Playing For Keeps (12 page)
Authors: Liz Matis
“You’re stal ing.”
“You
are
a bad girl.”
“You like me that way, don’t you Jake?”
Jake’s mind kicked into gear. She wanted it; she was going to get it. “I want you in so many ways, Hannah, ways I don’t even know about. Yet. But this is the way I want you right now.”
“Tel me,” whispered Hannah.
“I’m getting home from a road trip and I’m pretty beat up. Al I want is some sleep. Then, I walk into my bedroom and there’s a surprise waiting for me. God, Hannah, you’re so beautiful. You could have any man you want, but you choose me. My blood rushes to al the parts of me that hurt and I feel like a new man. Like the only man who can please you.”
“Only you,” whispers Hannah.
“That’s right, Hannah, only me.”
“The rose color of your lingerie makes me think of the hidden rose colored areas of your incredible body.”
“You
are
a bad boy,” purred Hannah.
“Just the way you like me. And hot, heavy, and ready.”
“Ready for what?”
“To get my hands on you - al over you. Stil , I walk slowly as I devour your body with my eyes. Then, I’m a breath away from you and your body instinctively leans into mine. My finger traces the outline of your lips. So rosy and wet – what do you taste like Hannah? Like cinnamon? Like cherry?”
“Kiss me and find out.”
“My lips graze yours lightly, but then you press your mouth against mine. I can’t believe I’m final y kissing you. So many times I’ve looked at your picture and fantasized about you, but nothing could prepare me for how sweet and wild you taste – like heaven and hel – like redemption and sin.”
“Oh, Jake.”
“My tongue goes deeper and you begin to stroke my tongue with your lips just the way you want to stroke my cock.” He paused to make sure she wasn’t offended, that he didn’t go too far.
“And do you like the way I’m stroking your
tongue
?”
“Oh yeah, but not yet. I take my lips away and you moan because you want more. But there are other places that need to be kissed. To be licked.
My mouth nuzzles your throat as I slide my hand down the curve of your hip and then around the outline of your panties. I’m dying to reach in and see if you’re wet for me. Damn, I real y want to yank them off, but that’s what you want, isn’t it Hannah?”
“Yes, no, I mean, I want you to take them off with your teeth.”
Jake didn’t know how much more of this he could take. “Not so fast. You have one other undergarment that needs to come off first.”
“Hurry.”
“My mouth travels down to your breasts, which are ready to spil out of your bra. It doesn’t take my tongue much coaxing to free your nipple from the lacy confines. I want to go slow, but I can’t and I take your nipple into my mouth and suck hard.”
“Oh, God, yes.” Hannah moaned over the phone line.
He reached down to rub his throbbing erection. He’d never been so turned on in his life. Never. He rubbed harder. Pure torture. He hoped she felt the same way. “Touch yourself, Hannah. For me.” Her moan rocked his body. “Hannah?’
“Don’t stop.”
“Hannah?” he asked urgently. Like his life depended on it – because it felt like it did.
“Yes?”
“I’l be right over.”
“Thank God.”
***
Hannah surveyed her room with a critical eye. Luckily, everything was neat and clean. Colored in creams and pinks, she didn’t consider it girly.
Wel , maybe a little. Overstuffed pil ows littered the bed, and she smiled, thinking of her and Jake rol ing around amongst the bedding. Would they even make it between the sheets? She giggled.
Hannah glanced in the mirror and shrieked. How could she forget make-up? She rushed over to her vanity and careful y sketched on green eyeliner. Next, she put on a light coat of foundation and then remembering Jake’s words, added rosy colored lip-gloss. She didn’t bother with blush; she didn’t need it, not after a session of phone sex with Jake. His voice was pure sex.
She ran a brush through her hair and then assessed her look in the ful -length mirror. Not bad, for fifteen minutes. She did a couple of turns and performed the pose in the catalog. Air brushing aside, Hannah hoped Jake wouldn’t be disil usioned by the real thing.
