Unexpected Rush (Play-By-Play #11) (32 page)

Because champagne went well with ice cream. At least that was her thought process right now.

There was a knock at the door and she went to open it. It was Barrett, with her bag.

He laid the bag down. She opened it and grabbed her pajamas. She turned to Barrett.

“Unzip, please.”

“Gladly.” The brush of his hands along her bare skin as he pulled her zipper down brought about an awareness that she didn’t think she’d feel in her present mood. Though it shouldn’t surprise her that his touch could evoke sensations of desire in her. He’d always had that effect.

She dashed into the bathroom, washed the makeup off her face, changed into the blue cotton shorts and white tank top and put the dress on the hanger, then came out of the bathroom and hung her dress in his closet.

Barrett had changed out of his suit and into a pair of gray sweats and a white T-shirt. He was on the sofa, remote in his hand.

He patted the spot next to him on the sofa. “Come on.”

She came over and sat, pulling her legs up on the sofa.

He handed her the remote. “Pick something to watch.”

“What if I want to watch a girl movie?”

He arched a brow. “What’s a girl movie?”

“Something romantic.”

“You think guys don’t like romance?”

She shrugged, staring at the TV as she flipped through channels. “Right now I don’t think I know anything about men.”

“I don’t know about other guys, but I can tell you about me. I like sports, of course. Hot women, like you. Good food, good conversation and honesty.”

“Oh, you like honesty?”

“Okay, you really want to get into this thing with Drake tonight?”

“No. I don’t. I already told you I get why you don’t want to tell him about us. My brother is an overprotective pain in my ass. And the fact that he’s your best friend just makes what you and I have together . . .”

She didn’t finish. She couldn’t.

“Complicated?”

She let out a huff, still scrolling through channels without even looking at them. “Understatement.”

He took the remote from her hands and muted the sound. “Look at me.”

She did.

“I know what we have is complicated. It’s complicated as hell and I’m sorry about that. I wish it could be easy for us, but right now it isn’t. Your brother is a hothead and he’s protective about you. In some ways that’s a good thing. I’ll talk to him about us.”

This was new. “You will?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“Soon. Let’s get through training camp and I’ll . . . find the right moment. You need to trust me to know when that right moment will be.”

“Okay.”

There was a knock on the door.

“I’ll get that,” Barrett said.

The room service waiter came in bearing a tray filled with all kinds of ice creams and toppings, not to mention the hot fudge sundaes and the champagne. When he left, Barrett slid a look in her direction.

She shrugged. “I might have gotten carried away. The ice cream mind is a dangerous thing.”

One side of his mouth pulled up in a half smile. “So it seems. Let’s dig in and see what kind of damage we can do.”

She went for the hot fudge sundae first, while Barrett mixed scoops of chocolate and vanilla ice cream in a bowl, then sprinkled in some M&M’s.

Harmony picked up the remote and found something they might both like—an action movie mixed in with a little romance.

Barrett leaned back with his bowl. “This looks like a good one.”

They ate and watched the movie. After Barrett finished his ice cream, he popped open the champagne and poured it into two glasses. Harmony was cold after eating the ice cream, so she grabbed a blanket from the bedroom and laid it over both of them.

They sipped champagne and argued about the movie.

“This is ridiculous,” she said. “She has to know he’s only using her to get the information he needs.”

“But you can tell he cares about her and he feels really guilty about it.”

“Oh, and that makes it okay?”

“In the movie world, yes. Plus, you know she’ll make him pay for it in the end. They’ll end up married and he’ll spend the next forty years apologizing for lying to her about being a spy and not coming clean about who he was in the first place.”

She laughed. “Probably.”

At the end, there was a happily ever after—with a twist. It turned out the heroine was also a spy, and she’d been playing the hero as well.

“Okay, that surprised me,” Barrett said. “Did you pick up on her being a spy?”

Harmony shook her head. “Not at all. So maybe she’ll be the one continuing to apologize for the next forty years.”

He laughed. “Or maybe they’ll end up even.”

“Could be.”

Barrett gathered up their bowls and laid them on the tray, then wheeled it out to the hallway and called room service to pick it up.

“Tired yet?” he asked as he refilled her glass.

“Not yet. I think I’m still riding that sugar high from the ice cream.”

“We could get dressed and take a walk.”

She picked up her phone. “It’s after midnight. How about we step out on the balcony instead?”

“Sure.”

He opened the slider and they walked outside. It was warm, but that breeze she’d felt earlier at the club was still present. There were two chairs out here, but all she wanted to do was stand, lean against the railing and look at the lights of the city.

“Beautiful out here.”

Barrett came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her. “Yeah.”

She leaned against him and put her hands on his forearms. “Nothing like your ranch, though. It must have been amazing to grow up with all that space.”

“We didn’t spend all our growing-up years there, but the time we had sure was fun. Lots of space to run around and get dirty.”

She laughed. “I imagine that for boys it was a great deal of fun. Plus riding horses, driving the trucks around all that land.”

“Mucking out stalls, working cattle . . . it wasn’t exactly all play
all the time. Dad made us work, too. Nothing fun comes without hard work attached.”

“A lesson we all have to learn.”

They both went quiet, until he leaned his head against hers.

“I’m sorry about everything tonight.”

“Not your fault that one guy thought he had the right to put his hands on me, and that my brother can’t seem to keep himself out of my business. I had it handled.”

“I know you did. And you were walking away when Drake decided to get involved.”

She looked out over the clear night sky. “I wish I understood Drake’s motivations.”

“I have a younger sister, Harmony. I do understand the need to protect. But I also trust Mia to handle herself. We all know she can, and that she wouldn’t hesitate to call on any of us if she needed to. It doesn’t mean we don’t keep a watchful eye on her, or that we don’t worry she won’t make the right choices.”

