Taken (Dark Desires 1)

She sipped her coffee and let me stew in silence for a moment. She bit off corner of the Bear Claw, then chewed as she said, “So, what’s your next move, Katie Holmes?”

“There isn’t one,” I said sadly. “Katie Holmes goes back in the box and Kate Asher goes back to writing fluff pieces about women’s sports that no one cares to read.”

“So you’re just going to give up on the idea?”

I took deep breath and pushed it out slowly. “I guess so. Walter wants a story on the difference in compensation between the women and men’s US soccer teams by next week. I’m trying to line up a call with Carli Lloyd for later today. I’m waiting on a call back from her PR rep now.”

“Oh well,” Dru said sadly. “It was fun while it lasted. I had a good time being Katie Holmes’ wing-man. Wing-girl. Whatever.” She glanced at the heavy men’s watch she wore on her right wrist. “Speaking of work, guess I’d better get to it.”

“See you later,” I said, nodding sadly as she pushed herself off the door and walked down the hall toward her office.

My cellphone buzzed on the desk. I didn’t recognize the number, but figured it was Carli Lloyd’s rep calling me back. The Bluetooth headset was already attached to my ear. I tapped the button to answer the call.

“This is Kate,” I said.

The caller hesitated for a moment, then said, “Is this Playboy Magazine? Is this Katie Holmes?”

I recognized Sean’s voice immediately. I could feel his lips at my ear. His breath on my neck. His cock against my clit. My nipples tingled. Damn, the effect this guy had on me.

I cleared my throat and said, “Yes, this is Katie.”

“Hi Katie, it’s Sean Donovan.”

“Sean, hi. How are you?”

“I’m good. A little hungover, but that’s normal for me. Hey, I was wondering if you’d like to come watch the team practice today, then join me for a late lunch, early dinner kind of thing. Nothing fancy. Just a burger or pizza, something simple. We can talk about the interview you want to do.”

My lips moved for a second, but my brain was slow in sending out words. I nervously cleared my throat again and tried not to sound too eager.

I said, “Hang on, Sean, let me look at my schedule…”

I muted the earpiece and counted down from ten as I took a few deep breaths and tried not to hyperventilate. When I was sure that I could speak coherently, I tapped the earpiece to unmute the call.

“Sean? Hi. I’ll have to move some things around on my schedule, but I think I can make that work. What time should I be there?”

“Awesome. I’ll leave a pass for you at the security gate outside the practice field. Say around one o’clock?”

“That will be fine,” I said. “I’ll see you there.”

I ended the call and took a minute to catch my breath, then hurried down the hall to Dru’s office to let her know that Katie Holmes was back.

Sean

Man, the coach was on my ass from the moment I walked onto the practice field. Okay, granted, I was still a little hungover from my long night of partying and felt like I was gonna puke, but I ran every route he assigned me and caught every ball.

After an hour in the hot sun, my body was drenched in alcohol sweat and every muscle ached. I plucked a bottle of Gatorade out of the ice bucket and stood on the sideline to suck it down.

“Donovan, you’re moving like a goddamn sloth out there today,” the coach snarled as he walked past me. “You need to pick up the pace or get the fuck off the field.”

“I’m catching the balls, ain’t I?” I said, wiping sweat from my face with the back of my hand.

Coach Rickets stopped in his tracks and turned around to face me. He leaned in and sniffed the air between us.

“You smell like pussy and booze,” he said. “And you look like shit.” He came close enough to poke a stiff finger into my chest. “We’re not paying you eight-million dollars a year to party your ass off at night and give a half-ass effort on the field during the day. You have until Friday to dry out and clean up your act or Lockett plays yours spot on Sunday. Am I clear?”

“Crystal,” I said, biting my tongue so hard I could taste blood. I knew better than to talk back to Rickets. I might be the star running back, but he was the coach and he decided who got to play and who stood on the sidelines. Talent is what gets you to the game, but it’s the coach that tells you when to play.

It would kill me to just watch a game and not play in it.