Playing Hard: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (16 page)

Ava hesitates. “We can go into the kitch—”

“Nope, I’m making snacks in there,” Darcey interrupts. “You’ll have to go to your room.”

She just keeps grinning while Ava throws daggers with her eyes.

I
like
this Darcey girl.

“Come on,” Ava finally mutters. “Let’s leave these fucking nerds to their snacks and C-SPAN, then.”

“I heard that!” Darcey calls, but I barely notice as I follow Ava down the hall to a staircase. She leads me upstairs to the door of her room.

She glances over her shoulder at me momentarily before she pushes the door open, and I follow her inside.

I didn’t have much time to think about it, but now that I’m here, I’m feeling that same gut punch sensation as before — as if I’ve never been in a girl’s room before. It’s stupid. I try to swallow it down, but it rises in my belly again even stronger than it was before.

And
fuck
— the mere fact that I’m
here
, in her room, is making my dick twitch like it’s got a life of its own.

I can’t get hard now. I really meant what I said about coming here only to talk.

Or mostly, anyway.

Ava leaves the door open. I pass her, going to the black wooden desk at the far wall. Her Apple laptop sits open on it, surrounded by books. I recall that she never did tell me what subject she was studying, only that she was a graduate student, and she wasn’t doing an MBA like her father wanted.

I glance down at one of the textbooks on her desk. 

“Chemistry, huh,” I say, running my fingers over the cover, before picking it up and flicking through it. “What’re you gonna do — start your own meth empire?”

“That’s right,” she says flatly, crossing her arms over her chest. “I am the one who knocks. So if you don’t hurry up and tell me why you’re here —”

“Okay, okay,” I say, putting the book back down on the desk. I lean back, resting my palms on the top of her desk, curling my fingers over the edge. “I just wanted to see where we stand. That’s all.”

She’s giving me the hairy eyeball. “Where we stand on what?”

And that’s it.

This is the closest I have ever been to ever actually
losing my temper
with Ava.

“Can you not be obtuse for just one fucking second?” I ask her, trying not to raise my voice too much. I’m aware that Darcey and her friends are downstairs. “What do you
think
I’m talking about? I want to know if we’re okay, after what happened at the restaurant.”

Ava stares at me evenly for a long moment. She’s not at all intimidated by my little temper tantrum. “We’re okay,” she says eventually. “Of course we are. It wasn’t something we planned. It just kind of… happened.”

I swallow when she finishes talking. It’s exactly what I expected her to say, but somehow, hearing it out loud bothers me a lot more than I thought it would. I look at her, watching as her eyes flick up and down my body the same way they always do when we’re together and she thinks she can get away with it.

I know how much she wants me. I felt how wet she was the other night when we kissed. She was soaking wet and helplessly breathless.

And I was harder than I can ever remember being in my entire life.

I’m not going to let it end like this.

I make the decision before I even know what I’m doing.

“And you don’t want it to happen again?” I ask, my voice a little harder than I mean it to be. But fuck it, if she doesn’t want it, she’s going to have to say so. Out loud.

Ava looks up from where her eyes have been fixating on my crotch.

“What?”

“I asked you if you never wanted it to happen again,” I repeat, looking into her big blue eyes.

She hesitates, licking her lips. “It doesn’t matter what I
want
,” she says. “It just can’t.”

“That’s not what I asked,” I say, pushing myself away from the desk and walking toward her. “I asked you if you
wanted
it.”

“I…” she says, and I can see her breasts rise and fall with her breath, her cheeks beginning to color. “I don’t know —”

“You
do
know,” I say. We’re standing close together now. I’m looking down at her, and she’s looking up at me. I can feel her breath against my throat, feel the tension vibrating off her skin. “Tell me you don’t want me, and I’ll leave.”

She says nothing. The soft bow of her lips parts, and she blinks.

I reach up, running my thumb over the arch of her cheekbone.

Goddamnit, but she’s so beautiful.

“Tell me you don’t want me,” I say again.

She draws in a breath.

“I want you,” she whispers, and that’s all I need.

I lean in and kiss her.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

AVA

Oh my God.

Riley is kissing me.

I curl my fists, pressing them against his chest, but somehow I can’t find it in myself to push him away.

Desire is rampaging through my body. I can’t control it. I can feel heat pooling between my legs already. It’s been growing since I — stupidly — led Riley up here. I can feel my own wetness on my skin, and I know if Riley wanted to, he could put his fingers between my legs and feel it for himself, even through my jeans.

His hands are on the back of my head and the small of my back, crushing me against him. His tongue, driving into my mouth, is relentless. It’s driving every thought and every objection I know I should be making to this out of my mind. I can’t think straight. I can barely even
breathe
. The only thing I can do is wind my tongue around Riley’s, curve my body so it’s pushed against his, feeling his growing hardness against my thigh.

I moan against his lips. It’s a totally involuntary sound that just slips out, totally against my will.

I shouldn’t be doing this
.

