CHAPTER 17 BEN
“Well that was unexpected,” Kaylee says as she bends down to pick up her shirt, and I laugh.
“Jack and I are meeting here at five. He told me to let myself in if I got here before him since he had a meeting and Kate is working with Ellie until five, so I took a chance you’d be here and got here early.” I pull off the condom and tuck the monster back in before I zip up.
Her eyes fall to my abdomen before they flick back up to mine. “Good plan.”
I pull my shirt back on, and she gives me a sad face.
I chuckle, and then I use the front hall bathroom to clean up.
When I emerge from the bathroom, I find Kaylee stretched across the couch.
She’s so damn gorgeous lying there all relaxed with that afterglow surrounding her.
The monster perks up. Damn…he’s already up and at ‘em for another round.
I sigh as I walk into the room, and I sit on the couch next to her. We’re quiet a beat, and then I issue the question I’ve sort of been dreading. “Can we talk a second?”
“Yeah. I think we should.”
I nod. “We probably should’ve had this chat before I fucked you in your brother’s foyer, but I couldn’t seem to help myself.”
She laughs, and I blow out a breath as I suddenly feel unsure about how to start this conversation.
I lead with age. “I’m an entire decade older than you. You were seventeen the first time I saw you as someone other than my buddy’s sister. But it was illegal back then.”
“It’s not illegal now,” she points out.
“Touché, but it’s not exactly ethical now, you know?” I say the words as I carefully avoid mentioning her brothers, though that’s what I mean. I don’t want her to feel like this is just one more thing in her life her brothers are ruining for her, but it’s still part of the truth of the matter.
“So?” She shrugs as she brushes off my concerns about her brothers. “Age is just a number, and it’s not like we’re committing to anything. It’s just fun, right?”
My shoulders sag with a bit of relief. “That’s all?” I ask.
She nods. “That’s all it can be. Don’t you think?”
“That’s all I’m capable of.” My tone is cautious as I think about the reasons why I can’t be in a relationship.
“Can we keep this our little secret?” she asks, and more relief hammers in my chest as she keeps talking.
“Due to family bullshit, for one, on top of the fact that I’m not in a place right now to get into anything more than that.
I’m new to town, I’m twenty-two…and then there’s my job.
With your well-earned reputation, it wouldn’t be a good look for a first-year teacher who’s already on thin ice, you know? ”
I raise a brow and give her a sly smile. “My well-earned reputation? What, exactly, does that mean?”
She laughs. “Everybody knows you kill it on the field, but off the field you’re a party guy. You love strip clubs and drinking and smashing beer cans on your head. I just want to have some quiet, private fun.”
I shake my head. “Wow.”
Her brows dip. “What?”
“You’re a pretty cool chick.”
She raises a brow and crosses her arms over her chest. “Chick?”
“Um…woman?” I guess, hoping that’s an approved word.
She nods. “Better.”
I laugh.
“Jack will be home soon,” she says. “When can I see you again?”
My eyes flick to her chest. “Tomorrow night? My place. I have a dinner but after that.” I say it before I think it through.
I don’t really invite chicks—uh, women—back to my place. It’s my safe haven away from the antics of my social calendar. I’m more of a back room at a strip club or take it back to her place kind of guy…but something prompted me to allow those words to fall out of my mouth with this particular woman.
It’s because she lives with her brother and I want to fuck her again without worrying about him walking in on us. Typically the women in my contact list don’t have roommates I need to be concerned about.
But there’s just something different about Kaylee Dalton.
Maybe it’s because I’ve known her a lot of years and she’s related to two guys I trust with my life.
Maybe it’s because she grew up around this life, so I don’t have to worry about her intentions with me or that she’ll be scared off by my career.
This girl doesn’t seem scared of a damn thing…except anyone in her family finding out about what we’re doing in secret.
Maybe that’s what I like about her.
She’s my forbidden little secret…and I’m hers, too.
There’s something intrinsically hot about that. Family dinners where I can slide a finger into her under the table?
Hot as fuck.
Finding a secret room where I can get her all the way off?
Hot as fuck.
Secret sex against her brother’s front door?
Hot as fuck.
And it’s not just the heat level, though it’s arguably at lava.
Somehow she’s digging her way in. When she was the one that said she didn’t want anything more than sex, I found myself…disappointed?
