"Shit, that came out all wrong. I'm not talking about us. Being with you has been much more than just a screw."
She laughed bitterly. "I don't believe you."
He was shaking his head, but she was sick and tired of his endless power over her. She put her hand on her doorknob and yanked it open. "Get out."
He remained standing in her foyer. "I love you."
She hated him then, hated him for pulling the one card out of his deck that could break her. "No, you don't. If you loved me, you wouldn't have come into my house and said those horrible things."
Remorse filled his face. "I do love you, Melissa."
"Leave me alone."
An eternity passed, then she watched him walk out of her apartment, out of her life.
Before he went down the hall, he stopped and spoke. "You are my true soul mate, Melissa."
Her tears dropped onto the floor; she wanted to cover her ears and block him out. Couldn't he see that he wasn't being fair?
"One day you'll see it. And when you do, I'll be waiting."
He closed the door and was gone.
She slid to the floor. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she rocked back and forth as sobs twisted her inside out.
Chapter Twenty-Three
During a game, when Dominic screwed up, he didn't waste anyone's time apologizing; he just made it clear to his teammates and coach that he'd make the necessary changes to get the next play right. Making a mistake was human. Making it again was pathetic—and unforgivable.
After fifteen years, he had it all figured out on the football field. But he was an idiotic fuck-up when it came to Melissa. One image after another assaulted him as he got into his car.
Melissa sitting on the bar stool at Barnum's, tipsy and sexy.
Losing control in his living room and taking her incredible naked body up against the window.
The way her face fell the next morning when he told her it was just an aberration.
In Jason's restaurant, where she blew his mind again, with an incredible morning following closely.
The clanging of metal in the locker room as he thrust against her.
The policeman knocking on his fogged-up window after one of the most explosive sexual experiences of his life.
The hatred on her face as he accused her of acting like a whore with JP.
Dominic had never felt like such an asshole. Driving as if on autopilot, he blindly made his way home. He stepped into his condo and it fell cold. Empty. Sure, he was a rich, famous, good-looking man. But without Melissa, his life would be nothing more than a string of empty one-night stands with women who couldn't hold a candle to the one he loved with all his heart.
Somehow, someway, he needed to figure out a way to make it up to her. To convince her that he really and truly loved her, and would never behave so poorly again. Winning Melissa back was all that mattered now.
And unfortunately, he needed JP to get back into her heart.
When Melissa finally fell asleep that night, she dreamed she was living in a castle under attack by marauding bands of outlaws and Dominic was an avenging warrior, willing to give up his life to save hers. As he plunged his sword into the final outlaw, then swept her up into his arms, his lips so close to hers that she could already taste him, she woke up.
It was no use. How could she sleep when he'd finally said the three words she'd longed to hear all her life: I love you? And used those words as a weapon, to get her to forgive the horrible things he'd said and agree to fuck him some more.
Today she had to join the McKnight clients on the practice field for the Outlaws' annual summer scrimmage. It was her job to keep an eye on the players during the off season, to note who looked tired, who needed more rest, who should put in more hours at the gym to build up his strength.
She used to wait all year long for this because it was her one chance to stare at Dominic openly, fantasizing about being with him. Now she questioned everything.
Had she been too easy on him? Had she been so infatuated with the image he presented that she hadn't wanted to see the real man beneath?
Guys like JP and Ty Calhoun didn't hide their arrogance, their womanizing. On the contrary, they almost seemed proud of their flaws.
Suddenly it seemed like Dominic had tried too hard to be the perfect guy.
She took a cab to the practice field, dreading every second to come. Somehow, she needed to keep her shit together when Dominic ran out onto the field.
"Melissa," JP called out as she walked onto the grass. "Thanks for hooking me up with this gig. It'll be good to play a little, show everyone my stuff."
How did he look so fresh, so energetic?
She tried to return his grin and failed.
He moved closer, his expression growing uncharacteristically serious.
"You don't look so good. Something happen last night after I dropped you off?" He looked over his shoulder at the players stretching on the field. "Did dirty Dom finally make a move?"
She shook her head. "Of course not. I just slept poorly. It's been a long time since I danced like that. I'm pretty sore."
Turning back into the JP she expected, he looked her up and down appreciatively. "If you need a rub-down, let me know." He held up his hands. "These babies are magic."
She managed a real smile. Who'd have thought she'd actually like him? He was a fuck-up, but at his core he was a nice guy. To a girl like her, who just wasn't attracted to him, he was harmless.
"I'll have to take your word for it," she said, knowing it was her job to build up his ego. "I'll be taking notes on your performance today, then we'll sit down and discuss everything Monday morning. How you play today means a lot. Don't blow it."
JP picked up a football. "All of a sudden you're reminding me of my ninth-grade math teacher." He whistled. "She was tough. And hot."
Melissa had to laugh as he ran onto the field. If she could figure out a way to channel JP's erotic-humor into a mainstream market, they'd be turning away endorsement offers in droves.
Melissa's father called out her name and she headed to the shaded seating area on the sidelines.
"Good morning," she said coolly when she reached his side, still angry with him for the way he'd talked to her yesterday.
"I thought I made myself perfectly clear yesterday," he said in a hard voice.
Her heart plunged into her shoes. Shit. He knew about last night. On the heels of the news clipping, no wonder he was angry.
"Word spreads fast in this business. I'd be careful whose invitation to go dancing you accept in the future."
"Melissa doesn't need to apologize for her behavior," Dominic's deep, sexy voice said behind her.
When had he crept up on them? Shooting a glance at her father, she noted the red splotches staining his cheeks.
"You should be praising Melissa for the excel lent job she did of entertaining her two clients last night," Dominic said.
Tom's eyebrows drew together. "You were there, too? I thought JP and Melissa had ..."
How could her father possibly think she'd fall for a slick horndog like JP? She was way smarter than that.
And if Dominic hadn't barged into their conversation, "rescuing" her, she'd have had the satisfaction of giving her father a piece of her mind. Instead, he'd swiped it right out from under her.