Page 12 of Hooking

Shit.

Breath, man. Now isn’t the time for you to pop a tent in your trunks because you’re constantly fantasizing about her stripping out of that barely there suit and stepping into the outside shower after a long day at the beach. Your hand running all over her smooth skin just before you bring her pert nipple into your mouth and grip her ass as you pin her against the wall.

Fuck.

Yeah, not helping.

I sit on the edge of my lounge chair before looking out into the ocean. Think about taking a shot on goal and missing. Miller’s jock strap. Polston’s weird foot fettish. Yeah. Nope, not even that is helping.

“I’m going for a swim,” I say, standing abruptly before walking to the water.

Don’t look back. Don’t look back, I repeat to myself as I reach the shoreline and dip my toes in the water. Wading out till I’m waist deep, the cool water does nothing to soothe the erection I’m now sporting.

I’m an idiot for thinking I can survive a whole week with Cassidy in a romantic villa. I should just call Hayley and have her fly down here instead. Take my place. But deep down, I know that would do nothing to stop my attraction to Cassidy.

She planted herself into my memory the night she decided I was worth the risk. Even after multiple warnings from not only Brooks, but myself. We both knew the score, yet I knew once I tasted her, had her writhing beneath me, begging for more as the walls of her pussy tightened around me as she screamed out my name in ecstasy, I knew I was done. She would be my end game. If only I allowed myself to have that chance again.

Once upon a time, I was that guy who believed in monogamy. That was until I found myself standing at the altar while my bride, the woman who was supposedly carrying my baby, abandoned me without a word to run off with some guy she met in a bar in college. Oh, and did I forget to mention that he was really the father? Yeah… it fucked me up to know that person who I loved since high school was too chicken shit to tell me it was all a lie. Instead, she accepted my proposal. Allowed me to plan this elaborate wedding, plan a life for us and our future child. Only to not show when it was time for the ceremony.

I knew the moment her mom approached me and said she wasn’t coming, I was stupid. I had fucked up and chosen the wrong path for my life. Not entering the draft right out of high school but choosing to stay committed to a person who was halfway across the country at college, deciding that she didn’t want to marry me after all.

I felt like I was stuck in the movie The Wedding Singer.

But God, do I wish I could be the man Cassidy needs. Be the guy I once was.

“Are you avoiding me?” Her small voice comes out in almost a whisper as she wades in the water next to me. Her hair is tied up into a high pony, so it doesn’t touch the salty water.

“Why would you think that?”

She looks at me as if I’m full of shit yet just stares back out to the calming waters. “You kind of took off as soon as I removed my cover up back there.”

She’d be thanking me if she knew what was about to pop out and say hello if I didn’t take off. “Just needed to clear my head.”

“Me too,” she says, looking up at me. “Hey, I really do have to thank you for coming with me. I know this must be hard for you… missing early training camp and all.”

I could have cared less about going to early training camp. It’s just a way for the guys to meet the rookies and start the team bonding experience. It’s not mandatory, but even if it were, I doubt I would have turned down this opportunity with Cassidy. To be close to her when I know I should keep my distance.

“It’s not a problem.” I look back to the shore where our belongings lay. “Uh… maybe we should head back and get ready for dinner?”

As if sensing my hesitancy, she turns back toward the shore and makes her way out of the water. And cue the return of my boner. I try to avert my gaze from her perfectly round ass as she walks out of the water, yet I’m failing miserably and as if she senses my stare, she peeks over her shoulder at me. Her hips give a little more sway as she smirks devilishly.

I am so fucking screwed.

Chapter 5

Cassidy

Iam so fucked.

I knew it the moment he sat next to me on the plane and rubbed those tiny little circles on my bare thighs. I tried to convince myself that this was just a vacation between friends. Yeah, who was I kidding?

I was playing with fire, and the fucked-up part about this… I kind of liked it.

He followed quietly, not making any attempts to catch up. Yet despite the distance, I felt his hot gaze boring into me, my entire body heating from the warmth. I shouldn’t feel this way, I know. I just got out of a relationship, an almost marriage, but I can’t help but want to keep this feeling. Play the game. See how far I can push to get Channing to crack.

He’s been my best friend for years, but I can’t help the deep feeling of want I buried after he called us a mistake. Maybe a vacation fling is what we both need. A week of no-strings-attached boning to get over a heartbreak should do. Right?

“Uh…” Channing says, squeezing the back of his neck. “Did you want to shower first or should I—”

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