Playing with Fire - A Sports Romance (10 page)

I’m about ready to scream when there’s a knock at the door. I’m tempted to ignore it. It’s probably Madison - who is exactly the last person I want to see. What I said to Matt the other night is true. I’m over her. There was nothing there but mediocre sex anyway, and all her craziness is too much for me. But when a second knock comes on the door, I realize it’s not Madison. She’s not the kind to keep trying if I don’t answer. She’s more likely to stand down the hall near her apartment, waiting for me to either come or go. I’ve been ambushed more than once before.

I look out the peephole, only to be awarded with a view of the ceiling, since I still haven’t called management to have them fix the damn thing. I throw open the door and am caught off guard by the sight in front of me. There’s a woman there, but it’s not Madison. She’s too short, has too many curves, though she’s got part of the wardrobe right. Black cropped yoga pants, topped off with a blue and black hoodie Madison wouldn’t be caught dead in. When she turns around, my heart jumps to my throat.

It’s Frankie.

She’s got her hood up over her head, like she’s hiding from someone. But her beautiful hazel eyes are peeping out from under the sweatshirt. There’s silence in their depths. I want them to be screaming, to tell me what it is she's doing here, because she’s not talking.

I step back from the door and, after a beat, she brushes past me. She stops in the foyer, her back to me, as she stands there looking around the room. I look around to see what she sees. My apartment is bare, with few personal touches. A framed picture of me and my family at Jen’s high school graduation sits on the fireplace mantle. A dark brown leather sofa sits opposite a flat screen television hanging above the fireplace. There are a couple matching chairs, some end tables with nothing but coasters on them, and a large window looking out on the city.

Even my bedroom, which she can’t see from where she stands, has few personal effects. I’m gone most of the summer, flying around the country for games. The rest of the year I try to spend time with my folks, and of course with Jen. This is a place to call home, though it doesn’t feel that way.

A home is something more than a place to lay your head. And that’s all this place is. My heart doesn’t reside here - although it feels like it’s finally back in the room with me.

I close the door, then walk up behind Frankie. I want to touch her, but I’m afraid. Afraid she’ll run away again. Afraid she’ll take my heart with her.

She turns around and faces me, standing so close. She looks broken, but beautiful. Her hoodie is unzipped, baring a tight workout shirt that reveals the swell of her breasts, her waist, and the seductive curve of her hips. She’s more beautiful than anything I’ve ever seen.

“I can't do it anymore.” Her voice is so quiet, so full of pain, it makes me want to cry.

I tense in front of her. “Do what?”

“Deny myself what I want.” She looks up and searches my eyes, and my heart starts hammering in my chest.

I lift a hand to her cheek and place the other on her hip as she slides her hands to my chest. She tips her head up as I bend down to her. When our lips meet, there is no sensual dance like we’ve shared in the past. Just soft lips, moving together as one. We stay this way for what feels like hours, maybe even days, before I slip my tongue into her mouth. I have to taste her. The minute my tongue touches hers, she tenses up. I pull away from her, looking down into her eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m scared.” Her voice trembles out on a quiet breath. “I’ve never done this before. I’ve never done relationships.”

“Trust me.” I run my thumb across her lips and plant a gentle kiss at the corner of her mouth.

“I’ve never done trust.”

“I won't let you fall, Frankie. I’ll take care of you. Just give me a chance.”

I slide my hands down her shoulders, down her arms, and lace my fingers with hers. I pull her to the couch and sit down with her next to me. She shivers as I run my hands back up her arms to her face, cupping her cheeks in my palms. I kiss her lips, then pull back.

Frankie’s got her eyes closed, and worry creases her forehead. I rub my thumb over her forehead, one over her eyebrow, along her cheekbone, along her jawline. As I slide my hands down her long, delicate neck to her collarbone, I lean in and kiss her again. She relaxes into me and slides her arms around me, hugging me to her.

This is heaven.

I pull away from her lips and tuck my head into the crook of her neck as I wrap my arms around her. We sit here, holding each other for the longest time.

F
rankie

“
C
orey
, please!” I gasp and dig my fingernails into his shoulders, panting.

“Not yet, doll. You know what I want.” Corey returns his mouth to my body, licking and kissing every inch of my skin. He’s been at it for an hour, and it’s sweet torture, what he’s doing to me.

“You know we can't, baby.” I squirm under his touch, so ready for him it hurts.

Corey held me in his arms on his couch for hours. It wasn't until the sun started going down that either of us thought to move. It felt so right, being there with him. Like there was nothing in the world that mattered but being right there. Our growling stomachs had other thoughts on the matter. Corey wanted to take me out on a proper date.

“There’s a fantastic restaurant not far from here,” Corey said, pleading his case. “They have the best lobster tempura you’ll ever have. Then we can walk up the street and get some popcorn from Garrett’s.”

