Happily Ever All-Star: A Secret Baby Romance (34 page)

It ended now.

“Hey, Kiss.”

Jack sauntered before me. He rubbed the sweat from his face with a towel, but he didn’t bother to cover his chest. I wasn’t used to seeing him without a shirt, and I tried my hardest to
not
admire the dozens of tattoos and colorful ink cradling his muscles. It was just another reminder of his misbehavior and arrogance and how unbelievably built he was…

His voice rumbled deep inside me. “Couldn’t stand to be away from me?”

My eyes snapped up to his. I cleared my throat. “We need to talk.”

“Uh-oh.” He got off on teasing me, but at least he wasted billable time. “Trouble at home, Mrs. Carson?”

He laughed, that cocky baritone always at my expense. I forced him away from the field. He followed me to the tunnels leading from the grass to the locker room. The practice facility was too busy for this kind of talk—coaches and staff and players beginning their workouts. Half the team funneled between the field and the recently renovated, two-story weight room. I had to keep my voice down. That only encouraged Jack to tease my temper.

He stretched his arms, every motion bulging muscle on top of muscle. “Think we could talk inside? I’m kinda bruised from the accident. We could sit in the spa tub together.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

“Would you prefer the hot tub in our honeymoon suite?”

I poked a finger into his chest, instantly regretting touching his heated, fiercely defined body. A shiver trembled from the tip of my finger all the way through me, centering in a very wrong place.

“You have no idea what you’ve done,” I said.

Jack glanced me over, amused. “I got us out of trouble.”

“No. You got
you
out of trouble. You put me in the middle of all of this!”

He provoked me with an impish arch of his eyebrows. “You’re not breaking up with me, are you? Come on, Kiss. I’m a great catch.”

“I don’t want to be your fake girlfriend.”

“So…you wanna be my real girlfriend?”

“Screw you, Jack. Can you be serious for ten seconds?”

“Who says I wasn’t serious, Kiss?”

Enough of this. “For like, one minute, can you possibly think about anyone other than yourself or your little play-maker?”

He took offense when I pointed at his mesh shorts. “Hey. Don’t call him little!”

“You could have gotten me
fired
today!”

I held his stare. His blue eyes practically crackled, bright and full of energy. It might as well have been plutonium. He was too dangerous to let near.

“You told a lie that might have cost me my job,” I said.

“Did Jolene fire you?”

“No.”

Jack groaned and headed to the locker room. “Then what’s the problem? Just
relax
, Kiss.”

I was
not
letting him get away. The last time I challenged him at the practice facility, I’d chased him through the halls and into the steam room. He’d dropped his towel and exposed not only himself, but the entirety of his offensive line. I still couldn’t look those men in the eye.

I grabbed his arm and forced him to pay attention to me. “The problem is you
lied
to the league president. He wants you out of the game, and he’ll do anything to get his way.”

Jack’s glance cut through my indignation. Hell, his stare penetrated me completely, like he tore through my clothes and surveyed everything mouth-watering beneath. But his appraisal wasn’t another way to flirt.

He looked at me like he planned to strip me down.

Like he wanted me.

A couple more seconds under his dominating stare, and I might’ve let him.

Why the hell did I face him instead of yelling at him over the phone? I wasn’t prepared to confront a man as handsome or frustrating as this trouble-maker with his wandering, mischievous eyes.

“So…you came here…” His voice lazily murmured, as though he knew the shivers it’d cause. “Because you’re concerned? You think I’m going to get tossed out of the league?”

“Yes.”

“And here I thought you were
paid
to worry about me.”

Bastard. “
My
career depends on
your
career, Jack. On your behavior.”

“Why?”

“Because if you get thrown out of the league, I’ll lose my chance to be fast-tracked to a partner in Jolene’s firm.”

“Well, sorry I nearly killed myself in a car accident last night, Kiss.”

He made me sound heartless. I took a breath. “Look, Jack. I know you like to play these games, but that’s over now. You told the president you were a changed man because of me. If you get expelled from the league for doing something stupid or immoral now, I’ll lose more than my job. You’ll ruin my reputation too.”