By the real Hannah.
Why was she so nervous? Jake was just another guy. So what if he was famous? It wasn’t like she didn’t have her fair share of the rich and famous. She was one of them.
He’s the one who should be nervous!
She was Hannah Hahn! Fabulously famous, wealthy, and sexy.
And not so
fabulously alone.
She thought about Samantha. Hannah slipped on a satin robe and left her bedroom to tel Samantha of Jake’s impending arrival. She lightly knocked and peeked in Samantha’s room.
“What’s up?”
“Jake is.”
“What?”
“We had amazing phone sex. He’s on his way over.”
“Phone sex? Real y? Wow.”
“It gives a whole new meaning to the word foreplay. You should try it.”
“I’m out of luck, unless you know of a good 900 number.”
“I’m sure Ryan wouldn’t mind. You do have
his
number.”
“Lost it.”
“Sure, you did.”
“Never mind me, what are you wearing under that robe. Is Jake going to have a heart attack?”
“Page thirteen.” Hannah flashed Samantha.
“Ah, you’re going for a stroke.”
“Neither. I’m going for the ‘if you have an erection for longer than four hours, you should see a doctor right away’,” said Hannah in her television commercial voice.
Samantha laughed. “Then, I won’t expect you at breakfast.”
“Cal Ryan.” The buzzer sounded. Before closing the bedroom door Hannah added, “You know you want to.”
Hannah rushed to let Jake in. After she was done jumping him, there would be some pil ow talk about how to get Ryan and Samantha together outside of the locker room.
***
Down the hal way she heard a low giggle and a door slamming shut. She imagined Jake kicking the door.
Her face flushed, as she searched for Ryan’s number in the directory. Finding it, her finger hovered over the send button. She took a deep breath and pressed down.
Too late now.
She hoped he wouldn’t answer. She wished he would. When she thought it would go to voice mail she heard Ryan’s voice.
“My place or yours?”
Awful y cocky of him, even if he was half right. This was a huge mistake. “That’s not why I cal ed.”
“Oh yeah, then what can’t wait at eleven p.m.?”
His deep voice reverberated through her. Harmless phone sex? Not with that voice. Not with knowing how the real thing felt. “I need a last minute quote,” she lied; her story had been filed hours ago.
“If that’s the way you want to play then, ‘Its just begun’.”
The silence stretched out as she waited for him to continue. What did he mean? “Can you elaborate on that?”
“My lucky streak.”
“I’d say it ended tonight,” she said confidently.
“You cal ed me, didn’t you?”
“This doesn’t…count,” she stammered.
“Doesn’t it?” he asked softly. “Dream about me.”
Samantha ended the cal and looked up at the ceiling. She hoped Ryan would replace her nightmares with visions of him loving her. Loving her?
That would be more like a fantasy or a hal ucination. Stil , if her nightmares were true then maybe her dreams could come true, too.
***
Jake stood over a steaming cup of coffee, in a pair of rumpled jeans riding low on his hips, with no shirt on.
“Did you make coffee for everyone? If not, you can leave now.”
Jake turned around. “There’s plenty. It’s the least I can do considering you provided me with Hannah’s number.”
While he poured her coffee, she gave him the once over. Looking like he’d had no sleep at al , Jake was dangerously sexy. She didn’t blame Hannah one bit for jumping into the sack with this hottie. She grateful y took the coffee cup and drew in another whiff of the powerful brew. “So I guess this means you’re not gay?”
“Gay, no. Happy, yes.” With a smile, Jake rubbed the stubble on his chin.
Samantha didn’t know what to say. Here was a guy she interviewed every day in less than what he was wearing now. “This is weird.”
Jake scratched his head. “Yeah, it is. Especial y since Terel is going to be jealous when I tel him I spent the night here.”
“So you’re the type to brag about your conquests?”
“Oh, you got it al wrong. I was the one sacrificed at Hannah’s altar.”
