Dating the Player, page 9
“Absolutely. And for what it’s worth, I wouldn’t trade my time with Brandon for anything, even though it ended. I have zero regrets. Well. I regret that he didn’t want to be with me for real, in public, but you know what I mean. I don’t regret being with him or falling in love with him, even though it hurts to be without him now.”
I watched Dak through the window. He had been stopped by someone and he was smiling at them and shaking their hand as they chatted for a minute. Then he posed for a selfie with the older man.
“Yeah,” I murmured. “I know exactly what you mean.”
I was saying yes.
I just needed to establish my own personal rules.
But how could I say no? I would spend the rest of my life wondering what it would have been like to lose my virginity to Dak North, star quarterback, notorious playboy, outrageous bigmouth, and, I was starting to suspect, a nice guy.
Chapter Eight
Dak
* * *
“Yes,” Eloise said thirty minutes later.
“What?” I looked at her blankly. She had been silent ever since we’d left the gas station and I wasn’t sure what was going through her head. I figured if she wanted to talk, she would, but now she’d caught me off guard.
“I said yes,” she repeated, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Yes, what?” I wasn’t following.
“What do you mean? Yes, nothing.” She looked frustrated that I wasn’t getting it.
“Nothing is yes?” I started laughing. “Kitty, you lost me.”
“Yes. I will have sex with you. Yes, I want you to be the man to take my virginity.”
My laughter died. My cock instantly got hard. “Oh. Hell, yeah. Is that what you’ve been thinking about over there, so quiet?”
“Yes. And I made my decision and I feel good about the pros versus the cons.”
She said it like she was contemplating buying property.
“I feel good about it, too,” I said. The idea of burying my cock in her hadn’t left my head for more than two minutes since Thursday afternoon.
“But there needs to be rules.”
“Rules? I think you know I’m not very good with rules.” Rules could bite it. I didn’t want to be forced against the ropes. Knowing as much as I did about Eloise, they could literally be anything from her ass was off the menu to her cats weren’t allowed to be in the room. Or I couldn’t call her Kitty. Seriously. It could be anything. She had a helluva complex mind.
“I am well aware of the fact that you’re terrible with rules. Which is why we need to discuss expectations ahead of time. I have three rules I need you to agree to.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Lay them on me.” I figured if they sucked, I could talk her out of at least one of the three.
“This takes place in a neutral territory. No one should get the home field advantage.”
“What, like Connecticut?”
Eloise laughed.
“Why is that funny?”
“I meant not your apartment and not my apartment. What made you think of Connecticut?”
“I have no idea.” I didn’t. Maybe my brain was melting from the knowledge that I would be the first man ever to be totally connected to Eloise. At any rate, rule one was easy, straightforward. “Keep going. What’s the second rule?” I was already picturing finding a hotel room in Jersey City that had a killer view of the Manhattan skyline. A luxury suite with a balcony.
She pushed her glasses up and cleared her throat. “That afterwards, you act normal. You still say hello to me, you still wave, give me a smile at work. Nothing more, nothing less than what you did before we came to Tennessee.”
I was down with the nothing less part. I wasn’t sold on the nothing more. But I readily agreed because when Kitty looked at me like that, she had the ability to make me feel like maybe I had taken the easy route in the past by icing out women I’d slept with, even if they had been over-the-top.
“Deal. I promise I will talk to you the same way I do now.” I fully intended to do more with Eloise than fucking say hello to her afterward, but one step at a time. “Number three?”
“Number three. I am not doing fetish role play.”
I looked at her blankly. “What do you mean?”
“Dress up. I’m not going to dress like a sexy schoolgirl or a bored housewife or pretend you’re a cop and I need to get out of a traffic ticket.”
That made me bust out laughing. “Why the hell would I expect any of that? What do you think goes on in my sex life?”
“I have no idea. That’s why I needed to clarify.”
Wishing I wasn’t driving, so I could kiss those delicious lips of hers, I stared down at her, amused. “Schoolgirls don’t turn me on, because I’m a man, not a boy. I don’t need you to role play bored housewife, because I can meet those in real life. And why would I pretend to be a cop when I’m a fucking pro quarterback?” I shook my head at her. “I fully agree to rule number three. See, the thing is, I don’t want a fantasy. I want you. Sexy, intelligent, maddening, virgin you. You’re my fantasy.”
Her mouth had dropped open. “Oh. Okay. Geez.” She blinked and pushed up her glasses. “It’s curious you would find me sexy, but I’m glad you do.”
That wasn’t the curious part. What was curious was the way her complex mind worked. She thought circles around me. “I do. Because you have this banging body, even though you try to hide it. And your intelligence and your honesty are both very sexy.”
“Thank you,” she said.
I waited, knowing she was about to say something else, but was debating it. She didn’t disappoint.
“Then I think if we’re in agreement, this should happen tonight, then. A hotel in Knoxville is neutral enough, don’t you think?”
Hell, yeah. “I am one hundred percent in agreement.”
