Page 51 of Filthy Player
“Plane rides get boring after awhile and you can only play so many games of Candy Crush or Casino Royale. Have to do something to not be bored out of my skull.”
“They have these devices these days, you know.” I made a sweeping gesture with my hand toward the shelves. “All these books fit on one small little tablet and you can read them there.”
He had at some point opened a beer and he brought it to his lips. “I like the feel of paper. Hate reading on my phone. Shannon bought me a Kindle a couple years ago and I never got used to it.”
“You are full of surprises.”
“Yeah.” He set down his beer and walked toward me. No, not walked. He prowled, slow and steady. I’d become his target and I didn’t for a second doubt his aim. “Want to see what other surprises I have for you?”
I did. I really, really did. I’d been a brat to him several times. He’d been nothing but kind to me.
He was the first attractive guy I’d been with in a long time and it wasn’t just physical, we connected on a level I didn’t understand. Perhaps it was our common, simpler backgrounds.
Perhaps it was the crazy thing called chemistry I never really fully believed in.
Whatever it was, I set my glass down on the coffee table and rested my hands on Beaux’s shoulders. “Yes. Show me more surprises.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
BEAUX
This was our second date. Felt more like our fifth if you included all the times I’d seen her.
We were well past the point of me hiding exactly what I wanted from her, what I wanted to give her, what I wanted to do to her. Not that I’d done such a bang up job of keeping it a secret from her since the moment we met at the restaurant, but slow was no longer in my vocabulary or on my agenda.
I had her for the night, and I had an early team meeting. I planned to use every single second I had available to my complete advantage, so when Paige said yes, I took her hand in my mine, guided her toward the stairs, and led her straight to my room, only taking a quick detour to show her the bathroom in case she needed it.
I went to the other bathroom, rinsed the taste of chicken and garlic off my breath and was entering my bedroom when Paige was coming out of the master bath.
She paused, gaze taking in the room, which wasn’t really much. I loved my house, loved how Shannon had helped me decorate it. A lot of white and gray, a lot of straight lines, and a lot more macho artwork and worthless knickknacks than I cared about on the shelves downstairs, but it all looked good and that was all I cared about.
My bedroom, though, was my domain. All over one of my bedroom walls were photographs and framed newspaper articles of my teams and my accomplishments over the years. I didn’t keep them to give myself a big head.
I kept them to remind me of where I came from. How I could lose it all if I wasn’t the guy I was trying to be.
I kept them framed and displayed so every morning I woke up, even if I didn’t feel like hauling my ass to the gym or wanted to do nothing but drink a case of beer and lay around, I had motivation to go out and continue striving to be better.
Still, I hadn’t brought a woman to my home since I moved to Raleigh, and the fact that Paige was staring at that wall looking awed, made me self-conscious.
I wasn’t used to people questioning me unless I already knew the answer I planned to give them. With Paige, I was learning that not everything could be scripted.
Women didn’t come with a playbook you could memorize with enough study sessions.
She turned to me as I stepped into the room. “You’re impressive.”
I gripped my T-shirt at the back of my neck and ripped it off my head, moving toward her and flinging the shirt to the floor. “Am I?”
Her eyes dropped, trailed my body and her bottom lip disappeared between her teeth. “Um.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” I reached for her and my hands went to her hips. She was wearing short, navy blue shorts and an off-white top but all I could think about was everything beneath it.
I’d had my hands on her before. Felt like it’d been forever, but that night at the park was a bit wild, way too rushed, and I needed her stripped and exposed to me. All of her — her heart and her body.
“Look at me.” Her gaze came straight to mine. “I’m going to undress you and you’re going to get on the bed. And then you’re not going to come until I say you can.”
I shot her a warning look, one daring her to argue with me but instead, she reached up to her hair and removed the clip that was there holding back her bangs. Chunks of her chocolate colored hair fell forward and she brushed it back, tossing her clip onto my nightstand.
“Then you should probably get started.”
