Booty and the Beast, page 32
The truth shamed me. “I was so excited that I cried.”
Nick hesitated. “Good tears?”
“The very best.”
“I never should’ve let you go.”
Too little, too late. “Why are you telling me this? What good does it do us now?”
Nick practically growled. “I scored the winning touchdown. The fans were cheering for me. The team is calling me a goddamned hero. The media is all over me. The coaches shook my hand.” He held his arms out. “And none of it matters.”
“This is everything you’ve ever wanted,” I said.
“That’s what I thought too. But while I was standing in the middle of the stadium filled with seventy-five thousand people, surrounded by my team, cheered on by thousands of rivets fans at home…” His voice nearly broke. “I’ve never felt so fucking alone.”
Piece by piece, he collected my heart, but I didn’t trust him with the shattered fragments. Not yet. Not while the pain still choked me into silence.
“It was my fault.” Nick caressed my cheek. I didn’t push him away. “I thought I wanted the game. But I was wrong. There’s so much more to life than football. There’s you. I want you cheering for me. I want you there when I win, when I lose, when I play well, and when I can’t play at all. This success means nothing without someone to share it with. It’s nothing without having you by my side.”
My voice trembled. “You know how I feel about you.”
“Yeah. And I wasted it. I never wanted to be loved. I worked so hard to ignore what everyone else thought of me.”
“What changed?”
His smile warmed his words. “You did. I’ve struggled with everything in my life. People. Teams. Sports. The world only wanted to keep me down, so I learned how to fight. But…”
“But?”
“Nothing ever came as easily to me as falling in love with you.”
My knees threatened to give out. Nick pulled me close, wrapping an arm around my back. I dug my fingers into his suit and suppressed the tears.
I’d promised myself I would never cry over this man again.
“What about the game?” I whispered.
“You make me a better player.”
“What about working out at all hours of the day?”
He flexed for me. “Someone should reap the benefits.”
“What happens if you get hurt?”
He caressed my cheek, savoring that softness. “Then you can patch me up.”
I tasted the words, but I feared to speak them. “What happens if I get hurt?”
“I’m never gonna let that happen again.” He bumped his forehead against mine. “I know I’ve been a dick in the past, even when I believed I did right by you. But you were right all along. I was afraid of losing this opportunity. But now I have it. I’ve got it. It’s mine, no one can take it from me.” His fingers brushed my hair. “But what good is a dream if I can’t share it?”
This wasn’t fair.
I had spent all week steeling myself against this man.
With only a few simple words, he’d drawn me close, and once I was in his grasp, I didn’t have the strength to deny my heart.
“I never wanted to fall in love with anyone,” I whispered.
He wrapped me in his arms. “Me either.”
“And I never wanted to depend on anyone else.”
“Me either.”
“And I sure as hell never wanted to have you in my life again.” I pressed my hands to his chest—all muscle with a furious heartbeat that raced mine. “I never wanted you to mean anything to me. Never wanted to care about what you thought. And I sure as hell never wanted to be in your arms again.”
He held me tighter just to prove how wrong I’d been.
“But I can’t resist you, Nick,” I said. “And I don’t want to fight you anymore.”
“Then let me in.”
I wish I hadn’t trembled. “I can’t…I can’t let you get this close.”
His kisses pressed against my forehead, cheek, chin. He captured my lips with a whisper-soft nibble.
“I’m already part of you,” he said. “There’s nothing you can hide, nothing you should hide anymore. The past is the past, and we can do nothing about it except share it. Don’t let it control you. Embrace it. It’s why I fell in love with you.”
Beautiful words healed ugly memories.
I sighed, resting my head on his shoulder. “What do we do now then?”
“I’m not sure,” he said. “We’re two of the most hopeless people in this world.”
“At least we have each other.”
“If you’ll have me.”
I smirked. “I’m going to blame you for this.”
“Blame what?”
“You fell in love with me first.”
“And you were foolish enough to stay in love with me.”
Even honesty couldn’t frighten me anymore. “I’ve never wanted anything more.”
His smile turned wicked. “You might want to rethink that, Charisma Cassidy. Because I’m about to prove to you exactly how much I love you.”
The man was in no condition to carry me, but nothing would stop Nick Hart when he wanted something.
Me.
Nick swept me into his arms and carried me to the bedroom. No words. No pretense. He rested me on the pillows with a soft, tender touch to my cheek.
My heart thudded wildly, but this wasn’t like our previous embraces. He touched me delicately. Gently. No rushing or frantic clawing. When we’d come together before, it was crazed and animalistic. Selfish. A desperation of desire to only please ourselves as we were too afraid to imagine what the other might have felt.
But this…
This was something beautiful.
And it made every touch that much more magical.
He rested over me with a soul-tangling kiss, just teasing enough to delight ourselves while we removed clothing. My pajamas tugged away. The buttons on his shirt came undone.
And we touched each other as if it were the first time. How it should’ve been. He rested me against the bed and admired my curves. His calloused hands, covered in bruises and scrapes, might’ve crushed me. Instead, he caressed me so delicately that I needed to arch to push my breasts into his palms.
