This was going to be rough. He was attracted to Harmony in ways he hadn’t expected. Normally he could fight an attraction, but she was smart and beautiful and hot and sexy and every time he was around her the chemistry between them grew more explosive.
She was also Drake’s little sister, and like it or not, that fact was going to have to stay front and center in his mind.
Six
Barrett was happy to be working out with his teammates. They weren’t officially at camp, but working out together to get in shape for training camp next month. He breathed in the energy of his teammates while he stretched and got down to business.
Barrett and Drake and most of the guys on the defense often got together at the gym during the off-season to work out together. Now it was summer and OTAs were over, so they brought in some of the rookies and free agents to join their daily workout routines. The team facility was always the best place to get a hard workout in and run drills on their own.
They generated a tough sweat as they pushed one another hard for the better part of three hours. Barrett and Drake worked with a few of the defensive rookies, putting them through their paces to see what they had.
It was going to be a good team this year.
“You up for going out tonight?” Drake asked as they made their way back to the lockers.
“What did you have in mind?”
“I know a couple of ladies.”
Barrett laughed and shook his head. His best friend always knew a couple of ladies. He knew more than a couple of ladies. Drake was popular with women. At six foot four and with his dark good looks and the way he smiled, for some reason women were attracted to him.
That man always had a woman on his arm.
A flash of a dark-skinned, dark-haired beauty entered Barrett’s head.
No. Absolutely not. He wouldn’t even entertain the idea of Harmony.
“Sure. Let’s do it.”
“All right,” Drake said, flashing his signature grin. “Let’s meet at Skye at nine.”
“You got it.”
Barrett went home and did some work on his computer, then took a short nap. It had been a long workout day, and he knew going out with Drake meant it would be a long night of partying. If he got lucky, maybe he’d be up all night with a smoking-hot woman.
After he grabbed something to eat, he got dressed and headed over to Club Skye, one of the hottest clubs in Ybor City. The parking lot was jam full of cars, but he and Drake often frequented the club and had VIP status, so he left his keys with the valet and since he knew the folks at the door, he didn’t have to wait in the lines. Drake had texted him that he was already inside at a VIP table, so he found his best friend, unsurprisingly having already accumulated about five women at the table, along with Steve Mittman and Mean Man Taylor.
“What took you so long?” Taylor asked. “You have to stop and get a pedicure?”
Barrett laughed. “Yeah. Make sure I’m all pretty for the ladies.”
One of the women, a cool redhead, slid up and put her hands on his shoulders. “You look pretty enough to me.”
The women here were always forward, anxious to be seen with a football player. Most of the time it suited him just fine. These women knew what they were after, and there were no games involved.
“What’s your name?” Barrett asked.
“Raquel. And you’re Barrett Cassidy. I’m a big fan of the Hawks.”
“Nice to meet you, Raquel.”
Barrett took a seat next to Drake and the guys. Raquel had decided to sit on his lap. He didn’t have much of a problem with that. She wore a short, barely there dress that slid up her perfect thighs, so he rested his hand on her butt while he and the guys talked football.
Tunes were rockin’, the hard liquor was flowing, and it was a good night. They all went out on the dance floor for a while, and Barrett was treated to Raquel’s moves.
She had plenty of them, which included her cupping his crotch and squeezing his dick.
Then she draped her arm around his neck, ground her pussy against his cock and talked dirty in his ear.
And he didn’t have a hard-on. What the hell was up with that? He’d only had one whiskey, so it wasn’t as if alcohol was affecting him.
He could have Raquel either in the private area of the VIP lounge or out in his SUV if he wanted her. He could take her home and he knew they could have a good time together. She’d made herself more than available. But for some reason, she left him cold. Maybe it was because his thoughts kept straying to someone warmer, with liquid amber eyes and curves that kept him up at night.
Try as he might, despite Raquel’s roaming hands and killer body, his mind was firmly on Harmony tonight.
Which was all kinds of wrong, but there it was.
He stayed about two hours, then leaned over and told Drake he was heading out.
Drake frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Got an early meeting with my attorney in the morning, so I can’t be hungover.”
Drake nodded. “I’ll see ya.”
Much to Raquel’s disappointment, he had to tell her he was heading out—alone.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he walked out of the club and to his SUV.
He normally got into the club scene, and while he’d enjoyed hanging out with the guys, the women just weren’t doing it for him tonight.
Maybe because only one woman was doing it for him.
And he had to find a way to get her out of his thoughts so he could go back to life as normal.
Seven