Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
~DANNY~
It’s later than anyone anticipated when we make it back to the hotel.
I heard Coach Watts say that he didn’t want to go to a restaurant and would rather just order some pizzas since they all seemed so tired.
He’s not wrong. They did all seem to be pretty tired.
I thought a night out would have energized them considering the win, but late-night pizzas and drinks in the hotel lobby seems to be just what the doctor ordered.
Mac is hanging out with her normal group of friends—Amelia, Cassie, and Hendrix.
They’re sharing a pitcher of beer. Although, she has more glasses than they do.
I like the idea of a tipsy Mac. Might mean some fun for me later.
I enjoy watching her all night. The way she laughs with her teammates is adorable, especially the way her nose wrinkles a bit.
“Could you stare at her any harder?” Nick asks as he brings me another beer. Traveling with the team means we can be around them, but the food and everything else is all for them. Nick and I bought our own subs from the pizza shop and beer from the hotel bar.
“I’m not staring at her,” I say, shaking my head.
“Really? Because when I was walking over here, I saw your eyes practically glued to that table. It looked like a wild horse couldn’t have torn you away from looking at that girl.”
“You’re an idiot. I was observing her for the article,” I defend.
“No, you were not. You may be able to pull that shit on August, but not on me. I’m not stupid, and I know what I saw.”
“You know nothing.” I sip my beer.
“What the fuck is going on with you two? Are you just banging or are there feelings here?”
“What are you, a woman?” I ask.
“Fuck off, man. You’re just deflecting. And poorly, I might add. Spill it. What’s the deal with the two of you?”
I look over at her for a beat longer than necessary. She catches me staring and sticks her tongue out at me, and I shake my head, laughing. Cassie pushes her shoulder, and she vehemently shakes her head at whatever is said.
“Earth to Danny,” Nick says.
“I’m not sure. I’m not even sure it’s possible for there to be a me and her. What would Cromwell say? He probably wouldn’t like it, and the team wouldn’t like it. It’s a whole thing.”
“Just like Romeo and Juliet. You two are star-crossed lovers,” Nick teases me.
I shake my head. “My journalistic integrity will be called into question, and you know it. I’ve looked at my article and attempted to not sound so glowingly happy about her, but it’s hard. She’s a great player and an even better person.”
“Really? Her? The one who you said not too long ago lacked attack? Are we talking about the same woman?”
“Yeah, we are.” I look at her again and see she’s still laughing and having a good time with her team.
“Hmm.” Nick sounds less than convinced.
“What? Say what you want to say.”
“It just seems to me that you should have known better than to start bedding the subject of our latest article. Did this happen before or after the article was assigned?”
“After,” I reply.
It earns me another shake of his head, this time in disgust. “That doesn’t help you. I wish you would have said before It would have been better to be before. Then you could have said it was a relationship before.”
“I don’t think either scenario makes it any better,” I reply, stealing another glance in the direction of the subject of my article and object of my latest affections.
“No, probably not. Cromwell is going to have your balls on a platter if he finds out.”
“Why, though? I’m writing a flattering article about her and the team. What’s the harm?” I know the answer, but I just want to hear him say it.
“The team is already under so much scrutiny. Someone will say that Cromwell couldn’t be bothered to get a reporter who could be objective.
He paid for the story he wanted, and he got it from the boyfriend of his team captain.
Who just happens, by the way, to be the son of a former NFL player, and whose articles people tend to check out just because of who his daddy is. ”
“Thank you for sugar coating it for my benefit,” I deadpan.
“Not in my nature.” He laughs at me and takes a sip of his beer. “Besides, you wouldn’t want it any other way.”
“I don’t know right now. I think I would prefer it if you would just lie to me.”
Nick laughs at me again and says, “Just trying to prepare you for the shitstorm this might bring your way. I hope the ass is worth it.”
I grit my teeth. “Please don’t talk about her that way.”
“Ah, so this isn’t just a casual thing. This is something you want to be more.”
“Fuck off. I don’t know. I’m not going to sit here and spill my feelings to you like we’re at some tea party.”
“No, you’d just rather take the striker upstairs and plow into her all night long.”
“Stop.” My tone is tense trying to tell him to knock it the fuck off. Nick just laughs and shakes his head.
His camera is with him, so he picks it up and takes a picture of her sitting there with her team. “Do you need me to send you copies of all the pictures I take of her for your spank bank? Because I can, you know.”
I flip him off. “You’re a real asshole.”
Nick gives me the finger right back.
“What are you two assholes over here talking about?” August asks as he and Jase join us.
“Nothing much,” I reply. “In fact, I think I’m going to hit the hay soon.”
I look over and see the team is dispersing too.
“You guys should hang out,” August says. “We don’t have an early flight tomorrow. It could be fun to have a boys’ night. And Jase here doesn’t have a lot of friends.” August playfully shoves Jase, and he flips him off.
“You do realize that you’re not exactly rolling in friends, Mr. Son of the Team’s Owner,” Jase throws back at him.
We all laugh, but August just shrugs. “What can I say? No one likes to hang out with the boss’s son.”
“True dat,” Jase says playfully.
“Even with that tempting offer, I’m heading to bed.” I rise to my feet. “I will see you all in the morning.”
“Sure thing. See you around the breakfast buffet. That is, if you have the energy to get out of bed in the morning,” Nick says, staring at me pointedly.
