Текст книги "Game for Seduction "

Автор книги: Bella Andre

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Chapter Nineteen

Dominic left early the next morning for an appointment with the Outlaws' physical therapist and she decided to head into the office to watch JP's game tapes and take notes.

Which was when she realized exactly how screwed she really was.

She'd always had a good instinct for players—even her father thought so, which was high praise– but not this time. Although JP had all the right moves, they just didn't come together into a cohesive package. Obviously he'd gotten into the pros because he was a natural athlete. But making it in the pros took a whole lot more than innate talent.

Had her father ever dealt with a situation like this? She didn't think so—but she couldn't exactly ask him. Not when she'd made a point of being able to handle everything on her own.

Maybe she'd ask Dominic tonight. He'd promised to make her dinner, and sworn that they'd actually eat it this time.

Suddenly the door was flung open.

"Have you seen this yet?" her father asked in a hard voice as he waved a newspaper clipping in the air.

She frowned. "I don't know. Let me see it."

He wadded the paper into a ball and threw it at her. It was the most unprofessional thing she'd ever seen him do. Holding on to the tenuous thread of her pride, she fished it out from beneath a row of chairs and smoothed it out. Her father flicked the light on and she blinked in horror.

Last night at a benefit for the San Francisco Aquarium,

unrestricted free agent JP Jesse told us that his new

agent is "one hot babe." Which begs the question: Exactly

how close is the lovely agent with her new client?

Angered by her father's low opinion of her taste in men, she said coldly, "JP is my client. That's all. I'll talk to him about watching his mouth."

"I don't want to see something like this in the press about one of my agents ever again. Understood?"

"Understood."

Her father was right, and she'd been skating on thin ice with Dominic for too long. She had to decide between being with Dominic and being his agent. Given that Dominic didn't want to be her "real" boyfriend, the choice was easy. Now she just had to tell him that they were through.

A few hours later, she knocked on Dominic's front door. Opening it, he kissed her as if he were dying of thirst and she was water. Following him into the kitchen, her heart in her throat due to what she had to say, she noticed that he had a faint limp. One of the hardest-working guys on the Outlaws, Dominic pushed himself every day, both on-season and off.

"How was practice today?"

He pulled ingredients out of his stainless steel Sub-Zero refrigerator. "A bitch. Like always." He grinned. "You want to know what got me through?"

She had a sinking feeling that whatever he said was only going to make it harder for her to break things off.

He pulled her against him. "Thinking about the next time I take you, someplace you aren't expecting to make love. The way you're going to have to swallow your moans of pleasure so no one in the next room hears how hard you're coming."

She swallowed hard. Just as he leaned in to kiss her, she said, "I watched JP's game tapes today."

Dominic stiffened and released her. She hated how cold she felt without his heat. "What'd you think?" "I'm not—"

Her purse started vibrating on the counter. She unzipped it and reached for her cell phone, checking the caller ID.

"It's JP." She was pleased at how furiously Dominic started to chop the celery as she clicked her phone open.

"Ms. McKnight?"

She rolled her eyes. At least he wasn't calling her babe anymore.

"You're not on a hot date tonight, are you?"

She glanced up at the gorgeous man standing five feet away, busily preparing a gourmet dinner for her. She most certainly was.

"No, I'm not."

"Good," JP said, sounding like a little kid who'd just been given his favorite treat. "I need your help with a very important decision."

"What is it?" With a guy like JP, it could be which shirt to wear.

"I'll tell you when you get here," he said.

The signal went dead and she held her phone away from her ear and stared at it.

"What's the little punk need now?" Dominic asked.

She shook her head. "I don't know. But evidently it's urgent."

Dominic looked her in the eye. "Don't go."

More than anything, she wanted to stay here with Dominic. But she couldn't do that. She had to tell him they were through. Done. Over.

Yet she couldn't spit it out yet; everything in her heart rebelled against it. She'd tell him soon.

"I have to go."

"Stay," he urged, moving toward her.

But if she let him touch her, she'd never be able to get away. And once she was naked in his bed, she'd never be able to tell him to get lost. Soon someone in the business would find out about them and share their dirty little secret with the world. JP would demand a new agent because he was pissed at her for not showing up, and it all added up to one thing: nothing. If he touched her, she'd be left with nothing. No hot sex and no clients.

