Playing Hard: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (6 page)

I sigh, taking a sip of my large mocha. I need the caffeine hit, but I really hate the taste of coffee.
Little Miss Sweet Tooth
, that’s what my mom always used to call me. If it has sugar in it, I’ll eat it. Today, however, the sweet mocha may as well be bile. I feel like it’s curdling in my stomach as I drink.

I dump the rest of it in the trash as I walk. I could probably do without the calories anyway.

Crossing the road, the lush grounds of St Christopher’s come into view behind the wrought iron of the park gates. Even though it’s a cold day, the sunshine is bright and warm, and there’s plenty of students out and about, enjoying what we’re all hoping is the return of warmer weather. I’m surprised my tits haven’t frozen off, it’s been so cold recently.

And that would be a shame, considering how Riley was staring at them yesterday
, my brain/ovaries pipe up.

Fuck off,
I tell them.
Riley Knox is nothing but an obnoxious, over-sexed, foul-mouthed, meat-headed jock.

I wasn’t joking when I told Darcey he wasn’t my type. I’ve never liked muscles, and I prefer men I can have a conversation of more than two syllables with.

He is, as my grandma would say, entirely unsuitable.

I’m a little early this time, as after yesterday’s debacle I’m pretty sure I don’t want to keep Riley — or, more importantly, Murray’s press goons — waiting. Plus, the sooner I get this over with, the sooner I can leave.

I find the park bench Murray told me to wait by in his text message this morning. There’s couples all around me, draped all over each other, sucking each other’s faces off, lounging about on the grass with their legs entangled. I look away. Personally, I find such PDA totally inappropriate. If you have to do that kind of thing, go home and do it in the privacy of your own bedroom. There’s no need to inflict it on the rest of us. 

I suddenly regret throwing away my mocha. At least it would be something to distract me. Sighing, I sit down on the bench and flip open my messenger bag and take out my calculus book. I suppose I could do worse than do some reading for next week’s class.

I sit with my head down over my book, chewing on the end of my pen. I might not like calculus, but once I get into it, I get totally absorbed.

I’m so absorbed by the time Riley finally arrives that I don’t look up, even when he casts a shadow over my page. It’s not until I hear his voice that I’m jerked out of what I’m doing, and squint up into his face.

“Hey, Ava.”

I blink, as the silhouette in front of me slowly resolves itself into the shape of Riley Knox’s impossibly good-looking features.

No, scratch that.
Silhouettes.
Standing next to Riley is a statuesque blonde, who is looking down at me with clear distaste.

CHAPTER SIX

RILEY

“Is this the girl you said you had to meet up with?” Kara asks, her cute little button nose screwing up. She’s a beautiful girl — and a great lay — but the expression makes her look ugly.

“Yeah,” I say. “Kara, meet Ava. Ava, Kara.”

Kara only raises an eyebrow in response.

Ava is just sitting there, lips slightly parted, her shoulders still hunched from where she was leaning over the textbook or whatever she was reading. Her hair’s in some kind of loose braid and pulled over her shoulder, strands falling down around her face like a frame for her big blue eyes and soft pink lips.

Again, I get the image of those lips parted in a scream as I make her come. Or circling my dick, sucking me off like there’s no tomorrow.

I cough a little. The image alone is making me hard, and if I don’t stop thinking about it quickly, I’ll have a raging boner right here in the middle of the park.

Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing — I mean, it’d show Little Miss Priss here what she’s missing. No girl who’s seen what I’m packing can ever resist it for long.

But Ava just slaps her textbook shut, before standing, eyes narrowed, an expression of fury on her face.

“Just what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” she hisses, standing up to her full height and pointing her finger in my face.

“What?” I ask, genuinely confused. “What the fuck did I do now?”

“You
know
what,” Ava says, her voice still hissing out of her throat.

Apparently, I’m not catching on fast enough, because she jabs a finger toward Kara.

“Bringing her with you. What the hell?”

