Blindsided (22 page)

“To your new little wife?”

“Yeah, to my wife.”

“How did that happen?”

“What can I say? I fell in love.” Tanner gripped the phone, not wanting the man anywhere near Emma.

His father’s hearty laughter pissed the hell out of Tanner. “You can’t love, boy. You’re too damn selfish.”

Tanner refused to take the bait and didn’t respond.

After an uncomfortable silence, the old man grunted in the phone. “I’ll call you when I get in.”

“Okay, you do that.” Tanner punched the end button and wished he were punching something else. He hated how vulnerable his father made him feel, and how he always brought out the worst in Tanner and his brothers. Tanner didn’t fight anymore, yet he still worked like hell to squelch his tendency to settle his disputes with his fists, just like Dad had taught him.

He’d spent most of his adult life breaking bad habits to the point where the team believed him to be easygoing with the patience of a saint. They’d never seen him snap, but his wingmen had. If ownership knew about the anger that raged inside him, they’d probably cut him tomorrow. He feared someday the monster would be unleashed and an innocent person would pay the price.

He hoped to God it wasn’t Emma.

* * * *

The sound of an injured animal woke Emma. She sat up in bed, still groggy. Taking a moment to get her bearings, she rose to her feet and listened for the pitiful noise that’d woken her from a light sleep. Tux dozed on the pillow next to hers so the noises hadn’t come from him. Careful not to wake Tanner, she slipped on a light robe and tiptoed to the door.

She froze when she heard the noise again and spun around, shocked to her core. Tanner lay in bed, sweating profusely and writhing on the mattress as if in pain. The tortured sounds he made sounded more like a wounded animal than a strong, take-charge man. He kicked off the covers and grabbed for a pillow as if it were his lifeline.

“No, no, no. Please. No. Please, Dad, please. It hurts. Oh, God, it hurts. I’ll do better next time, I promise. I’m sorry. Please just stop. Don’t hurt him. He’s too young. Don’t.”

Emma stared wide-eyed, not sure what to do. He was having a nightmare, and she wondered how close to the truth this nightmare might actually be.

She approached the bed, smoothing back Tanner’s thick blond hair matted with sweat. He didn’t wake.

“Tanner?” she spoke softly, careful not to startle him, but he was too deep into the nightmare. Emma gave his shoulder a little shake. Nothing. She gave him a stronger shake.

Tanner shot up in bed, sending Emma scrambling backwards into the wall. She hit hard and let the wall hold her up, as she attempted to still her wildly beating heart. Tux leapt off the bed and immediately crawled underneath it.

Tanner’s head whipped around frantically as if he were looking for the enemy. His eyes shone with the feral gleam of a trapped animal. Emma pressed her body against the wall, waiting for some sign of recognition from him.

“Tanner?” she said again in a shaky voice which didn’t sound like her.

He twisted the sheet as if it were someone’s throat, and Emma watched those big hands render the poor sheet helpless. Chest heaving, Tanner blinked several times and shook his head as if to clear it. Finally, he met Emma’s gaze.

“I’m sorry.” He ducked his head as if embarrassed. “I—I had a bad dream.”

“About your dad?” Emma asked, stepping right through what she suspected would turn out to be an entire swamp of bad memories filled with hungry crocodiles.

He lifted his head, shock registering in his green eyes. “Why do you say that?”

“Because you said his name and sounded like you were begging him to stop.”

Tanner’s face turned pale. He didn’t respond to her. Instead he stood and brushed past her and out the bedroom door without a word, completely oblivious to his nakedness.

Emma stalked after him. He wasn’t getting off this easy. He’d avoided the tough questions for too long. As his wife, she had a right to know why he wouldn’t talk about his family. He’d proposed this marriage plan, and he would behave like a husband as long as their license remained valid.

She found him in the kitchen, naked in the moonlight, and gulping down water as if he’d been crossing a desert with an empty canteen for several hours.

“Tanner, I’m not going away. I want answers.”

He swung around to look at her and leaned against the counter. Emma’s gaze automatically shifted to his large penis already locked and loaded. The man never seemed to go limp. She licked her lips and forced her gaze back to his face.

