Score: A Stepbrother Sports Romance (24 page)

“Oh I
bet
she is.”

“Meredith,” I say, my voice dark and my jaw tight. “What you’re thinking isn’t real.”

She’s reaching for her coat and pulling it back on, tying the front as she collects her purse and her recorder. “Well, that’s your word versus mine, Dalton, and
one
of us is an investigative reporter.”

“Leave it,” I growl as she steps to the open doorway.

She turns and smiles this big fake smile my way. “Maybe if you would’ve just shut up and fucked me, Dalton. But now?” She tsks and shakes her head. “This is
way
too juicy now.”

Fuck.

G
oddamnit
.

I’m running out of the office the second after Meredith leaves. One way down the hallway leads to back to the fucking spirit rally, but if I know Hailey, that’s the last damn place she’d go right now.

I head the other way, running down the back hallways of the athletics department until I spot her heading down a side-hall towards the parking lot exit.

“Hailey!”

She turns at the sound of her name, but she scowls and whirls away when she realizes it’s me.

I run after her.

“Goddamnit,
stop
a second.” I grab her arm, pulling her around towards me, but she shoves me back, shaking herself free.

“Keep your
hands
off of me!”

“That is
not
what you think it was,” I growl, taking another step towards her as she glares at me. “That was the furthest fucking thing from what you think it was.”

Hailey rolls her furious eyes, a look of disgust crossing her face like a shadow. A look that hits me like a knife to the gut.

“Oh and what could I
possibly
think it was,
hmm
? And how could I
possibly
think that about
you,
Dalton?” She spits the last part at my face, her lips going tight and her eyes blazing.

“The hell is that supposed to mean?” I can feel the scowl form on my face, even as her words twist that knife in my side a little deeper.

“Oh,
you
know what I mean,
big Ten
,” she says, her words dripping in sarcasm.

I stare at her. “Jesus, do you actually think anything was going to happen back there?”

“I
know
you, Dalt-”

“Yeah,” I grab her and yank her close cutting her off as her breath catches. “Yeah, you
do
know me.” My voice is stronger, more edged than I want it to be, and her eyes go wide for a second.

“Do I?”

There’s a moment of crystal silence as we glare at each other like that - four whole seconds of iced-over frost before someone glances down the hallway on their way past.

I tighten my hand on her arm. “C’mere.”

“Dalton-”

But I’m not listening as I kick open the door next to us and yank her inside what’s apparently the girls’ volleyball locker room.

“What are you
doing
, Dalton-”

I turn to the door, shoving it shut and locking it before I turn back to her. She’s against the row of lockers behind her, her eyes wide as I advance on her like she’s my damn prey.

And in a way, she is. She’s what I’ve been hunting for since before I even knew I
was
hunting. She’s what I was after, even if I was fucking
lost
out there looking for it.

She’s
it
for me.

…And it’s time I show her that.

Hailey’s eyes flash at me with this wild look, an inferno in those pretty blue eyes. I stalk towards her, her looking turning hungrier the closer I get. She gasps as I step right into her, pushing her back until she’s flat against the metal lockers behind her, her eyes dancing across my own.

“You think you don’t mean more to me than that?” I growl. My hand slides down her arms until they find her fingers, and I lace them with my own before I push them up and back behind her.

She swallows thickly, her lips trembling. “I-”

“Because you do,” I growl out. “You mean fucking
everything
to me.”

And then I kiss her, and when I do, I make sure it’s a kiss she’ll never forget in a million fucking years.

I kiss her hard, and fiercer then I’ve ever kissed her before - harder and fiercer than I know for a damn fact she’s ever been kissed by anyone in her whole damn life. It’s a kiss to mark, to bruise, to remember in sweet agony later when she’s missing it.

It’s a kiss to tell her that she’s
mine
, and
damn
if I’m going to let her walk away from that so easily.

Hailey moans as I claim her mouth, her tongue finding mine, soft whimpers catching in her throat. Her body arches to meet mine, as if craving the contact, and I’m all too happy to oblige. I push her back, molding and covering her body with my own, and she shivers as I slide my mouth to her neck.

“Oh,
fuck
, Dalton-”

Her whispered moans are soft and yet desperate, tender but roaring in my ears.

I keep her hands where they are, pinned above her head with one of mine. The other, I bring down, my fingers tracing the outline of her body as my mouth leaves a roadmap down her neck.

