Guarding the Quarterback (Champions of the Heart #1) (9 page)

“Nothing.”

She was lying. But this wasn’t the time or place for me to call her on it. I kissed her for the benefit of the others watching us. I continued the kiss for my enjoyment. Damn, she was sweet. Tasted of candy popcorn and surrender.

From faraway I heard one woman clear her throat. Then another said, “Geez, get a room.”

Alexa broke the kiss and backed off, her cheeks tinged pink. The shy smile she wore now was real.

“Don’t worry, they’re just jealous,” I whispered. “Let’s go.”

Alexa waved goodbye to the group.

“Aren’t you coming out with us?” asked Jacob’s wife.

After a win at home, a large group of them would go out for a celebration meal. I usually had better things to do. Now with a girlfriend I’d be expected to go.

Alexa turned back. “No, we’re going to do as you suggested and get a room.”

I hooted with laughter. Alexa was one of a kind. Ballsy and beautiful. If only she meant what she’d implied. Once in the cocoon of the car, I turned serious. “Okay, cut the shit. What happened?”

“Is that a nice way to speak to your girlfriend?”

How she enjoyed throwing my words back at me. She was too smart for her own good, but that’s what I liked about her. And that was scarier than a charging linebacker.

“Alexa?”

“Fine.” Like a sports announcer, she gave a play by play of the events that had unfolded while I was on the field, adding a little dig along the way. “I knew the flowers couldn’t be from you, so I…” And so on.

All this time I was convinced the threatening letter was a joke. I’d only been humoring Alexa and my boss by allowing the security detail. Now though, without doubt, I realized someone wanted not only me but Alexa dead. What if it had been a bomb instead of dead flowers?

“There was some sort of white residue on the tips. It’s being sent to the FBI for testing.”

Alexa was in danger because of me. I wouldn’t have it. If anything happened to her because of me, I’d be the biggest asshole on the planet. “You are fired. If you aren’t my girlfriend, then you won’t be a target.”

“Dean, part of the point of me posing as your girlfriend is to transfer her focus from you to me.”

“That’s insane.”
Who does that?

“That’s my job.”

“Well, fuck your job.” So much for me not cursing around women, but Alexa was beyond frustrating—besides she talked like a guy. And kissed like a siren determined to bring me to my knees and make me beg for more than kisses.

“Well, fuck you too,” she said with all the charm of a sailor.

“Please do.”

The corner of her mouth lifted into the beginnings of a smile. “In your dreams.”

“Every night, baby doll.”

Alexa stopped at a red light. “Easy, Superman.”

I had a feeling she’d never let me forget greeting her at the door in my Superman boxers. We joked easily and naturally the rest of the way home. Alexa probably thought I’d dropped the issue of her remaining as my bodyguard, but first thing in the morning, I was calling my agent. Until then, I’d be the one doing the protecting.

Unlocking the door to my apartment, I used my body to block her from entering first.

“Dean, this is not funny.”

“Damn straight it isn’t.” I opened the door, charging in to leave my bodyguard to close and lock it. Stomping my way through each room, I ignored Alexa’s warnings that she was going to kill me first.

Conveniently, she ended up in my bedroom before me.

“You’re an idiot.” She placed her gun on the nightstand and fisted her hands on her hips in that “you are so in trouble” stance I’d come to adore. “What’s wrong with you?”

I closed the distance between us and pulled her to me. “You. You are what’s wrong with me,” I growled. Then I unleashed my frustration upon her lips. Just as abruptly I broke away. I needed to know that she felt the same way. “I burn for you, Alexa.”

Our panting breaths mingled until we are inhaling the same heated air.

“Dean, I can’t—”

“
Can
, yes, you can.”

“It’s complicated.”

“No, it’s not. It’s the most basic yet raw feeling in the world.”

