Steamy Dunk (F*** on the Court)

Chapter Five

Parker wasn't sure how he ended up in this position, and he wasn't sure if that pissed him off or made him horny.

It had been almost a week since his night with Violet and it wasn't like that morning after was the first time he woke up alone with a woman sneaking out of his apartment.

So what was it about her sneaking out of his apartment that was bugging him?

Sure, she took his warm-up jacket and he would have to text her or something and get that figured out. Of course, he hadn't picked up the phone to do that, but neither had she. He hoped that wasn't a bad sign and that he would come back to the building and find out she had just left it at the front desk for him to pick it up.

Actually, he wouldn't mind that because he was now on the road for eight days without a warm-up jacket after she stole his. The equipment guys bring extra track pants and extra uniforms but apparently bringing an extra warm-up jacket to cover the one you left at home or had stolen by a beautiful woman was something they didn't pack for the road.

But again, he was on the road. On Saturday, he was having his way with a beautiful woman he had just met. On Sunday, he was at the airport for an eight-day road trip.

The timing was a mess and he was making it worse by not sending her a text or calling or even explaining his lack of contact.

He was pissed off that she left, horny thinking about her coming back, and he still hadn't done anything about it. At some point, he would have to figure this all out. But today, he had basketball.

So far, he had a morning practice with the team and then back to the hotel for a shower and some lunch. It was one of those typical basketball on the road lunches with bland chicken, pasta, and some other extras. The hotels must have a "protein and carb menu for athletes" that they shared with every other hotel because it was the same from place to place.

But as the team started to head back to the elevators to get in their afternoon naps before the game, something very different appeared -- or rather someone.

"Well, hello," Tyler said in a very knowing voice. "What kind of afternoon delight do you have planned?"

"What?"

Tyler nodded his head towards the restaurant's bar and a woman sitting there with a computer in front of her and a martini glass next to it.

Violet.

What the hell? Yes, he hadn't talked to her since Saturday, so did she follow him here? It was easy to check the schedule and know he was on the road, and where the visiting teams stayed wasn't a total secret. But it also seemed a little odd that she had just invited herself to Kansas City after one night. She didn't seem like the clingy type, especially since she hadn't called him or texted him after leaving while he was still asleep.

So why was she sitting at the bar at the restaurant in the hotel where he was staying?

"I'll uh..." Parker turned to see Tyler giving him a stupid knowing grin. "I'll catch you before the game."

"Make sure you save some energy for the game," Tyler said with a wink.

Ugh. That just made it worse. How was he going to explain this one to Tyler later? He didn't invite Violet there. So what? She just coincidentally was in the same hotel in the same city at the same time? Yeah, that was too coincidental.

Parker took a deep breath, trying to steady himself as he walked over unsure of how to handle this. He couldn't confront her in the bar in public like that and it was hard for him to be inconspicuous when he was almost seven feet tall and a professional basketball player that people recognized.

Maybe it was just a weird misunderstanding. Maybe she thought this would be a nice gesture.

Maybe he was still horny after their night together and maybe it wouldn't be the worst thing if she was in town just to see him.

He put his hand on the back of the bar chair next to him. "Excuse me," he said politely. "Is this seat taken?"

"Don't sit there," she said directly without looking up from her computer. "I'm doing work and I have a boyfriend."

"Really? Because you didn't tell me you had a boyfriend on Saturday."

Her fingers paused in midair over her laptop's keyboard and he could tell she was too stunned to respond. Maybe he caught her off guard and she was waiting for later to knock on his door or something and announce her presence.

She finally turned to him with a look of shock on her face that made him think she was just as stunned to see him there as he was to see her there.

"Um, hi." Her eyes wandered down his body before coming back up to look at his face. "What are you doing here?"

He couldn't help the incredulous look he gave her. "I was about to ask you the same thing."

The corners of her lips turned up into just a bit of a smile as if she had finally caught on to what was happening here even if he hadn't figured it out yet. "Work."

She pointed to the papers that he just noticed sitting next to her with some bright pink and orange swatches.

Oh. Oh, yeah. This was a coincidence.

Of all the hotels in all the cities, apparently they both were actually both there for work.

Parker couldn't help but smile at her now that he realized what was really going on.

"That is interesting because I am also here for work," he replied matter-of-factly.

Her smile got bigger and she moved the papers closer to her, nodding for him to take the seat next to her after all.

"Well, that would explain the Chicago Ignition fans that have been bugging me."

He gave her a strange look and she pointed to the logo on the jacket she was wearing. His jacket.