It makes me stop and stare at him for a moment. I shoot him a warning glare and shake my head. “Nah, not hitting the gym tonight,” I try to play it off, but I can see that Jase and August are staring at me, faces marred with confusion.
Before they can ask any more questions, I hurry out of the hotel lounge and up to my room. I pull out my phone and shoot her text.
Danny: Are you in a single room or are you sharing?
I wait for the reply as I wait for the elevator. Just as it arrives, my phone buzzes in my hand.
Mac: Single. But there are teammates all around.
Danny: I’m on a separate floor. Last minute booking so I’m completely separate from the team. Come to me?
Mac: In more ways than one.
I smirk at her response and send her my room number. I make it to my room and a minute later, Nick shoots me a text.
Nick: Don’t do it, dude. You’re just asking to be caught.
I don’t bother to answer him because she’s already knocking on my door.
I take a look in the peephole to make sure that it’s her before opening the door. “How in the hell did you get here so fast?”
“I took the stairs,” she says, looking over her shoulder before hurrying into my room.
I close the door quickly, and as soon as I do, she’s on me.
Her kiss tastes like honey as she captures my mouth with hers.
All thoughts of maybe we shouldn’t be doing this are lost as I kiss her.
I back her up so that she’s pressed against my room door.
Taking her hands in mine, I place them above her head and hold her against the door. I can feel her grin through the kiss.
Using one hand to pin her to the door, I take the other and run it along her jawline before dropping and groping her breast. She moans and juts her hips in my direction.
I grind against her, causing her to moan.
My lips leave hers and travel down to her breasts.
They’re covered in a yellow Blaze T-shirt, but the material is thin, so I nip and suck on them through her shirt and bra.
Her hips lift again toward me. I smirk, using my other hand to pull her shirt up and her bra down.
After freeing her breast from the bra, I take her nipple into my mouth and roll my tongue around it.
She’s a ball of want and need, even though I’ve barely touched her.
“Against the door or the bed?” I growl in her ear.
“Both,” she moans back.
That’s my girl.
I keep her pinned against the door as I kick off my shoes, then unbuckle my belt and thrust my jeans down my legs.
I step out of them and move to her leggings.
They come down so easily, and of course, she’s sans underwear.
I can smell her arousal already. Without a second thought, I plunge into her folds, and she cries out.
I kiss her mouth to cover her screams as I move in and out of her.
I push into her so hard it’s like I’m trying to make sure that Mac’s imprint is left on that door.
She doesn’t seem to mind, though. She doesn’t even struggle for me to remove her restraint.
She moves her hips, so they rise to meet me and draw me in deeper.
“Fuck, Mac. Fuck,” I murmur against her lips. I grab her leg and hoist it around my waist so that I’m deeper inside her. She groans and I can feel her walls tightening around me. She’s coming and I follow her soon after.
I release her leg and lower her hands. She rolls her shoulders and steps farther into the room, heading into the bathroom to clean herself.
I wipe off my dick with a stray towel I put on the desk earlier.
When she returns into the main room, she’s carrying her leggings, and her shirt is back down, with her bra righted.
I smile at the sight of her. “One of these times, I’m going to make sure I take my time with you.”
She smirks and shakes her head. “You know you don’t need to. I kinda like it when you take me hard and fast.”
I move forward and capture her lips with mine. “Sometimes it might be a nice change of pace to take my time with you and make it last.”
“Then we wouldn’t be us,” she reminds me.
“I could last longer than that if I wasn’t being so forceful with you.”
Shaking her head, she laughs. “I get it, you’re a stud.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“What were you and Nick talking about during dinner tonight?” she asks, changing the topic.
I sigh. “Us. He was giving me shit about it and reminding me that there’s no easy way out of this.
“Are you looking for a way out of this?”
“No, that’s not what I meant. He just meant that this isn’t going to end well for anyone once people find out we’re sleeping together.” I pull her to me, and we sit on the edge of the bed. “I think he’s just trying to look out for us or prevent a big blow up from occurring.”
“His livelihood is tied to yours, so that makes sense,” she replies.
“He’s just trying to make sure that neither one of us ends up screwed in the end,” I say, shrugging. “It’s fine. I don’t want to talk about it tonight.”
“Okay, sorry I brought it up.” She bumps her shoulder with mine. “It just looked like the conversation was getting pretty serious over there. I thought maybe he was trying to talk you out of this.”
“Nah, he could never do that,” I tell her.
We’re both quiet for a bit, and I finally ask her, “Are you worried that I’ll end this with you? Whatever it is we’re doing.”
She looks over at me in the dimly lit hotel room, her eyes fiercely blue. “Kinda” is all she says.
“I’m not a smart man. You don’t have to worry about that.” I slowly lay her back, and for the first time, I actually make love to her.
I remove all her remaining clothes and take in the beautiful woman lying before me.
Her toned legs, narrow waist, and abs that all of her hard work in soccer has brought her.
She looks like an angel with the way her blonde hair is fanned out around her.
I lean down and kiss her gently as I enter her.
Our lovemaking is slow and feels like it might be leading to more, and I wonder what she thinks of it.
But I don’t really have the courage to ask her once we’re lying there together.
Unfortunately, she can’t stay the night. She’s too worried that someone will notice she’s gone. After sneaking out of my room, she heads back to hers, and I’m left lying there alone in a room that still smells like sex and her.