Tackled: A Sports Romance (16 page)

"
Y
ou have a thing for her
." Drew says it into the phone to me, and then repeats it in a whisper that I can totally hear.

"Are you kidding me, Drew? Is Beth right there in the room with you?" I ask. I should have known. Drew and his girlfriend have been joined at the hip since they started dating in eighth grade. They even picked the same college to attend to keep from being separated.

"I'm totally leaving," Beth says. I can hear her loud and clear on the phone now. I hear her stomp on the ground.

"Am I on speaker? Have I been on speaker this whole time?" I ask. "Beth, I came up with that fake-walk-away bullshit when we were twelve, so don't even try it."

"He
just
put you on speaker, Colt," Beth says.

"Both of you are dead to me."

"Don't be mad, Colt," Beth says. "I made Drew tell me."

"What all did he tell you?"

"That you devirginized a virgin," Beth answers. "And that you like her."

"Goddamn it, Drew, you have such a big fucking mouth," I say. "The virgin thing was between you and me. And I don't
like
her."

"It's so sweet, Colt," she says.

I groan. "That's awesome, Beth," I say. "I'm glad you think my sex life is sweet. Take me off speaker, Drew."

"I love you too, Colt," Beth calls.

"Tell me why I still talk to either of you," I say.

"You're stuck with me," Drew says. "And Beth –"

"She's practically your conjoined twin."

"You should have asked me, Colt," Beth says. "I could have given you the girl's perspective on the whole devirginizing thing, since Drew took mine."

"I'm not talking to you about how my brother deflowered you," I say. "And I don't have a thing for Cassie. We're friends. And she's tutoring me. And if either of you say anything to mom, you're dead. I mean it."

"Mom already mentioned it to
me
," Drew says.

"How does mom know I fucked Cassie?"

"She just said you were hooking up with a girl she met," Drew tells me. "She didn't say anything about fucking, thank God. I don't want to talk to mom about you fucking your girlfriend."

"She's not his girlfriend, Drew," Beth prods.

"She's not my girlfriend."

"But you
want
her to be your girlfriend," Beth says.

"I thought you were leaving the room, Beth."

"Don't get on him about it, Beth," Drew warns. "He's sensitive. He has feelings now."

"Fuck both of you guys."

"Wait, wait!" Beth exclaims. "For real, how long have I known you? Since we were in first grade?"

"Yeah, unfortunately."

"So, I can't remember you ever being so preoccupied with a girl."

"I'm not preoccupied."

"He's preoccupied with her
vagina
," Drew clarifies, and I hear Beth slap him.

"I'm getting off the phone now," I say loudly.

"Colt!" Beth yells. "Wait, for real."

I exhale heavily. "What?"

"I knew you had it in you," she says.

Drew laughs. "He's trying to put it in the girl," he says.

"Shut up, Drew," Beth shouts. "I'm being serious here, for real. I always knew that if you found a girl you really liked, the whole
player thing
would go out the window."

"No one's talking about finding a girl I like or about ditching the whole
player thing
," I protest. "I'm twenty-one. And I'll go pro next year. Everything's going to change. I'm
not
in a relationship. I'm going to be a ba-jillionaire and fuck a thousand models in my big-ass mansion on top of my piles of money."

"Don't be a jackass," Beth says.

"You two are the jackasses hassling me about a girlfriend," I protest.

I'm edgy and irritable at Beth's suggestion that I've somehow fallen for Cassie. Just because she's the only girl I want to sleep with doesn't mean this is going to last forever.

"I'm just saying that you're soft on her," Beth says. "That's not a bad thing. You're a good guy at heart, Colton. You just don't want to admit it."

"I'm hanging up now."

"
A
nother A.
"

I jump at the sound of Colton's voice behind me, my heart skipping more than a few beats. "Shit, Colton," I breathe, whirling around and slapping him hard on the chest. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack? I almost dropped my groceries."

"I'm trying to collect my reward for
hard
work," he says, lifting bags from my hands. I turn around and manage to put the key in the apartment door before he grips my hip with one hand and pulls me against his cock for emphasis.

As if I weren't already clear on what he meant by
reward
.

