Play Me (Brit Boys Sports Romance Book 4) Read online

  I brushed her hair back. When her wide brown eyes opened and met mine, my heart gave a swift kick. For a flash, I didn’t know what to make of how I felt, but my need for her drowned out everything else.

  I laced my hands into hers. I meant to wait another moment, though it would be close to torture for me with every inch of her lush curves pressed against me and her legs curling around my hips. But Daisy was restless and bossy and didn’t allow it.

  She nipped at my neck and rolled her hips into mine, just enough the frayed thread of my control snapped. I surged into her in one swift stroke, sinking straight to the hilt. I’d only been imagining what it would feel like to be inside of her for days now. Her channel was hot, slick and clenching. I was accustomed to exercising some control when it came to sex.

  With Daisy, the moment I sank inside her, I lost all control. With her rocking into me and her breathy pants and moans falling around us, I couldn’t have held back if I tried.

  Chapter 12

  Daisy

  I was awash in sensation—every nerve ending in my body sizzling with need and chasing after the most intense pleasure I’d ever experienced. It didn’t matter Tristan had just sent me spinning into an orgasm with his wicked mouth and fingers. The moment he sank inside of me, his cock filling and stretching me, my body spun on its axis. Pressure gathered tightly inside, tiny pings of pleasure were still ricocheting from my first orgasm.

  I wasn’t thinking. At all. It was glorious. I felt the rake of his teeth on my neck, the slide of his cock in and out of my core where I was so wet, I could feel my own juices on my thighs where they hugged his hips. His stubble grazed my neck and sent shivers through me. Every sensation spun into the storm building inside. Finally, finally, he appeared to let go into the same madness galloping through me. His strokes weren’t measured—they were hard and fast, his hips drumming into me. I needed it like this, rough, wild and unrestrained, because I couldn’t hold back and didn’t want to be tossed asunder in this sensation alone.

  I could feel his body go taut as our skin slapped together. He released one of my hands and reached between us, his thumb expertly swirling in a hard circle over my clit. The tether snapped inside of me. Pleasure spun loose and rayed through me. I dimly heard my voice hoarsely crying his name with his own muffled shout of mine following.

  I collapsed, dizzy from the force of my climax. He fell against me, immediately shifting his weight to the side. I didn’t want him to draw away and reflexively curled toward him, keeping him deep inside of me.

  His breath gusted against my shoulder, while mine came in shuddering, messy heaves. We lay tangled on my bed for several long moments until he slowly eased his grip on my hand and stroked his palm down the inside of my arm where it lay above my head. The feel of his fingers trailing over that sensitive skin made me clench again.

  With tiny ripples of pleasure radiating through me, my mind slowly came back online. Wow. I didn’t have words for what had just happened.

  I felt his fingers sifting through my hair and finally opened my eyes. I didn’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t the look I saw in his eyes. His hazel gaze was waiting for me, mere inches away in the pile of pillows on my bed. I didn’t know how to interpret it, but my heart squeezed. He was quiet, his eyes coasting over my face. After a moment, he cleared his throat and started to move again.

  My legs had a mind of their own and tightened around him. His mouth curled at one corner.

  “Are we staying like this forever?” he asked, his sly, gruff tone sending a shiver up my spine.

  Sweet hell. This was how bad I had it. I’d had actual sex for the first time in months. I’d had my first orgasm with an actual cock inside of me, and my body was so responsive to him, I could probably go another round right away.

  My cheeks heated, and I forced my legs to relax. “We don’t have to,” I managed, striving to keep my tone casual.

  He didn’t move though and kept sliding his fingers through my hair. I wondered what to say next. This was all rather new for me. It wasn’t the sex per se. No, rather it was I’d gotten so used to disappointment when I had sex. I had it down how to extricate myself gracefully after a partner in question found their pleasure while I’d been bored out of my mind. Don’t go thinking I had tons and tons of sex. I hadn’t. I’d had two semi-serious relationships in college and med school and then I’d been trying for what felt like way too long to find the right guy.