“Do you want to get yourself killed?” I asked.

In the end, he gave in, knowing how uncomfortable I was.

“I feel so naughty,” he joked as we shared a few sushi rolls and a bottle of sake he had delivered not long after. “Like I’m your dirty little secret. You want to punish me for being naughty?”

Ultimately, that was the wrong thing to say. Or maybe it was said at the wrong time. It resulted in me spraying him with a mouthful of sake as I laughed uncontrollably. His shock as the warm liquid hit him square in the face had me falling out of my chair to the floor in a fit of giggles. Not wanting to be left out, Corey joined me on the floor, tackling me and spraying me down with his own mouthfuls of liquid.

Once he started licking the alcohol from my skin, I decided I’d had enough to eat. We threw the remains of our supper into the fridge before I dragged him to his bedroom.

“You have to give me something,” he tells me before flicking his tongue at the sweet spot between my thighs. I scream in both pleasure and pain and my hips buck against him.

“Please! I’ll do anything!”

“Anything?” Corey stops his assault and grins up at me. I'm doomed, I know I am. He crawls up my body, his naked chest settling against mine, one of his thighs putting pressure between my legs, keeping me on edge. “Come with me to New York.”

“New York?” I ask. I'm so worked up I'm not sure if I missed something or what’s going on.

“In a few weeks, we play in New York. I want you to come. I want to take you out. Up there, Marco won't know.” Before I can respond, Corey’s lips cover mine, his tongue teasing me as he increases the pressure between my legs. “Come for me, Frankie.”

I moan against his mouth and push myself up against his thigh. “Yes, Corey! Please, yes!”

“You’ll come?” He grins down at me and runs his nose along mine.

“Yes, I’ll come!” My hands grasp at him with desperate strokes, trying to tempt him to give me what I need.

“Promise?”

I look straight into his eyes, locked and serious. I force my words out, knowing if I don’t, he’ll keep teasing me. “I promise I'll go to New York, and you can take me out. Now, please!”

“Tell me what you want, doll.”

“Fuck me, Corey!”

“No.”

“What?” I whine as my need pools deeper.

“No, Frankie, I'm not going to fuck you. I'm going to make love to you, nice and slow. I'm going to make you feel better than you ever have.”

Corey's mouth comes down on mine, slow, like he promised. His hands travel my body, causing tremors to run across my over-sensitive skin. He parts my legs, gently, slowly, and settles himself down, pushing deep, easing the ache inside of me with every second.

“Oh, Corey!” I gasp as I raise my hips to meet his, fighting each stroke to make him go faster. His lips travel down my neck to my breast and he takes my nipple between his teeth, giving it a gentle tug.

“Slow down, baby, slow down.” His deep, husky voice has me quaking beneath him, and it’s all I can do to stop myself from exploding. When it all becomes too much for me, when my body is threatening defection, I clamp my knees together against his waist and bite down on his shoulder. And as if he knows my body as well as I do, he picks up his pace, slamming into me fast, once, twice, and we fall apart together as one.

C
orey

W
aking
up next to Frankie in the mornings was second only to making love to her. With her warm, naked body pressed up against mine, nothing could stop me from running my hands over her silky smooth skin. More than once I woke her with a kiss on her lips, which made her groan in appreciation and spread her legs wider, inviting me in. More than once she returned the favor, and I’d wake to find her lips around me, coaxing me out of my slumber with a silent plea from her tongue and mouth.

Every morning for a week, she was there in my bed. Every day we made love until she had to go to work or I had to go to a game. And every night, after a late dinner, I'd drag her into my room, or she’d drag me, and we’d make sweet love until our bodies couldn't take it any longer and we'd fall into a deep, restful sleep.

Vinny flew Jen in again for some of the games, and, nice guy that he is, he allowed me to spend some time with my little sister. He also put her up in a hotel room, which made being with Frankie at night a possibility. It made it difficult to keep despising him so much. Between Jen and Frankie, I might have started to like him a little.

Frankie came to all the games, often sitting with her cousins and my sister. And some nights we went out with them, finding Ramon, Matt, Emily, and Ellen there, too. Frankie insisted no one could know about us being together. It made for some pretty wild arguments between us, and some even wilder makeup sex. When we did go out with our friends, we pretended to be nothing more than friends ourselves. It was hard, not touching her every minute we were together. Once, after she ran her foot up and down my leg under the table for a half hour, I begged her to let me take her in the restroom because there was no way I could make it home otherwise. It was almost as hot as finding her without underwear that first night in the elevator. Since we timed it right, our friends never suspected a thing.

All that time together had its downfall. The three days I spent in Pittsburg without her were hell on earth. Her texts to me carried an undercurrent of sexual innuendo anyone other than the two of us would have had a hard time deciphering. It made it hard. Real hard. And her teasing phone calls after the games were too much to bear.