Jack didn’t understand, didn’t even try. “Why do you care what people think of you?”

“It’s my job?”

“No. You’re supposed to care what people think of
me
. So what if people call me a jerk? So what if I go out to a party?”

“It matters because it’s going to reflect on
me
as a person. I’m supposed to be your long-term, committed girlfriend.”

“Then break it off.”

He tried to leave again. I followed, taking two steps to his every stride.

“Then Frank Bennett has every reason to force the Rivets to cut you. This
relationship
is the only way you stay in the league.”

“That so?”

“Yes. And that means you have to calm down and lie low for the duration of…whatever this is. Do you understand? This is your last chance.”

He stopped, deep in the tunnel separating us from the action of the field. His arms crossed. Every tattoo practically pulsed with the heat coursing under his skin. It radiated from him, pressing into me, stealing my breath. I looked up to meet his gaze as he stepped closer.

His voice lowered, a deep, grumbling promise of suppressed wildness. “Don’t worry about me.”

“I’m not. I’m protecting myself.”

“This is a dangerous game, Kiss.”

“But it can work.” Was I really trying to convince him of his own stupid idea? “People will believe we’re a couple if you behave yourself. I mean…we have a close, professional relationship already.”

Jack laughed. “This isn’t my definition of
close
.”

“Because we work together while fully clothed?”

“Takes the fun out of the meetings.”

“Well, there’s our story. It’ll make sense that, over time, our relationship developed into something…more.”

“Like booty calls?”

“Like
love
, you freak.”

He grinned. “Right. Love. I can buy it.”

I rolled my eyes. “Have you ever even told a girl
I love you
before?”

“Have you ever fucked a stranger without exchanging names?”

“No!”

He shrugged. “Guess opposites attract.”

I’d grind my teeth into dust before the day was out. “I’m setting ground rules.”

“Kiss—”

“First, you don’t call me
Kiss
.”

He shook his head. “Nope. Pet name. I like it better than
Darling
.”

I was losing the big picture. I exhaled. “Fine. Call me whatever you want. But you will follow
these
rules.” I pointed at him. “You are going to behave at all times. You will not embarrass me. No acting out, no late night parties, no womanizing, no doing
anything
that would constitute cheating.”

“
What
?” His eyes widened. “So I can’t go out with my friends. I can’t meet women. I can’t have
sex
with anyone…” A sly smile encouraged every thought I didn’t want him to have. “Unless you plan on fulfilling those needs?”

I ignored the implication. “That was my next rule. No screwing with me—literally or figuratively.”

“Why the hell would I agree to this?”

Did he have any blood left in his head? “Because you want to keep your
job
. You want to win a championship and make that hundred million dollar contract. This is the only way. Get through this season without incident, and we’ll see what happens.”

He set his jaw, the hard angles clenching as tightly as the muscles in his chest. “Fine.”

“It’s for your own good. I’m keeping you on a leash.”

“Only if you promise to toss a collar on me too.”

I didn’t trust Jack’s tone, as if the arrogant trouble-maker already lured me to his bed and had his way with me.

Wasn’t going to happen. No way, no how.

And I hated myself for even imagining the briefest of fantasies.

“Will you promise to behave?” I asked.

He stepped closer, his voice low, tightening everything deep inside me. “You promise to punish me if I don’t?”

“Be serious…” This was never going to work if he got me so flustered.

Jack edged me close to the wall, his gaze hot and entirely too familiar. “I’ll agree…with one condition.”

“And what’s that?”

“I want to see if we have chemistry together.”

“I…” My hands pressed against the cool cement, the only relief I had from the heat suffocating me in Jack’s oppressive shadow. “We can pretend.”

“You can’t
pretend
a connection. It’s gotta be real. We gotta feel it.”

His body moved close. Too close. I might have reached out, touched the sweat-dazzled muscles that he’d worked and pumped and strained in practice to build a body of utter perfection. I wished he had a shirt on. It was too difficult to focus on him while his feral form raged inches from my own.

