Rough & Tumble (4 page)

“What is it?” I shifted so I could face him on the couch and muted the sitcom that was droning in the background.

He grabbed my hand, staring at our interlocked fingers. “I just feel like I wasted so much time without you, and here is my second chance and all I can think of is all the ways I can screw it up again.”

I pulled his chin up to make him look at me. “Let’s slow down here a minute. Two days ago we were living in different worlds; let’s just enjoy this time a little before we start sabotaging what we have. That was our downfall before.”

His lips brushed against mine. “Sounds perfect.”

Chapter 4

The scarf around my neck tightened a little as Bo grabbed my hip, pulling me back into him more. My knees trembled as I felt his tip glide over my wetness.

“You fucking tease,” I whispered, gripping the pillow a little tighter.

Bo’s lips made contact with my shoulder blade, followed by a few quick nips. “We were interrupted last time. I want to enjoy every minute of this, Peyton.”

The feeling of the scarf getting to the perfect tension and his fingers lacing in my hair brought back floods of memories of our intimate explorations in college. Chills ran down my spine as he did everything that made me go freaking wild. From shoving my head down onto the pillow to pulling my ass high in the air and slowly fingering my ass as his dick teased my opening, it was all perfection.

A climax was already building in the pit of my stomach and we had barely gotten to the good part. Finally his thickness filled me as Bo roughly started to push harder and deeper into my pussy.

“God, I missed you.” His hot breath hit my back as his moans rose quietly from the back of his throat.

I cried out from the pleasurable pain as he forced his thumb roughly into my back door. Electricity shot down my legs and arms as I started to tremble, gently thrusting my throbbing cunt onto him.

“Bo, I’m about to…” It was too late—my orgasm was crashing around me. My entire body was in a tingling state of euphoria as I felt Bo’s nails dig into the back of my neck.

“Fuck,” I heard him cry out as his cock started to pulse inside me.

Gently his head fell onto my back as he struggled to catch his breath. “You’re so damn sexy. I couldn’t hold it in either.”

Loosening the scarf, I rolled over, holding Bo’s head against my bare chest. “There’s always the morning,” I whispered.

We shifted and got under the covers, curling up in each other’s arms.

“Thank you for finding me again.”

Bo kissed my cheek, pulling me closer into him. “No, babe. Thank you for letting me.”

While the bacon was sizzling in the pan and the eggs were turning the perfect golden brown at the edges, I heard Bo’s steps thudding across the hardwood flooring. Before I could even turn to greet him, his hands were running down my arms and his breath was hot on my neck as he kissed my shoulder. “Morning, beautiful.”

“Morning. Ready for some breakfast?” I flipped the eggs onto their plates and started to turn to head over to the table.

Bo grabbed me, pushing me against the counter. “I have a better idea of what to start with, love.”

It took everything in my power not to let the plates in my hands crash to the counter as Bo dropped to his knees, taking my pajama pants to the floor with him. Shoving my thong out of the way, his tongue started to glide over my slickening lips. I leaned forward onto the counter for more stability as my knees quaked.

His talented lips and tongue licked and sucked on my sensitive clit, making me moan with ecstasy. “Holy shit, Bo.”

Lightly his fingers started to press on my opening, gingerly starting to pulse in and out of me, going deeper and curling perfectly to hit my spot. It had been years since I had been touched like that and my body reacted quickly.

My climax consumed me as my hips bucked against Bo’s hungry lips. Slowly I dropped to my knees, straddling Bo’s waist as he leaned against the cabinet.

I could feel his want through his thin boxers as I crushed my lips to his. Sliding his boxers down, I slid him into me, pushing my hips down onto his.

“You know the breakfast is going to be cold,” I whispered in his ear.

Bo kissed my cheek before growling, “I know a good diner not too far from here.”

He pulled my shirt up over my head, biting my neck a little as he pulled my hips hard into him.

Bo’s moans cheered me on as I rode him on the floor like we had when he’d snuck out to meet me while my parents were visiting my aunt for the weekend right before high school graduation. It all felt rushed but at the same time, it was like coming home. This was my second chance to love Bo Briggs again and there was nothing I wanted more in the entire world.

Our bodies moved together in perfect rhythm as our climaxes built and erupted in sync. By the end I was panting, shaking, and starving.

Sitting in the diner down the street from my house, Bo ordered for the both of us without missing a beat.

The server nodded with a sweet smile. “I’ll put that in and be right back with your coffees.”

“You remembered.”

He grabbed my hand and stared at me with his thoughtful eyes. “I could never forget a single detail about you.”

I looked up at the big clock on the far wall: it was only eight in the morning. “I cannot believe I woke up so freaking early this morning.”

Bo chuckled a little, putting sweetener in his coffee. “I can’t believe I slept in. We’ve been doing two-a-days for a month now.”

