Lexington and 42nd (The Off Field Series #1) (16 page)

Ha! This was SO big.

I took my time, relishing the hot water washing away the grit and grime that came with running around on a football field all day. Maybe if I stayed in here long enough, Will would be asleep by the time I went back out.

Eventually I turned the tap off, putting my thankfully not hideous and also not overtly suggestive cami and pajama bottoms on.

When I came out the lamp was still on, and I felt Will’s eyes follow me as I crossed the room.

“What?”

His lip twitched. “Cute pajamas.”

“Hey, me and my pajamas can easily leave if you’re offended by them.”

“I just said they were cute.”

I stood, fumbling around with the contents of my case. I wanted the relative safety of the bed and the big comforter, but that meant actually getting into a bed with Will. The New York Warriors quarterback.
What was I thinking?

“I won’t bite, you know.”

“What? What’s that supposed to mean?” I couldn’t look at him.

“You’ve been repacking your suitcase for the better part of five minutes.”

“I’m a tidy traveller.”

I pulled my case closed and walked over to the bed, pulling the covers back just as the doorbell rang.

I froze, eyes growing wide as I watched Will amble out of bed, casual as anything.

“Um, Will?”

“Mmmm?”

“It’s 4:30 in the morning, who the hell is at the door?”

“Oh, it’s just room service. I got hungry waiting for you.”

I watched him, wide eyed as he disappeared to answer the door. He was hungry. At 4:30 a.m.

He reappeared about a minute later, wheeling a trolley with two large, mouth-watering pizzas. The smell wafted over, instantly making my stomach rumble.

“Mmmmm, my favorite. How’d you know?”

I meant the question rhetorically, but he surprised me by answering. “You told me the day we had lunch.”

“I did?”

“Yeah.” He put his palms flat on his chest and fluttered his eyelids. “Oh
God,
I love pizza.” He over emphasised how breathy my voice had been.

“Oh shut up! I didn’t say it like that at all.”

Will fell on the bed laughing. “No, that’s exactly how you said it actually.”

We ate for a few minutes in comfortable silence, which was strange in itself considering the situation we were in.

“You know, normally after pizza we would braid each other’s hair or paint our nails.”

Will laughed through a mouthful of food. “You have a lot of sleepovers growing up?”

I shrugged. “Not so much. I mostly grew up around boys.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, all my cousins are boys. They weren’t much into sleepovers unless they were done in a fortress.”

Will nodded. “Totally respectable. So you’re close to them?”

“Yeah, we lived together growing up, so I spent every day with them.”

Will’s eyes grew wide, a look of horror crossing his face. “You lived with your cousins? What about your parents?”

“Oh, them too. I grew up on a farm so we all lived on the property. In different houses, but still…I saw them every day.”

Will sat up, putting the slice of pizza down. “Hang on, I thought you were from Sydney.”

I nodded. “I’ve lived there for nine years now, but I grew up on a cattle station about five hours from there. My parents put me into a boarding school when I was sixteen, then I went to university and ended up staying in the city when I landed a job.”

The pizza was now forgotten as Will absorbed this new information. “So…when you say farm, what exactly do you mean? Like, are we talking a few horses and some chickens?”

I laughed. “Not exactly. We’re fourth generation farmers, my family. Last count we had around four thousand head of cattle. It’s one of the biggest properties in the country.”

Will’s jaw dropped open. “Four thousand? Wow. So your family is full of…actual farmers.”

I nodded. “Yep, they’ve got nearly two thousand sheep too.”

Will gaped at me and I laughed. “You look like I’ve told you I live on Mars.”

He shook his head a few times, like he was trying to reorganize this new information in his brain. “You kinda have. I mean, I just always pictured you as a city girl. Did you, like, wear farm stuff?”

“Of course, when I was working.”

His face contorted. “What, you mean you used to have a job there?”

I laughed. “No, I wasn’t employed if that’s what you mean, but if I was there, I was working. Farms require a huge amount of effort. You can’t leave them, even for a day. I started helping out when I was about eight.”