The moan breaks the spell the kiss cast over my senses, and I know that this has to stop. I can’t get involved with Riley Knox. Fuck,
get involved
sounds like he might actually want a relationship with me, outside of the purely professional.

But that’s never going to happen. Riley’s a player. He’s a manwhore of the highest order.

He’ll never give up chasing girls. The only thing that will happen if I let this go any further is that I’ll get hurt. He’ll punch my v-card, say thanks, put his pants back on and leave. And I’ll still have to hang around him, pretending to be his girlfriend for the next few months, until Murray says I can stop.

And then Riley will go back to his old ways, hooking up with girls at parties, and he’ll forget all about me. I’ll just be another link in a long chain of casual fucks.

I pull back, trying to free myself from Riley’s arms.

“Riley, stop,” I gasp. “We can’t —”

“Yes, we can,” Riley growls. Actually
growls.
The sound sends a shiver straight to my pussy.

I raise my hand, pressing my fingers against his lips as he leans forward to kiss me again.

“No,” I say. “We can’t.”

“Tell me why.”

I open my mouth, but find it’s gone dry. I know all the reasons why we shouldn’t, from the fact that my father specifically told me not to actually get involved with Riley, to the fact I’m almost certain he’ll forget about me as soon as he’s done with me. But now, none of them seem to matter. All that
does
matter is how desperately I want him. How eager my body is to feel him against me. And how little anything that comes after matters to me right now.

I look up at him in silence, unable to find the words to say what I want to say.

“Do you think I came here to try and fuck you?” he asks, looking down at me. His eyes are bright blue and filled with lust as they stare into mine.

“Why else?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “I wanted to talk to you,” he says. “I mean… of
course
I want to fuck you. It’s all I think about. But I didn’t come here intending to get you into bed. If that was true, we’d already be there.”

I flush. “That’s so fucking arrogant,” I say.

“It’s so fucking true, though.”

I want to tell him he’s wrong, and that I am
not
going to fuck him right now — in fact, I’m not going to fuck him ever. But then he grinds his hips a little against me, and I feel the heat of his massive erection pushing between my thighs. My knees go weak, all rational thought fleeing my head.

“Tell me to leave, and I will,” he says.

I ball my fists in his shirt. Whether to push him off me or pull him closer, I don’t know.

“
Tell me
, and I’ll go right this second. I’ll only see you when Murray says we should. I’ll never bother you again.”

I open my mouth.

I swear, I’m going to tell him to take his massive dong and get out.

But I don’t.

What I
do
is lean forward and crush our mouths together again, driving my tongue against his.

Right now, I don’t give a fuck about anything else. All I want to do is kiss him, touch him….

… And have him kiss and touch me in return.

Whatever comes next, I just don’t care.

He kisses me back, lips warm, cock even warmer against my thigh. His fingers are in my hair, and my
God
, this must be the way women dream of being kissed. This must be the way women are always
supposed
to be kissed.

Eventually, he pulls back. I moan, leaning forward again, seeking his lips with mine.

“Wait.”

I blink at him, unsure, as he moves away from me.

“Close the door.”

I swallow. I know if I do that I’m starting down a very dangerous path. But I turn anyway, closing the door softly. I’m sure Darcey already thinks we’re up here fucking each other’s brains out, but there’s no need to give her any actual grounds for suspicion.

When I turn back, Riley is stripping off the gray sports sweater he’s wearing, as well as the t-shirt underneath it. I haven’t seen his bare chest since the day he won the playoffs game, even though I’ve pictured it in my mind’s eye many times.

Seeing it again now, it’s every bit as perfect and sculpted and beautiful as I remember it. I had thought that I must be exaggerating — that no one human could be so perfectly chiseled, so exquisitely proportioned. But he is.

My room isn’t
that
small, but Riley seems to fill it up; of course, that’s partly his massive, broad shoulders and musculature, but it’s also his sheer presence and confidence. He might be a cocky, arrogant bastard, but I’ve never met anyone else with such magnetism, either. Someone who’s so sure of themselves and who they are.

But even as I stare, I realize that, despite my best intentions, Riley Knox is now getting undressed in my bedroom.

I clench my fists. As much as I want him, I know this is not how I’d planned on losing my virginity.

And besides… I don’t even think I’m ready. While he was kissing me, I would have done anything. But now, with a moment to clear my head, I know it’s not what I want right now.

But everything else….

“I thought you said you didn’t come here to fuck me,” I blurt out, aware my voice is shaking.

“I didn’t. And I’m still not going to.”

“You look like you’re going to. You’re getting naked,” I point out.

Riley grins. “There’s plenty of things we can do that aren’t fucking.”

I inhale sharply. Of course I know that. But will I have the self-control to stop?

My eyes follow the dips and grooves of his muscles all the way down his body, from his bulging shoulders to the sharp V of his hipbones. His erection is standing out clearly against his pants, tenting the material. My mouth starts to water.

