ROMANCE: SPORTS ROMANCE: Bad Boys of Sports: A Complete Collection (Alpha Male, Football, Hockey Secret Baby Romance) (Contemporary Sports Romance) (10 page)

CHAPTER SEVEN

Rich had taken to dropping by quite often, and Janie was running out of excuses to use to avoid seeing him. Car problems and family emergencies were only credible the first half a dozen occurrences, if that.

After the Alyssa thing, she didn’t know what to think. She had to be honest with herself, and as much as she secretly didn’t want to believe it, it seemed as though Rich did that sort of thing with other people’s wives often. If he was as confident and ruthless as Alyssa described, there was no denying it.

When her phone buzzed again, the now familiar feeling of panic and dread hit her because she knew it was him. Lying wasn’t her strong suit, so this charade she was pulling was leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. But she couldn’t face him, not yet, especially since she knew it would be written all over her face.

Alyssa had decided she wasn’t going to keep the baby, and that she didn’t plan on telling Rich about it. As awful as it was, Janie had to admit she felt relief knowing she wouldn’t be the auntie of their love child–a constant and painful reminder of her pitiful crush on an incredibly smooth player like Rich.
Pathetic
.

Either way, Janie knew she couldn’t keep avoiding him forever. She steeled herself for the discussion, planning it in her mind. She would ask if she could have a private word and meet him in the hallway. He’d agree, and she’d ask him about it, see if he denied it. If he owned up to it, then she wasn’t sure what she’d do. Ask him why? Yell at him? Command him to take responsibility? Tell him Alyssa’s in love with him?

Janie didn’t think she could do it—any of it.

Grabbing her purse and locking her desk drawer, she told Maddie, “I need to step out, okay Maddie? But I’m going to have Mrs. Philips from next door come keep you company.”

“What about daddy?” Maddie asked, looking up from her drawing with those big blue eyes that were so like her father’s. “He said he wanted to come see you.”

“Sorry sweetie, I really need to go.”

Rich couldn’t help but feel cross. Yesterday it was an “emergency,” today it was that she simply left early. What would it be tomorrow? If he didn’t know Janie any better, he’d swear she was avoiding him.

He couldn’t explain why, but he needed to see her. He already reserved himself to dropping in just twice a week (three times if he was good) and now he hadn’t seen her in twelve days. He wanted to make her laugh, or charm that smile so he could beam right back. Maybe he should send more flowers?

Luckily Maddie had swim practice today, so he was free to run some errands before he headed back to the school to look for Janie one last time.

Grabbing a basket, he looked at the list Maria had texted him. She usually took care of most of the basic household errands when Maddie was at school, but sometimes he helped. “Okay, I need apples…” he muttered, walking over to the produce aisle. Pocketing his phone, he did a double-take when he saw her. There, comparing an orange to a slightly bigger orange, was Janie.

He didn’t think, he just moved. With a bulky red basket hanging awkwardly on his arm, he strolled up, leaned between her outstretched arms, and kissed her. He kept it light, sweet, and pulled back so they were just a breath apart to whisper, “Hey.”

She blinked. He noticed she did that a lot when she was surprised. It was incredibly cute when she did it, like seeing a deer caught in headlights. He needed to kiss her again, and he wound his arms around her little waist and urgently pressed his lips against hers. She was so soft and delicate—his heart did that weird thing again now that he finally closed the gap between them.

“Wait!” she pulled away, dropping her oranges. “Rich, I—”

“If I didn’t know any better, I could swear that you’ve been avoiding me.” He didn’t let go of her waist and brought her closer to him again to whisper in her ear. “I’ve missed you.”

Janie shoved and pushed her way out of his arms. “Rich, please,” she said as she straightened her dress, her face red with anger.

Rich threaded his eyebrows in confusion. “Wait, so you were avoiding me? But, why?”

“I wasn’t…it’s just…I don’t think you’re quite my type.”

Rich was taken aback. Was she playing hard to get? “Janie, if you give me a chance and get to know me, you’ll see that we have a lot in common.”

