Chapter 3

THREE

Three years earlier…

It was a typical fall evening in London, chilly with a hint of moisture in the air. The Blaze were in town for a game against the Milwaukee Growlers. The overseas contests were more like a mini-vacation mid-season, with the days leading up to the game a bit more relaxed than other weeks. Mainly because the players and their families were all staying in the same hotel. One evening, Noah had joined several of the single guys for a fierce game of darts in a pub next to the team hotel.

As Noah made his way back from the men's room, he encountered a couple in the dark hallway. The guy had his back to him while he herded the woman against the wall. The hairs on the back of Noah's neck stood up as he drew closer.

"You know you want to," he heard the guy say.

The woman with him didn't sound like she wanted to at all. In fact, it looked like she might be struggling. Noah was debating how he should intercede when she jerked away from the man and launched herself into Noah's arms.

"Babe," she said, her voice a little shaky. "There you are. I hate it when you leave me alone at the bar."

Noah couldn't help but inhale her wildflower scent when she buried her face against his neck.

"Please play along," she whispered. Her breathy request brought goosebumps to his skin. She spoke with an accent that sounded distinctly American. And familiar. But it was difficult to place her while they were in the dark shadows.

After a very brief hesitation—he was a red-blooded male, after all—he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. Her soft huff of relief brushed his ear when she relaxed against him.

She was tall. Rarely did a woman's body line up perfectly with his. Noah decided he liked it. He liked it a lot.

"I got you," he murmured.

"Can we go home now?" she asked loudly, presumably for the benefit of their audience.

"Mm-hmm." He was happy to play along with the warm, pliant woman in his arms. It had been several months since his girlfriend had thrown him over for a pro athlete with more zeroes in his contract. Noah hadn't realized how much he'd missed having a female body pressed up against his. Until now. Especially a female body that might be inclined to thank him more profusely later.

She pulled away just far enough to link her fingers with his. Her grip was strong, as if she were hanging on to a life preserver. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before she turned to lead them out of the shadows. Unfortunately, the dude she was trying to escape blocked the hallway.

Noah bit back an "oh fuck" at the sight of none other than Bucky Kincaid, a jock sniffing pest who thought he was a bigger talent than he was.

"Well, isn't this cute?" Kincaid sneered. "Does McManus know you're screwing his sister, Hudson?"

The woman next to Noah hissed out a breath. Sure, it had been dark in the hallway, but any idiot associated with the Blaze would have recognized her by her height alone. Noah was a first-class dumbass. One who wasn't going to get lucky tonight.

But he was going to do right by his boss's sister.

"Does McManus know you like to manhandle women in the dark?" he clapped back. Two could play Kincaid's game. "Including his sister?"

She squeezed his hand in apparent appreciation before tugging him toward a side door leading to the service entrance connected to the hotel. The door slammed behind them with Kincaid on the other side of it, thankfully. Noah tried to withdraw his fingers from hers, but she held tight.

"What floor?" She demanded when they made it to the hotel lobby and were lucky enough to grab an empty elevator.

He arched an eyebrow in question.

"I'm not staying here," she explained with an exasperated huff. "I can't very well walk out the front door right now. He's been dogging me all over London."

The idea of that prick harassing any woman had Noah's hackles up. He reached around her and pressed the button for the twenty-first floor. Hiding her in his room for a while wasn't crossing any line, he decided. He rested his hip against the back railing as the elevator doors began to slide closed. They were seconds from a clean getaway when a hand snaked in, pushing the doors apart.

Of course, the hand had to be attached to freaking Kincaid. He stood outside the elevator wearing a smug look. She was right. The man was a wily snake.

Noah didn't think. He simply reacted, pulling Charlotte against him and covering her mouth with his. It was meant to be a kiss for show. To throw Kincaid off the chase. But seconds after his mouth met hers, Noah realized that the only one being thrown off his axis was him.

That's because Charlotte acted out her part to award-winning perfection. Her supple lips opened without question, giving him access to the sweetness of her mouth. Looping her arms around his neck, she slid her tongue along his with wild abandon. That was all it took for Noah to lose all coherent thought. Suddenly, he was devouring her like some savage just released from captivity.

