His hands were on her again, his fingers sliding against her pussy lips, her clit, slowly making their way over her stomach, the bottom of her rib cage, her breasts. Just when she didn't think she could wait another second, she felt the hot head of his penis pushing into her, stretching her wide, branding her with the feel of him.
One hard thrust was all it took for her to hit the peak again, and she rocked her ass into his pelvis, wanting to take him deeper, as deep as he could go. His hands were rough now, no longer the gentle lover. He'd given her what she'd so desperately needed, and now he was taking his pleasure in her body.
In this moment, with a belt around her wrists and a silk tie covering her eyes, Julie felt utterly complete.
She'd never think about her parents' house the same way again. And she had Ty to thank.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
An hour later, Ty nodded absently to the fan talking his ear off. He was watching Julie standing with what he guessed were family friends. Too thin, too brittle, and you could smell their unhappiness from a mile away, even though it was dressed in designer clothes.
Julie didn't look nearly as pale as she had pre-romp, but her mouth was still tight, and the tendons in her arms and neck were rigid.
He was worried about her, hoping like hell that their little romp upstairs had helped some. Ty knew with absolute certainty that she would have done the same for him, had his drunk-off-his-ass father been around.
Most of the women who came on to him were looking for not only a good time in the sack, but also a white knight to rescue them from their ordinary lives. He'd always made sure that he didn't make the mistake of getting someone pregnant, of getting into something that he couldn't easily get out of. Early on, he'd learned to look after number one. His teammates came next. There hadn't been room for anyone else.
Until now.
It was funny how fucked up everything had seemed in high school. Julie had been everything he wanted and knew he could never have, simply because they were so different.
But it turned out they weren't different after all. Because when you took away the old money and the new mansions and the trailer parks and the Super Bowl rings, all you were left with were two kids with parents who should never have signed up for the job.
Julie was the first woman he'd been with who wasn't expecting him to rescue her. And frankly, he wasn't sure she'd accept his help if he offered it.
The crazy thing was, Ty wanted to take care of her. He wanted her to know she could look to him for support, even if it was nothing more than two socialites who had her pinned to the wall and wouldn't let her go. There was nothing he'd rather do than drop everything and ride in to rescue her, nowhere he'd rather be.
The middle-aged man in front of him finally got to the end of his story about a game Ty'd won six years ago. Ty shook his hand. "Great talking with you. If you'll excuse me."
He kept his eyes trained on Julie as he walked across the living room, making it clear that he was temporarily off duty to the guests who were waiting to meet him.
She looked up at him a moment before he reached her side and gave him a smile that said, "Thank God you're here."
In that moment, Ty wanted to do more than rescue her; he wanted to claim her. Publicly. He wanted everyone to know how much she meant to him, especially her parents and their annoying, arrogant friends.
"Hello, ladies," he said smoothly as he moved next to Julie and pulled her gently against him.
She stiffened in his arms and shot him a fierce look, which he ignored. Both ladies' eyes widened in sudden comprehension and Ty swallowed the sour taste of guilt.
"We were just telling our little Julie how jealous we are that she gets to work with professional athletes. If I had known about the perks I would have gone into her line of work too." The ladies giggled like teenagers.
Ty rubbed his thumb over the sensitive skin inside Julie's elbow. She was pissed at him; he could feel it in the way she held herself.
On a positive note, though, he'd bet she wasn't thinking about her parents anymore.
Putting on his best aw-shucks voice, he said, "Jocks aren't always easy to be around. It takes one hell of an image consultant to make us look good. We're mostly thinking about our muscles and the game."
"And big breasts," Julie muttered.
One woman frowned. "Excuse me, dear, what was that you just said?"
Ty turned slightly and brushed an invisible speck off Julie's temple, which surprised her enough to keep her mouth shut for a second.
"She was saying we sweat a lot too."
Julie's blue eyes shot fire at him and he realized it was time for drastic measures. The band had just started playing a slow Sinatra tune and the dance floor was filling up.
"Excuse us. Julie promised me the first dance of the evening," he said, leading her away before she could disagree with him.
He pulled her into the center of the dance floor even though she'd made it very clear to him right from the start that she wasn't going to dance with him at parties, lest anyone misinterpret their relationship.
"What the hell are you doing?" she hissed into his ear.
"Dancing," he replied, even though he knew a smart-ass reply would just wind her up more.
A muffled curse reverberated against his chest. "People are looking at us. Getting ideas."
He pulled her closer and inhaled the scent of their lovemaking that clung to her skin. His cock reared up in his pants.
"I know. Let 'em look."
She looked at him, and where he expected anger, he saw confusion instead.
He wanted to say something that would help her understand where he was coming from. Only problem was, he couldn't figure out how to string a coherent sentence together. Not when her curves were pressed against him and he was ready to run back upstairs for high-school-fantasy-night, part two.
"Ty," she said softly, "everyone is going to think we're together. You're acting like I'm your girlfriend, not a hired consultant."
Ty couldn't go on playing this game anymore. He wanted her. She wanted him. It was time for them to be together. For real.
