Fierce Player (Sierra Pride Book 4) (4 page)

“Trina has joked about that very same thing,” she said. “I’d say our fears are more on a level five. So if it’s a four or lower, I’ll have to buy you a coffee and a scone.”

“Deal.”

“I’ll see you around, Maverick.”

He smiled as she turned to the Clark room, and then he sent her a text. He watched as she set down her things and pulled her phone out of her messenger bag. She scowled, and then, grinning, flipped him off.

Chapter Eight

He’d had her as soon as he introduced himself as the library warden, but that text had clinched it.
No phones in the library
. What a nerd.

Apparently, exactly her type, because she couldn’t stop thinking about him. She’d waved goodbye before heading out, and he’d waved back, but then she’d texted him from the library’s front steps.

Kate-astrophe: Stop checking out my ass

Mav: I would never

A few seconds later, another text popped up.

Mav: It’s very nice, by the way

Kate couldn’t help her goofy smile, and she was grateful he couldn’t see her face.

As soon as she reached the last library step, though, she remembered why she had been in the library to begin with—that creepy guy who’d been watching her. Looking around, she couldn’t find him anywhere. There was an old dude on the bench outside the library, but he was often there with a newspaper. He didn’t even look up when Kate passed.

She stopped on the way home to get a few groceries. If she was spending Thanksgiving alone, she at least wanted to cook something nice for herself. Screw traditional Thanksgiving food—she was indifferent to turkey, and the rest of the things like stuffing, mashed potatoes, and those horrid green beans, she could definitely live without. Even pumpkin pie. The problem with Thanksgiving, she’d long ago decided, was that it didn’t include enough chocolate. She and her mom usually baked a chocolate cake, so she gathered ingredients to make one herself. She could always freeze half of it for later.

Who was she kidding? She’d probably eat the whole thing before classes started again on Monday.

Her phone buzzed while she was in the baking aisle.

Maverick: I bet you a kiss that you text me before I text you again

Kate-astrophe: What do I get if I win?

Maverick: You just lost

She rolled her eyes and placed the cocoa powder in her cart.

Kate-astrophe: I’m at the grocery store. Leave me alone unless you want to be helpful

Maverick: I can be helpful

Yeah, she bet he could.

Her apartment was too quiet, so she flipped on the TV. A James Bond flick was playing, so she left it. She’d always liked the predictability in those. A touch misogynistic, generally, but familiar—they came with a strange kind of comfort despite the explosions and guns and high-speed chases.

After throwing together a stir-fry, she sat down with her food and a beer to finish the James Bond movie. But something didn’t feel right. She felt…lonely.

When she turned on her phone, her text app with Maverick was still up because she hadn’t closed it.

Kate-astrophe: You got a TV?

Maverick: Yeah

Kate-astrophe: Put on channel 22

Maverick: You’re not sending me to some porno thing are you?

Kate-astrophe: It’s better. Porn with ’splosions

Maverick: YES

They texted back and forth, watching the movie “together” and mocking the clichés.

Kate-astrophe: I mean, the clichés are why I love old Bond films

Maverick: It wouldn’t be the same without them. And the puns

Kate-astrophe: Yeah, the older movies were the best at that

Maverick: I dunno, I liked the Halle Berry one. Epic puns

The show ended. Kate had barely eaten any of her dinner because her hands had been too occupied with texting. She’d still managed to drain her beer, though, and she felt fuzzy and warm.

Maverick: I guess that’s it then?

Kate-astrophe: Yeah, guess so. Thanks for hanging with me

Maverick: Was awesome. I’d do this all the time if you let me

Kate-astrophe: …

Kate-astrophe: …

Kate-astrophe: I’d let you

Maverick: Can I call you?

Kate-astrophe: Of course, it’s why I gave you my number

Her phone rang. She gave a little yelp, then answered the call. “I didn’t know you meant right now!”

Maverick laughed. She hadn’t noticed at the library, but he had a great voice, and a great laugh. Low and throaty, almost like a purr.

She eyed her empty beer bottle. She was acting loopy, and she blamed the alcohol. “So what’s up?”

