Page 84 of Wicked Player

“I know.” His hands were at my hips, still holding me to him. Even through his soft Ohio State T-shirt, I felt the heat of his palms. The gentle brushes from his thumbs inside my hip bones.

His cock was hard against my ass, making concentration difficult.

A lot of this could have been avoided too if once he recognized me, he was upfront about it. Instead, he’d played his game, using me at Velvet while getting closer to me outside of it. Was I a game to him at the beginning?

That thought hurt even worse.

I dragged a finger down his chest, through his coarse hair there I loved so much. I loved he didn’t shave everything. He was all man and muscle and heart and brain.

“Connor had a point though.”

His hand gripped my finger and the speed of it made me gasp, meet him eye-to-eye. “Did he?” His jaw jutted and I almost smiled.

He hated Connor almost as much as I did, and I didn’t hate anyone, but Connor was at the top of my strongly-dislike forever list.

“I’m up for a promotion. I can’t have attention on me now, either. Not with that and if I embarrass the station…I’ve always wanted to be on the prime time news, sitting behind the desk, not out in the field. It’s my dream and it’s important to me. Connor made a point. NDA’s or not at Velvet, you’re too recognizable, at least now with the hospital. And if I get that promotion, if someone finds out…”

I trailed off. I didn’t want to end things with him. I wanted Gage. I was falling in love with him and the mere idea of not having him in my life was unquestionable.

But was the timing right?

“I destroyed Connor’s phone,” Gage said, and the admission made me laugh.

“What?”

He nodded, brought my hand to his mouth, kissed my fingertips oh so sweetly and then pressed my hand back to his chest. His heart thumped beneath his skin, and he held me there, feeling the beat of his heart as for the first time all day, his eyes gleamed.

“Went back into Super Bowl, ripped the phone out of his hand and stomped it to shreds. Then I handed him a thousand bucks, told him to get a new phone, and warned him that if those pictures showed up, ever, on any outlet, I’d do worse to his balls.” He grinned shamelessly. “Not one of my finer moments, but I don’t really give a fuck either. I think he got my message.”

I imagined Connor’s face during that and my head fell forward. My shoulders shook with laughter and I collapsed against Gage’s chest.

“We’ve done this all wrong, you know?”

He tensed beneath me and his hand went to my scalp, ran through my hair. Delicious tingles spiked down my neck and spine. “What’s wrong?”

“It was supposed to be a night of sex. Maybe we shouldn’t have continued that, not after you realized…”

“When I realized the woman I couldn’t get out of my head was sitting in the front row of my first press conference? Yeah, I should have done something then, but I was worried you’d either done that knowing who I was or wouldn’t again once you knew I was your story.”

“It could cost me my job.” I showed him my fear in my expression and the worry I had. “I can’t lose it, Gage.”

“I won’t let you. I took care of Connor and the pictures. And as for Velvet, I don’t need it if I have you. Besides,” he ran his hand under my shirt. Pressed it up my back and I shivered. Lord, he felt good. Was so damn tempting. “The hospital stuff ends this weekend. After that, everyone will go back to not caring about us. If you’re with me and you can get past how big of a dick I was, I’ll call Tristan right now and end my membership. Give me the time to prove you can trust me.”

I’d already made that call to Tristan’s surprise. I had too much baggage there. One with Connor, and if things between Gage and I didn’t work out, that was still the last place I’d want to return. I’d called the night I left the bowling alley. It could have been chalked up to a poor decision fueled by fury and wine, but in the morning when I woke up, I had no regrets.

I shoved my hand through his hair and grinned. “I don’t know if you know what you’re asking. We don’t really know each other at all and this could get messy.”

It was only a partial lie. I valued cleanliness and order to borderline obsessive tendencies.

He pulled me to him until our lips pressed together. “Then we’ll be messy together and maybe through all our own messes, together, something beautiful could form.”

I gasped at the beauty in his statement, the sincerity in his eyes, and the conviction in his tone. And then he kissed me.

I’d called him a thief for stealing my breath along with my heart, but you couldn’t steal something freely given, so I melted into him, kissed him back, and when he yanked down his pants, pressed the tip of his cock against my center, I shoved my panties to the side and took everything he gave to me.

“Gage,” I sighed his name as he filled me. My fingers clung to his shoulder.

“I know, Elizabeth. It’s fucking heaven being inside of you.”

---