Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males (181 page)

“Alyssa Cotler,” Jay scoffed.
 
“She’s a liar.”

“Yeah, well, you need to make an effort, Jay.
 
None of this fake bullshit, either.
 
If she’d written about what a great
fucking guy you are, Old Man Billingsley would have been pleased.
 
But she didn’t.
 
It’s damage control time.
 
So just stay away from her, okay?”

“No problem,” Jay said.
 
He thought about what happened between them earlier, in her hotel room,
kissing her, the way she looked in that see-through t-shirt she’d been
wearing.
 
He felt himself get hard
thinking about it.

“I’m serious,” Steve said.
 
“You have to stay away from her.
 
Don’t give her the chance to write anything bad about you.”

“I won’t,” Jay said.
 
And he meant it.

But a glass of wine and a tiramisu later, and Jay was getting sick
of this bullshit.
 
He didn’t need
anyone to tell him what to do, he thought as he got into his car.
 
He was perfectly capable of doing things
himself.
 
And he wasn’t going to
stay away from Alyssa Cotler just because his agent thought he should.

He was a grown man.
 
And
he could make his own decisions.

Before he knew what he was doing, he was driving to her hotel.
 
He pulled up to the curb and parked the
car.
 
He got out and walked into the
elevator, taking it up to the third floor.

He knocked on the door of her hotel room.

“Who is it?” she asked through the door.

“Room service,” he said, taking a chance.

She opened the door.
 
Her hair was wet, like she’d just gotten out of the shower, and her face
looked flushed.
 
When she saw him, a
look of guilt flashed across her face, like she’d been caught doing something
wrong.
 
But then she narrowed her
eyes at him.

“You’re not room service,” she said.
 
“You lied.”

“Well, you should never open a hotel room door without asking who
it is first.
 
I keep trying to tell
you that.”

“I did ask!”

“Did you look through the peephole?”

“No.”

“Well, then, there you go.”
 
He pushed past her and flopped onto the bed.
 
The room smelled like Alyssa –
soft and sweet.
 
He looked at her,
standing there in a pair of light blue pajama pants and a sweatshirt, no make
up, her hair wet, her face in indignant.
 
At that moment, she was the sexiest woman he’d ever seen.
 

He longed to pull her down close to him, to feel her mouth against
his, to run his hands up under the back of her sweatshirt, enjoying the
softness of her skin.

“What are you doing here?” Alyssa asked.
 
She was walking around the room,
collecting the clothes that were strewn about and throwing them into an open
suitcase that was sitting on the floor.
 
Jay caught a flash of something black and lacey, and heat flowed through
his body.
 
He wondered if she was
wearing something that sexy under the sweatshirt.

“I just came to say hi,” he said.

“You came to say hi this morning,” she said.
 
“Remember?
 
You think you can just… what?” She bit
her lip and thought about it.
 
Her
lips were gorgeous, full and plump and pink.
 
“Barge into anyone’s hotel room whenever
you want?”

“You definitely liked it when I barged in this morning,” Jay said, before
he could stop himself.
 
“Remember?”
 
He grinned, and
Alyssa’s eyes flashed with anger.
 
He moved toward her, and she took a step back.
 
He took another step toward her, daring
her to move again.

But this time, she didn’t.
 
He thought about what Steve said, about how he wasn’t supposed to mess
around with her.
 
But he wasn’t sure
he could stop himself.
 

 
“Anyway,” he said.
 
“I came here mostly to apologize.”

“You came to my hotel room to apologize?”
 
She crossed her arms over her
chest.
 
“Even though I was at the
game tonight, in the dugout, and you ignored me the whole time, you came here,
to my hotel room, to apologize?”

“Yes.”

“Not buying it.”

“Well, I didn’t come just to apologize,” he said, improvising.
 
“I came to –”
 
He was going to say to take her out, but
he didn’t want to go out.
 
He wanted
to stay in.
 
“---hang out.”

“Don’t you have some kind of victory party or something to go to?”
she asked.

“No.” He shook his head.
 
He moved his hands up and let his finger slide over her lips.
 
“I want to be right here.
 
With you.”
 
His hands slid down to her arms that
were crossed over her chest.
 
He
uncrossed them, and pulled her toward him.

He could feel her heart beating under the sweatshirt.
 
He put his mouth down to kiss her, but
right before he could, she turned away.
 
He bit his lip to keep from moaning.
 
That’s how bad he needed her.

“We need to get out of the room,” she said.
 
“Before I do something I’ll regret.”

“I think you should do it,” Jay said.
 
“I mean, what’s life without regret?”

She shook her head.
 
“Come on,” she said.
 
“Let’s
get out of here.”

“Where are we going?” Jay wanted to know.
 
“Because to be honest, I’d rather just
stay in.”

He moved his lips toward hers again, and again, she shook her
head.
 
“I know exactly where to go.”

***

Alyssa took him to the pool.
 
It was a tactical error for a few reasons.
 
One, she didn’t realize that the pool
was going to be closed.
 
It turned
out Brooklyn actually did sleep, at least when it came to hotel pools.