  Those awkward moments after being let down were something I was an expert at navigating. Sadly, I’d learned the hard way how oblivious most men were. To this day, I didn’t think any guy I’d been with knew I hadn’t had an orgasm. Anyway, back to now. What I didn’t know how to handle was the awkwardness of having two amazing orgasms with a guy I could totally fall for, but who I knew I’d only have for a month.

  Do NOT forget that. One month. That’s it.

  Right. I’d handle it.

  I shimmied my hips back and was gratified to notice he reflexively started to keep me right there. Whether he noticed it or not, he stopped and eased back. I scrambled off the bed. “Shower,” I announced before walking quickly into the bathroom off my bedroom.

  I didn’t even look back and was surprised to find Tristan stepping into the shower with me moments later. Steam cocooned us. I turned and lifted my face out of the water and almost choked at the sight of him.

  It should’ve been illegal for him to be naked in front of anyone. Every inch of him was lean, honed muscle. He had a dusting of black hair on his chest that arrowed down. My eyes soaked him in. Meanwhile, he snagged the soap from my hands and set to sliding it all over me before soaping himself.

  My heart gave another one of those echoing thumps, and I forced myself to remember our deal. A month. I’d get a month of him, and I’d enjoy every minute.

  Chapter 13

  Tristan

  “Good to have you back on the pitch, mate,” Liam said, clapping me on the shoulder as he reached my side.

  I caught a water bottle tossed my way as we walked by the bench on the way toward the locker room. I’d had a week of practice now and was so fucking relieved to be back on the field. Our season was starting soon. Meanwhile, I’d been cleared for practice and would be checking in with Tim twice weekly along the way.

  I guzzled some water and glanced to Liam as we made our way down the stadium hallway. “Good to be back.”

  “How’s the knee?” Liam asked as we rounded the corner into the locker room.

  “Good, far as I can tell. Honestly, I feel stronger than I did before my surgery.”

  Liam flashed me a grin. “Of course you do. Olivia’s the best.”

  My surgeon happened to be Liam’s wife. He’d met her when he suffered his own knee injury a few seasons back. He was bloody gaga over her still. Daisy danced along the edge of my thoughts. I didn’t want to wonder, but I couldn’t help it. She was the first woman I’d even considered could keep me tethered. That’s how much I wanted her. I mentally shook those thoughts away.

  “I give Olivia full credit, mate,” I replied with a chuckle.

  Liam got distracted by someone else, so I moved to my locker, stripping down and heading for the shower. As I let the steaming water pour down over me, I idly flexed my knee. At this point, it was habit, testing to see if I experienced any pain of weakness. I felt nothing. I still sighed with relief every time. I hadn’t forgotten the blinding shot of pain when I skidded and tore my ACL at the end of the season before last. I’d known right off the bat I’d be out for a full season. I was glad I’d had something else to focus on when Dr. Horton offered to let me manage the clinic while he traveled. My long-term plan had always been to focus on my medical career once I was too old to play pro anymore. Too old in the world of professional sports wasn’t that old. Yet, I wasn’t ready for it to end yet, so I was quite happy to bounce back as well as I had. Conveniently, Dr. Horton would be returning to take the reins over for the research cli
nic soon.

  I soaped off quickly, my mind flashing to the other night with Daisy. I’d almost fucked her all over again when I followed her into the shower. Her skin flushed pink from the steam with soap bubbles sliding all over it had been enough to make my cock twitch only minutes after I’d spent myself inside of her.

  That had been two nights ago, and I was already restless to see her again. I’d stupidly tossed out the idea of a month, not considering the fact that once the clock started ticking, I’d immediately begin worrying about the limits of the time I’d set. Fuck me.

  Not much later, I was making my way outside when I heard Liam call my name. I waited by the doors until he reached me.

  “You coming to dinner with us?” he asked.

  “Didn’t know we were meeting up,” I countered.

