Wicked Game (21 page)

“Look, Jaime. We do two things, we fight or we fuck. Since we’re not naked, then I guess we’re fighting.”

“When we get home can we do the other thing you so eloquently mentioned, because I think I’m turned on.”

“Sure, Jaime. I’ll strip down in the foyer, and we can go at it against the door. I’m sure your mom won’t mind, and I’m sure mine is just waiting to catch us in the act. Hell, I’m surprised they didn’t come busting in last night.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about them. Maybe they’ll be out shopping or something. I don’t want to miss out on make-up sex.”

“Don’t bet on it, I think they are planning steaks on the grill and probably charades by the pool.”

“I need to call in the reinforcements, don’t I?”

“As of yesterday.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

“They’re gone. Can we get naked now?” She was in the middle of a lap when he walked out of the house. “I called up Shontal and got them both emergency full-spa sessions. After that, Franco has been instructed to take them to the ritziest stores he knows. I gave them both a credit card and told them to go crazy. Of course, Franco is under strict orders to call me when they’re all shopped out.”

“How convenient. Tell me, Mr. Dalton, did my mother put up a fight at being handed into the lap of luxury?” She dove back into the water intending to ignore the needy cat-and-canary look he wore on his egotistical face.

“Unlike her persnickety daughter, Gloria knows a good thing when it’s handed to her. I just hope she doesn’t go overboard.”

“Oh, you just now thought of that, did you? Since she’s hooked up with those Red Hats, I don’t even know the woman. She takes week-long vacations, runs off to Mississippi for gambling weekends, and has a newfound penchant for male strippers. What trouble couldn’t she get into with unlimited credit?” She laughed at him and swam into the deep end where she knew he wouldn’t follow her with his limited mobility. She was right. He just sat on the side of the pool and dangled his feet in, watching her swim with lust-filled eyes. “Stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?” He just grinned, the fire growing brighter as she drew nearer.

“Like you want to eat me.”

“But I do want to eat you. I’ve been hard all afternoon just thinking about what I’m going to do to you once I get you naked.”

“And what would that be, precisely?”

“Come out of the water and find out.”

“No, thanks. There are sharks up there. I’m safer in here.”

“Come on, Pepper. Climb out so we can have our first make-up sex session.” His voice turned wheedling, almost pleading, and she almost took pity on him. Almost. “I want to tip you onto that chaise lounge over there and lick your pretty pussy until you come. Then I’m going to let you service me. Then, if you’re a really good girl, I’m going to open you wide and slide my cock deep inside you and make you call me God.”

“You’re not that good.” Of course, her nipples chose that moment to go all hard, never mind the molten putty her limbs became. “And besides, who says we are even having sex, especially outside in the open like this.”

“I looked everywhere. There isn’t a camera within a mile of here at least. No one is in the bushes or up in that oak. No one is on the wall or hiding in the garage. It’s just us, Pepper. Don’t make me get the jump rope. I left it on the table, just in case you chose to turn obstinate.”

Cass couldn’t help looking, but the table was just out of sight. The shiver of anticipation was not welcome. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“I would. I’ve thought about tying you up and doing all sorts of naughty things to you all afternoon now. But I won’t if you come out and play nice with me.”

“What if I don’t want to?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time. Be a good girl, Pepper, and come out of the pool. I promise not to bite.”

“I’ve heard that before, yet the marks speak for themselves. Tell me, Jaime, what did all of your other girlfriends think of your vampiric tendencies?”

“Damn, Pepper, you do know how to kill a good erection. Just for that, I’m not going to have sex with you after all.”

“Well, gee goody for me, but you didn’t answer the question. And from the rigid set of your jaw I’m not going to like the answer, am I?” She wasn’t sure she really wanted to know, but the reckless mood she’d been in all day just would not leave her alone.

“You’re the only one, Cass. I’ve never done that before you. I don’t know why I do it. I just … it’s hard to describe; sex with you is so intense. I never expect it; it just happens. I try not to use my teeth, but sometimes I just can’t help it. I feel this need to…”

“Mark me as yours.” She felt lightheaded and heavy all at the same time. “I’ve seen animals do it.”

“I am not an animal. Okay, not always. I’ve never hurt you, so stop with the mating analogies. I’ll stop. There, are you happy? Damn, now I don’t want to have sex with you, and I sent the moms off, so there won’t be any good food. My day just went to hell.”