It was actually an easy problem to get around, though, since once
the concierge saw who wanted to use the pool, i.e. Jay Havens, he fell all over
himself opening it up for them and making sure they had enough clean towels and
that the lighting was right.

The second and bigger problem, however, was that once the concierge
had left, Alyssa realized Jay actually wanted to swim.
 
She’d thought that perhaps they’d be
able to just sit by the side of the pool, dipping their feet in lazily while
they made polite conversation.

But once they were alone, Jay wasted no time.
 
He grinned and then took his shirt off.

Oh, my.
 
Alyssa had
thought that baseball players were supposed to be out of shape, that they
didn’t really do much running.
 
Isn’t that what everyone always said?
 
But Jay…Jay’s body was spectacular.
 
Even better than she’d fantasized about.

His chest was lightly tanned and smooth, with just a little bit of
hair in between his pecs.
 
His arms
were muscular and cut, but not too muscular.
 
He had the kind of body that looked like
it belonged on an athlete, but it was the body of an athlete who didn’t look
like he cared about getting his hands dirty.

A line of hair started at his belly button and formed a path down
to his jeans.
 
Jay undid the button
fly and pulled off his pants, leaving him in just his boxers.
 
His legs were just as toned and perfect
as the rest of him.
 

“Come on,” he said, walking over toward her.
 
“Aren’t you going to go in the water?”

“We can’t swim,” she said, rolling her eyes.
 
The truth was, she wanted to swim.
 
She wanted more than anything to get
into that water with him, to feel her wet skin against his, to taste the water
on his lips as he kissed her.
 
But
that would be very, very dangerous.
 
And besides, she couldn’t remember what kind of underwear she was
wearing.

“Yes, we can,” he said.
 
“We can do anything we want.”
 
His mouth was suddenly on hers, and she let his tongue into her mouth,
tasting him.
 
He was minty and spicy
and perfect.
 
She could feel his
stubble against her chin, and the roughness of it started to get her turned on.

He went to lift up her shirt, and she stopped him.
 
“Wait,” she said.
 
“I, um, think I have a bathing suit
upstairs.”
 
It was a lie, of
course.
 
She didn’t have a bathing
suit.
 
But she figured going
upstairs would give her a chance to put on some cute underwear.

Jay grinned.
 
“You don’t
want me to see you undress,” he said.
 
“Fine.”
 
He turned around and
crossed his arms.
 
“You get naked,
and
then
I’ll turn around.”

Alyssa peeked under the sweatshirt and tank top she was wearing.
Shit.
 
Her worst bra, a white one
that she only wore to bed.
 
Her
panties were better, some black lacey things that she’d bought during a trip to
Victoria’s Secret only because she’d gone in to buy some bubble bath and they
were having a sale.

Improvising, Alyssa slipped out of her bra, pulled off her
sweatshirt and pajama pants.
 
She
stood there in just her tank top and panties.

“Okay,” she said.
 
“You
can turn around.”

She expected him to make a big fuss about her not being naked.
 
But instead, his eyes widened as he took
her in.
 
“You’re beautiful,” he
said.

And then he was there, kissing her again.
 
His hands slid down over her ass,
pulling her pelvis into his.
 
She
felt his hard cock against her, and she wanted it so bad that her first
instinct was to pull back, because she couldn’t take it.

She broke off the kiss and moaned, but he held her close, making
her feel his erection against her.
 
He bit her bottom lip softly while he looked into her eyes.
 

“You ready to get wet?” he asked.

“Yes.”

He led her into the pool, and the water was warm against her
skin.
 
She felt her t-shirt cling to
her breasts like a second skin, and her nipples were so hard she could feel
them against the fabric.

He kissed her again, pulling away every so often to look into her
eyes and run his fingers over her cheekbone, down her jawline, over her lips,
across her collarbone.
 
Then his
lips were back on hers, his tongue in her mouth, his fingers flicking over the
top of her tank top, teasing her nipples.

“Are you wet yet?” he asked gruffly.

“Yes,” she said.

“Wet enough for me to touch?”

She moaned, unable to answer, and felt his fingers move gently over
her legs and up in between her thighs.
 
He moved over her panties, rubbing lightly.
 
She pushed herself into his fingers,
wanting to feel him, wanting more.
 
But every time she did, he would pull back, teasing her.

He kept it up for what felt like hours, rubbing over her panties,
pulling back when he could tell he was getting her really going.
 
Finally, he lifted up her shirt and
pulled it off, tossing it into the water.

He lowered his head and took her nipple into his mouth, his tongue
flicking over the hot peak.
 
She
moaned and leaned back.
 
She’d never
felt anything like this.
 
Her whole
body was on fire.

He reached behind her again, pulling her against his bare chest,
her breasts flattening out against his body.
 
He kissed her, long and deep and hard,
this time not teasing.

He picked her up in his arms and set her up on the edge of the
pool.
 
“Lean back, sweetheart,” he
whispered, and she did as she was told.

She felt his hands reach up and grab the sides of her panties,
pulling them down and off her legs.
 
Then his hands were on her again, up and over her thighs, gently
spreading them apart.