Page 37 of Dirty Player
I was the playboy she had read about. I used women. I bent them to my will before I tossed them aside. I couldn’t stand immaturity on the field and had no problems letting a ref know when he’d made a shitty call. I was the asshole she was expecting.
“Don’t let the horses fool you,” I said, dropping my voice. “I’m worse than anything you read about.”
She smiled, reached up, and stroked my unshaven cheek. “Okay, Oliver. Ready to take me to Beaux’s?”
No. That soft touch stirred something inside of me. It stretched and glided inside my gut. It woke up parts of me I’d long since put to sleep. “Sure.”
I walked next to her as we moved back to my car, my hands at my sides and not holding on to her.
She unsettled me. Saw things she shouldn’t. Knew things she couldn’t.
Distance helped me regain my bearings when we climbed into the car and I pulled out, taking back country roads where I could push the mettle of the Audi without fear of traffic or cops.
***
The drive back into the city was mostly quiet. The radio volume was turned down so we could talk over it, but we didn’t saymuch.
Next to me, Shannon curled a strand of hair around her finger before letting it pop back. She did it repeatedly, her other finger tapping along to the music on the side of her door.
She was fidgety and nervous, and there wasn’t much to say to make her feel better. I wondered if she was regretting the night, changing her mind about our agreement.
That she might actually do it made me keep quiet for most of the drive. I didn’t want to hear her say that yes, she regretted it. No, she didn’t want to see me again.
I hadn’t had repeats in my bed in years, but this girl…she was proving herself different from all the others.
So far, she’d challenged me. She’d shocked the hell out of me, and she’d made me shoot my brain out through my dick.
She impressed me at every turn, which was what finally made me speak as she quietly gave me directions to Beaux’s as we got closer.
“Where do you work?” I asked, breaking another long stretch of silence. I shouldn’t have cared. Yet I already knew her answer wasn’t going to be cheerleader or assistant or wannabe model/actress, like most of the women I met.
Shannon had a depth to her, a seriousness that hid her playful side. Somehow, I wanted to dig through all of it and explore every side of her—the sweet and shy and easily embarrassed to the dirtiest places she imagined.
“Stamped. It’s an internet-based business.”
“What?”
Her lips twisted and her finger went back to her hair.Twist, pull, spring.
“I have my own business. It’s nothing too exciting. I make metal jewelry, stamping it into the shape I want it. So it’s called Stamped.”
My interest was piqued along with my irritation. She had to leave my house before fucking to go make jewelry?
“You only sell it online?”
She hesitated a moment before answering. When she did, she turned to me and I saw a spark of fear, maybe excitement, before her hesitancy took over. “I’ve done that for years, but Beaux leased a building for me in the arts district. Said he wanted to help my dream come true like I’d always done for him. I’ve spent the week cleaning the building along with the apartment I’ll move into as soon as I can get my stuff from home.”
She frowned and looked out the window.
“There’s a street fair coming up next week I’ve been getting ready for. I have no idea how busy it is, how many customers I could get, but I’ve barely slept while trying to get everything prepared.” She pointed to a corner. “Turn here. His place is the second on the left.”
I skipped the turn, and she shot me a look. “I’m just driving around the block so you don’t have to cross the street when I let you out.” I knew these streets. The row of brownstones didn’t have parking except in alleys behind them, and parallel parking was a bitch.
“Oh.” That sweet blush hit her cheeks. “Thank you.”
My fingers twisted around the steering wheel. “You coming to the game this week?”
She turned to me then and grinned. “I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”
