Infamous: A Bad Boy Sports Romance Novel (3 page)

“
I
can’t believe
I signed up for this,” I grumbled to myself as I dropped my vibrator on top of my stack of blankets and plopped down beside them on the couch. “He’s going to drive me insane.”

Well, I
am
talking to myself. Seems like I might have already gotten there.

Part of me still couldn’t believe that Jared was actually living up to his reputation. I had done everything in my power to convince myself that he was just a normal guy, but I’d spent less than an hour with him and I was already ready to either rip my hair out or rip his pants off.

Which was really,
really
bad.

I held my cell phone in my hand and toyed with the idea of calling Lauren, but it wouldn’t do me a damn bit of good seeing as how she was on an airplane thirty-six thousand feet above the Earth. Worse than that, a phone call this early would only prove that I hadn’t been ready to take on a task like this by myself and it might make her question her decision to hire me.

There was also that fact that—assuming that she didn’t immediately come rushing back at the first sign of trouble—she’d spend the rest of her honeymoon worrying. No, it was best for everyone if I just kept pressing on and hoped that Jared would stop being such a prick when he realized I was serious when I said I wasn’t interested in sleeping with him.

Lies.

I huffed and leaned back against the couch, willing my arm to stop getting goosebumps when I remembered how his rough palm felt when he grabbed me. I could admit to myself that if my job wasn’t on the line, I might have asked to feel those hands all over my body.

I turned my head and looked longingly at my vibrator. Sleeping on the couch meant I’d have no privacy to ease my own ache. I supposed if the desire became too much, I could always lock myself in the bathroom and take a shower.

A thought popped into my head that I really didn’t want—a mental image of Jared using the privacy of my bedroom to his advantage and jerking off. In
my
bed. Naked, covered in sweat, that hand working over his cock—

It’s way too fucking hot in here.

I stood up and placed a throw pillow over my vibrator to keep it out of sight before moving over to the window and cracking it open. I leaned out and sucked in a long breath, staring down at the street traffic of my neighborhood in a daze.

There was no telling how long I stood at the window simply zoning out, but some time later, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up right before a warm breath gusted across my ear.

“See anything interesting?”

I startled—tensing up and jumping back away from the window and accidentally pressing my back right into his body. A strong, tattooed arm wrapped around my waist to steady me and I cursed the fact that my body reacted against my will.

“You’re shaking,” he whispered into my ear, splaying his fingers across my stomach and lightly caressing me. “Relax, sweetness.”

As if my body was in tune with his voice, I felt my muscles all relax even though my mind was screaming at me for being so close to him. When his other arm reached up to lightly trail down my neck, I managed to snap myself out of my temporary insanity.

“You scared the shit out of me,” I said breathlessly, pulling his hand away and wriggling away from his grasp.

“Sorry. I guess you were pretty engrossed in whatever you were looking at,” he noted, leaning over to take a look out the window. “Which—what
were
you looking at?”

“Nothing. I was just people watching. And I thought I told you to stop with the stupid nicknames,” I added on, hoping to gain back the upper hand.

Judging by the size of his cocky smile, he was obviously aware that my shudder hadn’t been caused by fear. I stayed outwardly calm as I began to panic. If I gave him any reason to think I wanted him, he wouldn’t let up. The only chance I had of surviving these two weeks was to make sure he didn’t figure it out.

“Don’t lie—you know you like them,” he said with a chuckle. “And it was very sweet of you to give up your bed, so it’s not like they don’t suit you.”

When he reached up to twirl a lock of my hair around his finger, I batted his hand away with a scowl. “Was there something you wanted?”

“Yes.”

He didn’t elaborate and it just pissed me off more. I started to tap my foot on the floor and folded my arms over my chest, feeling my body beginning to heat up as he just stood there and smiled at me.

“I’m not a mind reader, Jared. Anytime today.”

He stepped forward and leaned in. I instinctively backed away, my eyes going wide when I felt the edge of the window against my lower back. I was trapped and he was still leaning in. Despite my wild heartbeat and my panic, my eyes began to flutter and I held my breath.

“I want…” he started, trailing off for a second as he brushed my cheek with his fingertips.

I let my eyes fall shut and just waited for the moment I knew was coming—to feel the press of his lips against mine. I mentally steeled myself not to react to it—getting myself ready to push him away after I just got one little taste. That would be enough. It would have to be.

