“Too many to count, man. I can be kind of an asshole, but she puts up with me for some reason. You know she wanted us to sign a prenup when we got married? Said she knew I’d be famous someday, and she didn’t want people saying she married me for my money.”
“Did you sign it?”
“Hell no.” The corner of his mouth lifted in a smirk, and a satisfied gleam lit his eyes. “I told her if she ever said that word to me again, I’d wash her mouth out with soap.Thenwe lived happily ever after.”
Austin blinked in surprise, a dozen questions suddenly racing through his mind. But he restrained himself from asking any of them. He and Torres might have started working their way toward being friends, but some things he didn’t need to know about his teammate. Or need his teammates knowing about him. Inside Black Light, he loved putting on a show with his submissive for the night. Outside of the club, he preferred to keep those tendencies to himself. Public opinion was a mercurial beast, with the power to boost or kill a career, and he wasn’t going to let his kinky bedroom activities be the thing that forced him from the field.
Still… maybe he should have Torres and his childhood sweetheart over for a cookout or something. Might be good for Kit to see they didn’t all date supermodels or whatever other stereotype she had in her head.
Something to think about. For now, he had a naughty little kitten to get home to. Flowers and preemptive apologies might work for Torres, but Austin had his own plans for getting to the bottom of whatever was bothering his girl.
Chapter 9
Katherine
Although she’d been expecting it, the buzzing of her phone nearly made Kit drop the pan she was holding. Setting it back on the stove, she hit the button for speaker. “Hello?”
“Hey, kitten. I’m on my way to your place. Don’t suppose you’d be willing to feed a starving young ball player some dinner?”
How was it that just the sound of his voice seemed to soothe away the stress of the day? She caught herself smiling dreamily at the phone before she straightened her spine, bracing for what seemed like an inevitable fight. “We need to talk, Austin.”
“So your text said. I’m going to assume it’s not a good talk?”
“Well, I don’t know. I guess that depends on your answers.”
“Then it sounds like something we should discuss in person. I’ll be there in five.”
The phone went silent before she had a chance to argue. Five minutes? He was giving her five minutes to get ready?
Asshole.
Plating the asparagus so it wouldn’t burn in the pan, she checked on the chicken in the oven and decided it was fine for another few minutes while she rushed to the bathroom to check her appearance. Some part of her must have been wishing he’d come straight to her when he got in, because she hadn’t taken off her makeup when she’d gotten home, and she’d chosen a cute t-shirt and leggings that gave her ass a nice little boost over her usual pajamas. Once she pulled her hair down from its messy bun and ran her fingers through it to smooth it out a little, she looked almost presentable.
Her doorbell rang just as she finished slicking on a new coat of lipstick, and she forced herself to walk instead of racing for the door like an eager virgin on prom night.
The strange monthly payments, her suspicions, her anxiety, all of it seemed to disappear when he grinned down at her. She’d somehow forgotten how gorgeous he actually was up close. Too gorgeous. The kind of gorgeous that made smart women stupid. It certainly made her feel like she’d lost a few dozen IQ points whenever she opened her mouth around him.
“Hey, kitten. You look as delicious as dinner smells. Gonna let me in?”
“What? Oh.” Realizing she was standing in the doorway staring up at him like some wide-eyed groupie, she took a step to the side to let him in and closed the door behind him.
“Austin, we need…”
“To talk. Yeah, I know. But I need something first.”
“What?”
He moved in before her brain registered what was happening, one arm sliding around her waist, the other moving up to wrap her hair around his hand and pull her head back. “You.”
Then his mouth was on hers and her mind went blank. Everything disappeared, leaving only him, her, and this wild, nearly desperate kiss.
“Need you. God, I fucking missed you.”
Hot, wet kisses trailed down the side of her neck to her collarbone and she let her head fall back further, a needy moan escaping her at the flash of need.
“Bedroom. Now.” Releasing her abruptly, he turned her and laid a heavy smack to her ass, propelling her forward.
“But—”