The Quarterback (The Team, #2)

by Tal Bauer

“And the worst part is… I feel so betrayed by her that I don’t know if I can ever trust another woman. How can I open myself up to someone again if she can go from the woman I adored to a woman I despise? I don’t understand how that happened. And I don’t know how to even begin to fall in love again.”

Tonight is a shitty night for you.” “It’s better with you here.”

How was he going to share a bedroom with Nick when he dreamed about the guy every night? What if he said Nick’s name in his sleep? Did he do that? He didn’t know. What if he came in his sleep? He did do that.

If you loved me, I’d never make you regret it. I’d never give you a reason to wish we hadn’t met. If you loved me, I’d never let you drink to try to forget us.

The judge listened and then issued the divorce, declaring their marriage, as of that day, legally over. Nick didn’t look at his ex once, and when the hearing was finished, he, Francesca, and Colton strode out of the courtroom and out of the courthouse as fast as they could.

Colton looked at Nick and almost drove off the road. Nick’s hand flew to the dash. “Sorry,” Colton grunted. He’d gotten lost in Nick’s gaze. “Do you trust me?” “After that?” Nick chuckled. “Well, maybe I shouldn’t, but I do.

I know you, and none of that is you.” Nick smiled. “You know me, huh?” His heart skipped three beats. “I hope I do.

Fifty-nine minutes later, he pulled into the parking lot of one of the best wineries and tasting rooms in all of Texas.

Aw <3

“You said you never got a chance.” He shrugged. “Why not now? It can be something you can remember well, not something you have to throw away.”

“This is perfect.” He reached across the console—like his dreams, like his fucking dreams, just like this, one of them reaching for the other—and squeezed Colton’s hand. “You do know me.”

He wanted to turn his hand over, tangle their fingers together. Wanted to tug Nick to him, press their lips together like they did in his dreams when they drove out to the edge of a lake and watched the sunset. He’d kissed Nick across his center console—like this, just like this—so many times he knew how the leather would sound when he shifted, when Nick shifted, when they leaned in.

He was with Nick, and that was the only place he wanted to be.

One of the attendants came to check on them after an hour. “Teaching your son about wine?” he asked Nick.

What a wild thing to assume nowadays

“He’s not my son.” He rested his hand on Colton’s lower back. “Oh!” The attendant’s eyes went wide. “I’m sorry. My mistake.”

how his cheeks were flushed and his eyes were bright and he talked with his hands. How his shoulder had become a comfortable weight against Colton, and how they kept looking into each other’s eyes as the afternoon bled on.

He’s not my son. That was true, but was it also… true? Was Nick saying something else?

Nick poured a glass and handed it to him. Their fingers brushed. Colton held his...

Nick pulled up his camera and said, “Smile,” and he snapped a photo of him and Colton together doing exactly what Colton had just thought they shouldn’t admit they were doing. In the photo, Colton had tipped his head toward Nick’s like he was with his damn girlfriend—boyfriend—and both of their faces were flushed, smiles stretching their cheeks as wide as they would go.

Justin texted You guys are together right now??? Where are you?? At a winery, Nick texted. We’re having a great time.

You know wine, bro? Wes sent the laughing emoji this time. He does! Nick, defending him. Jesus, he needed to pull out his phone, get in on the conversation. Or, he does now. :)

OMG are you guys actually hanging out? Dad, are you playing PlayStation with Colton still? Justin sent three lines of laughing emojis, like it was the funniest thing he’d e...

Colton knew what he wanted to text. We hang out all the time. I’m living with your dad. I dream about him every night. I imagine kissing him every hour of every day. Wes, can you teach me how to suck dick? I want to, but I’m afraid I’m going to suck at it. Excuse the pun. I’ve never wanted to before, and I don’t have any idea what to do.

Of course, he didn’t really need to learn how to suck a dick. Nick wasn’t going to let him suck his cock, and if it wasn’t Nick’s dick, he wasn’t interested.

Wes, is this what it felt like all those years? He watched Nick’s profile: the hard, straight line of his nose, the bow of his lips, the sharpness of his jaw. Watched his throat move as he sipped his wine. Watched his eyes flutter closed.

Is this how it feels to want something so fucking badly you ache for it? But you can’t have it, and you can’t reach out, and you can’t even admit that you want what you want? That you’re dying inside with every heartbeat, but you can’t stop this yearning? Is this what it feels like?

Nick had bought two cases of Colton’s favorite wine from the winery, the sweet summer red, and each night, he poured them a glass.

