Wicked Game (15 page)

“Jaime, stop it.”

“When you tell me what color your panties are.”

She sighed. “Fine. They are pink. There, are you happy?”

“No, they aren’t. You lied to me, Pepper. Now, I want you to unzip your shorts and tell me for real and for true what color they are.”

“You’re pure evil. You do know that, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but you like me this way. Do it, Pepper. I dare you.”

“Fine, if it’ll shut you up.” She wiggled in her seat holding the phone so that he could hear her zipper. She eased her shorts off and damn… “They’re aqua.”

“I am flattered. You’re wearing team colors, Pepper. That’s my girl.”

“Can I go now?”

“Now, baby, don’t get mad. I’m just playing with you.” He looked up at the camera. She could see the devil in his eyes. Then he smiled that smile that sent shivers down her spine.

“Don’t do that.”

“Don’t do what?”

“Look at me like that. You look like you know what I look like naked.”

“But I do know what you look like naked, Pepper. And I know what you sound like when you’re turned on. And, baby, right now you are doing that little breathless thing you do.”

“I am not.”

“You are too; are you wearing a bra?”

“Why do you always ask me that?”

“Just answer the question.”

“No.” Damn she didn’t want him to know that. She could see his jaw move into a grin, though she couldn’t see his face as the camera panned past him again. “I’m wearing your T-shirt and panties. There are you happy?”

“Oh God, Pepper. You’re killing me dead, baby. Are your nipples hard?”

“We are not having phone sex, Jaime, especially when I can see you on national television.”

“But that’s what makes it fun. Pinch your nipples for me, baby. I want to hear that sound you make.”

“Ooh, Jaime. Ooh, that feels great. There, now does that make you happy?”

“That’s not the sound I mean. Pinch your left nipple. Pepper. That one is more sensitive. Come on, baby. Do it for me.”

“I hate you,” she said into the phone. His laugh caressed her making her skin tingle. Before she could stop herself, she did as he asked. Her nipple turned hard as she pinched, divine sensation coursed through her body.

“Oh yeah, baby, that’s the sound. Sort of a throaty moan that turns into a purr. I love that sound, Pepper. I love the taste of your nipples. Did you know that?”

“No.” Sanity had abandoned her as wanton need set in. His voice like a drug that she craved she cupped her breast squeezing her nipple as his voice licked her. “That feels good, Jaime.”

“I know it does, baby. You sound so good. I want to climb through this phone, take your panties off, and lick your pretty clit. Would you like that, Pepper?”

“Yes, Jaime, oh yeah. That would be wonderful. I want your hot mouth on me.” Damn it, she shook her head, trying to force the miasma of hot molten need away, but his laugh undid her.

“Slip your finger inside your panties, baby. I want you to come for me.”

The camera was full on him now, he leaned his elbows on his knees his head low as he spoke to her. She could see the muscles in his forearms clench and relax. Damn, but she loved those arms, all sleek and tan.

“I love your arms. Did you know that? Your muscles make me weak.” God help her, she slid her hand down her belly and inside her panties. Warm, wet heat greeted her finger as she tentatively touched her clit.

“Oh, baby, you sound so sweet. Does that feel good? Pretend your finger is my tongue.”

“That feels so good, Jaime, ooh…”

“Open your legs for me baby, slide your finger lower. Oh, Pepper, you sound so good. Purr for me baby. Go inside, deeper.”

She opened her legs, lifting one onto the couch as she sank deeper into the cushion and angled her hips as she stroked her clit letting her finger slide inside her pussy. “Jaime, I need you,” she whispered as he coaxed her to add a second finger. “I want you inside me.”

“Come for me, Cass. Now, baby. I’m running out of time. Come for me. Stroke your clit, baby, just underneath it. Pretend I’m there with you. Pretend I’m inside you. You feel so creamy, Cass, hot and tight. And I’m pushing into you. Short, hard thrusts. I know you like when I fuck you like that. I’m thrusting faster now, Pepper. Oh yeah, baby, that’s the sound I love. Come for me, Pepper.”

“I’m…oh God. Jaime, that feels so damn good. I want you deep inside me, just like that.” She slid her fingers in deep, arching against them as he instructed her. Short, fast thrusts that had her panting. Orgasm started in her toes. Her legs shook from exertion. Pleasure washed through her just as he looked up at the camera, his eyes intense, his face almost hard with concentration. As he watched her from the television, she burst sky high.