“To know what’s for lunch.”

I frowned as the warm fingers left my cheek and I felt the air shift around me as he straightened back up. I opened my eyes and instantly regretted it when I looked up and saw the smug smile on his face. He slowly backed away, not breaking eye contact until there was a good amount of space between us.

While I berated myself for the massive mistake I just made, I watched him head into the kitchen and start rummaging through my refrigerator. He let out a victorious noise when he found a carton of eggs, plopping them down on the counter before he started going through the cabinets in search of something to cook them in.

When he bent over, I couldn’t stop myself from staring. He had changed into loose basketball shorts and when he straightened back up, it took me a moment to realize he was looking back over his shoulder. Our gazes collided and he winked at me, a silent gesture indicating that I had been caught checking him out.

In that moment, I wasn’t sure what I wanted more—to fuck him or to strangle him.

I
turned
down the heat on the stove and turned back to see if April was still frozen to the spot by the window where I had almost kissed her.

Which, I really almost had. It took a massive amount of restraint for me to not lean in and close the distance, but something in the back of my mind warned me that it was too early. I needed to wait—to play my trump card. So, I opted to wait and focus on satisfying my other hunger.

Lucky for me, her kitchen seemed decently stocked. I didn’t see enough meat in her freezer for my liking, but I could always ask her later to go out and get some. In the meantime, eggs would work. Anything with protein, really.

April had moved to the couch and was staring off into space, so I interrupted her zoning and asked, “Do you want any eggs? They’re just boiled.”

She looked up and shook her head. “No thank you. I’ve got leftover take-out from yesterday.”

Even though her words implied she was intending to eat, she didn’t move to get up from the couch. It took me a moment to realize that she was likely going to wait until I was finished before she made her food and when it finally came to mind, I rolled my eyes and went back to the fridge.

“What are you doing?”

I ignored the question. I had pulled out the half-empty boxes of Chinese and emptied them onto a plate when I finally felt her approach.

“Jared. What. Are. You.
Doing?
”

I lifted the plate into the air and gave her an incredulous look. “What the hell does it look like? I’m warming up your food.”

“But
why?
”

“Would you prefer it to be cold?”

She frowned. “That’s not what I meant.”

I smiled and side-stepped around her, placing the plate carefully in the microwave and pressing the buttons to start it before I turned and said, “I know, sweetness. But since you didn’t seem in a rush to do it yourself, I figured I’d do it for you. You’re welcome, by the way.”

The look on her face was priceless—like she wasn’t sure whether she should thank me or slap me. I bit back the laughter I could feel coming on and steered the conversation away.

“Since I’m doing something so nice for you, you should probably sit down and eat with me.”

April didn’t move from her spot, but the puzzled frown left her face and her eyes snapped up to mine. “So that’s it? You’re making me food so I’ll eat with you?”

“Maybe,” I admitted with a small smile. “I’d appreciate the company.”

She was primed to flee, even going so far as to glance behind her at the door of her apartment. I was willing to bet that she was inventing imaginary lunch plans in her head—anything she could say to get out of having to look me in the eye. It was fine by me if she wanted to play it that way, but I hoped she knew I was prepared to call her on her bullshit.

To my surprise, it didn’t come to that. She just gave a jerky nod of her head and sat down at the tiny kitchen table to wait. When the microwave dinged, I took her plate and placed it in front of her before I moved back to drain the water from the pot and get my eggs out.

“I need a fork. I’m assuming you already know where they are since you’re so
curious
.”

“That I do, princess,” I agreed, reaching for her utensil drawer and grabbing the fork for her.

“You know, you really should own up to what you really are.”

I raised a brow as she took the offered fork. “And what is that?”

“Nosy as fuck.”

She popped a piece of chicken into her mouth and smirked right as I burst out laughing. It wasn’t the first time someone called me nosy, but it was the first time I heard it coming from a woman who wasn’t my mother. Thinking back though, there wasn’t a single time I could recall going through a woman’s belongings. When I went home with a woman, I’d fuck her and leave. I never cared enough to bother.

The thought would have been alarming on its own, but I knew it was likely just because this was the first time I was actually staying with a woman. Not only were we going to be living together for two weeks, I was pretty much forbidden to leave the apartment. It only made sense that I was going to do whatever I could to amuse myself.