“W-what do you want to do?” I hear myself ask.

My body is tingling. Whatever he says, I know I’ll do it. Willingly.

Riley grins.

“Go to the desk. Put your hands on it and lean over.”

I swallow. Riley’s tone is calm and even.

I don’t even want to think about how close this is to the fantasies I’ve been having about him — when he bends me over and fucks me raw from behind.

My knees weak, I walk past him, crossing the room and putting my forearms down flat on the desk. I lean over, my ass pushed back and up. I close my eyes.

I’m so wet now I imagine it
has
to be visible on my jeans — it’s impossible it hasn’t soaked right through, showing Riley clearly just how turned on I am right now.

“Stay still.”

Riley’s voice behind me sends a shiver down my spine. I can’t see him. I don’t know exactly where he is.

At least, not until he touches me.

I almost jump out of my skin as his hand slides down my side, coming to rest just above my hip. I bite my lip, squeezing my eyes even more tightly shut, trying to hold back a moan. It’s ridiculous how he can make me feel like this — just from a touch.

His hand doesn’t stop for long, though, and he moves it down, sliding over my belly, to the button of my jeans.

I want to ask him what he plans on doing — whether he’s going to keep his word that we’re not going to fuck each other right now. But as his fingers deftly flick open the button and then yank down the zip of my jeans, all thoughts fly out of my head.

“Stay where you are.” Riley’s voice is hoarse with lust. “Don’t move an inch.”

I do what I’m told. I couldn’t move even if I wanted to — my knees are trembling, and if I stopped resting my weight against the desk, I’m sure I’d fall over.

In the next moment, I feel Riley’s hand on the back of my jeans, and then he’s yanking them down over my legs until they’re halfway down my thighs. He doesn’t take them farther down than that, but I’m completely exposed to him, vulnerable to whatever he wants to do with me.

“Riley!” I yelp, and begin to stand up, but I feel a gentle hand on my back, urging me to remain in place.

“Shhh,” he whispers. “Stay where you are.”

I stay still, putting my head back down on my arms. I’m pretty sure I’m trembling. Looking down past my breasts, I can see my panties where they’re around my thighs. The material at the crotch is glistening with my own wetness, a few gossamer-thin threads sliding down my thighs.

“Fuck me,” Riley murmurs, his voice soft. “You look….”

He doesn’t finish his sentence. I feel his fingers trace over the skin of my backside, making me shiver, pleasure darting through me.

The throbbing between my legs is growing unbearable as he doesn’t do anything more than simply trace patterns into my skin.

He’s going to drive me
insane.

“Riley,” I say, and it comes out much closer to a long, breathy whine than I would like. “What’re you —”

“Just give me a moment,” Riley says. “I’m admiring the most perfect ass I’ve ever seen, okay?”

Heat swells through me at his words. No one’s ever said anything like that to me before. No one’s ever really complimented me on my looks at all.

I try to do what he says. But I’m so turned on and so desperate to be touched that it doesn’t last long.

“Riley,
please
.”

It would be so easy for him to slip inside me right now, to take me like I’ve imagined him taking me. I lick my lips.

Is that what I want?

I wish I could say. I want to feel it — the void between my legs is driving me crazy. But afterward….

“Put your fingers between your legs,” Riley says.

I swallow. “I —”

“You’re the one who said we shouldn’t fuck,” he interrupts me. “You get your way. We’re not fucking.”

I groan. I’m halfway between wanting to tell Riley to forget what I said and just put his dick in me, and turning around and punching him in the face.
How
can any one man be
so
infuriating?

But in the end, I do what he says — I slide my hand down from where it rests on the desk, pushing it between my legs.

I groan at the first touch of my fingers against myself. I’m so wet, so swollen and ready for this that I can barely stand it.

“Put them inside yourself.”

Oh my God.

I feel like I should be embarrassed, but I don’t hesitate, twisting my hand and sliding two fingers into the wet heat of my pussy. I can feel my nipples pushing against my bra, hard and peaking, and I spread my legs as much as I can with my jeans still wrapped around my thighs.

Behind me, I hear Riley groan.

“That looks so fucking hot,” he says, his voice a husky whisper. “Watching you fuck yourself on your fingers.”

I inhale sharply, sinking my fingers even deeper inside myself. I press my thumb to my clit, shuddering. Need is flooding through me, making me light-headed, dizzy with lust.

“I’ve thought about this for so long,” Riley mutters, and now I can hear his own movement — the slow, steady sound of his hand on his cock, sliding up and down. “I’ve wanted to watch you touch yourself for me.”

I close my eyes, a long roll of pleasure flowing through me. Riley’s words are turning me on even more, driving me closer and closer to the edge. My breath is becoming ragged already, pressure building inside me.

“I’ve thought about everything I want to do to you,” Riley continues after a moment, his voice hitching a little as he strokes himself. “I’ve thought about your lips around my cock. Your fingers. I’ve thought about making you come in more ways than you even know about.”