Offside: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (57 page)

“I couldn’t not. We shouldn’t have. Fuck. How much time?”

My words are a string of thoughts sent directly to my mouth, spoken in haste without consideration.

I’m immediately worried by what this means for us, and why she’s waiting so long to get mad at me, which is why I’m surprised to hear Tilly laughing when she turns to me.

“That was really stupid.”

From the smile across her face it would be impossible to tell she thought it.

“Sorry. I couldn’t hold back.”

“I knew you couldn’t resist me.”

“This is serious, Tilly. We’ve got to get that sorted. We should have-.”

“I’ll get it sorted, don’t worry.”

She folds herself into me and rests her head on my chest, hugging against my warmth.

“You’re not mad?”

“That was the best sex I’ve ever had. I knew it would be if you came inside me.”

“We should have waited.”

“You could have done.”

“That was impossible, Tilly. The last time I barely managed it.”

“So you do like me then?”

“I never said I didn’t.”

“Anyway, I wanted to make sure. If you go tomorrow and decide you don’t want to see me-.”

I have a bad fleeting feeling that this is some kind of threat, but I’m sure Tilly’s not stupid enough to get herself pregnant as some kind of guarantee I’ll keep myself in her life.

“You could be that one.”

“I told you, Landon, I’m not sure I like you enough to want you to be the daddy of my babies.”

“That’s just because you don’t know me well enough yet.”

“Well if you keep hanging around like this, what choice have I got?”

“You know the good thing about me coming inside you?”

“You mean, apart from the fact that you now have to do everything I say?”

Tilly’s smile is enough to convince me she’s just bullshitting.

“We might as well make the most of it.”

“Come inside me twice in one day? That might raise the chances of conception.”

“Not if you’re going to take the morning after pill.”

“At this rate I might have to.”

“Tilly.”

“I didn’t think star footballers got nervous.”

“I’m just imagining the headlines at the end of next season.”

“Super Bowl MVP gets step-sister pregnant?”

“Something like that.”

I sit up now and pull her towards me so she can sit in between my legs and lean against my chest.

“It’d sell more papers.”

“Our parents would freak.”

“You’d make a good dad.”

“I thought I was lacking specific qualities.”

“You can do a lot in nine months.”

I kiss her neck, work my lips out across her shoulders.

“You can do a lot in three days it seems.”

“Some people even manage to fall in love with people they’re not supposed to.”

“So I hear.”

I could stay like this for the rest of the day, Tilly wrapped inside my arms. We’d fuck from time to time, eat, look up at the sky and talk about our future together. We fit together, it’s so fucking evident it makes me want to scream it to anyone who will listen.

“I won’t, Landon, don’t worry. I’m not a psycho like that.”

“I know.”

“It’s not time, for either of us. I just wanted to feel it. It’s stupid, I know. It’s a stupid thing to do, but I needed to do it. I needed you to show me you could.”

“I couldn’t hold back.”

Tilly pinches my arm for that.

“Don’t be a dick.”

“I wanted to, Tilly. I just didn’t know whether I should. It’s harder for me. I have to trust you to do something about it.”

“Do you trust me?”

“Of course I do.”

I haven’t got much choice now, but that’s my own fault. The truth is, I do trust her. Some time passes before Tilly speaks again.

“Are you hungry?”

“Fucking starving.”

She smiles that winning smile. “Then we better eat, because I want you to fuck me and come inside me at least twice more before we go back home. If I’m going to make you spend fifty dollars on the morning after pill, I better make sure you get your money back.”

“That, Tilly, is one of the reasons I love you.”

Again the words are out before I have a chance to stop them. Thankfully she glosses quickly over them. I feel stupid for saying something without even thinking about the consequences, and try to style it out. Of course I don’t love Tilly, not in that way, not yet, but that’s not to say there isn’t potential for that to happen. There’s a long way between that and now, and both of us clearly know it.

“Steady on, Landon, I might begin to think you are serious about me.”

“I’ll tell you that when I see what you’ve packed us both for lunch.”

