Risky Play (Red Card #1)(29)

“Do. Better.” I grabbed the leash.

“Fuck!” I could hear his loud, angry footsteps as he followed me into the entryway. “Would you just stop walking away and listen for one damn minute!”

“No!” I bent down and hooked the leash to Alfie’s collar. Before I knew what was happening, Slade grabbed my hand and pulled me against his chest. I stumbled and braced myself against his biceps.

“Let me go,” I said weakly.

His golden gaze darted to my lips and then back up to my eyes. “What’s it going to take for you to sign this? To promise me you’ll never go to the press about that night. To promise me you’ll never come back and write a tell-all for some blog about your night with—” His eyes lit up and then he was kissing me, backing me up into the wall, his tongue deep in my mouth, his taste etching itself on my soul.

My heart thudded to life as he pressed his body against mine, trapping me, tasting my lips between his in slippery hot kisses that made my blood heat. The back of my head pressed against the wall while he cupped my chin with his hands, tried a different angle, then kissed the corner of my mouth again and again before pulling away breathless.

“Sign it. Please.”

I slapped him across the face.

Uh-oh. Not part of my plan.

In fact, I was so shocked I did it, I immediately covered my mouth with my hands. “Never . . . kiss me again to get me to do something. You’ve already taken enough, don’t you think?”

I wouldn’t let him see the tears escape my eyes in rapid succession.

I wouldn’t let him hear the sound of my heart breaking for a second time since seeing him again.

I wouldn’t let him think he’d won.

I would, however, call Jagger first thing after my walk with Alfie.





Chapter Twenty-Five SLADE

I shouldn’t have fucking kissed her.

I saw her tears.

And it haunted me the entire ride to practice. When I passed her on the street, she didn’t look up, didn’t acknowledge me even though Alfie started barking.

Shit.

I dialed Matt’s number. “Hey, I need you to send flowers to my house.”

Matt sighed like I was the most irritating client in the world. “Sending flowers to yourself to make your lady friend jealous? Is that what we’re doing here? Nothing better up your sleeve, huh?”

“Ass.” I rolled my eyes. “They’re for her, not me.”

“Shit, what did you do? Again?”

“Nothing.”

“Slade.”

“I asked her to sign papers.”

“How’d that work out for you?”

“She said no.” I got on the freeway and clutched the steering wheel the way I still wanted to clutch her hips.

“End of story?”

“I may have”—I coughed—“tried to persuade her.”

“Be honest. Are we talking lawsuit sort of persuasion?”

I gulped. “Well, I guess since I technically employ her—”

“Well done, Harvey Weinstein, let me know how they treat you in prison.”

“I just reacted!” I said defensively. “I wasn’t even thinking about using the kiss to persuade her, I just—”

“Damn, you need a keeper.”

I stared straight ahead. “Just send the flowers, alright?”

He cursed. “And the note? What should that say? ‘Please don’t press charges, my dick knows not what it does’?”

“Sorry.” I croaked out the word. “Have it say I’m sorry.”

He let out a low whistle.

“Yeah.” I took the next exit and sped toward the stadium. “Sometimes the simplest messages are the ones that mean the most.”

“How poetic of you—did you just pull that out of your ass?”

I ignored him. “Gotta go, I’m at practice.”

My mouth felt different, it kept reminding me that the reason for the difference was the fact that it had touched hers intimately and liked it. I pressed my lips together then licked, tasting her there.

I hadn’t been thinking.

I’d just reacted! Poorly. Really. Poorly.

It seemed that was the only thing I was good at lately, making a mess of things.

“Why do your lips look swollen?” Jagger asked once I walked into the locker room.

I gave him a funny look. “Why the hell are you noticing my lips, Jagger?”

His eyes narrowed. “I would tell you to stay away from her, then again you’d take that as a challenge, so I’m just going to say this . . . she’s too good for you.”

“True,” I admitted. “Which means she’s really too good for you.”

He shrugged. “I’m her friend.”

I laughed. “Yeah, alright. You do know the definition of friendship, right?”

“This coming from the guy who only has one friend?”

I squeezed my hands tight, thinking back on when she’d admitted she couldn’t trust people, that she didn’t have friends.

More shame heaped on my already heavy shoulders.

“Isn’t fucking your employee frowned upon?” Jagger asked out loud.

“I’m sure it is. Probably a good thing that she didn’t work for me when we did!”