Page 28 of Mad Rivals (The Bradley Legacy #1)

Clay Mack and Mad Brad

Kennedy is flying out Thursday after work, so I have an entire twenty-four hours in San Diego by myself.

I text Clay, and he invites me to his gym so we can work out together on Thursday morning as we continue getting to know each other.

He tells me he likes to swim as part of his workout, so I throw swim trunks into my gym bag at the last minute.

He’s waiting for me by the entrance when I walk in, and he slaps me on the back before we hit the weight room first. He spots me, and I spot him. We shoot the shit about life in San Diego, but it’s all surface shit.

He seems like someone I can talk to about Kennedy, but I’m not sure how to bring her up. While my immediate family is the worst choice to make my confessions, he might be someone who can help me put things in perspective.

We run on the treadmills and work up a sweat, and I peel off my shirt and hang it over one arm of the machine as I scale back my speed to start cooling down.

He glances over at me after he slows, too, and he says, “You seeing anybody?”

“Who’s asking?”

“Me. Wondering who left those scratch marks all over your back.”

“Unfortunate run-in with a tree branch,” I lie.

“They look more like fingernail scratches, but if you say so.”

“My cat,” I lie again.

He laughs and holds up both hands. “Like I’d believe you have a cat. You don’t have to make shit up.”

“It’s this woman back in Chicago. It’s just the worst possible timing, you know?”

“Because you’re moving here?” he guesses.

I nod. I don’t want to give too much away since I don’t know him, yet this sort of feels like a bonding moment.

“Can she move with you?”

“We just started seeing each other,” I say. “It’s complicated.”

“Yeah. Anyone who leaves marks like that is definitely complicated.”

I chuckle. He’s not wrong. “I’ve never been in a serious relationship. Have you?”

He nods. “Once. But I was young and fucked it up, so I swore them off. What’s your excuse?”

“My career.” I shrug. “It’s just easier this way. Less to manage.”

“Women certainly do complicate things, don’t they?”

I press my lips together and nod. My life feels like it’s been one complication after another since I bumped into her at that Starbucks one fateful morning, and here I am, mooning over the fact that I’ve started falling for her when I should be focused on workouts and the upcoming season with a new team.

“So the question is, can you live without her in your life?” he says. “If you can, then you can leave her behind in Chicago and explore the vast and wonderful opportunities here in San Diego as my sidekick. But if you can’t, well, you figure that shit out. I’m not your man for advice on that. ”

I bark out a laugh. “One thing, Mack,” I say, and he glances at me with raised brows. “I’m nobody’s sidekick.”

He laughs with me, and we call it a day on the treadmills and head for the pool.

I don’t feel all that much better about my situation, but I do feel a new bond with a teammate. That’s the thing about working out. Sometimes you’re working out more than just your body, and your mind gets some benefits as well.

I guess it feels like a bit of a load off my shoulders.

It doesn’t solve world issues, but it helps that I already have someone here I can confide in, and I can see us becoming good friends.

He’s been here in San Diego a few years now, and he’s a lot like me.

He’s a wide receiver, he’s single, and he doesn’t bother with relationships.

The other receivers—Spencer Nash, DJ Evans, Trey Clark, and Zach Moore—are all either married or have significant others.

So it’s Clay Mack and Mad Brad for the win, a phrase I hope to hear a lot this season.

After workouts, I touch base with a realtor recommended by Spencer. He put together a schedule of places to view this weekend, and I’m more excited than I should be that I’ll have Kennedy with me to give me another perspective as I click through the photos he sent over.

I shower, and it’s as I’m getting out that I hear a knock at my door. I glance at the clock and realize I lost track of time, and I run over to the door as I wrap a towel around my waist, my hair still dripping with beads of water as I open the door.

I find Kennedy standing there looking as gorgeous as ever. Her hair is down and a little wavy, and she’s wearing a pair of jeans and a plain white T-shirt.

Her surprised eyes immediately and greedily dart down to my abdomen. I glance down at my body with the small hotel towel wrapped around it. “Sorry. I lost track of time.”