“Wait, did you agree to all the rules?” She put her hands on her cheeks. “You did, right?”
“Yes, I did. But let me repeat it.” I held up my hand. “I will abide by all of your rules in regards to our sexual encounters. Scout’s honor.”
“I don’t think Scouts use their whole hand like that. That’s how it’s done in court, when you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I feel like the Scout’s Promise is two or three fingers, but I would have to Google it to be sure.”
I let her finish. “Eloise.”
“Yes?”
“It doesn’t matter. I promise to do what you want. That’s what matters.”
“Right, of course. Good. Perfect. Thank you.”
She was flustered. I was about to make her even more so.
“Now I get to tell you my rules.”
Her eyes widened. “Your rules?”
“Yes, if you get rules, I get rules too.” I gave her a sly smile. “Seems only fair, right?”
“What are your rules?”
“Just one actually.”
“Okay. What is it?” She looked highly suspicious of what my rule might be.
“I’m not going to tell you what it is until tomorrow.”
Her jaw dropped. “What? You’re not going to tell me until after we’ve had sex? That’s crazy.”
“That’s my rule.”
“No, it isn’t. You haven’t told me the rule. You want me to agree to something without knowing what it even is. That’s just… crazy,” she repeated.
“I want you to trust me. This is a big deal, losing your virginity and it should be with a man you trust. So you either trust that I’ll take care of you and not ask for something nuts or you don’t.” I really wished we weren’t having this conversation in the car. I looked over at her. “Do you trust me, Eloise?”
She bit her lip, but then she nodded. “Yes, I trust you.”
It felt like the biggest victory ever. She trusted me and I was going to give her the best night of her life. “Good. Then it’s on, Kitty.”
“I think it’s a good thing we’re here instead of New York. I don’t want a social media circus around us. We really need to keep this quiet, for both of our sakes.”
Well, that sucked. But I understood where she was coming from. “Secret lover, huh?” I shot her a grin. “You’re such a dirty girl.”
“I’m about to be tonight,” she said.
Fuck, yeah. “Kitty, that’s the hottest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
She laughed and pushed her glasses up. “Doubtful.”
“You don’t know my truth.”
Eloise rolled her eyes but she couldn’t stop herself from smiling.
“Are we there yet?” she asked.
“If I could teleport us, I would. Ninety minutes out.”
The time actually flew by. Conversation between us was easy, the way it had been all weekend. Eloise always seemed genuinely interested in me as a man, not just me as the football star. It was a novelty and made me appreciate her even more. She told me more about herself when I asked, about growing up with a mom who was still grieving her husband, and how they had one awkward vacation together without her dad and then stopped.
“If you could go anywhere, where would you want to go?” I asked as I pulled into the parking lot of the hotel, mind spinning with the possibilities of a weekend getaway after the season ended and after I had convinced her that we really should give dating a whirl.
“Anywhere? Paris.”
Shit. I had been hoping she’d say Hawaii. I didn’t see myself eating French food and staring at art. “Why?”
“Because it’s the city of love with beautiful architecture, culture, and cemeteries. I wanted to go in high school for a French class trip but my mother said no.”
Eloise said something in what I had to assume was French.
“You speak French?” She constantly amazed me. “What did you just say?”
“I said ‘we’re here.’”
That made me grin. “Yes, we are.”
I had stayed in this hotel many times before and they were awesome about allowing me to check in quickly. The valet took the SUV, I grabbed our bags, and we were at the desk being handed keys in two minutes. Normally I got a regular room but I had called the day before and asked to upgrade to a suite. I had wanted to make her feel comfortable.
After she had wandered toward the coffee station, I quickly asked the desk clerk to have champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries waiting in the room for us. It might be overkill but I figured you only get your cherry popped once. It should be special. I wasn’t known for being romantic but you can’t go wrong with chocolate.
“Can we take your bags up, Mr. North?” the desk clerk asked.
“Actually, yes, thanks. I need to run out really quick. There’s a drugstore on the corner, right?” I needed a box of condoms.
The man nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Eloise wandered back and gave me a questioning look, but I just smiled at her. She was wearing tight jeans and boots with heels. I was envisioning her only in those boots. I just gave her a smile, wishing I could smack that juicy ass of hers.
“Thank you.” I turned and the bellman was there to take our bags. I tipped him and reached for Eloise’s hand.
She looked at my hand like I’d lost my mind.
Damn it. I was going to date her whether she liked it or not. There was no one around. The lobby was empty except for staff. No one was going to post about us being together. But I let it go. This time.
“Do you want to go upstairs and wait or go to the store with me?” I asked her.
“I’ll go with you.” She pulled her coat closed when we stepped outside into the cold night air. Her hair caught the wind and blew across her face. She pushed it aside and smiled at me. “It got chilly out here.”
I nodded because I was having trouble concentrating. All I could think about was her and what she was about to give to me. She had no idea how much this—she—mattered to me.
After opening the door to the drugstore for her, I went straight to the condom aisle.
