Slammed #4 (The Slammed Romance Series - Book #4) (7 page)

The play started and I watched with wide eyes: it
was a field goal attempt. I clenched my hands into fists—it was a major risk.
The defense kept the other team at bay while they set up the kick. I jumped up
and down with everyone else, screaming as the kick launched the ball into the
air. I watched as it turned end over end, moving inexorably towards the
crossbars. Would it be good? Would it go through, or fall short, or would it hit
instead of getting through?

It went through—and everyone went silent for just a
moment, reeling in the stands. There were 30 more seconds left in the game, but
there was no real chance for the other team to make the points up. The final play
was almost anti-climactic, a formality to run down the clock. The game was
decided and everyone in our side of the stands was cheering and screaming,
already starting to celebrate.

I sat down heavily in my seat, happy but exhausted
at how nerve-wracking the game had been. I knew there would be major
celebrations in the city—a party at the hotel, partying in the parking lot, and
probably wherever else any group of fans for our team were staying or could
congregate. For sure, the football team would be living it up for the rest of
the night. I stood as soon as I could recover from my shock and delight and
snapped pictures of the field, the crowd, everything going on. Our team was
running around the field, leaping up and down, the players delirious with
excitement at their win; I managed to capture the moment when they upended the
cooler of Gatorade on coach
Bullden
.

For a long time it seemed as though the on-field
celebrations would never end. The members of the team were holding the trophy
up in the air, kissing it, dancing with it—and I couldn’t blame them. Slowly,
as gradually as molasses, people in the stands started filtering out; on the
other team’s side of the stadium, they were subdued and quiet, probably talking
amongst themselves about how they’d do it differently, or how next year would
be better. On our side, no one seemed to want to leave, but everyone knew that
there was a better celebration to go
to
. I looked
around for Jess; she was making out with the guy she’d been flirting with, the
two of them kissing in such a hot and heavy way that they were only one or two
steps away from public indecency. I decided that I’d wait for her at the gate.

I watched the people passing by as I stood by the
gate, waiting for Jess to finish up with the guy she had apparently decided to
make out
with
. I didn’t know if the bus for students
had already left, but there would almost certainly be cabs that we could take
to get back to the hotel. If Jess had decided to take the guy with her, I’d
have to hang out at the pool or somewhere else; maybe I’d start working on the
rough draft of the front-page piece since I couldn’t exactly stay in the room
while she screwed someone. But I was thinking longingly of the big, plush bed
that had come with the room—bigger than my twin bed at the dorm at least, and
much more comfortable. My body ached from all the tension in it, and I hoped
that at least she would kick the guy out after she’d finished with him. I was
glad—really glad—that we had separate beds.

After a few minutes, when the steady stream of
people leaving the stadium had died down to a trickle, Jess appeared—and I was
surprised to see that she was by herself.

“Hey,
Evie
,” she said with
a self-satisfied grin.

“What about your
boytoy
?”
I asked with a raised eyebrow.

Jess shrugged. “He wasn’t that great of a kisser.
Anyone who isn’t a good kisser isn’t good in bed either, so I just made the
excuse that I had to share the room with you and gave him a fake number.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t know if the bus is still
here or if it’s gone already. For a guy who didn’t kiss that well you certainly
gave him plenty of time to improve.”

“I was caught up in the excitement of it,” Jess said
with an indolent shrug. “I mean, there were like three or four guys watching
you all game—you could’ve easily had
a
we
just won the game
make out session yourself.”

I shook my head. “I was more interested in getting
plenty of material for the article. C’mon, let’s see if we can catch the bus or
at least a cab. I’m exhausted.”

We both turned to head out.

“
Evie
!
Evie
!”
A man’s voice calling my name made me stop in my tracks. I turned around
slowly; I was so exhausted that it didn’t occur to me that there were only a
few people who could possibly be in the building still who would know my name,
much less my nickname. So, when I spotted Zack running towards Jess and me, it
actually surprised me.

“Looks like you’ll get your make-out session after
all,” Jess told me in a quick aside as Zack came up to us.

He must have been the first one into the showers; he
was clean, dressed in a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved tee shirt, his hair
still damp but no sign of his exertions on him whatsoever. He stared at me for
a long moment, smiling slightly, looking me up and down.

“
Bullden
told me he’d
requested you to cover the game,” Zack said, the smile still not leaving his
face.

“I’ll just go check on that bus,” Jess said, walking
away quickly and leaving us perfectly alone in the echoing hall.

I looked down at my feet for a moment. “How did you
know I was still here?” I couldn’t quite look Zack in the eyes. I was so
ashamed of how I’d broken things off with him—and I was shocked that he had
sought me out.

“I didn’t know, but I hoped. If I hadn’t been able
to catch you here, I’d have just found your hotel room.”

For a long moment, there was nothing but silence
between us. I didn’t know what to say—I didn’t know how to feel. I swallowed
against the tight feeling in my throat.

“I wanted to apologize,” I started, speaking slowly,
trying to keep my voice level. “I shouldn’t have gone crazy like that. I should
have let you explain what the situation was instead of just assuming…” I
swallowed again.

“No—I mean, I understand. I don’t have the best
reputation. No one at the frat does.” Zack was still staring at me. I could
feel his gaze lingering on the curves of my body, and then on my face, drinking
me in.

“Still, I knew you before that. I should have
known…” I shrugged. “I should have at least given you a chance to explain.” I
finally worked up the nerve to look up, to meet his gaze. Zack was smiling
still, looking as hot as ever.

