Touchdown: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (Pass To Win Book 1) (26 page)

“What’s wrong with what I do?”

“Nothing is wrong with it. But just like you keep telling me I can do better than tending bar, I know that you can do better than dancing. I know you love Mickey and believe me, I know you’re the best at what you do. But over the last few days, I have come to realize how smart and ambitious you are and I don’t think you should let yourself be limited by a lack of education.”

I let my gaze wander across her face and search her eyes. All I see is honesty and conviction. Before I can let myself think better of it, I wind my fingers into her dark silky hair and pull her to me for a kiss.

It is just as hot as when I kissed her the night we met at the club, but this time I can feel my own resolve break at the intensity of her response. The kiss is smoldering and even when I pull away, I graze her mouth once more. I have to stop this now before I lose control and take her behind the stacks in the library. I run my thumb over her jawline and across her lips. Then I force myself to break fully away.

“Let’s have your best New York day ever,” I rasp, my voice still husky with arousal.

I take her hand and we leave the library together, excited for whatever the day will hold.

“It’s too early for pizza and I think we should save the carriage for last. So let’s go to the Empire State Building and check out the best view in the entire world.”

The day is amazing. It is so amazing that not only am I considering getting my GED, I am also considering taking what Aria and I have to the next level. I think it’s a string of cheese from the pizza hanging down the side of her lips that finally did me in. That and the fact that she ordered it with pepperoni and sausage, and then admitted to me before devouring the gargantuan slice in mere seconds that she had stopped eating pizza when she was thirteen because of the carbs and fat.

She may have stopped eating pizza but she still knows how to enjoy it. Her first slice is gone before mine and she is ordering a second.

“Oh my goodness, Ryan. You have absolutely no idea how forbidden and beyond good this tastes to me right now. It is so freaking delicious!”

She is irresistible like this, more open and joyful than I have ever seen her. I give her a quick hard kiss and pull away before the kiss gets away from me again. I pull her shining hair back from her face and am struck by just how gorgeous she is, with milky white skin and long dark lashes framing her blue eyes.

“Thank you, Aria, for letting me do this for you today. But don’t forget, we still have one thing left on your list. We need to go to Central Park and have that perfect New York carriage ride.”

“Are you sure you won’t feel too dorky in a horse-drawn carriage?”

“My dear, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Aria captured my hand in her own and we headed to the park. The temperature was dropping and we had to wait for a carriage that was being pulled by a white horse. The driver tucked the blanket tightly down around us. Now that we are close together in the back of the carriage and wrapped together in the blanket, I take Aria’s hand.

“Thank you for everything,” I tell her again. “I am going to take your advice and get my GED. You’re right … I want more than just money. I want to do something with my life. I want to create a shelter for homeless people, and I know I’ll need a degree to do something like that. Most of all I want to say how happy I am that I met you.”

I know that I want more from her than just her support, but I don’t know how to say it. She places her hand on my leg and leans toward me.

“Kiss me, Ryan.”

And I know it’s okay that I don’t have the words, because she already knows how I feel about her.

C
hapter
14

Ryan

I
look
at the clock for what must be the hundredth time and see it is finally after five. This means I can officially get up and go to the gym. If I don’t work off some of this anxiety before I sit to take the exam, I can’t be held responsible for what happens at the test center.

Aria and I have been hard at work every morning and on the nights that we don’t work at the club. When I decided to dropout and walked out of school halfway through my junior year, it was with the conviction that I would never have to enter a classroom again. But with Aria, it hasn’t been like school or studying at all. She has made the learning fun no matter how much I have struggled; she has never once made me feel stupid or worthless. Needless to say, this girl is an angel and I have no idea how I’m going to repay her.

I’m relieved to see that there are already warm bodies at the gym. I need to get in the boxing ring and do some serious contact sparring if I’m going to be ready for this test. I consider myself lucky that exercise has become my relaxation technique when I’m nervous, frustrated, and even pissed off.

