Fortunately, he seemed ready for more. He angled his shoulders to help her slip off his shirt, his hands only leaving her body for a moment. Then, finally, his mouth met hers in a kiss that sizzled her insides. His tongue played along her lips, but he didn’t toy with her for long. His mouth demanded more and she gave it gladly.

Frantically, she worked the clasp of his belt and the buttons of his trousers, her task made more difficult by his straining erection. Or maybe it was so difficult because he slipped off her panties and eased a finger inside her, distracting her hopelessly until he took over the task of undressing himself.

As she lay there, breathless, overwrought and ready for him, she noticed he wasn’t wearing that cool, teasing smile anymore. He wanted this as urgently as she did.

Soon, they were both naked and ready, his body a gorgeous sight to behold as he rolled on a condom. The deep tan of his skin seemed to define all his lean muscles, and she couldn’t wait to benefit from his strength.

An admiring hum of approval left her lips while she waited for him to come inside her.

Then, he was over top of her, all around her. His hands hit the bed on either side of the pillow, his knees pushing her thighs apart before he positioned himself right where she wanted him most. She stilled herself for all of two seconds before she wrapped her arms around him, sealing her body to his, breast to chest. He had to alter his hold on her to angle her hips where he wanted them.

And oh. My.

The heat of him stretching her was like no sensation she’d ever known. Javier drew out the sweet shock of his entry, teasing her until she nipped his shoulders and twisted beneath him, then giving her all she could take and more.

Heat roared in her veins and in her womb. The beat of her heart reverberated hard, a grounding force as her nerves wound tight, poised to catapult her into pure pleasure. She grasped his shoulders to steady her, savoring every delicious inch of him as he claimed her. Seduced her body and soul.

Sensation built to impossible heights then spilled over in a climax that shook her very core. She clutched him to her, needing the anchor of his body as wave after wave of bliss undulated through her. For a fleeting moment, she realized he had her right where he’d wanted her all along—breathless and clinging beneath him. But then, he was right there with her, losing control in a climax that followed hers by mere moments.

She kissed his cheek and his neck mindlessly, her face beaded with sweat. His or hers, she didn’t know. She only knew she never wanted the night to end.

Because tonight, they were everything to each other. Friends and lovers. Adrenaline junkies who shared a passion for adventure and each other. But tomorrow she’d still be an athletic trainer who worked at a local college back in Chicago and he’d still be an international sports hero committed to his fans 162 games a year during the regular season.

And Lisa was all too aware this was one thrill that might end when the sun rose.



4



FOR A MAN WHO TOOK A LOT of chances with his career and his physical health, Javier recognized he hadn’t ever risked much in his relationships.

But now, as he lay beside Lisa in the still hours before dawn, he sensed an unfamiliar certainty in his feelings for the new woman in his life. Their time together hadn’t been some casual hookup. Things had gotten intense fast and there could be no going back to simple friendship afterward. He wanted more than that from her.

Perhaps because he wanted to know everything about her, he realized he hadn’t shared all that much of himself. He at least owed her some explanation for the other day when he’d run for the hills after kite boarding. He stroked her hair, feeling the soft warmth of her breath against his neck while she shifted beside him.

“So I guess you knew I was freaked out that day at the beach,” he began, figuring this counted as a small risk in itself. He hadn’t shared the story with anyone else.

“I didn’t know if you were more upset because of the scare I gave you or because I suggested—” she hesitated “—that maybe you’d freaked out a few people in your day, too.”

“It was a one-two punch, actually. I’d credit both with equal weight. But you couldn’t have known why.” He shook his head when she tried to apologize. “I was reeling at first because I thought that jump you did was so dangerous and then I saw myself taking the same risks for reasons that once seemed so clear, but now—”

He fell silent, realizing he hadn’t started the story in the right place. His chest squeezed tight as he understood that this was going to require more confession. More honesty.

Lisa remained quiet, but she hugged him, her arm pulling tight across his chest as they lay together. He liked the way she seemed to know when to push him and when not to. There was some connection between them he couldn’t ever deny.

“My dad was a bit of a deadbeat,” he started, remembering all the times Manny had kept Javier on the straight and narrow while their father would drink away any problems for the bargain price of six bucks a bottle. “So my brother stepped up to the plate and raised the rest of us, working when he should have been having fun himself.”

He’d never asked for charity. In fact, Javier had busted his hump to bring in money, but just keeping up with living expenses had been tough and Manny wasn’t the kind of brother you argued with. He’d had the kind of steely will and work ethic Javier had always admired and Manuel always said his turn would come when Javier made it big in the majors.

“He sounds like a great guy,” Lisa observed, her fingers scratching a light rhythm over his skin in the dark.

“He was.” It had been seven years since Manny died and the hole inside Javier still hadn’t closed. Although, he realized, the cavernous depth didn’t yawn quite so wide with Lisa tucked against him. “But he never had his turn to play since a heart attack took him from us before his thirtieth birthday.”

Javier felt Lisa wince beside him and she buried her forehead on his shoulder.

“How awful.” The simple words summed it up well. “You must have been devastated to lose him.”