His slow, knowing smile greeted her. “Want some of this?” Tanner stroked his big cock. Even in the dim light, his eyes glowed with a stark primal need.

Falling prey to his sensuality, Emma wondered about tasting him. She’d never taken a guy’s penis in her mouth, wouldn’t know the first thing about it, but the idea intrigued her. She cleared her throat and nodded. “Don’t think you’re avoiding my questions altogether, mister. We are going to talk about your family.”

“Just not now.” His husky tone slipped somewhere between an order and a plea. His needy tone spoke volumes. He was hurting, and tonight wasn’t the night for confrontations. It was a night for comfort.

Emma approached him hesitantly. Tanner didn’t move a muscle, except for running his hand up and down his length. The motion mesmerized her.

“I’d much rather you did this to me with your hand and your mouth.”

Her robe gaped open, and Emma shrugged out of it, letting it fall to the floor. Tanner made a guttural sound between a groan and a growl.

“You’re so fucking beautiful.”

“So are you.” She knelt down in front of him, unmindful of her knees on the cold tile floor. His hand froze on his penis. She could feel his eyes on her but didn’t look up. Instead she studied him and reached out a trembling hand to touch the velvety tip. She’d touched him before, but she’d never gone down on him.

He moved his hand from his body to the back of her head, gently guiding her head downward. Emma took his cock in her hands, loving the feel of him. She wrapped her fingers around him and slid her hand downward to the base and up again. His hand tightened in her hair. A good thing, she believed. She cupped his balls with her other hand, weighing them carefully, marveling at his impressive male body.

Tanner froze to the point where he couldn’t seem to breathe.

Emma bent her head until her breath tickled the tip of his penis. It jerked in her hand, and she smiled, reveling in the power she had over this man. A bead of pre-cum sat on the tip, and Emma touched the tip of her tongue to it.

“Oh, fuck,” Tanner groaned. “You are so hot.”

She glanced up at him, empowered by the lust burning in his gaze. “I’m not sure what I’m doing, but I’ll figure it out.”

“I’m sure you will. Anything you do to me is going to be good. You can’t screw this up.” His deep chuckle brought a smile to her face.

“I can’t?”

“No fucking way. Just keep touching me, and I’ll be a happy man.” He wrapped her long hair in his fist, which brought a rush of wetness between her legs.

Holding the base of his penis in her hand, Emma ran her tongue across the tip and downward, tracing the large vein with her tongue. Tanner’s entire body tensed. She didn’t let up. Instead she licked him, exploring every inch of him, and as well-endowed as he was, he had a lot of inches. Emma loved those inches.

“Take me in your mouth,” he ground out through gritted teeth.

She’d read enough erotic romance novels—her guilty pleasure—to have learned a few tricks, even if only in theory. She swirled her tongue around the tip and sucked, drawing another tortured growl from him.

He applied pressure to the back of her head, encouraging her to take him deeper. Emma opened wider, allowing him to slide further into her mouth. His girth stretched her lips tight. She pulled back, gasping for breath and took him inside again. When he hit the back of her throat, she gagged and withdrew, wiping the saliva from her lips and chin.

Determined to make him come, Emma went back down on him again, mimicking the movement when they made love, only using her mouth instead. She bobbed her head up and down on his cock, reveling in how he felt inside her mouth.

“I’m going to come,” he warned her after only a few minutes.

Emma didn’t think she was prepared to swallow his seed, so she sat back on her haunches, pumping him unmercifully with her hands. He let go, calling out her name. Rather than being disgusted or mortified, Emma watched in amazement as his cum ran down her chest. She’d never thought bodily fluids could be so erotic, but this
was
Tanner.

When he finished, she licked him clean.

“You are amazing,” Tanner said, his voice low and lazy, the tension gone. He pulled her to her feet. “My turn. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

She giggled and screamed when he tossed her over his shoulder and carried her to the bathroom. As she struggled to free herself, he gripped her thigh with one hand and landed a sound smack on her bare butt with the other.

“Tanner,” she protested and squirmed. He smacked her again, harder this time.

“Keep that up, and your bottom is going to be good and sore, honey. I’m in charge now.”

Emma liked when he took charge. She liked it a lot. She’d never considered herself to be on the kinky side, more like the straight missionary type, but with Tanner, nothing was usual and mundane. He was a creative lover.

