Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty-Nine

TATE

I check the knot in my tie one last time and smooth down the sleeves of my thousand-dollar suit jacket. I’m going into battle. I’m not giving up on Lily. Not this time. I messed up but I’m going to fix it, even if I’m not sure how.

I gave up on her when she went back to England. I know that now. I should have chased her down and brought her back, even if I had to kidnap her. I could have waited for her dad to be well again. I chickened out because I believed I needed football more than anything else in my life. My dad might have wanted the best for me, but his brand of tough love isn’t enough to sustain me anymore. It’s going to be difficult, but I’m going to have to talk to him. Put some boundaries in place. I love the game, but I love Lily, too. Not that I’ve demonstrated that very well.

Things are going to be different from now on. This is one game I have to win, because without Lily, winning anything else is meaningless.

I open the door and almost swallow my tongue. I’ve seen Lily naked, casual, sex-tousled, every gorgeous which way, but tonight she looks… hot, hot, hot, and so fucking distant.

‘Whoa,’ I say, and then at her icy stare, add, ‘You look nice.’

‘Thanks,’ she says, acknowledging the compliment, although her smile barely breaks a sweat.

Is it my imagination, or does she sound a tiny bit put out?

‘I mean, you could have made a little bit more of an effort,’ I add, aiming for funny to hide my admiration.

My eyes stray down her slim figure and the sequinned tunic, which skims her body, clinging to her hips and bottom and stopping mid-thigh above a pair of cowboy ankle boots. Her blonde hair is a mass of curls that snake around her collarbone. She’s done something with her eye makeup, too, that makes her big brown eyes appear soft and smoky. I think my heart actually misses a beat. Damn it.

‘Holy fuck!’ I say when she turns around. ‘The back of your dress is missing.’

She glances over her shoulder with a cool smile that twists me up inside.

‘Good job I’m not making much effort, isn’t it.’

Fair enough.

‘Shall we go?’ I put a hand beneath her elbow and guide her out of the room and along the hall to the elevator. When we step inside, she stands in front of me so that I get the full effect of her dress and her perfect, creamy skin.

I take a sharp breath in and clench my hands to my sides to stop them from grabbing her shoulders and turning her to face me so that I can kiss away that pleased little smile I can see in the mirror. Kiss my way down the dents of her back, slip my hands around her waist under the silky fabric and cup her breasts.

‘Are you wearing a bra?’ I ask.

In the mirror, Lily raises one haughty eyebrow without turning my way. ‘What do you think?’

‘Hell, with you in that dress, rational thought isn’t possible. Every man in the room is going to be wondering the same question.’ And I don’t like the thought of that at all.

‘You’ll have to stick close then,’ she says.

‘Isn’t that your job?’ I ask and immediately regret it.

‘So it is.’ Her tone might be mild, but the look she gives me could take a layer of skin off me. ‘As long as you don’t run out on me.’

Ouch. She’s taking no prisoners. Not that I’d expect her to. I get a kick out of the contrast between her kick-ass attitude and that initial shy reserve in the bedroom before she loses her inhibitions. Those little gasps she makes when she can’t help herself.

She’s such a gorgeous contradiction.

My brain is filled with the memory of her sweet pussy, the breathy moans that she can’t hold back and the fierce flush that rises up her breasts, throat and cheeks when she comes.

I grin at her.

‘What?’ she asks suspiciously.

‘Nothing,’ I say, with as much innocence as I can muster, deciding that I’m going to do my absolute best to keep her off-balance until she finally caves in and recognises that resistance is futile.

‘You’re really not going to forgive me, are you?’ I ask her conversationally.

‘Not in this lifetime, no,’ she replies as the lift glides to the ground floor. ‘You’re strictly business.’ With that she lifts her chin, regal as ever, and when the doors of the lift open, she steps forward without even glancing back at me, making it clear she is having the last word.

Like I’m going to let that happen.

We step out into the media spotlight, quite literally. It’s not just the sports journalists, but the celebrity writers and of course a bank of photographers.

I catch up with her long-legged strides. Man, she’s sexy in the short dress and those cute little cowboy boots. I slip my hand into hers and, taking advantage of our audience, I lift her knuckles to my lips.