"Then they're thinking right."
She sucked in a breath and two spots of red colored her cheekbones. "We had an agreement. This thing is supposed to be a secret. No strings, right?"
She pushed out of his arms and waded through the guests. He followed close behind her, out the french doors, down the steps, past a pond, onto a path that lead through a thick hedge.
When they were far away from everyone else, he reached for her and spun her around. She was breathing hard and her anger was alive between them.
"How dare you?" she spat. "You of all people should know how hard it is for me to be here, in my parents' house, with everyone watching me. After what you just did, everyone is going to be talking about how sad it is that I let myself have a crush on you, the big superstar. That you'll dump me cold at the first sight of a new pair of overinflated breasts."
She slapped his hands away from her waist.
"Ever since I've been working with you, I've barely been maintaining my professional reputation. Do you want me to have to start all over again? Is that what this is all about?"
His heart thudded in his chest. She was dead wrong about him. About his motives.
"I love you."
Her eyes grew big and he knew she needed to hear it again. And he needed to say it again, to let the truth sink into his bones.
"I love you, Julie."
She stumbled back a step, sat down hard on a stone bench, and he kneeled at her feet. She wouldn't look at him. He held her cold hands between his.
"I know we had an agreement," he admitted. "But things have changed."
She lifted her chin, blinked at him. "How? How have they changed? You're still you and I'm still me."
He moved to sit next to her on the bench. "At first we were playing a game of cat and mouse. We both wanted to see who would win. But that's not where we are anymore."
/>
"Just because you like having sex with me doesn't mean you love me."
"I've liked having sex with lots of people."
Her eyes shot fire at him again. "Thanks for the reminder."
"But I haven't loved any of them." He brushed his thumb across her lower lip. "Just you."
She leaned into his hand the slightest bit, and the vise grip around Ty's heart eased up.
"You've caught me off guard," she whispered. "I don't know what to think."
He pulled her onto his lap, then pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. "Trust me," he said against her soft mouth "We're going to be great together."
Julie's head was spinning. It was just like Ty to spring the word love on her. One minute he was helping her forget all of her old fears, and the next, so many new doubts were piling on top of each other.
What about how deeply he'd hurt her before?
What about the throngs of beautiful women who waited for him at every game, outside his locker room, and on the lounge chairs around his swimming pool?
For so long, she'd held herself back from pleasure because she'd been so afraid of being hurt again. What if this was her one and only chance to really be happy?
Maybe it was time to take a chance--to let herself be with a man who said he loved her. And then, if things continued to go well--if he didn't leave her and she didn't lose all of her business because everyone thought she was a sucker for falling for a rich playboy quarterback--maybe she could even tell him how much she'd always loved him.
But for now, she'd just let herself fall into the net he was offering. All she knew for sure was that she loved the feel of his strong arms around her, his muscular thighs beneath hers. Just sitting on his lap made her wet and hungry for him.
She said, "Love me, Ty," and it seemed like she'd hardly drawn a breath before he'd repositioned her with her dress up around her hips and her legs wrapped around his waist.
His fingers moved between them and she loved the way his knuckles brushed and teased her clit as his undid his zipper and pulled his cock free. A fresh wave of arousal flooded her as he slid on a condom, the thick head of his hard-on less than an inch from her pussy lips.
And then he was sliding inside of her, huge and thick and hot. His hands were on her ass, pulling her up on his cock and then back down, harder and faster. She rode the long wave of her budding orgasm, everything inside of her wanting to believe he loved her.
That he would always love her.
As his thumb found her clitoris, he pushed her up and over the crest, and whispered, "I love you."
The words lingered in her head long after her climax had subsided.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Julie barely registered her phone ringing the following morning as Ty stirred beneath her, mumbling something about leaving the damn phone off the hook from now on. She felt so wonderful with her head cradled in the crook of his arm, his heartbeat rhythmic and soothing in her ear.
But after years of being the ultimate professional, she couldn't ignore the telephone. What if there was a fire she needed to put out for one of her clients?
And what, the warning voice in her head asked in a much louder voice, if the fire was in her own bed? Suddenly Julie was wide awake. She scooted up in bed and pulled the duvet up over her naked breasts. She knew it was ridiculous, that no one but Ty could see her right now. Still, as she reached for the phone she brushed her hair back from her eyes and straightened her spine.
"Julie Spencer," she said in as crisp a voice as she could manage on approximately three hours of sleep.
"Honey, I'm so happy for you!"
Julie's mother had never called her this early in the morning. Usually, she was in bed until late morning, due to one drink too many.
Fear shot up Julie's spine. What was going on?
"Thanks, Mother," she said in a falsely calm voice. "Do you mind my asking what you're so happy about?"
Her mother sighed. "Oh Julie, you always did hold your cards too close to your chest."
Julie didn't say anything, just waited for her mother to get to the point.
"You found your prince charming, sweetie! None of my friends can stop talking about how gorgeous he is. And the way he looks at you makes me wish I was young and beautiful again."
