Playing with Forever (Sydney Smoke Rugby) Read online

  He wasn’t sure why he didn’t want the guys to know about Juliet. God knew he often embellished his hookups at poker night. But Juliet wasn’t a hookup. He might not have known her for long, but he already knew that. And he didn’t want the guys thinking that about her, either.

  “Hang on a moment.” Linc narrowed his eyes at Ryder. “It’s a chick, isn’t it?”

  Linc’s gaze was eerily insightful. Fuck’s sake. “Jesus, you’re a pain in the ass,” Ryder bitched. “Just because you’re under the thumb doesn’t mean everyone else wants to keep it in their pants. You’re worse than a reformed alcoholic.”

  Three happily whipped faces all exchanged shit-eating grins. “Monogamy’s not so bad,” Linc said.

  Two days ago, Ryder would have rejected that. But considering all he could think about was being with Juliet, he was reassessing his opinion.

  Mostly Ryder had kept things easy come, easy go with chicks. He’d had relationships in the past. A few here and there that had lasted one or two months. But none of those women had ever had him in such a spin.

  Donovan snorted. “Jesus, dude, who are you and what have you done with Lincoln Quinn?”

  There was general laughter and Ryder thought he was off the hook until Tanner cocked an eyebrow. “So what’s her name?”

  Ryder glared at his skipper. “Are we playing poker or not?”

  He shook his head. “Not now we’re not.”

  “Fuck’s sake.” Ryder gave an exaggerated sigh. “It’s the bloody dog, okay?”

  It wasn’t a lie. He hadn’t gone to karaoke last night because of Tiny.

  “You’re screwing the dog?” Bodie clinked his beer bottle to Ryder’s. “Dude, chops to you, that’s one big motherfucker.”

  “Just watch the teeth,” Dex said, and five badass professional rugby players laughed like a group of drunken toddlers.

  Ryder waited for them to get over themselves. “If you must know, I’m taking the bloody great lug to puppy preschool. It’s every Tuesday evening for the next six weeks.”

  Ryder figured that’d be the end of it, but he’d forgotten that they could pretty fucking nosy for a bunch of dudes.

  Dex regarded him for a moment. “Puppy preschool doesn’t go all night, does it? Karaoke doesn’t even get good until ten. So I’m assuming you got a better offer from someone in the class?”

  He hesitated for a second. “No.” Strictly speaking, Juliet wasn’t in the class.

  But it was death to hesitate in front of any of these guys—on or off the field. They’d sensed blood. “Yes.” Tanner nodded. “I like it. Some pretty young thing with one of those yappy little dogs.”

  “The kind that always tries to hump your leg,” Linc added.

  Ryder thought of Rufus and smiled. Big mistake.

  “Bingo!” Linc crowed.

  “Fair dinkum. Is this what being in a relationship is like? So boring you gotta live vicariously through guys like me? Okay then.”

  He threw his cards down, affecting his most piteous expression.

  “Yeah, I hooked up at the dog park. Her name was Ariel.” He pressed his hand to his heart. “She had this long wavy hair down to her ass. We walked on the moonlit beach and made love in the sand while the dogs frolicked in the surf. It was magical right until she slipped into the water and grew a magnificent silvery tail. She begged me to go with her to her underwater kingdom, but they don’t play rugby there, so she swam away. Now”—Ryder looked at each of them as he picked up his cards—“do you want me to draw you a picture as well or can we play fucking poker already?”

  “That’s what she said,” Bodie muttered, which caused more hilarity.

  Fuck. He was never going to get out of here.

  Ryder finally managed to get away at nine thirty. The guys made several cracks about rushing home to Tiny, but considering how many he’d made in the past he copped it on the chin.

  He didn’t care. He just wanted to get to Juliet.

  He shot off a quick text as he unlocked his car door. Leaving now. See you in thirty.

  Her reply was almost instantaneous. She must have been sitting on her phone, waiting for him to text. Any longer and I’m starting without you.

  Ryder grinned. Oh yeah. He wanted to see that. But not tonight. Tonight, he and he alone was going to be responsible for her pleasure.

  All. Night. Long.

