Spare Hearts Read online

  There was more to Sterling than met the eye; that she was certain of. It didn’t matter, though, because she was just going to have a good time with him. It was her chance to be wild and throw all her insecurities out the window.

  With a couple ounces of Wild Turkey burning in her belly, she walked back, her beer bottle and another soda for him in hand.

  “That was fast.” He adjusted his wrist brace.

  “I’m good like that.” She bumped his hip with hers then moved to take her turn.

  Sterling bowled his frame and landed another strike.

  Here goes nothin’. “Ever play strip bowling?” She swallowed a sip of her beer.

  * * *

  Sterling lowered his head and raised his brows. “You’re shittin’ me, right?” Holy hell! Did this sexy slice of heaven seriously just ask me that?

  “You scared, big guy?”

  “Mighty bold invitation, if ya ask me.” Excitement raced through Sterling like a lightning strike. “What’d ya have in mind, honey?”

  “Well, you’re gonna give me a handicap, of course.” She pursed her seductive lips.

  “I’m thinkin’ you’re trying to shark me.” Sterling laughed. “But I’m also thinkin’ this may be one o’ those win-win situations I always hear about… So go ahead, what ya got cookin’?”

  “Okay, here’s the deal. We play reverse score. Lowest pins wins, and you spot me two on every frame.” The look in her eyes was sheer determination and competition, with just a hint of genuine playfulness. “Anyone caught sandbaggin’, the other wins the frame. Deal?”

  “Your clothes are gonna look only half as good piled on the floor”—he took a quick sip of his soda—“as I imagine you will look without them.”

  “Then it’s a deal.” She reset the score computer. “You’re up first, cowboy… Or should I say, stud?”

  “Mm-hmm, stud, is it? Feisty filly.” He took a step toward the ball return. “I think I’m gonna enjoy this either way.” He hoped he wasn’t going to regret it. Rational thought was to focus on the tournament, no distractions, right? What if this woman turned out to be crazy as hell? What if she became a clinger? Dealing with something along those lines for the next thirty days didn’t exactly jibe with his plan.

  “I’m plannin’ on it.” She took another sip of her beer.

  That stopped him short. With the overwhelming thought of Candy next to him naked as a jaybird, the pins looked a heck of a lot smaller than he remembered. And his questions of whether this was a good idea or not were dwindling fast. He settled into his routine the best he could and managed to knock down seven pins, but still picked up the spare.

  Candy took her turn and dropped eight pins, grabbing one more on her second throw. Add two and she sat at eleven, to his ten.

  “The shorts, hon.” Sterling unwrapped another sucker and popped it in his mouth. Excitement raced through him knowing he’d get to see her full ass. Thank the Lord for handicaps.

  “You are entirely too satisfied.” Her cheeks flushed as she started to unbutton the small denim shorts she was sporting.

  Sterling pulled the lollipop from his mouth. “Your rules, if memory serves.” He licked his lips. “And I think you may be right—I’m in need of better candy.”

  She shoved the shorts down and let them drop to her ankles, revealing a tiny red square of fabric accentuating her full hips, and kicked them off to one side.

  Sterling got slapped with a handicap all his own as his dick began to thicken behind his fly. There was no way in hell he was going to maintain any kind of focus in this game.

  She put her hands on her hips, her fingers framing her tight, narrow stomach, and shifted her weight to one foot. “I’m gonna take your silence to mean I just made your day, Mr. Dey. I believe it’s your turn again.”

  Sterling chuckled at her cute pun. Damn straight she’d made his day.

  Candy walked over to the half wall and reached for her beer. “Remember, no sandbaggin’, or I win the frame.”

  “Sandbaggin’? No, ma’am. Never.” He ran his hand over his smooth head and swallowed hard as he eyed her round backside displaying a barely there strip of cloth. “Besides, wouldn’t be much fun if only one of us was losing their clothes.” He smirked and proceeded to bowl his frame.

  The image of her curvaceous little body, narrow waist flowing into a perfect full ass, and that red thong refused to leave his vision as he willed himself to focus on the arrows laid out before him. His dick throbbed with the prospect of her choice of clothes on the outcome of this frame.

