Hard Fall (St. Louis Mavericks 1)

“You’re ruthless,” I said, laughing. “And I love it.”

The others were starting to rise from the table, gathering coats and purses. I glanced at my watch and saw to my surprise that it was after midnight.

Wes helped me out of my chair and we said our goodbyes to everyone. I’d seen Wes pass Vicenzo a credit card from his wallet a couple hours ago, and he signed for the check and got his card back on our way out.

“We thank you,” Vicenzo said, putting a hand on Wes’s shoulder. “Your team is always so generous with us. Bring your lovely lady back for a date soon and I’ll reserve a corner table for you.”

Wes met my gaze for a second and said, “I’ll do that. And we’ll see you next time. Thanks for staying open late for us.”

“Anytime.”

We walked out into the brisk night air and I put my dark purple stocking cap on. Wes grinned down at me.

“That was nice of you, to pay the bill,” I said.

He shrugged. “Team captain’s job. Ben always picked it up, so now I will.”

“You’re the new team captain?”

“Technically. But Ben will remain our official team captain for the rest of the season. If we don’t start winning consistently, he might send me a message from the beyond telling me we need to get our asses in gear.”

“Let’s not worry about any of that tonight. It feels so good to take a night off of winning and losing and deadlines.”

“You’re right,” he said. “And you look cute in that hat.”

My heart kicked up as I touched the end of my stocking cap and said, “Thanks. Lauren made it for me.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. She was just naturally good at things, you know? If she wanted to learn to do something, she just...did.”

“You’re good at things, too.”

I laughed lightly. “Like ballbusting?”

Wes sighed softly as we walked in the direction of his Range Rover. “You know, Hadley, if I could do it all over, I wouldn’t have made that lame crack about you liking wieners.”

I whipped my head around in surprise. “You remember that?”

“Of course I remember. Over the course of exactly three seconds, your face went from interested, to incredulous, to disgusted. I’d just…had a few beers and, to be honest, I still had some growing up to do.”

His humility about our first meeting caught me off guard. We reached his car, and before he could open my door, I stepped closer to him and put a palm on his chest.

“I overreacted,” I admitted. “I shouldn’t have let one stupid comment decide whether you were worth getting to know better.”

“Can I confess something?”

I smiled and said, “Of course.”

“I’d never been shot down before. I was kind of blown away when you rejected me, because I was so used to women falling at my feet no matter what I said. I once walked into a party after a game in college, drunk off my ass, and told a woman I’d just stepped in dog shit. She laughed and said I was cute. Anyway…” He shook his head, looked away and then met my gaze. “I thought you were sexy as hell. An absolute ten. And then, when you shot me down…I liked you even more.”

I warmed from head to toe, pleased with the compliments, but also trying to wrap my head around what I was hearing. “You liked me?”

“Always. I just knew I’d blown it.”

He cupped my cheek in his hand and brushed his thumb across my cheekbone, then across my lips, creating a flutter of excitement in my stomach. A small snowflake fell on his dark stubble as he slid his hand around to the back of my neck and leaned down, kissing me.

It was soft and tender. His lips slowly caressed mine before I grabbed the sides of his coat and pulled my body flush against his, intensifying our kiss. His sweet words, woodsy scent and hard, warm body made me forget everything else. I didn’t take the time to analyze or overthink it—I just lived in this perfectly romantic moment.

Wes groaned and pushed me against his car, his tongue brushing over mine in a kiss so passionate that I couldn’t think straight. I just knew I wanted more.

When Wes’s mouth moved down to my jawline, I gasped and closed my eyes, blissfully overwhelmed by his large frame and obvious hunger for me.

“Let’s go to a hotel,” he murmured in my ear as his lips grazed my neck.

“I want to.”

“You’re so goddamn sexy, Hadley. I can’t wait to show you what you do to me.”

Even through our coats, I felt his hardness pressed against me. I wanted to throw caution to the wind and stay in this moment, screwing Wes until the very last minute we had to return home in the morning.

The voice was back, though. That little, annoying thread of logic was telling me it was irresponsible to stay out all night, return home in the morning looking like we’d gotten drunk, fucked and come slinking back home in yesterday’s clothes. We hadn’t even run staying out all night by Patrick and Susan.