I see my buddy Logan lifting in the free weights room and I know I have my man. A lot of guys won’t spar with him because he is so big and likes to go hard. He also has a reputation for fighting dirty if he’s losing. This morning, Logan and his anger issues are exactly what I came to the gym to find.

After many heated rounds and a few sucker punches on both sides, I am spent. I take a hot shower and swallow a couple of aspirin dry. I come out of the locker and the place goes silent. Logan is glaring at me with the eye that isn’t swollen shut. I can only imagine what he’s said about me. I was giving it as dirty as I was getting and Logan couldn’t take it. The guy had to call a fight for probably the first time in his life. I’m not going to sweat it. I didn’t come here to make friends but to get myself ready to take my test. I ignore Logan and his posse and head out onto the street. Nothing is going to keep me from getting my GED today.

Aria wanted to accompany me to the testing center but I told her there was no need for fanfare. In truth, I don’t want her to see me this far off my game. My palms are sweaty and I can’t seem to stop messing with my hair. It must be something I picked up from her. She is always fidgeting with her hair when she’s nervous. It’s either the hair or she bites on her lower lip. When she does it, all I can think of is kissing that lower lip and giving it a nibble myself.

I get to the Center and am thrown when I see everything is done on computers. All of the studying I have done with Aria has been me writing things out with paper and a pencil. They take my finger-prints and then a picture, which feels a lot like getting a mug shot. This is all to prove I didn’t hire someone to take the test in my place. At first I think, how pathetic do you have to be to hire someone to take your High School equivalency test for you? Then I remind myself that if I hadn’t met Aria, and I desperately needed my diploma, I probably would have done just that.

I am shocked to find myself breezing through the test. I can read and understand all of the questions and what’s even better, is that I know the answers. And when I find out that I get the results immediately, instead of having to wait for the test to be graded, I am actually excited. But if I don’t pass, I don’t know how I can face Aria after all the work she put into this.

I read the results with one eye closed … and I passed. Not only did I pass the test, I aced the thing.

I need to tell Aria. I can’t wait to see how excited she is going to be for me. I can’t wait to just see her and be with her to celebrate my success. First things first, though. I need to shower, change my clothes, make dinner reservations, and then buy Aria an orchid. I have no idea where to buy an orchid. All I know is that at one point, she told me that she hates cut flowers because they die but that she loves orchids, because her mother always kept them.

Once I figure out where to buy her an orchid, I am going to get her the most beautiful orchid that has ever bloomed and it will put any flower her mother had to shame.

I know that Aria has tried to hide the pain she is in. But it’s obvious that she is still upset by what has happened. She probably believes that she can’t talk to me about the difficult time she is going through with her family because I so recently lost mine. But she can talk to me about anything. She has opened the door to a whole new world for me and I will do anything for her.

I stop to chat with a lady on the street that looks to be wealthy and discerning; she definitely comes across as the kind of person who knows where to buy orchids in the city. And fortunately, my sixth sense doesn’t fail me. She knows a florist and says they will help me find the perfect flower for Aria.

I arrive at Theresa’s door in my best suit, my only suit that I don’t use for stripping. I have the orchid in one hand and my GED in the other. Aria opens the door and it’s everything I can do to keep from dropping both the plant and paper on the ground and grabbing her instead.

“I passed!” I say before she can ask.

Aria jumps up and down and claps her hands together. She takes the plant from my hand and carefully places it on the table before jumping into my arms and giving me a full body hug.

“I knew you could do it. I’m so proud of you. Congratulations!”

Her joy at my, or rather our success, is like a balm to a lifetime of wounds and neglect. With Aria in my arms, I know that I can’t resist her any longer. It has been torture these last few weeks. But now that she has had time to adjust to her parents cutting her off and I have my diploma, I feel comfortable asking her to be with me. Tonight is the night we can finally act on the urges we have been trying to ignore since we met. Aria may have a more difficult time admitting it than I do, but we were meant to be together.