  Pulling on a reserve of focus he didn’t realize he had, he unleashed a blur of power and shattered the pin array ahead of him. Strike! As long as she didn’t pick up a spare this time, he was losing fabric, and the notion didn’t disappoint him in the slightest.

  Chapter 4

  Just as Candy took a seat in the smooth plastic chair, Sterling threw a strike. Hot damn! She shifted in her seat and crossed her legs, bouncing one foot as Buckcherry’s “Crazy Bitch” started playing through the house speakers.

  Sterling turned around with a smug look on his face. “Your turn, sweetness.” He moved to the half wall and took a swallow of his drink.

  “View nicer from back there?” She stood, moved to the return, and scooped up her ball. Candy froze as a swarm of bumblebees buzzed inside her stomach, realizing he’d been staring at her bare backside. Oh Lord, I can’t do this. Her ass had gotten pretty plump in the few years since Jared had left, but she hadn’t much cared until just this moment.

  “I’m better able to see your… ah… form from back here.” He popped his sucker back in his mouth.

  “I bet.” She rolled her eyes and stepped onto the lane. Guess I’m doin’ it anyway.

  “Dayum fine form.”

  She looked over her shoulder to see him standing a handful of feet behind her now, a ravenous look in his eyes. Lord save me, I haven’t wanted anyone to look at me like this in a dog’s age. A thrill blasted through her from the top of her dark blond head down to the tips of her toes. “Are you trying to distract me, cowboy?”

  “I do believe you have the bull by its horns.” He stepped closer. “Miss Candy, if you don’t mind me sayin’, that’s one fine ass you have there.”

  She arched a brow and looked down at her bottom. “Glad you like it.” She couldn’t help feeling pleased as she turned back around and bowled. Lord in heaven, he liked her ass? Huh, how ’bout that. Distracted, her fingers slipped their grip and she landed six pins: A two and two split stood proudly at the end of the alleyway. “Get ready to lose your shirt. I can never pick this one up.” She threw her second ball to take down the impossible combination of pins and, as she figured, landed only one out of the four. “This would be one time I’m givin’ thanks to the split gods.”

  Sterling stood, a confident look on his face, legs apart, sucker in his mouth, and began unbuttoning his shirt.

  Please, don’t be wearin’ an undershirt. She licked her lips and leaned against the ball return machine as she watched the royal blue material part, button by button, revealing a smooth muscle-toned body. His chest had a thin layer of hair traveling into a V and running down the inner line of his six-pack. Sweet Jesus, the man is fine. Two small flat areolas, each nipple standing at attention, drew her eyes, and she bit her bottom lip. “Yum.”

  “Glad you like it.” He repeated her earlier comment.

  Candy gasped. “I didn’t intend to say that out loud.” Her cheeks went up in flames again.

  “You’re awful pretty when you do that.” He reached for her hand, pulled her close against him, and wrapped one arm around her waist.

  Candy braced her hands on his bare shoulders and looked up at him through her lashes. “Do what?” she whispered.

  “Get all nervous like, and then blush.” He traced his fingers over her cheek then her mouth. “You taste as sweet as I think?”

  She licked her lips. “Try me and find out.”

  “Damn, girl.” H
e smoothed his hand from her lower back down over one ass cheek. “One minute you’re shy and blushin’ and the next you’re full of spit and vinegar.” Sterling ran his thumb down her bottom lip, tugging then releasing it. “Don’t mind if I do.” He dipped his head.

  Candy rose on tiptoes to meet his lips. This is really happening. Her bare thighs and tummy rubbed against his denim-covered legs and hips, and she shivered as tingles spread over her body. There was no stopping this now. It didn’t matter if she never saw him again; she didn’t care. Candy wanted this little slice of heaven even if she felt a little selfish and wrong for doing it. Jump, girl. Just jump. It’ll be worth it.

  The first contact was soft, gentle. His closed mouth pressed to hers sent smooth waves of desire pulsing down her spine.

  She moaned and ran one hand up the back of his neck.

  His calloused fingers moved over the bared skin of her backside then cupped it, hitching her tighter against him. A rumbling growl vibrated against her chest from him when he slid his tongue over her lips.

