Hart of the Matter (A Love of the Game Novella) (6 page)

This time, there were a few addendums he’d never let himself listen to before.
  Like a sister.  Harley’s friend, not actually a relative.  Bailey…hot, curvy Bailey.  I fucking want her.

A waitress passed and he asked if she knew what
amante
meant. 

“It means lover,
senor
.  May I take your order?”  He told her in a daze they’d be in the VIP lounge and she nodded.  “I’ll be up to check on you shortly.”

Hart never did VIP because he hated looking entitled.  Tonight, he was making a fucking exception.  Something was different about Bailey and it was affecting him more strongly than anything else she’d ever done to catch his attention. 

She didn’t realize she had
always
had his attention and he was so damn tired of fighting.  The summer before she got breasts ended the last peaceful year of his life.  Shaking his head, Hart walked toward the dance floor. 

Lover, huh?

The women he always made himself refer to as
girls
were shaking their asses and a sizable crowd of men was forming to watch them.  They danced salsa to a song he didn’t recognize but he loved the beat. 

Bailey was born to dance and Harley had picked it up easily when they were kids.  When they started attending high school dances at fourteen with Hart, Beck, and Dex…things had gotten difficult. 

The three boys never took either of them as their actual dates.  They took girls who put out.  It never failed that an hour into the night, they all
wished
they’d chosen Harley and Bailey.

Unlike Hart and his friends, the girls never settled.  Since they weren’t invited to go with the males they preferred, they went together.  All night, they danced with everyone who asked but always returned to dance together.  It had tortured the three friends to watch. 

Tonight they danced together as they always had. 

Hart noticed the pack was circling closer. 
Time to step in.
  They always used the three male friends as practice dummies when they wanted to learn a new dance.  Hart had played that role most often. 

They owed their dancing ability to those practice sessions when they were kids.  Going through the movements again and again until they got it. 

In college, Hart dated a girl from Brazil who expanded his arsenal.  He idly wondered if Bailey would like his new skills.  The song ended and they turned, saw him, and gravitated to his side.  Guiding them upstairs, he watched as Harley stretched her leg out on the sofa and rubbed her hip. 

“You okay, Harpy?”

“I might be overdoing it
just
a bit, Hartless.  I’ll sit a couple out.”  To Bailey, she said, “Don’t dance with that one guy who grabbed your ass on the way to the floor.  He’s too pushy.  The tall Latin guy with the white shirt looks safe, but I didn’t like the look of his friend.”

“Harley, what are you talking about?”  Hart sounded grouchy to his own ears. 

His sister shrugged.  “Since we were kids, we’ve acted as lookout for one another; checking out who’s checking us out in the crowd.  Bailey watched for me, I watched for her.  It would determine what men we’d allow to dance with us if we chose to select partners other than each other.  Women have to be careful, you know?”

Sighing loudly, he insisted, “I’ll dance with Bailey.  God only knows what losers are out there.”

Bailey laughed loudly but it wasn’t a happy sound at all and Hart knew he’d hurt her feelings yet again.  “I’m so flattered, Hart.  Way to fall on your sword,
bro
.” 

Fuck…that wasn’t how he’d meant it to sound.

She dropped into a seat next to Harley, so much more of her beautiful leg exposed than he should be expected to endure as a heterosexual male. 

Leaning her head back on the couch, she closed her eyes and took Harley’s hand.  Her voice was too quiet and he would have sworn she was fighting tears.

“Do you remember when they loved to dance with us, Harley?  They knew we’d keep them from being utterly humiliated with whatever
slut du jour
they happened to be dating.  We made them into the men they are today, you know that right?”

Harley smiled.  “I remember the etiquette course we put them through.  Opening doors, pulling out chairs, and so on.  They grumbled the whole time.  Man, do you know how many girls talked about them being such gentlemen?  They got laid so much more because of us.”

The words affected Hart deeply because they were true.