He smiled—she could hear it in his voice. “I like you, Kate.”

She spoke before she could think. “I like you, too.”

“There’s a football game on,” he said.

“So?”

“I bet the Patriots win.”

“I don’t care about that shit.”

“If I lose the bet, you can ask me anything. If I win, I can ask you.”

She sighed. “Fine, but I’m not watching. Let me know.”

Her TV was off, but she could hear his in the background. Sports announcers announcing things, fans cheering, the occasional commercial. Maverick talked to her about his studies—even though he was twenty-one, the same age as Kate, he was a freshman. Suddenly he stopped talking with a muttered, “Damn.”

“What?”

He was quiet, but the TV in the background got louder, and an announcer shouted, “Final score, 27-20, Packers win!”

“Ooh,” Kate said, “so I get a question now?”

He made a
hmph
sound.

“You’re the only guy I know who can sound like an old lady,” Kate said. “Sore loser.”

“I was sure I’d get it.”

“What question were you going to ask me?”

“Is that your question?”

Kate thought for a second. “No. Tell me about your first kiss.”

“Not a question, Kate-astrophe.”

“What was your first real, open-mouth kiss like?”

“It was nice.”

“That’s not an answer!” If he’d been there in her apartment, she’d have chucked a throw pillow at him.

He sighed audibly. “Fine. It was with Melinda Gonsalves. We were both nervous as hell, and as soon as my tongue touched her lips, she squeaked and turned away. But I waited, because she couldn’t really go anywhere—we were in the back of the bus—”

“Wait, what?”

“We’d been at a cross country meet at another school. The bus was dark, and we’d thought it would be fun to kiss.”

“Ha. Was it?”

“It was when she came back for seconds.”

“Oh, please.”

“What? As soon as we realized how nice it could be, we didn’t want to stop. Our lips were swollen and our clothes were all rearranged by the time we got back to school.”

“Are you saying your very first kiss turned into sex?”

“No,” he said, sounding affronted. “We got very into it with our hands, that’s all.”

Kate could imagine getting very into it with his hands, and his lips, and other parts of him, too.

“How about your first kiss?” he asked.

“Um, no, you didn’t win any bets.”

Without pause, he asked, “What are you wearing?”

“What?”

“I bet I can get you off before you can get me off.”

She resisted the urge to snort. “Yeah, right.”

Phone sex had always seemed like the stupidest thing. Words were just words. Sex was hands and lips and tongues, skin on skin.

“You don’t think I can do it?” he asked. “I am so up for the challenge.”

“Yeah, I bet you are.”

“So tell me what you have on.”

His voice was warm, and damn persuasive. It had been awhile. She looked down at her clothes. “Same thing I had on when you saw me at the library.”

“Leggings, right?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“That flouncy green skirt.”

“The very one.” She knew she sounded like she was laughing at this whole thing, but if he didn’t want to play, he wouldn’t have asked.

“The black sweater that hugs your tits.”

“Um.” She looked down. It did, indeed, hug her tits.

“You don’t like that word, tits?”

“It’s okay.”

“What do you call them?”

She could feel her face getting hot. She’d been with guys and she was far from bashful, but Maverick’s questions were so…blunt. “When I’m joking around with friends, I call them ‘ta-tas.’”

“And when you’re thinking about them, but not talking about them?”

“Breasts, I guess.”

“So that black sweater that hugs your breasts. You know, I noticed your face first—well, your hair—when I saw you the first time. And then your earrings. You know what I wanted to do the first time I saw your ear?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “I wanted to pull it into my mouth and nibble, just a little bit, on those shiny earrings. Tug on them and then lick along your earlobe.”

Her entire body was feeling hot all of a sudden. Damn him. She wanted to say something to exert some power over him, but she didn’t have the faintest idea what she could say.

“I wanted to kiss the inside of your wrist, over that tattoo. If I was there with you, Kate, I’d do that.” His voice was breathy.

Holy fuck, he was as turned on as Kate was.

“I’m taking my shirt off, Kate,” he said. “I think you should, too.”

“Okay,” she whispered. She couldn’t believe she was doing this, but hell if she could manage to stop. After making sure her blinds were closed, she lifted her sweater over her head, and her camisole, too.