"He's my client. He needs me."

Dominic snarled. "He needs a babysitter."

"Then that's what I need to be." She threw the door open and practically ran down the hall to the elevator, and pressed the red button over and over. She really needed to stop leaving Dominic's condo like this.

When Melissa got out of the cab at JP's house, she was surprised to see several cars parked in his huge driveway. Suddenly she wondered if she was being played.

JP's front door was partially open and she walked in without knocking. Several very thin girls with fake breasts and tight, skimpy clothes were lounging in the living room, and they glanced at her dismissively. Melissa pulled her shoulders back. She was proud of her curves. Apart from sheer genetics, she enjoyed food too much to ever look like these women.

JP appeared at the top of the stairs. "My number-one woman is finally here!"

This was why she never dated guys her own age; they were so immature.

"Come upstairs," he said.

"Do you need us, too?" one of the other women asked in a breathy voice.

JP grinned at his harem. "Why don't you girls play a little strip Twister while you wait for me?"

Melissa nearly burst out laughing when the girls actually started rooting through JP's things for the game.

She followed JP down the hall to his bedroom.

"I had that bed specially made," he boasted.

"Great." Fatigue washed through her. It had been a long week. "What do you need, JP?"

He led her into an enormous walk-in closet. "I want a big endorsement this year."

She nodded. "I'm going to get you one. As soon as we find a team." A player like Dominic was an easy sell to advertisers. He was a good-looking guy who consistently won games and stole women's hearts. JP, for all his talent, might be a mere flash in the pan. Advertisers weren't willing to shell out the big bucks on a guy who might not be playing next season.

"Since I'm here, you and I might as well have a little talk."

JP flipped through a dozen identical black shirts. "Whatever you have to say is what I want to hear."

She said firmly, "JP, you need to get serious about your playing, about the reality of your prospects."

He shot her a glance. "I thought that was your job."

She nodded. "It is, but you need to help me out by keeping your mouth shut." She handed him the newspaper clipping. "I'm not your 'babe.' I'm your agent."

He cocked his head. "But I meant this as a compliment."

"I appreciate that, JP," she said in a softer tone, "but it makes us both look bad."

He looked at her with respect. "I like that you're willing to come over here on a Friday night and tackle my ass. And actually, I was wondering about your friend."

"Alice?"

His face lit up. "I can't figure her out. And I like a woman I can barely keep up with."

Oh? Judging by the women downstairs, what JP really liked were women he could run mental circles around.

"You think she'd come out with me tonight?"

"No."

He looked at her like a puppy she'd just kicked. "Call her. Ask her."

"She's busy." Melissa lied to protect her friend.

His face fell. "If you say so." He started taking off his clothes.

"What are you doing?" she asked, taking a step backward.

"Going out. I need you to help me figure out what to wear."

"I'm afraid that's something you'll have to figure out yourself. I'll give you some privacy," she said, furious with him for dragging her over to his house for no reason.

As she left, he said, "I want you to come out with me tonight so we can get to know each other."

"Okay." He'd readily accepted her criticism, and now it was her turn to give a little. Even though she had a sixth sense that nothing good could come of this outing.

As she waited in the living room with the giggly groupies, she wondered if anything had happened between Alice and JP last night. Unable to find Alice at the aquarium, Melissa had taken a cab home from the party. And her friend hadn't answered her cell phone all day. Melissa desperately hoped Alice hadn't pinned any romantic dreams on JP: He was a player through and through.

Alice and JP would never work. Just like she and Dominic never would, either.

Chapter Twenty

Dominic couldn't remember the last time a woman had walked out on him. When he wanted a woman, he got her. Even as the years went by, he'd never felt threatened by the younger players, on the field or off. If a woman wanted to be with some young hotshot she could twist around her finger with a sexy glance, Dominic wasn't interested.

Melissa had never been that kind of girl. As far as he knew, she'd never dated an athlete, and certainly not one of her father's players. And she didn't sleep around.

Just the thought of another guy seeing her naked made Dominic see red. She was his.

He threw their dinner into the trash. JP had called only to fuck with her. Didn't she realize that? He didn't need business advice; he just wanted to get under her skirt.

Dominic yanked a paper towel off the roll so hard that the stainless steel holder broke away from the wall. He had to save her. Had to bring her back where she belonged: with him.

