The Billion Dollar Player(9)

“Ah!” Kristie exclaimed. “So lucky. I wish my car was a piece of shit.”

Avery cut her a look.

“What? I so would have loved to have been stranded in his driveway. I take it he gave you a jump?”

She laughed as Kristie waggled her eyebrows. “He’s actually really …” Sexy? Amazing in bed? Built like a freaking Greek god? All of the above. “Sweet,” she finally said. “Nothing like what I expected.”

“And … ?” Kristie looked as though the suspense might cause her to spontaneously combust.

“And what?” Avery said with a laugh.

“Are you going to see him again?”

Definitely not. Last night couldn’t be anything more than a one-night stand. Avery knew it was best to cut her losses now before she got too involved and gave Jase the opportunity to hurt her like she knew he’d inevitably do.

“I doubt it.” She kept her attention on the saucepan in front of her. “I think last night was a once in a lifetime thing.”

“All right, everyone. Your cream should be properly thickened by now and can be transferred into your sieves. Be sure to line them with cheesecloth first, people.”

At Chef’s instructions, Avery switched gears, preparing for the step that would separate the whey from the cream and make the mascarpone cheese. Tomorrow they were making tiramisu, and she wanted her mascarpone to come out perfectly. She’d yet to impress Chef Isaacs and she was desperate for her instructor to see beyond her scattered appearance and clumsiness. On the flip side, she’d tried not to think too hard about last night, but Kristie had managed to send Avery’s already frazzled thoughts into overtime. Jase didn’t ask for her number. He didn’t even say he’d see her later. Why should it matter if she never saw him again when she’d convinced herself that she didn’t care either way?

“Oh god.” Avery brought her hand up to her face, completely oblivious to the fact that she still held a spoon in her fist. The spoon smacked her forehead, bathing her face in too warm and too thick cream that clung to her face like plaster. “Ow! Ow, ow, ow.” She grabbed a towel and wiped her face, rinsing it under cool water before wringing it out. Of all the bone-headed, clumsy …

“You’ve got it bad,” Kristie said as she helped to wipe down Avery’s hair. “That boy’s got you tied in knots.”

One night with Jase Blackwell, and Avery was as good as ruined. So much for emotional detachment. That plan had backfired in a grand fashion. “No, I don’t.” Just because Kristie could see it didn’t mean Avery was about to admit it. “I couldn’t care less about him.”

“Uh-huh. Sure.” Kristie returned to her station and began to ladle her soon-to-be cheese into the sieve. “You just keep telling yourself that, Ave.”

She would. Because she didn’t think her heart could take being broken by Jason Blackwell.

∗∗∗

Hands down, it had been the best practice of Jase’s entire football career. The offensive staff as a whole had been beyond impressed with his performance and convinced that he was ready to start tomorrow’s game. And despite the fact that his place on the team finally felt secure, up until last night there had still been a nagging insecurity that Willis would be starting their first game of the playoffs and not him. So to say that he was relieved was the understatement of the year. Avery really was his good-luck charm.

Fuck. Yeah!

Jase pulled up to Avery’s apartment complex, still flying high on the endorphins and anticipation for tomorrow’s game. Thank god they were playing at home because right now, all he could think of was the fiery brunette who’d rocked his world not once, but twice last night. And despite the fact that he’d been instructed by his friend to “hit it and quit it,” he was dying to see her again. As he locked his pickup, Jase gave himself a precursory sniff. Damn it, he should’ve showered. But in his haste to get to Avery, he was lucky he’d had the presence of mind to change out of his damned cleats. Hopefully she wouldn’t mind.

Jase’s fist hovered at the door as his stomach twisted into a knot. What if she wasn’t happy to see him? What if she’d realized that last night was a mistake? Or she’d been after nothing more than a one-nighter like so many other football groupies. Just another conquest to add to her list. Jesus, nut up, dude. Luke would mock him unmercifully if he could see him getting all twisted up over a woman like this. The problem was … after only one night with her, Jase knew that Avery was more than just a random hookup.

He knocked three times and held his breath.