“I need to see this farm.”

I jumped off the bed, grabbing my phone. “I have some photos.”

I sat on the edge of the mattress, flicking through to the best ones. “Here they are.” I felt the brush of Will’s chest across my back as he peered over my shoulder.

“This is the main homestead, my uncle and his family live there.” I flicked to the next image, a landscape of the station. “See that house on the left, down the hill? That’s where I grew up. Our station pretty much goes as far as the eye can see.”

Will’s breath on my neck was making it extremely hard to focus on tales of life on the farm. “Fuuuckkk. You’re serious? All that land?”

“Yep. When my great, great grandfather settled on the land, the rule was you could claim as far as you could ride in a day. They must have nearly killed themselves. There’s no way I could get that far in daylight.”

“You can ride?”

“Of course I can ride.” I turned to look at Will. It was a mistake, because our faces were now way too close, his dark eyes trapping me in their hold.

He shook his head, a slow grin spreading across his face. “You are just full of surprises.”

I smiled, warmth spreading through my veins.

“Do you have any more photos?” He peeled his eyes away from mine as he nodded toward the phone.

“Plenty, you’ll probably regret asking.”

I continued scrolling, finding some of harvest time, our horses, a video of my cousins and me herding sheep which he found particularly fascinating. He asked more questions than I thought possible, seeming genuinely intrigued by the inner workings of the farm.

It was another utterly charming side of Will Jensen.

I snapped my phone down to my lap as I scrolled onto a particularly hideous photo of my best friend and me in fancy dress costumes.

“Whoa, not so fast there. Show me that photo.” Will made a grab for the phone.

“No! That wasn’t a farm picture.” I moved my body so we were facing each other, holding the phone behind my back.

Will shook his head. “Don’t care. Show it to me.”

“Uh-uh, not on your life, buddy.” I tried to keep my voice level but couldn’t help the small laugh that emerged.

Will sat up. “Emma, we both know this is going to end with me seeing that photo, so you can either hand it over, or I’m taking it from you.”

I backed away towards the end of the bed shaking my head. “This is my phone, and you’re not seeing it.”

He climbed onto his knees, body poised and ready to pounce. “One last chance, then I’m taking the phone.”

I shook my head. I could feel my eyes bulge as his body loomed over me.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Will lurched forward, his arm reaching around my waist as I threw myself away from him, a hideously girly squeak leaving me. He was too quick though, rolling to catch my hand easily. I struggled, squirming as I held the phone above my head. It was useless however, and he pulled me to him effortlessly, his body weight holding me to the mattress.

“Give it up Em, you’re toast.” The ass was grinning above me, clearly relishing this one-sided game.

I eventually did, my body stilling as I realized the fight was in vain. With two broken legs and one arm tied behind his back, Will could still overpower me any day of the week. I watched with fascination as he caught his breath, his smile fading, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm. He wore a gray t-shirt that stretched tight across his chest and my eyes followed a vein that protruded from the top, running to where his pulse beat steadily at his neck. I wanted nothing more than to reach out and run my tongue along it.

The room was painfully quiet now, our breathing the only noise. Will’s eyes, which had been focused firmly on the headboard above us, eventually met mine. All my senses were heightened by his nearness. I was so alert to the warmth of his thighs as they encased mine, the way his jaw clenched when my breath caught. He had a pained look on his face, but I couldn’t read its meaning, and when he closed his eyes for a beat, drawing in a deep breath, I instantly missed the heat of his stare.

He had my arms pinned above my head and his grip on me loosened ever so slightly as his hands slowly rubbed up and down the length of them. I felt my skin bloom with goose bumps, unable to stop from sucking in my bottom lip as my skin caught fire.

Will’s eyes lit up when he spoke, his voice pure gravel. “
This
is how I’ve been wanting you Bambi.”

I could do nothing but watch him as his eyes followed the path of his hands along my arms, down my sides, over my rib cage to rest on my hips.

