Page 63 of Love Game

She chuckled, then caught a little of that oh-so-tempting skin between her teeth. “Now you ask.”

He squirmed a bit but mostly let her have her way. For that, she rewarded him with a slow, swirling flick of her tongue over the afflicted flesh. “I can go if you want,” he said.

“I don’t want.” She turned into him and pressed her cheek to his chest. Crisp hair tickled her nose. She burrowed deeper into his embrace, not in the mood to implement strategies or play games. “I like having you here.”

He kissed the top of her head, then smoothed her hair with an awkward pat of his hand. “I like being here.”

“Millie and Avery think you’re a hooker Mike hired to distract me from my contract negotiations.”

He chuckled. “How many million do you think I’m worth?”

She barked a laugh. “Million? I was thinking I’d offer to swap the country club membership for you. After all, I get to see you swing your club in the comfort of my own bedroom. Why bother with the culottes and saddle shoes?”

“Nice.”

She giggled and nuzzled his flat nipple. “They doubt my ability to keep my head in the game.”

“Typical mathletes.”

His unabashed jock snobbishness tickled her. Running her hand down his chest, she stroked the line of soft hair that bisected his abs. “I know, right?” She kissed his throat, enjoying the bob of his Adam’s apple against her lips as she let her fingertips slide a few centimeters lower. “They have no respect for my…drive.”

“Fools.”

He exhaled the word in a rush that ruffled the hair he’d just smoothed. His chest rose and fell with gratifying quickness as her hand drifted lower still. His cock was hot and more than half-aroused by the time she wrapped her fingers around him. She pressed a tender kiss to his pec, delighted by the tremor she felt ripple through him.

“Kate?”

“Hm?”

“Don’t give up the country club membership.”

“No?” She released him long enough to push the covers down past his knees. “How come?” she asked, resuming her grip.

He answered with a low, strangled groan that made her smile. “Don’t say come.”

“Sorry,” she whispered, but she didn’t mean it.

“You can’t quit the club.” Danny pressed his head into the pillows and arched into her touch. “It’d be a damn shame to waste a strong backhand like that.”

Chapter 15

The thrum of a dozen basketballs against hardwood drew him like a vandal to a freshly painted wall. The lack of syncopation should have crawled all over his nerves, but it didn’t. Those crazy, time-challenged thuds reminded him of the beat of Kate’s heart just after she came. Frantic. Erratic. Beautifully untamed.

He hovered in the mouth of the tunnel, his gaze locked on the honey-colored court. She stood at the center of mayhem, the brightly colored shoes planted square in the middle of the stylized shield and crossed swords that served as the university’s logo. Two dozen gangly preteens gamboled around her, skinny arms and legs flailing as they chased those bouncing balls.

Kate called something as one of the girls sprinted past her, a shining, blond ponytail streaming in her wake as she broke for the basket. The layup circled the rim but refused to fall through. The girl’s shoulders slumped as one of her cohorts snagged the rebound and dribbled away. She turned toward center court, hope and dread written all over her face. Kate gave a casual wave that clearly said “Shake it off,” captured a wayward ball, and winged it at the girl.

A flash of color at the far end of the court caught his attention. A huff of surprise burst from his lungs as he spotted a second Amazon among the milieu of munchkins. Another one of the WNBA’s former all-stars bent at the waist to talk to a girl who wasn’t much past the five-foot mark. A quick scan turned up two of her assistant coaches, a current NBA player, and Ty Ransom scattered between loose groups of middle school players.

Danny released a low whistle as he sidled into a row of bleachers and lowered a seat without taking his eyes off the action below. “That’s a lot of firepower.”

He’d mumbled the observation to himself, but a deep voice came from higher up in the stands. “You should see who she pulls in for the varsity camps later this summer.”

“Mack?” Twisting in his seat, Danny scowled as he squinted into the gloom beyond the first tier of seating. “That you?”

His assistant coach grunted in reply. “Better move back into the shadows. She doesn’t like people crashing her camps. Says it makes the girls nervous.”

Barely containing a snort, Danny glanced around at what he’d thought was an empty arena. Then he spotted them. A dozen or so spectators sat high up in the stands, all with their attention fixed on the court. All but one, that is.

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