16. Amber
AMBER
“ N ice work on your sports, media and culture piece, Ms. Henderson. Your writing has a certain edge to it that I haven’t seen in a while.
It’s refreshing.” Professor Madsen gave me a curt nod—her notorious sign of approval—and moved on to the student after me.
My insides wriggled and swelled at her compliment.
Maybe I’d been feeling down more than normal, because that simple statement combined with Jeff’s compliment caused me to smile so hard it hurt my face.
“Your theme of media bias was spot-on. Kinda jealous I didn’t think of it myself.” Kayla Crawford, a fellow senior who had been in most of my classes all four years, was the third person to give me a compliment. The world had to be ending. That was the only explanation.
“Thanks,” I mumbled, trying to hide the aggressive blush taking over my face. “I guess I’ve always been into sports.”
“Well it shows and I’m only like eighty percent proud and twenty percent angry at you…give or take twenty.”
I laughed and buttoned up my long red winter coat.
The wind was freezing and I wasn’t looking forward to the walk home.
But you’re going straight to Jeff’s and you know it.
My fingers shook with either nerves or adrenaline when I slipped on my gloves and said goodbye to Kayla.
Jeff’s unanswered text remained at the front of my mind.
Could I do this? Hook up with him…sober… and still work with him?
Was that a semi-relationship? No. It’s partners-in-an-investigation-with-benefits. My skin tingled when I thought about his mouth on me the night before…the way he’d brought my body to life and been so vocal about it. It’s never been like that before with anyone.
It could be fun to explore that with him.
My campus crush wants to sleep with me repeatedly.
I would be a fool to say no. God, I wish I could talk to Laney about this.
This is her territory, not mine. I had nothing to lose by doing this.
It wasn’t like I would fall for him. He thought me average and unremarkable. But he’s changed his tune.
I groaned and bent my head down to walk faster.
This was one of the times I wished I could invent a button that would stop all thoughts.
I was always in my head, second-guessing or doubting everything and just once, I wish I could let my body decide for me.
That’s why you drank and slept with random guys. It was primal.
God, I wanted a beer.
My heeled boots clicked on the sidewalk and, instead of letting my mind wonder about sleeping with Jeff, I thought about the investigation the rest of the way.
How would I go about reporting it if we broke it open?
Who would be the target, the face of the scandal?
The coach or my uncle? The players or the university?
If I did write up about it, what would be the goal? To expose them all?
What’s the new information Jeff has?
That was the question I repeated and focused on as I walked right by our house and to the baseball one.
This was the first time I’d visited Jeff in his domain and I wasn’t sure if I should call, text, or knock.
It was too cold to wait around so I rang the doorbell and pulled my coat tighter against my chest. I hated wearing tights and a dress most of the time, but it had been required for my presentation and the cold seeped into my legs.
“Hey, Henderson,” Aaron said, ushering me inside. “What’s going on?”
“Is Jeff here?” I asked, suddenly unsure.
Zade and Tanner sat on the couch and smiled at me in greeting, but I got the feeling they were all laughing at me.
Like they know the deal Jeff proposed to me.
“I’m supposed to meet up with him for my final project about athletes and how sports affect their education. ” Wow, I’m good at lying on the fly.
“He’s upstairs, but I’m a little pissed you chose him to write about. Any one of us would’ve been better options. We’re all more interesting.”
His attitude made me laugh and it was easy to relax around him. “I won’t disagree with you there.”
“At least you admit it. If you need better people to interview, let us know.”
“Yeah, I take way better photos than Maddow,” Zade chimed in. I was about to reply with a sarcastic comment when Jeff stormed down the stairs and leveled his intense stare at me. His gaze dropped from my face to my legs and he jutted his chin upstairs.
“Wanna get to work?”
“Nice to see you, too,” I mumbled and gave the rest of the guys a weak smile. “Maybe I will change the focus of the article onto you three.”
“You know where we live. The invitation is always open,” Zade said with a wink.
Jeff cleared his throat and each step I took closer to him, it felt like lead appeared in my shoes.
Nerves, excitement, doubt and lust merged into a lethal combination and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to strip down or run away. Focus on the information.
