Dating the Defensive Back (The Nash Brothers Book 1)

Do You Want to Bang It Out

“Holy shit,” I murmur softly when she opens the door.

She’s a vision in a silky golden gown. It’s tight in the right places and falls down to the floor, and I can’t believe I’m so lucky as to call her my date tonight.

She pulls me inside, and I press a soft kiss to her lips, careful not to smudge any of her makeup.

“You look incredible,” I say.

Her eyes run up and down the length of my body as she sucks in a breath. “How am I going to keep my hands off of you tonight?”

I chuckle. “You don’t need to. As far as your brother is concerned, we’re faking it for the media. He’ll be expecting to see us together. He just won’t know there’s nothing fake about us.”

She raises a brow. “Nothing.”

“I’ll make damn sure of that.”

She giggles. “You ready?”

“Is Kelly here?”

She shakes her head.

“Is she going with Austin?”

She shakes her head again. “I have no idea what’s going on between them, but Kelly is out with her teacher friends tonight.”

I glance back at the car and the driver waiting for us. “I know we have to go, but do you want to bang it out before we head out?”

She tilts her head as she contemplates it, but then she says, “I think we should bang it out after, okay? I can’t mess up this hair, and besides, I want to get there and see my desserts. This way we can build the anticipation for our own dessert later tonight.”

I chuckle. “Oh, I’m anticipating. But with you, I’m always anticipating.”

“Right back atcha, big guy.”

“Big guy…you’re referring to the cock, aren’t you?”

She giggles. “I love how you can take this nice little moment between us and make it about your cock.”

“What can I say? I’m a man of many talents.”

“You got that right,” she mutters, and she grabs her purse and locks her door before we head toward the car waiting for us.

We arrive at a red carpet where photos are snapped and our names are called. The press knows who Ava is since she’s been with me at almost every event I’ve attended in Vegas. We head inside to find a formal and fancy affair.

We take a sweep by the dessert table, and it’s absolutely gorgeous with rows and rows of Ava’s incredible pastries. I grab a truffle and pop it into my mouth, and my eyes roll to the back of my head as I try my hardest not to jizz in my pants at the fact that the woman I’m currently fucking made these.

They’re incredible.

She is incredible.

This night is incredible.

And all I can think about is getting her out of that dress and pulling her on top of me so she can take a ride on the monster.

Fuck.

I have got to get it together.

I spot Beckett with Rachel across the room, and as soon as they see me, they head in our direction. It makes sense since they don’t really know anybody else here aside from my brothers, but having to hang with my girlfriend’s brother shouldn’t feel like a drag the way it does.

I haven’t seen him in ages.

I want to hang out with him.

He’s my best friend.

But I don’t want to hang out with him at the expense of having to act like I haven’t fallen for his sister.

“You look gorgeous, as always,” I say to Rachel, and she leans in for a hug.

“Oh, Victoria’s here,” Ava says, and she nods in her direction. “I’m going to go say hi.”

I nod. “Excuse us,” I say to Beckett, and I walk over with her to shoot the shit with my neighbors.

I slip my arm around Ava’s waist, and she glances over at her brother. Instead of leaning into me the way she usually does, she leans a bit away from me. It’s a little disconcerting given how close the two of us have gotten, but we’re riding a bit of an odd line here where we want to make it believable to Beckett that this is still fake.

We mingle with my new teammates—in particular the ones who I’ve gotten close with during our workouts and practices—and I introduce Ava to the coaching staff. We chat with Lincoln and Jolene for a while, and we touch base with Asher, who showed up solo tonight with the hope of finding someone single to take home.

We run into my dad, and my mom made the trip out for the ball, too. Jolene’s parents are here, and I catch up with them. Apparently at this same ball last year, Jolene’s dad and my dad got into a public spat. I missed out on that one since I was in LA at the time, but so far this year, it seems like the two men are going to be civil. Or, at the very least, they’ll ignore each other instead of interacting at all, which is probably preferable since one’s son is the team’s head coach and the other’s daughter is married to the head coach.

We dance, and I hold her close as we sway to the music.

We’re seated for dinner, and I’m at a table with other guys on defense, while Beckett and Rachel are at a table clear across the room.

It’s after dinner when Beckett corners me at the bar.

“Is there something going on with you and Ava?” he asks me. “Because I have to be honest, Gray. I’ve never known you to be that good of an actor, but you’ve got everyone here fooled. And seeing you dancing with her…I can’t help but wonder if there’s something going on you’re not telling me.”

Dammit. I should’ve known his lawyer instincts would kick in.

He’s always been good at reading people, but I’ve never really been the one he was reading before.

I’m not sure I like it.

And I’m even more sure from his tone that I can’t admit the truth to him.

He’s accusatory—maybe borderline angry. I can’t tell him I’m banging his sister. I can’t tell him I’ve fallen in love with her.

He knows better than anyone how I fuck up everything that’s good in my life. He knows I hold immense power in my hands—the power to hurt her.

It’s still my biggest fear. I still don’t believe I won’t.

But every day we spend together, I’m a little closer to believing we will figure out some way to make this work.

“What? Ava? Are you kidding me?” Tone it down, Grayson. You’re overacting. I clear my throat. “She’s still fifteen to me, bro. You know I’m just hanging with her to keep the media off my ass and keep my nose clean in Vegas.”

“Is that so?” a voice beside me says.

I glance up to find Austin Graham standing behind me.

Oh fuck.

He’s going to blow this for Ava and me. He’s going to tell Beckett that Ava moved in with me, or he’s going to tell Kelly what I said, or he’s going to do something devious because that seems to be who he is.

He’s going to…

Walk away?

He walks away, and I’m left confused.

And now I have to worry about whether his intentions are going to become clear some other time.