“Ungrateful bastards,” Bailey said with a sad smile.  Clearing her throat carefully, she told him cheerfully, “I’m happy to be the designated driver, Hart, if you want to drink.  I have to stay sharp with all the wolves circling below.”

Hart settled carefully into a chair across from them and processed their unusual moods.  A waitress came in to take their order.  Harley ordered Sprite with lime, Bailey ordered an orange juice, and Hart ordered two shots of tequila.

They drank and listened to the music.  The women talked for a while until the conversation returned to dancing. 

Another round of drinks arrived. 

“Are you sure you can’t hit the floor with me again?”  His sister shook her head and said she needed a break.  “I’m going out.  Hart, hang with Harley.  I’m not fourteen or unfamiliar with men.  I can handle myself just fine.” 

With that, she swirled from the room, her skirt flowing up and giving a fleeting glimpse of tiny gold lace panties. 

“Bailey seems…strange tonight,” he said when the object of his desire was gone.

“Define
strange
, Hart.  She seems normal to me.  She wants
you
, you don’t want
her
, and so she’ll go find a substitute like she always does.”

“Bailey doesn’t date.  I would have met a boyfriend in all this time.”  Hart felt smug in his certainty.

His sister disabused him of it immediately.

“God, you’re naïve.  She’ll find a replacement, force a relationship until the sound of the guy’s voice makes her want to puke, then she’ll dump him the way she dumps all of them.  She prefers long distance relationships so she can avoid them.  Two gorgeous, successful men have asked her to marry them.  She broke up with them instantly.” 

She stood carefully and moved to the large window overlooking the dance floor.  Bailey was easy to spot.  Dancing alone in a circle of men, she refused to let them dance with her. 

“I think she might have spotted your lookalike.  He’s cute.”  Hart was beside her instantly.  “See that really tall good looking guy?  She’ll pick him.  He has similar coloring and build to you.” 

A moment later, she said cheerfully, “And…there she goes.  The others are
so
disappointed.  Not a bad dancer.  Hope this one has a job.  That guy will be her boyfriend for the next year.  She’ll sleep with him when it fits her schedule, out of desperation.”

Harley glanced up at him with a serious expression.  “My friend will
settle
again and again because you’re a fucking
moron
, Hart.”

His eyes went wide and suddenly everything seemed to click into place.  The jumbled pieces he’d never understood how to put together were right where they were supposed to be. 

With a slow smile, he leaned down and kissed her forehead.  “I love you, you know that, Harpy?”

“I do know that.  I’m going to head home.  I really
am
exhausted.  I’m staying at the guys’ place tonight.  I promised I’d water their plants.”

“Harley, they don’t have plants.”  He signaled the waitress and paid their tab, adding a hefty tip.

“Then I’ll buy some fucking plants.  I’ll have the bouncer grab me a cab so don’t worry.  I love you.  Go make my friend happy and don’t be stupid anymore.  I can
assure
you she doesn’t see you as a brother.  I want to gag when she talks about licking and kissing you…
gross
.”  Hart’s gasp made her laugh.  “She’s smokin’ hot which you’ve noticed for more than a decade.”

“We totally underestimated the two of you.”

“You took us for granted.  None of you realized we encouraged you in qualities
we
found attractive, skills
we
wanted you specifically to know.  We invested a lot of time in your grooming, fashion, and manners to watch you use what
we taught you
on women who weren’t worthy.” 

He grimaced and turned to head downstairs. 

“Hartman…she’s loved you a long time.  Do
not
hurt her.  That would upset me.”  He nodded and was gone. 

* * *

Harley turned to watch the dance floor.  After half an hour, she was convinced things were moving along nicely and left the club. 

Chapter Ten

Bailey’s dance partner had his hand on her ass and she had her eyes closed, pretending as she always did in situations like this.  He spun her out and let go of her hand. 

The familiar feel and smell of the man she loved had her eyes flying open.  “Hart.  Where’s…what’s his name?”

“A fan, he took off at my request.” 

