Playing Hurt Read online

  Chase shook his head, the corners of his mouth quirked. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

  “Yes.” I gave him a slow wink. “You?”

  “I’m losing my fucking mind.”

  “Me too.” Our eyes held for a stretched out, heated moment.

  When we’d finished the cake, Chase said, “How about a moonlight walk on the beach?”

  I gazed at him for a moment, then said, “No.”

  He smiled. “No?”

  “We can do that tomorrow night. Right now, we need to go up to our room.”

  He stood up so fast he knocked his chair over. “Hell yeah.”

  I swallowed my laugh, ignoring the looks from other diners. Chase righted the chair, grabbed my hand, and we sprinted out of the dining room.

  “Elevator’s too slow,” he said. “Stairs.”

  Our room was on the third floor. I was good with walking up, but my sandals had spiky high heels, so I paused to take them off. Chase gave a low laugh, and then I ran up the terra-cotta tiled steps barefoot, him close behind me.

  We were both breathless and laughing when we got to our floor, and not just from the stairs. I let him unlock and open the door, and followed him inside. My belly fluttered and heated. He let the door fall shut, tossed his key card onto the dresser, and reached for me.

  I dropped my shoes and pretty much jumped into his arms, wrapping my legs around his hips and my arms around his neck. Our mouths crashed together. Heat slid through my veins and pooled in my core.

  His hands slid under my skirt and grasped the bare cheeks of my ass, my thong covering nothing. “Fuck,” he muttered. “I could do you just like this.”

  “Yes,” I panted. “Do it.”

  “Hang on.” He lowered me to the floor and backed me up against the wall. “Stay right there.” He lunged into the bathroom. Something crashed on the tile floor, then he came back with a condom he was already ripping open.

  I reached for the fly of his pants and frantically yanked the zipper down. He was so thick and hard, and I slipped my hand into his boxers to find his cock, shoving his pants and underwear down with my other hand. He rolled the condom on quickly, the latex stretched thin and tight over him. God, that was hot.

  Then he grabbed me again and lifted me. Once again I wrapped my legs around him and linked my hands behind his neck. He was so strong, shoving my skirt up, pulling my panties aside, fingering my pussy.

  “Christ, you’re wet.” He let out a groan.

  “I’ve been wet for hours.” I kissed him. “I want this. So much.”

  “Me too. Jesus.” He gripped his cock and found my entrance. My body tightened at the pinch I felt as he penetrated me. “Ah hell. Such a tight little pussy. You okay, baby?”

  I moved my head up and down, too breathless to speak.

  He pushed inside deeper. It almost hurt…but I loved it. Filling me. Stretching me. A moan rose in my throat at the sublime sensation—the unbearable sweetness and piercing bliss.

  When his cock had fully impaled me, he tugged one spaghetti strap of my dress down my arm, baring my breast to him. “There we go,” he growled. “Look at that beauty. Perfect.” He hoisted me higher so he could suck my nipple, and my entire body jolted with pleasure as he tugged the sensitive tip into his hot mouth. My head fell back, and I held on tighter.

  Arms beneath my thighs, supporting me, he gripped my ass and lifted me up and down, sliding me up and down on his cock. I gasped. My breasts bounced as our bodies slapped together.

  “I’ve never…been fucked…like this,” I managed to say. “Holy crap.”

  “Feels so good. Goddammit, you make me so hot, Jordyn.” His jaw was tight, his eyes blazing.

  “Me too.” I released my hands to band my arms around his shoulders, pulling myself closer to him, and I kissed him. Our mouths met and clung in a hot, hard kiss, bodies moving together. Then I gasped for breath and dropped my head back. My hair swung wildly around us.

  Chase planted his feet into the floor and leaned back a bit to watch me, his eyes scorching a path from my open mouth to my jiggling boobs and down to where our bodies joined, then back up to meet my eyes. Heat exploded around us, flashing through me.

  “This…is…crazy.” I pulled myself closer again and buried my face in the side of his neck, my hands sliding inside the collar of his shirt to find warm skin.

