The Player Next Door - Kathy Lyons Page 0,24
Google his name and a zillion images of him appeared. Take out the game shots, and she got to see his women. At least a dozen different ones in the last year alone.
Meanwhile, he managed to shrug without moving his hurt shoulder. “I had some wild days.”
She nodded as if her wildness could even remotely compare to his. But whatever. “I explored during my freshman year in college. There were lots of opportunities.”
He chuckled. “I explored up through my freshman year in the NBA.”
“Bet you had more fun than I did.”
He chuckled. “This is one area in which I have no interest in competing.”
Right. Back to the point. “So I figure you’re next door until your shoulder heals, right? Then it’s back to the east coast.”
He nodded.
“And I’ll go back to teaching in the fall. So for the summer…” She tilted her head. “Would you prefer we call it a summer fling?”
“No.”
Oh. Right. “You hate this idea.”
“I’m still trying to understand your idea. How about you try again in plain, simple words?”
She took a breath. Simple declarative sentences. She could do that. “Why won’t you sleep with me? Aren’t you attracted to me?” Oops. Those were questions, not statements.
“Yes. And because we’re drunk.”
She huffed out a breath, managing to poof the fine hairs that danced around her face. She brushed them away in irritation. “I’m getting more sober by the second.”
“I’m not.”
She waited for him to say more, but he remained stubbornly silent. So she folded her arms and leaned back against the wall in the exact mirror of his position.
“I’m attracted to you but I don’t want a permanent fixture in my life.” She shuddered at that. Edward had become like a heavy antique desk in her life. Too big to move and too expensive to throw out. Not without burning down the entire house. Which is basically what she’d done when she’d moved here.
“So you’re looking for someone temporary.”
“Aren’t you? I saw an interview that said you don’t intend to settle down with a woman until after your career. Is that wrong?”
He didn’t answer that question exactly. Instead, he shifted his feet to stand more upright off the wall. “I’m not looking for anyone at all, Tori.”
Oh. Shit. “I, um, I thought with the kisses and everything that you were interested. At least on a just-for-now basis. Which is basically where I live, especially in the summer, so I thought it would work.” She sighed, unaccountably depressed. “I guess I’ll just find someone else. Thanks anyway.”
She started to move away from him. In her mind, this humiliating conversation was over, but before she took more than one step, he was suddenly right there in front of her. Practically looming over her.
“Mike?”
“How are you going to find this someone else?”
She shrugged. She hadn’t really given it much thought. Her mind had centered on him. But there were all the usual places. “Bars, I guess. Someplace downtown. I know too many people in Evanston to shop here.”
She felt a sudden flare of tension in him. A silent anger that hit her uncomfortably on a visceral level. “You can’t just pick up guys in a bar.”
Actually that was something she definitely knew she could do. She looked at him, making sure her thoughts were clear on her face.
He sighed. “I mean, obviously you can, but you shouldn’t. It’s dangerous.”
“I’m tired of this conversation,” she said rather than argue with him. God, she hated it when people told her what she could and couldn’t do. Since he was blocking access to the kitchen, she spun around and started for her bedroom. “It was an idea. If you don’t like it, no problem. I’ll just—”
“Do what you want anyway,” he said. He grabbed her arm, and this time his hands weren’t as gentle as before. They were big and hot against her body, and they held her in place as surely as iron shackles. “Tori, listen to me.”
She stopped, startled that the idea of shackles with this man was intriguing. She had no objection to being restrained and pleasured, but would he let her chain him up? Would he—
“You are the oddest woman I’ve ever met,” he said.
She smiled. “I count my novelty as an asset.”
“Yeah, I can tell.”
She laughed. Not many people realized she cultivated her air of odd insouciance, especially around new acquaintances. If they didn’t flow with her from the start, she saw no reason to invest time in building a friendship. It was the rare person who enjoyed her