Hungry Cowboy Page 9

He pulled me to him and I gasped, my hand settled on his shoulder. “You shouldn’t be kissing me now, not before the ceremony,” I said and some of our guests giggled and clapped. Connor’s eyes sank into mine, as he held me close for the entire world to see.

  “Don’t worry, darling. I’m not going to kiss you now. I just wanted to look more closely at my bride,” he said and released me with a victorious smile on his face.

  Our guests sighed and clapped, and Connor clasped my hand in his as we turned to face the priest.

  I couldn’t stop smiling as I heard the priest reading out our promises and vows. I couldn’t stop my heart from beating out of my chest. Finally, everything I had ever wished for was coming true. I was marrying the man I loved.

  *****

  THE END

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  Charlize Starr

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  Description

  He’s always been my dream... Now he’s my secret.

  Melissa has always had a crush on Nick. Always, for as long as she can remember.

  It’s too bad that he is not only her big brother’s best friend but also her best friend’s older brother. Talk about complicated. He is also a womanizer, with a reputation to prove that. What could she even have to offer?

  When the guys have a party to celebrate them going to the Super Bowl with their local Seattle team, Melissa is surprised when Nick approaches her with an idea. She’s helped him in the past, and now that she’s twenty-two, he wants her to help him some more... in his bed. Nick proposes a friends with benefits situation to her, and she knows that she’s crazy to think about it at all, much less say yes.

  Melissa is a virgin going into a sexual relationship with one of the biggest players in the NFL. She’s read the stories and heard the rumors, but none of that matters when she’s in his bed and finally getting her dream.

  Not at first, at least.

  Can they make it through rumors as they keep their relationship secret from the ones that they love the most? Will circumstances make it too hard for Melissa to stick it through, even though she is in love with Nick?

  One night could change everything about them and their lives. One night could change their futures.

  One night could make them see their feelings for each other, if Melissa doesn’t keep running away.

  Just one night is all it takes.

  Chapter One

  “This party is insane!” Bonnie told me, as we walked into the mansion that was packed with people. I smiled at my best friend as I tried not to think about the project that was waiting for me back at our apartment and focus on the celebration that was only just beginning. Our brothers were going to the Super Bowl with their Seattle team after only playing in the NFL for four years after college, and the entire house was vibrating with the excitement. They’d worked so hard all through high school and college but still managed to stay best friends, just as Bonnie and I were. “I wonder if we’ll even be able to find Nick. I know all too well how he likes to celebrate.”

  Bonnie’s brother Nick Harmon was a player. He’d always been a player, and it was just how things were. Bonnie accepted it, but I had a long-running, invisible crush on him. My brother Brandon James had his fair share of female fans, but I thought that he respected them. At least I hoped so.

  We managed to make our way through the crowd to the living room, where each of us stared at some of the celebrities that were there in awe. Bonnie focused quickly on a hockey player who played for the Colorado team and I figured that she’d make every effort to make the best of the next several hours. I saw Brandon in the kitchen. I also saw Nick, who was sitting on the counter with a redhead between his legs and her arms around his waist.

  I ran my hand through my red curls, which I’d recently colored, and frowned as she leaned up and smiled at him. He was gorgeous, with dark, messy hair and sea blue eyes and that damn crooked smile of his. Who wouldn’t want him? I saw him glance in my direction as I heard my name called out, and his eyes darkened before I looked at my brother. “Mel, I am so glad that you could come!” Brandon pushed forward and hugged me tightly as he spun me around. “Nice hair. I see that art school is getting in your blood.” We once had the same shade of chestnut hair, though we still had the same light green eyes. “You look beautiful, though. I mean that.”

  “Of course I’m here. You’re going to the Super Bowl! I am so proud of you, Bran,” I gushed, as I pulled away from him and looked around. “This crowd. It’s mad and wonderful, and you’ve hit your dream.”

  “Winning is the real dream,” Brandon assured, me as he heard his name called from across the room. “It’s so crazy tonight. We’ll talk later?”

  I nodded and watched as he ran into the living room and took a deep breath. I had worn a denim skirt and a green shirt with some boots after agonizing over my choices. It didn’t hold a candle to most of the women here, with most of them dressed in next to nothing and looking like super models. The ones that weren’t dressed that way were beautiful regardless, and I looked over my shoulder to see Bonnie coming my way with a smile on her face. “Drinks! Then dancing.”

  We found the bar in the formal dining room and loaded up on some sweet cocktails as we discussed the party. “Did you see Nick?” I asked Bonnie, and she rolled her pretty topaz eyes.

  “Yeah, he was a little busy. I’ll talk to him later. Fucking quarterbacks,” Bonnie said, before she tossed her third drink down and grinned at me. “Let’s dance!”

