I watched all this happen as if it were in slow motion, his simple, honest gesture making me grin while at the same time sending a flood of panic through me at such a public show of affection.
As if sensing my fear, Carrie leaned in. “Don’t worry, no one knows that was directed at you. I’m sure every woman here has thrown it right back to him.”
Relaxing a little, I laughed. “Well I guess one more won’t make any difference then.” I blew him a kiss back and watched as he fist pumped the air, grinning like an idiot.
“Wow, you’ve certainly changed your tune.” Carrie laughed along with me. I could only shrug, unable to stop myself from being caught up in the moment. “Maybe you two have inspired me.”
She pulled me away as the team left the field. “Come on, let’s get stuff wrapped up so we can get ready for the party.”
#
After coming back from the stadium, Carrie and I had agreed to meet in the lobby at nine, giving us enough time to freshen up. I was popping my earrings in when there was a knock at the door.
“It’s me, let me in.”
I pulled open the door to find Carrie on the other side.
“You know, if you’re planning on keeping this thing with James a secret, you might want to reconsider that outfit—he’ll never be able to keep his hands off you.”
She grinned, pushing past me. “I know, I’m terrible aren’t I?”
Carrie turned, sizing me up. “You look great.” She held up a tiny red dress. “Now strip…you need to wear this instead.”
“I’m not wearing that!”
“Yes you are, You have to. It’ll look less obvious if we both wear something sexy.” She was already turning me around and unzipping my perfectly good skirt.
“Carrie, that dress will barely reach mid-thigh on me. I’m not wearing it.”
The skirt was yanked down my legs, leaving me partially naked. “Just try it. If you don’t like it, I’ll let you put your skirt and top back on.”
I groaned, knowing that would never happen. Carrie shuffled the dress up and over my hips, zipping me up as I slipped the thin straps over my shoulders.
“Perfect. You look hot, but classy hot, not stripper hot.” She gave a satisfied nod as if the deal was done.
“Oh great,” I said, rolling my eyes. “So glad I won’t be confused with a stripper.”
I marched into the bathroom, determined to not like the dress on principle alone. Carrie stood behind me, daring me to challenge her. I opened my mouth to disagree but I couldn’t. The dress was seriously hot and she was right, still classy—borderline work function appropriate but given it was an after party at a nightclub, it would pass. “Fine. You win, I’ll wear the dress.”
Carrie smiled. “Will’s going to be throwing way more than air kisses when he sees you in that.”
#
We walked the three blocks to the club, already feeling buzzed thanks to the quick glass of wine at the hotel bar. It was getting late and the club was packed. Weaving through the sweaty bodies on the dance floor, we finally reached the after party entrance and a very surprised James, whose eyes were popping out of his head at the sight of Carrie.
He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and leaned in to me to do the same. “She’s genuinely trying to kill me, isn’t she?”
I gave him a sympathetic shrug. “Afraid so.”
“At least I’m replaceable. You know there’ll be a huge uproar when you kill the quarterback looking like that.”
I laughed, for once not concerned with how I should feel or behave around Will. I, like the rest of the crew here, was on the ultimate high after the team’s win. We were out of town and I only had Carrie and James here to take any notice of whatever might happen between Will and me—and Lord knew they had enough of their own stuff going on to keep them occupied. Tonight I was having fun, and if that included Will in some way, shape or form, then so be it.
James pulled us both to him so we could hear over the noise. “I’m nearly done here. You guys should go in and enjoy yourselves. I’ll be in soon.”
Carrie beamed at him. “We’ll meet you at the bar!”
Leaving James to finish managing the player arrivals, we walked into the ever-so-slightly less crowded private area, pushing our way through the suits and beautiful people of Dallas to the bar.
“Two margaritas please!”
The bartender grinned at Carrie. “Anything for you, sweetheart.”
I turned to survey the crowd. Buck and a few of the guys had made themselves comfortable in a booth with some pretty young things and I craned my head, searching to see if Will was with them. I felt an arm slide around my waist before his voice washed over me. “You trying to kill me in that dress, Bambi?”
