Going For It (3 page)

But Hannah didn’t find it funny. “You’re exotic. Perfect.” How could anyone think otherwise?

“Men can’t be exotic. Now what about you Miss American Pie?”

“Hardly. My father’s side is from Russia. I even speak Russian.” Hopefully, he wouldn’t ask about her mother, who was from the former white ruling class of South Africa when she immigrated to the States. He’d think that his racial background did matter and it didn’t to her. Her mother? That was a different story.

“Really?”

“I can do more than pose, you know.” Annoyance lit her voice. She was tired of everyone thinking she was a dumb blonde.

“I’m aware of that.”

“In fact, I speak Spanish fluently and can converse in Japanese.” Hannah had an ear for languages that she discovered while on modeling assignments around the world. And boy oh boy she was big in Japan where she’d done several commercials.

“Impressive. Say something in Russian for me.” Jake took her hand and interlocked their fingers.

The connection reminded her of last night, of their long limbs entwining until it seemed as if they were one person. Her heart leapt as if it were trying to escape the box she sealed it away in. She feared Jake had solved the riddle to open it. So she said to him what she couldn’t say in English. “Я падаю для вас,” she said with her best Russian accent.

“That is so sexy. What does it mean?”

I’m falling for you.
Hannah wasn’t about to reveal the true meaning of the words. “It means I want to sit on your face.”

Jake’s deep laughter filled the confined space. “Later,” he promised. The limo pulled up to the Red Carpet. “Do you think we’ll land one of those smashed up names like Bradgalina?” he grimaced.

Hannah blinked and her stomach dropped. It’d been a long time since she’d been romantically linked with a man and it seemed like Jake wasn’t relishing his upcoming role either. The media circus was about to begin. Shaking off the dread, she reached for her phone, deciding to beat the paparazzi at their own game. “Wait Jake.” She waved the phone in the air. He put his arm around her, their heads touched as she held the phone out. With his musky cologne lighting up her erogenous zones it was hard to concentrate on posing. She snapped the photo and then retrieved the picture to view it. It passed inspection and she tweeted it to the world.

“How many followers do you have?”

“Something like 2 million.”

“Most of them men, I bet,” said Jake as he got out of the limo and held out his hand.

Hannah didn’t know if that was a rhetorical question or not and besides she didn’t know the answer. Tweeting about makeup tips and dating advice she doubted Jake’s assumption. She placed her hand in his and slid out carefully so that the slit on her dress didn’t expose the lace panty thong she wore underneath.

The flashing lights blinded her for a moment as the paparazzi rushed to get a shot of the new couple. Still holding her hand, they walked a few feet until the shouts of the photographers forced them to stop for another photo. Then like any good escort on the red carpet, Jake stepped aside to allow Hannah to be photographed alone. Even though he was within arms reach she missed him being right by her side. A camera crew and interviewer stepped up to Jake. “Jake Miller, Super Bowl MVP with Supermodel Hannah Hahn! How long has this been going on?”

Hannah pretended to ignore the question as she held her smile but did side step a bit closer to listen to Jake’s response as the interviewer held out the microphone.

“I loved Hannah from afar for a long time.”

Oh he was good.

“Tell us what’s your favorite part of Hannah’s body?” the interviewer asked in a tone better suited to conspirators.

Hannah’s mouth dropped slightly but she quickly recovered hoping no one caught it on camera. She turned to glance at Jake and caught his annoyed gaze before he slowly took in her form.

“Hmmm, so much to choose from.”

She blushed and looked away to finish up with the photographers.

“But I have to say it’s her heart.”

Her heart?
Her eyes bugged out. Oh my God that was going to be an unattractive photo. And of course that would be the one to hit the papers. How she kept a smile plastered to her face as Jake continued to praise her work with the Wounded Warriors Project could only be attributed to her many years in front of the camera.

How did he know? She didn’t get a chance to tell Jake. In fact, she never spoke about her charity work to anyone unless she was running an event like tonight.