“You’re everything. I
need
you to know that,” I husk into her ear, feeling her shiver as the moan teases from her lips. “And I need to know that you’re
mine
.”

I nip her earlobe, and she sucks in her breath as the moan catches somewhere deep in her chest.

“
Yes
,” she whimpers, arching her hips to meet mine. “I’m
yours.
”

I was rock hard before, but my cock practically tears through my pants at the sound of her words. I groan into her ear as my hand slides further down, until it finds the edge of her cheer skirt. I pull it up, teasingly, haltingly, and she shivers at the feel of the air across her bare slit.

“
This
is mine,” I growl into her ear, cupping the wet heat between her legs with my hand.

“Dalton, please-” she gasps, panting her breath into my ear as I tease her neck with my mouth.

Slowly, I let her hands go and drop to my knees in front of her. I push her skirt up to her waist, and I growl deeply at the sight of her perfect, bare slit open and ready for me.

I move my lips to her thigh, kissing slowly up the inside of it and making her legs shake. My mouth brushes just to the side of her opening, and she cries out a choked moan as my tongue dances
just
shy of her.

God
, her pussy is gorgeous.

I want to keep teasing her, but I’m
done
denying myself what I want, and what I want to give her. And when I drag my tongue deeply through her slit, she moans wildly above me.

I push my tongue deep inside, lapping at her sweet nectar. I move higher, gently sucking her clit between my lips and teasing it with my tongue. Hailey’s going crazy, clawing at the metal lockers behind her, another hand sliding through my hair as I lick her sweet pussy. I grab one of her legs and throw it up over my shoulder, and she clutches me wildly with both hands. I push my tongue as deep as I can get it inside, loving the way she trembles in response.

“I want to feel it!” She gasps out, her breath ragged and her legs quivering around my head. “I want to feel all of you.”

I give her one more deep lick before I pull away, pulling her with me to the bench behind us. I grab a towel from the clean stack by the door and drape it over the bench before I move her to her knees in front of me.

Hailey obliges me, kneeling there on the locker room bench with her ass in the air and her little cheer skirt bunched around her hips.

Fucking. Perfect.

She looks back as I tear my jersey off and slide the football pants I’m wearing down just enough to pull my cock out. She moans as I stroke it, her eyes wide and hungry before she brings them up to my face as I get behind her.

“I want it all,” she says breathily. “Show me that I’m everything.”

Happy to oblige
.

The foil wrapper of the condom I yank from my side pocket falls to the ground as I roll it over my cock. I ease the head against her, feeling her heat and her slickness as I slowly ease inside. Her breath catches as I slowly stretch her, and when I start to inch my way inside, she whimpers out this low, animal sound
.

“
God
yes,” she moans out, pushing back towards me as I slowly feed her every single inch of me.

We both groan as I sheath myself entirely, my abs pressed against her ass and my hands firmly on her hips. I slowly pull back out before I glide easily back, driving deep inside of her. I do it again, and then again, and then I’m picking my pace up even more. I’m sliding out until just the head is inside, before grinding back deep, filling her up with every inch of me.

She starts to push back into my thrusts, setting the pace and fucking me harder as I drive into her. And I’m all too happy to match her rhythm, pounding her deep and rocking against her as our bodies slap together.

“Fuck me! Oh
fuck
, fuck me, Dalton!” She’s whimpering, her hands clawing at the towel under her as she rocks back faster and faster, bouncing herself up and down my cock.

She’s like a fantasy come to life, wearing that damn cheer outfit with the skirt around her waist, the knee-socks, and the little white shoes. I look up and groan as I see that high ponytail on her head. I reach up, wrapping it around my hand, pulling just hard enough for her to gasp, feeling her pussy clench around me.

“Oh,
fuck
yes!” She cries out, her gasping moans coming higher and higher and faster and faster.

This is aggressive, and it’s raw.

And it’s fucking
amazing.

It’s more than just fucking, but if we’re calling this making love, it’s some, dirty, wicked, hot as
sin
love, that’s for damn sure.

“I’m gonna-” Hailey gasps out, her eyes squeezing shut. “Oh
God
, Dalton, I-”

She moans deeply.

“I want to feel you,” she cries out. Her body starting to shake around me. “Please come for me.”

That does it.

Sweet Hailey Garrison begging me to fuck her with every inch I’ve got.

Sweet Hailey Garrison begging me to fuck her.

Sweet Hailey Garrison begging me to come.