Samantha laughed.
“And Ryan won’t be jealous because of Hannah, but because I saw you in your jammies.”
Samantha unconsciously pul ed at her Mr. Bubbles lounge pants and matching shirt. “Um, could you tel him I had on something from Victoria’s Secret?”
“No can do. First, he’d kick my ass, and second, I don’t know, somehow I think the Mr. Bubbles is going to turn him on more.”
Samantha snorted.
“No real y, it would.”
“Okay, if you say so.”
“What difference does it make to you anyway? You don’t even like him.”
Was Jake digging for information? It sure seemed like it. Samantha thought for a moment before answering. “Ryan’s like an annoying third brother.”
“So why do you care if he thinks you wear Mr. Bubbles to bed?” Jake prodded.
Wow, he
was
digging, and he was a little too close to China for her. “Just a little feminine pride. That’s al .”
“Mm… hmmm, no, not buying it. Anything happen in the elevator? Later that night?”
“Hey, I’m the reporter here, got it?” Samantha frowned into her coffee. Did Ryan say anything? Jake was his best friend. Then again, she didn’t tel her best friend. She shook her head in disgust. She was acting like a high school freshman “But for the record, nothing happened.”
“So al you played was Go Fish.”
“Yup, though if it was up to Ryan we would’ve played Strip Poker. He even suggested Spin the Bottle.”
Jake laughed. “Now that sounds more like Terel . But it’s unlike him to not make a move.”
“Maybe, I’m not his type.”
“Nope, that not it. I think Ryan’s trying to respect your brother’s wishes and al . Whoops. Did I say that?”
“My brother’s wishes? And don’t act al innocent. I know you meant that to slip.”
Jake sheepishly grinned. “Your brother, the one who’s a cop I think, told Ryan ‘hands off’.”
Her brother was so dead. Who did he think he was? She wouldn’t even let her father get away with something like this, never mind her brother.
“And why are you tel ing me this?”
“You should know the restraint he’s shown in staying away from you.”
Samantha held back a snort of disgust. Restraint? Okay, maybe in the team meeting room where she expected a devastating kiss, only for him to walk away with a mere warning. Okay, and maybe he waited a whole hour before al his restraint flew down the elevator shaft and kissed her like he just got out of prison. But neither of them held back in the hotel gym. She knew Ryan didn’t say anything. If there was one thing she could trust Ryan with was her reputation. That was something. Besides, it was her brother who was at fault here. “Yes, Ryan is the pil ar of restraint,” she lied.
“But my brother wil need a restraining order against me if he doesn’t mind his own business.”
“You could always hook up with Ryan. That’l teach your brother a lesson.”
“Now that’s the reason why you told me.”
“No, real y it just came to me.” Jake got up to refil his mug. “Look, you should at least give him a chance. Come with me on Wednesday and you’l realize what a great guy he is.”
“Jake, I don’t know what’s so special about Wednesday, but you saw what happened in the lobby of the hotel. Can you imagine if we were an item?”
“People are thinking it anyway. Might as wel be doing it.”
She nearly retched into her coffee. “Who thinks that? What people?”
Jake shrugged. “People. I wouldn’t worry about it. No one real y cares.”
Samantha remained silent as she pondered his words.
“Now that I helped you with Terel --”
“Helped me? More like helping your friend out.”
“Hannah seems to think you two are ‘made’ for one another.”
“I get it now.” She should’ve known Hannah would rope Jake into helping her.
“Back to me. How do I keep Hannah happy?”
Samantha smiled, realizing Jake’s dilemma. Hannah wasn’t known for keeping a man beyond a couple of days, sometimes even hours. Usual y she wouldn’t interfere, but her roommate deserved a little matchmaker of her own and Jake seemed nice enough. “Wel , you can start by cooking her breakfast. Waffles.”
Jake stood up knocking over his empty cup. “I can do that.” He opened up the freezer door. “You’re out of waffles.”