“How did I get so lucky?” Nick whispered. “You’re so goddamned beautiful.”
He took my nipple into his mouth, and the shivers rendered me limp. I teased his beard. The coarse hair tickled my breasts.
The agony of this would destroy me.
And enthrall me.
And leave me helpless to resist.
Nick took his time, memorizing every last inch of my skin. His was a slow, steady appreciation for everything I offered him. My softness. My curves. He moved lower, kissing over my tummy. Spreading my legs.
Slow, slow, slow.
Deliberate kisses. Enough to make a girl go crazy while waiting for the pleasure she knew her man could offer.
He had only ever taken me hard and fast, pinning me to the bed with an undeniable pounding that excited us both but promised us nothing.
This was something greater. I’d never known how meaningful every touch, kiss, and word could be. But this time, we enjoyed each other. Worshipped the other.
Loved each other.
His breath tickled hot against that sensitive part of me. He kissed, tenderly. The inside of my thighs. The top of my mound. His fingers pulled me apart, but he simply admired the secret of my petals.
I bucked my hips. “What are you doing?”
“Savoring you.” His words growled, but not harsh. Just passionate. His bestial grunt had become a premonition of pleasure. “I’ve taken you so many times, but I’ve never actually made love to you. Now you’re mine, and I plan to enjoy you.”
He spread my legs wide and devoured me with silken, hungry strokes of his tongue. My core clenched, but I didn’t fight the urge to remain quiet. I moaned for him. His name. Encouragement. Just how perfect his mouth felt.
The pillows offered very little support, but I clutched them, eager for a way to ground myself and stay focused. To keep myself from tumbling over that edge.
But what was the point of giving my heart to a man if I didn’t trust him to catch me when I fell?
I surrendered to him and allowed him to take everything and anything. Nick liked that. He rewarded me with a gentle finger to test my readiness. He should’ve known better. I was always wet for him. So slick that it might’ve been humiliating had I not trusted him implicitly with my body’s honeyed cream.
Within seconds he brought me to that crust, but he didn’t push me over. He teased me. Allowed me to enjoy it. The man was egotistical to a fault. He took great pride in watching as I tensed and arched, my lips silently calling his name again and again.
I ached for more of him. That twisting, frantic despair as I begged for skin against skin, lips against lips. An unbearable emptiness separated us.
Was this how it felt to be desperate for a man?
I always thought it would be wrong. A source of shame. But my desire for him was unlike anything I’d ever dreamed.
There was nothing wrong with craving him. Nothing would ruin me by calling out for him and begging for more. I demanded that final moment when we would become one, and we could prove how much we truly loved each other.
“Please,” I whispered. I didn’t recognize my own voice, not through the breathless, wanton desire. “I want to be with you, Nick. Forever. I want to feel you inside of me. I want to let you in everywhere. My heart. My soul. My body.”
Nick rose onto his arms, his cocky smile dazzling me with promise.
“Don’t worry, Charisma.” He guided himself to my entrance, and his hardness, what had once been so intimidating and challenging, pushed into me with an agonizing tenderness. “I’m already there.”
Inch after inch filled me with a quiet, commanding warmth.
So, this was how it was supposed to be…
I stared into his eyes and gripped his shoulders as his length thrust into me. So much strength…but he held me against him with pure adoration.
The man was covered in bruises. He was hurting. He was exhausted.
But he gave himself to me, just as I gave myself to him.
And there was no better way to show each other how we felt. Neither of us were good with words, and, for the longest time, we never trusted what whispered in our hearts.
But like this? Tangled in each other’s arms, welcoming him within the deepest part of me?
No longer could we deny anything.
He was mine. I was his. And I wrapped my legs around his waist to welcome him deeper.
Why had I ever feared this sort of gentleness?
His deep, unwavering strokes revealed everything to him. Everything I’d hidden for so long. I had been so wrong. Only safety existed within his embrace, where I was loved and worshiped, filled and protected.
I had to let him know it.
I arched, offering my body to him. Moaning his name and murmuring how every stroke drove me to the edge and back.
I was weak for him. Desperate for him. But Nick would never take advantage of my love. Not anymore.
I never believed I’d be vulnerable with anybody. But with Nick, I could share every fear, excitement and promise, and he would be there, ready and willing to do anything for me that I would ask.
All I needed to do was love him. Let him in.
Thrust after thrust. Slow and steady. Every movement became a solemn vow. I answered his powerful strikes with gentle whispers. Accepted his dominance with a confidence of my own.
We spoke no words and offered no explanations. Now, it was only our bodies. Just heat and desire. A man grunting as he mounted his lady, and a woman surrendering as the heat exposed every honest feeling she hid from the world.
The tension would tear me apart. I gripped him. Cried out for him. His brow furrowed, and the beast within me grew. Harder. Bigger. His lips captured mine, and my kiss begged him for that heart-melting release.
It took only a few moments. He buried himself in the deepest part of me and stared into my eyes.
And we came together.
