Big Stick Read online

  “Christ.” He rubbed his mouth. Who was this woman?

  “Although I’m more familiar with the effects of sex, or lack of sex, on women,” she continued cheerfully. “Did you know that there are compounds in semen—melatonin, serotonin, oxytocin—that have mood-boosting benefits for women who have unprotected sex?”

  “Uh…”

  “On the other hand, unprotected sex doesn’t improve your mood if it results in an unwanted pregnancy or an STD.”

  He blinked, mouth open, watching her spout off. Unbelievable.

  He’d already made an escape from her once on the pretext of needing another drink. He couldn’t use that again. Although, in truth it wasn’t a pretext—he most definitely needed another drink. He set his cigar into a big ashtray. “You must be cold. Let’s go back in and join the party.”

  “Great idea!” They walked back into the warmth of the condo. She stopped short. “Oh my God! Is that Jordyn Banks?”

  Nick glanced across the room, where his teammate Chase Hartman stood, still wearing his jacket. Must have just arrived. And yes, he was accompanied by Jordyn Banks, who he was apparently dating now. Obviously Jodie knew who Jordyn was—a pretty famous rising pop singer. “Yeah.”

  “Holy crap!” She blinked her long eyelashes rapidly behind her glasses, staring at the couple. Then she muttered, “I knew I wasn’t going to fit in at this party.”

  He frowned. What the hell did that mean?

  “Uh, everyone’s a little starstruck around her,” he said.

  She grimaced. “Oh sure. You’re all frickin’ famous.”

  Kendra waved at them from where she stood talking to Chaser and Jordyn, beckoning them over. Jodie stretched her mouth into a smile and started toward them.

  Most people would rush over to meet a famous pop star. She seemed…reluctant. Huh.

  Nick headed in the other direction, over to the bar to pour another generous splash of Scotch into his empty glass, then gulped back a mouthful that burned its way down his esophagus. Good thing he’d taken an Uber here.

  Kendra was motioning him to come meet Jordyn Banks too. Swallowing a sigh, he crossed the room and let Kendra introduce him. “Nice to meet you,” he said to Jordyn, shaking the pop star’s hand.

  “I heard you had to have surgery on your vocal cords,” Jodie said to Jordyn. “That must have been scary.”

  “It was. But I seem to be recovering well, so I’m staying positive.”

  Nick made an effort to be sociable as Boosh and Brick joined them, and somehow the conversation took a turn into the bizarre.

  “You gotta be careful having sex,” Brick said. “I read about this guy who went blind because he came so hard.”

  Jodie choked on her wine.

  “Bullshit.” Chaser frowned. “I mean, I’ve gone temporarily blind, but you can’t go blind from an orgasm.”

  Jordyn lifted a hand to her mouth to cover her smile.

  “No, for real. He lost the sight in one eye.”

  “I don’t believe it.” Chaser shook his head.

  “How much you wanna bet?”

  “Shit.” Now Chase started to look doubtful.

  “I think it could be true,” Jodie offered. “He probably had a hemorrhage in his eye—popped a blood vessel.”

  “Yeah, I think that was it,” Brick said. “I don’t think it was permanent.”

  “Okay, never mind the bet,” Chaser said. “You would have ended up washing my jockstraps for the next year.”

  Jodie grinned, and Nick blinked. And stared. She had a gorgeous smile. Then he frowned because Brick and Boosh were both staring at her too. Brick moved closer to her, eyes on her face. “Sex injuries—the struggle is real.”

  She shot him an amused look. “Speaking from experience?”

  “Not me.” Brick grinned. “Well, unless you count carpet burn.”

  Jodie laughed, a low musical sound that made the base of Nick’s spine tingle. “I guess that counts,” she said. “Lucky girl.”

  Everybody laughed. Except Nick. Brick’s gaze honed in on Jodie even more.

  Nick’s lip curled.

  “I knew a guy who broke his penis,” Boosh said, wincing.

  All the guys made sounds of pain.

  “Also, shower sex sounds fun,” Brick said. “But remember last year when Pilker was out for a few games? Well apparently, it was because he slipped in the shower doing the deed and fell on his shoulder.”