“I was never much of a risk taker before he died.” He’d been a straight arrow, comfortable with Manny’s vision of the future and never thinking it might not happen that way. “But afterward, it felt wrong to take any moment for granted, you know? I kept thinking that Manny wouldn’t want me to put off any happiness or any pleasure because he’d put off his dreams and got robbed before he could see them through.”

“So you’ve lived the dreams for him?”

“It seemed like the right thing to do.” He shrugged, wondering if a shrink would think he was off his rocker. “I never overthought it, I guess. I just felt like all that force and will of his shouldn’t die with him. It deserved to be remembered.”

A soft kiss landed on his cheek.

“I bet he would be so proud of all you’ve accomplished.”

The words squeezed his heart like a vise—in a good way. Hell, they squeezed so tight he felt the sting of tears. Good thing he was Latin enough not to give a rip that his emotions lived close to the surface.

“Thank you.” He swiped a hand across his eyes to chase the burn away. “I was feeling pretty good about it until the other day when we went kite surfing.”

She tried to interrupt, but he wouldn’t let her, knowing if he didn’t finish spitting this out now it could go unsaid for another seven years.

“Isn’t it enough that I’m playing in the majors? What the hell would it prove if I break my neck before I’m thirty, too?”

“I didn’t know your brother, but I’m willing to guess he wouldn’t want you to screw up your career.” She rested her chin on his chest, peering up into his eyes.

He could see her clearly now that dawn had broken, the flimsy hotel curtains not nearly heavy enough to keep out the coming day.

She appealed to him in so many ways. From her unflappable, easy acceptance of who he was to her clear-eyed ability to call a spade a spade. He didn’t know if he could trust his instincts on a night that had packed such an emotional punch, but he knew he was falling hard and fast for her.

“You’re probably right.” Framing her face with his hands, he kissed her, rolling her underneath him to claim her all over again.

The peal of his cell phone ring tone shattered the mood.

Although tempted to ignore it, he didn’t protest when she thrust the phone in his hand and slipped out from under him.

“I’ll go shower,” she insisted, picking up her purse and a handful of clothes on her way.

Regretting the loss of her touch, he thumbed the on button after recognizing his agent’s number.

His surprise at seeing Scofield’s number didn’t begin to compare with the shock he felt at the sight of Lisa walking toward the shower. Now that the beginnings of dawn light permeated the curtains, he could see a spider web of intricate markings on her hip, the scars of an old injury he hadn’t felt during the night. Scars he hadn’t seen that day at the beach since her bathing suit would have covered most of them.

“Javier?” his agent’s voice called him out of his brooding thoughts.

“Yeah, I’m kind of busy right now.” He planned to confront Lisa with all haste to find out what those scars were. Were they from her old thrill-seeking days?

“Have you seen the morning news?”

Javier checked the bedside clock.

“It’s not even seven.”

“Somebody dug up the dirt on your trainer girlfriend.” Scofield didn’t sound pleased and Javier tensed, wondering what beef anyone could have with Lisa. “And I don’t think the Flames are going to appreciate you dating someone who is as much of a head case as you.”


LISA WARBLED HER WAY through an old show tune as she rinsed the last of the hotel conditioner from her hair. She was in the process of enjoying the sting of hot water on her back for an extra decadent moment when the stream stopped short. Blinking fast, she discovered Javier in the shower beside her, his arm bracing the curtain open while he cut off her spray.

“I hope you’re going to make that up to me—” Her words halted as she spied the expression on his face. At once blank and forbidding, he stared at her with the dispassionate regard of a stranger. “What’s wrong?”

“Apparently we made the morning news.” He handed her a towel even though his gaze never slipped south of her eyes for a second. “Someone snagged a photo of us at the beach last week and I can only guess they sat on it so they could do a little investigative reporting to maximize the value of the picture.”

Lisa’s skin chilled. Her heart hitched for a moment at the disappointment—anger—in his eyes.

She wrapped the towel around her and sidestepped him in the steamy bathroom.

“And?” She could only imagine what an investigation into her past would bring.

“And you nearly died in a plane wreck eight years ago.” He placed his hand on her hip, clearly having seen the scars on her leg from that very same accident. “While I don’t give a damn what my manager has to say about me having a relationship with a woman who lives on the edge as much as me, I definitely give a damn that it never occurred to you to tell me—”

“You knew I had a similar past.” Feeling defensive, she reached for a second towel for her hair. Had she lost any chance they might have had at a relationship by not confiding in him?

“But I didn’t know it had almost killed you.”

His words burned a hole in her heart, making her wonder why she’d withheld that piece of her past even after he’d opened up to her about his brother. They had found something special together, but if they weren’t careful, they could hurt each other in the end.

She might have already hurt his career irrevocably, in fact. She’d taken her job with the Flames to try and help him past that need to take risks, but instead, she’d allowed herself to be caught up in the irrepressible hunger for life she saw in his eyes. Now, the chances the Flames management would send him packing had increased ten-fold because of her.

“It made me stronger in the end.” She pulled away, worried their time together might be drawing to a close and unable to think how to salvage a relationship without hurting each other more. “I shattered my hip and had to relearn how to walk. But it made me appreciate every second. I learned to appreciate my own worth.”