Her heart?
Not her boobs, or legs. Nor any of the other various parts of her body that sold products to millions of women.
My heart.
Finished with posing Hannah turned away from the paparazzi and as Jake took a step closer so did she and before she knew what she was doing, planted a big kiss on his lips.

T
he heat of the flashbulbs was nothing compared to the scorch of Hannah’s lips. He lied when he said his favorite body part was her heart. Not that Hannah, try as she might to hide her tender side, didn’t have a huge heart behind the voluptuous breasts that spilled out of the Victoria Secret bras she modeled. If he were being truthful, he would’ve said her pouting lips shaped like a bow drove him wild.

But he wasn’t about to tell that ass of an interviewer whose sexist question objectified Hannah as a plaything. Perhaps this explained her fixation on her looks.

By her unbridled response he’d say he won some brownie points with his answers. Though he hoped she didn’t read anything into his statement that he loved her from a far. Women, he knew, could make up a whole story from one innocent sentence.

The kiss ended as spontaneously as it began and he told himself it was the flash of the cameras that stunned him and not the luscious lips breaking away from his. But as she stepped back he believed for a moment that the smile on her face was for him alone and not for the paparazzi. The bluest of eyes shone back at him like he was her whole world. It seemed women weren’t the only ones who could make up a story.
Back to reality Jake.

She tugged on his sleeve to move inside. The simple gesture pulled at his heart and he reminded himself how easily she tossed him aside after the silliest of arguments. He barely survived it and they had only been together for a week. He’d planned to walk away after last night even if it meant alienating his best friend’s new wife. But like a recovering addict presented with his first temptation after a long stint in rehab, he relapsed.

Jake believed a good offense was a good defense, so while he foolishly planned to see this to the final play, he’d re-evaluate his game plan and shore up the blocks around his heart. Big, badass running back brought down low by a mere kiss.

He followed Hannah’s lead into the ballroom keeping his hand splayed across the small of her back. A gesture more to center them in the sea of celebrities piling in like it was the Academy Awards, than an act of possession.

Hannah had a lot of pull, though a celebrity would be committing career suicide by turning down an invite to a Wounded Warriors Project fundraiser. Once inside she turned to him. “Um, I do have to mingle. Do you want to make the rounds with me?”

“You go ahead.” Jake had no desire to be introduced as Hannah’s latest. “I see some of the guys.”

“Okay.” Hannah shrugged.

“Unless you want me to?” In front of the world Hannah appeared confident but when they were alone she let down her guard and he could feel the uncertainty radiating from her.

“No. Go have a good time.”

He approached his teammates who were more comfortable in a group than working the room.

“Twenty-four hours and she hasn’t dumped you yet,” said Glock, the other running back who gunned for Jake’s starting role each year.

The muscle in Jake’s jaw twitched and he quickly smiled so not to let on how much the dig hurt.

“So are they real?” asked Todd, the quarterback. “You never did tell us.”

Usually he’d answer with a crude remark. Hell, he’d offer up information. But Hannah was different. Hell, he was different when he was with her. Saying things he would never say, feeling things he’d never felt.

“Can’t understand why she’s with you,” jibed Glock. “It’s not like she needs your money.”

“I bet she rakes in more than you,” said Todd.

That did not bother him. He hated gold diggers who were the worst kind of woman. After a knee injury sidelined him during his junior year in college his girlfriend of two years went after a more profitable target, his team’s quarterback. During the long rehab back into playing shape he vowed he’d never let another woman get under his skin. It was a vow he kept until Hannah embedded herself into every pore of his being.

But if she wasn’t after his money then what was she after? Despite her humble upbringing she fit right in with the high society crowd that saw him as an uncouth thug. They would assume he coasted on classes like basket weaving instead of earning dual degrees in Pre-Law and Business Administration.

When his body was used up and his playing days were over so were the parties and fame. And the women. So many women. Man, he was a pig. And a hypocrite for thinking the interviewer was an ass.

Despite the fact that football and modeling were as different as winning and losing, both were businesses that considered the both of them commodities, chattel even. Hannah gains a couple of pounds and she loses modeling assignments. He gets a concussion and he’s expected to play. Both of their careers have shortened life spans. At thirty-two he was considered a veteran.

