“And I really do need to be on my way.” Stella got up and put her empty water glass in the dishwasher.
Trick tossed his beer bottle in the recycle bin while she went to get her coat.
“We can catch up on the strategy at the next practice,” Trick said to Drew. “Give us both some time to digest it all.”
“Agreed,” Drew said, slapping Trick on the back. “See you an hour earlier, maybe?”
Trick nodded. “That’s a plan.”
Stella turned to Carolina and hugged her. “Thanks for spending time with me tonight. I’ll see you at the game Monday night?”
“Of course.”
Stella and Trick rode down the elevator together, Trick being surprisingly quiet. At least until they got outside.
“Share a cab with me?” he asked.
“Sure.”
Trick hailed a taxi, which fortunately didn’t take long since she really didn’t want to stand at the curb and shiver in the cold. They climbed inside and Trick gave the cab his address.
“My apartment is closer,” she said.
He turned to her. “But how can you take a nice hot bath at my place if I drop you off at yours?”
“You’re assuming I want to take a bath at your place.”
“I am. There’s still time to give the driver your address.”
She could say no, but she didn’t want to. “Your place is fine.”
“I knew you couldn’t resist me.”
She leaned against him. “You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you? When in actuality, your tub is bigger and it has jets.”
He put his arm around her. “Damn, Stell. I feel so used.”
Her lips curved. She really, really liked this man.
And the warning bells clanged loudly in her head.
Chapter Seven
Once at his apartment, Trick wasted no time in heading to his bathroom. He wasn’t joking about getting Stella relaxed. He’d seen her pointing her toes and wincing in just the short period of time he’d been at Drew and Carolina’s place, and knew a hot bath was just the thing she needed.
“You should get naked,” he said as she leaned against the doorway to his bathroom.
“Is that the line you use on all your women?”
“First, no. Second, I don’t have women. I have you.”
She gave him an unfathomable look. “You do have me—for tonight.”
He looked up from his seat on the side of the tub. “That’ll work. Now get naked. Tub’s filling. Sorry I don’t have bubble bath.”
She laughed and turned to enter his bedroom, drawing her top over her head. “I don’t need bubble bath.”
She came back a minute or so later and she was beautifully bare. He couldn’t help but take a minute to stare. Her body was a goddamned work of art. She was tall, with stunning long legs, her hair styled in short blonde spikes. She was a natural blonde, so the small tuft of hair at her sex was golden, making him go hard just thinking of touching her there, of licking her and relaxing her even more. Tonight she wore some kind of black sparkling earrings that only made the china-doll look of her face more prominent.
He could stare for hours at this amazing woman standing naked in his bathroom. But he wanted her warm and relaxed, so he held out his hand and guided her into the tub, grateful he’d selected a condo that had an oversized tub with the whirlpool jets. He often had his own sore muscles to deal with after a game, and while they had the whirlpools in the locker room, those aching muscles tended to stay that way, so he wanted his own tub. He was a pretty big guy, so a bathtub like this had been on his must list.
“This tub rocks, Trick,” she said, settling into the water up to her neck. “And jets, too? I might never leave.”
He turned on the jets and the water bubbled up all around her.
Stella leaned back and closed her eyes. “Oh, yeah. That’s it, Trick. Never leaving. Go over to my apartment and move my stuff in here.”
He laughed, but the thought of her staying here appealed. Seeing her makeup and things on his counter, her underwear and bras in some of his drawers? Yeah, he kind of liked the idea. He’d lived alone for a long time now, and had enjoyed his life as a bachelor. There had never been a woman who had ever tipped his radar in the way Stella had. She challenged him, wasn’t a clinger, and he couldn’t deny the chemistry they had.
But was that enough to want a long-term relationship? Hell, she didn’t want any kind of relationship.
“Trick. Trick.”
He looked over to see her watching him. “Yeah?”
“Are you intending to be my bathtub bodyguard all night or are you going to get naked and get in here with me?”
He liked the sound of that. With a curve to his lips, he drew his shirt over his head and popped the button on his pants.
“Now this is bath-time entertainment.” She leaned back in the tub and looked up at him.
Her nipples reacted to the cooler air by puckering, giving him his own version of bath-time entertainment.
She raised her knees and wrapped her arms around them, making room for him. It didn’t take long for him to shed the rest of his clothes. Or to get hard.