Page 44 of The Linebacker

But they did anyway. She stood; he climbed to his feet and snagged a towel to wrap around her. She smiled, and he felt her gaze on him as he dried himself off and stepped out of the tub and then helped her do the same.

The cats both threw them disgruntled looks as they scurried away to avoid water dripping on their fur.

She stood before the mirror and slathered lotion onto her face. When she started to rub it into the rest of her body, he stepped up behind her.

“May I do the honors?”

Her eyes darkened as she waved at the bottle.

He took his time. Slicked his hands up and down her arms, over her belly, then crouched and rubbed the lotion into her feet and up her legs. He stroked up the inside of her thigh until he felt wetness that had nothing to do with lotion. She let out a little moan and widened her stance.

Gently, he turned her away from the counter so that she faced him, still crouching on the thick rug. He dragged his hands up the inside of her thighs until his fingers grazed her pussy. She made a desperate, sexy-as-hell sound, so he parted her lips and dove in, licking and sucking and thrusting his tongue into her until she came apart for him.

Again.

Her knees gave way. He stood quickly and scooped her into his arms. She flopped like a rag doll, but that satisfied smile never left her face.

Good. He had no doubt she’d have regrets at some point—she still believed she was cursed—but he’d happily help her put off the feeling as long as possible.

Or better yet, maybe she’d finally realize that she wasn’t cursed, that she could make her own decisions about relationships, that those decisions did not need to take the rest of her family’s choices into account at all.

Or, hell, she could take them into account and choose not to do the same thing. Instead, choose…

Him.

Shit. He sounded like a Taylor Swift song in his own head.

Awkwardly, still clutching her in his arms, he tugged back the blanket on her bed, intending to gently lay her on the sheets. But she rolled out of his arms and plopped onto the mattress stomach first, gave a shocked yelp that faded into a giggle.

He hesitated, unsure if he should retreat to the couch. She patted the space next to her, those beautiful dark eyes of hers staring up at him, giving him absolutely no control in the situation. Hell, if she wanted him to sleep out in the hall, he’d do it. There was something about this woman that made him a little crazy with the need to please her.

He didn’t hate the sensation.

He crawled onto the bed, caging her for a moment before pressing his lips to hers and curling up next to her, pulling her body flush against his. He pressed another kiss to her hair, lowered his face to breathe in the fresh scent against her neck. Another kiss to the soft flesh there and he realized she wasn’t moving beyond the steady up and down of her chest.

She was asleep.

It had been a long day, followed by some very intense sex, so he could understand. But he liked the idea that it was more than that.

That she was so comfortable with him, it was easy to doze off, unworried, no nerves, no stress.

He laid his head next to hers on the pillow and closed his eyes.

And fell asleep with a smile on his face.

Amil woke before Diana. Unsurprising. He’d trained himself to get up early, regardless of what happened the night before, so he could get in a run before most of the rest of the world woke and got in his way. Normally, he didn’t mind fan interactions so long as they were brief. But when he was exercising, he was in the zone, and interruptions threw him off, made him grumpy.

So he did his best to avoid interactions when exercising.

Except with his teammates, he realized. Even Broderick with his constant chattiness—Amil had to admit he enjoyed the camaraderie. The sense of belonging.

Maybe that was why the fan interactions had always made him uncomfortable. Maybe he knew, subconsciously, that he didn’t belong with the 49ers.

It was an interesting thought. Not that he planned to test the theory and go jogging later than usual today. In fact—he lit up his phone and glanced at the time—he was going to have to skip the jog altogether this morning. And he needed to get up, get breakfast going, so he could get to the team meeting on time.

He started to inch toward the edge of the bed, but an arm snaked out and curled around his waist.

He glanced over at Diana, who was now awake and watching him with a look he recognized as hungry.