“Put on your best dress, gorgeous. I have reservations for us at the best steakhouse in New York. I know you said you haven’t had a good steak since leaving Texas, so tonight we celebrate with meat,” I tease.

“Steak? A honest-to-goodness, real steak dinner? I haven’t had a good rare steak since the last time I went home to see my family.” She stops short in dismay when the reality of what she just said hit her, but she quickly brushes it aside.

“Let me go change. You look so nice tonight; I have to find something you haven’t seen me in before.”

I sit on Theresa’s couch, which is now Aria’s bed, while she changes in the shared bathroom. I hate that she has to live here, and I can only imagine what her apartment looked like before her parents kicked her out. What I really don’t understand is how her parents could just cut her out of their lives like that. Most people would be proud of a child that wanted to stand on their own two feet and start a career. I will never understand rich people.

When Aria comes out of the bathroom, my first thought is to forget the restaurant and go straight to my apartment. Her slender body is shown to perfection in a dark, slim-fitting dress. The skirt stops a few inches above her knees and showcases her long lean legs. I could look at those legs all night and if everything goes according to plan, I will be running my hands up them before the night is over.

I am finished with being the bad guy. I am going to thank Aria the one way I know how. I am going to give her the most amazing night of her life and her first time will be all about her and her pleasure.

“My lady,” I take her hand and kiss it. “Your taxi awaits.”

“Not the subway? We are living large tonight.”

“Tonight is about you and me and I am not about to have our date start with you giving some old men on the subway a heart-attack when they get a load of you.”

Aria reddens and tries to hide her blush from me by letting her hair drop across her face.

“Stop messing around. And is this really a date?” she asks.

“Yes, it is our first real date,” I answer.

I can tell she is pleased and I knew she would be. I don’t often read women’s signals wrong and there is no way I have been misreading the signs Aria has been sending. She wants me and I am almost certain that she is ready to be with me for her first time.

When we get to the restaurant, I let her order the wine. I know almost nothing about wine and would rather have a decent bottle that she chooses than pretend I know what is good and what goes with what food. The waiter is truly professional but he almost laughs when she orders an 18oz filet, rare.

“Tell the chef I’m from Texas, where we know what steak is, and he had better not over cook it.”

“Absolutely, miss. I will make sure he knows.” He does a slight bow and walks away.

I nearly bust a gut laughing. “I had no idea you were so bossy. I guess that’s what I get for dating a rich girl.”

“Former rich girl,” she says. A hint of a smile tugs at the corner of her red lips. “And I’m not bossy. I just know how I like my steak, and for some reason men always think they know better than me what I want to eat.”

“Hold up, gorgeous. I think you should have your steak still mooing if that’s the way you like it.”

“Thank you, handsome,” she purrs.

Dinner is phenomenal and if it weren’t for me fighting a hard-on the whole time, I could have stayed there talking with her for the rest of the night. In the cab, I give the driver my address, pull Aria across the seat, and envelop her warm body in my arms. She doesn’t resist and I finally get to stroke her legs. They are as smooth and silky as I imagined.

In the apartment, I skip any pretense that this is anything but the night Aria loses her virginity to me.

“Don’t get to comfortable.” I tell her when she perches on the edge of my couch. I remove one of her black heeled shoes and stroke the perfect arch of her foot. She immediately lifts her other foot for me to do the same.

Oh yes, all the signs are here. Aria is ready for me. And tonight will be a night neither of us will ever forget.

C
hapter
15

Aria

R
yan lifts
me up as if I weigh no more than a feather and carries me into his bedroom. I look around and try to see what his style is; the room is stark and everything in it is grey and steel. There is no art on the walls but a large mirror takes up one corner. This is a man that is incredibly vain and not in touch with his emotions. I can feel panic beginning to build in the pit of my stomach. It’s too soon … I always thought I would wait until marriage.