Dominic grabbed his keys and headed for the garage. It didn't matter what her father was going to say; it didn't matter than his practices had gone from okay to crap after two sleepless nights of loving her. It didn't even matter that he did risky-ass things when he was with her, that he was powerless to stop himself from having sex in locker rooms and empty buildings and construction sites.

She was his.

And he refused to let her go.

Guys like JP were religious about their Friday-night partying. Whatever that punk needed from Melissa wouldn't take longer than an hour—which gave Dominic time to buy her flowers.

There hadn't been a lot of wooing yet, and he wanted to change that. He wanted her to know that he cared about her beyond their explosive sexual connection. He wanted her to know that she was unlike any woman he'd ever known. Melissa was soft and warm, yet filled with an inner strength that he wasn't certain she fully recognized.

All at once, he could see her with their children– a big crew of boys and girls with her wide laugh and expressive eyes. She'd been right there in front of his eyes for so many years—how had he managed to miss her?

A middle-aged woman was just turning the Closed sign face out on the flower-store door when Dominic double parked his car in front. She shook her head as if to say "sorry."

Dominic put his hands together in front of his chest, giving her a charming grin and a persuasive glint of his eyes.

She shook her head and laughed, then opened the door. "Come in," she said in a lilting Irish accent.

"Thank you," he said, full of gratitude at her kindness.

She chuckled. "Just so you know, I'm not doing this for you because you're a famous man who plays with balls."

"Whatever the reason, I really appreciate it."

She nodded. "My son watches your games every weekend. When he grows up, he wants to run around and get sweaty and dirty just like you." While she spoke, she pulled various flowers and greens out of plastic buckets. When she returned to her wooden worktop, she nimbly arranged the stunning bouquet. "You badly need these flowers, don't you?"

"I do," he admitted. "They're for a very special woman." It felt good to say the words aloud—not just to the woman but to himself, as well.

She turned her attention back to the thin pur ple ribbon she was tying around the stems. "1 know she is. And that's why 1 decided to make you this bouquet." She handed it to him, waving away his credit card. "You have the eyes of a man very much in love."

The woman's statement knocked around inside Dominic. He felt like she was one step ahead of him. And that she was right.

"You must tell her," she said. "Tonight, when you give her these flowers."

Again, she was correct. He'd screwed up far too many times with Melissa. It was time to do something right.

"I will."

It had taken him thirty-six years to find his perfect mate, and he wasn't going to wait another day to make her his.

He parked in front of Melissa's apartment building, his heart pounding hard and fast. Women had always come so easily to him that he'd never had to put himself out on the line before.

Would she even consider loving him once he revealed the secret he'd hidden from everyone for so long?

He rang her doorbell. The seconds ticked by without a response. Had something happened to her? He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. Her phone rang and rang, and he hung up when he got her voice mail. Something was wrong. He could feel it.

He sat down on the top step. He needed to calm down and think about the situation calmly. In all likelihood, JP was forcing her to sit in his living room and watch every game he'd ever played. The thought brought a lopsided smile to Dominic's face. He'd gotten the sense that she was none too impressed with JP's playing. And why would she be, since it was mostly showboating?

He was just standing up when a Hummer limo rounded the corner, loud rock music blasting from the open sun roofs. Dominic's mouth tightened. He wasn't surprised when the limo stopped in front of Melissa's apartment building and two barely dressed blondes stepped out. He also wasn't surprised that he wanted to wrap his hands around JP's neck, and that he didn't care whether the little pipsqueak lived.

JP hopped out onto the pavement, pulling Melissa along with him. "Well, well, well," JP smirked, looking damn pleased. "Who would've thought we'd find the great Dominic DiMarco hanging out in Noe Valley?"

Melissa's mouth was tight, her eyes wary. "What are you doing here, Dominic?" She looked at the flowers and her lips formed a small O. She dragged her gaze away from the bright arrangement and back at him. "I'm assisting JP tonight. You knew that."

JP snapped his fingers. "I've got a killer idea. Why don't you come out with us tonight, old man? You can show us your retro moves."

Melissa shot JP a killer glare. "Dominic is busy." She gestured to the flowers. "I'm sure he has a date tonight."

Didn't she realize they were on the verge of something really special? He needed to keep an eye on JP—and any other guy who tried to move in on his territory. Once he got her alone, he'd say those three important words.