“Then why aren’t you weightlifting by now?” I slurped down the amazing diner coffee, hoping Bo wasn’t going to have to bolt on me.

He shrugged. “Even the quarterback gets a day off every once in a while. I do have to head in for a meeting after we finish up here.”

I frowned a little. I felt like the fairytale was going to end as soon as we left the diner.

“Are you nervous?”

“About what?” Bo leaned back in the booth to stretch out. His muscles were gorgeous even under his V-neck, and his sleeve tattoos were even sexier than I had remembered.

I doused my eggs with hot sauce. “About the first game this Sunday?”

Bo took a sharp breath in. “I feel like I should be, but I’m not. All I can do is go out there and play like I always have. Give it my best. That’s it.”

“I guess it helps that is it only a preseason game.”

He nodded while chomping on a sausage link. “You got that right.” Bo’s phone lit up and started vibrating across the table. “Sorry, it’s the coach.”

I nodded and continued to eat my breakfast. As Bo’s conversation continued, my heart sank more and more.

“No sir, I have not been on Twitter today.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Bo palmed the table, gritting his teeth.

“No, I am not screwing around with a photographer for our team.”

His eyes got wide as he listened to his coach yell at him some more. By the time they ended the call, Bo’s face was beat red and he refused to make eye contact with me. He just sat there silently, searching the internet for whatever or whoever had blasted our rekindling all over social media.

In a low voice, Bo growled, “‘Home wrecking Hogs photog caught red-handed with our new rookie quarterback.’ There’s even a picture of us leaving your house this morning. When were you going to tell me?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t know how to just say ‘hey, we’re going to be working together’.”

He slid a little farther into the booth. “Now everyone is going to brand you a whore and me a douchebag because I am supposed to still be engaged to Zara.”

“This is not my fault Bo. You’re the one that brought me home from Vixens that night and asked
me
out on a date.”

He rubbed the back of his neck and threw a c-note onto the table. “We have to head in for a meeting and then a press conference. Now.”

His tone bit through me as I followed him out of the diner. “What do you mean, we?”

“Coach is pissed and he wants to talk to you, too.”

Chapter 5

Sitting in the office of Coach Travis Philips of the North Carolina Hogs made my stomach flip. The fact that I was wearing short jean shorts and a white tank top with flip flops did not help in the slightest.

“A social media smear campaign the week the season starts isn’t a great way to kick your career off, Briggs.”

Bo cleared his throat. “I get it Coach, but I have a life, and it’s not like I was picking up a hooker at four in the morning after an all night cocaine bender like Davies did a few seasons ago.”

Travis rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “Look, kid, I get it. It’s your life, but the football community is going to pick it apart for your entire career. We’re going to have a press conference to clean this whole thing up later on today.”

I was a statue, barely even taking in a breath as Travis looked over to me. “You know that this might not be good for your career either, Miss West.”

I nodded.

“We’re going to leave your position as it stands and see how this afternoon goes.”

I felt a wave of relief and I finally took in a deep breath. “Thank you, sir.”

“You really love this girl, don’t you Briggs?” The coach smiled at both of us as he leaned back in his large leather chair.

Without a second’s hesitation, Bo’s gruff voice boomed in the room. “More than you’ll ever know, sir.”

“Then get up there later and tell your fans that. Don’t drag Zara’s name through the mud but casually mention that it wasn’t your idea to call off the wedding. This might end up spinning around and being fantastic for everyone involved. Now go home, take a shower, and put on a suit. Peyton, I suggest a nice sundress. Everyone is going to love this story and you need to start looking the part of a player’s girlfriend.”

With a wink, we were dismissed. Just like that, I went from feeling like my world was ending all the way to it being full of unicorns and rainbows.

Bo swung by his apartment to grab some clothes and went back with me to my house.

“You don’t have to escort me everywhere right now, I am a grownup.”

Bo held my front door open for me; chivalry was never lost on him. “Yeah, but I don’t want some news reporter trying to catch you off guard by yourself right now. That could be bad for business.”

I threw some food in Molly’s bowl and then made my way into the bathroom to start the shower. “So this is all happening pretty fast, isn’t it?”

Bo walked up behind me, wrapping his arms around my middle. “I feel like we had been on pause and last night we hit the play button again. So no, to answer your question, I think this is happening as it should.”

“How much time do we have?”

Bo looked at his watch. “We need to leave here in thirty minutes.”

Wide-eyed, I spun around to look at him. “Shit! I have to get ready.”

It was a mad dash to shower, do my hair, and get makeup on in that thirty minutes, but I did it. Bo’s fingers gripped mine as he parked his car.

With a deep breath, he looked over at me. “You ready for this?”

I tried to smile. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

He leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Lucky for you, I will be doing all the talking.”