  “Shut up!” Chaser laughed. “Is that true? Why didn’t we know that?”

  Brick shrugged. “Like he’d want us to know that. Remember, he was acting all weird and evasive about how it happened?”

  “Nonslip mats give new meaning to the words ‘safe sex,’ ” Jodie commented.

  Brick grinned approvingly.

  “Oh, remember the stories we heard about sex toys getting lost up in there?” Kendra said to Jodie.

  “Oh yeah.” Jodie nodded. “It’s pretty common actually.”

  The men all gave her mildly horrified looks.

  “It’s worse when it’s not actually a toy,” she added. “Sometimes people improvise with, ah, other objects. Phallic-shaped objects. Food.”

  “Say no more,” Brick said. He moved closer to Jodie with a flirtatious smile. “So you and Kendra are business partners in your sex toy company, right?”

  Oh, that was why she liked to talk about sex so much. Jesus. Nick scowled as Brick and Jodie separated from the group, watching Jodie as she laughed and gave Brick a flirty smile back.

  Huh.

  Were they still talking about sex? Brick looked totally enthralled, until Boosh joined them, apparently also interested in talking about sex with Jodie. The two guys gave each other a long look that clearly said, Back the fuck off, dude.

  Nick blew out a puff of air and gulped his Scotch. He needed another one.

  Laughing and flirting weren’t exactly his thing.

  A while later, a few more drinks down the hatch, he was standing talking to Hallsy, Benny, and the team captain, Duper, when the room started to spin. He gave his head a shake. Damn. He’d been tossing back the drinks a little too fast. Should’ve known better.

  He made his way unsteadily down the hall to the bathroom, where he used a paper cup to guzzle back water after he’d washed his hands. Fuck. All he wanted to do was lie down and close his eyes.

  Hallsy had lots of bedrooms. Why the hell not? He left the bathroom and stepped across the hall to one of the rooms, knowing Hally’s master bedroom was next door. He opened the door and moved into the dark room. The blinds on the window were still open and city lights and moonlight gave him just enough illumination to find the bed in the shadows. He staggered over and threw himself down onto it.

  He breathed in the scent of the pillow, a lush, sexy scent. Kendra must use nice fabric softener. He closed his eyes against the spinning room. Ugh. Not good. He rolled and set a foot on the floor, an old trick he’d learned back in his teenage party years. Yeah. That helped. He took a few deep breaths and let himself fall into dark oblivion.

  Chapter 2

  Jordyn Banks! She’d actually met Jordyn Banks! This was super cool. And Kendra had been right—Max’s teammates were all good people. Not intimidating, like she’d feared, all rich, famous athletes with gorgeous girlfriends. She’d wondered what on earth she’d ever have in common with any of them, but they’d been nice.

  Jodie’d been hesitant to come to the party, despite the fact that she was staying with Kendra and Max while she looked for a place of her own.

  “You have to come,” Kendra had said firmly.

  What could she say? Kendra and Max were being so good to her, letting her stay here, she didn’t want to be ungracious, and she did love a party, so…here she was.

  She had to keep the names straight…Cam was cute
. Chase was gorgeous, but he was with Jordyn Banks. The guy they called Boosh…Julien Boucher…he was super sexy with a bit of a French accent. Yeah, all fun guys.

  Except for that asshole Nick Balachov. Jeez. What a grouch. He definitely needed to get laid.

  The party wasn’t over yet, and Jodie was actually having a good time, but her two-year-old daughter, Zyana, got up early in the morning, and she needed to get some sleep, so regretfully she snuck away from the guests to go to bed.

  She used the bathroom, washing her face with the toiletries she now kept there and brushing her teeth.

  She hadn’t been offering, but when Nick had made that comment…her mind had gone there. Despite his unpleasant personality, he was a good-looking man with a smokin’ hot body. He was an athlete, so it made sense, but she’d always been attracted to big men, and he was big. Tall. Broad shouldered. Muscled.