“That’s my girl. Goddamn, Pepper, that was nasty.” She heard him say through the haze that crowded into her mind.

“I still hate you.”

He just laughed again, “I know you do. Come home, Pepper. I miss you hating me to my face.”

“Tomorrow,” she promised, hating herself even as the words tumbled from her lips. “I’ll catch the first flight out tomorrow.”

She watched his face light up, and then he turned to look at something down the field. “Got to go now, Pepper. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

And he was gone, the announcers still talking about the long phone call, wondering who he was really talking to. Cass turned off the television after he put his helmet on. She felt dirty and used and incredibly sated all at the same time. She wouldn’t give him the pleasure of knowing she was watching him play after that dirty trick. Instead, she went to check flight availability and pack. Tomorrow, when she got home, she would kick his ass for being a prick and treating her as if she was property. Then she looked at the front of the T-shirt she was wearing, and for the first time she understood what he found so funny the last time she’d worn it.

Property number 4 Miami Football.

The aqua number against a stark white jersey blazed across her memory. He was fucking number four.

“Son of a
bitch
!” she shouted and stalked off to her room to find something else to wear while she plotted his murder.

Chapter Sixteen

Chicago fell that evening to the well-oiled machine Jaime knew his team was. Everything went according to plan. He was untouchable. They were untouchable. Excitement coursed through his veins. He was the happiest, luckiest man to ever walk the face of the earth, and no damn Bear was going to get in his way.

After the game, the ribbing began, starting with the press who wanted to know who he’d called before the game. He just smiled and evaded the question. His fifteen-minute conversation with Pepper was nobody’s business but his own. It continued into the locker room, but he let it all wash over him. They’d won and would continue winning. It didn’t matter who gave him the pregame pep talk.

He spent the evening with a group of players and their wives at a club on the beach just watching his men have fun. Colas and water were all he drank, keeping to himself or with his people to avoid the groupies. He took some ribbing for that too. Not long ago, he’d been the first to dive head first into the fray, but too much had changed this past year.

“Where’s your little brunette friend?” A blonde with a man-made rack sat across from him. He couldn’t remember who she was here with, one of the running backs probably.

“Baby, Jay doesn’t like brunettes, especially little ones.” Miguel Donham, his best running back, scooted in beside Jaime. “Ain’t that right, Jay?”

Jaime just smiled and swirled the ice in his cola, but something in her eyes had his attention. How exactly did she know about Pepper?

“I’ve seen him with one, baby. Sort of petite with a cute face and hair so dark it’s almost black. Once just riding by on the street, while I was jogging and again at this club, a little while back. She had the most incredible blue eyes I’ve ever seen.”

“You know a woman like that, Jay?” Another teammate sat down and draped his arm across the blonde’s shoulders.

“Maybe. What if I do?” The three of them just stared him down. “She’s a friend, all right?”

“Yeah, man, friend with benefits. I get you, Jay. The way you’ve been playing these past few weeks, those must be some damn good benefits.”

Jaime felt his skin grow tight, his arm muscles clenched and unclenched.

“Whoa, hey man, put the devil stare away. I didn’t mean anything by it. Jeezus Christ, man, how do you do that with your eyes anyway? No wonder people are afraid of you,” Miguel said. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to hit a nerve. I mean, whatever it is, man, that’s got you walking on air out there on the field, then you have my blessing. Keep it up. Okay, put the guns away. I don’t want to get into anything in public, and we sure as hell can’t afford a suspension right now.”

He made himself relax. His shoulder that ached from a couple of bad hits, didn’t like being misused right now. “Her name is Pepper. She really is just a friend, so keep your nasty thoughts to yourself.”

“I don’t know. That night the two of you looked a whole lot more than just friends to me.” The blonde said, taking a sip of her drink. Her eyes grew wide when he turned his stare on her.

“Hush, baby. If Jay says she’s just a friend, then that’s what she is—whatever keeps Jay happy. If he wants to make mysterious phone calls from the field to talk to his friend, then that’s his bidness. Maybe we could all take a few minutes for a little pregame phone sex. You think that might work, baby? I call you up and you talk dirty to me.”