  Bonnie was a light in my life. I’d always grown up in Brandon’s shadow, and though I loved him, nothing I did would ever be as good as his accomplishments. Look at tonight. I was looking at a couple more years in art school to have maybe a gallery showing in a matter of years if I was lucky. Painting and drawing happened to be my passion and I wanted to surround my life with it in every way possible. Brandon just happened to be extremely athletic, and his calling was playing center in football, so well that he was snatched up right after graduation from the local college. Nick as well. They were happy to be playing for the same team, and they even shared this house together.

  I knew that I’d be happy, even if my name wasn’t in lights like Brandon’s was.

  Bonnie and Nick had lost their mother in a car accident when she was twelve, and she still moved through life with so much positivity. I watched as she walked towards the makeshift dance floor in the living room and took a place on the edge as a great new song came on. I didn’t think that Nick was as positive, but he managed in his own way, and he was a great player.

  We danced to every song that played and I felt the alcohol coursing through my body as I lost myself in the beat. I loved to dance as much as Bonnie did, and the hours passed quickly in between dancing and drinks. Some of the players would speak from time to time as the crowd screamed their names and cheered. It was getting wild in here and I laughed as I looked around.

  There was no sign of Nick at all and I assumed that he was off with the redhead or some other woman. I tried not to think about it as I danced and bumped against the people that were joining us on the dance floor. After a while, I got too hot, and told Bonnie that I needed some fresh air.

  I wandered to the back of the room and slipped through the sliding glass door that led to the backyard. They had a big deck for barbecues out there and a pool, and I wandered over to one of the chairs by the water and sat down with a fresh drink. I’d managed to grab it from the main fridge and I sipped from the bottle as I took in a slow breath. There
was the sound of a door closing and I turned my head to see the redhead from before stumbling towards the house as she fixed her red dress around her very generous breasts.

  I glanced at the cottage by the pool to see the door ajar and I raised an eyebrow. Nick used that a lot. I stared up at the stars as I heard footsteps and felt someone sit on the seat beside me. “Mel. I like the hair,” Nick said in his husky voice, and I told myself not to shiver. God, I loved his voice.

  “Thanks,” I said, as I lowered my eyes to glance his way. His jeans fit him well and he was buttoning his shirt as I watched quietly. “So you make them leave after now?”

  Nick shot me a dark look as he finished with his blue shirt before he shook his head. “She’s just mad that I won’t give her more than…that.” He raised his hand and gestured towards the cottage and a frown crossed his face. “I have the game to think about now. I don’t have time for a commitment.”

  “Okay. Why are you telling me this?” I asked him, as I watched his beautiful eyes lock with mine. There was something different in his face, and I realized how long it had been since I’d actually spent any time with Nick. “I’m not asking you for anything.” I leaned back in the chair and crossed my feet together as I sipped my drink. “Are you okay? I mean, this is a huge time for you and you seem kind of down.”

  “I guess I wish that Mom was here to see this.” His words sobered me, and I nodded before I looked at him. “She’d be the one planning the parties and doing all of this.”

  “You’re right about that. I think you two did just fine. It’s a great party,” I assured him, as I allowed myself to stare into his face.

  “Only because we hired everyone. Do you remember our parties back in school?” Nick asked, and we both laughed together.

  “Brandon barely knew that there was going to be one until the house was full of people and we needed food for them. Mom and Dad made a terrible mistake traveling so much,” I remembered wistfully, as I shook my head. “We’d scramble for some chips and something to heat up, but the show always went on, didn’t it?” I kept looking at him. “How did you do it?”

  “Brandon was always there for me, just like you were. You guys are the best,” Nick replied, with that smile of his that made goosebumps cover my exposed arms.

  “You’re in a reminiscent mood, aren’t you?” I asked, as I noticed him shift in his seat.

  “Something like that. Thanks to Lara’s attitude, I’m feeling something more.” I stared as he spoke and watched Nick shake his head. “I just want something familiar tonight. I don’t want those groupies that just want the name to drop around to impress the other groupies. I want something real. This is all happening so fast.” I just listened as I heard the pain in his voice that I’d heard ten years before. He sounded like the same broken boy who had just lost his mother.

  “Nick, this is your dream. You’re twenty-five, and this is what you’ve worked for your whole life. She sees every bit of this. I promise.” I looked at him as he leaned forward and looked into my eyes.

  “Can I ask you a favor?”

  Chapter Two

  “What’s that?” I asked, as he licked his full lips and looked at me.

  “I don’t want to be alone tonight, Melissa.” I frowned as I wondered what he meant. “I don’t want one of the vapid women in that house tonight that doesn't even know me. I want someone that does. I want someone that gets me, if only for tonight.”

  “Nick, you could have any woman that you want,” I whispered, as he focused his intense gaze on me. “What are you asking me?” I had wanted him for so long that it was like breathing at this point in my life. I had saved myself for whatever fantasy I had in my head about him, coming so close but not being able to give myself to anyone. That was sad at twenty-two, considering that he’d slept with more women than I cared to think about.

  “I want you, Mel. I want you in my bed tonight. I don’t want this party like Brandon does, not this evening,” Nick told me, as heat warmed my skin. “You’ve gotten more beautiful over the years and something about you tonight just takes me back to the past.”

