Page 42 of Score to Settle (Oakwood Ranch #1)

THIRTY-ONE

JAKE

FLIC: You OK? You left the bar in quite the rage last night.

JAKE: All good. Thanks for the distraction with the shots!

FLIC: You got your girl?

JAKE: Yep.

FLIC: Good. Spare me the details! Have you seen the news?

My dick wakes me. A morning hard-on so thick it’s almost painful. I shift back, trying not to jam the thing into Harper’s ass like some horny eighteen-year-old.

“That’s one hell of an alarm clock, Sullivan,” Harper murmurs in a sleepy voice from beside me.

I chuckle. “Sorry. Mind of its own.”

She shifts around so I’m on my back and she’s nestling against my chest, one leg hooked over mine.

Her chestnut hair has dried wavy from the shower we took together last night.

“What’s the time?” she asks, stretching her beautiful and very naked body in a way that makes my dick go from hard to rock-hard.

“Still early. Seven, I think.” I glance to the window, where the first streaks of dawn are cutting across the sky. We’ve barely been asleep three hours. I’m bone-tired and buzzing and the two feel so good together.

Winning our game last night puts us in playoff position.

Considering how we started the season, to be here now feels nothing short of a miracle, and I know I’ve played the best football of my life this month.

Harper brings out the best in me. And now she’s in my bed and we have nowhere we need to be today.

No more misunderstandings or holding back.

Just us. And I plan to make the most of it.

Harper pulls herself up and my eyes fall to her breasts. My mind blanks and all I can think about is kissing her.

“You’re so beautiful,” I say.

She grins like she can read my mind. “I’m going to freshen up.”

“You’re coming back though, right?” I smirk.

“I wouldn’t leave you with a hard-on like that, Jake. You could hurt someone walking around with that between your legs.”

I laugh and reach for my phone as she disappears from the room.

I fire a reply to Flic’s message, and when her next one arrives, tension snakes through me.

I open up the Denver gossip site, remembering squaring off with Gordon in the bar.

I’m expecting a photo of that moment or even one of Cherry on my arm, but it’s neither.

What the fuck? I laugh at the photo of me on the website. Seriously?

“What is it?” Harper asks from the doorway.

I look up and she’s wearing an old Stormhawks jersey of mine. A grin spreads over my face. “Don’t ever wear anything else,” I say.

“I’m naked under this shirt.”

“Even better. Come here.”

She moves toward me and I reach up, pulling her into me and sweeping her from her feet, making her giggle. She smells of toothpaste and soap. As she presses her body against me, I realize this photo doesn’t just affect me. It affects her too, and she might not be as amused.

“There’s been a story about me,” I say.

She shoots me a questioning look. “And you’re OK about it? I seem to remember you were pretty unhappy last time.”

“This one is different. It’s…” I swipe open my phone and show her the screen and the photo of me from last night’s game.

I’m on the field in my Stormhawks jersey and shoulder pads, helmet under my arm.

It’s during one of the breaks. The camera has caught me searching the crowd with an expression of a lovesick puppy on my face.

Harper swipes down to read the headline.

IS STORMHAWKS STAR JAKE SULLIVAN IN LOVE?

I can’t stop the smile from spreading across my face as I read the speculation about the mystery woman in the skybox I was caught looking at during last night’s game. The article ends with another question: WHO IS JAKE’S GIRL?

“Oh,” Harper says, her body tensing. Something drops in the pit of my stomach. Her editor warned her not to cross this line with me. I hate that this story could affect her. Affect us.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I know you’d rather not be dragged into this.”

She makes a face. “It’s not that. It’s just… enough people on the team know I’m from Sports Magazine , writing a feature on you. It’s only a matter of time before my name gets mentioned and my editor, Tim, finds out.”

“There are no rules against it,” I say gently.

“It’s hardly appropriate though, is it? In the next few weeks, Tim is going to choose between me and another journalist. There’s only one job and Tim warned me not to sleep with you…”

“But if you write an amazing piece on me, he’s hardly going to fire you, is he?”

Harper frowns. “Amazing or not, it looks bad for the magazine that we’ve formed a relationship.

I’m supposed to be impartial. People will assume anything positive I write is because we’re sleeping together.

” She sighs before turning her gaze on me, searching my face.

“What about you? I thought you hated this stuff?”

“Yeah, when it’s not true. But I was looking for you in the skybox.”

Harper’s cheeks flush and she gives a shy smile. I lean close and kiss her gently.

“Are you OK?” I ask again.

“There’s not much I can do about it now. I’d better email Tim today and hope he doesn’t fire me.”

“I’m sorry I’ve dragged you into the spotlight,” I say.

She shakes her head and swings her leg around to straddle me. “I wish it wasn’t all over the internet, but I’m not sorry and you haven’t dragged me into this either.”

She leans down, pressing her lips to mine and I’m lost in her kiss.

My hands find the smooth skin of her thighs then up her body, pushing the jersey higher.

I take my time worshipping every inch of her.

When I finally slide inside her, it’s pure bliss.

Like coming home. The connection between us is fire and heat, but there’s a depth that adds an intensity I’ve never felt before.

Like she can see right into the heart of me, the real me.

“Tell me why we’re doing this again?” I ask, scrunching my eyes against the bright sunlight bouncing off the two feet of brilliant white snow that fell in the night. “We could be in bed right now.” The air is cold and fresh and invigorating despite thinking of other things I’d like to be doing.

Harper laughs, thumping my arm as snow crunches under our boots.

“We’ve been in bed all morning. We need air and Buck needs a walk.

And just look at this place…” She waves a hand to the paddocks, glistening with a blanket of white.

Beyond it, the normally brown foothills are covered in fresh white like the distant mountains.

I draw in a deep breath and cold air hits the bottom of my lungs. The ranch is a picture-perfect winter wonderland, which Buck is doing his best to charge and jump through, his yellow fur stark against the white, tail wagging furiously at the delight of the changed landscape.

As we make our way toward the lake, I slip my hand into Harper’s. She seems surprised for a moment, but a second later she’s entwining her fingers with mine. The lake is covered with a layer of frosty ice. The trees around it are heavy with snow, their branches drooping under the weight.

“Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?” Harper says as Buck shoves his face in a drift of snow, appearing a moment later with a white nose, making us both laugh.

I look down at Harper. Her cheeks are flushed from the cold, her hair beneath the white bobble hat still tousled from being in my bed. Her eyes dance with delight.

“Yes, I have,” I say, wrapping my arms around her.

She laughs, loud and free. “Smooth, Jake. Very smooth.”

I know without a doubt that I’m crazy for this woman.

I’m not just falling anymore. I’ve fallen.

I’m all the way gone. I want to tell her, shout it into the icy air, but I hold back.

This feeling thrumming through my body is still so new.

So I pull her tighter against my chest and pour my feelings into our kiss.