Not that she appeared to mind. If anything, she acted as if she was enjoying the ruthless way he was kissing her. His body temperature lit up like an inferno when she nipped his bottom lip playfully before soothing it with her tongue. He burrowed beneath her hair to find the graceful curve of her neck, intending to leave his own mark. She tilted her head to give him better access. Her movement brought her body more firmly against his. Christ, she was a perfect fit. A keening sound escaped the back of her mouth when his hands found the curve of her ass, angling her dangerously closer to his growing need.

The unexpected chime of the elevator was like a referee's whistle blowing the play dead. Noah came to his senses first, sucking in a deep breath as he tore his lips from hers. Surprisingly, they were the only two in the elevator, its doors wide open on the fifteenth floor. A mother and her young daughter stood in the hallway looking in, the mother wearing a miffed expression while the child stared open-mouthed at them.

Noah did his best to shield Charlotte from being recognized while he furiously jabbed at the button to close the door. The silence inside the compartment was heavy by the time they arrived at his floor. Now it was Noah gripping Charlotte's hand like a lifeline as he hurried her through the twists and turns of the hallway leading to his room. Once at his door, he swiped his key card and rushed her inside.

Charlotte didn't say a word. Absently fingering some bracelets on her wrists, she wandered over to the windows overlooking London's Eye, all lit up in the night sky. Noah grabbed two waters from the minibar, downing one in a single gulp before leaving the other one on the desk for her. The cold drink did nothing to quiet his wildly beating pulse, however. He couldn't stay in here alone with her. Not after what just went down in the elevator.

"I'm going to find your brother," he announced. "He needs to know about Kincaid."

She whirled around, her eyes anxious. "Jay isn't arriving until tomorrow. And I'd rather he didn't know about this. I'd almost prefer Kincaid's boorish behavior to Jay in big brother mode." She crossed her arms over her chest and notched up her chin. "Trust me, I plan on avoiding this place for the rest of the team's stay."

Noah's sister was seven years older than him, but he was pretty sure he'd want to know if some asshole was preying on her. He wasn't too keen on keeping Charlotte's secret, either. But her mulish look had him backing down.

"Suit yourself. You're welcome to hide out here." He picked up the Stuart Woods novel he'd been reading and headed for the door. The team's meeting room would be quiet at this time of night.

"You don't have to go," she called after him, her voice still sounding a bit shaky.

Parts of his body argued otherwise. As it was, he didn't think he'd be able to sleep in this room tonight after seeing her so close to the king-sized bed. Not to mention the fact that his body was still humming from their close encounter in the elevator.

Christ, he was no better than Kincaid.

He made the mistake of looking into her beseeching blue eyes and he was a goner. His feet felt like they were frozen to the carpet as he watched her move around his room. She nervously fingered the travel backgammon set on the coffee table. Noah and the Blaze's punter had a long running competition going. Her soft smile nearly knocked the breath from his lungs when she looked up at him.

"I haven't played this in forever." She eased herself down onto the sofa. "Jay taught me when I was in the first grade. Before he...left." Her shoulders slumped briefly. She shook her head as if to wipe away a bad memory before lifting her gaze to him, nearly taking him out at the knees with her impish smile. "The last time we played together, he accused me of cheating."

Noah snorted.

She pinned him with an affronted gaze. "I was nine. And I don't cheat."

He might have believed her had those luscious lips of hers not twitched slightly. Her long fingers made quick work of setting up the pieces on the board before she arched an eyebrow at him in challenge. His head told him to get the heck out of Dodge. Too bad that wasn't the head he was listening to. Noah slumped down into the chair across from her.

Charlotte chattered endlessly about anything and everything while they played. Everything except that kiss, thank Christ. He let her keep score, mostly because her unique scent had scattered his concentration. They raided the mini bar for a midnight snack, neither of them mentioning that Kincaid was probably long gone by now. She was content to stay put, filling the night with her tales of her new business adventure.

If anyone had told him he'd be spending two hours engaged in a conversation about cosmetics, he'd tell them they were crazy. Yet here he was, hanging onto her every word. He sensed he was getting an inside look at the real Princess Charlotte. And unless she had multiple personalities, she was nothing like the tabloids depicted. And everything like a woman he'd like to know better.

By the time she stretched out on the bed and began scrolling through the guide on the television, Noah trusted his libido enough to join her.

"Ohmigosh," she cried. " Thirteen Going on Thirty . This is my favorite movie. Have you seen it?"