His eyes met mine again. “Not in a nightclub, not on a football field. Right. Here.”

My breath caught as his fingers squeezed ever so slightly. “What ever happened to just friends?” I whispered.

“Fuck friends. I’ve got too many as it is.”

We were both silently watching one another. I knew what he was thinking; I was thinking it too. This was it. Last week’s fight and yesterday’s promise of friendship held nothing compared to this moment. I was a fool to think I could ever say no to him when it really came down to it. We had passed that point in Texas the second his hand passed the hem of my dress.

“Tell me you want this.” It was a request for permission, and there was barely contained restraint behind his words, the tic in his jaw giving away how close he was to letting go. There was no question for me, I absolutely, one hundred percent wanted this. I
needed
it, and right then and there, I couldn’t have cared less about the consequences.

I nodded, my chest heaving from anticipation.

He leaned in slowly, running his lips along my neck, not kissing, just teasing.

“Say it. I need to hear you say it.”

I swallowed, my voice coming out a whisper against his skin. “I want this.
You
, I want you.”

Will groaned into my neck, his tongue catching my earlobe between his teeth and biting down. His hands were everywhere, like he didn’t know where to start and all I could think was
finally, finally this is happening
. My back arched off the bed as his teeth grazed a particularly sensitive spot on my neck.

“You like my mouth there?”

“I think I’ll like your mouth everywhere.”

We both jumped when the phone rang, piercing the silence of the room. He sat up, wild eyes darting first to his phone on the bedside table, then to the clock.

“Fuck.”

He leaned over, snatching it up to answer.

“Coach.”

I watched as he looked down at me, eyes despairing before running a hand over his face.

“I know, sorry, my alarm didn’t go off. I’ll be down in two minutes.”

Will hung up the phone, his head falling backward. “Fuuuckkkk.” His eyes met mine. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea what time it was. I was supposed to meet Coach five minutes ago for breakfast.”

I nodded, trying like hell to calm my frantic pulse…and the party in my pants. “It’s all right, its fine. I um…I should probably be getting ready anyway.”

He dropped his head to my belly, growling as his giant hands wrapped around my waist. “No, it’s not all right. Not at all.” He stayed like that for a few seconds, trying to pull himself together.

Sitting up, he pushed himself backward, stepping off the bed. I scrambled to sit, watching as he yanked his shorts off and hopped into his jeans. It felt sort of awkward now—there was something about unfinished business in bed that tended to make you feel significantly shyer around the other person than if you actually had seen it through. Maybe it was because the sexual tension still hung in the air with no relaxed afterglow to take the edge off.

He disappeared into the bathroom and I heard the taps go on, then off just as quickly. He came out holding a handful of toiletries that were shoved carelessly into his bag, and proceeded to throw other random items in.

“Here.” I pulled his phone charger from the wall.

He turned, looking as awkward as I felt. “Thanks.”

I watched as he zipped up his bag, doing a last check of the room before his eyes came to rest on me. We stared at each other a beat, unsure of what to say.

He came and sat down on the bed, his hand rubbing my arm. “I can’t believe I’m leaving you like this.”

I shrugged, unsure of how to respond. “When football calls I guess….”

His hand went up to massage the back of his neck as he huffed out a laugh, nodding his head. “Well, I guess I’ll see you next week right? When we’re back from training?”

I nodded, smiling. “No doubt.”

He stood to go and I followed, feeling strange watching him leave from the bed.

“Well…I’ll see you later.”

I managed a small smile. “Yep, bye.” I hated that my voice came out a squeak.

Will looked at me a moment longer, then walked out.

The second the door closed I fell back on the bed, muffling a frustrated scream into the pillow. I lay there for a split second trying to calm myself, taunted by the lingering effects of our intimacy.

TV. That’s what I needed, mindless TV. As I fumbled around, searching for the remote there was a knock at the door. Jumping up, I raced to peer through the peep hole to check if it was him. God, how was it possible to look that good even through a distorted magnifying lens?