Hail Mary (Red Zone Rivals, #4)

by Kandi Steiner

“Oh, I don’t know. I guess you can start with tattooing my name on your chest,” I joked. But when I looked at Leo again, his face was dead serious. “Okay.” I barked out a laugh, shoving him away playfully. “I was kidding.” “I’m not.” “You’re not getting a tattoo of my name.” “I don’t care what it is. Ink me with whatever you want.” I licked my bottom lip in amusement, folding my arms over my chest. “Do you have any tattoos?” “Not one.” “You realize they’re permanent?” “Yep.” “And that they hurt?” He sucked his teeth at that. “Come on, now — I get thrown to the ground and pummeled by three-hundred-pound defensive linemen on a regular basis.” I chewed the inside of my cheek, watching him for a sign that he was bluffing — but found nothing. “You’re really serious.” “I really am. Come on,” he said, standing and holding his hand out for mine. “Let’s do it.”

“Now?” “Right now.” I barely got another laugh out before he was hauling me up out of bed.

I liked even more that she was marking me permanently, that she was real and I was about to have proof of her existence forever.

Now that I had my chance to fight for Mary, I was willing to put everything on the line — including my pride.

It was so cruel, how her life had plummeted that day because of me, and I hadn’t even noticed. And my life had shifted, too, but it was because I lost her. I lost her by my own fucking hand. Thinking of how my team had treated her after, how I had been so broken I hadn’t even noticed… And even if I did back then, I didn’t care. I couldn’t care about anything or anyone other than the girl online who’d left me like a ghost in the night. It was all so gut-wrenching, it made it hard to think straight.

“Stop looking at me like that,” Mary said, bringing me back to the present. “Like I’d devour you if you said the word?” The gun paused over my skin, and she went white before her eyes shot to mine. “What?” “That’s what you said to me,” I reminded her. “When you were drunk off your ass during the preseason game.” “No,” she said, pulling away and covering her mouth with one hand. Her eyes doubled in size. “No, please tell me you’re kidding.” “Nope,” I said with a victorious smile. “To be fair, your assessment was spot on.”

“Well, that embarrassing tidbit aside, I meant the way you were looking at me just now.” She peeked up at me only a second before her eyes were back on where she was working. “Like I remind you of everything you regret.” I swallowed down the urge to tell her that was partly true.

She looked a little tired, but in the way only an artist could be after completing another masterpiece, like she left a little bit of her soul in me. I loved the thought of that, that no matter what happened next, she’d always exist in me in some way.

Every muscle in my face went slack, awe striking me like a lightning bolt. “Holy shit, Mary.” The skin was still a bit red and angry from being stabbed a million times over the last five hours, but underneath the slight swelling was the most bad ass octopus tattoo I’d ever seen. The dark ink of the outline was clean and precise, but the shading of the head, of each tentacle, of the little suckers and the textured skin — that was what stole the show. I would never say it out loud, but it was far better than what I’d expected.

“Adding to your list of regrets?” Mary asked from where she stood behind me. My eyes found hers in the mirror, and I swallowed. Emotion gripped my throat in a tight vise. “It’s perfect,” I said.

“I know you’ve been worried about your style, but I can tell you confidently that you have nothing to worry about. Because this tattoo is sick. It’s bad ass. Fucking incredible. Maravilloso,” I said as her eyes teared up a bit. “And I love it.” A victorious smile found her then. “Really?” “Really. But I hope you realize what you’ve done, because now I want you to mark every last inch of my skin.”

“Tattoos are addicting.” But as she cleaned my piece and covered it with a second skin, giving me all the aftercare instructions, I watched her with the truth vibrating through my chest. It was her who was the addiction.

“Do you want the bed tonight? I feel so awful that you’re still on the—” Leo cut my words off with a roll of his eyes before he reached out, snagged my wrist in his hand, and tugged me into him. “I’m fine, Stig,” he said with a smirk aimed down at me. “And I like having you in my bed.”

“Is it okay that I call you that?” My heart skipped a beat before picking up double time. All I could do was nod, because all my awareness was zeroed in on where one of his hands held my waist, the other cradling my jaw. Suddenly, I wasn’t tired anymore. I watched as Leo’s throat bobbed with a thick swallow, like he just realized how close we were, too. He slowly slid his hand behind my neck, pulling me into him for a hug. “Thank you for tonight,” he said softly.

He’d offered me a place to stay when I had nowhere to go. He’d given up his bed for me without thinking twice. My heart kicked so hard I sat upright. Because now, the one overwhelming thing I felt was that I wanted him in that bed with me. I didn’t let myself overthink it, didn’t consider how it might hurt in the morning. I threw the rest of the covers off me and scrambled out of bed, all but tripping over my bare feet as I lunged for the door. I yanked it open so fast the air blew my hair back. And then I froze, because Leo stood waiting on the other side.

His jaw was a hard line, the muscle of it ticking under the skin as he stood perfectly still. All he had on was a pair of black sweatpants, and my eyes trailed the hills and valleys of his tan abdomen before they snagged on the fresh ink marking his chest. My ink. My art. Mine.

Slowly — so achingly slowly that my chest seized with the pressure of watching it — Leo lifted his hand. He stretched it out, toward me, his eyes following the movement until his fingers found my t-shirt. He caught it right above my hips, and we both stopped breathing with that one singular touch. Then, he twisted his fist in the fabric and pulled me into him, catching me as we collided in a kiss that shattered time.