  “Crazy good. I’m gonna fuck you all night long, song girl.” He turned and walked us to the bed, his steps constrained by the pants around his thighs, then knelt on the mattress and lowered me to my back, never separating us. My thighs stayed around his hips and he pushed his fists into the bed as he pumped into me, fucking me right into the mattress.

  I couldn’t stop the noises that spilled from my lips, breathy grunts and whimpers, pleasure building inside me, hot and tight. Chase slipped a hand between us and found my clit, jolting me with sensation. “Oh yeah!”

  Bliss coiled up tight, spiraling me right over the top so fast that I came apart, shuddering, squeezing, moaning.

  “Fuck yeah.” Chase groaned and fell over me, pressing me down. He buried his face in the side of my neck and pounded furiously into me until he too came, his body tight and pulsing against me and inside me. I held on to his shoulders, my mouth pressed there, still rippling around him. “Oh fuuuuuuuck.”

  I was trembling and still lifting up against him in tiny pulses, but a giggle bubbled up inside me and rushed from my mouth.

  Chase lifted his head and peered at me, lips quirked, eyes still hazy. “What?”

  “We still have all our clothes on.”

  His eyes warmed. “Yeah. Not exactly how I would have planned our first time.”

  I trailed my fingertips over his back. “Planning is overrated. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.”

  “Or the torrent.” He kissed my forehead. “ ’Cause that was out of control.”

  “I know.” My pussy squeezed around him and he groaned. “But like you said…you can fuck me all night.”

  “Forget all night. We’re not leaving this room for the next four days.”

  I huffed out a laugh. “You might need a wheelchair to get me on the plane.”

  He grinned. “I’ll be gentle with you.”

  “Damn.”

  Heat flared in his eyes. “This is going to be fun.” He brushed his mouth over mine. “Can’t wait to do all the dirty things I’ve been wanting to do to you.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah. First gonna get you out of this sexy little dress.”

  “And you. I want you naked.”

  “I can do that.” He pulled in a breath. “As soon as I can move.”

  I smiled and stroked his back.

  Eventually Chase rolled off me, pulling out, reaching down to hold the condom in place. He removed it, his cock not really much softer than it had been, tied it, and set it aside. He shoved his pants and underwear the rest of the way off and tossed them onto a chair, unbuttoned his shirt and shrugged out of it, then picked up the condom and headed to the bathroom.

  I lifted my head to watch him, because, holy shit, he was gorgeous. His back was a wedge, wide at the shoulders, tapering to lean waist and hips, and his rounded ass was absolutely biteable. And those thighs…oh my God, I had to press my own thighs together at the flutters I felt between my legs. Carved quads flexed and his calves bunched as he walked.

  I fell back to the bed and spread my arms wide. My body still throbbed. I smiled up at the ceiling.

  Chase reappeared a moment later, walking back toward me. The view was even better this way. I let my eyes wander over his chest and six-pack abs, the cut of his obliques and his cock, which was so damn beautiful it nearly made me weep. His pubic hair was thick and dark, but neatly trimmed.

  “You’re still dressed.” He
set one knee on the bed and reached for my panties. They were soaked and twisted. He hooked fingers into them, and I lifted my butt to let him drag them down my legs. Then he took my hands, pulled me up to sit, and maneuvered my dress up and off.

  He studied me, making my skin heat. “Jordyn,” he rasped. “You are so beautiful. I can’t even believe how beautiful you are.”

  His compliment reached deep inside me.

  People told me I was beautiful a lot. Some of it was genuine. Sometimes people wanted something from me. None it had ever moved me like his heartfelt words. My chest tightened and I inhaled slowly. “Th-thank you.” I reached out and laid my hand on his chest. “I think you’re beautiful too.”

  He covered my hand with his, lowering himself to sit on the bed. We watched each other in silence, naked and vulnerable, the air in the room thickening around us, time stretching out.

  Something was happening. Something I’d never really experienced with any other man I’d been with. I thought I’d been in love with Jasper, but turned out not so much. Even that had never felt anything like this—significant. Substantial. A little scary.