  His skin was a deep lustrous tawny tone, his eyes a melting brown with straight dark eyebrows above them. His dark hair swept back from his face, short around the ears with neat sideburns, and a layer of stubble gave him an edgy bad-boy look that matched his surly personality.

  Yes, there’d been a little flutter of lust low in her belly, and she’d happened to notice that he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring and appeared to be at the party alone, but hell no, she wasn’t going there with a dude who was such a jerk.

  She dropped her toothbrush back into her toiletry bag, then padded down the hall to Zyana’s room to check on her. Her daughter slept soundly, one hand beneath her cheek. Luckily, she slept through pretty much anything, so the party hadn’t disturbed her. Her elephant, Ruby, had fallen to the floor, and Jodie picked it up and tucked it in with Zyana, smiling. She was so precious and beautiful. Her love for Zyana was so huge it almost hurt.

  She slipped into her own bedroom and quietly closed the door behind her, then pulled her sweater off over her head in the dark. She tossed it onto the chair along with her bra, then wriggled out of her jeans and panties. She moved toward the bed and the lamp next to it, to find the nightie she’d tucked beneath a pillow. A warm glow spread as she clicked on the lamp, and she turned to her bed and reached toward the pillow.

  “Aaaaaa­aaaaa­aaaah!” She leaped back, hand going to her throat, heart racing, staring at the big male body on her bed.

  The scream made his eyes fly open.

  Nick.

  She stared at him, breathing hard, limbs trembling. “Jesus Christ! What are you doing?”

  He blinked at her with unfocused eyes, then his gaze dropped to her naked body, and his eyes widened and his gaze cleared.

  “Shit.” Jodie lifted her other arm to cross both over her chest, but she wasn’t covering much. She closed her eyes in mortification, heat sweeping over her body in a scalding rush. “What are you doing here?” she cried again.

  Her head whipped around. She spied her robe hanging on a hook on the door and hustled toward it, feeling like she was frozen and stiff, acutely aware that Nick was no doubt studying her ass as she turned away from the bed. Oh God. Oh dear God.

  Clumsily she threw the robe over her shoulders and fought her way into the sleeves. Turning, she yanked the two sides together and fumbled with the belt.

  Nick was now sitting on the side of the bed rubbing his face. “Fuck. What happened?”

  “Don’t you know?” She tried not to screech the words, mindful of both sleeping Zyana and the rest of the party guests, who she did not need to come running in here. “What is wrong with you?”

  “Uh…maybe drank a bit too much.” He shook his head. “What are you doing in here?”

  “This is my room!”

  “Huh?” He looked around.

  Her stuff was all over the place—clothes on the chair, makeup on the dresser, hand lotion and her Kindle on the bedside table.

  “This is my room,” she repeated. “I’m staying with Kendra and Max.”

  “Ah, Christ.” He closed his eyes and dropped his hands to his thighs. “I didn’t know that. Just wanted to find somewhere to lie down.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Well, I’m sorry to disturb your nap, but I need to go to bed.”

  Heat shimmered around them. No. Oh no no no. She was not going to give in to some kind of physical attraction. Sure, he was gorgeous, but he needed to get gone.

  “Fuck. I’m sorry.” He rose, impressive in his stature, but just a bit unsteady on his feet.

  Shit.

  “Are you okay?” She stepped toward him.

  “Yeah, yeah. Fine.”

  She got the feeling she wasn’t the first person who’d asked him that, and also that that was his standard response. And somehow she knew…he wasn’t fine.

  Apart from being plastered.

  She sucked in a long breath and let it out. “I mean, are you okay to get home?”

  He blinked. “Yeah. I’ll call an Uber.” He fumbled in his pocket for his cellphone and pulled it out.

  She bit her lip. “Okay. Um. Do you need help with that?”

  “No.” He frowned at the phone screen and poked a finger at it. “I got this.” He looked up a moment later. “Sorry. Shit, really, I’m sorry. I had no idea…”

  She nodded, letting out a short sigh, the trembling in her hands and knees abating from the adrenaline rush of the shock of finding a man in her bed. Still…he’d seen her naked. Embarrassment heated her insides. “It’s okay.”