“Uh,” she says, dragging her bottom lip between her teeth. “No, uh. Actually, this is perfect.” She sets her hands on my abs and pushes me into my own hotel room, and I laugh as she yanks her suitcase in and kicks the door shut behind her. She stalks toward me.

Saturday night was our night together. We haven’t seen each other since she left on Sunday. It’s been only four days.

And somehow with her here in front of me again, I realize one important fact.

“I missed you,” I say as she moves in closer.

She runs her fingertips along my forehead, and she curls her finger around my ear as her eyes find mine. “I missed you too.”

I lean down and press my lips to hers, and she melts right into me. It’s the way she does that, how her body just seems to mold to mine, that makes this so fucking addictive.

I have nowhere to go tonight. I wasn’t planning on leaving this hotel room. I was going to order food in and spend the evening naked.

And it appears her plans are in line with mine as she tugs at the spot where my towel is tucked into itself. We both let it drop to the floor.

She’s been here less than a minute, and I’m already naked, my mouth opening to intensify our kiss as she kisses me back with urgency and need.

She reaches between us and tugs on my cock, and all the blood in my body rushes right there at the feel of her hands on me.

I grunt into her mouth as she starts to stroke me off, and I’m desperate to feel her, too, but she’s got me by the balls.

Literally.

She breaks our kiss and bends down. Her hands never leave my cock, and she holds me around the base of my cock, wrapping her thumb and forefinger around me as best she can with my size, taking my balls in her palm as she starts to stroke me.

She stops at the tip of my cock, and she licks the bead of precum that’s already formed there.

Her tongue flattens as she licks me from tip to base, and she follows the movement with her fist around me .

“Jesus,” I mutter, drawing out the e sound at the feel of her mouth on me.

She sucks my tip between her lips, and I feel like I’m about to shoot four days’ worth of buildup to the back of her throat.

She feels so fucking amazing, and it’s just the tip.

Then she deep throats me, taking me all the way back until the tip she just had between her lips bumps the back of her throat, and I grip onto the back of her head to hold myself there for a few seconds.

I let go, and she sucks in a breath before we do it again.

“Do you like it when my cock fills your mouth?” I ask, and she looks up at me, and I’m fucking done.

Is there a more beautiful sight than my cock in this woman’s mouth while she looks up at me with that begging look in her eyes like she wants me to give her everything I have?

I shift my hips back to let her answer.

“I love it. But I love it more when it’s filling my pussy.” She’s panting, and she pulls me right back into her mouth as soon as the words are out.

Holy fuck.

“We have all weekend for that,” I grit out, my jaw clenched as I force myself to hold off. “And right now, I want to fuck your mouth.”

I start to move, shifting my hips back into her, and she simply opens her mouth and accepts it. She keeps her fingers around the base of my cock with my balls nestled in her hand, and the other hand follows the path I make as I move in and out of her mouth each time.

Her mouth is hot and wet and perfect, and when our eyes meet again, I’m fucking done. She’s looking up at me with all this innocence and need, as if she can’t quite get enough of me even though I’m stuffing her mouth with my cock, and she’s just so fucking pretty like that on her knees for me.

“Fuck,” I mutter as I feel my balls draw up. She seems to get more enthusiastic in her sucking, as if she can tell I’m about to lose it. “I’m gonna come,” I say, a little warning in case she doesn’t want my seed going down her throat, and she doesn’t shift a fucking centimeter as my body erupts.

White-hot jets of cum spill out of me, and I feel her swallow around me as my climax goes on and on for what feels like forever.

Her mouth is pure magic, and she swallows down every last drop I have to give.

She licks me clean like she can’t get enough, and it’s just one more thing to pull me even closer to her.

I’m fucking spent, and she hasn’t removed a stitch of clothing yet.

She gently lets me go, and she pushes to her feet. “I just love my first time in San Diego so far,” she says, her voice hoarse and low as her eyes meet mine. She winks at me, and then she takes off for the restroom.

I grab the towel from the floor and wipe myself off as I can’t help but think I’m growing to like this town more and more with every visit.