RHINO: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (With FREE Bonus Novel OFFSIDE!) (4 page)

Alex

Women are so transparent sometimes. They think they’re not but they are. I wouldn’t consider myself an expert, but I don’t think you have to be. This isn’t a work environment so there’s no need to be formal, yet Lucy’s dressed up. She’s put on something special for dinner, something I know she thinks that I’ll like. She looks good too, really good.

“
Are we beginning?”

“
I thought we already had.”

“
It’s just, I’m a little lost without my notepad.”

“
It wouldn’t suit the dress.”

“
This is your plan?”

“
I don’t have a plan.”

“
Bombarding me with compliments so I change my opinion of you.”

“
One compliment isn’t a bombardment, unless, and I hope this isn’t the case, that nobody ever compliments you, and two, reporters shouldn’t have already formed an opinion about someone they plan to write an article about.”

Lucy jabs her fork at me accusingly.

“
It’s not going to work.”

“
This job?”

“
Your charm offensive.”

“
You’ve got me mistaken.”

“
It’s going to take more than a few compliments and posh looking food to convince me of that. What is this by the way?”

Lucy pushes the bluefin tuna around her plate.

“
Fish.”

She slices into the succulent fillet and delivers the forkful to her mouth, barely needing to chew. Watching women eat is sexy. Some people probably think that’s weird but it’s always turned me on. Lucy does it well. She’s got plump lips I’d call full fat that look like they’d be fun to kiss, even more exciting wrapped around my cock. She’s only been here a few hours and she’s already making me think like that.

“
So, The Rhino.”

“
I’ve never liked that nickname.”

“
Coming from you, that surprises me.”

“
You know why they call me it?”

“
I always thought it had to do with the size of your, what’s it called, brain.”

I smile, while Lucy delivers another tender slice of tuna to her mouth.

“
But I know why they really call you it, so don’t flatter yourself.”

“
Oh yeah?”

“
Yeah. Everyone knows it’s because you’re rarely seen in the wild anymore.”

“
That’s funny.”

Lucy smiles at me with her gorgeous round eyes.

“
This is good.”

“
I have a good team.”

“
They don’t mind living here, in the middle of nowhere?”

“
Not with the amount I pay them.”

“
You like it then. This.”

“
It has its ups and downs.”

“
I can’t do this honestly if you don’t answer honestly.”

“
I told you we should start tomorrow.”

“
So what do we do tonight?”

“
Why don’t you tell me about you.”

Lucy has to hold back a laugh. “Uhuh. That’s definitely not going to happen.”

“
I need to know I can trust you, there has to be a bit of give and take, surely.”

There’s that look again. The narrowing of the eyes, the quick decision about whether she can trust me. She pauses dramatically to drink from her glass of wine and I take the opportunity to fill the gap in conversation.

“
I want this to flow like a natural conversation between two people who are getting to know each other.”

“
One, this article is about you, not me, and two, this isn’t a date.”

I lean back into my seat, smiling.

“
You know that’s a classic tell.”

“
What is?”

“
Saying this isn’t a date.”

She rolls her eyes. “Alright. What do you want to know?”

“
Just like that?”

“
Ask away.”

I’m blocked. I don’t know what to ask.

“
See. It isn’t easy is it?”

“
Alright. Why did you come?”

“
Because you asked me to.”

“
You could have refused.”

“
Refuse a week’s paid holiday? No chance.”

“
Is that what this is for you?”

“
What this is for me is an opportunity, I’m not blind to that. What I don’t understand is why you picked me, of all the journalists across the States, you chose me, a nobody.”

“
I admire your work.”

“
My fascinating interviews with non-professionals.”

“
I thought you might be honest.”

“
That could be dangerous for you.”

“
I guess we’ll find out soon.”

“
I have a question.”

“
You never stop working do you?”

“
Have you ever brought a girl here you didn’t intend to fuck?”

Wow. Either that wine is stronger than I thought or her will is. Nothing like getting to the point straight away, I like that.

“
Would you think I was an asshole if I told you no?”

Lucy tilts her head at me and smiles.

“
No, I’d just think you were lying.”

“
You mean you?”

“
No, I don’t mean me.”

I’m almost certain she’s going red.

“
Lots of women want to fuck me, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“
If your plan is to make me think you’re not an asshole, you’re going in the wrong direction.”

“
So, deny it.”

“
I’m not playing this game.”

“
That’s not an adequate response.”