I took a harsh breath, sinking deeper against the wall. It didn’t protect me from him. It didn’t stop the twisting heat in my belly. Low. Raw.

God, why did he have to be an attractive jerk?

Jack’s voice heated like caramel and burned just as hot. “If my job rides on this, and your reputation is at stake…we gotta make sure it’ll work, right?”

I accidentally licked my lips. “How do we do that?”

“Kiss me.”

Panic.

I couldn’t kiss this man. I couldn’t even
breathe.
He was an arrogant, cocky bastard with the most beautiful body I ever saw and eyes that seared through my common sense.

I parted my lips.

Made a joke instead.

“I…I can’t bill you for that time.”

“I’ll consider it a signing bonus.” Both of his arms straddled the wall to my sides. He had me pinned without a touch, and I wasn’t going anywhere. “One kiss. And we gotta make it realistic. People have to believe I’m wild about you, that I’d do anything for you…” The act seemed to drop. His voice turned solemn. “They have to believe that I’d give up everything to spend one night with you.”

My stomach flipped. He didn’t mean the words, but I hadn’t heard anyone promise something so lovely since before my heart was crushed and broken by Wyatt.

“Let me kiss you,” he whispered. “Earn that nickname so it doesn’t just mean how dark and tasty your skin is.”

This was out of control.

Way beyond where anything was meant to go.

I intended to storm the field. Yell. Berate. Punish.

Not part my lips and tilt my head.

“One kiss,” I said. “And then you do as I say.”

“You hold the leash, just tug on it a little and I’ll come…”

This man was absolute trouble.

And I knew it.

So why did I nod?

Jack gripped me close, pushing his body into mine and pinning me against the cool concrete. The wall became the only thing grounding me to the world besides his strength and the fierce grip of his hands.

His rippling muscle pressed against me, and I felt petite and fragile within the shadow of his bulk. I gasped, but that gave him the opportunity to capture my kiss and take it for his own.

My mind paralyzed. My heart would crack my ribcage.

And my body?

My body exploded into shivers. Every tremble, every stolen shudder raked over my form and twisted within my core. Within seconds I panted, feasting against the dragging nibble of his lips. Heat and sin and every naughty and terribly dangerous feeling I ever hid from Jack Carson flooded through me.

Kissing him wasn’t just a mistake…it was a complete surrender to a man who pocketed panties and broke hearts. He treated passion like it was another game to play and girls were a literal score.

And I wanted more than a kiss.

His tongue swirled over mine.

His hands grasped my hips.

And a hardness pressed into my leg—raging, fierce, and demanding.

He didn’t get to take those girls home last night, and every ounce of his sexual frustration pent up inside him. It turned him into a wicked beast. I was glad he didn’t have his fun with them.

Not because I worried about his reputation.

Not because of the impending disaster from his accident and the league.

Because that meant he kissed me instead.

This was bad. I meant to pull away, but my fingers only grasped his tighter.

I was good at my job, but I didn’t have the talent to lie and pretend like I hadn’t felt that
chemistry
he demanded.

Our kiss broke as my breath escaped in a timid gasp. Jack teased with a knowing, terrible glance.

Jack pulled away, trading a kiss for his smile. “Go out with me tomorrow night.”

“Out?”

“Easiest way to prove we’re a couple is if we are seen together.” He retreated, tensed and loaded, as though he faced an entire charging defensive line instead of wild-eyed me. “You and me. Out on the town. I’ll take you to a club.”

“I—” I didn’t dance. I couldn’t talk now either, which meant I couldn’t call him back as he returned to the field. “We can’t just do your normal hangout. You have to prove you’ve changed.”

He hesitated, thinking it over, his eyes brightening as he accepted the challenge.

“Okay. Then tomorrow, you’re gonna have the night of your life. Fancy food. Music. Fun.” He met my gaze, and I wished I had the ability to catch my breath after his kiss. “Be ready. You’ll love the Jack Carson experience.”

Yeah. I probably would.

And that was exactly what I feared.

I
didn’t think
a fake relationship would be hard. Pick Leah up at seven. Let the media see me playing the gentleman. Make sure she didn’t storm out on me during dinner.

