Hotshot (12 page)

She giggles, her lips smiling against mine. “I’ll behave.”

“Only until we get home. Then, all bets are off. Mathis and Nick will have to make other plans for the night.”

She freezes, her body jerking as her arms fall to her sides. Her eyes lock with mine, and I don’t like what I see. A look of panic crosses her face as she steps back out of my grasp.

I give her a second, and when she turns away, avoiding any further eye contact, my heart starts to race. “Bizzy?”

“I don’t think we should tell the guys yet.” She says it so fast, I shake my head to make sure I heard her right.

“Why?”

“I think we should keep this between us for a while.”

“Like a secret?”

Her head swings to me, and she chews on her bottom lip, barely nodding. “You want us to hide this? Hide us? What the fuck?”

She falls down in a chair and leans her elbows on her knees, hanging her head. “Because we’re so new. What happens if this weekend was a fantasy, and when we get back to reality, it all falls apart?”

My heart races faster, and my blood pressure starts to spike. A muscle in my jaw ticks as I mentally count to ten before I respond. It doesn’t calm me; instead, my anger fuels at her assumptions.

“You think this isn’t real? Everything we’ve said, everything we’ve done? All of this? Do you have that little of faith in us?” I throw my arms out, motioning to our surroundings. “This is the most real thing I’ve ever experienced in my whole life. I thought you felt the same way. Guess I’m a fucking idiot.”

“No! Shaw, that’s not what I meant.” Her face is pale when she finally meets my gaze.

“I suggest you fucking explain really fucking quick because I’m lost.”

“We left Miami as friends, great friends. To everyone else, I tagged along on a work trip. How’s it going to look when we return as lovers? How do we even explain it?”

“We don’t because it’s no one’s Goddamn business.”

“You know that’s not how it’ll work!” She stands, squaring off with me. Her eyes start to shine, but she pushes on. “We have too much at stake here. Friends, family… everything.”

“You think I don’t know that? For fucks sake, thought I handled this shit on Friday night. I’m not fucking around. I came here not knowing if I’d ever have a chance with you, and I accepted that. But with that first taste of you, that first kiss, I was done. I’m crazy about you. Thought we were in this together, Bizzy. Thought you understood.

“I’m thirty fucking years old. I’ve been around the block a few times, so it’s not like this is some fling. You always meant something to me, but I was too blind to see. Now, you don’t mean just something to me… you mean everything. Am I alone here? Going too fast? Pushing too hard? Did I read the signals wrong because I’m in love with you, and if you don’t feel the same way, now’s the time to say it.”

She draws in an audible breath and wraps her arms around her stomach, staring at me as my chest heaves. Tears start to fall right before she lunges at me, curling her whole body around mine. My hands catch her as I take a step back to steady us both.

Warm drops fall on my cheeks as she cups my face and crashes her mouth to mine.

“In.”
Kiss.

“Love.”
Kiss.

“With.”
Kiss.

“You.”
Kiss
.

“Too.”
Kiss.

Her lips linger on mine longer as she slips her tongue through, touching mine lightly then leaning back too soon. “I do feel the same,” she whispers.

Warmth floods through my body and the anger disappears. “Jesus Christ, baby.” I squeeze tight. “Don’t ever do that shit to me again.”

Her head drops to my shoulder, and she sniffs a few times, trembling against me. “I’m sorry, Shaw, but please, understand where I’m coming from. I’m so scared.”

“Scared of what? Tell me and you’ll never be scared again.” There’s so much truth to the statement, me pleading with her to tell me everything.

“Most people don’t go away on a weekend trip and come back in love.”

“We’re not most people.”

She leans back, her eyes shining bright, the tears almost dried. “I don’t want to hide. But can we wait until the next monthly dinner night and explain it to the guys?”

“Mathis already knows my feelings. He called me out before we left. And obviously, Gail knows something.”

She narrows her eyes then starts to laugh, throwing her head back. “Claire will know the minute she sees me.”

“So it’s just Nick?”

“And our parents.”

“Why wait, Bizzy?”

“Nicky is a bit protective. I think we need to ease him into this.”

“He’s almost twenty-five. He’s a big boy.”

She gives me a skeptical look and puts her forehead against mine. “You may not understand. You may never understand, but I need to plant the seeds with him. He may be a big, tough football player, and even more of a macho ass with the guys, but he’s very protective of me. I’d like to do this my way. It means a lot.”

Well, shit. When she looks at me with such love and concern, I falter. To me, Nick is a powerhouse. But in reality, the woman in my arms, the woman I love, is also his best friend, the one woman he’d die for, so understanding starts to sink in.

“I’m not happy about this, but we’ll do it your way. Next MDN, everyone knows,” I mumble.

“Agreed.”

“I’ll make it up to you, promise.”

“I’ll hold you to that. And when we finally let the ‘secret’ out, we’ll talk about you moving in.”

“Shaw!”

“Don’t say another word. I’ve agreed to too much already. Now is when you kiss me, declare your devotion, and spend the next fifteen minutes convincing me I wasn’t just cock-blocked by my baby brother.”

“Oh, I can assure you, your baby brother will never block your cock. But, after today, let’s never mention the two in the same sentence again.”

She starts to nibble on my ear and kiss her way down my jaw. Then she shocks the hell out of me, erasing all coherent thoughts. “When we get home tonight, I’ll finally have access to all my lingerie… Maybe it will finally get some use.”