“
I’m not the one with inadequate intentions.”

“
I’m just being honest.”

“
You brought me here because you intended to fuck me?”

“
I brought you here so you’d write an article about me, I can’t help it if women find me irresistible.”

“
If this was a date I’d leave right now.”

“
Don’t be like that.”

“
Are you even aware how arrogant you sound?”

“
Sorry, I’m a little rusty with the outside world.”

“
Conceited.”

“
I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“
I’m not here because I want to fuck you.”

“
Then I guess you’ll be famous as the one who managed to refuse.”

“
It’s not easy to refuse if you’re paying them.”

“
Ouch.”

“
I don’t find you attractive anyway.”

“
You don’t like big men?”

Lucy gives me a look she disguises as dismissive.

“
I like big men, but I wouldn’t describe you that way.”

She’s had her eyes all over me since she got here.

“
How would you describe me?”

“
Lost. Immature. Rude.”

“
That’s no way to treat your host.”

“
I’m just being honest.”

“
Well hopefully we can change your opinion of me.”

“
That might be hard if you continue trying to hit on me.”

“
You’d know if I was hitting on you, this is just us having a conversation.”

“
This is how you conduct all of your conversations? You’ve been on your own way too long.”

“
That’s why you’re here.”

“
I told you, I’m not your therapist.”

“
I didn’t mean it like that.”

“
I’m not your date either.”

I let that statement hang in the air while I refill her glass with wine.

“
I’m going to make a bet with you”, I say.

“
Reporters don’t make much money. Nowhere near as much as football players.”

“
I make less than I did now that my sponsors have pulled out.”

“
And whose fault is that?”

“
You’d understand if they were camped outside of your house every day.”

“
You know I’m one of those people.”

I smile. “Scum of the earth.”

“
Someone’s got to do it.”

“
By the end of this week, your opinion of me will have changed.”

“
That’s it?”

I shrug. “That’s it.”

“
We’ll see.”

“
You know, I can’t change a closed mind.”

“
You’ve got a hell of a lot of work to do to convince me.”

“
What did I ever do in the first place to make you feel so strongly one way or the other?”

Lucy leans back in her chair. “Oh, you mean beyond the threats to colleagues in my profession?”

“
You can’t hold yourself accountable for the protection of journalists worldwide, as though they're a protected species under your sole care. You know, like rhinos.”

I get rolled eyes at that before she ignores me and continues anyway.

“
You’ve never endeared yourself to me.”

“
You’ve never made an attempt to get to know me.”

Lucy’s eyes go wide and she leans towards me over the table. “You haven’t exactly made access easy.”

Two glasses of wine and I’m feeling ready to break the ice here. I was going to leave it a little longer, but now feels like the right moment to do it. She might be pleading to go home tomorrow after all.

“
You have never been that interested.”

“
Please.”

Now I’m the one leaning. “You don’t remember me do you?”

“
Remember you?”

Lucy gives a stifled laugh, looks away and then back again and her eyes tell a story of a million words.

“
What’s there to remember? An asshole jock so self-involved he pushed everyone else away.”

She does remember me. Fucking hell. I’m not the only one with a secret here. I lean back in my chair and let the truth manifest itself between us. I’m a little shocked. Quite a lot shocked actually. This could be good, or it could be very bad indeed.

“
That’s not how I remember it.”

“
That doesn’t surprise me coming from you.”

“
I didn’t think-.”

“
Is that why you brought me here?”

“
Are you upset with me?”

Lucy’s shaking her head. “I can’t believe you knew.”

“
What difference does it make if I did?”

“
All that time.”

“
It’s a long time ago, maybe you’re misremembering.”

“
I wasn’t the one who spent it in a drunken haze.”

“
You were too busy with your nose in your book to pay attention to what was going on around you.”

“
I was working hard on my career, Writing about you actually.”

“
You were shutting yourself away.”

“
Says the man who lives on a private island in the middle of nowhere.”

“
At least I have an excuse.”

“
Yeah, that you’re an arrogant and conceited asshole that thinks the world has nothing to offer them.”

Wow, now I’m definitely sure that’s the wine talking.

“
Can I quote you on that?”

“
You could if you talked to anyone in the real world.”

“
Thank you for being honest.”

“
Isn’t that what you brought me here for? Or was it really to see if you could fuck me? What are you doing, going through the yearbook one by one and you’ve finally got to the last person still standing?”