Play Hard: Bad Boy Sports Romance (27 page)

As I fell asleep, my thoughts lingered on the kiss and why she hadn’t invited me in? Was she a lesbian or something? Sleeping with her was one way I could ensure she didn’t do yet another hit piece on my career.

Most of the time I didn’t worry about what journalist wrote or said about me, but with her it was different. I cared about what she thought as much as what she might write about me. Gradually, I drifted off to dreamland.

FIVE

Andrea

The next day at work, I sat in the cafeteria and ate my lunch while reading a new Nora Roberts romance novel. With each steamy word I read, my thoughts turned to Tony kissing me. Why had it felt so good? He was a bad boy – not my type of guy at all. And yet…

“Whatcha reading?” Kenneth asked.

I looked up at him and set the book down.

“Nothing important. What’s up?”

“I saw you in here reading, and I came over.”

Okay…

“Well, I’m going to get back to it before my lunch is over. I have a lot of work to do.”

“When is your book coming out?” he asked as he sat down, ignoring my polite social clues.

I tilted my head to the side slightly and stared at him.

“Um. My book?”

“Yeah. Aren’t all journalists secretly working on a novel?”

“Oh, I’ve thought about it, but I don’t think I could do it.”

“Anyone can get published these days thanks to Amazon. You should do a sports romance and get away from the gotcha journalism.”

“That’s not the type of journalism I do.”

“I thought you were doing a hit piece on that Tony Carlitto guy.”

“It’s not a hit piece. I stick to the facts.”

“You know what I mean.”

Actually, I don’t. Why do you bother me so much?

I smiled politely at him, wishing he would go away.

“Well, my friend, I should go.”

At the word friend, he frowned.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he said, standing up. “See you later.”

What the hell did I say to him this time?

With too much else to worry about, I pushed thoughts of Kenneth aside and went back to my desk. I stuffed the trashy romance novel in a desk drawer then stared at my laptop. The text file I had open was entirely blank, and the deadline was coming up quickly.

If I wanted to move forward in my career, I needed to push my strange feelings for the man aside and do my job. I sighed then picked up the phone and dialed Tony’s number.
Why do I have it memorized already? Strange
, I thought as it rang.

“Hello?” he answered.

“Hey, Tony. It’s Andrea, from the newspaper.”

“Hey. I was just thinking about you.”

“Yeah? Good I hope.”

“Very good,” he said in a low voice. “What’s up? Ready for our second date?”

“We haven’t gone on an official first date yet. Last night doesn’t count.”

“No?”

“No. And I really need to get this story written. Do you have time to talk with me today?”

“Yeah. Since I got suspended, I’ve had nothing but time.”

“Great. We can just do this on the phone.”

“That doesn’t work for me,” he said. “Why don’t you come over. It’s a nice day, and you could get out of the office for a while.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Are you scared?”

“What? Why would I be scared?”

“I don’t know, but you aren’t too interested in coming to talk with me.”

“Can’t we just do this on the phone?”

“We can do at least one fun thing on the phone, but it’s not an interview.”

“Look… about last night. The kiss…”

“I have to go,” he interrupted. “Come over as soon as you can. I’ll be here all day.”

Before I had a chance to complain, he ended the call. While I usually loved getting out of the office whenever possible, going to see him at his house frightened me a bit. I was afraid of what I might do if we were alone together again.

I stood up and put my laptop into its case. After slinging it over my shoulder, I headed outside. Bright sunlight streamed down, but it wasn’t enough to lift my mood
. Why am I so obsessed with this guy?
No answers came to me as I got in my car and headed toward his mansion.

SIX

Andrea

When I pulled into the driveway of his mansion, I wondered briefly how much rent he paid each month. It was probably more than I paid in an entire year for my small, cozy house. On the way over, he had sent a text message telling me to park on the side and walk around back.

After I parked my car in front of a five-car garage, I got out and followed a brick walkway that led me behind the garage. When I saw his backyard again, I thought about what would have happened if I had become a sports star. Would I be rich instead of a broke journalist?

The Olympics were about the only option for divers, and I hadn’t been nearly good enough. I pushed my past to the side in my mind as I rounded a corner in the path and saw a building with glass windows all around. Inside, he had a heated pool. I saw him swimming in the crystal clear water.

As I walked inside, stopping on the cement around the pool, he surfaced, flinging back his wet hair. He smiled and motioned me into the water.

“Come in. It’s great.”

“I didn’t bring a suit,” I said, shuffling nervously from one foot to the other.

“So? I’m not shy.”

He climbed out of the pool. I noticed immediately he had no clothes on again. Does he ever wear clothes? I looked away, trying not to stare at that marvelous cock hanging between his legs.

“You’re too uptight for someone with such a fine body,” he said as he grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist.

My eyes glanced down and saw the bulge between his legs. When I looked up at his face, he was wearing that cocky, self-sure grin.

“Can we just get the interview done?” I begged.

“I want to see you dive first.”

“Seriously? I just want to get this interview done.”

