Third and Long: A Sports Romance (13 page)

I’m also lying to Tamber. Every time I tell her “just friends,” I’m lying. I don’t want to just be her friend. Last night I wanted to lay her down on that bed, tear her panties off, eat her pussy, and fuck her so hard that my parents would hear her scream.

Then I’d hold her and kiss and her shit. You know, love stuff. Not saying I’m in love with her, but I am saying that I am so fucking hot for her. Thinking about her body gets me hard. Thinking about her brains gets me thirsty.

Lastly I’m lying to myself. Last night after I left her, I told myself that it was fine, that I could handle it. Instead by the time I got back to my room, I could think about nothing but her. The way her sweat was dripping down between those awesome, perky tits. The way her panties were hugging every curve of that big, round booty. The way her tight runner’s legs gripped my waist like they were never going to let go.

I won’t go into all the gory details about what I did back in my room last night. Let’s just say I took care of business, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to look Tamber in the eyes this morning for what I was thinking about doing to her.

I’m feeling like I got sacked by the biggest, heaviest mother fucker that I’ve ever played. I can’t help but think of Jules Morgan on Alabama. That mother fucker has trucked me like no one else. One time I thought he broke my rib.

That’s what Tamber has done. She’s run head long into me like a goddamn linebacker, knocking all sense out of me. They better put me through the concussion protocol when I get back to campus.

My mom sips her coffee, and I decide to answer her question with a little more confidence.

“Yes mom. I think you will like her. She’s smart as all hell. She’s the smartest girl I’ve ever dated,” I say.

“Really?” mom asks with that haughty voice of superiority reserved for people of her social class.

My dad doesn’t comment choosing instead to lose himself in the stock page of the newspaper. Guy is one of the richest people in the country and he still reads a newspaper for his stock values. Go figure. He told me everything he intended to tell me last night.

Jeffrey emerges from the house and announces, “Ms. Tamber Long.”

I hold my breath, realizing suddenly that I have no idea how she dresses outside of workout clothes. I’m trying to fake an engagement to my parents, and I couldn’t name more than two things in her closet.

She steps out onto the patio and absolutely stuns. The light hits her as the morning sun crests over the horizon. It is like poetry. She’s wearing casual gray pants with a blue and striped button-up top. I assume she woke up early and spent hours on her hair and makeup because everything about her appearance is perfect.

Her mocha colored hair is pulled back a bit by these big, round sunglasses. Everything about her says New England prep. I’m not sure how she did it, but she couldn’t have picked a better look to impress my pissed off parents. Damn, she’s so good.

“Good morning Mr. And Mrs. Oliver. It’s a pleasure to properly meet you,” Tamber says as she approaches the table.

My father actually gets out of his seat and shakes her hand. He pulls a seat out from the table for her. Then my mom shakes her hand before Tamber sits down. I have no idea what’s going on. I feel like everyone at the table is playing a prank on me.

“Charmed to meet you my dear. Sorry for the harsh reception last night, but it was quite late,” my mom says.

“Oh, I am so sorry about that. It was quite rude,” Tamber says.

“Obviously our son’s fault,” my dad says.

“You can call me Jessica by the way,” my mom says.

“I will,” Tamber says pouring a cup of coffee.

My father doesn’t say anything, but Tamber knows better than to call him Logan. She’ll stick to Mr. Oliver. I hope.

The next twenty or so minutes passes in relative silence as everyone at the table helps themselves to the huge spread of food. Tamber eats very little. For all the confidence that she walked out of the house with onto our patio, she’s still incredibly nervous.

We keep stealing awkward looks at each other. Whenever I put my coffee down, I look over and catch her staring at me. The same happens when she occupies herself with her food. I can’t help it. She’s so fucking gorgeous. I can’t get over the way her brown locks frame her cute face and those beautiful lips. I want to kiss those lips. The fact that I can’t makes me want her even more.

Mom is focused on her food. I don’t trust her. She’s been awfully polite given how they really feel about Tamber. M-y fake fiancée did make a great impression when Jeffrey introduced her, but there’s nothing she could do to make up for her “lack of breeding” as my parents put it.

“Tamber,” my mom says. I grip the countertop knowing that she’s about to start grilling the poor girl. I look to Tamber, but damn if she isn’t focused on my mom.

“Yes?” Tamber asks.

“Logan hasn’t told us much about your work at the university. Care to enlighten us?” she asks.

“Well Jessica, I’m getting my MBA,” Tamber says.

“That’s lovely dear. What do you plan to do with it?” she asks.

I hope Tamber realizes what my mom is doing. She’s going to start asking more and more involved questions, waiting for the moment that Tamber slips up. I’ve brought girls home before, but they were the vapid kind of girls that the paparazzi is fond of photographing me with. They all failed my mom’s line of questioning spectacularly. Like my dad, no one but a certain kind of well-bred debutante will be good enough.

“My plan right now is medical management. Hospitals. That sort of thing. I have an internship lined up next semester with St. Joseph’s,” she says.

“Excellent, and what will you be doing?”

“A variety of things: scheduling, payroll, inventory, among other administrative tasks,” Tamber says. “I like to stay busy.”

“And what draws you to that?”

“To be frank Jessica? Money. Administrative roles in the medical field are projected to grow by 17 percent over the next ten years,” she says.

My mom actually nods in approval. I haven’t seen her do that since my sisters got accepted to university in France. Not like she’s ever approved of me playing football. It sounds crazy, but I’m suddenly very jealous of Tamber Long.

“And do you see yourself doing that in ten years?” my mom asks.

“I see myself married to your son in ten years,” Tamber says, shooting me a playful little smirk.