“Touch yourself for me, Frankie,” I’d beg over the phone as I lay in bed at night.

And that’s all it would take for her to start talking dirty, for her to bring me to the brink before throwing me off the cliff.

The next ten home games and two days off were some of the best of my life. My hunger for all things Frankie never ceased, and my joy made everything I did better. The woman drove me mad, and I didn't know what I’d do if I couldn't have her. I wasn’t looking forward to the three-day spread in Milwaukee before I’d meet Frankie in New York. I tried to pretend it wasn't happening even as I left her in my bed this morning, naked and satiated, before heading to the stadium to catch the team bus to the airport.

“Why are you acting so chipper?” Matt asks as he sees me lounging against the white cinderblock wall, waiting for the rest of the team to get there so we can board. I must be grinning like a fool, because I’ve been thinking of my girl and what she did for me before sending me off this morning.

“Chipper?” I ask, trying to smooth the smile off my face. “What are you, British?”

“Ah, don’t tell me. Someone got lucky last night.”

I laugh and shrug, unable to lose the smile. Lucky is definitely the word for it. Lucky, more than once last night. And of course, once this morning in the shower. And another time in bed before I left.

“You and Madison back at it, eh?”

I scowl as all the warmth of the morning drains straight out of me. “Madison? Where the hell did you get that idea? I told you, I’m over her.”

“Oh yeah?” Matt looks at me like he doesn’t believe a word I’m saying. “That why she’s been skirting the edges of the bar each night waiting for you to take off? Ironic how she always leaves about two minutes after you, Lucas.”

“If she’s there, she’s not with me. And I’m certainly not with her.” I wrack my brain, trying to remember the last time I’ve seen her.

“Not you, huh?” Matt says, like he still doesn't believe me. “Well, there’s a lot of money around lately. Maybe it’s a coincidence.”

Before I can respond, Ramon’s loud voice calls out. I turn and look down the hall and have to force my jaw not to drop to my toes.

“Looky who I found!” Ramon croons as he steps up beside us. His arm is around a woman dressed in a smart grey suit and red blouse, hair up in a tight bun, and dragging a royal blue suitcase behind her. But it’s not his woman.

“If it isn't Miss Frankie,” Matt says as he steps forward and wraps his giant arms around my girl. “How you doing, sweetie?”

“Never better,” Frankie replies. Her eyes catch mine over Matt’s shoulder and she winks at me. When she pulls back, she gives him a quick kiss on the cheek before stepping over to me.

“What are you doing here?” I ask as she reaches to give me a hug. I wrap my arm tight around her and suppress a groan as she runs her hand down the front of my unbuttoned suit jacket and brushes the front of my pants.

“Oh, you know,” Frankie says as she pulls back and pinches my cheek. “I can't get enough of you.” She turns back to Matt and Ramon and smiles. “So, I thought I'd catch a ride with you and see what the lovely Milwaukee has to offer.”

“You know, we’re going to New York next.” Ramon smiles and wraps his arm around her shoulders again. “You should stay on and party with us. Emily and Ellen will be there.”

“You know, maybe I will.”

Frankie walks out to the parking lot with us. She greets other players and staff who are traveling to Milwaukee as we linger outside of the buses. I'm dying to talk to her, to ask her the real reason she's here, but she's avoiding me. I even shoot her off a text, begging her to talk to me, to no avail. It isn't until we’re getting seated on the plane that I get a response.

Frankie: I told you already. Text me your room number when you check in.

I think back, trying to remember what she said, what answer she could have possibly given me. And then it hits me.
I can't get enough of you.

I'm grinning like a fool as we take off and through most of the short flight.

* * *

T
here was
a text waiting for me on my phone when our first game ended. I had been looking forward to a long night in, just me and Frankie and my hotel bed. But her text had me worried.

Frankie: Meet me at midnight at the front of the hotel.

First her unexplained trip to Milwaukee with us, now this? I wasn't sure what to expect. And I certainly didn't expect what I got.

Outside the hotel, leaning against the most gorgeous car I have ever seen, is the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. Frankie is wearing a tiny little dress, deep blue skirting her beautiful thighs, fading to a baby blue as it climbs the swell of her breasts and wraps in a delicate twist around her neck. She is absolutely breathtaking, so much so I don’t pay any attention to the piece of machinery she’s leaning against.

“Hey, baby,” she says as I walk up to her and take her in. “I brought you a little surprise.”

I moan as my eyes level on her breasts. “Can I take it inside and unwrap it?”

She slaps me across the chest with her pocketbook before stepping aside and motioning to the car behind her. “This is
my
baby.”

My eyes take in the sleek silver coupe in front of me before flashing back to her. “Wait,
your
baby?”

“Porsche 911 R. They don't get much nicer than this.”

“This…this is yours?”