––––––––

T
illy

By the time the temperature dips, the sun has fallen away and it’s way past the time we should have already left for home, Landon and I have fucked and come together, him inside me without a condom on, three more times.

I cannot even begin to describe to you how absolutely incredible each one of those times is, nor how they increase exponentially in intensity and perfection.

I know it’s stupid, I know we shouldn’t, I know it goes against every single piece of advice I’ve been given about safe sex, and we are reckless and wild and playing with fire, but I just couldn’t say no. I’m getting a morning after pill as soon as I get home. There is no way I won’t and no way I want to get pregnant, even with Landon Maddox’s baby. If I wasn’t sure before about his intention, I’m absolutely certain after today. Landon wants to give this a go just as much as I do. Whatever obstacles we have in our way will have to be dealt with as soon as they come. If we work together outside of this vacation bubble, I think there is a possibility we could be absolutely perfect for one another for the rest of our lives. If we can’t, for whatever personal reason, outside of the fact we are step-siblings, or he’s a football star or whatever, if we aren’t right for each other, at least we’ll have given it a go.

That’s all I want. It’s more than I ever thought was possible with the man I’ve spent hours idolizing, months hating and only days falling in love with.

I can’t say that Landon hasn’t surprised me, because he’s nothing like I expected. He looks the same, even hotter actually, but his personality, his drive, his desire, his loyalty and single minded determination is nothing like how the papers make out, or even how he comes across in interviews.

This week has given me a chance to see the real Landon Maddox, and even though I already know I loved him and hated myself for it, I now know I can love him, and be proud to do so.

Love is a funny word and I know I’m nowhere near it yet, Landon’s got a way to go to prove himself to me, and I’m sure I do as well to prove myself to him, but the possibility is definitely there and I can’t hide how exciting that makes me feel.

The sex is out of this world incredible, just being with him makes me happy, when I’m not with him my body aches to have him around, and it’s pretty clear even from an outside perspective that we have a lot of fun together.

The true test is whether that continues, but it’s a test we are both super keen to take. Part of me can’t help worrying this will all fizzle out when we get back, while the other part is more confident than I ever remember thinking I had the potential to be. Landon isn’t the only one who has surprised me this week either, I’ve totally surprised myself in my ability to win him over. I know I’m a sexy girl, but I’ve never felt it as strongly as I do with Landon. I’ve never had banter like I do with him either and I’ve never played the kind of word games with anyone like we do with each other. There is a real spark between us, a real chemistry at our core, and I know for a fact I’m not the only one noticing it.

Landon can’t get enough of me. I know he’s a ladies man and a bit of a player as much as he denies it, but I’m convinced now, after only a few days in his company, that the all star athlete and underwear model with the cheesy smile and the huge dick, simply can’t get enough of me. And that is a feeling I get a feeling I can’t help but show I’m reciprocating.

I mean, this could be serious. Like, really serious. Like, Landon Maddox could be the one.

We might be falling in love with each other.

“What are you thinking about?”

“I’m thinking about keeping it.”

“You want to tell Rachel and Dad or should I?”

I love the fact I can bullshit him and he already knows I’m lying.

“What’s our excuse going to be for getting home so late?”

“You mean apart from the fact we were working on increasing the size of the family?”

“Aside from that, yes.”

“We got lost.”

“We have GPS.”

“In the woods.”

“Walking?”

“Tracking animals.”

“Your dad would be proud.”

“He might not if he knew what we were really up to.”

“It we don’t go home, we won’t have to tell him.”

“We could run away, but coach will want to know where his star quarterback has gone.”

“Tracking animals.”

“He wouldn’t be as impressed as my dad.”

We carve through the winding roads, afternoon turning through dusk towards night. At the edge of the road I see dead and alive animals, rabbits hit by cars and birds feeding off them. This is the cycle of life in all it’s glory and I wonder whether Landon and I are destined to become the squash of blood and bones on tarmac or the ones picking them apart to survive.