“This is what you’re buying?” Eloise asked, glancing around nervously. “I should have stayed back at the hotel.”
“There’s like two people here, don’t worry about it.” I grabbed my preferred brand off the rack.
“Are we getting anything else?”
“Do you need something else?”
“No.”
“Then no.”
“It’s so obvious,” she fretted, jamming her hands into her pockets. “Why didn’t you have some in your travel bag?”
“To go to my parents’? Could have, should have, would have,” I told her. “But I didn’t. I could have gotten them at the gas station too if I had known you would give me the green light. But no big deal, Kitty.” I shook the box in the air. “I’ve got them now.”
“I feel like everyone is staring at us.”
“Who is staring at us? If you’re uncomfortable, here, you buy them and I’ll wait outside for you.”
“How is that less uncomfortable for me? How about I wait outside?”
That was not happening. “No. It’s dark and this area of downtown isn’t very busy. Here.” I handed her the condoms and a twenty-dollar bill. “I’ll be out front.”
I waited right by the door and she came out five minutes later with a plastic bag wrapped over and over to disguise the box, like she was buying something illegal instead of condoms. She handed me the change and started walking toward the hotel without a word.
This was off to a rocking start.
When I opened the door to the suite and we stepped inside, Eloise made a sound in the back of her throat.
“This is beautiful,” she said. “Oh, look, there’s champagne! And chocolate-covered strawberries.” She dropped her purse on the coffee table next to the room service tray and turned back to me. “Dak, did you do this?”
I nodded, tossing the condoms on the coffee table. “You don’t have a strawberry allergy, do you?”
“No.” She picked one up and bit it. “Mm.” She lifted it to my mouth. “Taste it.”
I bit the berry, eyes trained on her. “Thanks.” I slid my lips fully over it so that I would touch her fingers.
Her eyes widened.
I drew back, taking a bite. As I chewed, I sat down on the chair and took my shoes off. “Do you want anything else from room service? Are you hungry?”
She shook her head, setting the strawberry stem on the tray.
“Do you want some champagne?”
“Sure.”
Eloise looked nervous all of a sudden. Her gaze kept darting to the bed. She sat in the chair opposite me and unzipped her boots. She tugged them off and set them neatly under the coffee table. She pushed up her glasses and reached for another strawberry. I saw that her hand was actually shaking.
There was a surefire way to get her to relax. I picked up the remote and turned the TV on. “Have you checked your current score?”
“About half an hour ago. I have a twenty-three percent chance of winning but I have a running back playing tonight that might set me up better for tomorrow.” Eloise pulled out her phone and scanned her app. “He’s only got seven points so far. What quarter is it?”
“Second. Nine minutes left.” I went over and pulled the champagne out of the ice. “You have plenty of time.”
When I popped the cork, Eloise gave a little shriek. “I’m always terrified I’ll lose an eye when someone opens champagne.”
“Kitty, you wear glasses. I think you’re safe.” I poured into the two glasses and handed her one. “Here’s to winning.” I raised my glass.
She tapped her glass against mine and smiled. “To winning.”
I’d never really loved champagne but I’d learned to enjoy a sip or two after years of doing charity black-tie events and awards ceremonies. I set the glass on the nightstand and got on the bed, propping the pillows up behind my back and stretching my legs out. “Come sit down,” I said, patting the bed next to me. “We can watch the game.”
For a few minutes, anyway.
“That bed looks like a cloud,” Eloise said. “I kind of want to jump on it.”
Eloise always surprised me. She was clearly already loosening up. “Go for it,” I told her. “It’s very soft, trust me.”
She set her champagne down on the opposite side table from where mine was and actually backed up. This was going to be good. She ran five feet and launched herself through the air. She landed spread eagle, with enough force that I actually moved a little on the mattress. Eloise started laughing. She looked over at me, glasses slipping, hair sliding over her face.
“Ow. I thought it would have more bounce.”
I laughed. “Come here.” I scooped my arm under her back and hauled Eloise closer to me.
She was giggling and laughing and I couldn’t help but think that we were doing nothing in particular and yet I was having a fucking blast. Watching her laugh was an amazing feeling.
Using my index finger, I pushed her glasses back up her nose. Then I hauled her onto my chest.
“You’re a very big man,” she said.
I slid my hand down over her curvy ass. “And you’re about to be a very bad girl.”
I lightly smacked her ass.
* * *
Eloise
* * *
Dak’s huge hand was cupping my ass. I was splayed all over his expansive chest, feeling silly and giddy. When we’d walked into the elegant hotel room, I had felt a moment of panic but Dak knew how to make me feel comfortable.
Now there I was, staring down into his pale eyes, the unmistakable sensation of his cock pressing into my hip. I might have been a virgin, but there was no confusing that with anything.
“I’m a rule follower,” I told him. “Not a bad-girl bone in my body.”
Inexplicably, Dak’s mouth twitched, like he was trying not to laugh. I didn’t see what was funny about what I’d said. “What?”
“Bone in your body? Interesting choice of words.”