“Well,
thanks
.  I was kind of planning on getting to know him better, Hart.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Really?  Well dance with me a bit then you can go find
what’s his name
if you want.  How did you know it was me anyway?  You had your eyes closed.” 

“I’d know you anywhere, Hart.  The height, build, scent…I’m familiar with your particular signature.”  That was the stone cold truth.

A faster song came on and Hart threw her from one move to the next, twirling her out, and bringing her back to his body hard.  His hands roamed over her when they were close, then she was spinning, back against him again. 

By the time the song ended, she was breathless…and annoyed.  “You’ve been practicing.  What young
lady
expanded your dancing skills?”

“Does it matter?  You’re here, she isn’t.” 

Good point.
  She choked down her automatic retort with effort.

Then he spun her hard and fast, bringing her body fully up against his, letting her feel her effect on him before pushing her out again. 

Over and over, he worked her, moving them around the floor while the crowd watched.  Hart had always been a good dancer but Bailey had never shown him her full skills until tonight.  The memory of any female who’d danced with him before this moment would crumble in his mind. 

Bailey planned to make damn certain of it.

“You’re magnificent.  You never went hard like this.  You’ve been holding back.”

“Hart, you have
no
fucking idea.” 

She took control and let the lioness she really was spill out all over him.  When the next song started, she turned her back to him, and worked her ass to the floor.  Her hands stroked up the back of his legs as she rose. 

Upright again, she reached back and pulled him hard against her ass.  They danced with his forearm tight beneath her breasts, her arm over her head around his neck.  She kept the other on the back of his thigh.  Her short nails dug into him as he moved her around the floor. 

When they came to a hard stop on the last beat, he dipped her deeply, and kissed her throat. 

A slow song started and she turned to leave the floor.  He tugged her back and plastered her body gently against his own. 

“Bailey, you going to find
what’s his name
?”

* * *

Her little snort of irritation didn’t have the effect she probably intended.  Bailey was an incredibly sensual person, of that there was no doubt, but Hart often forgot how funny and adorable she was.  

There was a small wrinkle of confusion between her eyes when he didn’t let her go.  “You
never
dance slow songs with me, Hart.”

“I’m dancing
this
one with you, Bailey.  Stay with me.” 

Licking her lips, she nodded and relaxed in his arms.  The only word that entered his mind was
victory
and he laughed at his years of stupidity running from this woman.

Who in the fuck would run from her?

They danced.  Slow songs and fast ones that gave them the opportunity to explore each other’s bodies.  The chance wasn’t wasted. 

His hands roamed the soft skin, firm curves, and top of the taut ass he remembered well from the one night he’d allowed himself to touch her almost a decade ago.

For two hours, Hart danced with Bailey until he couldn’t think straight anymore.  His entire brain was focused on his need for her.  He was so hard it bordered on pain. 

They were covered in a sheen of sweat and rapid breaths panted between her pillowy lips.  Bailey was five-six.  In her heels, she was about five-ten.  At six-five, Hart was still several inches taller, so when she pulled him down to whisper in his ear, his large hands flowed easily to grip her ass. 

The joy caused from the feel of her firm cheeks under his palms was exceeded only by her words.

“I don’t care what happens tomorrow but you
will
fuck me tonight, Hart.  You’re not going to work me up and leave me aching for you again or I will never forgive you.”  Then she turned her face and kissed him. 

Hart had to lock his legs to keep from dropping. 

Bailey’s tongue licked lightly over the crease of his lips and he opened for her, his hands tightening on her ass in reflex.  Her hand on the back of his head held him to her, as if she worried he’d try to pull away. 

Something he’d done so many times before.

Another slow song started and they swayed while they kissed, her hips twisting lightly under his hands to the beat.  They tasted of oranges and tequila, flavors that would forever remind Hart of this moment, the first time he kissed Bailey and
meant it
with everything inside himself. 

The inside of her mouth was hot silk and her full lips moved sensually over his own until he wanted to take her right where they stood.  When she sucked his tongue to the rhythm of the music, Hart felt it all the way to his cock.