Taken (Dark Desires 1)

Sean had left just long enough to fetch breakfast from the McDonald’s near the highway, but the food went uneaten because our time was spent doing other things.

Fun things.

Things I’d probably never do again.

We got back to the city late in the day. We were both grimy and sunburned from skinny dipping in the lake and walking naked through the woods. And we were exhausted from our sexual antics. By the time he dropped me off at my car back at the practice field lot, I needed a hot bath and a good night’s sleep.

“Well, this has been… amazing,” I said with a smile. I leaned over to kiss him one last time. He brushed the hair back from my eyes and smiled. “Thanks for a wonderful time.”

“It’s not over,” he smiled.

“I know.” I mustered a smile for him.

“The next couple of days are going to be intense,” he said, pulling back with a frown on his handsome face. “Heavy practice tomorrow and Saturday, then the game on Sunday. I won’t have much free time.”

“I understand,” I said with a nod. “You just get out there and impress the shit out of your coach so you don’t have to move to Minnesota.”

He smiled. “I will. Hey, do you want to come to the game on Sunday? I can leave a pass that will g

et you into the VIP box.”

“Um, let me think about it,” I said, knowing that I didn’t dare show my face at Kings Stadium. “Can I text you later?”

“Sure,” he said with a disappointed smile. I kissed him again and reached for the door handle. He put a hand on my arm to stop me.

“Hey, Katie Holmes,” he said softly. “I’m really glad you’re in my life. I think we can do great things together.”

“Hey, Sean Donovan,” I said, forcing back a tear. “Me, too.”

Kate

Dru was curled up on the sofa next to me with a bag of chips in her lap and a bottle of beer in her hand. She held the bottle by the neck and pointed it at the television.

“So, which one is lover boy?” she asked. I’d told her about my overnight get-away with Sean. She had been calling him “lover boy” ever since.

“Sean is at the top of the screen,” I said. “On the left.”

“And what’s his job again? Other than taking innocent young women to a remote cabin to reenact the Kama Sutra?”

“To run down the field and catch the ball,” I said, giving her a sideways grin.

“Really? That’s it? How hard can that be?”

“It’s pretty hard when you have a bunch of four-hundred-pound football players chasing you down,” I said.

I brought the beer bottle to my lips and watched intently as the center hiked the ball to Matt Murphy, who fell back and scrambled to give Sean time to run down the field. Leon Lewis was blocking for Murphy, keeping the tacklers at bay.

I’d watched a lot of football games in my life and knew the sport inside and out, but I’d never watched a game holding my breath as my eyes tracked one player before. It was incredibly unnerving.

Sean shot from the line like a rocket and ran down the field, then cut across the center. Murphy launched a long bomb and Sean ran perfectly under it. The ball fell into his arms at the exact moment a player from the opposing team freight-trained him from the left side.

Freight-trained meant that he was hit blindly, without having the chance to brace for impact. It was like getting hit by a train out of the blue. You felt the impact and the next thing you knew, you were waking up either in the locker room or in the hospital.

When the plowed into Sean, the ball shot straight up in the air and Sean was knocked hard to the ground. He rolled a few times, then, then clutched his left shoulder and writhed in pain.

“Holy shit,” Dru said, grabbing my arm.

I couldn’t speak because my heart was lodged in my throat. I watched in horror as the refs pushed the players back and the trainers rushed onto the field to attend Sean.