  My heart beat like bird’s wings in my chest.

  Chase leaned over and touched his mouth to mine, a soft, sweet kiss. Sweet…but hot. His tongue stroked over my bottom lip, and I opened to him. Our tongues swept together in a deeper kiss. I felt like I couldn’t get enough of him, couldn’t kiss him deep enough, wanted to draw him back inside me again. I wanted to be joined to him again in that most intimate, profound way.

  He curled his fingers around mine and reached for my other hand. Then he held my hands out and eased me down on my back. He moved up beside me, kissing my mouth, my cheek, my forehead.

  He slid a hand around my neck, his thumb rubbing over my cheek, then my jaw as his mouth devoured mine, kissing me, pulling my lower lip between his. My arm went up and around his shoulders, holding on to him so I didn’t float away.

  His hand slid down to my breast, covering it, squeezing it, pinching my nipple, then slid lower still to cup my pussy. My hips rolled instinctively, lifting to his touch, aching for more. When he shifted to suck one of my nipples I let out a soft cry, sensation tugging from my nipple to my core.

  He moved, molding a breast with both hands to lift the nipple to his mouth, sucking and biting it until I writhed and twisted against him. He did the same to the other breast, then shifted lower.

  This time was slower, with leisurely explorations and melting sweetness. He explored my body with his hands and mouth, every touch leaving tingling heat in its wake, flames licking over my skin.

  “Dying to taste you, Jordyn.” He murmured the words against my belly. “Have to taste you.”

  My inner muscles clenched and my hips lifted again in response. He parted my thighs and kissed my pussy lips, soft, gentle presses of his mouth on my flesh. I flung my arms over my head and arched my back. He turned his face to kiss my inner thigh, soft sucking kisses up nearly to my knee, then back, all the while his fingers slipping into my slick pussy.

  It was dreamy and lovely, my body glowing with heat and light.

  “Such a pretty pussy,” he whispered, watching his fingers play. “Slick and pink. Beautiful.”

  A moan trickled from my lips, then I gasped as he set his mouth on me again, wider, consuming me. He licked shallow, then deep, pulled my flesh into his mouth in tender love bites, then stroked his tongue over my clit. I jolted like a live wire, crying out at the shock of it. When he slid two fingers inside me and curved them, I jerked again, my head lifting off the pillow. “Oh God!”

  “There.” He licked my clit again, and again, then sucked it and with his fingers teasing that sensitive spot inside me and his mouth stimulating my clit, I came in a torrent of sensation, sparks flowing through my veins, brilliant light blinding me, static buzzing in my ears.

  “That’s a gorgeous orgasm,” Chase rasped, pushing my leg up to kiss my thigh again, then my ass cheek, then my hip. “So fucking gorgeous.”

  I couldn’t speak, could barely breathe. But I couldn’t disagree with him.

  * * *

  —

  “Did you know that you can go topless on the beach?”

  I smiled against Chase’s shoulder much later. “I did see that when I looked at the hotel website.”

  “I’ll go topless if you will.”

  I tapped his chest. “What a deal.”

  The idea of going topless was actually kind of exciting. Especially if it would make Chase crazy. I loved how hot he was for me. He made me feel so…desirable.

  Now you might think having lots of fans praising me and admiring me would make me feel plenty desirable. But it was different. This was…personal. Because Chase was seeing the real me. The me who lost her keys and forgot her phone. The me who was afraid of fire. The no-makeup, hair-not-done me. The me I wasn’t able to be with many people. With him I felt safe, somehow knowing that I could be my true self and he would still want to be with me. And knowing how much he wanted to be with me…that felt amazing.

  “How long has your wrist been bothering you?”

  He tensed briefly, then sighed. “Since I broke my thumb last year.”

  “Chase!”

  “Not all the time. Off and on. Over the summer it was fine. Then when we started playing again in the fall, it hurt sometimes. I’d just take an Advil and play through it. When I told Coach it was bothering me, that’s when they sent me to the team doc. The injection helped, for a while.”