Except I forgot the most important thing.

Jesus
fuck
, this woman was absolutely gorgeous.

Leah had hips that shimmied, curves that bumped, tits that plumped, and eyes that would scold a man for ogling the most beautiful creature in the world.

She gave me the address to her apartment, and I offered to pick her up. Originally, I meant to take her out and let the public know I was spoken for. After I took her home, I’d planned to meet up with Bryon and the guys. They had a bead on a new bar stocked with craft beers and co-eds.

Not anymore. Bryon and his sluts be damned. One look at Leah and the only thing I wanted was
her
.

With me at dinner.

Coming home with me.

Sleeping in my bed.

Waking inside of her.

Worst part was, I knew it’d
never
fucking happen.

I thought I’d be cute and buy her a single red rose. The flower crushed in my fist when she opened the door, and I was just lucky my jaw hadn’t unhinged like some teenage idiot.

“Jack.” She clutched a little purse, matching the black dress clinging to her perfectly mocha skin. A crimson sash draped over her arms, a shimmering silk that hugged where I longed to touch. “You’re late.”

And we’d be late for dinner too if my cock didn’t settle the fuck down. I hardened immediately, studying her curves. Everything—her exotic complexion, her delicate ebony curls, the tips of her French tipped toenails—was meant to turn my cock into cement. Great. Even my most faithful partner-in-crime was punishing me for agreeing to this
fake
relationship.

I just wanted to use her as a momentary distraction to the league. Leah thought otherwise. I had nearly split when she dropped the ground rules. No partying. No girls. Nothing
fun
. I would have taken my chances with the league had it not been for her kiss.

A kiss that nearly had me come right there in the tunnel.

Hell if I could focus on the rest of practice. And I was pretty sure I’d fucked up the speech Leah forwarded to me, some sort of remark on how sorry I was for my behavior and the car crash or something. It was all bullshit anyway. What happened off the field
should
have been my business. And yet, here I was. Spending thousands of dollars on a publicist to make me appear like a man who wouldn’t rip off her crimson sash, lift that little black dress, and plow my way to a better reputation.

“Ready to go?” I found my tongue somewhere in my dried mouth. Apparently Leah found my head somewhere up my own ass.

“If you aren’t going to take this seriously, I won’t help you.”

She didn’t invite me in. The door slammed behind her and she walked to the elevator without me.

How did I piss her off? I
just
got to her apartment.

“What the hell did I do now?” I asked.

Leah shook her head. The dress was low cut and everything else good and holy in this world shimmied too. “You didn’t even
try
.”

“Try
what
?”

“The apology?” She whipped around, and her hair caressed her cheek. I tried to focus on her scowl, but, God…even mad she was beautiful. “I spent an hour crafting you
five
sentences to express your remorse for what happened, and you couldn’t even make it sound genuine?”

What did I do wrong? “I read what you gave me.”

“Exactly. You read it like a PR person gave you a statement.”

“Do you want me to take acting classes now? I’m a football player, not Chris Pratt.”

“Yeah, as if I could get that lucky.”

“Fine…” I shrugged. “I’ll do better next time.”

That pissed her off more. “Jack, there better not be a next time. That was your last public apology. No one will listen to you
next time
.”

Touché.

The elevator delivered us to the lobby. She brushed a cautious hand over her dress, like she didn’t trust that the skirt wouldn’t ride up and show a scandalous amount of leg. I was praying it would.

“Why are we so formal?” she asked.

I was a jock, but even I appreciated a good meal. “I’m taking you to
Le Meilleur
.”

She stiffened, staring at me with widening eyes. “That’s the best restaurant in the city.”

I smirked, offering her my elbow as we walked to my car. “Now
that
sounded genuine.”

I helped her into the Porsche, hating the brand new car because it wasn’t my classic Camaro. Leah liked it. She stared at the interior, the navigation system, the luxury. She was probably a girl who didn’t mind a little class.