This night has taken a turn for shit. I sit in Bizzy’s living room, cramped in her shitty armchair, watching Nick and Claire look at her pictures. If it were up to me, we’d have ditched everyone the moment we walked into her apartment, but Nick had other ideas. He wanted to discuss the game yesterday, never being dissuaded when I explained we watched every second of it. Then Claire showed up with bags of take-out.

I’d have fallen for her best friend slash interested routine until she took one look at my scowl. She darted her eyes between Bizzy and me for a good ten seconds before settling down and insisting Bizzy upload the pictures to her computer so she could see them better. I knew, she was testing me. It was hard to swallow my aggravation until I saw Bizzy’s excitement. She gave me a knowing look, and I relented, sitting in the chair, while she gave a rundown of the weekend, minus the sex, the intimacy, and the declaration of love.

Nick whoops, standing proud, when Bizzy tells about her meeting with Darren and his reaction to last year’s game. Mathis comes over, handing me a beer and nudges me, jerking his head to the back porch.

No one gives us a second glance when we walk out, too involved in Bizzy’s stories.

“What’s up?” I don’t waste time when we get outside.

“You went for it.”

I look behind me to make sure Nick is occupied then turn back to my brother’s questioning eyes.

“Yeah, you got a problem?”

“No, she looks happy. Happier than I’ve ever seen her. So did you, before Claire came storming in here.”

“She’s a nut.”

“She’s a hot nut.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me? You have a thing for the nutcase nurse?”

He shrugs and gives me a look of indecision. “We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about you.”

“Bizzy wants to keep us quiet, ease Nick into it. She’s concerned about his reaction.”

“Why?”

“Fuck knows. If it was up to me, we’d be moving her in tomorrow.”

Mathis chokes mid-sip and spews his beer everywhere. “What the fuck? Move her in?”

“Hell yeah.”

“Are you insane?”

“In a way. I’m insane about her. She’s worried about Nick.”

“Understandable. He’s going to go ape shit.”

“He’ll get over it.”

“He’ll only get over it if you’re serious.”

“I’ve never been more serious in my life.”

He stares at me, searching for something, then his face breaks into a wide, cocky grin. “I’ll be damned.”

“Yep,” is the only response I give.

“Must have been some resort, to turn the notorious jackass who’s never uttered the word commitment into a fully taken man.”

“It’s not the resort. It’s the woman, you dumb fuck.”

“Huh, I’ll have to remember that.” He takes another swig of his beer, still smiling.

“So are you satisfied or do you want to gossip some more?”

“I’m done, for now. But why don’t you fill me in on the actual business side of the trip?”

The door opens, and Nick comes out rolling his eyes. “What are you two talking about? Hopefully something more interesting than breaking down the hotness factor of Joe Palos, Perry Carver, and Darren Jackson.”

A low, throaty, rumble escapes, and Mathis starts to cough to cover my jealousy. “Shaw was telling me about the weekend.” He shoots me a look, telling me to get it together.

I glance over my shoulder and catch Bizzy watching me through the window. She purses her lips, trying to hide her amusement. I raise an eyebrow and give a slight nod to let her know it’s not funny.

She throws her head back laughing, and Claire starts shaking her finger at me. It takes all the willpower I have not to stalk to her, throw her over my shoulder, and haul her to her bedroom, showing her exactly how I feel about her discussing the ‘hotness factor’ of other men. Especially the same men who took every opportunity to razzle me by flirting their asses off with her.

The thought of teaching her a lesson and showing just how possessive I am sends a message to my dick, which starts to twitch. Images of her writhing under me as I fuck her until she begs for mercy, then pounding every thought of other men out of her head, play through my mind.

My tongue darts out, licking my lower lip and pinning her with my eyes. As if she knows every dirty thought flowing through my mind, she stops laughing, and her face starts to flush.

Oh yeah, I’m definitely—

“Shaw, did you hear me?” Nick’s irritated voice breaks me out of my sexual haze.

“Nope, I was thinking about work,” I lie, turning to him. “It’s going to be a bitch this week.”

“I’d think you’d be the golden boy for at least a month with the clients you just landed.”

“Well, now the real work begins.” I focus on my brothers and explain the upcoming contracts that need to be drafted, the change of representation press releases, and the initial outreach to endorsement holders to explain the changes. Not to mention my current roster of clients.

We talk for a while longer and eventually join Bizzy and Claire back in the house. I almost kiss Mathis when he finally decides it’s time to go. Since he’s my ride, I force myself to leave, whispering in Bizzy’s ear that I’ll be back soon. Tonight, we’re staying at her house. She nods, flushed again, and moves out of my hug to walk us all out.

It kills me when we drive away, but I know in less than one hour, I’ll have her again.

Naked and calling my name. The bed, the wall, the sofa… Oh yeah, all of it sounds good.

Bizzy

I make my last note, close the patient chart, and stack it with the others, then drop my head down on the desk. It’s been a long shift filled with highs and lows. My heart aches as I remember Nurse Evie sitting down next to me in the lounge on my first break. It was obvious something was wrong, so I braced for the worst. When she told me Grady wasn’t responding to the small amounts of natural medicines, I knew there was no more hope.

Hearing the news reconfirmed why I became a nurse. So I spent a little more time with each child, telling jokes, playing cards, and coloring pictures. It was as much for them as it was for me. I needed the time with them, knowing there was a level of pain and discomfort, but at the same time, a sliver of hope in their eyes.