Satisfied with my rational thinking, I cracked and peeled the eggs, tossing the shells into the trash before sitting down to join her. I raised a brow when I saw that she was already half-way through the plate of food. Was she really that anxious to get away from me?

“Is that all you’re going to eat?” she asked, gesturing to the bowl of eggs with her fork.

“For now,” I said with a shrug before lifting a hard-boiled egg and biting into it. “What are you making for dinner?”

April gaped at me and I forced myself not to laugh.

“What makes you assume I’m making you dinner?”

“Well,
I
made lunch. Quid pro quo.”

“You boiled some eggs and put a plate in the microwave. A five year old could do that. Do you want a medal or something?”

“You haven’t answered my question.”

Her jaw clenched and her eyes hardened and I knew I was pushing just a little too hard. Time to pull it back just a tick.

“Pizza would work for me,” I said, letting out an internal sigh of relief when she visibly relaxed.

“Fine. I’ll buy since you were so kind to steal my bed, go through my stuff, and put a plate in the microwave for me. That’s totally a fair trade.”

I rolled my eyes and popped another egg into my mouth. After a few minutes, she finished her food and moved to the sink to wash her plate, grabbing the pot I used and washing that along with it. She glanced back and reached her hand out, so I grabbed the last egg and handed over my now-empty bowl.

While I chewed, I contemplated the best way to go about this. I was bound to piss her off no matter how I chose to phrase it, so I figured I might as well go for broke and wing it.

“Tell me something, princess,” I said, waiting until she turned back and acknowledged me before I continued. “Why are you set on pretending that you hate me?”

April snorted and turned her attention back to the dishes. “Who’s pretending?”

I stood up and moved behind her, watching with a smile as her shoulders tensed up. “You are. We both know it, so why keep up the act?”

The bowl dropped into the sink and she spun around, a fire in her eyes as she poked a finger to my chest. “Why do
you
keep up the act? The stupid bad boy womanizer bullshit persona that you put on for the media. I know you’re not like that—
no one
is.”

The poking was starting to irritate the shit out of me, so I gripped her wrist tightly and angled it down to pin her hand against the sink. She squirmed a little, but was smart enough to know that she wasn’t going anywhere until I decided to let her go.

“What you see is exactly what you get with me. The only one acting here is
you
.”

“I’m
not
acting,” she hissed.

“If you really have no interest in me, then why do you have my jerseys hanging in your closet?”

Multiple emotions fluttered across her pretty face—anger, surprise, and finally embarrassment. Heat flooded to her cheeks as she renewed her effort to get away, but I clucked my tongue and shook my head.

“Just admit it, sweetness. You don’t hate me. If you did, you surely wouldn’t be a fan of mine.”

“Th-They were a gift from Lauren. I’ve been—”

“Sleeping in them? Because they’re pretty well worn.” I chuckled and leaned closer, letting my other hand rest on her cheek the same way I did when I almost kissed her not even half an hour ago. “Sweetness, you just say the word and I’ll let you sleep in the
real
jersey. I don’t have it on me, but I can have it shipped here before I leave. One condition—you can’t wear anything underneath it.”

She let out the sexiest whimper I’d ever heard and the sound went straight to my cock. In these shorts, the bulge of my hardness was rather obscene and I was desperately hoping she would open her eyes and look down.

When it seemed like she wasn’t going to, I took matters into my own hands, so to speak. I tilted my hips forward, pressing myself against her navel just enough to draw her attention downward.

Her eyes flew open and flickered down and the look of desire on her face was nearly enough to snap my control. I had to grind my teeth together to keep from lifting her up and rutting against her right then. Her mouth opened and closed multiple times as she searched for something to say and
fuck me
, I couldn’t help but to imagine my cock between her lips.

“Say it. Say that you want me,” I choked out.

April’s eyes came back to mine and she slowly shook her head. “I don’t—We
can’t
—I’m not going to sleep with you, Jared,” she said in a whisper. “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

She started to pull away and I stupidly let her go. I braced both hands on the sink as her footsteps ran down the hall, the loud slam of a door telling me she had likely locked herself in the bathroom.

Why the hell was she making this so difficult? She obviously wanted me—so what the fuck was the problem?

With a growl, I pushed myself away from the sink and stalked toward the bathroom.

I didn’t know what her deal was, but I was going to find out.