“Well,” I laughed. “I didn’t think that either, but you don’t strike me as someone with a whole lot to hide. You like things out in the open.”
“That’s true,” he said, and I realized he had slowly been moving towards me. “I do like to make my intentions clear as soon as I discover what my intentions are.”
“And what are your intentions, Mr. Ryder?” I asked him, suddenly intoxicated by his proximity.
“You see, Ms. Hall,” he said. “That’s the problem. With you I just can’t quite figure out what I want.”
“Oh?” My throat was dry and the word came out low and husky.
Heat sparked in his eyes. “Well, I suppose that’s not entirely true. I know exactly what I want. I just don’t know if what I want is the best thing in this situation.”
“Probably not,” I said, but didn’t move away from him.
“Probably not,” he agreed. “But sometimes you have to forget what’s best and do what’s right.”
“And is this right?” I asked.
“Only one way to find out,” he said with that smile of his. “Don’t you think?”
I felt the wall against my back. Somehow, while we were talking, he had walked me back towards the side of the fireplace at the end of the room we had been standing in. I was trapped, a hard wall behind me, a hard body in front of me. And I was making no complaints. His hand reached up and pushed back a strand of hair that had fallen in front of my eyes. I shivered as his finger brushed my cheek. He leaned forward, his eyes on my lips, and I leaned forward, my own eyes closing. His mouth met mine, hot and eager and firm. I tilted my head back as the kiss deepened, our tongues rubbing together like two sticks about to start a fire. Nathan’s hands slid from my shoulders to just skim my breasts, sending a shiver through me, and then he gripped my hips assertively, pulling me tight against his muscular torso. FUCK YEAH. I melted into him, lacing my hands behind his neck, pulling him even closer towards me. He groaned into my mouth, and just as I could feel the hint of a hard rather large bulge against my thigh, a familiar tune burst out of the enormous speakers spread across the room.
“My heart will go on and oooooooooooooon!”
The spell was broken.
I opened my eyes to find Nathan glaring at the other side of the room where Chris was exchanging high fives with some of the other baseball players and Mandy was shaking her head, her arms crossed as Celine Dion crooned the famous song.
Sorry, she mouthed at me, but I could only shrug.
“I’m going to fucking kill them,” Nathan said, but he didn’t look angry, just a little annoyed and kind of embarrassed. Half the room was clapping and whooping. There was a slight pinkish tint to his cheeks. It made him look even more wholesome and handsome. He looked back at me and we shared a sheepish smile. We both knew that we were playing a very dangerous game.
“I should probably go,” I said, sliding out from between him and the wall.
“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I should probably go as well.”
“But I’ll see you tomorrow?” I asked. “Maybe do our interview then?”
“Yeah,” he said, but he didn’t even look back as he headed across the room, giving Chris and his teammates a shove as he pushed past them. I could only hope this embarrassment wouldn’t derail our interview anymore. Unfortunately, it had done a great deal to derail any sense of restraint I previously had. I needed to get out of there before I followed him and did something that wasn’t the best idea, but seemed to be the right one at that exact moment.
So I said goodnight to Mandy and to Chris, went back to my hotel room and took a long, cold shower.
Chapter Ten
When I got to the field the next morning, the stands were full, but there was no sign of Mandy. I hoped that this was an indication that last night had gone well, not the other way around. Some of the girls in the stand gave me a wave and I waved back. I was making friends. Then one of them flipped me the bird. OK, maybe not. Perhaps she had been at the party last night and saw me walk away from the hottest guy in baseball. I didn’t mind. Internally, I was doing the same thing to myself.
It wasn’t hot yet, but I could tell the day was going to be another scorcher. This time I had been the one to come prepared, with two large bottles of cold water and a baseball hat I had bought at the campus store. Figured it couldn’t hurt my chances with the star player if I wore his colors across my brow. Besides, I looked pretty cute in a baseball cap.
When I got to my seat, however, there was a box sitting there, with a note on top.
Just in case I need your services at the next party. –Nathan.
I opened it to find several bottles of Coffee-Mate Café Mocha and a thermos of iced coffee. My preferred form of payment, or so I had told Nathan the first night in the bar. This was really fucking nice.
I had been there about fifteen minutes, watching a few players emerge from the locker room and begin to warm up, before Mandy arrived. She wore the sweet, rumpled look of someone who had overslept, along with the remnants of make-up and a big smile that indicated a really good night. By the time she reached me, she was already blushing furiously.
“Morning,” I said, handing her a bottle of water. I could barely hide my own smile. Clearly the night had gone quite well.
“Morning,” she said, her pale skin flushing even more. She kept her eyes down and I realized why when Chris rushed across the field, having obviously waited a few minutes before heading towards the locker room. As he passed the guys warming up, he was greeted with a ruckus of hoots and hollers.
“My man!” some of the guys shouted, while a few slapped him on the back. But Chris just waved them off, rushing to get dressed, but not before turning back and flashing Mandy a huge smile.
She went crimson, but smiled back.
“Good night?” I asked innocently.
Mandy leaned back in her seat, half of the water in her bottle gone, and gave a long, satisfied smile. “It was amazing,” she said. “Completely amazing.”
“Tell me everything,” I said, though my attention was momentarily captured by the sight of Nathan coming out onto the field. My heart sped up at the sight of him, my palms went damp, and my mouth went dry. He was just so good-looking. And nice. That was the thing that kept surprising me. He didn’t have to be nice, but he was. From my experience with men, most guys in his situation relished the opportunity to be enormous dicks because they could. If they had the talent and the looks, they certainly didn’t care about being decent, let alone kind. But everything about Nathan pointed to him being a really good guy.
The world was going to love him. I could only hope that I could protect myself from the same feelings.
“He was so nice all evening and we were having such a good time. He was polite, and not pushy at all, though I kind of wanted him to be,” she said with a smile, one of her curls wrapped around her finger. “So, when he offered to drive me home, I had to invite him up.”
Good girl, I thought. Chris was clearly trying to be a gentleman, but it was also clear that Mandy had waited long enough for him to make his move.
“Bet he was pretty excited about that,” I said.
“You should have seen his eyes,” she giggled. “I’ve never seen them so wide. I’ve also never seen him move so fast. He was at the passenger side door in a flash.”
“He opened the car door for you?” I asked, trying to remember the last time I had seen a guy do that. Good for you, Chris, I thought.
“He was a total gentleman all evening,” she said. “Except when I kissed him.” Her smiled went positively wicked. “Then he was all man. All night.”
We went over each and every detail of Mandy and Chris’ date, the cheers of the girls in the stands and the thwack of bats propelling balls across the field providing the background noise. Occasionally I would feel that little twinge of jealousy. Followed immediately by a feeling of guilt. I was happy for Mandy. Of course I was. From the very first moment I saw her and Chris together, their mutual attraction had been obvious. It had basically taken everything in my power not to grab their heads and smush them together, yelling, “Kiss! Kiss!” I was really glad I hadn’t done that, since it seemed like they had just needed a teeny little push to get their act together.