Touchdown: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (Pass To Win Book 1) (25 page)

“Absolutely,” I say. “I’m here for you.”

The first part is relatively straightforward; he needs to claim the remains and have his parents buried or interred. He needs to plan a funeral if he wants to, but judging by what he has told me about his parents, it is unlikely that he will do this.

The rest of the papers are a little more complicated. I have to read a few paragraphs several times to grasp the full weight of what it all means.

“It looks like there is a potential lawsuit here. It’s why your parents contacted the lawyers to begin with. They were going to sue the trailer park owners. The wiring was bad and needed to be replaced. According to the report, the fire was caused by the wiring.”

“You think I can get money out of this?”

“I don’t think the lawyers would have taken the trouble to track you down if there wasn’t a chance to get money.”

At this point, we are done picking at our lunch and sitting in the diner. Ryan suggests we go for a walk. He puts out his hand to help me from the booth and a jolt of electricity courses from my hand to my core when his strong fingers wrap around my own. We lock eyes and I get lost in the magnetic emerald of his. I make myself break the moment and pretend I have to check my phone. But when I do, I noticed a missed call from my father. Wouldn’t it be a miracle if he called to say he’s had a change of heart and loves me no matter what and that there is nothing I could do to make him and my mother cut me out of their lives?

I will listen to the voicemail later. In the meantime, I will keep repeating the mantra
I can take care of myself and I like being independent.
It’s not too difficult for me to believe because I really do like being and want to remain self-sufficient.

“I think better when I’m moving,” Ryan tells me.

“Not me. I like to camp out at a desk in a quiet room. I think the campus librarian was going to start charging me rent considering how much time I spent at my favorite table.”

He smiles at me and I am completely disarmed. He takes my hand in his and gives it a quick squeeze.

“I can see you surrounded by all those books and completely oblivious to all the guys that are sitting around, just waiting for you to look up and see them.”

The compliment in conjunction with the hand-holding has me, much to my own annoyance, beaming with pleasure.

We walk in comfortable silence for a few blocks and head into Central Park.

“I’m thinking about what you said, and you’re right. Those lawyers don’t give a shit about my parents. It’s because there is money out there that they tracked me down.”

“Most likely. You might even be able to settle quickly out of court. It will save you fees and time.”

“I think,” he says deliberately. “I think if there is money that comes out of what happened to them, I want to use it for something less superficial than what I have been doing.”

I tighten my hand around his in reassurance. I know it must be hard for him to share this with me.

He stops me and places both of his strong hands on my shoulders. The sun is bright and I notice for the first time that he has hints of gold in his dark hair. We are so close I can smell his soap and the scent that is singularly his. For a moment, I think he is going to kiss me. I try not to look at his smooth lips but when I turn my focus to his broad muscled shoulders, it just makes the anticipation worse.

“I want you to help me to read.”

His words jar me out of my reverie.

“Read?” I stammer.

“Yes, you said you can help me. Will you do that?”

“Of course I can. I mean, I would like to help. I’ve done some training and some volunteer work with kids that have learning disabilities.”

I worry that he will take offense at my using the word “disability” but he seems almost relieved. I can’t imagine how it must feel for him to know that with some tools and practice, he’ll be able to read as well as most people.

We make a plan to meet in the morning so we can get started right away. I need to do some studying myself on how best to go about helping him. I have only worked with kids, so this will be a change for me.

Ryan’s piercing eyes hold mine when we go to part ways and he takes both my hands in his.

“I knew you were someone special when we met.” He leans in and kisses me softly on the forehead.

Then he is gone around the corner before I can say anything. I want to yell after him that I knew the same about him, but I stay silent.

I get back to Theresa’s and all I want to do is sit on the couch and process everything that happened. She is there waiting for me though.

“Well, what did he want? I hope you didn’t let him sweet talk you into bed.”

“It wasn’t anything like that,” I told her. I don’t tell her about the dyslexia but I do tell her about his parents. I had forgotten that she knew them and she is upset by the news.

“Was the fire only in their trailer or were other homes in the park burned as well?”

I was so caught up with Ryan and his problems that I didn’t think about Theresa’s mom. Just because she hasn’t spoken to her in years doesn’t mean she wouldn’t be concerned and saddened if anything happened to her.

“From what I can tell, it was just Ryan’s parents and their home.”

“Wow, this is awful … poor Ryan. Now I feel bad for being so hard on him when he came by this morning.”

“I’m sure he understands,” I reassure her. “He apologized for how he behaved the other night at the club.”

“Good. He needed to apologize. But promise me you’ll be careful around him. I don’t want you to get hurt and all he knows how to do is use women for sex.”

I don’t want to argue with her about Ryan right now. Especially because a part of me knows she is probably right.

“I’ll be careful,” I promise.

My phone rings and the caller ID shows that it’s my father again. I take the call both because I don’t want to talk about Ryan with Theresa anymore and because there is no point in putting off talking to my father.

“Aria, your mother is too upset to talk but she wants to know if you’re safe.”

“I’m fine. I’ve made some new friends, have a safe place to stay since you kicked me out of my home, and a job.”

I don’t tell him that I’m living in a studio apartment in a questionable neighborhood and that I’m tending bar in a strip club.

I can hear him pass this on to my mother and then he pushes forward with the real reason he called. They need my answer now so that they can cancel the wedding before guests start flying in for the occasion. The rational part of me knows this is the right thing to do. But the hurt daughter in me wants to scream and yell at them for being such harsh and judgmental parents.

I think about my promise to Ryan and of how when I’m with him, I know I can do anything I want. I also think about the way he held my hand and the glimpse of what might be between us in his intense gaze. We will be spending every morning together and I am just as excited about that as I am about being able to help him change his life.