Absolute perfection.
And amazing torrent of light and energy and unspoken emotion ripped through me.
It was love, and it was terrifying.
But it was beautiful, and everything that I had ever hoped it would be.
The pleasure roared with a desperation so intense I could do little but clutch Nick as the waves rendered me helpless and weak against the truth of my feelings for him.
He fell over me, his heat jetting inside me, deeper and hotter. He kissed me. Held me. Ground against my hips as he ensured every drop of his seed tucked deep inside me. Like a promise. Our little secret.
He didn’t pull out. I wouldn’t let him. My legs wrapped tight around him as he held himself upright, staring down at me.
“I can’t believe I almost lost you,” he whispered.
“You’re never gonna lose me, Nick Hart.” I brushed my fingers along his beard. “Do you really think I’d give up on you?”
“Than I can’t believe I missed a second of this.”
My fingertips teased his tensed muscles. “Then make it up to me. Don’t stop.”
He laughed, the exhaustion finally weakening him. “This will be an amazing way to die.”
Fair enough. I tugged him down to the bed, laying him at my side. A soft kiss, and he collapsed against the pillows.
“Okay then,” I said. “Stay here until sunrise.”
“And then what?”
Wasn’t it obvious? “And then we’ll start the day.”
His hands brushed away my hair. “And what happens after today?”
He already knew the answer to that. I pushed him onto his back and climbed over his body, straddling the part of him still hard and wanting. I welcomed him once more into my heat and earned his satisfied groan.
“After that?” I locked my hands with him and began to move. “We’ll start the rest of our lives—together.”
Epilogue
Charisma
Jack Carson hosted one hell of a party.
His house had everything—a hot tub, a full-theater system, a tended bar, and four adorable children screaming their heads off as they played with the rest of the team’s kids. Cole, Lachlan, and Jude raced around after children of their own, and the party turned from a hardcore drunken celebration of the Rivets’ playoff berth and into a Disney marathon to keep the rugrats in line.
Nick turned out to be the life of the party.
The man had a smile that never ceased to amaze me. The sort that could melt panties, unhook bras, and convince a girl to make desperate mistakes for the rest of her life. He entertained the men with the latest retelling of his second game-winning touchdown of the season. He’d embellished a bit, but the guys forgave him. He was the league MVP after all.
I stared at Leah Carson’s pride and joy—a cookie table fully stocked with everything terrible and wonderful.
Chocolate chip. Peanut butter. Lofthouse.
The playoffs afforded me a little luxury.
I snuck a snickerdoodle from the banquet table and took a bite.
Nope. Wrong cookie.
I discretely spat the crumbs from my mouth and nearly groaned. My stomach threatened to revolt, and I searched for a quick escape.
Fortunately, Nick saved me.
He tugged me from the bright lights and music and snuck me outside onto Jack’s poolside cabana. Only a little quieter here. Lachlan still splashed in the hot tub, desperate for one last lap in the cool winter evening.
“You holding up okay?” Nick kissed my forehead.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry.”
“You should eat.”
Oh, he’d love that. “I’ve been trying.”
“And?”
He knew what I was about to say—the jerk.
“No change,” I said. “I still can only eat meat.”
“Well, you can’t deny a craving.”
His kiss soothed the twisting in my tummy. I welcomed the touch but batted him away as he parted my lips for his tongue.
“We’re supposed to be sociable,” I said.
“Who wants to be sociable in there when I have a beautiful woman out here?”
This man.
“I just…love you,” I said. “You know that?”
“I got that feeling.”
Jack bounded onto the porch, offering Nick a beer he’d never take. Cole and Jude followed, tossing a towel to Lachlan before he simultaneously froze and boiled himself.
“And there are the lovebirds.” Jack winked at me. “You know, if any defense had wanted to stop Nick this year, they should’ve grabbed Charisma and stripped her down on the fifty. Pretty sure that’d stop Nick in his tracks.”
Nick banished them with a wave. “Trying to score here, guys.”
“Worth a little quinoa?” Cole asked.
“And barley.” He smirked at me. “And oats. And broccoli and sweet potatoes and spinach and—”
I kissed him just to shut him up. “It’s good for you.”
“I’m better for you.”
He wouldn’t get any arguments from me.
The guys retreated to the party, but Nick didn’t let me go. His hands brushed down, resting over my tummy.
“Should we tell them about the baby?” he whispered.
“This little meat-only eater?” I hadn’t kept a green down in two weeks, but it hadn’t bothered me in the slightest. I pressed my hand over his. “Let’s keep it our little secret for a while longer. Might be good motivation during the playoffs.”
Nick grinned. “The best. You were my every reason for getting on that field, Charisma. And now you’ve given me another.”
It had happened so quickly, but I couldn’t imagine our lives beginning in a better way.
“You know…” I tugged him close. “I never thought I’d ever want any of this—a man like you, a family, someone to share this world.”
Nick nodded. “Me either.”
“Guess I have you to blame.”
“Guess so.”
I met his gaze. “I guess I have you to thank for that.”