"A night out sounds good," he agreed.

Melissa stomped up the stairs and pushed him aside to unlock the front door. "I don't want you to go," she hissed.

"Why not?" He enjoyed the way the tiny hairs on her arm stood up when he put his hand on the small of her back to guide her inside. "Are you afraid we'll do something crazy tonight in front of everyone? In front of JP?"

JP followed with his arms around the two groupies. "I bet you girls are excited about meeting another Outlaw, huh?"

One of the girls stared blatantly at Dominic's crotch. "I certainly am."

"Hey, Dom," JP said, "meet Jilly and Judy. They always come as a pair."

JP's pun wasn't exactly a shocker. Dominic had met dozens of women over the years who got into athletes' beds by promising a hot threesome. Some guys even bragged about scoring with three or four women at a time. But that had never been Dominic's style. When he was with a woman he gave her his complete attention.

He held up his hand. "Nice to meet you," he said, as they went down the hall to Melissa's apartment. Yet again, he noted her warm, colorful style.

"If I'd known you all were going to come over," she muttered, "I would have cleaned."

A small stack of dishes sat in the sink and a sweater lay over the arm of the couch, but her apartment wasn't messy. It was lived in. It was just the way he wanted his condo to look—with Melissa's shoes kicked off by the front door, her mail on the kitchen counter, her keys tossed into a bowl on the entry table.

JP and his girls headed for her bedroom without asking permission.

"I'm going to teach him a lesson about manners," Dominic growled.

Melissa put her hand on his arm. "Don't," she said. "He doesn't mean any harm."

Dominic moved closer to her, backing her up against the front door. "You're wrong," he warned, his mouth close to hers. "He does."

JP called out from down the hall, "Where do you keep your sexy clothes? We can't find any in this closet."

She shoved Dominic away, her cheeks flushed. "JP's my client. I'm getting to know him." Her eyes flashed a challenge. "I need him, Dominic. You know I do. Don't screw this up for me."

Dominic watched her head down to her bedroom. Somehow, he was going to have to keep his hands off her tonight.

And his fists off JP's face.

Chapter Twenty-One

Sitting in the hottest club in the city, surrounded by beautiful women and hot men, Melissa felt utterly out of her element.

JP had a girl on each thigh, both trying desperately to win his attention. Melissa felt sorry for the groupies. Didn't they see that the more they vied for JP's attention, the less they got of it?

"Hey, Dom," JP said, "aren't you thirsty?"

While everyone else at the table was putting back bubbly like it was a dollar a bottle rather than a hundred, Dominic stuck with sparkling water.

"I'd rather win than drink," was his short reply.

Melissa hid her grin. It wouldn't do for JP to think she was taking sides, but he could learn a thing or two from Dominic.

The groupies had tried to cling to Dominic like Saran Wrap, but he was a forbidding, big, dark package when he wanted to be. And he was downright scary tonight. Any playfulness had been replaced by fierceness.

And damn if it didn't turn her on like crazy.

JP grinned at Melissa. "Having fun?"

She nodded. "This is great. Lots of fun." For added impact, she took a sip of her champagne. She envisioned years of accompanying JP on the party circuit, and shuddered with distaste. Not exactly what she had in mind when she'd gotten her MBA. Maybe she could hire a cute, young assistant to take over this aspect of the job. She'd rather be on her couch under a blanket in front of the TV.

The music in the club changed from quick and driving to slow and sensual. Her pulse thrummed beneath her skin, and Dominic's eyes moved to her throat.

She stared into her fizzing champagne, unable to fight the fantasy of Dominic asking her to dance. Then someone was taking her hands in his, but although the hands were big and strong, they belonged to the wrong man.

JP pulled her up out of her chair. "Show me what you've got."

"No. This is a bad idea," she said. "I get it if you're scared."

A challenge lay behind JP's words, and she knew that he was asking if she was tough enough to represent him.

She was.

Melissa raised one eyebrow. "You're the one everyone's going to be watching out there," she countered. "So you'd better bring your A game."

He threw his head back and laughed. "You look like a pussycat," he said, "but you act like a tiger." JP shot a loaded look at Dominic. "Watch closely, old man, and you just might learn something."

When JP pulled her close against his body, Melissa was so shocked she lost her words.