  He didn’t care how tired that made him for training in the morning or how many extra laps Griff might decide to punish him with. Juliet was worth it.

  Except when she opened the door to him half an hour later, he knew it wasn’t going to happen. “What’s wrong?” he asked as he caught the deep frown on her face.

  “Who is it?”

  Ryder looked over Juliet’s shoulder to see a woman of about the same age, eyes red and swollen, her nose running, sitting on the couch. Chip packets and a mountain of tissues were scattered all around the floor, some kind of booze and two glasses sat on the coffee table.

  That did not look good.

  “It’s the guy who owns the dog,” Juliet assured the other woman. “Just give me a sec. I’ll be right back.”

  She pushed him outside into the alcove and shut the door behind her, the night enveloping them. “God, sorry Ryder…I can’t—”

  Ryder swooped down, his mouth silencing hers. Whatever she was about to say could wait thirty seconds. He’d been fantasising about kissing her all day and he’d just endured three hours of shit from his teammates and he needed to kiss her.

  She sighed, then moaned, her arms creeping up his neck as she moved restlessly against him. He crushed her closer, opened his mouth wider, grabbed her ass and pulled her in tight. He was so damn hard for her he thought his cock was going to split its skin.

  She tasted good. Like salt and vinegar chips and Bailey’s Irish cream. Who knew that was such a fucking turn on?

  “I’ve been wanting to do that all bloody day.” He pressed his forehead to hers as his lungs grabbed much-needed oxygen.

  “Me too.” She pulled out of his embrace. “Only Kelly came home fifteen minutes ago and she’s just been dumped and I’ve been here before with her and it’s not pretty. So what kind of a friend would I be, letting let her go through it alone because I want to fuck you so badly I can barely see straight?”

  “Christ.” His fingers curled into his palms. “Don’t tell me that when you’re about to kick me to the curb.”

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “She was there for me when the shoe was on the other foot.”

  Ryder wondered at the cryptic comment, realising suddenly that he knew precious little about Juliet. He’d had his hands down her pants, she’d blown him for god’s sake, yet he didn’t know anything much about her.

  Something he intended to correct. ASAP. “I’m happy to wait.” Hell, he’d wait for hours if that’s what it took. “I’ll just crawl into your bed and go to sleep, you won’t even know I’m there. Then you can wake me when it’s over.”

  Preferably naked.

  She shook her head. “Trust me, it’s going to be an epic night of excessive booze and self-flagellation. There will be hangovers. But if she knows you’re waiting in bed for me, she’ll feel guilty about it and she feels shitty enough as it is.”

  Ryder sighed. Just his luck to develop a thing for a chick who took her friendships seriously. Another bloody thing to like about her. Looked like he was spending another night home alone in his bed with only a farting dog for company.

  “Of course.” He pulled her flush with him again, his body stirring instantly to the feel of hers. “Tomorrow night, yeah?”

  “Oh god yes.”

  She rose up on tiptoe and kissed him, and he sunk into the touch and the taste and the smell of her. She moaned and rubbed herself against him and Ryder lost his mind for a minute before he dragged himself back from the edge, breathing heavily. “That’s not helping.”

  It was satisfying on a very male level to hear she was breathing just as heavily. “
Sorry…I seem to lose my head around you, Ryder Davis.”

  “The feeling is entirely mutual.” Ryder squeezed her hip one last time before he let her go. “I’ll just grab Tiny.”

  “Nah, leave him. Pick him up from the shelter after you finish training tomorrow. He seems happy enough, and you brought enough food for a week.”

  “That,” Ryder grinned, “was my dastardly plan.”

  She laughed then and her face softened. “Thank you for being so understanding.”

  “Of course.” He was a grown man for fuck’s sake, not a kid who threw a tantrum every time he didn’t get his way.

  “Only makes me want to do you more.”

  Ryder grimaced. “That’s not helping, either.”

  They stood staring at each other, the sexual attraction between them red hot. He expected her to turn and leave, but she lingered, her eyes roving over him like she’d rather be doing very wicked things to his body.

  “Go.” Ryder’s voice was husky again. “Before I grab you again.”

  She went. And took his peace of mind with her.