“These clowns get loud so I figured we can work upstairs.” He put his hand on my lower back and gently nudged me to head up. I held on to the railing and paused when I got to the top. “My room is on the left.”
It’s like I’ve never been in a dude’s bedroom before. I have, multiple times. The first thing that struck me was how clean his room was. The bed was made, the floor spotless, his entire desk organized and he even had curtains. “Damn, you’re clean.”
“Yeah.” He shut the door with a soft click, solidifying it was just the two of us now in his small room. “I’m covered in dirt when I’m behind the plate so when I come home, I need my area to be the opposite.”
“Interesting. I never would’ve pegged you for a clean freak,” I joked, finding it significantly easier than talking about the big what-if between us. He chuckled and reached out to place a hand on my shoulder.
“Want me to hang up your coat?”
“Oh shit. I forgot I was wearing one. Sure.” I undid each button and felt his stare on me.
He gave nothing away besides rubbing his lips together and I handed him the red jacket, leaving me in my very fitting professional black dress.
It hugged all my curves and made me feel powerful—hence for the presentation—but the way his gaze roamed my body had me fidgeting.
It was easy to invent all the negative things he could be thinking about me, but there was a heat to his eyes. Maybe I do look good?
“Why do you look so nice?” He hung up my coat on a hook on the back of his closet door.
“I had a presentation for one of my classes.” I eyed the options to sit down and wished I’d gone home to change into sweats first. There was no real ladylike way to sit on a bed in panty-hose. “We get graded on professional appearance and this is one of my three power outfits.”
“I’ll say. The sheer things you’re wearing on your legs are distracting. I’d say that’s powerful.”
My face warmed, but Jeff didn’t waste a second before reaching out and placing his on my sides. “You’re maddening.”
“Me?” My voice came out throaty and flirty when he slid his large hands up and started massaging my neck. It felt really goddamn good and I closed my eyes.
“Yes, you.” His voice dropped to a dangerously low tone. “Have you thought about it?”
“The investigation?” I responded, damn well ignoring the intent of his question. He responded with a growl and moved his hands to my chin, using his thumb to trace my bottom lip.
“You’re toying with me, Amber, and I’m having a hard time being a gentleman right now. I want nothing more than to rip this dress off you and finish what we started last night but before I can, I need you to say yes.”
“Investigators-with-benefits?”
“I don’t give a fuck what you call it. I just want to make you feel good and be inside you.”
A whimper escaped from the back of my throat and my gaze snapped open to see his amused expression. He heard it and knew I was seconds away from caving. But then lifted the veil of worry I wore. “We’ll go as slow or as fast as you want but, Amber, we both know how explosive it would be between us.”
“Okay.”
His answering grin sent a thrill through me. “Turn around. I want to take this dress off you, but I don’t want to damage it.”
I obeyed and trembled when he slowly undid the zipper from my neck to just above my ass.
He grazed my spine with one of his fingers, causing me to shiver, and I bit down on my lip to prevent any unwarranted sounds.
The material slid to the floor and, in broad daylight, I stood in Jeff Maddow’s room in a black bralette, boy-shorts and pantyhose.
But instead of being insecure and nervous, I felt alive.
He stood behind me, running his mouth over my neck while his fingers teased my already hard nipples. “Mm, you taste just as good as I remember.”
“Really?” My voice shook when he spread my legs wider with his own. It left me completely exposed and I gasped when he reached between my thighs and teased the outside of my panties.
“I wonder if you’ll taste just as good down there. I’d really like to find out, Amber.” He pinched my nipples hard, relaxing his grip before doing it again, and I moaned at the pleasure of it. “But first, I’d like to suck on your pretty tits for a while.”
My entire body shook with need when he picked me up like I was nothing and placed me onto his bed—not with my head on his pillow though.
My legs hung over the side, giving him the perfect angle to kneel between my thighs.
He removed the bralette with ease and gave me a scorching stare before swirling my nipple in his warm mouth.
“I love this,” I moaned. “Never enjoyed it before… oh! ” He sucked it hard and used his free hands to slide my panty-hose down my legs, over my feet and onto the floor.
“It’s probably fucked up,” he said, kissing down my body, stopping just at the lace of my panties. “But pushing you outside your comfort zone is fucking hot.”