This was the point where Julie would have usually said something like, "You're still beautiful, Mother," but today the words just weren't there.
"It's no big deal," she said, wishing her mother wouldn't get so excited about her budding relationship with Ty. If things between them didn't work out, she didn't want to have to console her mother in addition to herself.
"Every mother wants to see her daughter fall in love with a strong, wonderful man. Not to mention filthy rich. I can't wait to see more of Ty!"
Her mother's giggle grated on Julie's sleep-deprived nerves, but before she could figure out a civil, nice-daughter response, her call waiting beeped.
"I've got a work call on the other line, Mother. I have to go." Julie clicked over.
"Good morning Miss Spencer," came Bobby's slow drawl."! hear you're taking special care of my number one boy."
Oh, God. "Ty's been doing great," she said in as crisp and professional a voice as she could manage, considering her client's "number one boy" was in her bed.
Ty looked at her from beneath the arm over his eyes. "Who is it?" He sounded sleepy, lazy, and utterly unconcerned.
She shook her head, put her finger over her lips, and mouthed, "Bobby."
Ty shifted onto his hip and the sheets slid from his torso, leaving a mouthwatering expanse of his skin and muscle.
"Who?"
She covered the mouth piece tighter. "Shh!" But it was too late.
"Now isn't this convenient? The two people I want to talk to are already gathered in one room."
"Bobby, I--" she began, but Ty had already bounded up out of the bed and grabbed the extension in her office next door.
"Hey, boss. You need something this fine morning?"
Ty's drawl was a match for Bobby's, even without the thick southern accent.
Julie felt like she was going to throw up. Or hyperventilate.
"You and your pretty lady just sit tight. I'll be right over."
Julie's mouth opened. Then closed. Finally, she pushed a "Wonderful" out just before Bobby hung up on them both.
She flew out of the bed. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!"
Ty stood against the doorframe. "I never thought I'd hear you say that word once, let alone three times." He raked his gaze up, then down, her bare skin. "And it's a bonus that you're naked."
Julie growled, then dashed into the bathroom. She threw her hair up into a bun and walked into a wall of cold water.
"Shit, shit, shit!"
Of course she'd figured people would be interested in finding out more about her, the woman who had captured Ty's heart. She'd planned on setting up a meeting with Bobby first thing Monday morning to present her revised plan for the final week of her contract. But she'd gotten so caught up in Ty's "I love you" that the part of her brain that had always put her business first had stopped functioning altogether.
In typical Ty fashion, he waited until steam started to rise from the shower to get in. Julie dropped the soap and then her razor. She couldn't stop shaking.
"Everything's going to be fine," Ty said.
"What do you care?" she accused. "You're not going to be fired."
He shrugged. "Isn't that why they hired you? To turn me into a good boy so they wouldn't have to fire my ass?"
She flipped off the tap and roughly dried herself off with a towel. Ty gently took it from her.
"Why don't you let me do that, before you scar that gorgeous skin of yours?"
What was she going to say to Bobby about her relationship with Ty? How could she possibly spin things so it looked like she was still doing her job? Because quite frankly, Julie wasn't at all sure that she was anymore.
Having sex countless times a day with a hot p
ro football player definitely wasn't listed by the IRS as "gainful employment."
"Now look," Ty said in a voice meant to calm her. "We haven't done anything wrong. You've worked your fine ass off to reform me, and even from my perspective I can see that you've done a fine job."
She wasn't in a smiling mood, but it was nice hearing that she'd been successful at taming a wild mustang, straight from the horse's mouth.
"I don't recall seeing any contract that said you and I couldn't date."
She bit her lip. "True."
"Being with a successful, beautiful woman like you makes a guy like me look good. Bobby's not stupid, even if he pretends he is. He'll see that my being with a babe like you is an asset."
Julie wasn't sure what was worse. The fact that the man she was relying on to pay a boatload of her bills was about to pound on her door, or that her boyfriend was a jerk who actually referred to her as "a babe like you."
She spun away and reached for the first thing in her closet. What the hell had she been thinking being with a guy like Ty? Then she realized he was chuckling.
"Can't you take anything seriously for one second?" she yelled.
"Admit it," he said, "you're not thinking about Bobby anymore, are you?"
She shoved him on the bed. "So all that 'your fine ass' and 'babe, you're an asset' stuff was merely a ploy to take my mind off of this horrible situation? You didn't say it because you're stuck in the fifties and can't stop picturing me in the kitchen with an apron on?"
"Better I'm with you than a stripper, right?"
Julie dragged a comb through her hair. She hated that he was right, hated that she was exactly the kind of woman she would have set Ty up with.
She'd brushed mascara over her pale lashes just as the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it," Ty said, walking through her house as if he owned it.
Julie let him go. If ever there was a morning for bright red lipstick, this was it.
She emerged from her bedroom just as Ty opened the door.
"They've got great coffee on the corner, don't they?" Ty greeted his team's owner.
"I'll have to come back another time and find out."
"I'll brew a pot," Julie said, gesturing for Bobby to take the plush seat facing the park.