‘Behave,’ she murmurs and squeezes my fingers with a grip that might terrify a lesser man.

‘Of course, darling,’ I say, in a voice loud enough to carry to the bank of photographers lined up on our right.

‘Do you really want to keep playing this game, darling?’ she murmurs in my ear. ‘Because I’ll win.’

‘Win?’ I ask.

She shoots me a smouldering look, which has the paparazzi springing to attention.

‘Yes.’ Her answering smile is dangerous.

I grin back at her. ‘We’ll see about that.’

With my hand lodged in the small of her back touching her bare skin, I guide her across the foyer to the sponsors’ backdrop where we’re expected to pose for a few pictures and where I’ll have to do a few press interviews before we’re released for dinner. Football really has come to town, and the whole place is decked out with balloons and bunting, like Christmas on steroids. Outside, there’s a line of media vans and behind them a security cordon holding off a sea of fans. I’m used to the attention at games, but this is a whole new level.

A harried publicity girl comes straight over. ‘Mr Donaghue, can we get some pictures.’ She urges me and Lily towards the backdrop as photographers and journalists jostle for position, shouting their demands and questions.

‘Can you face this way?’

‘How are you feeling about the game?’

‘Over here.’

We stand together posing for pictures, my arm loose around her shoulders, one hand touching her glorious hair, rubbing the silky texture between two fingers.

‘Cut it out,’ she whispers through gritted teeth, her smile a touch forced.

‘I’d say make me,’ I murmur back, giving her a wicked smile, ‘but then you might bring me to my knees.’ I pause and then add, ‘And we both know how much you like me on my knees.’

‘Tate!’ she says with an involuntary gasp. I love the blush infusing her cheeks.

‘Yes, darling.’ My voice is sultry and the colour flushing her face heightens. It’s all very satisfying, although my dick is starting to join in the fun.

‘How long have you known Miss Heath?’ yells a female journalist with a very welcome interruption. ‘It’s a very sudden engagement. Is it for real?’ There’s a challenge to the question before she follows up with subtlety. ‘Some people are saying it’s a publicity stunt.’

‘People can say what they like,’ I tell her, stiffening a little.

‘Are you being paid, Miss Heath?’ the journalist presses, her beady eyes watching us both.

Lily simply gives her a disdainful smile and doesn’t deign to answer.

‘You haven’t known each other very long,’ she persists, ‘to get engaged?’

Lily looks up at me and gives me a beatific smile, that’s the only way I can describe it. Then she winks at me, her face angled so that only I can see it, before she turns to the journalist.

‘I guess it depends whether you think eight years is long enough,’ she says. ‘We met in college. We were at Radley together.’

I’m amazed that Lily has shared this, but I realise it’s typical of her generosity. She’s protecting me, taking care of me again.

‘You should check out the college yearbook,’ she adds. ‘There’s the cutest picture of Tate.’

‘Not as cute as you,’ I respond. ‘You had those…’ I waggle my fingers in the air on either side of my head remembering how I used to untie them and pull her hair loose.

‘Braids,’ she supplies.

‘Yeah.’ I grin. ‘Do you think you’d wear them again for me?’ This time I wink at her in full view of the press.

There’s a burst of laughter from photographers and journalists, while the latter frantically scribble notes or start scrolling on their phones. I’ve got a feeling our yearbook photos will be all over tomorrow’s press.

* * *

With photos done, journalists given brief interviews and radio and TV crews provided with a few soundbites, we escape the media scrum and are escorted out to the waiting car by Tierney’s men. Once we are safely behind the tinted windows, Lily leans back into her seat and sighs.

‘How many days until the game?’

‘Only three. Think you’ll survive?’ I tease.

‘Of course,’ she says and then leans down to ease off her boots.

‘If it’s any consolation, they’re as sexy as fuck,’ I tell her.

She tries to school her face, but the disapproving expression misses its mark.

‘Or rather, they make you look sexy as fuck,’ I add. If I’m going down in flames, I might as well add some accelerant.

She shoots me a snow-queen stare of utter disdain and stretches one of her feet, rotating it at the ankle.