“You think so? Well, I’m not so sure about that.” Her voice was hostile.

“What’s this about? Is it something I did?”

“I need to go…”

“Wait, is this about that guy Chris?” A flash of anger crossed Rich’s face. “Are you getting serious with him, and this is your way of telling me?”

“No, Rich, this is about you,” Janie blurted, unable to contain herself. “It was all you. You and only you—the only person you ever cared about, and probably ever will. People like you live life hurting others around you like it’s nothing—like
they’re
nothing—and you leave a mess wherever you go. I don’t need to get to know you; I know exactly who you are. I’ve dated guys like you before.”

“Whoa, hold on, I—”

“No—I can’t do this with you. This ends here. She loves you, Rich!” Janie was red in the face, panting, and glaring at him. “She loves you,” she hissed, turning to run away.

“
Who
?” he shouted after her, watching her go.

He didn’t buy the apples or anything else on the list. He was too angry–angry that Janie seemed to hate his guts. Angry that he had no idea why. Or did he? 

***

Janie closed the door quietly behind her when she got home. She was shaking, replaying the scene over and over in her head. She tried not to think how Rich had taken it. Was he laughing at her? Shaking his head with that silly grin of his, asking himself, “As if you can stay away from me?” What if she had imagined the whole thing? What if she was just a schoolteacher, and he was just a nice guy who had figured out she was lonely?

Alyssa was laying on the couch, flipping through an old magazine. “Wanna go out tonight?” she asked, bored.

“No thanks.” It was the last thing Janie wanted to do.

Alyssa frowned but didn’t look up. “Are you sure? We could—”

“No,” Janie repeated. She was still shaky from the confrontation with Rich earlier, and she could feel the adrenalin returning. “I don’t want to go out anymore, okay? It was fun, but it’s just way too much for me.” There was a flash of hurt in Alyssa’s eyes, and Janie bit her lip. “Look, I’ll admit it—I’m heartbroken, lonely, and I’m not getting any younger. Meeting a bunch of men who just want a night of fun isn’t going to fill that hole.” She rubbed her forehead wearily. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you. I’ve just had a rough day. Besides, you should be resting, shouldn’t you? Have you scheduled your appointment with the OB/Gyn yet?”

“I’m looking into it,” Alyssa shrugged, and changed the subject. “If you’re so lonely, where do you plan to meet someone then?”

“I’ve thought about signing up on Eros.net,” she blushed.

“The dating site?”

“Yes,” Janie held her head high, daring Alyssa to say something.

“Hey, that’s cool. I’ve used LovePotion.com before, and it was good to meet people. It was just, you know, fun to finally go out together, you and me.”

Janie deflated. “Me too. Thanks for showing me around. I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t have fun too. But to be honest, I don’t think it’s really my scene.”

“No prob. Besides, if it were for everyone, I’d have way too much competition.” Alyssa spread back out on the couch.

The girls laughed and talked for a while, but eventually Janie took out some homework that needed to be graded, and Alyssa got up to go out for the night. “Maybe I’ll run into Rich tonight,” she wondered out loud.

“I’m telling you,” Janie said with acid in her tone, brutally scratching out something on the paper she was marking up. “He’s not worth it.”

Alyssa left without a retort, and Janie was left to her lesson plans. Technically she had them all laid out for the rest of the year, but she liked to make alterations based on specific needs of the children she taught. It just made for better participation.

A knock on the door pulled her from her thoughts. She checked the time as she got up to answer it. Alyssa had left only twenty minutes ago. She had probably forgotten her keys and doubled back for them. Janie opened the door, and her jaw went slack.

Rich was standing in her doorway, holding a large bouquet of roses.   

“I slept with her because she practically begged me to,” he said, getting right to it. “She’s the one who seduced me, not the other way around. And since you’re her friend, then I think you know she was just looking for an excuse to break it off with her husband, and that excuse just happened to be me. She may think she’s in love, but she isn’t. Not with me—only with the idea of who I am, but it’s not real.”

Janie stared at him in shock.