  Candy opened for him.

  His tongue was warm and smooth as it stroked over hers. My God, he tasted sweet. She gripped the back of his neck, dug her nails in a bit, and pressed her lower body against the erection behind his jeans. Could she climb him? She was damn sure willing to try.

  The sexual tension building between them exploded in a frenzy of lips, tongues, hands, and nails.

  Damn, damn, damn! Too fast. Oh God, don’t stop! Wait, finish the game. Tastes so good— Thoughts tumbled over one another as Candy got swept away in a current of pure lust and began drowning in his hot kisses. She ran one hand down his chest to his side, feeling the velvet softness of his skin, and let out a whimper.

  Sterling pulled away first, leaving them both gasping for breath. He looked down at her, and she saw eyes filled with such deep hunger, she couldn’t help wanting to dive back in for round two.

  “Sweetest candy I’ve ever had,” he whispered and raised his fingers to trace her lips again.

  She bit his fingertip when he ventured toward her tongue with it.

  “Feisty filly.” He swatted her ass.

  Candy yelped at the delicious sting of his palm on her butt cheek then sucked his finger as he slid it from her mouth. “Your turn.” She licked her lips and pulled away from him. Candy had never been spanked before. It shocked her at first, but what shocked her more was that she liked it. Would he do it again? She sure as heck hoped so.

  * * *

  Sterling’s heart thundered in his ears, almost drowning out Garth Brooks’s “Friends in Low Places” playing on the overhead speakers. As he approached the ball return, the image of her perfect ass set in that red thong made a triumphant return to the forefront of his mind. She picked one hell of a game to get me flustered.

  He let out a deep breath and grabbed his towel from the edge of the return.

  “What’s the matter, stud? Balls got you spooked?” she teased from behind him.

  “Don’t you worry about me—” He looked over his shoulder against his better judgment, to find her running her tongue over the lollipop she’d taken from him earlier and staring at his back side. “You tryin’ to kill me here? Good Lord, woman!” Less distractions? My ass. Sterling knew his manager hadn’t seen this coming. This stay was supposed to be all business. No pleasure.

  “Is it working?”

  Hell yeah, it’s workin’. He fought hard not to reply. Hell, tried even harder not to scoop her off her feet and plant another kiss on those luscious lips. He shook his head, inhaled deep, and exhaled through his nose, reaching for some measure of calm. Okay, not helping.

  Turning back, he picked up his ball and rolled it in his toweled hand. His eyes drifted to the arrows on the waxed lane, and he stifled the urge to take one more glance over his shoulder. Stepping to his mark, he set his jaw, allowed his vision to narrow, and proceeded to bowl. The heavy crunch of the pins was music to his ears, but he found himself at odds with the outcome. Six pins fell. In a normal game, this would send his mind racing for the proper target to pick up the spare. This time he wished he didn’t have a second ball to throw.

  “You got it in you to pick this one up?” Candy chimed in. Her teasing tone forced a hitch in his breathing.

  “Ahem… You gonna let me bowl? Or you worried about catching a draft in here?” He teased back.

  He let the ball fly and it hugged the gutter for an instant too long. As it cranked hard to the left, it knocked down the two back pins. Dammit. Wait! Yee-haw! He’d never found himself so at war with his intentions. His whole life and career had relied on his ability to consistently outscore his opponents. To edge them out when it counted. Now he was playing to lose just so he could really win. Could it get any more contradicting?

  “Shit.” He turned to head back to his seat. “I let it hang too long.”

  “Guess I do have you spooked,” she mocked him, beaming the whole time. “Now who’s worried about catching a draft?”

  “Did you forget your rules already?” he countered, spanking her bare ass as she walked by him. “Reverse scores, remember? And no sandbaggin’.”

  She rubbed her bottom. “Then I guess you better hope I do better than six pins.”

  “Oh, I’m hoping all right.”

  Sterling had to adjust his throbbing erection as she bent forward with her ball to focus. She was taunting him with that luscious ass of hers, he was sure of it. Damn if it didn’t do the trick.

