “Why?”

“
That’s
what you’re so pissed about?”

It was the last
straw. He was so full of himself to think he could get away with behaving like
this, at my job no less, just because he thought I snubbed his kiss? It was
absolutely ridiculous. “Look, Landon, some of us have
real
problems to deal with. Unlike your perfect, little rich boy
life, I have a ton of worries to occupy my time on top of school. You want to
know why I left? I had to run home because my
sick mother
was waiting for me.”

Landon blinked in
disbelief. I wanted him to feel like the world’s biggest asshole. “I, uh, kind
of assumed you had a boyfriend.”

"I don't have
a boyfriend," I barked angrily. For some reason, he couldn’t seem to
understand that a bookworm-girl like myself doesn’t exactly go out and meet
guys. Maybe he couldn’t fit that concept through his dense jock skull.

As soon as I told
him I was single my heart skipped a little. It wasn’t because of anything I
said or did. It was because I thought I saw something in his face.

I couldn’t be
sure, but for a fleeting second I thought I saw his face light up with joy.

“Lana’s hot
yo
!”

“Nah, you really
hooked up with Lana Sanders? Fool, it’s old news. I hooked up with her,
twice
, last year!” There was an eruption
of laughter at the defeated look on the other guy’s face as that bit of news
was broken to him.

It was the day
after my tutoring session with Ivy. I was in the locker room with the rest of
the team after practice listening to them all joke and laugh about various
girls.

“Was she really
that
hot?” someone asked.

“You know it; why
else do you think Clive over here went in twice?” There was another eruption of
laughter.

“Hold up, hold
up,” Luke interrupted the hoots. “She can’t have been better than Maya, you
know,
Ma-
ya
.”
There was a consensus around the room and a couple different discussions on her
broke out.

Noah took advantage
of the lull to point something out. “Anyone else notice superstar Bryce over
here has been awfully quiet today?” he asked in his best announcer voice. He
instantly got the attention of all the guys in the locker room. I felt all eyes
on me. One way or another, Noah was going to pay for This.

 
“
Goin
’ through a dry
spell, Bryce?” Everyone burst into mocking laughter. I knew they were all eager
to see it happen for the first time. I was usually the one with the most
stories. “Come down to the Delta house party with me tonight and we’ll find a
pretty one to get your dick wet.” More laughter erupted.

I shook my head
and everyone calmed down immediately. “I have to study.”

I was met with
cold silence.

After an
excruciatingly awkward minute Noah finally spoke up, “You’re actually going to
study?”

His completely
baffled attitude was fair; I had never been the type of guy to “study”. All the
other guys looked just as astonished. Noah smiled, looking genuinely happy.
"You know, that's actually pretty great, man."

There was a moment
of silence before the rest of the team collectively went “Nah!” and started
teasing me for being a “try-hard nerd.” I let them get it out of their systems
for a minute before finally shooting back.

 
“Better to be a ‘try-hard nerd’ than a
‘try-too-hard-to-fuck’ that lousy lay, Jamie. I don’t know why you’re so
excited. I’ve had that and let me tell you, I
ain’t
goin
’ back.”

The room erupted
with hoots and hollers, patting Jamie on the back in mock sympathy. As the
insults continued to fly between everyone, I rushed to get dressed and leave
the locker room. I was done with their bullshit for the day. As I walked out, I
had a bad taste in my mouth. I shook my head and slammed on the gas, zooming
off toward the house knowing I would get there before any of the other guys.

I rushed into the
house and ran upstairs, locking myself in my room. I walked into the bathroom
and stared at my reflection in the mirror. It was only then that I realized I
had forgotten to shower in my haste to get away from my teammates.
 
I was beyond frustrated. Ever since I met Ivy
I had been all mixed up.

I fucking hated
it. There was no reason for someone like her to get to me, especially not when
we first met. She wasn’t the only one with a great pair of tits on campus. I
slammed my fist against the bathroom counter. I couldn’t deny there was
something unique about her nerdy sexiness. I thought back to our kiss; that was
the moment something changed inside of me.

I had
felt…nervous.

No girl had ever
made me feel that way before.

I stripped down
and hopped in to the shower as I thought about my little fantasy of her at the
tutoring center. Maybe jerking off would get rid of all that built up tension.

I gripped myself and
jerked as the hot water pattered against my chest. It wasn’t what I wanted.
Whatever had stirred in me wasn’t just lust; it was something more. I didn’t
know how to handle it. I tried to call up the same fantasy of Ivy on her knees,
blowing me in the Tutoring Center, remembering how hard I had come the last
time.

It wasn’t enough.
I wanted more. Even my body wanted more.

I let out a heavy
breath and slowed my strokes almost to a stop, leaning against the cool, wet
wall of the shower as I imagined spreading Ivy out on my bed to taste every
inch of her. I would take my time kissing and licking up her legs until I would
work my way up and make her come.

I started to
stroke a bit faster, the idea of her being all flushed and undone because of me
got my blood pumping more than anything else. I finished as soon as I thought
about her face—scrunched up and in pleasure as I imagined slipping inside of
her. Just then, the water was starting to get cold.

I quickly soaped
down and washed off before jumping out of the shower. I dried off and wrapped a
towel around my waist before walking back into the room, immediately checking
the schedule Ivy had made for me. We had a tutoring session scheduled for the
following day.

With a smile, I
sat down at my desk with my books and got to work.