Well, there was nothing classier than getting fucked in the back seat of a sports car that cost more than her yearly salary, but Leah didn’t seem the type. That didn’t stop me from imagining it. Wanting it. I adjusted my trousers as my dick swelled thinking about her skirt riding up and my cock sliding in.

Let’s see her write a spin piece on the best sex of her goddamned life.

The restaurant needed reservations a month ahead of time. I called two hours before we arrived, and a private table waited for the Rivets’ star near the dance floor. It was a perfectly romantic location for a man taking his
longterm
girlfriend on a date. Low lights, expensive food, and insufferable waiters. Every girl’s dream before slipping into bed with me.

But Leah didn’t seem the bed slipping type.

She folded her napkin neatly in her lap, sipped her wine, and looked positively humbled that I would bring her somewhere nice.

“Thinking you were getting a strip club breakfast buffet?” I asked.

She took a deep breath, meeting my gaze with those big, mocha eyes, as rich as the chocolate complexion of her skin. She turned my cock to stone, and she didn’t have a fucking clue.

“I didn’t know what to expect.” At least she was honest. Her voice shifted, taking on that professional, impersonal tone. “I’ve posted on social media about tonight. I have boxed seats for a baseball game and an event with one of the Rivets’ charities we can attend. But, for now? We should probably take a selfie together a little later, to pass around a picture of you that doesn’t include three drunken women and a totaled car.”

“Thanks.”

Her hands trembled. “I don’t know how to handle this from here. How to…make it seem like we’re an actual couple.”

Fucking her would convince me. “We’ll start by ordering an appetizer. I think a salad after that.” I leaned closer, voice low. “Then we’ll get real crazy and grab and entre.”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I.” I called over the waiter. “People eat on dates. You and I will eat on our date.”

I tucked a hundred dollar bill in the waiter’s suit. Leah hissed at me. I ignored her.

“Make sure the lady’s wine glass doesn’t go empty tonight.” I pointed to a variety of foods on the menu—not like I could read the French anyway. “That’ll be good for appetizers.”

The waiter nodded and scurried to the kitchen. Leah glared.

“
Please
.
Thank you. You’re welcome
. Ever hear of those words?” She couldn’t look angry sipping a glass of hundred dollar wine. “You have to be courteous, Jack. You’re a public figure.”

Since when did throwing a ball and dodging rabid linebackers mean I was a
public figure
? “Hey, I’m being a perfect fucking gentleman while you bill me for taking you out on the town.”

“You make me sound like an escort.”

“I wouldn’t know.” I winked. “Never needed one.”

Leah acted like she’d either let her guard down or dump the wine over my head. I liked the indecision. Made her feisty.

“I don’t understand you,” she said. “You’re the star quarterback of a professional football team. You have the money and the power and the opportunity to become the best of all time. Not
one of the best
, but
the best
. Why would you throw it away for a threesome with questionable women?”

“You’re missing the big picture. It would have been a
foursome
.”

“Oh, whatever.” She crossed her arms.

“Give me my moment of glory.”

“Was that what it was? Glory?”

“It was
fun
, Kiss. You know. What people do when they yank the sticks out of their asses?”

“I can have fun.” The shawl covering her bare shoulders said otherwise. “But I also know when it’s time to be responsible. You have to plan for your future.” She glanced at me, eyes big and beautiful and more distracting than the swell of her tits. “Have you thought about your future at all?”

“I have a plan for my future.” Two, if I counted getting her in bed. “Winning.”

“Winning?”

“Gotta win the first game. Gotta win the next. Gotta win the playoffs. Gotta win the championship.”

She waited, as if I had more to say. “That’s…it? That’s your goal in life?”

“Yeah.”

“What happens when you get the championship?”

That was the kind of dirty talk that got me harder than a lucky girl calling me
Daddy
. “You think I’ll win it this year?”

“Yes…You’re Jack Carson.” She picked at a piece of bread. “Of course you will.”

“I didn’t know you were that confident in me.”

She perked an eyebrow as she tasted the freshly baked bread. “You never asked what I thought, just kept banging random women on your way to
glory
.”

“What could have been.”