  Her hips swayed like a pendulum on a grandfather clock as she made her approach. The resounding crack following the release of her ball shook him out of the trance he found himself in. Strike! Guess she ain’t sandbaggin’.

  “Praise the heavens, ’bout time!”

  “Damn, girl, feel good, don’t it?” He loved watching her flush with excitement.

  “Hell yeah, it does.” She beamed back at him. “You must love the feeling.”

  “Why do you think I play so hard?” That feeling was exactly what drove Sterling to win at all costs. It filled him up and set him on fire. Even to the point of throwing his career away to win a drunken bet on a mechanical bull. Bottom line was, Sterling won the bet, but lost his career.

  “You’re up, big guy.” She started for the half wall.

  “Ahem…”

  “Huh?”

  “I believe you’re forgettin’ somethin’, hon, must be all the excitement.” Sterling couldn’t have used a crowbar to pry his eyes off her at that moment. “Time to say good-bye to that sexy little shirt of yours.”

  “Oh dear.” She turned toward him. “I think you may be right. Where are my manners?”

  She locked her beautiful green eyes with his and let her fingers drift over her breasts as they found their way to the knot in the front of her shirt.

  Speechless, he leaned forward in his seat in anticipation as her fingers pulled the fabric out of its controlled tangle and began to release the two buttons she had clasped.

  Sterling was sure he was going to pass out from blood loss—every drop rocketing toward his already throbbing shaft. Tournament? What tournament?

  A flash of clarity penetrated his lust-induced haze. The last time Sterling had done something so wild, he’d lost his spo—Oh, sweet heaven!

  Sterling’s battle in his mind was lost as she opened her shirt, revealing a matching red lace bra, leaving little to the imagination. Pert, erect nipples struggled hard behind the sheer pattern to press their way out as she held her arms behind her and let her shirt fall off her shoulders to slip down her arms. Catching it with one hand, she made a sexy display of holding her shirt out and releasing it to join her shorts on the floor.

  “Sweet Jesus.” He ran his hand over his mouth to keep himself from drooling.

  “Now, I believe it’s your move.” She paused and bit her lower lip. “I mean, turn.”

  * * *

  Candy stood there, almost naked at this point in the game, with no shame or embarrassment. It was damn freeing bar
ing herself to him in this way. By the look on his face, he liked what he saw.

  Her nipples throbbed behind the lace fabric of her bra, aching for the touch of his hands and mouth, and the moisture from her sex coated her silk thong. She leaned against the back counter and crossed her legs at the ankle, squeezing her thighs together, trying to find a little relief from the steady pulsing in her clit.

  At this rate, they were going to run out of clothes before they finished all ten frames. That suited her just fine because she was ready to jump his bones right here and now. Thank God there weren’t any security cameras she needed to worry about. This night of naughtiness would be her little secret and was right up her alley… all puns and pins intended.

  “Woman, you have me so hard for you right now, I can barely stand it.” He adjusted the obvious erection in his jeans.

  His big palm smoothed down over the bulge and she about lost her mind. “I hope, for the love of God, you have some condoms,” she said, her voice gone raspy and deep. She cupped both breasts in her hands and tweaked her nipples through the thin fabric.

  “I got ’em. Thankfully, because I don’t usually.” He gripped his balls through the denim. “Do that again.” He licked his lips.

  “What?” She looked down at her breasts. “This?” She squeezed her cleavage together, pinching her nipples again. “Fuck, it feels good.” She closed her eyes.

  “You keep tempting me with those gorgeous tits and talkin’ all dirty like, and this game’s gonna be over right quick.”

  “I can’t help it. You got me all in a lather and ready to go. Bowl your turn before I lose it, cowboy.”

  “I plan on slippin’ and slidin’ in all your lather. You can bet your sweet, fine ass on it.”

  Line drawn in the sand, he turned and grabbed his ball, then lined up his shot.

  She grabbed her beer and took a long swig as she watched the muscles in his back flex when he threw his ball. Goddamn I want him.

  He landed eight out of the ten pins and then picked up the spare, which meant if she was going to see his pants come off, she needed to bowl a lower count. Not a problem. She shook so badly with thoughts of his hands on her body again and more of those drugging kisses, she’d lost her ability to concentrate.