“I’m not coming home,” I finally tell him. “You can go ahead and cancel everything. And just remember; all I did was decide not to marry a man I don’t love and to stay in the city and start a career. You are the ones that are cutting me out your lives.”

My father doesn’t bother to reply but simply disconnects the call as his answer.

For better or for worse, New York and the club and Theresa and Ryan are my life now. I head to the library to use the computers and start a lesson plan for tomorrow morning so I’m prepared for my first tutoring session with Ryan.

C
hapter
13

Ryan

I
f it weren’t
for Aria and the crazy “hot librarian” hold she has over me, there is no way I would be crawling out of bed so early. It was a late work night and an even later night of drinking with Mickey. But Aria and I have only been at studying for a few days and I am already more confident and ready to take on new challenges.

If Aria were the teacher, I would be willing to learn how to rid the nation’s school children of lice. Aria is the kind of woman I could only dream of meeting. She is smart, gorgeous, generous, and incredibly sexy. If I had a teacher like her when I was in the third grade, I would be a lawyer or a banker instead of a stripper.

I have been fighting the impulse all week to get her into bed, but I am intent not to screw this up. For the first time in my life, I’m reading and with the settlement from my parents’ death, I am in a position to build a future for myself.

She makes me meet her at the library instead of the diner. Theresa says this is because Aria loves the movie
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
and Audrey Hepburn’s character would go to the New York Public Library.

I watched the movie on my DVR. I liked it despite that it was old and definitely a chick flick. Aria looks a little like Holly in the movie, but she is sweeter and definitely has it more together than the character in the film.

No matter how early we meet, I look forward to being tutored by her, and today is no exception. The library is quiet when I get there and Aria is at the same table in the back we have used over the last few days. She is definitely a creature of habit.

She sees me approaching and the smile she greets me with lights up the entire room. I sit down across from her even though what I really want to do is swoop her up into my arms and run out of here with her into the bright sunshine of the morning. Hell, I don’t actually have to pick her up; we can just run out of here together and spend the day at the park together doing what two grown-ups do together when they have the whole day in front of them.

It dawns on me that I don’t know what two people do together if it’s not sex. I’ve never spent the day with a woman unless it was spent in bed. And even that is a rare occurrence. I can’t explain it, but once the sun comes out and you’re still there in bed, women might think you wanted more than just a one-night stand, and I felt too ashamed to let them know where I came from and my background.

“So tell me …” I ask her. “If we weren’t stuck at the library studying what would you be doing?”

Aria bites her lower lip and fidgets with the pen in her hand. I have noticed that this is something she does when she is deep in thought.

“Hey there girl … this isn’t a trick question.” Her cheeks blush a shade of rose I can only describe as Aria Pink.

“It is a trick question for me. I don’t think I have spent a single day in the city where I wasn’t either studying or doing what someone else wanted to.”

“Well, that decides it then. We are not going to spend the day studying and we’re not going to spend the day doing what I want to do. And not just because it would involve plenty of nakedness and debauchery that I’m not sure you’re ready for yet.”

I say this teasingly. But I am more serious about being naked with Aria than I am ready to admit to myself. It would be so much easier if all I wanted to do is bang her or if I could think of her like a sister in the way I think of Theresa. But no; I happen to really like spending time with her and she is so incredibly hot that I get iron-hard when I think about sitting across from her at table in a library. It’s a new feeling for me and I’m not sure what to do about it.

“Today we are going to do absolutely anything you want to do. And when I say anything, I mean anything. I will carry your purse for you while you try on every interview suit in New York. I will sit through the opera. I will eat salad, and I will even spend the afternoon bringing you to climax after climax and have no release of my own.” I wink at her for the last one to show I’m kidding even though I’m really not.

Aria ignores my offer of multiple orgasms but a bright smile lights up her whole face at the offer of an afternoon all about her.

“Anything I want to do?” she asks.

“Anything. And before you say something responsible, like we need to study, I promise I will do triple the work tomorrow to make up for the time off today. Let me do something for you Aria. For once in your life, let it be all about you.”

She nods and nibbles on her plump bottom lip again, but this time she is deep in thought, in a good way.

“You’re totally serious about this and you’re not going to make fun of me, no matter what I want to do?”

“I am dead serious and I promise that no matter how ridiculous your request, I will save my teasing for tomorrow.”

Her eyes burned right through me but she seemed to be satisfied with what she found because they soon brighten with pleasure again.

“I want to go to the top of the Empire State Building, ride in a carriage through Central Park, and have the largest and greasiest slice of New York pizza in the city.”

My automatic response to her request is one of pure happiness. She has obviously been thinking about this for a while and I am pleased beyond words to be the one to help her.

“You’re laughing at me,” she says.

“Not in the slightest, Aria. I know the absolute best pizza place in all of New York, the view from the top of the Empire State building can’t be beat, and as far as the horse drawn carriage goes, there is a first time for everything.”

She claps her hands together, jumps out of her chair, and flings her arms around me.

“Thank you, Ryan,” she whispers into my ear in a silken voice. Her breath is hot on my neck and my cock stiffens as her leg wedges between my thighs in what I know is an accident, but I really wish was on purpose.

It is going to be difficult to keep my desire for her under wraps while spending the whole day together. But for Aria, I can and will do anything.

“I know you’re doing all this for me and I am beyond words excited about it, but I have one more thing to ask of you.”

“Something kinky, I hope.” I raise my eyebrow lasciviously and Aria slaps me playfully on the arm.

“No more funny business,” she pleads. “I want you,” she says with new seriousness. “To get your GED.”

She raises her hand up to silence me before I can object.

“You will probably get a decent sum from the trailer park management and you make good money, but I think you have the potential to do so much more with your life than you’re doing now.”