When she opened the door, Avery’s brow furrowed. “Hey,” she greeted, clearly bemused as though she was surprised to see him standing in her doorway or some shit. Seriously? How could his presence come as a shock?

Jase’s mouth hung slack. He’d planned to say something but words failed him. Instead, he was possessed with a need that overrode any brain function. Avery was too damned beautiful. Too desirable. So instead of saying hi, or any other civilized thing, Jase rushed through the doorway and took Avery in his arms, kissing her like his next breath depended on it.

She answered his impassioned kisses with a matching fervor. Gripping the hem of his shirt, she broke their contact for only as long as it took to drag it up and off his body. Likewise, Jase wasted no time in freeing the buttons of Avery’s shirt, popping a couple in his haste to get her good and naked. He kicked a leg behind him and the door closed with a resounding slam that neither of them seemed to notice as they continued to claw and tear at each other’s clothes.

Jase lost his balance as he toed off his shoes, taking Avery with him as they tumbled down onto her couch. If he didn’t get inside of her soon, he’d lose his damned mind. Her tongue slid against his in a wet tangle and Jase groaned into her mouth. Sweet lord, her scent, her taste drove him into a frenzy of mindlessness and he cupped her flesh as he slid her stretchy yoga pants over the curves of her ass and down her thighs.

“Oh, god, Jase, now,” Avery breathed as she broke their kiss. “Fuck me right now.”

Her urgency spurred him on and he spun her around and positioned her so she was draped over the arm of the couch. His fingers shook as he unhooked her bra, leaving her to pull the straps down over her shoulders as he fished in his pocket for a condom just before he shucked his jeans and underwear. With his teeth, he tore open the foil packet and rolled the condom onto his cock, entering Avery in a single desperate thrust.

“You’re so wet,” Jase panted as he pulled out and drove home again, eliciting a low moan from Avery that tightened his balls. “So damned tight. Sugar, you’re gonna be the death of me.”

She answered him with a whimper that only stoked his lust, a sound that echoed his own need to a tee. Words died on his tongue as he fucked into her, at first a slow and measured action that bordered on torture and ending in quick, fierce thrusts that left them both gasping for breath. Jase leaned over Avery, cupping her breasts in his palms, her back sculpted to his. He couldn’t get close enough. Deep enough. He growled his frustration from between gnashed teeth, her slick tight heat gripping him with every pump of his hips.

“Oh, Jase, just like that,” Avery panted. “Don’t stop. Harder.”

His body slammed into hers and the sound, mingled with their guttural cries, drove him closer to the edge. Avery’s pussy clenched him tight as she came, her entire body shuddering with each renewed spasm and her voice raw and ragged as she called out his name over and again.

“That’s it, sugar. Come for me,” Jase said against her ear. His own pleasure crested, his shaft damned near aching as his balls grew tight. The orgasm ripped through him on the heels of Avery’s pleasure. The tidal wave crashed over him and swamped Jase with intense sensation that ignited all of his nerve endings and left him weak and trembling on top of her.

Each time with Avery was better than the last.

He eased her up from the couch and leaned back onto the cushions, taking her with him. “Hi,” he said with a grin, smoothing her hair from her face.

“Hi.” The smile Avery gave him in return was equal parts sinful and sweet, a combination that stoked Jase’s lust anew. “How was your day?”

“I’d say it was good, but now? It’s perfect.”

The flush on her cheeks deepened with Jase’s words and his chest swelled with emotion at the realization that he could affect her in that way. He was telling the truth, though. Today had been great. Better than. But one look at Avery and even the best day of his life paled in her presence.

“How was your day?” He leaned in and kissed her forehead, her temple, the hollow of her cheek.

“Mmm.” Her eyes drifted shut as she leaned in to his kisses. “Good. But better now, too.” Jase kissed the corner of her mouth and her lips curved into a soft smile. He moved downward across her jaw to her throat and she shivered against him. “Did you come straight from practice?”

“Uh-huh. Why? Do I smell?”

“Like a locker room,” she said with a laugh.

“Sorry.” For the record, he totally wasn’t sorry. “I was anxious to see you and a shower would’ve taken too long.”