“I’ll give you an exclusive or two if you do it.”

We made eye contact. Part of me wanted to yell at him for being an asshole then leave, but I had to interview him for the story. Another part of me – one that hadn’t been used in a while – wanted to hear him scream my name as we fucked hard and fast.

“I’m not going to dive.”

He crossed his arms over his chest.

“Well, no interview. You need this more than me.”

“Fine,” I said with a sigh, hoping he noticed I was upset.

He smiled as if he always got his way, which he probably did.

“You can watch me dive once, but then we do this interview. And I want something good.”

“I’ll give you something good,” he mumbled.

“Excuse me?”

“Nothing. I might have a bikini in the changing room from someone else.”

“That’s fine,” I said, taking off my coat. “I’m not ashamed of my body either.”

He watched as I continued to strip off clothes until I stood in front of him dressed only in my panties and bra. Luckily, I’d put on my best pair that morning for some reason and didn’t have my granny panties.

“No pictures,” I said as I walked past him to the diving board on the other side of the pool.

I felt strange as I climbed the ladder because it was so cold outside but warm and almost tropical in the building around the pool. At the top, I stepped onto the diving board and took a deep breath as I got into the zone. He stared up at me as I prepared myself to dive into the water.

“Looking good!” he called out.

Why am I even doing this for him?

I had no answers as I bounded down the diving board. At the last moment, I jumped into the air. When I came down, I was propelled up into the air over the pool. All my training came to me as my body twisted and I dove into the water, barely making a splash.

When I broke the surface and began treading water, I didn’t see him.
Where the hell is he?
He came up right in front of me, throwing back his hair again.

“That was good,” he said.

“Can we do this interview now? Please?”

“Will you admit it was fun to dive again.”

A small smile spread over my face despite trying not to show him any emotions.

“Okay, it was fun. I’ve not dove in a while. The pool in my neighborhood isn’t the greatest.”

“You’re welcome to come here whenever you want,” he said while we both treaded water.

I dove underwater again, briefly seeing his naked body as I swam past him toward the shallow end of the pool. When I came up, he was right beside me. I reached out and put a hand on the edge of the pool as I stood in the water next to him.

Before I had a chance to say anything else, he moved forward and kissed me on the lips, our wet mouths moving so sensually. A faint moan escaped me as I felt his strong hands move to my waist. I should have pulled away and yelled at him, but he had me frozen in place as things heated up.

I broke off the kiss, staring into his eyes, wondering what game he was playing.

“We should really do this interview.”

“We will, but your diving skills are turning me on.”

I rolled my eyes. He kissed me again. This time, I felt his hand move to my stomach. When it slipped into my panties, I didn’t stop him, enjoying the sensation of his fingers against my pussy. I put an arm around his hard, toned body, wondering what he would be like in bed.

As he made me melt with his fingers rubbing my pussy underwater, I noticed people watching us. After pulling back, I looked up and saw three guys and three women. All of them were looking at us.

“Now we know why you weren’t answering your phone,” one of the guys said.

From his body, I figured he was a teammate.

“I need to go,” I said to Tony.

“What about the interview?”

“Some other time. I forgot I have another appointment.”

I could tell from his facial expression he didn’t believe me, but I didn’t care. My only thought was to get dressed and get the hell out of there before I died of embarrassment. As I climbed out of the pool, I felt all their eyes on me as I dried off with a towel.

He got out of the pool, still naked and walked over to me.

“You okay? I can ask them to leave if you want to continue…”

“No,” I said, cutting him off. “We shouldn’t have done that. It’s not professional.”

“I don’t mind if you don’t mind,” he said.

I slipped on my pants, wishing I could disappear.

“No, it’s wrong. I fucked up. I’ll call you soon, okay?”

“You better.”

His friends were stripping out of their clothes as I got dressed. Tony stood next to me with a towel wrapped around his waist.

“Besides,” I said as I put on my shirt. “You have plenty of other women who want you.”

“What makes you think I care about them?”

“Well, you’re naked and swimming with them for one.”

“I’m getting dressed. The show was for you alone.”

“Oh, so you are messing with me, huh?”

“You’re the one who walked in on me in the locker room. I thought you might have a thing for hot, naked guys.”

While I did, that was the last thing I wanted to admit to him.

“Very funny. I’ll call you later, okay?”

“The sooner the better.”

As I stood in front of him, I heard the men and women who had come in talking to themselves on the other side of the pool.

“Bye, Tony. Thanks for letting me dive.”

“Anytime,” he said.

I threw on my coat then headed outside to the cold, January weather in direct contrast to the heated pool enclosure. When I made it to the end of the path to the front of the house, I turned and looked back. Tony and the others had gone inside.

Why did they have to show up?
I wondered as I walked to my car.
And why didn’t I stop him when he put his hand in my panties?
Cursing my luck – good and bad – I had no answers for my questions. No matter how hard I tried, I could not deny he had made me feel good. And that scared me.

SEVEN

Tony