Her lip is curled up, her cheeks starting to flush a little. I wish to God I didn’t find it so hot, because I realize I’m going to need all my mental faculties to calm Ava down.

“Geeze, what’s the problem?” I ask her, shaking my head. “Kara’s a friend of mine. We just walked here together. Is that okay with you?”

Great start.

Ava’s eyes to go Kara, looking her up and down. Kara’s built like a lingerie model and has the face to match. I don’t know what she’s doing wasting her time with study when she could be making huge amounts of paper just on her looks, but I guess cheerleading is a good way to get noticed.

“Sure. She’s a
friend.
”

Ava’s still spitting fire, and I’m still finding it way more of a turn-on than I should. If she ever let her guard down and got laid, this chick would go off like a firecracker.

And suddenly, I’m determined I’m going to be the one to make her do it.

The fact that we’re not supposed to touch each other just makes it all the better.

“You didn’t say the girl you were meeting was crazy,” Kara says, turning her attention from Ava to me. “What’s her problem?”

“Excuse
me
,” Ava breaks in. “I’m not crazy. Riley was just supposed to come meet me… alone. By himself.”

Ava suddenly looks flustered, and I realize she can hardly explain things to Kara without blowing our cover. And suddenly I realize too how weird this’ll look if the paps Coach said would be here have already arrived.

“She’s right,” I say reluctantly, turning to Kara. “Sorry. I should’ve said something. Why don’t you take off? I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Kara’s bright green eyes drift from me to Ava, as if measuring her up, before coming back to me again. “Do you have to?” she asks, her voice getting high and whiny in the way she knows I hate. “C’mon, Riley. Just dump this bitch. We could go back to yours.”

Kara’s eyes become half-lidded, and she seductively runs the tip of her tongue over her lips. Her hand slides slowly down my thigh, coming to rest just above my still-hard dick.

Ordinarily, I’d jump at the chance. Kara gives head like a pro. But now, the thought leaves me feeling strangely cold. The only thing that could turn me on right now is the idea of Ava, flushed, snarling, clawing at my back and coming hard on my dick or on my tongue. I don’t really care which one right now.

“I said I’ll see you tomorrow,” I repeat, adding a hard edge to my voice. Kara might be a friend, and she knows what we have isn’t exclusive — far from it. But it doesn’t stop her from getting pushy and possessive every now and then.

Narrowing her eyes, Kara shoots one last nasty look at Ava, before tossing her hair over her shoulder and marching off.

Thank fuck.

“Okay, do you mind telling me just what the hell that was all about?” Ava asks, her voice climbing several octaves over the course of the sentence, making me wince, and reminding me I’m far from out of the fire yet.

“What was all what about?” I ask, using the innocent tone that’s served me so well with teachers and girls in the past.

“Don’t play dumb with me,” Ava says. She looks strange as she says it — before I realize she’s trying not to change her facial expression too much, just in case there’s anyone watching. Which we already know there is. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. What the fuck made you think it’d be a good idea to bring Tits McGee with you? You didn’t think for
one
second it might look weird?”

I just shrug. “I ran into her after training,” I say, and it’s true. “She offered to walk with me, and I took her up on it. What’s the problem?”

Ava scoffs. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone actually
scoff
before. “Yeah, right. So you’re telling me you haven’t come straight from fucking her?”

Anger rises in my chest. Anger, and something else. I don’t know what to call it, but I
do
know it’s making my dick hard all over again. “No, actually, I haven’t,” I tell her. “I’m not saying we’ve never fucked, because we totally have, but it’s like I said. I just ran into her, and we walked here together. Is that okay with you?”

Ava just stares at me. “You didn’t think for three seconds it might look strange, bringing another girl to our… our…”

She trails off, clearly unwilling to say the word.

“Our what? Our
date?
” I laugh. “I hate to break it to you, but we’re not actually dating. This is just something your weirdo friend Murray set up. It’s got nothing to do with me. Purely an arrangement of convenience.”

