RUNNING GAME (A SECOND CHANCE SPORTS ROMANCE) by Nikki Wild

before I did.
    But once I finally gave in? Once I convinced myself it would be alright, that it was just this one time, and then we could move on? We just had to do it once, get it over with, and then that intense attraction would become something we could deny again, become something manageable.
    But the force I felt in that moment, pulling me towards him, pushing my body against his? There was no denying it, no turning away from it, no running out on it this time.
    He was right… I felt something…
    It was otherworldly.
    Uncontrollable.
    And it hit me with the force of a freight train running right through my body.
    His hands were everywhere. The ropey muscles that covered his body pressed against me. His was hard, firm, a perfect mix of rough and tender that tore me apart.
    What harm would one time do?
    What would just a few moments of untamed lust change?
    What damage could be done that hadn’t already done? It was just one time.
    One more delicious time.
    One time to allow myself to see that it wasn’t so magical. That I’d been remembering him with naive and inexperienced adolescent eyes. This one time would let all those questions go away. I’d finally have the answers I’d been looking for the last ten years.
    These are the things I told myself until there wasn’t any more left to say.
    He pulled off my top and bra and I was only half aware of them leaving my body. But when his hot hands enveloped my bare breasts, it was the only thing I was conscious of.
    “Jesse,” I cried, my lips tearing away from his, my voice thick with lust. I was on fire, my body writhing against his touch. My hands fell over his, pushing his warmth against my heaving breasts. I arched my back towards him, and he leaned forward, pulling himself to sit up as I straddled his waist. We were still on the floor and I pushed my hips forward, grinding into him.
    His hands fell away from my body, finding my wrists and pulling them behind my back. I gasped in surprise, my eyes falling open, landing on his.
    Nothing prepared me for the look I saw there - hunger, pure, animalistic savage hunger that threatened to rip me to my very core. A low growl escaped from his mouth, and he shook his head slowly.
    “Maisey,” he said, his voice a low warning and a demand, all at the same time. “Tell me.”
    “Tell you what?” I said, my voice breathy and low as he pulled my hands behind my back tighter, causing my breasts to push forward into his face.
    “Say you want this too,” he growled.
    “Jesse,” I whispered. “Don’t make me…”
    “You left me, Maisey,” he said, his eyes flashing with such emotion it left me breathless. “I was the dumb jock, and you were the smart girl that was too good for me. You ran away. You walked out on me.”
    “What? That’s not true, that’s not it, that’s not why…” I protested, shaking my head. What was he talking about? I was so confused. I didn’t want to think about the past, I wanted nothing more than to think about right here, right now, this moment, and this moment only. “Stop, please…”
    “I’ve thought about you for years,” he murmured, his eyes searching mine before he captured my mouth in his again. He kissed me hard, deliciously hard, before tearing his mouth away again. “You’re the only woman that ever left me like that, Maise. All these years, I’ve wondered what it was I did to you that was so wrong.”
    “Jesse, it wasn’t you…”
    “I’ve wondered where you were, who you were with, what you were doing,” he shook his head, peering deeply into my eyes. “Why you didn’t want me…” I tried to look away, I didn’t want to see that I may have caused him pain. I didn’t want to see that in his eyes. But I couldn’t look away. “Whether you were thinking about me…”
    He held every ounce of my attention. My body was wound so tightly I was about to explode. My ears were buzzing, my stomach was churning, and I felt like I was going to faint from the blood