Turning, laughter filled me.
He cocked a brow, amused. “Is the idea of me dead funny to you?”
I laughed again. “No, it’s just that you’re not the first to say it tonight.”
“So you’re saying I have some competition?” He was still smiling, but his eyes narrowed.
“No! I mean…never mind, it was just funny.” I held his gaze, waiting for what, I wasn’t sure, but he made no move to speak again and for reasons still unknown to me, my arms were suddenly around his neck pulling him close.
“God you were good today, so good it was unbelievable.” And he smelled good too. I had forgotten how much so. His arms slowly came around my waist and he laughed into my neck.
“I’m glad you think so. I’ll play like that every time if this is the reaction I get.” I pulled away just enough to see his face. “Seriously, you were amazing. I had no idea NFL could be so exciting. I was beside myself with nerves but you just stayed so calm. It was…well, it was amazing.” I felt my cheeks redden and tried to pull away as I realized what a rambling idiot I sounded like. He didn’t loosen his hold on me though, so I ended up awkwardly staring down at the space between us…or lack there-of, as it turned out.
“Hey, don’t go all shy on me now.” He squeezed my waist gently, making me look back up.
“Sorry, I kinda said you were amazing twice.”
He grinned, and it was the type that did funny things to my insides. “You did, and I kinda liked it.”
Carrie cleared her throat and I turned to her, mortified that my outburst had been heard by others. She gave Will a smile. “Great game today.” Then beaming at me she said, “Amazing actually.”
She was a dead woman.
Will’s deep laugh reverberated through my bones. God it was a good sound, even if it was at my expense. “Thanks Carrie.”
“Here’s your margarita.” She smiled sweetly at me while I silently threw daggers at her. At least she gave me alcohol, a somewhat redeeming act. I took a long drink, squinting as the strong liquid made its way into my system.
“Whoa, easy there little one. You trying to get drunk or something?” Will looked at me curiously.
I nodded at Carrie. “Not specifically, but we are planning on having some fun.”
“I’ll drink to that!” She raised her glass before taking a sip, somewhat smaller than mine had been. “I’ll be right back, just going to the ladies room.” I watched her leave, knowing full well she was heading back to James.
“So you liked the game, huh?”
I nodded eagerly. “I did. Your quarterbacking skills know no bounds.”
“I’m glad you think so.”
“Were you happy with how you played?” I watched him over the rim of my glass.
“Yeah, for the most part, but there’s plenty we need to work on before the season starts.” He nodded to my empty drink. “Not sure I should be encouraging this, but do you want another?”
I nodded. “Are you having one?”
He shook his head. “I’ve had my one beer for the night. I’m on the wagon from now on.”
“Disciplined, I’m impressed.”
“No big deal…some things are worth the sacrifice.” His eyes bore into mine as if he was issuing some kind of challenge, but then the bar tender leaned over to take his order.
He handed me my drink and motioned to a half-empty booth. “Sit with me?”
A very small part of me hesitated, but there was too much of me that wanted to be near him to truly consider saying no. At that point I think I would have followed him to Antarctica if he asked me. I slid into the booth after Will, being careful to keep some sort of respectable distance between us despite my earlier behaviour.
We sat in silence for a while, both taking in the party. Every so often I’d feel a set of eyes on him, sometimes on both of us, more often than not a female’s wandering glance trying to figure out if Will was taken for the night. Even with the alcohol giving me a false sense of confidence, it made me uncomfortable, like I was playing a dangerous game that was out of my league.
“You never told me how your date went the other night.”
I took another large gulp of my drink before turning to look at him, already wanting the conversation to be over. His features were smooth. He could have been talking about the weather.
Unsure of how to respond, I shrugged. “It was fine, nice.”
He leaned in close, so close to me that if I moved in a fraction, our lips would have met. “You had a
nice
date? I don’t think I’d be too pleased if I took a girl out and she said it was
nice
.” He raised an eyebrow in challenge, so cocky I wanted to smack the smug look off his face. No, scrap that, what I really wanted to do was climb into his lap and lick it off.