  My answer was a given because I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d see Daisy. We hadn’t made plans after I left the other night, and I’d been wondering when I’d see her next. This whatever-the-hell-it-was thing with her wasn’t anything of the usual for me. Usually, I hewed to carefully cultivated casual encounters. Renee had been a steady one for me until her little blow up. She’d texted me a few more times since then, and I’d sent her one last text, telling her to consider our arrangement completely over.

  It niggled in the back of my mind that my interest in her and anyone else had dissolved into nothing. I knew the factor in that was Daisy and Daisy alone, and I didn’t want to contemplate what that might mean. Nor did I want to contemplate the quickening of my pulse and the jolt of need that hit me just thinking about the chance to see her.

  “Olivia says we are. I need a few mates because she’s got Daisy and Harper with her,” Liam replied, flashing a wry grin.

  I chuckled. “Where are we headed?” I asked as we pushed through the doors into the chilly damp early evening.

  “That Thai place,” he replied.

  “Alex coming?” I asked, referring to Alex Gordon, the Stars goalkeeper.

  “Yup, he’s probably already there. I’m running late because Coach grabbed me to chat about the new guy. He wanted to know what I think. Whaddya think about ‘im?”

  We commenced walking toward the Thai place, one we frequented every so often. I considered Liam’s question. He and I played offense with Liam the centerpiece as playmaker and me another central player as a center-forward striker. The Seattle Stars management did as most pro sports teams did in the off-season and made adjustments to the roster. We’d had a spotty year last season after my injury and another of our starters out with a back problem. That player chose to retire, so management had gone looking. The new guy was pretty good, but he was young and he was cocky.

  “He’s got the skills, but I’m not impressed with his attitude,” I finally replied.

  Liam glanced to me and nodded. “That about sums up what I think. Coach figures he’s young and needs time to settle. He’s here for the year, so I told him we’d try to train that attitude right out of him.”

  “Aye, we just might.”

  We reached the restaurant and entered. I was relieved to be out of the drizzle that had picked up on our short walk. Liam was already halfway across the restaurant. I followed along and resisted the urge to pick up my stride when I saw Daisy sitting at the table.

  She sat beside Olivia, the contrast in their coloring serving to highlight Daisy’s bright, fair looks. Olivia had dark curls and green eyes. She stood to greet Liam, only to get swept into his arms for a kiss. By the time he set her down, she was laughing and blushing.

  She looked past him to me. “Hey Tristan, how’s your knee?”

  I slipped into the empty chair beside Daisy. “Good as new according to Tim,” I replied as Olivia and Liam sat down across from us.

  Olivia flashed a small smile and nodded. “That’s what he told me. You make sure to keep up your sessions with him as long as he recommends them.”

  “She loves ordering people around,” Liam added with a sly grin.

  Olivia swatted at his shoulder. “I’m just making sure he takes care of it.”

  “Where are Alex and Harper?” I asked.

  “Oh, they begged off,” Daisy commented from my side.

  I’d been resisting the urge to look directly at her, mostly because I feared once I looked her way, I’d forget anyone else was here. I glanced to her, and a jolt of lust hit me instantly. Her hair was up in a twist, which only made me want to take it down. She looked as if she’d come straight here from work with a fitted blouse and skirt on. My eyes meandered down to see the bare skin of her thigh. Blood shot to my groin. I forced my eyes up, only to have them land on her lush mouth.

  Fuck me. I’d have to get through this dinner with my sanity intact. I couldn’t say why, but I didn’t particularly want any of the mutual friends I shared with Daisy to know about what we were doing. A distant warning bell rang in the back of my mind, but I ignored it. I was relentlessly practical when it came to sex. This thing with Daisy wasn’t practical by any means.

  Another hard swat at those thoughts, and I focused on the moment. Dinners like this were so common amongst us, I should’ve thought nothing of it. Yet, this was the first one in roughly a year where Daisy and I both happened to be here. With the warm heat of her beside me, it was an ungodly temptation to slide my hand down her thigh. I consciously kept both hands on the table and looked over at Liam when he said something.