"You're not like those other girls," he murmured in what she assumed was supposed to be his sexy voice.

She forced a smile at his compliment and put a couple more inches of air between them.

"You're smart and sexy," he added.

"I'm also your agent. We need to talk about professional boundaries."

"Don't talk," he interrupted her. "Just feel."

She wasn't feeling it, and she didn't think he was, either. This was just part of his "I'm so bad" act.

"I have to pee," she said loudly into his ear.

JP jumped back several inches. "Damn, you sure know how to ruin a moment."

She turned and headed toward what she hoped were the bathrooms. Pushing aside a thick red velvet curtain, she found a perfect hiding spot.

But before she could get too comfortable, her skin began to buzz with awareness. What the hell? She reacted like this only around Dominic.

A moment too late, she realized that Dominic had followed her behind the red curtain.

And he looked every inch the warrior.

Like a man who would die in battle for his woman in a heartbeat.

"Dominic," Melissa said in a breathy voice that spoke straight to his cock.

He advanced on her, backing her into the wall, and put one hand on either side of her face. "We're leaving," he said. "Now." He knew better than to boss a woman around, especially a strong-willed woman like Melissa. But he couldn't control his mouth any more than he could control his body.

She stared at him without blinking. "No." His mouth tightened, his gaze dropping to her full, red lips. "You have two choices," he said in a low voice, not taking his eyes from her mouth.

Her tongue shot into the sweet corner where her lips came together. "I'll do what I want," she whispered.

Sweet lord, her words sounded like a come-on. He knew they couldn't be, not when he was being an overbearing, horny prick—but his cock didn't care, growing to an impossible size beneath his zipper.

"Choice one," he said, "we leave this minute and I take you home. Choice two: I take you right here, right now, like this. Against the wall in the back of the club."

Her breath came out in a whoosh. What Dominic read in her face was that she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

"You wouldn't dare," she challenged, her words raw with need.

He leaned in close, his mouth less than an inch from her ear. "Choice two it is." Then his mouth was on hers, his hands pulling up her dress.

But even in the insanity of his desire, no matter how much her body sang its need for his touch, he needed her to agree before he took things further.

He pulled back just enough to look down into her flushed face. God, she was beautiful. The most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. The words I love you rushed to the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't say them here. Not until they were alone. "Say the word, and I'll leave you alone." His heart pounded hard as he waited for her decision. He wouldn't use I love you to get her to agree to have sex with him in public.

"I can't," she said in a harsh whisper. "I can't let you go."

He didn't need to hear anything else. Her mouth tasted like sugar and grapes as their tongues tan gled together. Their previous lovemaking had been extraordinary, but now ecstasy warred with violence as her hands pulled and scraped at his clothes, ripping the inside seams of his jacket, her fingernails scratching his skin as she pulled him harder against her body.

Dominic knew his own strength and held on to it tightly at all times—in both anger and passion—but when Melissa's teeth nipped at his mouth, his jaw, his neck, he lost his grip.

In a millisecond her ass was in his hands and her skirt was up around her hips. Their pelvises ground hard against each other's and he felt her oncoming orgasm a moment before she did, working his finger between their bodies, rubbing it over her clit, the slick folds of her pussy, and then all the way inside her as her muscles clenched and pulled at him.

He had to get in there, now. Seconds later, his pants were unzipped and a condom was on and his shaft was pressing into her heat. She moaned his name and it sounded almost like a curse as he pushed high and hard into her, stretching her wide. She smelled like sex and she tasted like sex, and it wouldn't have mattered if someone had walked in just then—he wouldn't have been able to stop fucking her.

She held on to his neck, and with her legs wrapped tightly around his waist, he moved his hands from her sweet, round ass to cup her face. She rode him hard, using her strong thigh muscles to plunge up and down on his cock. Her skin grew damp with exertion, and he roared his pleasure into her mouth, his cock throbbing and pulsing into her heat.

With surprising strength, she pushed away from his body and rapidly adjusted her clothes, her eyes cast down. She was shutting him out.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked, hating the thought of harming her in anyway.

"No. I'm fine. Everything's fine. I need to get back out there. JP is going to wonder what happened to us."

And although Dominic was famed for his lightning-quick reactions on the field, he stood still as a stone as he watched her walk back through the red curtain.