I don’t want anything serious, either. It’s just not how I operate.
For one thing, I’m only guaranteed one more year in Vegas, and that’s if I’m actually able to play all season.
I don’t know where I want to set down roots.
Montana, probably. The air there is just different.
I’d like to stay full time at my quiet house near the mountains to escape the hustle of life, but I’d also like a place right on the Strip in Vegas in the center of the action.
I’m in my thirties. I should know these things, but I’ve become a bit of a nomad over the years I’ve been playing pro football.
And for another thing, I didn’t win my “well-earned reputation” by sitting on the sidelines.
It’s my fucking brand at this point. If I settle down with one woman, I erase everything I’ve built over the last decade I’ve been playing pro football.
I earned that rep by hosting my annual Beach Bash and by indulging in life’s greatest pleasures as I make the sorts of headlines that disappoint my team owners.
I earned it with viral videos of my shenanigans and my occasional penchant to tell it to the press with a little too much honesty.
I earned it by blocking the fuck out of the opposing line and making clutch catches and running in for a touchdown at whatever key moment I need to.
So why did hearing Kaylee refer to said reputation pierce a pang through my chest?
She was a kid when I first met her, and even if she hadn’t been a pre-teen, it wouldn’t have mattered. I was on a bender as I drank until I passed out most nights back then while I tried to get past what Tatum did to me.
It took a hell of a long time.
But I learned more than one valuable lesson from it.
For one thing, I learned that life is too damn short to waste it on anything other than having a good time.
I learned that building myself into a brand was the way to become one of the most recognizable faces in the league, and being a recognizable face meant a hell of a lot of money from sponsorships and endorsements.
And most of all, I learned that relationships only result in pain and suffering. You’d think I would’ve learned that from watching what my parents went through, but I still decided to try it for myself.
And I wound up a twenty-two-year-old fool as the slap of rejection stung my very soul.
Never again.
That’s what I promised myself.
“Text me your address,” she says, and then she grabs the TV remote and turns it on. She navigates to a music app and some country song starts to play.
“What the fuck is this?” I ask as the twang reaches my ears.
“Florida Georgia Line.”
“Country? You listen to country music?”
Her brows dip. “Yeah. What’s wrong with country?”
“It’s…” I flail around as I try to come up with any legitimate reason why country music sucks. “It’s stupid. My Cat Got Stuck Under My Truck and Now I’m Sad. What the fuck is that?”
“That isn’t a real song,” she says. “But there is one called ‘You’re the Reason Our Kids are Ugly.’” She snickers, and I can’t help my own laugh. “What kind of music do you like?” she asks as she sits up.
I shrug. “Classic rock. Current rock. Occasionally I’ll listen to rap.”
“I like all those too. Perhaps it’s time to expand your horizons.” She gives me a pointed glance. “First I’ll get you to stop using chicks. Next up is adding some country music to your playlist.”
I scoff. “Stop trying to change me, woman.”
She laughs and shrugs as she throws her hands up in the air helplessly. “It’s not me. It’s my magical pussy.”
“It is pretty damn magical.” I lean over and plant a kiss on her lips.
“Didn’t you grow up in the country?” she asks.
“Yeah,” I admit. What I don’t admit is that this country boy found a country girl and we attended country music fests and now all things country remind me of the girl who broke me. “But then I discovered the musical genius of Nickelback.”
Her brows knit together in horror. “Nickelback?” she practically screeches. “Are you serious?”
I laugh. “Yeah. Why?”
“That might be a deal-breaker for me.”
I laugh. “Good thing we’re just fucking around then. But seriously…what’s wrong with Nickelback? They’re actually like the eleventh best-selling rock band of all time.”
She just stares at me as she tilts her head a little. “Okay. You give country music a shot, and I’ll try Nickelback.”
I press my lips together. “No deal.” I shake my head. “Are we still on for tomorrow night?”
“Yeah,” she says with a twinkle in her eye. “But maybe with no music, ‘kay?”
“Deal.” I lean down to kiss the fuck out of her one more time, and just as I finish, we hear a door open.
Her wide eyes meet mine, and I laugh as I try to push away the disappointment I feel that we’re no longer alone.
But tomorrow night…my place…
She’s mine.