Noah shook his head despite the fact it was his mother's favorite, too, and he'd seen it more than a dozen times.

"It's more of a chick flick. If you don't like it, we can switch to the Marvel movie."

That wasn't going to happen. He didn't dare do anything to dampen her joy. Instead, he curled his arm behind his head, crossed his ankles, and relished her delight in the movie. It was pretty damn special.

Until he woke up the next morning to find her gone without so much as a thank you note. It was as if she'd never been there. Not only that, but every time he'd seen her since, she'd looked right through him as though they'd never met.

"Do you ever wonder why he didn't say anything? Spread rumors about me? And you?"

Her softly uttered words brought Noah back to the here and now. She was forgetting Kincaid did spill a lot of shit about him. Most of it untrue. But the podcast host was careful with his career. A man would have to be made out of Teflon to cross Jay McManus. And badmouthing McManus' sister would be committing career suicide.

"He's too busy trashing my play," Noah said. He put his foot on the gas and drove toward the lights of the Inner Harbor.

"Puh-lease. Anyone who knows anything about football knows not to lay the blame for last season at your feet. You can't help it if the receivers drop every ball you throw their way."

His lips twitched at the ferocity with which she defended him. One of the things he'd enjoyed during that fateful night was her astuteness about the game. They'd talked into the wee hours about football, among other things, and he liked that he didn't have to explain every nuance to her.

She was only half right about their crappy season not being his fault, however. The quarterback was the undisputed leader of the team. Last year, the offense hadn't been in sync. And that was on Noah. They'd jelled during spring OTA's and training camp, though. And this year was going to be a whole hell of a lot different than last.

"Kincaid won't have anything negative to say about my play this season."

Feeling the weight of her stare, he shifted his gaze toward her. The soft smile she wore hit him squarely in the solar plexus.

"That's the spirit," she said.

He forced his eyes back onto the road, steering his truck onto the circular drive of the apartment building where Jay McManus and his family lived in the penthouse. His boast lost a little of its steam when he saw the swarm of people with cameras awaiting their arrival. Kincaid would have a boatload of ammunition if he chose to use it.

Noah swore just as Charlotte gulped out a squeak.

"Can you turn this thing around?"

It was too late for that. The bottom feeders were already racing toward them.

"This truck isn't that agile."

"Dammit!" she cried. "This is what I get for seeking you out."

That was it. She was on her own.

"Why don't you have security detail like every other entitled socialite?" he snapped back as he pulled his prized truck up to the lobby doors.

Her eyes went round, and her lips flapped open and closed, but no words came out. Good.

"Don't. Move," he commanded before getting out of the truck.

Noah ignored the cellphones, the cameras, and the shouted questions as he rounded the hood. Luckily, the building's doorman was the size of an offensive lineman. The guy was able to hold the blood suckers back with his out-stretched arms.

Charlotte kept her face expressionless when Noah opened her door, but he could feel the anger rolling off her. As if all of this was somehow his fault. Or that she would be the one denigrated by the media tomorrow. The woman was impossible. The sooner Noah got her inside and out of his life, the better.

He gripped her elbow to help her down from the cab. A jolt raced up his arm as soon as his fingers touched her bare skin. Her sharp intake of breath brushed past his neck. She stumbled and Noah snaked his arm around her waist, drawing her into his body. Camera flashes lit up the walkway.

"I've got it from here," she murmured once they'd reached the door.

She started to pull away, but Noah held her fast.

"Now who is being ungrateful?" he murmured.

It was rare that he could meet a woman's gaze head on. And Charlotte's was a mixture of wariness and passion.

Christ.

"Goodnight, Princess."

Noah didn't give her the chance to respond, his mouth crashing down on hers. He half expected her to stomp one of her stiletto heels into his foot. He certainly deserved it.

But this woman never did what he expected. Instead, she sighed, allowing him to coax her lips open. He rushed into the velvety softness before she changed her mind.

She tasted like the best bad decision he'd ever made.

Her palms skirted down his back, practically branding his skin through his clothing. Damn this woman. She was going to make him lose his mind. Right here in front of a horde of cameras documenting his insanity. A soft moan of protest escaped her lips when he broke the kiss. Noah took it as a victory.

He gently turned her around and pointed her to the door being held open by one of the building's staff. Pressing his palm to her lower back, he propelled her forward. But not before leaving her with a parting shot.

"Now we are even."