“Well.” Frankie slides her hand along the frame before she shrugs and looks at me. “I’m renting this one, but I do have one exactly like it back at home.”

“Damn.” I’m at a loss for words. I love my car, my sweet little Corvette convertible. But it’s nothing, and I mean nothing, compared to this ride. I knew Frankie had money, being related to Marco Leonetti and all, but…damn.

“Come on, hot stuff,” Frankie says, motioning to the driver's side door. “Let's go do something naughty.”

My eyebrows perk up in interest. “Naughty?”

“Well, you’re not on the rental agreement, so I really shouldn't let you drive this thing. But…” She ends with a smile so tempting I debate whether I want to get in the car or drag her upstairs to my room.

“If you insist,” I tell her. I want to wrap my arms around her and swing her in the air, but I can't. No PDAs beyond a hug in greeting or goodbye - that’s her rule. A rule I hate every time she places those perfect full lips on Matt or Ramon’s cheeks. I walk around and slide into the driver's seat as Frankie settles in beside me. Then I peel out of the hotel driveway and speed through downtown Milwaukee.

This car is a dream. I've never felt so much power before, and this is spoiling me the same way Frankie has when it comes to women. I may need to sell my baby and invest in one of these fine machines. Or maybe I'll rent one, since I'm gone half the year anyway. But this… A guy could get used to this.

We’ve been driving around aimlessly for an hour when Frankie’s grip on my thigh tightens.

“Pull over, baby. It's my turn to drive.”

I groan, both in pleasure at the feelings her touch brings me and in pain at having to get out of the driver’s seat. Frankie directs me off the freeway, into what appears to be a dark, residential neighborhood. I reluctantly get out of the car and walk around to the passenger side, my eyes never leaving that gorgeous silver frame. I'm seated in the comfortable leather seat before I realize something is off. Frankie reaches in and reclines the seat, then climbs in on top of me.

“What are you doing?”

“I told you, it’s my turn to drive.”

Frankie pulls the door shut and straddles my waist before her lips attack mine. She has my shirt nearly off my body before my mind catches up. I let her slide it over my head and accept her greedy tongue in my mouth before I grab her thighs and pull her closer.

Her skin is silky smooth and cold. I hadn't given a thought to the cool spring night. I rub my hands up her legs to warm her as she makes quick work of the button on my jeans.

“Fuck! Frankie!” I gasp as my hands find another delicious surprise - my favorite kind. No underwear. God, I want to bury myself between her legs, but my jeans are still on and her lack of panties is making it hard for me to help her remove my pants.

When they’re down below my knees, Frankie pushes her hand against my chest. “Lay back, baby, it’s my turn to drive.”

I watch as she grabs a condom from her pocketbook and slides it on my cock. I'm throbbing for her and get harder when she reaches up and unclasps her dress, letting it fall to her waist. She pushes me back again as I try to suck one of her beautiful tits into my mouth, then settles in on top of me.

“Oh, doll, you’re killing me!” I groan as I grab both her breasts and knead them in my hands.

Frankie’s knees slide off the seat on either side of me, dropping her fully down on my cock. I moan in pleasure. I've never been buried so deep inside of her before. She starts a relentless pace, grinding against me as she pushes me back into the seat. Her head is thrown back in wild abandon, and it’s all I can do to keep my eyes open, to watch the beautiful display in front of me.

As her pace quickens, I thrust my hips up to meet her every move. She explodes around me, her muscles squeezing me tight, milking me for all I'm worth. I can't hold back, seeing the look of pure ecstasy on her face. I'm shooting deep inside her, spasm after spasm, my pleasure meeting hers.

Frankie falls on top of me, and I grasp her to me as if she might disappear. I claim her mouth and groan as she squeezes my cock still deep within her walls.

“That was amazing, baby,” Frankie says in my ear. She nibbles at my earlobe, then lifts her rear and releases me from her grip.

I shake my head as she pulls back to look in my eyes. “I don't know what you’ve done to me, Frankie. Whatever it is, I don’t want you to stop. Ever.”

Her face scrunches up and she buries herself in the crook of my neck. “Oh, Corey,” she says, “I don't ever want to stop.”

I hold her there against me until the cool night air seeps into the car and goose bumps rise on our skin. Then we both get our clothes put back on and return to the hotel. She drops me off at the front door, then drives around to the parking garage. When she meets me in my room ten minutes later, she says nothing as she drops her dress to the floor and climbs into my bed.

I follow behind. Something has changed. Something about Frankie is different than it was this morning. But the look on her face tells me she doesn't want to talk. I climb up beside her and bend to taste the skin she wouldn't let me touch in the car. She’s perfect. Everything about her is perfect, and I can't get enough.

Frankie and I rock together, slow and steady, making love until we both fall apart once again, then fall asleep in each other's arms.