ROMANCE: BAD BOY ROMANCE: Mister Perfect: (Alpha Male Billionaire Football Star and BBW Pregnancy Romance)(A Best Friend's Brother Contemporary New Adult Sports Romantic Secret Baby Romance) (4 page)

              He brushed her long, dark hair back behind her ear and kissed her neck, a precursor to a night of exploration,
emotional as well as physical.

              "I love you," she said.

              He picked her up and carried her to the bedroom.

"I've found a solution," Taylor said. "It's temporary, but fortunately, so is the problem. It's just until my contracts run out."

              "Which facet of your busy life are you talking about now?" Amber asked.

              "Us," he said.

              "I didn't realize that we were a problem that needed fixing," she said. She couldn't
help being catty. She wanted to spend all her time with him, but that meant giving up the things she valued most. Her freedom, her independence and her best friend. They wouldn't be able to bear the strain of all that
for much longer.

              "You have some pretty spectacular power over me, Amber," he said. "More than my coach.
More than my manager. Be careful what you wish for, huh?"

              "What's that supposed to mean?"

              "It means that I love you and I'd do anything for you," he said, "and that's probably
more power than anyone one individual should have over another living person, but there it is. That's how it is."              

              "I don't understand your riddles," she said, turning her back, but her insides were quivering.

              Taylor Bolton not only loves me, she thought, but he's in love with me and says that he would do anything
for me. How ridiculous is that?

              She was strong, sexy and good enough for any man, but there was still a tiny part of her, a tiny, excited
part that said: "This is Taylor Bolton! This is Taylor Bolton, for God's sake!"

              She was joyful.

              "So what's your plan?" she asked coolly.

*

The boat was a huge white affair, the shape of a speedboat, but with ample room for living quarters and dining beneath the deck. It's name was written on the side in large but subtle
script. It was called: "Time Out."

              "Is there anything you can't do?" Amber asked, as Taylor himself prepared the boat for a
trip out into the harbor.

              He grinned and told her to prepare herself a drink.

              "That's not lemonade in the refrigerator. Okay?"

              "Ha ha," she said, rolling her eyes, but adoring his mischievous grin.

              The living space downstairs was lined with dark mahogany. Circular windows allowed sunlight to filter
into the room in a way that made the whole space glow. On the table, however, there was a notebook computer: a warning sign and a seemingly ubiquitous tool of his trade.

              She peeked into the bedroom.

              It was dominated by a massive double bed with wine dark satin sheets. There was a table lamp on either
side and more circular windows. She touched the bed. It was cool and inviting.

              Whichever other women had been here before her, she knew that she was special. She'd be the last woman
to set foot on this boat.

              She felt that it was important to claim the bed as soon as possible.

              Before leaving, she opened a few drawers, hoping and dreading to come across women's underwear or
cosmetics.

              "Find anything?" Taylor called.

              "Cosy," Amber said when she returned to the deck with sparkling water for both of them. "Do
you entertain a lot on here?"

              "In the beginning, I thought it was going to be non-stop parties and having fun," Taylor said.
"The truth is I never had time for dating. Or at least, I never made time, until now. I used to take this boat out by myself."

              As they sailed away from land, Amber sat beside him and enjoying the sun warming her shoulders and back,
gazing at the beautiful water made dark blue by her shades.

              The city receded and eventually they were so far out that they could no longer see land in any direction.
Taylor drove for a further ten minutes and then stopped the engine.

              Together, they enjoyed the silence and the rocking of the boat on the waves.

              "Isn't this cool?" Taylor said.

              "It's wonderful," Amber said.

              They had a panoramic view. The water glittered and birds soared above in a cloudless sky. The constant
sound of water lapping at the boat was soothing and she thought that she could have stayed like this forever.

              It was then that his cellphone rang.

              "Excuse me," he said. He reached into his pocket and without looking at the number and hurled
it like a football into the vast ocean.

              "Taylor!"

              "It's my new play," he said. "What do you think?"

              "I ... I ... I'm speechless. Evidently."

              "Today's about me and you," he said. "No interruptions. No phones. No emails. Just
us."

              She leaned up and kissed him then, his lips warm against hers, like the sun against the hull of a ship.
The rise and fall of the boat lulled her into an almost dream-like embrace as she pressed her voluptuous body against his firm frame. They were holding each other, exploring the feel of each other, his hands on her hips, strong,
appreciating her curves, and then their lips met as her heart beat faster and faster and the vibration between them swelled and stopped, pulsed and halted.

              Started and stopped.

              Vmmmmmm.

              Vmmmmmm.

              "Hang on," she said.

              She pulled out her cell phone, which was vibrating on silent, intending to hang up and get back to making
out, but she saw the name of the person calling and hesitated.

              "Do you want me to throw it for you?" Taylor asked.

              "It's your sister," Amber said.

              "Do you want to answer it?"

