Page 56 of Gridlocked on the Gridiron

When she finished, her head turned to the side so she could look at him, feeling the flush of her cheeks. His grin was wicked, and he took the fingers that’d been inside of her and put them in his mouth, his eyes locked on hers.

Sex with Colton had been spectacular, by far the best she’d ever had. Had he placed himself in a prime position to have ruined all other men for her? Probably. Okay, definitely. But nothing put him firmly in first place more than the orgasm that’d just ripped through her as the entirety of the Sabertooths’ staff, players, and coaches talked and laughed feet away.

“Come over later.”

At her narrowed eyes, he laughed.

“Not like that. The media—and Tessa—will want to see you with me to celebrate this game, or they’ll assume we’ve broken up.”

She wasn’t sure if her brain was just scrambled or if he was actually making sense, but she was thawing to the idea.

“Come on, it’s Thanksgiving. We need to be with the ones we fake love. I’ll be a perfect gentleman and keep my hands to myself.” His voice dropped. “If that’s what you really want.”

She pulled away from him slightly, adjusting her pants and blazer and then running a hand through her hair. “Okay, for the media. But you better keep your hands to yourself.”

As the final word left her mouth, TJ, a running back, walked into the little space. When he saw them, he grinned knowingly.

“Hey, Colt, Lucia. Didn’t mean to interrupt.” He continued walking back toward the staff section, likely to use the bathroom.

“A kiss goodbye?” Colton asked, laughing when Lucia smacked his shoulder. He opened the privacy curtain, waving his hand in the direction of her colleagues. “For the people?” he whispered.

She was going to kill him. She was going to kill him dead. Still, she pushed herself up using his shoulders and pecked his lips, hating the wide grin on his face.

When she returned to her seat, head spinning, heart racing, and feeling as though the eyes of the entire staff rested upon her, she found a new text message. In response to her last message about her coming, he’d responded:

Colton

Oh, you most certainly did.

Meet me in the facility garage.

She resisted the urge to send a picture of herself childishly sticking her tongue out at him and shut off her phone.

Colton had been right. Four people were outside the gate of his house, snapping pictures of them as they drove up his driveway. Lucia rolled her eyes at his smug expression.

They’d grabbed snacks from the facility—most of which were gross protein shakes or protein bars, but Lucia was a beggar and therefore had lost her right to choose—and when they got to the living room, they laid them out on the coffee table.

“Do I get to pick the movie tonight?” Colton opened the box of pizza he’d conjured.

“Do you ever?” She watched his arm flex as he reached for the remote, her mind flashing back to the putty he’d turned her into on the plane. Shaking her head, she continued, “But I will give you options tonight. We can either watch The Bachelor or a romcom.”

“Wow, you’re so good to me.”

Lucia swiped the pizza he’d lifted to his mouth, taking a bite. “I know.”

Colton glared at her. “You’d think you’d be a little nicer to the man who had you clutching at him and practically moaning his name as you came a few hours ago.”

Lucia gaped at him. “Wha—shut your mouth! Off limits! Anti-boundaries!”

“Oh, now it’s off limits, but on the plane, it was all ‘Colton, make me come’ and ‘Colton, look at my bedroom eyes.’” The pitch of his voice went up when he pretended to be her.

“I never—”

“‘Colton, your fingers feel so good inside of me.’” He was laughing hard, his shoulders shaking at the look on her face. She turned the TV to an episode of The Bachelor to spite him, ignoring his offers of pizza and burrowing under a blanket that she’d found on his couch.

After the first episode, Colton pleaded with her, “Lucia, please. Tell me how to convince you to change it to anything else. I will proudly recite every line of Pretty Woman if you make it stop.”

“Beg.”

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