“I never said I wanted you to stop.” Cass swam into the shallow end and up to the steps, where she climbed out. “I just wanted to understand why.”

“Well, I can’t explain it—not in a way that makes sense anyway. I sort of lose my head and it makes you lose yours. With your body pulsing around me, you take my control away … and that suit looks great on you. Pepper, your nipples are hard as rocks.”

“I know; the water is cold. Do you want to suck them?”

“Are we through fighting for today? I’d love to suck your nipples, if you’re done trying to emasculate me.”

“I thought you wanted to lick my pussy. I love when you lick my pussy, Jaime. I love your tongue down there, hot and wet against my clit. And then when you open me wide and lick inside me, I could come just thinking about it.”

He smiled that smile of his that said she was in for a world of trouble if she didn’t stop playing with fire. Heat throbbed through her body when his lips turned up at the corners. Oh yeah, she was in for it now.

“Pepper, you are a bad girl, aren’t you, baby? You tease me and torment me, and you stand there with that body of yours just to see how far you can push me. Tell me you’re a bad girl, baby. Tell me what you want me to do to you.”

“I want you to lay me down on that chaise over there and suck my titties until I call you God. And then I want you to fill me with your beautiful cock. Jaime, please, I want you to fuck me hard and fast. When I’m done, I want you to bite me and fuck me some more.”

“Jesus, Cass, you keep that up, I might just come in my shorts. Slide that suit off, baby, and come over here.”

Cass stood for a moment wondering if she’d lost her mind. His eyes turned to golden fire, and she forgot to wonder. She knew she’d lost her mind, and she didn’t for one instant care.

Slowly, so slowly, she peeled the straps down her arms, revealing her breasts. The look of intense pleasure on his face drove her past the point of sanity, and within seconds she was standing naked under the blazing Miami sky, her body screaming for something so primal she thought she would burst.

He beckoned to her, and just as she had that day in his office, she left herself behind to do his bidding. Standing in front of him, she let him guide her forward, his eyes looking up at her as he slowly slithered his fingers along her thighs.

“Open for me baby, I want to taste the cream coating your pussy. Spread your legs, Cass. Let me taste you.”

God help her, she didn’t hesitate. With a wicked smile, he leaned in, and with a flick of his tongue, he had her begging for more.

Somehow, she didn’t know how … she found herself on her back on the patio tile crying Jaime’s name as he entered her, orgasm taking her beyond the point of caring that they’d forgotten the condom. “Bite me, Jaime. Please, it feels so good when you bite me.”

He drove into her in short, frenzied strokes, his breath coming in small gasps. “I love you, Jaime. I love…”

He growled in her ear, she could feel his orgasm start, his thrusts quickened in that way that drove her over the edge. “Bite me,” she begged wrapping her arms around his back. She met his thrusts while the world began to spin out of control. His teeth grazed her neck, sinking in just enough to hurt, to bruise. He pinned her hard beneath him until she could only hold on while he poured himself inside her body. Her body quivering around him as she forgot everything she ever knew in her entire life.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Thursday afternoon, Cass slipped on her sunglasses before she walked out of the school into the early afternoon heat and stopped dead in her tracks. She shivered almost as if someone had thrown a bucket of ice down her top; her heart sped up to an alarming rate. She couldn’t think.

Flash bulbs went off, someone shoved a camera in her face, then a microphone followed. Five, ten, she couldn’t count them all. She didn’t understand their shouted questions. Her only thought was flight and getting safely behind iron gates.

In a move she picked up from watching Jaime, she lifted her left arm to protect her chest, and she pushed through the two startled TV starlets and ran for all she was worth to her car. Thank God for automatic locks. She burned rubber pulling out of the lot in her sensible mom wagon. She looked back, noting the sports car one of the doctor’s wives drove was blocked in. So much for making assumptions.

It wasn’t long before one of the cars caught up with her. She floored it. Picking up her phone, she pressed the first button. Her mom picked up after two rings.

“Open the gates, I’m being chased. Open the gates. I’ll be there in thirty seconds.”

“What? Honey, what…”

“Open the gates, mom, before I put this car through them.”

“Okay, okay. I’m going … I don’t know, Jaime. It’s Cass. She wants the gates open, something about being chased.”