I felt her indecision. Felt the war between her body and mind. I knew her analytical brain would never surrender, so I stopped using words and appealed to her body, using my mouth in a more persuasive way. Placing kisses on her neck, nipping the lobe of her ear. With each silent plea of my mouth, she relented just a little more.

“Dean, this isn’t fair.”

“I happen to know you like to play dirty.” I kissed her again so she couldn’t say no, waiting until her mind caught up with her body that was saying,
Yes, yes, oh God, yes
. Alexa’s wild response to my urgent touch was driving me insane. I caressed the curve of her hip, then up the side of her breast—

Wait, what was that?

“Is that a gun or are you just happy to see me?” I whipped off her sweater.

“I believe that’s my line.” She placed a firm hand on the outline of my hard cock pressing urgently against my zipper, handling him with the same confidence that she handled her gun. The she stepped back. “Safety first.”

From the fabric holster of the bra, she drew out a small gun and then from the other side, slipped out an ammo magazine. God help the man who pissed her off. Perhaps, she
could
take care of herself.

I helped her struggle out of the bra. But anything worth having was worth fighting for, as the saying goes. Her breasts were perfect. They fit in my hands as if made from a mold of my cupped palms. With a moan, Alexa leaned into me, searching for more. The tilt of her delicate chin, the slight parting of her lips were a clear invitation to devour the taste of her. I accepted. I couldn’t get enough of her sweetness and sass. I kissed her with a hunger that could never be sated.

She pushed off me and stripped off my shirt.

“Any more weapons I should know about?”

“Wouldn’t you rather frisk me and find out for yourself?”

I answered by dropping to my aching knees to run my hands along her legs. Sure enough I felt a slight bulge on her right thigh. A knife? Another gun? Oh man, what a fucking turn on. I thought my type was a bubblehead blonde when all long it was a bewitching brunette packing heat. “What do we have here?”

She smiled down at me and unbuttoned her pants, but I was impatient and helped with the rest of the task of shedding them. Practical panties aside, the plain garter she wore was still sexy, perhaps even more so because of its purpose. I slid a sinister looking dagger out of the casing. A normal man would have second thoughts. But I obviously wasn’t normal by any standards.

“You won’t be needing this,” I said, tossing it toward the closet.

She put a finger underneath my chin, lifting it so I would look her in the eyes. Then she stroked my cheek like I was her pet. “As long as you please me, I won’t.”

I should be running for the door with my cock tucked between my legs, but this woman fascinated me, as if she held some sort of ancient power over me. Or was it simply because she didn’t take my bullshit. Called me on it. Turned it around on me so I was the one doing the begging? Clearly, since I was the one on my knees.

Leaving her garter on, I yanked off her undies. Groomed but not shaven. I wondered what secrets she still kept from me. “Are you hiding anything else, baby doll?”

“Perhaps your tongue should give me a thorough inspection.”

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so turned on. I knew for certain I’d never been so entertained by foreplay. I pressed my mouth against the vee at her thighs. Using my hand, I pulled her thighs apart and licked. Nothing nefarious awaited me here. Only a sweet nirvana. I licked and sucked. She grabbed my shoulders, digging her nails into my flesh.
Oh, yeah, that’s going to leave a mark.
Battle wounds I’d gladly take to the grave.

“You are very thorough,” she said in a breathless moan.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet.” I picked her up as I stood and threw her onto the bed in one fluid motion.

She giggled, but she didn’t laugh for long. Pulling her thighs roughly to me, I settled my head between her legs and gave the word
thorough
a whole new meaning. Savoring each moan, each yank of my hair, each push of her pussy into my mouth, I was driven to madness with the taste of her. I wanted to tease her with my tongue, but I needed her orgasm as much as she did. Needed to know I could melt the steely armor of the woman who challenged me like no other. Her thighs began to tremble. The bud of her sex tightened. I could feel her release ready to rock. Alexa cried for mercy. Cried for God, then shouted my name as she let go and became mine.