“I can’t imagine a foursome being a life goal.”

What was with her? “I don’t have any other goals. I told you. I want my championship ring.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes.” I frowned. “Why? What the hell are you planning?”

She sucked in a deep breath and downed the rest of her wine. “I planned to be engaged while in college at twenty years old. I wanted my first job at twenty-two. Married by twenty-three. First child by twenty-five. Six figure salary by twenty-seven. Second child by twenty-eight. Vacation in Paris by thirty. Rome by thirty-one. Vienna at thirty-two. I’d have my last child when I was thirty-three. That’s as far as I’ve planned for now since I’m certain the best school districts will change by the time I’m ready to sell my starter home and move into a thirty-year house.”

Holy fuck, she was a freak.

Who the hell choreographed their life like that? She raised her chin, looking proud and beautiful and as if she expected me to challenge her. She was right.

“Aren’t you my age?” I asked. “Twenty-four?”

“Yes.”

She didn’t look pregnant. She didn’t have a ring on her finger. I could read more than blitzes.

“So what happened?” I laughed. “Where’s the lucky man you’ve shackled to a life of no surprises?”

“Sleeping with my best friend.”

Shit. I didn’t expect her to be so honest. Neither did she. She couldn’t hide the shame and picked at the bread again.

Who was stupid enough to cheat on her?

“What a prick,” I said.

She shrugged. The shawl fell from her shoulder. She didn’t fix it. “Ironically, his wasn’t that impressive.”

“Well, that’s the real tragedy.”

Her wine refilled. She drank half right away. “It did the job before it wandered. I think.”

“You
think
?”

Leah caught herself, sighing as I stared in confusion. “That was just a joke.”

“No, it wasn’t,” I said. “Did he fuck you good or not?”

Her eyes widened. “I’m not talking about this with
you
.”

“It shouldn’t ever just
do the job.
His should be the only goddamned cock you can think about.”

“You would know.”

“Damn right. Life is too short for bad fucking.”

She was embarrassed. Leah hid it by picking over the served appetizer. “It didn’t bother me. Passion wasn’t as much a deal-breaker as the marriage. I wanted the husband and the kids. The career was important too. Really important. I expected a good salary that could help me travel…” She sighed. “I wanted it all.”

She spoke an entirely different language from me. “What about that big cock and the great fucking?”

“That was always just part of the marriage.”

“Was it?” I asked.

She fiddled with her napkin. Didn’t like talking about sex, probably because she never had it good. I changed the subject.

“So now your grand plan is…?”

She nodded. “Ruined.”

“That’s easy enough to fix,” I said. “Change it. Live for the moment. Get fucked, have some fun, you’ll find there’s more to life than structuring it.”

“Oddly sensible coming from a man whose only goal is to win a game and have a foursome.”

“I don’t want a foursome anymore.” I stole the appetizer if only to brush her delicate fingers. “There’s only one woman I’d take to bed now.”

“And as exhilarating as becoming one of your sexual conquests would be…” Leah rolled her eyes. “I’ll pass.”

“Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“I think pretending to be your girlfriend is adventure enough for now.”

“I think you’re afraid.”

“Don’t tell me you were a psychology major in college?”

I was. Didn’t go to any of the classes, but I won the college four bowl games. “You were hurt by the prick who cheated on you. Your plan is ruined. You think you have no time for fun, especially if you need to catch up on that big fancy wedding, the nice career, and make all those little babies.”

“Fooling around with you won’t get me any closer to my goal.”

“Who needs goals when you can have fun?”

“There’s more to life than sex.”

I grinned. “You’re right. There’s kissing. Foreplay. Blow jobs. Blow jobs are my favorite.”

“One of these days, Jack, you’re going to meet a girl and fall so desperately and idiotically in love that you won’t recognize yourself.”

“Yeah?”

“Yep. Do me a favor and call me on that day. Tell me what you think life is about then.” Leah thanked the waiter as he delivered our food. “I won’t even bill you for those hours.”

“Not gonna happen.”

“Your biggest party will be the reception after the wedding.” She winked. “Guarantee it.”