“What color is your bra?”

She looked down. “It’s gray, with, um, black diamond shapes on it.”

“I’m touching myself through my pants,” he said, “because I’m hard for you.”

Picturing it, she bit her lips. She wasn’t insecure or anything, but knowing that thoughts of her were literally getting him hard—it made her feel damn good. Not to mention the thought of him hard, so hard he was touching himself…

“Are your pants off yet?” she asked.

“Are yours?”

“Working on it,” she said.

“As soon as they are, I want you to push aside your panties and touch yourself.”

She did, feeling the wetness there.

“Are you slick and slippery for me, Kate?”

“Fuck, yes,” she breathed.

“Are you touching yourself, sliding your fingers into your pussy, touching your clit?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Put me on speaker, and use your other hand to touch your nipples. Push the cups of your bra down, and watch them pucker up. What color are your nipples? Pink? Brown?”

“Pink,” she said. “Dark pink.”

Her fingers were moving against her clit rapidly, and she couldn’t have stopped no matter what Maverick said. His dark voice on the phone, growly with desire—she’d give anything for him to be in the room with her right now.

“I’d take them in my mouth,” he said. “If I were there, I’d suck on one, then the other, kissing them and loving them while my fingers pressed into you—oh fuck, Kate—”

She came, too, listening to him groan and murmur her name. Her cheeks burned while she righted her clothing.

“I gotta go,” she said, and ended the call.

What the hell had she been thinking?

Maverick: We both won that bet

Maverick: You’re fucking beautiful, you know that?

She paused, her hand hovering over her phone. He was reassuring her. He hadn’t run off, sated, to leave her feeling weird about the whole thing. He was still there, still reaching out to her. Maybe she hadn’t had a lot of long-term relationships, but she knew she wanted to figure out if Maverick had the potential.

Kate-astrophe: I’ve never done that before

Maverick: The library’s closed tomorrow

Kate-astrophe: ???

Maverick: I have a key. Meet me there at 10 am?

Smiling to herself, feeling the stirrings of a new desire, she typed back,
I’ll be there.

Chapter Nine

He’d slept late in his shit studio apartment off campus. It was more of a garage, really, that had been turned into a rental so the home owner could make a killing off of desperate college students. Maverick had been desperate, because his family insisted he live alone so he could come and go as he pleased, the better to sneak off and shift into a lion when he felt like it, or when the animal inside of him needed to be let out.

If he hadn’t slept late, he might have jacked off in the shower to thoughts of Kate’s sweet little gasps on the other end of the phone, and the way he could hear her moving. He’d wound them both up tight, and damn. He was getting hard again while waiting for the line in the coffee shop.

Maverick: What do you like to drink?

Kate-astrophe: Oh hell is it time to get up already?

Maverick: Nothing caffeine won’t fix. Poison?

Kate-astrophe: Double mocha latte. Thanks

He ordered their drinks and selected a number of pastries, as well as a couple of breakfast sandwiches. Focusing on the details like the blanket he’d packed, and the food and drinks, could help him keep his cock under control…well, until he thought about Kate’s plump lips puckering to take a sip of her latte…dammit, he was doing it again.

Just as he was leaving the shop, he spied her up the street. “Kate!” he called.

She turned, and her face was a mask of fear. As soon as she recognized him, her expression changed to one of relief.

“What’s wrong?”

“Sorry, nothing. I think I’m developing some kind of anxiety disorder. It’s freaking me out to be walking in public, all these people around.”

He pulled her into a hug. “I didn’t know, or I wouldn’t have suggested this.”

“No, it’s probably good you did. The more I hide out in my apartment, the worse it would probably get. Confront my fears, and all that.”

“Is something specific bothering you?” He remembered that guy who’d been hanging around in the Clark room when Kate had been there. He hadn’t seen the guy since, but he’d also been pretty distracted lately.

“No, I’m just imagining things, I think. At least, mostly. There was this guy yesterday, and I could’ve sworn he was watching me go into the coffee shop. That was why I ended up in the library again, actually; I was too freaked out to stay in the coffee shop.”