Page 22 of Wicked Player

“You got it, hotshot.”

I turned and hightailed it out of the room, not saying goodbye to Elizabeth.

Being around her longer could be dangerous. And stupid. It was making me think of stupid things like how I wanted that hair draped all over my body while she rode me hard and fast.

Or maybe how I wanted to see those sexy as hell eyes of her light up while she came instead of hiding behind black satin.

Yeah. Seeing Elizabeth again was going to be pure hell.

Eight

Elizabeth

"Come on," Amanda pleaded from her side of the four-top table. "You have to tell me what he was like. And did he smell good? These are important things girls all over the area need to know."

The woman was mad. Batshit crazy should have been her middle name. There was no way I was telling her how incredibly delicious Gage Bryant smelled, especially when he stood behind me and wrapped his strong arm around my stomach. I stumbled, not from the surprise of him touching me, but from the overwhelming arousal that shot through my body as his fingers brushed against my stomach. Even through the pink dress shirt I wore his hand still branded me like a hot iron. It had been hard enough to maintain any façade of professional composure with him in the room much less with him touching me. More than once during the photos, I caught Penny smiling, looking like she was fighting bursting into giggles. We were circling each other and had to look ridiculous.

What was more frustrating was that if I had to guess, it appeared Gage was struggling with the same thing. But he couldn't be.

I had definitely angered him when he found out I followed him out of the press conference. That anger at some point had shifted to something else, and I didn't know if it was because he was trying his best to be cordial for Brandon’s sake, or if it was something else.

It also didn’t matter. He was a story and that was it. I just had to stop thinking of how attractive he was.

"There's nothing I can tell you that you don't already know. Gage is hot, he's much taller and bigger in person than I expected him to be, and under all of that he seems like a really decent guy." And when he touched me I got so turned on I couldn’t help but imagine him as the man from Velvet.

And doing that had disaster written all over it. Gage Bryant was the subject of a story.

My job. That was all.

Across from me, Amanda crossed her arms and pouted. “You're no fun. And I think you're breaking about a dozen rules of the girl’s club."

“What are those rules?" I asked. I took a sip of my white wine and sat back against the booth.

"The rule," she said dramatically, leaning forward, splaying out her hand along the table. “Is that it is required to spill every detail about any celebrity sighting, especially one as private as Gage Bryant. Really, it’s disappointing I have to explain this to you."

“You’re a nut. There's nothing to tell. I'm trying to be professional."

“Ugh.” She rolled her eyes and reached for her wine, shaking her head. “You and your ethics. You’re a disappointment to the profession.”

I wadded up a napkin and tossed it at her face. “You’re weird.”

“And I’m horny as heck just thinking about you getting to spend this much time around the guy. I mean, he’s an enigma. He barely updates his social media. He’s rarely caught out around town. It seems like he doesn’t have a personal life at all because the only time we see him is at volunteer or team events. Don’t you think that’s strange?”

“What, that he wants his privacy?”

“No, silly. That in the four years he’s been here, there’s never been a single word of him dating someone. I mean, look at Beaux Hale or Oliver Powell. They’re in the news all the time with their wives, and they were before they were married. Powell could hardly step out of the hotel he always used to stay at with a woman on his arm and not have it hit the Raleigh Rich and Famous blogs.”

“So you think it’s strange he’s a football player and he isn’t a player off the field?” Amanda’s logic was a curious thing.

“Well, yeah.”

I waved her off. “It doesn’t matter. My job isn’t to uncover some hidden secret about his love life, and after meeting Brandon today and spending time with him, I really need to focus on the story.” I hadn’t been able to get the little boy out of my head since yesterday. It was the only reason I agreed to go out for a drink with Amanda even though I was short on time. I still needed to get dressed for a fundraising dinner in a few hours, but I figured a quick bite and a glass of wine would calm my nerves, get me relaxed so I could focus.

Because yeah…afterspending an afternoon around Gage, I was totally distracted. Mostly because I wanted to know every single thing about him, relevant to the story, and most definitely, not.

“See.” She pointed her finger at me and twirled it in a circle. “You’re so professional it’s sickening.”

“Can I remind you that you’re the one who told me yesterday morning not to go digging too hard in the direction you’re talking about?”

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