  Why was she being nice to him? He was an asshole and he’d just crashed in her bed all fucked up and had seen her naked and she should be kicking his drunken ass out of her bedroom. She did a mental eye roll at herself.

  “I’ll just, uh, get out of here…” He trudged to the door. “Sorry. Again.”

  He let himself out and she stood there, still trembling a little, hand pressed to her throat. Okay then. That was awkward.

  * * *

  —

  “I’m going to be homeless.” Jodie threw herself down into an armchair the next day, legs stretched out in front of her, arms flung out sideways. “My daughter and I are going to live on the street.”

  “Don’t be dramatic.” Kendra sat on the couch. “Max and I won’t let you live on the street.”

  “I can’t stay here with you forever. You just moved in here with Max. You two need to be alone.”

  They really did, because watching them together verged on watching a soft porn movie at times. Jodie was happy for her friend, for sure, but Max and Kendra were still in the honeymoon phase of their relationship, and they sure as hell didn’t need Jodie and her two-year-old daughter around harshing their juju.

  That was why it was imperative that Jodie find a place for them to live, RFN.

  Easier said than done.

  She and Kendra had just spent the better part of the day looking at apartments and rental houses. Maybe she was being too fussy, but she wanted somewhere that was reasonably close to their new business location in Lincoln Park. It had to be a family-friendly neighborhood, and she needed a good daycare nearby. It would also be great if it had three bedrooms, so she could have a decent home office, although their tiny New York apartment had sufficed the last few years. The biggest criteria—affordable.

  The business Jodie and Kendra had just moved to Chicago from New York was doing well. Femme Products developed sex toys for women, and they’d been thrilled with their success. But they were still building the company and tried to put profits back into the business, meaning the salaries they paid themselves weren’t huge. And unlike Kendra, Jodie had a daughter to support.

  That wasn’t a complaint. It had been her choice to have a child as a single mom, and she’d gone into it fully aware that it was going to be difficult at times. Terrifying even, knowing that she alone was responsible for everything about this small human. It was all up to her. But she’d wanted a child, a family, so badly, and
she’d realized that if she waited until the time was perfect…it would probably never happen. Words she lived by: Don’t wait for the perfect moment; take the moment and make it perfect.

  So today they’d looked at some really nice places, but they’d been way outside her budget. Dammit.

  “Mommymommymommy!” The tiny body of her daughter, Zyana, hurtled across the living room toward her.

  Jodie braced herself for impact, smiling, as Zyana landed on her lap. “Hi, sweet pea.” She wrapped her arms around her baby and hugged her. “Did you have fun with Uncle Max?”

  “Yes! We pwayed hockey!”

  “You did!” Jodie’s eyebrows flew up, and she looked over at Max, Kendra’s boyfriend, who sauntered in behind Zyana, smiling. “Was it fun?”

  Zyana nodded vigorously. “I got a goal. And Molly pwayed too! She stole the puck once but we chased her and Uncoh Max got it back.”

  Molly bounded into the room as well, the cutest little beagle pup ever, although she was a bit of a handful at this young age. She leaped up onto Kendra’s lap and proceeded to try to give her a face wash with her tongue. Laughing, Kendra held the puppy down.

  Zyana leaned back into Jodie’s arms. “I’m hungwy.”

  “Well, let’s get some food into you, then.” She stood, holding Zyana.

  “Dinner’s already made,” Max said. “I put together a vegetable lasagna while Zyana was napping. It’ll be ready in about twenty minutes.”

  “Oh my God.” Kendra threw herself into Max’s arms. “You’re such a keeper.”

  Jodie smiled. “Yep. Come on, Zee. Let’s find you an apple to snack on.” She headed to the kitchen and sat Zyana on the counter while she washed and cut an apple into wedges.

  Kendra and Max followed them into the kitchen. While Max checked on the lasagna and Zyana munched happily on her apple, Kendra poured glasses of wine for the three adults.

  “I want dat.” Zyana pointed at Jodie’s wineglass.

  “You can have some milk.” Jodie poured milk into a plastic cup and handed it to Zyana, who held it with both hands and guzzled it down. “Guess that hockey game made you thirsty.”