Player's Ultimatum (20 page)

“Get in bed, Miss Floyd.”

Yvonne sauntered over to the bed and climbed atop the rumpled sheets.

“Lie on your stomach, but keep your legs pressed together.”

Yvonne flipped over and rested her head on arms. As she crossed her legs at the ankles, Yvonne’s eyes widened in wonderment. He didn’t even have to touch her and her sex was already pulsating and becoming damp!

The bed suddenly dipped. She braced herself. Thank goodness he didn’t make her wait! His body slid over hers enveloping her in his body heat, while kissing a trail of wet, hot kisses along her spine and across her shoulders.

He straddled her legs with his, nudged his cock against her sex then pushed. Panting, Yvonne gripped the bed sheets and angled her hips up a bit, taking him in ful y. Her efforts provoked a deep, gut ural groan from Paolo who remained unmoving above her except for sliding his hands under her to cup her breast.

“You are addictive,” he said barely above a whisper, his warm breath tickling her ear.

He was one to talk! If he were synthetic, she’d recommend he apply to the FDA.

He slowly eased back then pushed forward. Shuddering, Yvonne turned her head and so that he could kiss her. His tongue marched past her lips, conquering her mouth with an al -consuming assault that made her pussy weep.

He moved over her, deftly, heightening the experience. From his hands kneading her breast, his body pressing into hers, to his cock driving into her so deeply she almost begged him to stop. But she didn’t, she was much too close to losing it.

Placing his hands on either side of her, he powered into her with deep, hard thrusts. He picked up his speed with a wild abandon that had Yvonne’s body shaking as an orgasm built and built with each push of his hips.

“Which of us is better?”

Yvonne choked on the answer. He’d taken such control of her body. She couldn’t think straight, least of all form a coherent sentence.

“Say it,” he commanded, as he thrusted harder and harder, practical y moving her across the mat ress. “Which…of us…is better?”

Too weak at this point to play games, she bit out, “you.”

“Yes, only me,” he said, stil stroking into her and driving her toward another orgasm, “only me. Always me.” Then it hit her. Yvonne groaned and arched her back as an orgasm tunneled its way up from the depths of her soul, ripping through her until she screamed her release and his name.

“Does that answer your question?” Paulo chuckled wickedly as she writhed beneath him.

Twofold, Yvonne mused as she uncrossed her eyes.

Yvonne rolled over on her back and stretched. “Do we real y have to go out tonight? Both of us have had a long day.” It wasn’t far from the truth. Robbie had had a four hour non-stop training session in preparation for Roma’s playoff match this morning. And despite suffering from jet lag caused by yesterday’s flight, she’d suffered through a laborious five-course lunch with the owners of a shoe manufacturer who wanted Robbie to endorse their footbal shoes. They seemed to believe if they filled her with enough pasta, he’d sign on the dotted line. But after five hours of negotiations, they’d come to an impasse.

Yvonne had such a headache, she even begged off from seeing Paulo that afternoon, which she regretted because she missed him terribly. A minute didn’t pass that she didn’t wonder what he was doing while she was gone.

“No way no how kiddo,” Robbie continued, intruding into her ‘I am woman’ pep talk. “Vincenze Maggione, the team’s owner, has personal y requested I be there along with the team’s co-captains, Freddy and Paulo.” At the mention of Paolo’s name, Yvonne’s gut twisted as if filled with butterflies. Damn! She had it bad. Riddled with guilt, Yvonne fiddled with the gold ring Paulo had given her on their brief but mind-blowing beach vacation. At his request she wore it on her right ring finger.

“And since you’re my fiancée you need to be there as wel . In fact, Stefano told me Maggione said that he wanted to meet you.” Robbie sat down on the couch next to her. His handsome face beamed with delight. “I think he’s ready to make a decision on my contract. Just think we can end this farce sooner than both of us expected. We both better be on our A-game.”

Yvonne tried to smile in the face of Robbie’s happiness, but she felt nothing but fear. How could she be on her A-game and pretend to be in love with another man, when the real man she loved was going to be sitting across from her the entire night.

