Player (A Secret Baby Sports Romance)(186)

I lean into his ear; “Logan, what-”

Javier chuckles; “Yeah I bet she doesn’t know, does she? I bet she’s just got no idea what sort of shit you and me got up to before her daddy swooped in and wrote you a blank fucking check.”

Wait, what? A million questions whirl through my head, none of which I can ask right now given our circumstances.

“Hey, chica;” Javier’s eyes narrow as he grins at me over Logan’s shoulder; “Stick around with this guy and you’re gonna get burned, baby.” Javier cackles at that one, as if he’s just told the joke of the century; “Yeah this one likes deserting things he starts, don’t you, Irish!”

Logan’s hands start to close into tight fists; “You have five seconds to walk the fuck out of here before I throw you over the edge.”

Javier chuckles again; “Just keepin you on your toes, pendejo; just keeping you on your toes.” He looks at me again and blows me an air kiss that makes my skin crawl and my nose wrinkle; “You have a good night too, baby. If you get tired of this loser, you come find Javier, OK?”

He nods as he looks around the pool area again; “Not bad, Irish; not fuckin bad.” He gives Logan one last look before he turns and heads towards the elevators, leaving us alone.

It takes me another few seconds to find any words at all; “Ok, what was that?”

Logan pulls away before turning to me; “I need to take you home.” He moves away and steps out of the pool.

“Logan, talk to me; what was that guy talking ab-”

“Let’s just go, ok? I should bring you home.” He holds a towel out for me, and I blush before he turns his head as I step nude from the pool and grab the towel around my body. He turns back to me with this hard glint in his eyes like he’s wrestling with something inside.

And so much of me wants to ask him what that battle inside is; what he’s fighting against even now, when it’s just the two of us. And I want to know what this whole thing was - the part with Javier, but also, and maybe even more-so, the part before.

I look at him and see the man that was open to me when it was just him and I, in that one perfect moment in time.

But the way his face betrays nothing now, as he snatches his keys off the table and yanks a shirt over his head tells me that openness is now closed. The walls are back up, and I’m suddenly furious with myself for letting myself fall for all of this again, and making the same Goddamn mistake all over again.

“Fine.” I say quickly, yanking my shorts back up and snatching my t-shirt up; “Take me the hell home.”





17





Logan




“Look, I’m sorry you had to see that back th-”

“It’s fine.” Quinn’s arms are crossed over her chest, her face as stiff as her body and staring straight ahead as the elevator in our building slowly rises.

“Quinn, there’s a lot more to-”

“Logan, it’s fine, OK?” She snaps, her jaw tightening and her eyes still looking right in front of her.

The door opens at her floor, and she starts to step right past me when I stick my arm out, stopping her as I jam my thumb against the close door button. The elevator starts to rise and her face flashes fiercely as she whirls on me; “What the fuck are you-”

“You don’t get it, do you!” My voice is louder and harsher than I mean it to be, but it certainly gets her attention . Her eyes flash fire as she glares at me. The door opens to my floor, and Quinn shakes her head and makes to move past me again. I grab her by the wrists this time, shoving her back against the elevator door-well; “This little dance we got going on, darlin?” I’m close to her, so close that I can feel the heat of her breath across my lips and the heave of her breasts against my chest; “Well it’s gotta stop.”

“Well the sooner you get your fucking hands off of me, the sooner I’ll be all too happy for it to!”

She tries to yank her hands away from me but I hold her fast, the heat and the naked tension almost palatable in the air between us; “Goddamnit, Quinn! Will you just fucking listen to me for one fucking second! I’m trying to tell you tha-”

“Oh, save me, Logan,” Quinn cuts me off, rolling her eyes; “What is this, the part where you give me some sort of bullshit line about how you can’t get me out of my head?” She shakes her head in disgust; “Well it’s not going to-”

“If I can’t get you out of my head it’s because you’re the only fucking thing I want in my head!”

The hallway goes pin-drop silent but for the sounds of our breathing. Her eyes dance across mine in wild tango, her chest rising and falling quickly with the pounding of her pulse that I can feel in her wrists beneath my fingers. And I know if we say one more thing at all, the fire that’s barely being held back will engulf us both, and burn until there’s nothing left but her and I in this singular moment.