False Start: A Fake Dating Sports Romance (Red Zone Rivals)

A few hours later, I slid my key card over the sensor on our hotel room door, opening it slowly and quietly just in case Madelyn was still asleep.

I was greeted by the soft sound of music, something old and familiar sounding, though I couldn’t quite place it.

Tossing my wallet and hotel key on the desk, I took in the room.

The bed was a mess, the comforter and sheets twisted up and pillows piled up like she’d made that fort around her even though I wasn’t here.

The tea I’d sent up was on the nightstand, a kettle as well as two mugs. One was untouched while the other had just a sliver of tea left in it. I lifted it to my nose and inhaled, smiling at the way that scent brought memories back.

I promptly closed my eyes and shook my head on an internal curse.

Keep it together, Robbins.

I knew when I had lowered my lips to her forehead earlier — without an audience to pretend for — that I was in deep shit.

This was all pretend. This was me doing what I could to protect her while selfishly using the situation to avoid being solo at another wedding.

Holding her hand in front of my friends? Fair. Stealing a kiss or two? Also fair.

But showing that kind of emotion when no one was around to see it?

It was dangerous.

I expected Madelyn would probably tell me so, too, as I followed the sound of the music. Now that she’d taken a nap and had some tea, she was probably overanalyzing that move I’d made and wondering what the hell I was thinking.

I was fully ready for her to lay into me just like she had that day I’d proposed this scheme at the house showing. I could hear her already, the way her voice would grow stern as she pointed her finger at me and reminded me we weren’t even friends, let alone anything more.

But when I made it to the bathroom, I thought I’d find her doing her hair or makeup in the mirror.

Instead, I found her in the bathtub.

It was only a split second. I turned the corner, ready to ask her how she was feeling, and my eyes had shot to where she was sprawled out in the water. Her eyes were closed, her head resting on the back of the tub, a thin layer of bubbles just barely hiding her breasts from view.

I jolted back out of view, praying she didn’t hear or see me. For a long moment, I stayed like that, back pressed against the wall and heart hammering out of my chest as I waited for her to yell at me.

But she didn’t.

Instead, a full sixty seconds passed with just that soft music crooning and the sounds of water gently splashing.

And then, a moan.

I froze, eyes wide and heart picking up its pace. My fingers rolled into fists at my sides as I forced a slow, steady exhale.

Madelyn whimpered, the sound of the water splashing picking up pace a bit, and then she let out another long, deep moan.

Fuck.

She was touching herself.

I closed my eyes with my nostrils flaring, pressing my back even more into the wall to keep myself from bolting into that bathroom and doing something I’d regret.

I needed to leave.

I needed to slowly back away and take my stupid ass right back out the door.

But I was rooted in place, straining to hear another sweet sound over the music.

My cock was already rock hard, pitching a tent against my joggers. I listened to the water splashing, and then stilling, to the sound of labored breathing over the jazz until another low moan ripped from her throat.

I couldn’t swallow past the knot in my throat, couldn’t breathe properly with how hard my heart was beating.

And instead of walking away, I slid along the wall slowly, silently, until I could peek through the crack of the open door above the hinges.

All I could see at first was her foot, wet and dripping water on the tile floor. Her toes curled, a chorus of soft, whimpering sounds floating up from her lips.

Christ.

My cock begged for me to relieve it as I followed the line of her leg up, finding her head still tilted back in ecstasy, her lips parted, a line between her brows as her hands worked under the water.

I closed my eyes.

Time to leave, you fucking creep.

And I was doing just that.

I was turning around, ready to walk out when I heard her murmur something that stopped me in my tracks.

I strained to hear against the thumping of my heartbeat in my ears.

A moment later, she moaned again.

She moaned my name.

“Kyle,” she breathed. “Yes, just like that.”

A stronger man would have walked away. A smarter man would have gone into the hallway and waited ten minutes before knocking and loudly announcing their return.

But in that moment, I wasn’t smart or strong.

I was helplessly driven by the lower half of my brain, and when it came to that woman, I was weak as fuck.

Madelyn gasped as one of her hands slid up to palm her breast, and I caught just the glimpse of her dark nipple before she covered it and arched into the touch.

I couldn’t take it.

Swiftly, I reached into my joggers, one palm wrapping around my aching cock as I suffocated the groan I wanted to let loose as soon as I was touching myself. I kept my eyes locked on what little of her I could see through the slot above the door hinges, pumping myself in long, slow strokes as my eyes feasted on the sight of her.

She wet her lips as one hand squeezed her breast hard, and then that foot that was dangling over the tub found purchase on the edge. She pressed her weight into it, bucking her hips until she was lifted out of the water.