"Cut it out! Someone is going to see you," I hiss, even though when I look around I can see clearly that the hallway is deserted. I swat Colton's hands off my hips, but he doesn't let go, spinning me around the second we get through the door and pressing me hard up against the wall. My body responds immediately to him, the way it always does, my breath hitching in my throat and warmth coursing through me, radiating to my core.

"Reward me, Teach," he whispers, his breath warm against my ear. He kisses me just under my earlobe — the most sensitive place on my neck – and his teeth drag across my skin as he kisses his way lower.

"Were you just sitting outside my apartment in the dark waiting for me, you creep?" I ask, hardly able to get the question out as he runs his hands over my breasts.

"Maybe I was. With binoculars," he adds. His hand runs up the inside of my thigh and straight to its destination between my legs. "Where are you coming back from in this little skirt? You have a little bit of a Catholic schoolgirl thing going on in this outfit, you know."

"You just can't get over the Catholic schoolgirl thing, can you?"

"Of course not," he moans.

"Would it help if I actually bought a plaid skirt?"

"Oh,
fuck yeah
. If you text me and tell me you're wearing a little plaid skirt, I'll be like this all day."

He pushes his hardness against my leg.

"You're like that normally."

"I'll be even harder," he promises.

"Impossible."

"Feel how hard I am since I haven't seen you all day?" He yanks my skirt up around my waist and cups my ass with his hands, lifting me up against the wall and –

"Fuck, man." Tank's booming bass voice reverberates through the apartment.

"Shit, Colton," I squeal, pulling down my skirt.

Sable follows Tank out of her room wearing his football jersey, her hair in pigtails and carrying pom-poms. "The wall by the door?" Sable asks. "That's so cute. We did it there yesterday."

Sable stands with her pom-pom-carrying hand on her hip. When she juts her hip out to the side and cocks her head at us the way she does, she looks remarkably like a high school cheerleader.

"Thanks a lot for that image," Colton says. "I'll have to bleach my brain now."

"Dude,
your
brain? I just saw you with my roommate's skirt all hiked up," Sable says. "I'm pretty sure I could see her muff. I'm glad you got waxed, by the way, Cassie."

"I'm wearing underwear," I protest. "You could not see my muff. You only know I got waxed because you dragged me to your waxer." I smooth my hands over my skirt and fluff my hair.

Like a respectable lady.

"Should have hung a sock on the door," Tank grunts, shaking his head. "I told you."

"Is that still a thing?" Colton asks. He's standing there with an obvious hard-on, asking that question like we're all having a normal conversation and my roommate didn't just catch us very nearly fucking against the wall.

"I think it's a thing," Sable says.

"It's definitely a thing," Tank agrees firmly.

"Should we play cheerleader at your place, Jonathan?" Sable asks, twirling one pigtail around her finger.

"No, no, no. We'll leave." I pick up my bags of groceries from the floor and hand them to Sable. "You put these away. We'll give you some privacy."

"Sweet," Tank says, taking the bags right out of Sable's hands and peering inside.

"I'm going to need to get more groceries, aren't I?" I ask Colton once we're outside the door.

"Yeah, I'm afraid you should just assume that Tank has eaten whatever's in those bags," Colton says. "Unless it's that low-fat bullshit. Then you might be safe."

"Damn it."

Colton pushes me up against the hallway wall, putting his hand above my head and leaning down toward me. "So are you coming to my place to reward me for my good grade or what?"

"No way," I hiss. "We've almost made it through the summer without getting caught. I'm not finishing the semester with that kind of a bang, thanks."

Colton grins. "I have a better idea."

"I'm afraid of any ideas of yours."

"Let's go to the athletic center," Colton suggests.

"The tutoring rooms are locked afterhours," I say. "You know they don't give us keys."

Colton pulls his key ring out of his pocket. "I have a key," he says.

"To the tutoring rooms? How did you get one?"

"Not to the tutoring rooms."

"To where, then?"

"You'll see."

Inside the athletic center, I'm definitely nervous. It's mostly deserted afterhours, but it's not like we're running around at three in the morning or anything. There are definitely still people here. And those people could include Colton's teammates or his coaches. Or anyone else who might know who the two of us are.

This is a really stupid idea.