  Chapter Six

  Juliet’s hangover had not long subsided when Ryder stepped into the shelter just after one. And man, he was a sight for sore eyes. He smiled at her. The kind of smile that said I’ve seen your titties and I like them.

  “Hey.”

  “Hey.” She smiled back. The kind of smile that said I’ve seen your cock and I like it.

  He was in the same kind of clothes he’d been in yesterday morning—god, had it only been yesterday?—but with the addition of his black Akubra pulled low against the bright April sunshine.

  He took it off, and she could see his hair was damp with sweat, as was his shirt on closer inspection. He mustn’t have bothered showering after his training session. Juliet’s belly tightened. There was just something about a sweaty man that had always done it for her.

  Good sweaty. Not the festering-for-hours, never-worn-deodorant kind. The healthy kind worked up through hard physical labour. The primal survival kind that attracted a woman to the type of man who could keep her in mammoth stew and furs.

  It clearly didn’t matter how sophisticated humans thought they were or how far they’d come. Hundreds of thousands of years of evolution and it still got down to how a man smelled.

  Mother Nature was one crazy bitch.

  He halted on the other side of the desk, glancing over her shoulder at the woman sitting at a desk, staring at a computer. Margie Adams was the director of the shelter and her boss.

  “Hey, Margie, meet Ryder.” Juliet reluctantly dragged her eyes off him to perform the introductions. “This is Tiny’s owner.”

  Margie looked up from the screen. “Hi,” she said with a polite smile, her brain obviously on other things. But then her eyes bugged a little. “Oh. You’re Ryder Davis.”

  Juliet blinked. It was crazy to think people knew this guy. That he was some kind of hotshot sports celebrity. Not the regular guy with the out-of-control dog who’d skidded into the shelter three days ago.

  He smiled at Margie as she rose and joined Juliet at the desk. “Guilty as charged.”

  Juliet blinked again as Margie, who was in her early fifties with three grown kids and five grandkids, blushed as she stuck her hand out. “Nice to meet you,” she said. “I’m a huge Smoke fan. Going to be at the home game on Saturday night.”

  “That’s great.” Ryder grinned as he shook the older woman’s hand. “And thanks for letting Tiny hang out here. It’s been a godsend, I really appreciate it.”

  “Oh—” Margie waved a dismissive hand. “What’s one more dog?”

  Ryder chuckled and Juliet wondered if Margie, who’d suddenly leaned heavily against the bench, was having some kind of stroke. Or maybe an orgasm. God knew that low laugh of his somehow managed to reach right inside her underwear and set up camp.

  “Well…” Margie said on what sounded like a sigh. “Gotta get back to the paperwork.”

  “Thanks again.” He waited until she’d sat and returned her attention to the screen before he spoke again. “So…” His voice was low and Juliet had to lean in to hear him over the background noise of barking dogs. “How’s the hangover?”

  Juliet grimaced. “Mostly gone.” A waft of passionfruit-flavoured sweat came at her and Juliet inhaled deeply. It was sweet and salty all at once. Heavenly compared to the rather more pungent aroma of dogs.

  The shelter smell had taken a week or so to get used to when Juliet started here nine months ago.

  “And—” He leaned even closer. “How’s Kelly?”

  Juliet groaned a little. Time to break the bad news. “She’s fine, but…”

  He narrowed his eyes. “But?”

  “The girls and I promised her last night—”

  “The girls?”

  She nodded. “I have two other female flatmates.”

  “Really?”

  Juliet wondered if he was trying to calculate how often their sexy times might be interrupted by a girl crisis. “Yes. It’s a big apartment and the rent around here is hideous, not that you would know that, Mr. Art Deco. Does that much oestrogen frighten you?”

  “Hardly. I have four sisters.”

  Four sisters? Huh. Well that explained his easy way with her and possibly why her frankness hadn’t shocked him.

  “Of course, it would make my day if you were to tell me that you all get naked together and have pillow fights on the weekend.”

  Juliet burst out laughing. “No wonder your dog is such a pervert. Anyway…” She steered the conversation back on track. “We promised her we’d all have a girl’s night in together tonight, watching revenge movies. It’s a bit of a breakup ritual.”