That throws me
right
over the edge.

I roar out as I come, driving deep inside of her and feeling the come practically
explode
out the tip of my cock buried to the hilt inside of her. She erupts around me, following me over the edge, her pussy clamping down on me, her moaning wail filling the locker room.

* * *

I
take
her again in the showers later, slower this time. This time, we’re eye-to-eye as I fuck her against the side of the wall - her legs wrapped around my waist and her arms around my neck.

I take my time. I make it a slow build, stoking that fire hotter and hotter, my eyes never leaving hers.

And this time, I watch every single tiny expression as she comes for me. I watch every staggered staccato breath catch on her lips. I watch every little crease around her eyes as they flutter shut. I watch every bloom and pulse of her skin as she comes right there in front of me. I explode over that edge with her again, and our lips crash together as one under the spray of the water.

And I could stay
just
like this.

Forever.

If only.

T
his is comfortable
.

I’m in my dorm-room bed with Dalton, tangled in my sheets and curled up in his arms, and it’s
perfect
.

It’s lazy, and it’s easy. Somehow, the rest of the world with its worries and classes and schedules and football games and all that other stuff just sort of melts away when it’s just me and him. And I could worry - and maybe
should
worry - about what that means, considering this whole “casual” arrangement we’ve got going.

But for now, I don’t, because right now, it’s too good to let anything else creep into my mind or this room but us.

It’s the phone that finally shakes me from half-sleep and from his arms, and I growl as I reach for it.

My body
freezes
at the New York area code.

“Hello?”

Dalton’s up, and his usual grin turns into a serious look as he sits up and listens to my conversation.

With the office of admissions at Columbia University.

“Yes ma’am,” I say, trying to keep my voice steady, trying to keep the shriek climbing up my throat from spilling out. “I understand, and thank you!”

I turn the phone off, and slowly raise my eyes to Dalton.

“What?”

“I got my admittance interview.”

His eyes go wide. “You got it?”

Slowly, I let the grin creep across my face as I start to nod. “I got it!”

“Hell yeah!” I finally do let the shriek out as Dalton tackles me back into the bed, hugging me and tickling me, and kissing my neck.

“You did it, darlin!” He eyes are wild and he grins at me, leaning in to press his lips to mine.

“It’s tomorrow - first thing in the morning, actually,” I say, my voice shaking with excitement. “But it’s basically a formality! I’m
basically
in!”

I shriek again as I tackle
him
this time, pushing him onto his back and sliding on top of him to pepper his face with kisses.

“Damn, I knew you’d get this,” he murmurs, kissing me.

And then suddenly, we’re both pulling back and going a little quiet. And neither of us actually says it out loud, but both of us know what me “getting it” means.

It means I’m leaving.

“Dalton-”

“Hey,” he says, shaking his head with this small smile on his face. His eyes dart across mine. “Just a one time thing, right?”

I bite my lip, shaking my head. “You know that’s not true,” I say quietly.

He rolls his eyes as he kisses me again. “Yeah, I got that.” He winks at me, “Besides, if we were supposed to do that just the once, I’m going to need like….well shit I lost track on how many refunds.”

I laugh as I punch him in the arm. “Dick.”

I erupt into giggles as he flips me over onto my back, tickling me mercilessly while I squirm under him.

“So what’s the deal with Columbia anyways?” He says suddenly, his hands coming to a stop.

“Um, it’s one of the if not
the
best? I mean I want to go to med school, and their pre-med program is like,
the
program.”

“State school doesn’t cut it, huh?”

I shrug. “What would you want, a contract with the NFL, or….I don’t know, whatever isn’t that.”

Dalton grins. “Yeah, I get ya.” His eyes dart away from me, “Just...”

“What?” I frown, searching his face but finding nothing there.

“Nothing.”

“Dalton-”

“Listen, what are you doing tonight?” he says abruptly, his eyes darting back to mine, a smile creeping across his jaw.

“Well, I
thought
I’d prepare for that
slightly
important interview tomorrow.”

He grins, “Well would you need food first to prepare?”

I raise a brow. “And what are you suggesting?”

“
That
…we go get food somewhere first?” He flashes me that farm-boy grin. “Go do something like normal people?”

“Like a date?”

He rolls his eyes, “Nah.”

“Cause, we aren’t normal?” I smirk at him.