“You know,
Evie
, I don’t
even care,” Zack said, moving closer to me. He dropped his hands down onto my
waist, holding me in place, only a few inches away from me, and my heart was
beating faster again—only this time not from the thrill of the game but from
the sudden rush of desire. “All I want—all I’ve wanted ever since you showed up
in my life again—is to be with you.” He smiled again and leaned in closer. “If
you’ll be with me, I can forget everything else.”

“Don’t forget your classes,” I said, smiling up into
his eyes. “You still need to graduate someday, you know.”

Zack closed the distance, pressing his lips against
mine. He kissed me hungrily, wrapping his arms tightly around my waist,
pressing me against him. I moaned against his lips, feeling the heat of his
body through his clothes, remembering all the times we had been together.
Zack’s tongue batted against mine, plunging deep into my mouth, tasting and
exploring me as if it had been months or years instead of a few short weeks
since we’d broken up.

I lost track of time and place, uncaring of anything
but the feeling of Zack’s body pressed
against mine and the
taste of his lips
. If my phone, stuffed into my pocket, hadn’t vibrated,
Zack and I might have stood there for hours continuing to kiss each other, with
no more concern for the rest of the world than a couple of statues—at least
until security came through the clear the building. But the buzz of my phone
startled me enough to break the kiss, and I pulled back, reeling, my mind
spinning with a dozen feelings at once. I slipped my phone out of my pocket
irritably, wondering who in the world would text me at a time like this; it was
Jess.

I
am on the bus and it just left the stadium. I may see if any of these nice
gentlemen with me is interested in sharing their room for the night. Have fun!
I groaned and showed Zack the message. He laughed, pulling me up against him
and kissing me lightly on the forehead.

“We’ll grab a cab,” he said. “We can start off in
your room and if your roommate hasn’t found someone to spend the night with
we’ll go to mine.”

He took me by the hand and led me out of the
stadium, and I didn’t think there was a single woman in the city
who
was as happy as I was.

CHAPTER
SEVEN

It was strange to realize that I felt nervous as
Zack and I turned the corner in the hall leading up to the hotel room. Zack and
I had had sex plenty of times; he had seen me naked when we were in high school
and he had seen me naked a little over a month before. But there was something
just a little bit different about this time—something that made it more like
the first time we had ever had sex together. I fumbled with my key card, my
hands shaking just enough to make it fall to the floor. I knelt down and
grabbed at it before Zack could, forcing myself to focus just enough on the
task at hand to keep from dropping the card once again and managing after two
attempts to get it swiped and read properly. The door unlocked and Zack
propelled me through it, following quickly behind me and closing out the world
in a quick movement that I had to envy; wasn’t he tired after the tough game
he’d played?

Zack threw me against the door and pinned me there,
finding my lips and kissing me with a desperate hunger that I couldn’t help but
echo, my whole body already beginning to tingle, hot and cold flashes shooting
along my arms and legs. I could feel the hard ridge of his erection pressing
against me as he began to rub up against me slowly, rocking his hips. I wrapped
my arms around his broad shoulders, tangling my fingers in his hair as I melted
into the kiss, moaning softly into his mouth. I hadn’t realized how much I had
been starving for contact with him, how much I had craved the feeling of Zack’s
body and mine together. Even with our clothes still on, just kissing, I was so
turned on and almost overwhelmed by how good it felt. I nibbled at his bottom
lip playfully, evading the probing movements of his tongue seeking
mine, pulling him in to deepen the kiss more and more
.

Zack took control, one of his hands moving up to
hold the my head in place while he sucked my bottom lip into his mouth nipping
sharply and then sweeping the rough, wet, wriggling of his tongue along my
sensitive skin. I lost myself in the kiss, uncaring of how much time had
passed, not even caring for the moment if we did any more than what was already
happening. My mind was spinning, my whole body reeling and arching into his
touch as Zack’s hands trailed over the curves of my body: touching and teasing
and exploring me. I felt and didn’t feel the hard door at my back; I was too
absorbed in the feeling of Zack’s body, muscled and hot, pressed along my
front. Zack broke away from my lips and I was panting, shivering, my pussy
already soaking wet. He dipped his head to the side and kissed along the column
of my neck, nuzzling me with his cheek and then teasing me with his lips and
teeth and tongue, finding every sensitive patch along my throat, my neck, my
collar bones, and driving me crazy with the worship of his mouth. I was moaning
out, twisting against the door, struggling to get better contact, to push my
hips down against his. I was burning up, my whole body going tense with need.

Zack’s hands slipped up underneath my tee shirt,
brushing against my bare skin, making the trembling in my arms and legs even
worse as I got more and more turned on by the moment. He began to slowly pull
my shirt up, dragging it against my skin, his fingertips gliding over my ribs,
past my breasts. I put my arms over my head and Zack barely broke away from my
neck to get my shirt over my head and throw it aside, uncaring of where it
landed. He brought his lips down on mine once more as his hands cupped my
breasts, squeezing them through the thin fabric of my bra, teasing me until my
nipples hardened to his touch, becoming firm little nubs straining at the
satiny material to try and meet his touch. I worked my hands down along his
back and found the hem of his shirt. I tugged mindlessly, distracted by the way
that Zack was touching me, almost unable to think from how turned on I was. I
wanted nothing more than for us both to be naked already, for Zack’s thick,
hard cock to be deep inside of me and for us both to be moving.

I somehow managed to get Zack’s shirt up and over
his head—I could never remember afterwards how exactly it finally came
together—and we spent a few more moments rubbing against each other, pressed
against the door to my hotel room, kissing each other’s lips, throats,
shoulders until I was in such a delirious state of arousal that I wasn’t even
sure I could manage to keep myself upright. Zack lifted me up into his arms and
carried me away from the door.