“Right.”

“But the difference between Drake and me is that he’s felt that pressure to be your protector because you didn’t have a father in your life to do the job. So maybe he feels the need to always be there for you, even if you might not want him to be. He’s having a hard time letting go of the little girl who needed him all those years ago.”

She had long ago pushed the past aside. Maybe Barrett was right and Drake hadn’t yet let go of their past. “You might be right about that. I give him such a hard time about being overprotective, but maybe I don’t understand where he’s coming from.”

She needed to spend some time talking with Drake, to come to an understanding with him.

But not right now. Not when she was so angry with him.

Barrett moved his hands over her shoulders, massaging away the tension from the night.

This was what she needed to focus on. She and Barrett were finally alone, and she needed to make good use of their time. She focused on the movements of his hands on her body, the way he used his fingers to expertly find the knots in her shoulders and melt away all the stress.

She tilted her head forward. “Mmm, that feels good. I like your hands on me.”

He smoothed his hands over her shoulders, pressing in, then releasing as he made his way down her arms to the very tips of her fingers before gliding back up again.

Who knew that Barrett touching her fingers, elbows and shoulders could be so sensual?

“More.”

“Where do you want me?” he asked.

She let out a soft laugh. “That’s a loaded question.”

He came around to face her, then backed her up against the wall of the terrace. His warm breath sailed across her cheek.

“Here?” he asked, his lips brushing hers so lightly it felt like the caress of a feather.

She drew in a breath. “Yes.”

“Or here.” His tongue left a blazing trail across her neck, making her shiver despite the heat and humidity that still clung to the night.

She grasped his shoulders, letting him know by digging in her nails that she very much liked the direction he was going.

He pushed the strap of her top down and let his teeth graze that tender spot between her neck and shoulder. “Maybe here.”

She was shaking now, anticipating where he’d go next.

“Please.”

He lifted his head, his gaze full of heat and promise. “You never have to beg, baby. I’ll give you exactly what you need.”

He pulled up one of the chairs to sit, then lifted her shirt and put his mouth on her nipple.

She gasped at the heat and suction of his mouth, at the way his tongue flicked against the crest. Sensation exploded, making her sex quiver. She was on fire for him, and despite being outside where someone might see them, she didn’t care. They were on a secluded balcony with high sides, so they were afforded privacy, at least from the prying eyes of neighboring guests.

Someone watching from afar? Now that was beyond her control, and beyond her ability to care, as Barrett kissed his way down her stomach, then pulled her shorts down and put his mouth on her sex.

She let out a low moan as he licked the length of her.

“You taste so damn good,” he said, pulling away only long enough to make eye contact with her, then laid his tongue on her clit and made her tremble, as a blast of heated sensation ignited her.

She couldn’t help herself. She arched her hips against him, feeding her pussy to him, delighted in the way he lapped her up, as she cried out with her orgasm.

“Yes. Oh, yes, yes,” she said, her entire body shaking as she came over and over again. Maybe it was the tension release, but it was more likely Barrett’s talented mouth doing delicious things to her body that made her feel like she could come like this for ten minutes, at least, quivering all over with tingling pleasure; and she didn’t want it to stop.

So when he rose, she said, “Get a condom.”

He smiled, then went inside, coming back out seconds later.

She had already arranged one of the chairs the way she wanted it.

“Drop your pants,” she said. “Sit.”

His lips curved. He pulled his pants off, his hard cock springing up. He put a condom on.

“I like that cock of yours, baby,” she said.

“Fuck me, Harmony,” he said. “Climb on and fuck my cock.”

She straddled him, easing down over his cock inch by inch. She raked her nails down his arms, needing to feel him buried deep.

“Is that what you need?” he asked, his eyes fixed on hers.

“Oh, yes. You know I do.”

She began to move, rocking back and forth, shards of fiery pleasure exploding within her with each movement.

Barrett grasped her hips and rolled her toward him. “God, I love being buried deep inside of you. My cock swells and I just want to give you all my come.”

She grasped his shoulders and lifted, then slid back down on him, teasing him with her pussy, feeling him grow impossibly harder every time she seated herself fully on top of him. And when she rolled against him, she felt the tightening, the quivering tension of impending release.

“Damn, Harmony,” Barrett said. “You gonna come again?”

She dug her nails into him. “Yes. Make me come, Barrett.”

He wrapped an arm around her and put his lips on hers, thrusting his tongue in her mouth to mimic the movements of his cock. She spiraled out of control, her body undulating against him as she came with a rush of unending bursts of pleasure.

He groaned against her lips and drove harder and faster into her with his release, his body shuddering against her. She held tight to him as she rode out an orgasm that left her shaking in its wake.

Spent, she tried to catch her breath as she ran her hands up and down Barrett’s body.

He finally stood, cupping his hands under her butt, and carried her into the room.

He took them into the bedroom and laid her down on the bed, left to dispose of the condom, then came back to lie down next to her.

“You make my legs shake,” he said, stroking her arm.

“You make me crazy. Do you realize we just had sex outside?”

He laughed. “You liked it. I could tell by the number of times you came.”

“You’re right about that. But you make me lose all sense of time and place.”

He trailed a finger along her collarbone. “That’s not a bad thing, is it?”

“No, it’s not.”

He spent some time running his fingers over her body, from her face to her neck. She yawned, then closed her eyes and finally turned over, nestling her butt in Barrett’s crotch.

She didn’t remember him fetching the blanket from the other room, but he turned out the light and pulled the cover over them, and he was still touching her when she fell asleep.