I raised myself up on my forearms and watched her writhe beneath me, still floating down from the highest of highs.
I did that.

“I’ll return the favor later. Right now, I need you inside me.” Her voice—velvety from lust, yet husky from shouting my name—had lost its hard edge.

“Believe me, it was no favor and all my pleasure.” I was so fucking turned on by the way she pushed me onto my back and relieved me of my pants in record time. I grabbed a condom from the nightstand and rolled it on.

Alexa straddled me. Her liquid heat dripped onto to my balls, and I jerked in reaction.

Her lazy smile, messy hair, and drowning eyes were all the thanks I needed. Then she slid down my shaft and I amended that statement to include her hot, wet pussy on top on me. Damn, she was tight. Rocking her hips, she pressed her lips together, like she was trying to hold herself back from me. From herself. I was having none of it. Here, in my bed, there would be nothing between us. I wanted everything she had to give.

“Take me for a ride, Alexa.”

The lazy smile was back, and I felt like the world belonged to me. She pressed a hand to my chest and rode the full length of me. At a nice easy pace, I memorized each move, learning the way she liked to be touched. Her breasts bounced enticingly close to my mouth, but not close enough. Then she straightened, tossing her head back, her hair falling around her shoulders in a wild mane as she rode me hard and fast.

“That’s it, Alexa. Break me.”

It might have been better if she had. Alexa was feral, yet tamed me with each lift of her hips. She was free, yet owned all of me with each downward stroke of her pussy. In the moments between heartbeats, I was held captive. And I had no escape plan.

Alexa

I
didn’t care
that I’d risked everything. I’d gained something more precious than any job.

And I wasn’t talking about Dean. God knew, the man creating the delicious thrum through my whole being wasn’t mine. I had absolutely no delusions on that. He wanted me off his detail. If he pressed hard enough, he’d get his way. Why not enjoy one night of abandon? Either way, I was screwed. It might as well as be the enjoyable kind.

Enjoyable was the understatement of all time. Dean delivered on all the promises his body made. I still hummed with the release from his mouth on my pussy, and now his hard cock stoked a fire deep within me. I feared I would burn from the intensity building with each thrust of my body down onto his. I was desperate, beyond caring what would happen in the aftermath. A sexual feminine power rose up within me.

I wanted. I needed. I desired. Was desired.

By him.

Dean gripped my hips, holding me steady while I rode him. He urged me on. Told me to use and abuse him. And I did. My nails dug into his ripped abs. A slick sweat broke over our bodies.

“Alexa, I can feel you.”

I could feel him too. Feel his whole body tighten, ready for release. We were synced as one. I let go and came. Waves and waves of pleasure doused the fire raging in my blood. My name tore from his mouth and his from mine until only our panting breaths filled the silence.

I collapsed on top of him in a heap of exhausted liberation. But just as quickly I lost my heart to Dean when he wrapped me in the warmth of his embrace. He held me like he was never going to let me go. I hoped he never did.

*

Turned out, I
was as bad of an influence on him as he was on me, except I tempted him with food. Instead of having one of his prepared healthy barf meals, Dean dove into the Chinese food I had delivered. Like a scene out of a chick flick, we sat on the bed cross-legged with the lights dimmed low. Cartons of fried rice, lo mein, moo shu pork, and boneless spareribs sat on a tray between us. Famished from our sexual play, we both ate like we hadn’t had food in days. I hoped we were refueling for another around.

His white t-shirt swam on me, and he had slipped on his Superman boxers, which I found out were a gift from his nephew. I wondered if he planned to be a father someday, and I was horrified when the thought flew out of my mouth. “Do you want kids?”

“Are you offering up your womb?”

“I believe I already did.” I started stuffing my face to shut myself up.

“Someday. How about you?”

“Are you offering up your sperm?” I asked with my mouth full
. Real attractive, Alexa.
His sperm were swimming backward as we spoke.