“We’re whatever we say we are, darlin,” he arches a brow, looking at me curiously. “And you know what? Fuck it. Yeah, like a date.” He grins as he leans over me.

“A date, huh?” I grin, trying to push down the ridiculous
fluttery
feeling inside at the idea of
Dalton Cole
asking me on date.

“People are going to know us. Well,
you
, at least.”

He shrugs “We’ll go a few towns over or something.”

“Dalton-” I arch my brow at him. “Your face is
literally
on a billboard, I don’t think a commute is going to change that.”

He grins, “Look, just trust me, okay?” He kisses me once more before he slides from the bed. “I gotta get to practice, but how about seven?” He chuckles, “Eyes up here, darlin.”

I blush furiously, pulling my eyes from where they’ve been very hungrily devouring his nude body. “Seven, right,” I frown. “This is a bad idea, you know.”

“Nah, it’s not,” he grins, buttoning his jeans over that famous bulge and yanking his t-shirt back down over his chiseled torso.

“Seven, red. Don’t be late.”

* * *

I
barely have
the door to my dorm room open before I burst into peels of laughter.

“Are you
serious
right now?”

Dalton - wearing the world’s goofiest, biggest, bushiest, fake beard in the world - pushes the door open and sweeps his arm down in a bow. “Now that all depends.” He grins at me, “Are you
seriously
ready for the hottest date of your life with Grizzly Adams?”

I crack up again, giggling as I shake my head at him. “Only if we’re going out for moose or something.”

“Oh,
best
damn moose in all of Georgia, I promise.”

“Oh is that so? Good, I’m starving.”

Dalton shrugs, “Well, I mean, I’ve gotta
hunt
the damn thing first, of course.”

I snort. “Oh, of course. I’m actually not even going on this date if you’re going to low-ball me with
pre-hunted
moose.”

Dalton laughs and sticks his arm out. “C’mon little house on the prairie, let’s go tear it up.”

* * *

G
rizzly Adams or not
, and despite the fact that we thankfully grab sushi instead of hunted big-game, Dalton’s right.

It
is
the best date of my life.

And it’s not even that my pool of experiences is small in that department, it’s that I’m
honestly
having the time of my life. We crack jokes, we push maki rolls in each other’s faces, we talk about my mom and his dad.

We let ourselves drop out of the roles we’re
supposed
to be - the nerd and the jock, the quiet girl and the famous ladykiller - and just let ourselves be who we are with each other.

Perfect.

I’m watching his face as we drive home, grinning to myself as I let my eyes drift over the sharp line of his chin, the curve of his cheek, the slight smirk on his perfect lips as he realizes I’m staring at him. And without even really thinking about it - without thinking more than I should or need to about it - I reach over to the center console and slide my hand into his.

He turns, a startled look on his face before it slowly creeps into a grin.

I’ve held his hand in this car before, on another night. But that was just for comfort, and that was
before
- before Dalton and I became….well, whatever this is.

And it’s a lot more than just a comfort now.

His thumb runs along the top of my hand, his fingers warm against mine. There’s a tingle where our skin meets, a shiver that teases up my arm leaving goosebumps in its wake as I slide my fingers against his.

We drive for another five minutes like that - just the silence of the road, the smell of the dogwood trees drifting in through the open windows, and our fingers interlocked. And we’re almost back home, driving past the campus, when I turn to him again.

“Let’s not go back yet.”

He glances at me, that little ever-present smirk on his face. “I thought we had a deadline tonight before you turned into a pumpkin.”

“I know, but-” I feel the heat creep into my face as I bite my lip. “I’m having too much fun.”

Dalton grins, “Hey, I mean, that’s a date with me, darlin. Coulda told you that a long time ago and saved us all this trouble.” He shoots me a look, “So where to?”

I glance out the window just as we drive past the dark shell of the stadium, past the darkened scoreboard with the field stretching out behind it, and I grin. “Right here.”

He pulls into the parking lot without a word, driving us around the bleachers to the far, open end of the football stadium. Dalton turns off the car, and we sit there in silence, looking out over the moonlit field.

“Man, one date with me and you’re suddenly a sports fan.”

“Hey, I just wanted to see it, without all the craziness and all the screaming people.” I stick my tongue out at him, poking him in the arm as he laughs and slings an arm over my shoulders.

I shake my head. “I actually can’t even imagine what it’s like to stand out there in the middle of all that.”

“Well, I could tell you,” Dalton turns to me, grinning. “Or I could show you.”