              "I don't want to keep lying to her," she said, sitting down hard, the phone still vibrating.

              "You have to," Taylor warned her. "Or we're through. I'm doing everything I can.
But there's no women on the scene until my contracts up. "

              Amber sighed.

              He took her phone from her and set it on the floor, letting it go to voicemail.              

              "It might get wet there," Amber complained.

              "Yes, it might," Taylor said.

              And then they were kissing again.

              Waves caressed the sides of the boat.

              The rise and fall was dizzying.

*

"What's that noise?" Amber asked, one eye open.

              "I'll go up and see," Taylor said. He pulled on his trousers and shirt and went back up
to the deck, while Amber lay under his covers, enjoying the feel of the sheets against her naked skin.

              Perhaps a mirror on the ceiling would have been tacky, but she wished that there had been one. She would
have liked to have seen everything that Taylor had done to her and she would have liked him to see her while she pleasured him, not only the pleasure on her face during the giving, but the sight of the flesh his hands grabbed
and caressed, her round hips and back, her shapely buttocks and thighs.

              Up on deck, Taylor yelled. There was an approaching boat. Taylor sounded angry and Amber was somewhat
afraid, thinking that they were reporters.

              She kept herself under the covers.

              It was beautiful out there on the sea, but it was a floating prison. A beautiful, wonderful, floating
prison. It had to end.

*

"That's it," Taylor said when returned downstairs. "They won't be back."

              He was impressive when he was angry.

              "They might not," Amber said. "But someone else might. We'll never be free of them."

              "No. You were right. I shouldn't have had us live like this."

              "And we can't keep this up until your contract runs out."

              "No," he said. "That's why we're going to tell Freda. And she can tell whoever
she wants. And we're not going to hide anymore."

              On the one hand that had been what she'd wanted to hear and it was sexy the way he owned up to his
mistake and immediately took control of the situation, but actually going public was a frightening thought now, they'd been avoiding it so long.

              "What about the team? And your manager? The coach. The contracts."

              "I love the game," Taylor said, "but six months ago I was in a dark place, smiling through
the pain. I know you know what that's like. Meeting you has been like going up on deck and realizing that there's a whole world out there to explore. It's like remembering that I was up there once and I gave it
all up. I gave up one dream for another. Our relationship is more to me than a time out. This changes the game completely. I need to get back to living. And so do you. Let's start fresh. Let's do it together."

"I thought this was what you wanted?" Taylor told Amber over the phone.              

              "It was, but now that it's here. I'm not sure. I think I just wanted to know that you weren't
hiding me. I wanted you to be prepared to come out into the open with me, but ... what's Freda going to say."

              "She'll say we're disgusting," Taylor said, "then she'll hug us and call someone
to tell them the news. It's the press we'll have to think about."

              "I don't think we should say anything after all," Amber said. "It's out business,
no-one else's."

              "Exactly."

              "Can we wait and think about it some more?"

              Taylor sighed, listening patiently to Amber while she went through a panic.

              "Pre-game jitters," she said. "But I don't suppose you get those."

              "Let's tell her soon," Taylor said. "We're not hiding from anyone anymore."

*

A few days later, however, Freda turned up at Amber's door.

              "You're disgusting," Freda said, storming in. "How long have you been sleeping with
my brother?"

              She stood in the hall with her coat on and her hands on her hips.

              "You lied to me," Freda said. "Both of you. Sneaking around behind my back. Why do that?"

              "We didn't want anyone to know, not just you. I wanted to tell you and we were going to. We'd
just decided to."

              "I don't believe you. When did it start? At least tell me that."

              "It started after your Christmas party," Amber said.

              "So you've been at it like rabbits ever since, eh?"

              "And what if we have?" Amber said. "You don't own him."

              "Yes I do!" Freda said. "He's my brother. You lost yours so you're taking mine
and ... I shouldn't have said that."

              "No, you shouldn't."

              "I didn't mean it."

              "Yes, you did."

              Amber sat down and eventually Freda perched, bird-like, on the arm of the sofa.

              "I feel stupid, that's all," Freda said. "He was on the phone so often and I thought
it was because of me, but it was really about you. He started coming round, but it was you he came to town to see, not me."

              "That's not true. He loves you."

              "Sure. Right."

              "He wanted to tell you, but I stopped him."

              "Why?"

              "Because things aren't as simple as they look and I was worried how you'd react."

              "Can't think why," Freda said dryly and they laughed, which lifted the mood somewhat.

              "What I do with Taylor doesn't change our relationship," Amber told her friend. "Nor
should it. You're still my best friend, no matter how you feel about it."

              "It's weird," Freda said. "It's like your part of our family now. I mean, more
than ever, now that you're dating. You're not engaged or anything are you?"

              "No," Amber said.

              "I think you make a good couple," Freda said. "I'm just angry that you kept it from
me."