Maybe that’s why Ryan settled down, to ease his way into retirement after the upcoming season. Ryan had taken one too many hits to the head but Jake felt stronger than ever and had a couple of good years left. Still, he wondered if he was the settling kind. Was Hannah? Did she want kids?

She had him wanting answers to questions he’d never thought he’d be asking.

From this vantage point he could see Burner, the second-year tight-end slide up to Hannah. “Catch up with you guys later.”

“Miller don’t hurt him too bad,” called out Todd.

“Ask if she’ll introduced me to any of her Angel friends,” yelled Glock.

Jake rounded the edges of the ballroom, using the time to calm his boiling emotions to a simmer. He came to stand behind a panel and what he overheard Burner say ignited a firestorm of possessive feelings inside him. He refused to call it jealousy.

“Miller’s washed up. An old man.”

“He’s the Super Bowl MVP. And you’re just a boy.”

He’d feel bad for the kid if he weren’t sniffing around Hannah. Jake stepped from around the panel. “Burner, thanks for keeping my woman amused.”

“Oh, was he trying to be funny? I thought he was just delusional.”

Hannah’s supermodel bitch act was in full mode. Happy it was not directed at him he could afford to be cool. “Man, you better get out of here while she’s being nice.”

Burner adjusted his jacket like Hannah’s put down hadn’t put a dent in his huge ego and left.

Hannah turned to him, narrowing her eyes. “My woman?”

“Take it easy. Just making it clear to the kid so he doesn’t get confused in the future.”

“Great,” Hannah gestured quotation marks with her fingers as she continued with, “teammate” you got there.”

Jake shrugged his shoulders like it didn’t bother him. “You did invite him.” Now
that
bothered him.

“I invited the whole team.”

“Except me.”

Hannah’s pout almost undid him. “Now Jake.” Her fingers trailed up the lapel of his jacket. “I didn’t ask you because I wouldn’t have been able to bear it if you came with a date.”

“So you understand how I feel when I see you with another man?”

“I do.” Hannah conceded. “And I’m not beyond starting a cat fight.”

There wasn’t a man on the planet, civilized or not, who wouldn’t pay good money to see that, especially if the fight was over themselves. “Let’s dance.”

“I really should get back.”

“Just one.” He couldn’t wait to get her in his arms and stake his claim before any of the other men got ideas of coming on to her. Because while two girls going at it was hotter than hell, he’d likely kill his opponent. As they approached the dance floor she pulled away. “What’s the matter?”

“Let’s wait for something slower.”

“Come on, a little Salsa never hurt anybody.”

“If you’re talking about the stuff you put on tacos I would agree but the dance? I might maim you with these heels.”

Jake laughed. “Those heels do look lethal.”

Hannah pointed to a woman shaking her business. “I can’t move like that.”

He leaned in, increasing the pressure of his hand on the naked curve of her back, propelling her forward. “With the way you move in bed I find that hard to believe,” he whispered into her ear, adding a rush of air. Her shiver warmed him all over.

When they reached the center of the dance floor, he said, “Just follow me.” They took a few tentative steps, but despite the sultry beat of the music her body locked up into a mannequin pose, even her smile was tight. “Loosen up a little.”

If anything she froze up more. “I think my first time went a little like this.”

“Yeah, but I know what I’m doing.”

Her body visibly relaxed and a blush tinged her cheeks and he caught a glimpse of the virginal teenage girl she used to be. His throat constricted, making it hard to swallow, his heart contracted in his chest making it difficult to breathe, and Jake thought when it came to Hannah he didn’t know what he was doing at all.

T
hose words ‘loosen up a little’ haunted Hannah for sixteen years. But Jake’s gentle and encouraging smile swept the horrible memories back into the hidden corners of her mind.

She weakened all over when he whispered into her ear, enticing her to move to the pulsating rhythm. With his hands on her hips she easily danced in sync with him.

“Good,” mouthed Jake as he backed away, sliding his hands back into the partner dance hold.