“Just open the gates. I’m turning the corner now.” She barely put her foot on the brake as she peeled through the gate, praying that someone had the sense to close it before the first car could follow her inside. She flung the car into park just outside the front door, and without grabbing anything, she bolted to the house just as the front doors opened.

“What’s going on, Pepper?” She ran into his arms, holding on while she shook.

“I don’t know, ask them.” She swung her head at the front gate where as they watched dark sedans and news trucks were pulling up. Flashes going wild as they stood there watching.

“Shit, this can’t be good. Did they ask you anything? What did they say?” He pulled her inside just as his phone rang. He ignored it.

“Pictures. That’s the only word I caught. I freaked and ran. I didn’t know what else to do.”

“Pictures? What pictures?” He went pale before he finished speaking; his phone rang again, and this time he went to answer it. “Yeah, Mitch. No, I haven’t seen it. Viral? Oh, shit. How bad is it? Well, get an injunction, get it shut down. She’s home. The damned jackals caught her leaving school and scared her to death.” He punched up his computer typing furiously, and as she watched, he sat down in his chair, nearly missing. “Oh god, damn, fucking, hell, shit, shit. Who is this bitch? Get this down.”

He hung up, his eyes darting to her. Fear filled them, incapacitating fear that made her knees shake even more than before. “Those pictures?”

“Yeah?”

“Do I want to see?”

“No.”

“What pictures?” Her mom said from her side. “What’s going on?” She stepped into the room and looked over Jaime’s shoulder before Cass could stop her. “Oh, my. That’s not good.”

“What do we do now?” Cass said quietly; she couldn’t stop the shaking in her voice.

“Damage control, and hope like hell Mitch can get an injunction to have the pictures pulled, but…”

“It won’t do any good, will it?”

“No, baby, the blog went viral. There’s no way to stop it now.”

A minute later his phone rang again, his face drained of color, he closed his eyes and answered, a look of desperation on his face that nearly broke her heart. “Yes, sir. Tomorrow morning. I’ll be there.” He hung up and laid his head on the desk, his hands gripping his knees as he breathed deeply.

“That was my head coach, I have to appear before the commission tomorrow morning to explain or face indefinite suspension. And Cass, they want to talk to you too. Early.”

The phone rang again, and he answered it. There was pain and fear in his voice, but Cass couldn’t go to him. She felt drained of everything; her limbs were heavy, her heart thudded painfully in her chest, and she couldn’t breathe. She could only stand and stare as her whole world exploded around her.

“Come on, honey. Let’s get you something to drink. A Coke, maybe the caffeine will help.”

“Vodka. You can add Coke if you want. Just find the damned vodka.”

She let her mom drag her into the kitchen where Jaime’s mom smiled happily at them from behind the stove. Something sweet and savory reached her nose. Before Helen could say a word, Cass rushed past her to the sink, her lunch no longer a lump in her stomach.

“What’s going on? Cass, are you okay, honey?” Her voice was too sweet too expectant, and Cass couldn’t answer. She retched again, her arms shaking so badly she could barely hold herself up. “Morning sickness?”

“It’s not fucking morning sickness. I’m not pregnant. I’m … it’s all ruined. Everything is ruined. No one will hire me now, I won’t be allowed back at the Boys and Girls Club. I’m ruined.” She sank to the floor, but not before she saw Jaime standing in the doorway. “And so is he. Over some Goddamned dirty pictures of us that shouldn’t even exist. It’s all ruined.”

“I’ll be damned if I’m going to let this ruin either one of us, Cass. Detective Ryan, Mitch, and even Sam are on their way. The cops are already clearing the street. It’ll all be fine, you’ll see.”

“For you, maybe. You’re a jock. You’re supposed to misbehave—boys will be boys and all that shit. What about me? There are pictures of me wearing nothing but…” She shook her head, noticing the stunned look on her mom’s face, the same one mirrored on Jaime’s mom. “Stop looking at me like that. I didn’t want any of this. I liked being anonymous. I don’t want to be some … some football-groupie-sex-toy. Now look at me, I’m infamous or notorious or whatever you want to call it. Whatever you do, Jaime, just remember that genie is not fitting back into the bottle. No school system in the country will ever hire me again. I am ruined permanently.”