Jaime’d had enough. He set his drink down, and with a carefully guarded good night, drove himself home. Alone and on edge, he roamed the house much as he had every night for the past week. The quiet was deafening.

He settled in his office, trying not to remember that night a couple of weeks ago and the things he’d done to her on his desk. He checked his messages—none were from her—and then went online. He wanted to call her as he had every night this week, listen to her talk about her day, and let her tease him about being a stupid jock. Several times he’d come so close to telling her how much he missed her.

His phone buzzed, but it wasn’t her calling. Just a text message to let him know she was on the ten o’clock flight out of Birmingham and wishing him a good night, oh, and congratulations on the win.

He didn’t call her. He wanted to so badly he could feel it in his teeth. The week caught up with him sometime around one, and he climbed the stairs alone; stopping on the landing, he turned toward her room instead of his own. Her sheets were softer. He stripped to his skin and crawled into her bed, letting her scent wrap around him until he drifted into sweet oblivion.

* * * *

Her flight was late. He walked the concourse at the airport waiting and trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. He’d been recognized a couple of times but so far no mob scenes. When her flight flashed on the screen as arrived, he relaxed and waited for her to clear the gate. Only then did he release the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

She had her hair pulled back in a loose braid that hung over her shoulder. She looked tired when he first laid eyes on her. Then she found him standing at the back of the crowd, and her eyes lit up, her mouth stretched into a grin. He smiled back, enjoying the blush that traveled from her face down her neck to disappear beneath her blouse. Pepper did everything whole-heartedly. He knew her breasts would be just as rosy as her face.

“Hey, are you incognito?” She walked up to him and shrugged her carry-on bag off her shoulder. “I would think the crimson hat with a big white A on it would be the last thing you’d choose.”

“Well, it was this or a New England hat. I don’t think anyone would appreciate that, do you?” He had explained that he spent his first three years in the NFL sitting on the Pat’s bench, but she still looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “I don’t have many hats, okay? So, uh, how was your vacation?”

“Well, I discovered that my mother has a wild streak and is living a more exciting life than I am. I think she has a boyfriend. I caught her sneaking in one night after two. I have to apologize to you now because unfortunately she and her Red Hat syndicate shanghaied your mother and took her off to Tunica yesterday. To the best of my knowledge, the whole blamed pack is still over there. And I heard something about a strip joint last night. Oh Lord. It’s good to be back around the sane and the boring. Stop laughing, that pack of gray-hairs is wild. Your mom is being corrupted.”

“I’d forgotten how much you talk.” He stopped her by lifting her chin and pressing his lips to hers. “So how was the flight? Did you puke?”

“I didn’t puke, thank you very much. Thought about it for the first hour, but a glass of champagne helped settle my stomach.”

“That was what, your sixth flight? I think you might be getting the hang of it.”

“Fifth,” she said once they stood beside his car. “That was my fifth time in a plane. And I think I might want you to kiss me again.”

“Oh really. What if I don’t want to?”

“Then I’ll just flash my panties, and you’ll do anything I want you to do. Now, Jaime Dalton, kiss me before I do something drastic like pass out.”

“How much wine did you say you’d had?”

“Just the one. Why do you ask?”

“No reason.” She lifted her head automatically, smiling into his eyes as he leaned her against his car. “You smell like vanilla. Just getting close to you makes me want to lick you like an ice-cream cone.”

“You can lick me later. Right now, I’m going to die if you don’t kiss me. Please, Jaime, I’ve dreamed of your lips on mine every night, it seems.”

“After you call me Lord Ironman.”

“You really are incorrigible, you know that, right?”

“Sticks and stones, baby, now call—You have to earn that kiss. Say it.”

“Lord Ironman, please play tonsil hockey with me, just this one time. There, does that make you happy?”

“Ecstatic. Pucker up, baby, I’m diving in.”

Her lips were soft and sweet. Her tongue met his eagerly, and what should have been just a tender peck on the lips became heated way too fast. His body responded in kind. He pressed her hard against the car, her little moans of pleasure rapidly becoming seductive purrs. “Dammit, Pepper, remind me to buy something with a big back seat and limousine-tinted windows.”