And then her pussy was above the bubbles, above the water, pink and glistening as she ran her fingers in tight circles over her clit.

I bit down hard on my lip to keep silent, fucking my hand faster to match her rhythm. She found the friction she was looking for out of the water, and her thighs quaked as she circled her clit and let out a whimpering moan.

“Jesus Christ,” I whispered, so low it was barely a sound at all. I rolled my fist over my crown, flexing my hips into the touch as my breath grew shallower.

Madelyn’s face was red now from straining, and she lifted her hips as much as she could, the hand on her breast moving down between her legs. She let out a hot, short breath as she plunged one finger inside herself, and a searing fire licked along my spine at the sight.

She was fucking her fingers, writhing in that water and chasing a release. Her chest heaved with every breath, her wet hair stuck to her lips and neck as she worked. She moved those fingers over her clit faster and faster, and I stifled another grunt as I matched her pace with my climax within reach.

“Yes,” she whined, biting her lip. “Yes, Kyle. God, yes.”

“Oh, fuck,” I growled, and I knew it was loud enough for her to hear, but she didn’t stop. She bucked wilder, and I squeezed my eyes shut as I came, spraying the door with my release and curling my other hand into a fist to fight from making another fucking sound.

My release was short-lived, an explosion of pleasure and then a mind-numbing overdrive of sensation. I pulsed out the last of it, cursing when I saw the mess I’d made.

I needed to clean it up, but my selfish ass was too greedy.

I had to see her finish first.

I slowed my pace on my cock, shivering a bit when my fist covered the wet, sensitive tip as I brought my gaze back to Madelyn. She was close, her face beet red, legs trembling and breasts heaving with every ragged breath she took.

“Come on, baby,” I silently encouraged. “Let me see you come.”

As if she’d heard me, Madelyn went absolutely wild, touching herself with fervor as she writhed and bucked and moaned.

But then, she stopped.

Abruptly, she let herself fall back into the water, her hands flying up into her hair as she let out a frustrated groan.

I blinked, unsure of what was happening until she dragged those hands over her face and shook her head. She sank down into the water next, blowing bubbles underwater until she re-emerged and pushed her wet, copper locks back from her face.

Then, she was pulling the plug.

Fuck!

Hastily, I grabbed a tissue off the bedside table, cleaning my mess and my cock before I tucked it away again. I could hear Madelyn getting out of the bath as I silently tiptoed over to my key card and wallet before sneaking back out into the hallway.

I let out a loud breath of relief when I was outside, pressing my back to the wall and pinching the bridge of my nose.

“What the actual fuck, Kyle?”

I shook my head, sighing and looking up at the ceiling with my hand dropping down to slap against my thigh.

She said my name.

The memory of it made me close my eyes on another silent curse.

But then, my brain was hyper focused on the fact that she hadn’t come.

It was like she couldn’t.

And it made me absolutely feral with the need to take over and prove I could get her there.

When I felt marginally put together again, I slid my key card over the sensor again, this time loudly announcing my presence as soon as I pushed through the door.

“I’m back,” I said, tossing my wallet and hotel key on the same desk I had before. “Are you decent? Because if so, I can go back out and wait for you to get naked.”

I hoped the joke came out without the shake I swore I felt in my voice. I stayed by the foot of the bed, pretending like I was taking in the scene for the first time as Madelyn swung out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel.

She was still dripping wet, her face flushed and her smile a little strained. “In your dreams, Robbins,” she said.

“My teenage dreams, for sure,” I shot back with a wink.

She rolled her eyes, and I thought I saw her shaking a bit as she ran a hand over her wet hair and let out a long exhale.

“How long do I have before we need to go?”

I checked the time on my phone. “About an hour.”

“Perfect. You need to shower? I can do my makeup in here.”

My throat was tight when I nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be quick.”

“Take your time,” she said, moving her stuff into the main bedroom where a large, floor-length mirror was.

She sank down right on the floor, legs crossed under her towel. For a second, she frowned at her reflection, sighing like she looked like hell when it was the exact opposite. Then, she looked up at me, her expression a bit solemn, brows folding together.

“Thank you,” she said.

She didn’t need to say what for. I could see it in her eyes.

She needed that time alone.

That time to rest, to wake up slowly and drink tea, to listen to music and touch herself in a bubble bath.

She probably hadn’t done it in years.

I nodded, clearing my throat. “I’ll be quick,” I said again, which made me wince at the dumb repetitiveness, and Madelyn smiled, cheeks flushing a bit more when she turned back to her reflection.

I bolted for the shower, shutting the bathroom door behind me and ripping off my clothes like they were made of pine needles.

I ran that water as cold as it would go before I stepped under the spray.