Holy shit, how is she so good at playing this game? I’m actually in awe. This is not the Tamber that I’ve come to know. What is this side of her?

“Indeed,” my mom says. My dad actually looks up at that statement before going back to his stock numbers.

“As to whether I’ll still be working administration in hospitals? No, of course not. The real money is in consulting,” Tamber says.

“Here, here,” dad says, holding up his coffee cup.

My mom smiles and goes back to her food. No one except me notices when Tamber lets out the biggest, longest sigh of relief that I’ve ever seen.

We’re both good actors it seems.

The family makes idle chatter after that. Dad asks me basic questions about football making it quite clear that he hasn’t read my stat line lately. Mom asks Tamber if she likes watching me play to which Tamber enthusiastically describes my performance against Ole Miss.

By the time Jeffrey comes back to freshen our coffee and take away our dishes, it seems like Tamber has survived. Not only has my gorgeous fake fiancée survived a round of questioning from my mom, but also it seems like she has endeared my parents to her charm.

There’s this gnawing fear in the back of my head that my mom is only playing nice, that she has no intention of staying this way. After all Tamber was given the mother of all cold receptions last night. It seems impossible that they’d warm up to her especially since they seem so sure that I’ll be marrying Katerina.

I don’t dare mention anything at the table. Best not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“You’ll be joining us for dinner tonight of course,” my mom says as she gets up from the table.

“Yeah mom. We’ll be there.”

She turns to look right at Tamber. “Good because there’s so much more I’d like to know about my future daughter-in-law.”

The look she gives Tamber is honestly a little scary. There’s something going on in my mom’s head.

For the first time all morning Tamber gives me a look of concern. We both let out a huge sigh of relief when my parents leave us alone on the patio.

However, now that we’re alone everything is awkward. Last night we kissed, I picked her up and held her. She definitely felt my cock and she definitely wanted me until she abruptly turned me down. I can respect that even as I want nothing more than to take her back to my bedroom.

We stare at each other. Tamber eats a piece of cantaloupe and I can’t help but stare at her as she bites into it.

“What the hell was that?” I ask finally breaking the silence.

Immediately she drops all pretense. “Oh thank fucking God. I thought I was going to explode. I’ve never been that prim and proper before.”

“How?” I ask. I don’t even have to say anything else. She knows what I’m asking. We may be fake engaged, but I know enough about Tamber to know that she’s anxious and self-conscious to a fault. Completely
not
the person who impressed the hell out of my mom over breakfast.

“That’s
business me
,” she says.

“What the hell is
business you
?” I ask.

“When I’m on the job, I can focus, say things I’d never say in my every day life,” she says.

“So that’s what this is for you? A job?” I ask.

She looks every which way but at me. “Logan, let’s be real. You brought me out here as a friend, to help you out. Yes, it’s a job. You’re paying me in your parents’ opulence.”

“About last night…” I’m searching for something, anything to say.

“Let’s not worry about last night,” she says smiling. Sounds like a great plan to me. If she’s bound and determined to be nothing more than friends, I certainly shouldn’t dwell on the touch of her skin against mine.

“Want to go riding?” I ask.

“Like on a horse?” she asks.

I grin and point to the stable that lies in the distance on our property.

“Uh… yeah!” she says in the nerdiest and most adorably excited voice.

Now if only this boner would go away before I need to get on a saddle. Don’t blame me, she’s the one who decided to come to breakfast looking like a beautiful princess.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Tamber

I’m on a horse. I’m on a horse, and I don’t give one single fuck about anything in the world. This is completely ridiculous! Logan’s mom tried to grill me, and I had an answer for everything. That’s
business me
. Business me handles—well—business for lack of a better word. All the anxiety and nervousness I feel in my day to day goes away when there’s a job to be done.

That’s what Gwen calls my workaholicism.

Logan grabs the reins of Surefire and stops our trot. He pulls out his phone to check the time. I do the same, but to send off a text to Gwen.

I’m on a horse bitch!

In the end I owe Gwen. I thought I was going to hate this weekend. To be fair when his parents gave me the cold shoulder, I felt pretty confident that I would. But now? I’m on a horse!

After breakfast on the patio, another room bigger than my apartment, Logan walked me out to his parents’ stable on the far side of their grounds. We passed by their enormous pool and guest house. In the distance Logan pointed out their greenhouse which they apparently use mainly to brew beer. He promises later to show me the underground entertainment center. In all I feel like I’m at an all-expenses-paid resort. The only thing missing is the beach.

Every single horse is a beauty all bred from racehorse stock. According to Logan, his father’s biggest dream in life is to breed a horse that can win a Triple Crown. So far they haven’t had much luck.

I won’t lie, during the entire walk out to the stable, I had to fight every urge in my body to hold Logan’s hand, to kiss his lips, to let him touch me in the ways that I know he wants to. We’re the worst “just friends” ever.

Riding is actually a tremendous relief because it gives us something to talk about other than each other and our fake engagement. Of course, it’s the first time I’ve ever ridden a horse, and I am absolutely, embarrassingly terrible at it. Thankfully Logan’s a great teacher.

On our way out from the stable, I nearly fall off three times. Each time Logan graciously steadies my horse.

Surefire is a beautiful horse. He was given to Logan a few years ago when he became the starting quarterback for the Lions. Apparently his parents only ever acknowledge his accomplishments through gifts rather than praise.

He rides Daisy, a horse that belongs to Carolyn, his oldest sister. She sounds fun. I almost want to meet her. Logan explains that both of his sisters are studying chemistry and biology respectively at a university in Paris. He doesn’t say it, but I get the sense that they took off out of the country to get away from his parents. He seems jealous.