I held my ground, determined not to wilt under his stare. “Fine, we had a great time. Is that better?”
“Is it the truth?”
“Does it matter?”
His features hardened. “If you don’t know the answer to that, then you clearly weren’t listening to me the other day.”
I sat back a little, trying to break the intense mood we’d created. “Do you really want to talk about this now, Will? You have me here, hanging out with you in a bar. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
He smiled, but it wasn’t overly friendly. “Trust me, sitting in a nightclub with hundreds of people around us is the
last
place I want you.”
The visuals I got from that sentence alone were ridiculous. I was so dead.
As if reading my thoughts, he smiled. “Somewhere else you’d rather be?”
“I’m good here,” I whispered.
“Did you wear anything like this on your date?” Will’s eyes blazed as he hooked a finger under the strap of my dress and ran it over the length of my shoulder, setting my skin afire.
I swallowed. “No.”
“Good.”
Naked.
With the way his eyes roamed me, I couldn’t have been more naked if I’d peeled the dress off right then and there.
“Will…I don’t think—”
“You think too much, Bambi.”
“This shouldn’t happen.” I shifted slightly and his hand dropped, his head falling back against the wall. Instantly I wanted his touch back. I craved it.
I studied him as he sat with his eyes closed, drinking in the way his Adams apple became more prominent below his jawline, his clenched hands highlighting the sculpted lines of his forearms.
He raised his head slowly, eyes coming to rest on my face as he leaned in again. “Emma, we both know
this is
going to happen. I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.” I didn’t move, I couldn’t. My face was mere inches from his as I felt his hand skim across my knee, slowly tracing the skin up the inside of my thigh. With every centimeter his hand moved, his eyes dared me to stop him, but my resolve of just a few seconds ago was long gone. Inside I was screaming at myself not to forget the bigger picture, the fact that my actions wouldn’t just impact my own future, but could potentially result in the demise of the entire Sydney Football Club. But as much as I felt the weight of that responsibility bearing down on me, I didn’t know how to say no to him anymore, not when he was like this, full of determination. It was all I could do to control my breathing as his fingertips sent a warm hum rushing through my blood stream. I looked down as I felt my dress start to move up, my breath catching.
I was painfully aware of all the people around us, the fact that Will was about to do something very indecent to me in a
very
public place. For a split second I had the sense to tell myself I was being reckless and stupid, to push his hand away and run, but the thought disappeared almost as quickly as it came as Will’s fingers grazed across my underwear, sending my heart rate through the roof. My head snapped up as a soft groan left him, his eyes dark and hooded.
“Spread your legs.” It was a command, not a question, and one I followed without hesitation, inching my thighs apart. My heart was going a million miles an hour, both the pleasure of his hand and the fear of how easily we could be caught sending my pulse into overdrive.
“Will…” My plea was barely a whisper, yet somehow he heard me above the roar of the nightclub. His other hand came to rest on my neck, rhythmically rubbing up and down my spine. My head was screaming at me to run, get as far away from him as possible. But my body…I desperately wanted to lean into him, to bury my face in his shoulder and pretend there was no one else around.
“Will what…? Will please stop or Will keep going?” His voice was thick and as I met his eyes, I was relieved to see I wasn’t the only one struggling to keep it together.
“Emma! There you are.” At the sound of James’ voice, I snapped my legs together so quickly Will was lucky not to lose a finger. My eyes darted everywhere trying to take stock of what he might have seen. Reality brought with it the realization that maybe we had been more obvious than we thought while locked in our bubble of intimacy. I swivelled to face him, at the same time doing my best to subtly shuffle my dress back down, relieved that he didn’t look like he’d just walked in on the middle of something…which he totally had.
Will’s body reached across mine as he extended his hand to James. The one that had been so recently roaming between my thighs stayed firmly planted just above my knee, giving me a gentle squeeze.