“I know that,” Ava says through her teeth, as if she’s trying to smile. “I’m just trying not to blow our cover. You
know
this has to look real. Otherwise what’s the point?”

Okay, she’s got me there, I admit. “All right, fine. I’m sorry. But I wasn’t lying about her just being a friend, or about not fucking her. Guys and girls can be friends, can’t they?”

Ava narrows her eyes, her pretense of friendliness starting to slip. “Of course they can. I’m just saying no girl can be ‘just friends’ with
you
.”

She snaps her mouth shut as soon as the words are out of her mouth, and she looks away, pressing her lips together.

Oh, I see.

So Little Miss Priss has been doing some digging. Despite all her ignorance about football and football players, it seems like she still knows about my reputation.

I smile down at her. I tower over her by at least a foot. “Oh, I get it,” I say. “So you think the second I meet a girl, I start trying to get them into bed.”

Ava pushes her lips even more tightly together. “I have no idea what you do in your free time,” she spits after a moment. “I have no
desire
to know.”

I have to laugh at that. As if everything she says and does doesn’t totally show that up as being a lie. “Right,” I say calmly. “So how do you know so much about it, then? Been reading up on the kind of man you’re going out with?”

Ava flushes. Again. “No,” she says, a little too quickly.

I just keep smiling. “See, I think you’re lying,” I say. “I think you know a lot more than you’re saying.
A lot
more.”

She looks away, staring out across the park. “Fine,” she says after a moment. “Just what exactly do you think it is that I know, then? What’s so fascinating about you that I’ve been reading about? That you get laid a lot?” She laughs. “Big deal. You’re a star football player. Not like it’s so hard.”

“It’s not just that.” I straighten up, crossing my arms, fully aware of the way it makes my biceps bulge against my jacket. I’m fully aware of the way Ava’s eyes flicker down to watch them, too. “It’s not just about getting laid. You also know I’m damn good at it. You know that if you’d let me, I’d give you the best orgasm you’ve ever had.”

Ava stares up at me, eyes wide, lips in that perfect little circle of surprise again.

God, she’s so fucking hot.

“
Excuse
me,” she squeals. She seems to have totally forgotten about our friends, the paps, now. “What did you just say?”

“You heard me,” I tell her. “And don’t play dumb — you know it’s true. I bet I could make you come in three minutes flat, using just my tongue. But I could do it with my dick if you prefer. It’s entirely up to you.”

She stares up at me, opening and closing her mouth like a fish, and I wonder if any guy in the whole of her perfect, sheltered little life has ever spoken to her like that before.

You’re not the only one who can go digging into people’s lives,
I think to myself. She might know all about me, but I also know a lot about her. Her father is Orson Westwood after all, and it’s not like they’re a shy and retiring family. Galleries, hospitals, sports stadiums — they’re always turning up and giving money to someone. And Ava herself hasn’t exactly gone unnoticed. Student body president at her exclusive (aka, fucking expensive) prep school, charity work, academic awards coming out of her hot little ass.

She’s picture perfect, in every way.

And all I want to do is mess her up. Make her mine. Make her scream my name. Whether or not I’m supposed to.

“Don’t be so disgusting,” she spits, finally recovering the power of speech. “That’s a horrible thing to say.”

“What’s horrible about it?” I ask. “Just ask anyone — I’m the best lay anyone’s ever had. No shame in it. I embrace it. What’s not to like about having a reputation as a sex god, as well as being the best footballer in a generation?”

“Do you ever listen to yourself?” Ava asks. “Do you realize what an arrogant ass you sound like?”

I grin. “I’m just telling the truth,” I say. “C’mon, are you telling me you’re not a
little
bit curious to find out what all the fuss is about? I mean, we
are
dating, after all.”

“We’re
not
dating,” Ava says, coldly and slowly. “And you know we’re not actually supposed to get involved with each other. It’s against the rules.”

“Is that all that’s stopping you?”

And just for once, she doesn’t seem to have a smart answer for me.