* * * * *

Yvonne dragged her feet al afternoon, which resulted in their being late for dinner even by Robbie’s never on time for anything standards. As they walked through
Capriello’s
, several diners turned to look at them. Yvonne knew they drew most of the attention because of Robbie’s notoriety. Plus, he looked quite dashing in a navy pin-striped suit and a crisp white handkerchief in his breast pocket.

She didn’t look too shabby either. Robbie picked out a navy gabardine off-the-shoulder dress cut so low in the back, she was fearful when she sat down someone would probably see the crack of her ass. She accented her attire with smooth ponytail, gold hoop earrings and only the golden ring Paolo had given her.

“The golden couple has arrived!” Stefano Fabrini stood up from one of only four tables in the restaurant’s VIP room. Elegantly decorated with glass and bamboo, the private dining area had a private bar and a personal wait staff.

Yvonne’s eyes immediately darted to the other dinner guests. As expected, Paolo was in attendance…as was his date, a wil owy pale blonde wrapped around him like a kudzu vine on a fence.

Even though the woman was pret y she didn’t hold a candle to her male escort. Paolo’s black tailored suit offset his golden skin and black hair to perfection. To say he was handsome didn’t do him any justice. Despite his unwelcome company, she yearned to go home with him, not Robbie.

Yvonne hadn’t been prepared to see him with another woman. And he hadn’t mentioned he’d be escorting someone else when she’d spoken with him on the phone earlier that afternoon. To say it knocked her for a loop was an understatement. She felt disembodied and an odd ringing sounded in her ears. If it weren’t for Robbie’s guiding hand she would have remained frozen on the other side of the room.

It’s none of your business, Yvonne silently chastised herself. She wasn’t anything to Paolo. The last two months and their time in Florida meant absolutely nothing to him. They had an arrangement and she was just one of many.

Fighting to put things back in perspective, Yvonne raised her head and al owed Robbie to lead them to their table. As per Italian custom and due to the familiarity of the group, hugs and kisses on the cheek were exchanged. Of course, Yvonne took her time getting to Paolo by striking up a conversation with Keitha and cooing over the other woman’s jewelry.

Unfortunately, her husband pulled her away to take their seats. Yvonne turned to claim hers, but she was brought up short by Paolo who’d come to stand behind her. There goes that out of body thing again, Yvonne mused when he pulled her into his arms.

Instead of a safe familiar distance, he pressed his body against hers intimately. Damn! He smelled good like the men’s cologne section in a high-end boutique.

Yvonne lingered in his arms.

“As the team captain, I would be remiss in not greeting you properly,” he whispered before planting a kiss on her cheek, producing a ful -body shiver that crashed over Yvonne like a tidal wave. “And as your lover…it would be rude.”
Why did he have to go there!
Yvonne jerked away from, him but not before she noticed the single-minded intent in his dark eyes.
What kind of game was he playing?

*****

The moment she walked through the door, his eyes didn’t leave her. Whether she was wrapped in his bed sheets or a two thousand dollar dress Yvonne was always stunning.

Despite the malignant presence of her fiancé, Paolo couldn’t help not wanting her. It always amazed him whenever she was around he wanted to put her on her back. Although they had more sex in a week than most married people in a lifetime, he stil couldn’t get enough of her. In fact, the minute she’d stepped into the room, his bal s started to tighten.

Paulo admitted his plan to expose her to her fiancé had back fired. Instead of using her then discarding her, he’d started to enjoy being around her. Even his trip to Florida had been a test. And he had failed. Instead of exorcising her, he ended up wanting her more. But she’d rebuffed him twice, in Florida and on her return.

If he fol owed his instincts and betrayed her to Robbie, their arrangement would be over. And he wasn’t ready for their affair to end, if ever.

Paulo couldn’t put a name to what he felt for Yvonne. But he knew it was al consuming or he would not have experienced this blinding, uncontrol able jealousy when she walked in on Robbie’s arm. And he’d been so angry and filled with gut-wrenching possessiveness after she couldn’t meet him earlier today he’d stooped so low as to ask Adrianne, a young Brazilian model he’d taken out a time or two, to tonight’s dinner as a way to hurt her.

His ploy didn’t work. Yvonne didn’t blink twice when she saw them together. Instead, she held onto Robbie’s hand and pressed her voluptuous curves against him as if she wanted to melt into him, reminding Paolo of al the times she done just that whenever he kissed her lips or sucked on her juicy nipples.