He turned on the shower with one hand, adjusted the temperature, and set her on her feet. The warm water sluiced across her body and his. He pulled her under the nozzle with him, his mouth hard and demanding. She demanded right back. Tanner grabbed a bar of fragrant soap and spread the suds all over her body, paying special attention to her breasts and her thighs. Emma closed her eyes and leaned against the tile wall, letting him do as he pleased.

She gasped when he reached between her legs and entered her with two fingers, curling them in just the right way to hit one of her sweet spots. When he sucked on her clit, she shattered.

Dang, but she was easy.

While she was still in the throes of an orgasm, Tanner placed her thighs around his waist and held her against the shower wall. He entered her with a swift, powerful stroke, sending little prickles of pleasure and pain through her body as she stretched to accommodate him.

Buried deep inside, he leaned his cheek against hers, his breath coming in short, hot gasps.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“I’m fine,” Emma promised, altering the angle of her hips, experimenting with the different sensations.

“You never cease to amaze me.” Tanner thrust in and out of her, sliding her up and down the wet wall on every stroke until she felt his shudder and knew he was coming. Only typical Tanner, he didn’t like to travel alone, so he reached between them and touched her in just the right place.

A second later the two of them had liftoff.

Emma was certain her little world could never look the same again.

No doubt about it. Tanner was distracted during practice. His mind kept drifting to images of Emma kneeling in front of him, taking his cock into her mouth, and wrapping those sweet pink lips around his shaft. He’d never seen anything so erotic in his life. She’d gone down on him to please him, but she’d enjoyed it, too. When she took him to the back of her throat and started fucking him with that sweet mouth, he’d been pretty sure he’d need CPR, if the paramedics could even bring him back.

Not to mention, he’d pulled her out of her game, made her forget her mission to uncover his past. He’d dodged another bullet last night after having a nightmare or night terrors, or whatever those were called. Regardless of the label, he’d hated to see their return after he’d gone a few months without them. He chalked it up to his father’s phone call. Now he’d have to tell Emma the old man was visiting by giving her the least amount of information possible.

Too inwardly focused on Emma and his father’s visit, Tanner didn’t pick up on the defensive end barreling down on him through a hole in his line. They were playing an inter-squad scrimmage, no contact, but Tanner stepped right into Braedon Dawson’s path. Dawson could’ve held up, but he didn’t, and the crash was inevitable.

Tanner scraped his bruised body from the turf, ready to do battle, and kick some major ass. Before he could launch his attack with both guns blazing, Coach Meyer stepped between Tanner and the team’s veteran defensive end, famous for his attitude on and off the field.

Well, Tanner could show him some attitude, and his teammates wouldn’t make the mistake of calling him laidback again.

“Sorry, Coach.” Dawson flashed his white smile in the coach’s direction, “I can’t seem to get out of my own way. Didn’t hurt you, did I, Wolfe?” He sounded hopeful.

Tanner shook his head, still ready to wipe that smug smile off the asshole’s face. Dawson had been on the team the same amount of time as Tanner, and they’d never gotten along, having played as rivals in the national championship college game. Tanner’s best game to date, he’d shredded Florida State’s defense, and Dawson never forgot. Their dislike deteriorated into all-out hatred after Tanner warned him about his soon-to-be-wife.

“Get back to work,” Coach said, not the least bit swayed by Dawson’s amiable grin.

“Sure thing.” Dawson trotted off to join his teammates. Tanner’s frown deepened when he noticed some of the defensive players slapping Dawson on the back. Last time he’d looked, they all played on the same team. Dawson’s hatred could split the team in two.

“He’s trying to get under your skin, get you to react,” Coach told him.

Tanner shrugged, adopting his usual devil-may-care attitude.

“You’re not doing yourself any favors by keeping your emotions in check all the time. These guys need to see you care. When you threw that interception in the last game of the season with seconds on the board, you walked off the field as if you’d just lost a game of street ball.”

Tanner set his jaw, anger boiling just below the surface. Meyer had been famous for his outbursts and emotional displays, while Tanner did everything in his power to curb them and prevent a possible loss of control. No one knew how ugly that loss of control could be, but Tanner knew.