  “I don’t know if the past is where you need to be, Nick. You have a whole future to think about,” I said, as I thought about the kiss we had shared when I was sixteen and he was eighteen. It was at a party and very sudden as he was drunk and feeling this very same way. It was the best kiss that I’d ever had, and nothing since had compared to it. The way he’d pressed me against the wall still played back through my mind as his tongue had met mine in something that I had never felt before. “There’s a party in your honor going on in there, your team’s honor. It is for all of your hard work.”

  I knew that Brandon and Bonnie could never know about our kiss. He was too protective of me, and I was certain that he had warned every friend of his to stay away from his sister. The only guys I’d ever dated were from school or the part of my life that was separate from Brandon.

  And Bonnie…she loved her brother, but she knew what a bad boy image he had made for himself. The women, the partying and some of the scandals that he’d been involved in disappointed her and his family. She’d never see Nick as fit to be with me. Bonnie knew that I hadn’t had sex yet, and she wanted it to be special for me. This, what he was asking for, wasn’t going to be that way in anybody’s eyes.

  “Are you proud of me?” Nick asked, as I felt my nipples harden under my lace bra.

  “So proud. I knew that you would get here, you and Bran,” I assured him, as he smiled at me again. “I’ve watched you since you were just boys, and look at you now.”

  “Do you remember our kiss?” Nick asked, as I flushed deeply. “I never stopped thinking about it, but you were too young then. You weren’t ready for me. Now you’re nearly done with college, and you have grown so much.”

  “Nick, what about the other women?” I asked, as he winced and stretched out his legs. “You’ve been caught with married women, daughters of coaches and so many others. I am not interested in that kind of life.” I led a quiet life that just involved my classes and working at a little bookstore to make some of my own money. I didn’t hang out with a lot of people other than Bonnie and a party like this was way out of my league. Brandon and Nick did this kind of thing every weekend.

  “Coach has had a few talks with me. I’ve calmed down,” Nick said, as he glanced behind himself. “Let’s go for a walk.”

  I knew that I should say no, but I was a little drunk. I was a lot into him and what he was offering me. I nodded and stood with him as he took my hand and led me to the part of the backyard that overlooked Lake Washington. It was this beautiful grassy area with flowers and a railing that looked right over the water, and it was my favorite part of this house. “Look, do you remember when I was fifteen?”

  I nodded. It was when Nick and Bonnie’s mother had died, and I’d found him rocking on the floor in our basement. Everybody was upset, and it was quiet down there and twelve-year-old me only thought that he needed a hug. I sat beside him and wrapped my arms around him and just let him cry. It broke my heart to see a strong boy like him so upset, as the tears tore through his body. “I do. Very well.”

  “That’s when it started with the girls. Don’t you see that? I watched Bonnie move on but my heart was still so broken and I tried to make it beat somehow. Mom was always there for games and even practices and then she was gone all of a sudden. Dad didn’t handle things well and stopped coming, but there were so many women that wanted to be with me. I turned to them.” He shook his head. “Your kiss was the only one that I ever felt inside of me.”

  Nick watched me lean against the railing and stare over the water as I took in what he was saying. “I know that feeling.” I gasped as he turned me to face him and cupped my face in his hands. “Nick?” His lips covered mine and I felt them mold against mine as he pressed against me. Heat rose between us. I slipped my arms around his waist and felt his muscles under his shirt as our tongues touched slowly. When did I open my lips? I mo
aned as the kiss deepened and he wrapped an arm around me and tugged me closer.

  He kissed me until I couldn’t breathe before he pulled away and stared into my face. “Do you feel this?”

  “I feel…I don’t know what’s happening to me right now. I just came to celebrate with you guys.”

  “You don’t come around enough, Mel. Why not?” Nick asked, before he pressed his lips against mine again.

  We kissed for either an hour or several before he pulled me by the hand towards the house. I wasn’t going to stop him as we snuck around to the side entrance and made our way quietly to his room. My lips were swollen and tingling and my body was on fire. Nick opened his door and we walked into the huge room before he closed and locked the door. “What if they look for me?”

  “Brandon and Bonnie? She’s drunk and dancing and he’s making an ass out of himself. He’s practically giddy over this and he’s been buzzing ever since we won that game. Add a few beers and he’s lost for the night,” Nick replied, as I stared at him and walked towards him. “I am lost in you.”

  I kissed Nick, and he wrapped his muscled arms around me and pulled me close. We knew each other this way by now, and our embrace was heated and clumsy as I pushed him back on the bed. Our kiss was hungry and rough, and I felt him press against my core and harden against me. I moaned against his lips. “I want you, Mel.” His whisper was quiet in the dark, and I slid my hands under his loose shirt as he groaned. I moved to unbutton it and slide it back, then leaned down to kiss his hard chest and tried not to think about Lara leaving the pool house as she adjusted her clothing. Had she already done this?”