“You’re right, though, it was wrong of me. I shouldn’t have gotten between a man and his wife. It’s not like I don’t know that pain. To be perfectly honest with you, I’ve been in a dark place for a long time. I’ve been living like a ghost, getting involved in meaningless affairs, never letting anyone in.

“But that all changed when I met you, Janie Nelson.” He finally moved to offer the flowers, pleading with his eyes for her to take them. “You’ve awakened something in me that I thought was dead.” And, because Janie was Janie, she wasn’t going to leave a person feeling awkward and embarrassed, so she accepted them.

Rich took that moment to crowd her back into the apartment and close the door.

“Rich—”

“Will you forgive me?” he asked.

She looked at him then, looking past the perfect face and expensive clothes, and saw the vulnerability. “My ex-boyfriend,” she muttered. “He cheated on me, so I left him. We were together for five years. Five long years of my life were wasted on him.” She took a deep breath to hold off the tears.

“Janie, I—”

“How could I trust someone,” she asked, the first drops falling down her cheeks, “who has a history of fooling around? How could I believe that you won’t hurt me?”

“Janie,” Rich bent to cup her face, his thumbs brushing away her tears. “I would never, ever do that to you. I may have fooled around with the wrong women, but I’ve been single all these years. I’ve never cheated on anybody. I’m not your ex-boyfriend–I would never betray you like that. Just give me a chance.”

Janie half-laughed, half-sobbed, and admitted, brokenly, “You don’t know how much I want to.”

Rich’s heart practically flipped, pumping so quickly it was like little fireworks were going off in there. “Good,” he said, reaching down for a kiss. Then another. And another.

Janie wasn’t stopping him, and he couldn’t get enough. She tasted like strawberries, and her mouth was light and delicate, like the roses he’d rushed to buy. Suddenly she whimpered, and he let her come up for air. “God, Janie, you’re just so…” He squeezed her ass, cupping it and lifting her off the floor a little bit. “…Delicious.”

But she wanted to keep kissing, and she wrapped her arms around his neck to get his attention. She’d stopped crying, though the tip of her nose was little red, and Rich’s heart flipped again. He wanted never to let her hurt like that again.

He kissed her over and over, and soon they were bumping into everything in the house. His only directions were tugs from Janie. He’d hit a wall with his back, and she’d pull on his right sleeve. He’d go right until he hit a door, and then she’d pull left, so left they went. He smiled mid-kiss when he hit the right door, and she tugged on the back of his shirt.

Rich searched blindly for the doorknob behind him, giving it a quick flick of the wrist to turn it open when he did. He led them backward into the room, the back of his knees hitting her bed. Janie pushed without realizing it, and they fell onto it, her on top of him. “Well, hey there,” he smirked. Janie blushed, but smirked right back, and started attacking his neck.

“H-hey!” He tried to sit up. “Not there! I have work! I’m serious, if you don’t stop, I’ll give you ten for every one, and you can have fun explaining that at the next parent-teacher conference!”

Janie laughed into his neck then, and he took the opportunity to flip them, so Janie was underneath. He went at her neck, and she screamed, tugging on his brown hair. “Noooo! Don’t do it! I didn’t make any!”

Rich let go of her neck with a pop. “Well, that’s a crying shame.”

“You didn’t.”

He laughed. “Of course not. But we never said anything about shoulders…” He bit her, teeth grazing against her as he sucked and licked to bruise. Janie gasped, her shoulders moving flat against the bed. Rich went lower, pulling up her shirt to leave marks down her stomach and on her hip. He helped her tug off her pants and pulled off the panties himself.

“Um, what are you…?”

Rich glanced up at her. She was blushing and avoiding his eyes, looking, of all places, at the ceiling. He could only guess her ex hadn’t given her too much of this, and he was proud to be the one who could. “Seriously babe, I’m gonna blow your socks off.”

He spread her legs and dove in. She gasped when she felt his tongue, and she moved a hand to grab his hair, half-heartedly trying to pull him up. He knew she felt vulnerable, but nothing was going to make him move.