  A waitress arrived and took our orders. Inside of a few minutes, conversation was carrying on as it should. I took a long drag on the beer I’d ordered, thinking perhaps a light buzz might knock down the need lashing at me.

  “Oh, I can ask Bradley if you’d like,” Daisy said with a laugh.

  “Only if he’s going to give me a deal,” Liam replied with a grin.

  Olivia nudged him in the side with her elbow, which she was forever doing. “Just because he’s Daisy’s friend doesn’t mean you should get a deal.”

  “Why not, luv?” Liam asked with a chuckle. “It all depends on the friend. I thought you said he was a friend with benefits. One of those benefits should be getting me a deal on basketball tickets.”

  Olivia rolled her eyes. “Oh stop it. We can afford them, so don’t be pushy.”

  Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t give a bloody damn about any friend of Daisy’s, much less whatever Liam meant by benefits. Yet, just now, I had a rather powerful reaction to the idea.

  I sensed a thread of unease from Daisy, but she brushed a loose lock of hair off of her cheek and shrugged. “I’ll ask him and let you know.”

  That’s all she said. I bit back the urge to turn to her and ask just what the hell kind of friend Bradley was. That wouldn’t do, not with Liam and Olivia looking on. I wondered what the hell was wrong with me. I didn’t get jealous. Ever. Every woman I’d ever been involved with knew the deal. I did my thing, they did theirs. Anything that crossed lines ended the arrangement.

  Yet, here I sat, wrestling against an entirely unfamiliar feeling. The only relief I felt came from the knowledge Bradley had failed to satisfy Daisy because every man before me held that dubious honor.

  Chapter 14

  Daisy

  I sat beside Tristan and wondered if I’d completely lost my mind. Well, it wasn’t my mind per se. Rather, it was my traitorous body. With Tristan right here, I worried I might actually melt into my chair. Heat emanated from him, and it felt as if we were surrounded by our own force field—a humming electricity crackling with desire and need. Fortunately, Olivia and Liam appeared oblivious.

  It was perfectly common for my afternoon to have gone the way it did. I’d met Olivia and Harper for coffee, something we did several times a week. The only problem today was I felt like I had a secret. Well, I knew I had a secret—namely what was going on with Tristan.

  To make matters worse, somehow conversation landed on Tristan and his erstwhile reputation for treating sex as a convenience and nothing more. Harper, oddly enoug
h, knew the woman who happened to be the other half of one of his arrangements.

  “Oh my God, Tristan would lose it if he heard what Renee’s been bitching about at the office,” Harper had said.

  Of course, my ears had perked up so hard, they might as well have physically swiveled in Harper’s direction.

  I’d tried to play casual. “What do you mean and who’s Renee?”

  I hadn’t forgotten that Tristan had uttered the name Renee in the conversation I’d overheard in his office.

  Harper just had to go and take a sip of coffee before answering, so I’d had to sit there with my heart pounding and anxiety tightening in my chest.

  “She runs the HR department at our clinic. She’s been bragging about how she sees him for months now. She had this idea she’d play it cool until he saw how amazing she was. Anyway, apparently he cut things off with her last week and now she won’t stop bitching about how much he hurt her,” Harper had said with a roll of her eyes.

  It had taken most of my discipline to keep my mouth shut and not ask any more questions. When Olivia mentioned meeting for dinner tonight, I’d gone back and forth mentally over whether to go tonight, but I was so weary of making up excuses to avoid any event where Tristan might be. And I wanted to see him. Badly.

  So here I was. At the last minute, Harper had begged off with a headache. Of course, Alex adored her and insisted on going home with her, so it left me at this dinner with two fewer people to distract me. Tristan’s nearness had me wet, and I was all out of sorts because I couldn’t stop thinking about Renee. Who I didn’t even know. I was stupidly jealous of her even though it sounded like Tristan had stopped seeing her. Worse, I was rattled by what it all meant. I knew Tristan didn’t do serious, yet here I was diving into a month of madness with a man who was guaranteed not to want to even consider something serious.