  “Revenge movies?”

  “Yeah, you know. First Wives Club, Kill Bill, Misery.”

  “Misery?”

  Juliet shrugged. “She likes the bit where the dude gets his ankles smashed with the sledgehammer.”

  He winced. “She gets dumped a lot, then?”

  “Oh yes.” She nodded. “Lousy taste in men.”

  “Unlike you.” He leaned closer again. “Who has excellent taste.”

  After four years wasting her life on a guy who’d only ever used her, that was debatable…but she’d hit the jackpot with Ryder. “You’re pretty chipper considering we’re going to have to put off our…” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “Consummation…another night.”

  He sighed. “I am, aren’t I?”

  “I swear, tomorrow night, come hell, high water, or boyfriend emergency, I’m all yours.”

  It was his turn to groan. “I’m flying to Canberra after training for a club commitment. Not back until Saturday lunch time. I was going to ask you if you’d watch Tiny for me.”

  Juliet almost sobbed. Maybe she needed to take that as a sign from the universe. But she wasn’t planning on marrying the guy. She only had two more months and she wasn’t leaving the country without taking a few big bites out of Ryder Davis.

  “Of course. No worries.”

  “Come to the game on Saturday night. The club has a couple of corporate boxes with awesome views of the field.”

  “Oh.”

  Juliet hadn’t thought about going on a date. She didn’t need it—she was, after all, a sure thing. And well…she wasn’t exactly the sporty kind. The thought of watching a bunch of guys kick a ball around wasn’t her idea of entertainment. But…watching Ryder do anything wouldn’t exactly be a hardship.

  “Most of the WAGs—wives and girlfriends,” he clarified at her puzzled look, “hang out in one of the boxes. They’re all really nice and friendly, they’ll look after you.”

  “But…I’m not your girlfriend. Won’t that be a problem?”

  “Nah. We’re allowed to invite whoever we want. It’s not just for WAGs.”

  Which made Juliet wonder just how many whoevers Ryder had invited to the corporate box over the years. But, as she’d just been at pains to point out, she wasn’t his girlfriend, so get
ting weird about it was plain dumb.

  Hell, they hadn’t even had sex yet.

  Not the penetrative kind anyway. God…even thinking about penetration made her horny.

  So she needed to correct that pronto and Saturday night was clearly going to be her best opportunity. If she had to sit through a footy game first then so be it. She would have already waited two orgasms—one his, one hers—and five freaking days.

  “Okay. Sure.” Her gaze dropped to his mouth. She wanted to kiss him. Crawl over the counter and suck his lips right off his face. But she could wait another two days.

  Probably.

  He was watching her when her gaze returned to his, a smile curving his mouth like he knew exactly what she was thinking. “I’ll text you the details.”

  Juliet nodded. “Sure, thanks. I’ll just…get Tiny.”

  “And I’ll watch your ass as you walk away.”

  Juliet made sure she put a little extra wiggle into it.

  Juliet was met at the gates of Henley stadium by a woman called Eve who introduced herself as Griffin King’s PA. She looked about forty and was in a baggy team jersey and trousers that left everything to the imagination, but she was friendly and chatty as she led Juliet to the corporate box.

  For some reason, Juliet hadn’t been nervous about sitting in the box with the wives and girlfriends of the other Smoke players. She and Ryder weren’t in any kind of a relationship and, apart from what she hoped was going to be a few sessions of pretty spectacular sex, they weren’t going to be, either.

  It wasn’t like this was some kind of date or a meet-the-family-and-friends thing. It was a…prelude.

  To finally getting naked with the man.

  But suddenly Eve was ushering her through the door and introducing her to ten women all scrutinising her, and she realised how stupid she’d been to be so casual. These were seriously gorgeous women, and she’d rocked up in her comfy old jeans and a T-shirt.

  Wasn’t that what people wore to the footy? They did on the TV.

  Of course, the goofy slogan didn’t help. Ruck me, Maul me, Make me Scrum had seemed funny when Bea had produced it this afternoon. Juliet had figured Ryder would get a laugh out of it just prior to ripping it off with his teeth and Eve hadn’t batted an eyelid but…