Page 47

I see him walking across the field with Harper.

It’s hard not to see him. He’s a tall drink of water at around six feet, three inches, and he’s an NFL player—which means he’s got some muscles even though he’s lean. But it’s not just that. He’s walking with the even taller, much larger defensive lineman, and their daughters are best friends. They’re constantly surrounded by a throng of people who want photos, and I bet he’s wishing right about now that he could’ve sent Harper by herself to the spring festival.

The staff is after him for donations. This is our school’s annual fundraiser, after all.

The parents are after him because they’re fans of the local NFL team.

And the students, especially the older boys, are after him because he’s their hero.

And me…well, I guess I’m not after him after all, but I can’t seem to stop thinking about him. I hate him, but I want him, and I’m starting to wonder whether we just need to find a night together so we can bang it out of our systems. Maybe he can be a notch in my belt and I can finally alleviate this ache that’s been pulsing between my thighs since that kiss at the Gridiron.

I tear my eyes away from him. “Go ahead,” I say to a small group of kids waiting their turn for the bounce house I’m currently manning. No more than ten at a time, so I have to wait for a few to exit before letting the next group in.

It’s tedious and boring, but it’s my duty tonight. I glance at my watch. Five more minutes at this post, and then I get a fifteen-minute break before I have to work a different bounce house. There are eight here in total, and I just want this night to be over so I can head home and grab a glass of Tito’s over ice, but the night is just getting underway. I have three more forty-five minute shifts before I can have my vodka.

I call in to have a few kids come out, and the next group goes in. Out and in, out and in.

Jennifer Elliott, the first grade teacher, walks over to me. “Break time,” she says with a smile.

“Enjoy your post. I just let a new group in, and I’ve been giving them five or so minutes before I switch them out.”

She nods, and I head up toward the building where my office is. I go to the bathroom first to freshen up and wash my hands, and then I head toward my office to grab a piece of gum out of my purse. I open the door and flick on the light, and I’m bending over the drawer where I keep my purse with my ass toward the door when I hear a deep, gravelly voice.

“Well, that’s certainly a view.”

I straighten and whip around, dropping the package of gum in the process. “What are you doing here?” My hand flies to my chest, and my heart is thundering…and not because he just startled me.

He shrugs. “I spotted you walking this way, and…”

He trails off.

“The last time you didn’t end a sentence, I spent hours analyzing what you might’ve meant, so if you could finish that, I’d appreciate it,” I say dryly.

He glances both ways down the hallway before he breaks the threshold of my office.

He walks toward me, and each step he takes feels menacing. My heart pounds so loudly I’m sure he can hear it. I hear it rushing through my ears.

“And I wanted to see you,” he finishes. He stops a few steps away from me.

I move back a few paces to give myself more room, but he matches me step for step until I bump into the wall.

There’s nowhere left to go.

“Why?” I demand.

“Because I haven’t stopped thinking about that kiss at the Gridiron, and I want to kiss you again.” He moves in closer until his hips are against mine, and that whole package that was clearly evident through his gray sweatpants is pressed up against me.

My mouth opens and flaps around a little as I find myself without words.

“Because I actually had fun with you the night you came to cook dinner for us,” he says, and he moves his hips against me.

I gasp as I feel his hard length.

“Because I think you want me, too, and I think we should stop denying this.” He does that hip thing again, and I lean my head back against the wall and close my eyes as I breathe him in.

He moves his lips close to my ear. “I want to feel you, Hartley.” The way he rasps my name sends a dart of need straight through me, and I shiver at the feel of his hot breath near my ear.

My body betrays me as my hips push against his for any tiny bit of friction. His lips find my neck, and he slowly trails up my neck until his mouth collides with mine.

God, his kiss is even better than I remember. This one is heated and forbidden since we’re in my freaking office , but it’s better than a bar bathroom hallway.

My hands move to his jaw, the scruff there prickly against my fingers but reminding me that this is real.

He’s kissing me again. This is really happening, and the irritation and hate I feel for him seems to melt into something else—something even hotter and more passionate.

Somehow we’re in sync this time as his lips mold to mine. His are soft, and I breathe in that fresh scent of his as his mouth opens to mine. He deepens the kiss, and one of his hands moves up to grab the back of my head like he needs to steady both of us from the passion we’re unleashing here. He thrusts toward me a few times, and I hear his soft grunts like he just can’t help himself.

He lets go of my head but not my lips then hoists me up, and I wrap my legs around his waist. He thrusts up toward me, and it’s like we’re having sex with our clothes on as I push down toward him while we kiss.

He breaks the kiss only to let his lips travel down my neck, and he buries his face in my chest for a beat. He breathes me in, and I move my hands around his head and hold him there. A soft moan rumbles up from my throat, and he moves his mouth back to mine.

This kiss moves from intense to urgent.

He moans a sexy little growling sound that’s going to echo in my dreams tonight, and if I didn’t need to get back outside and run another bounce house, I’d lock my office door and let him take me right here. I need to let him take me right here. An ache pulses between my legs, hot and powerful, and I need to feel him inside me. I need to know how the passion translates to sex with him.

I need—

“Victoria?”

I faintly hear a voice calling my name, and I freeze mid-thrust down onto him.

“Vic, are you in here?”

He keeps going, though, as if he’s so lost in the moment he doesn’t hear it.

The voice comes from down the hall, and I pull my lips from Travis and scramble to jump out of his hold.

I clear my throat and try to compose myself just as Mandy appears in my doorway. “Hey, what time are you—” She stops short when she sees the two of us. “Oh! I, uh…sorry. Am I interrupting something?”

“No,” I say at the same time Travis says, “Yes.”

He’s running a finger along his lower lip, and he rolls his eyes as he glances over at me. He not-so-subtly adjusts himself. “Why lie about it?”

“Fine. He was kissing me, and I was just about to kick him out of my office,” I hiss.

“Didn’t feel like it from the way you were dry humping me,” he mutters, and Mandy laughs awkwardly.

“I’ll just give you two a minute,” Mandy says.

“No need,” I insist. “It’s fine.”

“No it isn’t,” he snarls, his eyes on me as he ignores Mandy. “Don’t act like that didn’t affect you, too.”

“It didn’t, okay?” I huff. “I need to get back out to the field.”

“Why are you like this?” he demands.

Mandy just stands there watching this whole thing unfold, and I know she’s going to have something to say about it later.

“Like what?” I demand, narrowing my eyes at him.

“Like this horrible she-devil,” he mutters.

“Excuse me?”

He blows out a frustrated breath as he shakes his head, and then his eyes move back to mine. His are hard now, not heated like they were a few seconds ago. “You heard me,” he hisses. “I don’t get why you run so goddamn hot and cold. It’s like you want me, but you’re afraid of me.”

“God, I hate you,” I snarl at him. It’s the only thing I can think of saying because I’m certainly not about to admit that he’s right. I do want him, and I’m scared to death of him at the same time. I’m scared of what we could be together, and I’m scared we’ll only wind up hurt in the long run.

Maybe most of all, I’m scared of wasting time with him, and not just because the end is inevitable. I can’t be with someone like him when all it means is I’m pushing the future I want further and further away.

“Feeling’s mutual, babe,” he growls, and the way he says it with so much pent-up emotion makes me briefly consider that hate bang Mandy talked about.

I close my eyes and shake my head for a beat as I try to pull it together, and then I shoot him a glare. “I need to get back outside for my next shift.”

I brush past Mandy and leave the two of them in my office without sparing another glance behind me.