"What if someone sees us walking together?" I ask, putting several feet between us in the hallway.

"So?" Colton asks. "I'm doing awesome, getting good grades. Obviously you're a great tutor who gives me extra help during off hours."

I look over my shoulder at him to see him waggling his eyebrows at me and looking at me lasciviously.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm worried about people thinking," I hiss. "Where are we going?"

We round a corner near where the athletic director offices are. "Coach's office," Colton whispers.

I stop short. "No fucking way, you ass," I hiss. "I'm not doing it with you in your Coach's office."

"I'm kidding," he says. "God, you should have seen the look on your face."

"Bye," I say, turning around and walking the opposite direction.

Colton catches up with me, moving to block my path. "Don't be pissy."

"I'm not pissy," I say. "This is a really bad idea."

"Come on, chicken," he taunts.

"I'm not chicken, either," I protest. "This is a stupid idea and we're going to get caught."

Colton looks behind him before pushing me up against the wall. My heart beats wildly in my chest as he looks down at me, his lips inches from mine. Heat courses through me and a tingle of arousal goes right between my legs. "You like the possibility of getting caught," he whispers.

"I do not," I hiss, glancing behind me. He snakes a hand up underneath my skirt and reaches between my legs.

"So you say. Except that I know you're lying."

"Not lying," I argue, but my words catch in my throat as he slides his fingers over my clit.

"I want to fuck you here," he whispers.

"I'm not fucking you in the hallway."

"I could make you come right here, right now," he says, his finger moving more quickly.

"No," I protest.

"Do you trust me?"

"Definitely not."

Footsteps echo loudly down the hall and I push Colton's hand away, jumping away from him like I've been shocked by electricity. I put several feet between us, rounding the corner with long strides like I'm in the building on important business and have no idea that a hot as hell football player seems to be following me. I nod to the person who passes me, who turns out to be a janitor wheeling a floor buffer down the hallway.

From behind me, Colton chuckles. "Chicken," he whispers.

I ignore him until we get to the end of the hallway where I turn right to head back toward the exit. He calls my name softly. "I'm leaving," I say back.

"Come on. I came here to show you something."

I look at him with narrowed eyes. "I'm afraid to ask what that is."

Colton grins. "It'll be worth your while."

"How can I resist?" I ask the question sarcastically, but it's hard to be annoyed with him when he's standing there grinning like he's totally pleased with himself.

That cocky, crooked grin is going to be the death of me.

I follow him, walking for what seems like forever before he stops at an elevator that takes us up almost to the top floor.

When we reach where we're going, Colton stops and looks around like he's a spy checking for a tail, even though we haven't passed anyone in a few minutes. He pushes a key into a door, quickly shutting it behind him.

"What is this place?"

"It's the alumni box," he says. He flicks one of the light switches and a row of recessed lighting illuminates part of the room. It's all dark wood and leather seating and long tables, the primary focus being the floor-to-ceiling windows on the far side of the room that overlook the football field.

I walk to the window and peer out. It's mostly dark, the only lights the security lights illuminating the corners of the field. "Nice view."

Colton stands behind me, so close I can feel his breath on my skin. He sweeps my hair to one side and applies his lips to the back of my neck, sending goose bumps down my body. "It's a nice view from where I'm standing, too."

I have to put a hand on the window to steady myself, because the minute Colton kisses under my ear, pulling my earlobe gently between his teeth, my knees threaten to buckle. "This is the alumni box?" I ask. "We're not supposed to be in here."

"Nope," Colton says, his hand snaking around my shoulder and over the top of my breasts. He squeezes one through my shirt and my nipples go rock hard, immediately at attention for him.

"Someone will see us up here," I protest.

"It's tinted," Colton explains.

"How did you get a key to this place?"

"Bribed one of the facilities guys," he whispers.

"Why?"

"I was going to show you this a while back," Colton says, his hands at my waist now, sliding underneath my shirt. "Since you didn't know anything about football, I was going to teach you a little. Give you the best view."

"Mmm-hmm," I murmur, as his hands slide underneath my shirt, cupping my breasts again. "So you brought me here to teach me about football?"

"I'll teach you about football later."

"Why did you bring me here, then?" I ask, my voice teasing.