“You have consumed me for months,” Leo breathed against my neck, maneuvering my head so he could kiss along the column of my throat before working his way back to my mouth. “Por años.” A bruising kiss punctuated that anguished confession before he pressed his forehead to mine, our breaths hot and frantic between us. “I couldn’t sleep one more night without making you mine.”

“You couldn’t either, could you?” he asked, nipping my bottom lip. “You were coming to find me.” “Yes,” I breathed. “Tell me you want this, too,” he begged, and for a moment, he held me still, eyes searching mine. “Tell me you need me.”

“I think this speaks louder than words,” I said, lining my fingers behind his as I pressed him to my core, slicking both of us with just how badly I wanted him. “Fucking Christ,” he cursed, and then he was kissing me again, pushing me so hard against the wall with his body that I felt pressure everywhere. But none of it compared to where he spread my legs wider with his thigh, skating one digit through my wetness before dipping the tip of his finger inside me.

“Sweet, perfect fucking pussy,” he praised. “Wet and ready for me. I should just turn you around and fuck you against this wall right now. I’d slide inside you so easy, fill you to the fucking brim.”

Leo smiled against my lips, but then his hand withdrew, and I shuddered at the loss. “No,” I whined. “If you think I’m going to fuck you without worshipping this perfect fucking body first, you don’t know me at all.”

“I’ve played by your rules all summer,” he growled. “Tonight — you play by mine.”

“Te ves tan bonita en mi cama,” he said, eyes raking over where my hair splayed out over the pillow. “You look so fucking pretty in my bed.”

“Oh, hell no,” he said, shaking his head. “Fuck no. You’ve been teasing me for months in those little boy shorts, wearing no bra, giving me just enough to drive me fucking insane.”

“Open these legs wide for me, baby.” He pushed and pushed until my hips hit their maximum, until I was completely at his disposal. “Let me see my girl.”

“These fucking tits,” he swore, balancing on one palm while the other cupped my right breast. “Tan perfecta.”

“You are the fucking worst.” “Hate me again?” he teased, and the motherfucker licked my clit so subtly, just a quick lashing of his tongue that it did nothing but cool my already-sensitive bud. “So much.” “That so?” he asked, and this time he ran his tongue along my entrance, up and over my clit, licking everywhere but where I wanted him to. “Leo,” I begged, squirming. “Fuck, I love it when you say my name like that.” He rewarded me with a brief suck of my clit that made my legs quake around him. “When I let you come, that’s all I want to hear.”

“You don’t own me,” I said, trying to scoff even as I writhed beneath him. “Oh, but I do, cariño,” he said, and his eyes stayed locked on mine as he swept his tongue up the length of me. “And you own me, too.”

He ate my pussy like it was a goddamn privilege, and it was that vision that made me peak.

“Don’t hide. That was fucking hot, Stig.”

“Come here,” he said. “I want you on your knees.”

“I won’t be able to take you all the way in my mouth,”

“You’re in control,”

“It’s yours, baby,” I told her. “Take it.”

“You feel so fucking good,” I told her, moving my hands to grip her ass. “I want to fill you. I want you to sit this sweet ass all the way down.”

“Mierda, Mary,” I breathed, my lungs on fire at the sight of her as she lifted and did it again.

“One more, baby,” I whispered in her ear. “One more for me.”

“Are you caging me, sir?” “You’re damn fucking straight, I am.”

She slipped away quickly, her breaths turning long and slow. And I kissed the back of her neck knowing I was ruined for anyone else.

“Last night was…” He swallowed, thumbing my jaw. “Everything. It was everything to me, Stig.” I nodded, leaning into his palm and closing my eyes. The motion set two more tears free, and Leo let out a pained sigh. “Please, tell me what’s wrong.”

“Whatever lies your brain is telling you, don’t believe them,” he pleaded. Then, with his hand holding mine until he had no choice but to pull away, he jogged out the door and down the stairs, grabbing his bag off the floor on the way out. Once I heard the front door shut, my heart went into double time again. See? Everything is fine, my brain tried to assure me. No, it’s not, my heart combatted.

“See?! I haven’t read more than a page since I finished that Elsie Silver cowboy romance two weeks ago.” She pouted. “I’m ruined.”

“I missed you,” I admitted. Her entire body softened in my arms at that, and she leaned up again, her eyes soft under bent brows. “I’m sorry.” “For what?” “For running.” “Is that what that was?”

“I’m fucking terrified, Leo.”

“Of me?” I asked. She nodded, and a piece of me died. “I woke up yesterday, and the first thing I thought was that I’d been made a fool of.” I moved to hold her. “Mary, I—” “Let me finish,” she said, holding up a hand to stop my advance.

“I was overcome with panic that I had been some kind of conquest for you, that you’d known who I was all along and I was just another game, another notch on your headboard.” I shook my head harder with every word she said, fighting the urge to interrupt her and tell her she was wrong. “But,” she continued on a sigh. “I know that’s just my own insecurity.”

“You… you’re Leo fucking Hernandez,” she said on a laugh.

“You could have any girl you want, any fit, hot girl in the world.” She shook her head. “It doesn’t make sense that you’d ever want me.”

“Are you insane?” I couldn’t help myself this time. I grabbed her by the elbows and made her look at me. “You are the most beautiful, the most entrancing woman I have ever laid eyes on. And you’re witty, and smart, and talented, and creative, and brave.” She snorted, shaking her head.