  It was my turn to sigh. “Is that what’s affecting your game?”

  He was silent for so long I was afraid I’d really pissed him off. I lifted my head to peer at him in the shadows. His eyes were closed, but he opened them and met mine. He let out a short exhalation. “Yeah, that’s probably why I haven’t been playing great. Shooting the puck is hard, sometimes. Then I got into a mental slump because I hadn’t scored and that just made things worse.”

  “When is the MRI?”

  “Haven’t scheduled it yet.”

  “Chase,” I urged him softly. “You need to do that.”

  “I know, I know.”

  “Are you worried about what it might be?”

  “No. I don’t know. I just…I guess it scares me a bit. You know?”

  I could tell how hard that was for him to admit. “I know. You know I know.” I caressed his rough cheek. “I was freakin’ terrified.”

  “Shit. You’re braver than I am.”

  “No, I’m not. I didn’t have a choice. Right now you have a choice. What if it gets worse? What if you’re doing some kind of permanent damage to it? That could have a long-term impact on your career.”

  His jaw tensed beneath my fingers, and his lips thinned. He rolled away from me and got out of bed. “I’m not doing permanent damage, for fuck’s sake.”

  The bathroom door banged shut.

  I turned onto my back and stared at the ceiling. Shit.

  Had I been too interfering? My stomach hurt.

  Chapter 14

  Chase

  I stood in the bathroom, hands clenched into fists, staring at myself in the mirror.

  I wasn’t mad at Jordyn.

  I was scared.

  I’d never talked about this to anyone. I didn’t even like to think about it.

  My parents didn’t want to hear that I had a problem. They didn’t want to know I wasn’t perfect. Or if they did know it, they’d be pissed off. I was an adult now, and I didn’t need their approval anymore, but still…

  The only real girlfriend I’d ever had in my life dumped me when I didn’t make the career decision she’d wanted me to.

  The last time I didn’t live up to a team’s expectations, they’d traded me.

  I hadn’t talked to my friends much about it. Steve, my agent, knew about it, but I’d kind of dow
nplayed it to him too. It was starting to become a huge fucking weight on my shoulders. But now Jordyn knew. And she wouldn’t let it go. And she was right.

  I had to do something about it, but I hadn’t, for lots of reasons.

  I closed my eyes and tipped my head back. Jesus. She’d been through this herself. She’d been trying to comfort me and give me courage, and I was too wrapped up in my own shit to see that.

  I exhaled sharply, then opened the bathroom door. I walked out into the room, toward the bed. Jordyn was huddled under the covers, a small shape that filled me with a protective feeling.

  I slid under the duvet and pulled her up against me, her back to my front, wrapping my arms around her. “I’m sorry.”

  She nodded.

  “I’m not pissed at you.” I kissed her hair. “I’m just…” Fuck, I hated saying it out loud. “I’m scared.”

  “I know.” She set her hand on my forearm and squeezed it. “I was scared too. I know how you feel.”

  “I guess you do. It’s pretty goddamn terrifying to think your career could be over.”

  “Yeah. It still worries me sometimes. What if I can’t sing again?”

  “You will, baby. You will.”

  “And I’m sure that whatever is going on with your wrist won’t end your career.”

  I clenched my jaw briefly, but nodded.

  “You need to know,” she continued. “That’s all I’m saying.”

  “Yeah. I’ll schedule the MRI as soon as we get back.”

  She turned in my embrace and put her arms around me. Pressed together, skin to skin, chest to toes, heartbeat to heartbeat, we held each other. Emotion swelled in my chest, hot and aching. This kind of comfort and care, of having someone I could tell my deepest fears, and who told me hers, was both wonderful and terrible.

  * * *

  —

  “Tell me about Jasper Wright.”

  “Ugh. Why?”

  The sun beat down on us where we laid on lounge chairs on the beach, the ocean waves a gentle rhythmic whoosh, the palm fronds above us rustling in the breeze. Our nearest neighbors on the beach were far enough away that it felt like we were alone on the white sand. “I want to know you’re not still in love with that skinny boy-band dude.”