‘Give it here.’ I grab her leg and swing it onto the seat so that her foot is resting on my lap. ‘I’ll give you a foot rub.’

She tries to wrestle her leg free. ‘I don’t need a foot rub,’ she says.

‘No one needs a foot rub, but they’re very nice.’ I grin at her and dig my thumbs in the delicate high arch of her foot.

‘Ah. Oh, Mmm.’

I stroke my thumbs hard along the length of her foot and then back again.

‘Mmm,’ she moans again.

‘That good?’ I ask, watching her. Her eyes are closed, and I can see she’s trying hard not to let the pleasure show on her face.

I knead a little harder on her sensitive instep. ‘Stop,’ she whispers and sucks in a strangled breath. ‘No, don’t stop.’ She flops back in the seat and writhes a little before letting out another, ‘Mmm.’

‘What is it you want me to do?’ I ask. ‘Stop or don’t stop. I’m confused.’ Even though she’s still got her eyes closed as if she’s hiding from me, I smile at her. Her face is contorted with a combination of pain and ecstasy.

‘Just massage my foot, you big dumbass,’ she mutters before adding begrudgingly, ‘it’s very good.’

I oblige and I’m caught staring at her when she opens her eyes.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Nothing, apart from massaging your very pretty feet.’

She looks suspiciously at me. ‘Why are you staring at me?’

‘I like seeing the pleasure on your face,’ I say softly.

Her lips press primly together but she doesn’t say anything, instead she closes her eyes again as if to shut me out and separate herself from the touch of my hands.

For a minute or two, I rotate my thumbs over the underside of her foot, listening to her quick intakes of breath. She’s not unmoved and neither is she pulling away. I skim my hand along her calf, lifting it up a little and kneading the taut muscle. The hem of her dress rides up her thighs and I can see the silk panties she’s wearing at the top of her smooth, creamy thighs.

Her eyes fly open, and seeing the direction of my gaze, she immediately tries to close her legs.

‘Don’t,’ I say. ‘I’m enjoying the view.’

She stills, her eyes holding mine.

The air in the car has become thick and tense and I’m conscious of my own careful breathing.

I can see her throat dip as she swallows.

‘We shouldn’t be doing this,’ she says.

‘Doing what?’ I ask, my fingers creeping a little higher and stroking the delicate skin on the underside of her knee.

‘This,’ she whispers, but hasn’t snatched her leg away.

I push the hem of her dress a little higher. ‘But what if you like it?’ I murmur, holding her gaze. At the sight of her, relaxed, with that familiar uncertainty in her expression, my dick hardens. Fuck she’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.

‘What if I don’t?’ she replies, her eyes a little glazed.

I smile very slowly. ‘Oh, I think you do.’ I move my gaze back to her panties and the evidence of her arousal spreading across the pale blue silk. ‘You look wet to me.’

There’s a light frown on her face and that shyness that is such a turn-on. I know no one else does this to her, makes her overcome her inhibitions.

‘Are you wet for me, Lily?’

She nods. Her eyes pleading with me. I love that she can’t lie to me.

‘And what do you want me to do about it?’

Her mouth opens and I cock my head waiting for an answer. She stares at me, hope and desperation bright in her eyes.

‘I’m waiting.’ I love that I can turn the tables. That here, I’m in charge. Kick-ass Lily softening under my hands into sexy, submissive Lily. It’s such a turn-on.

‘Please, Tate, don’t do this,’ she says. ‘It’s so hard to fight it.’

It’s the pleading in her eyes that undoes me.

I gently move my hand and guide her leg back so that her knees are primly locked together.

‘Perhaps I should have told you before I started seducing you.’

‘Told me what?’

‘That I’m in love with you.’

Lily’s lips part, and I swear I see something glisten in her eyes.

‘We’re two minutes away, sir.’ The moment is shattered by the discombobulated voice coming over the intercom.

Lily eases out a long breath and looks me squarely in the eye, her face wiped of all emotion.

‘This can’t happen again, Tate. I’m your protection detail. Nothing more. I’ve got a job to do. I have to keep you safe.’

She takes a tube of lipstick out of her purse and calmly reapplies it, while my heart crumples like a discarded tissue.