She stole his fucking jacket, took it to another state, and continued to wear it. He wasn't sure if he was impressed or incredulous, but it did make his dick twitch thinking of her wearing it all these days even after she took it from his place.

"Do you know how many men have tried to sit down next to me just because they think I'm a Chicago Ignition fan?"

Parker shrugged and leaned in a little closer. "That's what you get for stealing my warm-up jacket."

"I didn't steal it. I just borrowed it."

"Really?"

"Yes, really," she said. "Do you honestly think I would keep this thing when it doesn't even fit me?"

She held up her arms and he noticed that she had rolled up the sleeves by a lot just to get it to sort of fit and she was almost swimming in the rest of it.

"So why did you steal it?"

"It was easy to grab as I walked out the door," she said sheepishly.

"So why did you take it on a road trip with you?"

"It's not a road trip," Violet said. "It's a work trip."

"You took my warm-up jacket on a work trip with you. Why?"

Parker could see the flush in her cheeks out of something that he wasn't really sure of. Maybe she was embarrassed that she got caught or she didn't have an answer.

He also wasn't really sure of her reaction either. She stole his warm-up jacket and was sitting at a bar in another city wearing it. He should be pissed off, right? Maybe find it creepy. And yet, she looked cute in it and he kind of liked the fact that a girl was wearing his jacket.

Well, a woman. He had a girlfriend in high school who liked to wear his letter jacket, which was stupid because no one even gets letter jackets anymore. But his mother insisted and his girlfriend wanted to wear it.

But this warm-up jacket on Violet was just something else.

Violet gave him a tight smile and turned back to him, but he wasn't about to expect an explanation for all of this. It was Violet after all and she didn't seem like the type of woman who would give him an explanation like that.

"Listen, I took your jacket."

"You did."

"And you didn't call me to find out where it was."

Busted.

"Well, uh--"

Violet waved her hand in his direction to quiet him. "I didn't call you either, and I'm sorry about that." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I was going to be gone all week for work and I decided I would send you a text to return your jacket when I got back."

"I also was going to be gone all week for work and thought I would send you a text about my jacket when I got back."

Violet laughed and he couldn't help but feel that weird butterfly thing in his stomach and the twitch of his dick again. This woman was definitely something different.

"We're really ridiculous, aren't we?"

"Maybe," he replied. "But you still haven't explained why you're wearing my warm-up jacket in Kansas City."

She gave him a knowing smile, then slipped her arms out of the jacket and handed it over to him. He immediately regretted saying anything to her about it but reluctantly took it from her hand. It didn't look the same in his hand compared to being on her body.

"So," she said matter of factly.

"So."

She leaned in a little closer and lowered her voice. "I'm going to be back in town on Friday. How about you?"

He smiled. "Saturday."

"So would you like to go to dinner on Saturday?"

"I would like that very much."

Violet smiled and hopped off her stool, grabbing a bag at her feet that Parker hadn't noticed until now. Then she put it on the seat she left behind and started packing up her computer and papers.

"You don't want to talk about my warm-up jacket some more?"

She laughed. "I do, but I have a meeting with my client. They're opening a string of smoothie stores in Kansas City and want something bright."

"So nothing sexy like The Cheshire Cat?"

Violet cocked her head to the side. "You think it's sexy?" He just shrugged. "Interesting."

How was that interesting? Parker really wanted to dig into that comment some more, but Violet was zipping her bag up so he would have to wait until Saturday.

She stopped and waited for Parker to get up and walk out next to her without a word. When they got to the lobby, he started to go right towards the elevators while she was heading left out the doors.

"So different directions again?"

Violet smiled. "For now," she said. "See you Saturday?"

Parker nodded and leaned down to give her a kiss on the cheek. He could've sworn she let out a small sigh, but he didn't feel like calling her out on it and instead decided to just carry that memory with him until he got back to Chicago. Plus, it was nice to quietly watch her walk away from him and out the door. Who knew that it wasn't such a bad thing to have a woman walk out on him after all?

When she rounded the corner, Parker took his warm up coat and slid it on. The sleeves were ridiculously short and he spent the walk back to the elevator unrolling and unrolling and unrolling them to get them to where they were supposed to be.

Tyler was standing at the elevator when he got there with a huge pile of towels in his hands. He always needed extra when they were on the road. Tyler nodded when he saw his teammate approaching and then a huge smile spread across his face.

"Oh, hey. You found your warm-up jacket. Where was it?"

"Long story," Parker said.

"Whatever."

The elevator doors opened and the teammates got on with Parker leaning over to press the button for their floor. And when he stepped back and the collar of his warm-up jacket slid close to his face, he totally noticed that it smelled like Violet now.