The journey back to the house takes less time than I want it to, and when we arrive, Mom comes quickly to the kitchen window to make sure it’s us. Just before we get out of the car, and while Mom makes her way out of our sight to open the front door to let us in, I lean over and give Landon a kiss and a squeeze.

“You’re glowing again.”

I shrug my shoulders.

“Maybe it’s my new look.”

“Whatever it is, I like it.”

Mom breaks the spell, stood on the doorstep with her arms folded to chaperone us inside, just in case we can’t make the short distance from the car to the house unaided.

We filter in, Landon first, myself behind him, my glow seemingly evident in Mom’s eyes, reflected back against me, in the way she beams a proud, slightly self conscious smile at us both, even in the way Marvin is stood to greet us back home, his hands in his pockets awkwardly as though expecting someone far more important to arrive.

Landon and I look at each other. This is weird even for Mom and Marvin. This is the appearance of a pair of proud parents ready to confess our secret back at us. I hold my breath, fully expecting a frank confession of our afternoon activity, but it doesn’t come. As soon as the oddness has arrived, it melts away into normality again, and I wonder if I’ve just imagined it all.

Marvin sits silently back down to pick up his book, while Mom takes to the couch opposite him, the magazine she’s been reading now open again and rested against her leg ready to pick up when she’s done with us.

I realize that Landon and I are probably standing far too close to each other and make a point of moving away. If there is anything I want to do or say to him, I’ll have to wait once again for the privacy of our bedroom. Mom’s eyes follow me to the kitchen and then again to the couch. It’s almost as if she’s waiting for the right moment to speak and then when she feels like I’ve settled enough comes out with the first line in what could, to a guilty mind, be an awkward inquisition.

“So, what did you guys get up to?”

I sink deeper into the softness of the couch and let Landon take control of the story, nodding and following his lead as best I can. Secrets are easy to keep, until they get too big to keep inside.

I wait for a thick as thieves comment from Marvin, but it doesn’t come. He doesn’t even question the part about the birds, nor the bit where we got lost trying to follow the sound of an animal we couldn’t recognize. Mom just nods along, happy that we’ve made it back safely.

When he’s done, and Mom seems satisfied, Landon digs around in the kitchen for something to eat before coming to sit alongside me. I feel his leg hot against mine, and it makes me think about what it was like to have him come inside me. I can’t help the thought bringing heat to my skin and I know I’ve probably gone red.

“We’ll have to pull you two apart when we leave tomorrow, it looks like you’ve joined yourselves at the hip.”

Landon and I share a glance. Hip, pelvis, his seed inside me. Joined at the hip just doesn’t cut it.

“There isn’t anywhere else to sit.”

Landon is quick to defend himself even though it’s clear it isn’t necessary. Mom waves her hand to dismiss him.

“I’m only kidding. Like I said yesterday, I’m over the moon that you two have become such good friends.”

My clit still throbbing, Landon hard just because he’s sat next to me. Friends is probably not the best way to describe it at all.

“I wouldn’t call us friends, I think we’re a little more than that.”

My heart leaps and I wonder for a horrible moment what Landon is about to say.

“We’re step siblings after all.”

I breath a huge sigh of relief. Landon puts his arm around my neck and pulls me into him and I have to kind of wrestle away and pretend to be horrified. I’m going to make him pay for that later on, but for right now it seems to have done the trick. Mom smiles.

“That’s sweet, Landon. You can definitely stay.”

“You won’t be able to keep me away.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.”

“No, I’m serious. I’ve had an amazing time here. From now on, you’re both going to see a lot more of me.”

“That”, Marvin says without looking up from his book, “is exactly what we all need.”

Mom nods in agreement, while I still have no idea if Marvin is saying more than he’s actually saying. Landon beams a cheesy smile, happy he’s got away with telling me what his intentions are after we leave tomorrow without actually saying it directly. His hidden hand finds a place on me I’m more than happy for him to squeeze, and we sit there next to each other, hot and excited, one eye on the clock and the other on each other, counting down the minutes until we can slip away to bed and tear each others clothes off again.