Nick had told him, more than once, that the winery visit was one of the best surprises of his life. That he’d had a great time—the best time he’d had in longer than he could remember. That he’d wanted to go so many times but never did, maybe because he was meant to go with Colton that day.

Had that really been a flirty look in Nick’s eyes? Had his palm lingered, a fraction of a second too long, on Colton’s back? Had he seen anything there, or was that only his desperate imagination?

He’d made this drive so many times in his dreams, always holding Nick’s hand, that it felt strange not to reach for Nick in real life.

They dove into business, and Kimbrough was patient with Colton when Nick turned the meeting over to him. The first time Colton had ever spoken in front of a client, and it was Nick’s biggest one.

“You hang on to this one, Nick,” Kimbrough rumbled. “He’s going to be a fine, fine man.” “The NFL will be very lucky to have him,” Nick said. He winked at Colton. Kimbrough nodded, but his intense, weather-worn eyes seemed to see everything, including what wasn’t on the surface, when he gazed at Colton.

No matter what your future holds, you’re going to be doing amazing things. Anyone will be lucky to have you.” He stared at Nick. Squeezed down on his pint glass and felt the icy condensation dribble between his fingers. I don’t want “anyone.” I want you.

I want a million nights like this. I want you to always smile at me exactly the way you are right now.

He moved before he could second-guess himself, overthink things too much, or wimp out like he’d done at the winery. Leaning in, he pressed his lips to Nick’s, tilting his head so their noses wouldn’t bump, so their lips would brush at that perfect juncture, where the bow of Nick’s lips would slide into the soft parting of Colton’s.

Colton pulled away. He swallowed and stared into the biggest, most shocked eyes he’d ever seen. Nick, stunned. Nick, speechless. Nick, blinking as he stared at Colton like Colton had just stepped out of an alien spaceship, descended from the moons of Jupiter. No, that’s not how this was supposed to go. That’s not what he’d imagined, had played out in both his daytime and nighttime fantasies.

He leaned in again, this time cupping Nick’s face with his left hand as he pressed their lips together. His thumb stroked Nick’s cheekbone as his fingers played in the hair at Nick’s neckline, above the starched collar of his button-down. Stubble tickled his palm.

Encroachment. Five-yard penalty. His mind screamed at him to stop moving his lips over Nick’s. Pull back. Run away. Don’t look into his eyes. You ju...

He squeezed his eyes closed, kissing Nick one last time, his lips molding to Nick’s once more, brushing gently before he tickled Nick’s bottom lip with the tiniest pass ...

He could spend the rest of the summer under his covers, getting fat on Fritos and Mountain Dew. If he just got one taste—

Nick’s lips parted. He groaned, and his tongue snaked out and met Colton’s as he reached for Colton with both hands, tugging him forward so unexpectedly he tumbled into Nick’s hold, his chest crashing against Nick’s as he stood in the bracket of Nick’s spread thighs.

“Are you kissing me back?” he blurted out. “Are you kissing me?” Nick breathed. “Well… yeah.”

His lips were parted, still shiny from their kiss—Jesus, that’s me, that’s me on his lips

“I want you.” His whisper bounced off Nick’s lips. “I want you, Nick.”

Something sparked deep inside Nick’s gaze. His pupils went from oceans of surprise, shock bleeding in all directions, to lakes of fire. Pools of magma. His gaze raked down Colton’s body, from his lips to his chest—where Nick was still grasping his shirt—to his waist and lower, then snapped up, lingering on Colton’s lips before shooting higher to catch Colton’s stare.

Nick shoved off his barstool. He slammed into Colton, their legs, hips, shoulders colliding. Colton jerked, and he grabbed Nick’s waist and held him tight, keeping them joined, body to body. He felt his cock go from scared and soft to desperate and hard against Nick, Nick’s crotch, Nick’s cock. “Let’s get out of here,” Nick growled.

My timbers are shivering

The walk back to the hotel was a blur. Colton remembered his back hitting brick walls, remembered clinging to Nick’s waist as they kissed feverishly.

Nick’s tongue tangling with his. His head thrown back, scraping against brick and mortar as Nick bit down on his jaw or neck. Nick’s hands traveling over his hips, sliding up his sides and over his ribs. Their bodies arching together.

He grabbed Nick around the waist and hauled him close, then backed up, all the way to Nick’s bed. He sealed his lips over Nick’s, thrust his tongue into Nick’s mouth.

He tore the damn thing off and dropped it beside the bed as he fell backward, still holding Nick. His shoulder twanged once, and then he forgot he had a shoulder.

His kiss was a tornado: wild, ferocious, unrestrained. It was like a full defensive line bearing down on Colton, and he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. Could only grab Nick and kiss him back.