Maddened, Paolo looked away before he threw her over his shoulder, took her back to his estate and fucked her until she couldn’t walk for a week. First, he needed to break the arm Gutierrez slung around the hips he considered very much his property.

“Paolo, as the team’s captain what do you think of our chances during the playoffs?” Paulo dragged his gaze away from Robbie and smiled at the team’s owner Dante Maggione. So intent on trying to figure out the woman sitting next to him, he’d only heard bits and pieces of the question, wel actual y only his name and something about the upcoming playoffs. He decided to wing it.

“Our chances are great. The team is in top form, the best shape we’ve ever been since I joined the team three years ago,” Paulo replied, while straining to keep his eyes from drifting back to the couple, who seemed to be in their own private world.

If Yvonne giggled one more time or tugged on that clown’s tie one more time, Paolo was going to do the wait staff a favor and clear the table himself with Gutierrez’s body.

Relieved he didn’t choke on the tide of anger clogging his throat, threatening his current supply of oxygen, Paolo yanked at his own tie in an effort to dispel his mounting discomfort.

It didn’t help. Yvonne was stil carrying on like a love sick school girl. If she wasn’t playing with Gutierrez’s fingers, she was draping herself over him like a groupie.

Didn’t she know they were in mixed company?

Unable to help himself, Paolo slipped his hand under the table to set le on her knee. He smiled at her knee jerk reaction when she sat up straighter almost knocking her water glass over.

Going one step further, he leisurely stroked a path along her thigh, moving the thin silky material of her dress upward as he went. To the others around them, she appeared cool and confident. Paolo knew better her leg muscles trembled worse than a land-bound sailor. If he weren’t so aroused by the softness of her skin, he could almost feel sorry for her.

“Al the teams are in good shape,” Stefano laughed. “They are al young like us and in top form. Some are just more stupid than others.”

Paolo al owed his hand to inch higher. Before he could reach Yvonne’s honeypot, she clamped her legs together. “
Si
, but we have a secret weapon the other teams don’t have.”

“And what’s that Paulo?” Maggione asked, resting his elbows on the table.

“You have us.” Paulo looked over to his teammates and smiled.

Although a wave of guilt washed over him when Robbie returned his smile, Paolo didn’t remove his hand. Yvonne was just as much his as she was Gutierrez’s probably more so since she claimed to be only having sex with him.

Or so she said.
Considering their closeness and her sil y carrying on, the pair looked more intimate than he and Adrienne.

And he’d been intimate with her in the past.

“That is what scares me,” Maggione scoffed. “You, Gutierrez and MacDonald are in the press more so for your personal lives than your action on the pitch. The team needs role models not playboys, philanders and perverts. What you do off the field can break team morale or cause a distraction. Instead of concentrating on the European Cup, the rest of the team is reading the gossip rags.”

Neither teammate had the bal s to speak up. Unable to let Maggione’s comments slide, Paolo opened his mouth. Nothing came out. Instead, he watched Yvonne take Robbie’s hand in hers and squeeze as if comforting him. And just like that Paolo forgot what he was about to say.

Paulo continued to study them, while everyone looked over their menus. The more he turned the relationship over in his head the more he convinced himself Yvonne was two timing the both of them. But, he couldn’t stay mad at her. He’d forced this arrangement on her to carry out an idiotic personal vendet a against Robbie and his selfish need to possess her.

Everything had backfired. Instead of being nonplussed about sitting next to her, Paolo was itching to tell everyone she was his.

And damn the consequences. She was his. So much so, he wanted to make her his on a permanent basis.

In truth the thought of having Yvonne al to himself had become an al -consuming initiative ever since he’d left Florida. Only thing, he didn’t know how to go about it without Yvonne hating him in the end. Stil , the thought of her waking up in his arms again, excited him.

Eager to stake his claim, Paolo slipped his fingers between her thighs. With a little prodding, she parted her legs. Paolo gnashed his teeth. She was so soft and warm, his cock jumped.

Greedy for more, Paolo inched up the inside of her thigh to settle on the silky crotch of her panties. Paolo wanted to groan, she was already wet for him. Or was she? Pushing aside his doubts, he moved the thin material aside.