It was all a blur from the time we left the car to when Bo sat with microphones in front of him talking to the media.

It all started off with a bang when the first reporter asked, “Bo, sources say that Zara Morton is devastated by the news that you’ve been cheating. What is your response to that?”

Bo coolly responded, “If she hadn’t called off the wedding months ago, then I would understand her being upset.”

Then the next guy, who looked like a sleaze bucket, continued the interview. “Is it true that you picked up your latest conquest from the new strip club, Vixens, the other night?”

“If by latest conquest, you mean the woman I dated for almost six years in high school and college, then yes, but I didn’t pick her up in the way that you’re implying. Some jerk spiked her drink. I was merely being the gentleman that I am and escorted her out before said jerk could hurt her any more than he already had. Indirectly, that was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.”

“Can you explain that?”

With a quick glance over to me, Bo continued. “That jerk brought the greatest person in my world back to me and made me realize that I don’t want to spend one more second of another day without her.”

Before I could react to what was going on, Bo was walking over to me. Then he was kneeling in front of me and I couldn’t breathe again. His grandmother’s canary ring was clutched in his fingers, the one she told me at graduation would be mine someday. Bo had saved it, not even giving it to Zara, for me.

“I know this is crazy. And I know that three days ago we were living completely separate lives, but here I am in front of the love of my life and I will spend the rest of time trying to make up for those years we spent apart. Peyton West, will you do me the honor of being my wife? We can take the rest of this slow, I promise. I just cannot bear the thought of you not being completely mine for one more minute.”

With tears in both of our eyes, we stayed there in silence for what felt like forever, but it was only a few seconds. Finally, I broke out of my love-soaked daze and wrapped my arms around Bo’s neck. “I have been waiting to hear those words come out of your mouth since I was fifteen! Of course I will marry you.”

With flashes of cameras and the bright lights surrounding us, Bo slipped the ring on my finger and crushed his lips to mine.

Reporter after reporter tried to ask more questions, but Bo just waved them off. “I think that was the big finale for today folks and I hope all the suspicion has been laid to rest.”

He led me back to where their PR person, the manager, and the coaches were gathering.

Travis walked up to shake Bo’s hand. “Well played kid. Congratulations are in order.”

The sound of champagne bottles popping and the buzz of people rushing over to Bo and I to talk to us about the crazy turn of events made my head spin.

“I think I need some air,” I whispered in Bo’s ear, and he pointed to the fire exit.

“Want me to go with you?”

I grabbed his hand. “Can we just get out of here?”

It was overwhelming and the reality started to crash around me. Cold feet was the understatement of the freaking year.

What the fuck am I doing?

Bo and I said our goodbyes and made our way back to his car to head toward his apartment.

“Everything ok?”

My stomach knotted. “I think so.”

His hand slid onto my knee as the light turned green. “Look, I know this is probably overwhelming, but this is what I truly want.”

“Bo, two days ago your ex-fiancée was busting in on us and calling me a slut, and now you’re engaged to me. It’s all just so fast. I need to take a breath and let it sink in, that’s all.”

“Do you regret it?” The pain in his voice filled the car and my heart sank.

“Apparently I am not explaining myself well.”

We pulled into the parking garage under Bo’s building and into his spot. “Then let’s head upstairs and you can tell me whatever you want with a glass of wine in hand on the couch, just like old times.”

Even though apprehension was swimming inside me, it all felt oddly right. As I walked into his apartment, staring down at his grandmother’s gorgeous ring that had been in Bo’s family for six generations, I knew that this was exactly where I was supposed to be.

“So what’s on your mind, babe?” Bo handed me a glass of wine and slid onto the couch next to me.

“Do you think we’re crazy?”

He laughed softly, pulling me into him. “Yes.”

Leaning against him, I breathed in the slightest hint of my favorite cologne that he had worn in high school. “Does that scare you?”

“Not at all. I want to be with you, Peyton, with or without that ring on your finger. It was going to happen sooner or later, so I figured it was just better to give it to you sooner, that’s all.”

And just like that, my nerves melted away. “So, do you think I still have a job?”

“I think you don’t need it, but if you want it, then yeah, I think you still have a job.”

“What about Molly?”

Bo shifted a little, taking a sip from his glass. “I can’t have dogs here so, do you want a roommate?”

I turned to look at him. “I have been trying to figure out what furniture to put in my living room. This couch would look nice with my wood floors.”

“Well then, it’s settled. I’ll call movers in the morning.”

I curled up in Bo’s arms, wrapping my legs in a blanket. “Bo?” I looked up into his warm eyes.

“Yeah babe?”

“I love you and your craziness.”

He kissed the top of my head. “I have always and will always love you, Peyton.”

I giggled a little, thinking back on what a whirlwind the last couple of days had been. “Promise?”

“Promise, promise.”

The End
.