Fourth Down and Dirty: A Bad Boy Sports Romance by Kristen Flowers

with, but the question constantly in my mind was, how ?

 
    How did I allow myself to kiss him , of all people? I barely had any
time to think about it as I rushed home. Which was probably a good thing since
I would have berated myself even more. My mother was alone. Who knew how long
she had been waiting if she needed help. I burst into the house sometime later
to see her sitting in an armchair in the living room. She looked at me like I
was a crazy person.

 
    “Why are you so
out of breath?” She asked as she looked over at me. I was disheveled, panting,
and an all-around mess. I took a moment, leaning against the wall and placing
my hand flat on my chest as I steadied my breath.

 
    “I’m so sorry,” I
finally choked out. “I’m sorry I left you for so long, mom. I didn’t mean to.”
I scurried over to her and knelt beside her, placing a hand on her frail knee.
“Do you need anything?”

 
    She chuckled and
shook her head, placing a thin hand on my shoulder. “Take it easy, dear,” she
said slowly. A bit of tension left my shoulders. “Today was a good day,” she
happily informed me. “You know, I was actually able to get some work done
around the house!” She grinned, bringing a smile to my face as well. She
pointed at some plants on the living room’s window sill. “I repotted those,”
she told me proudly.

 
    I slid down to sit
on the floor, a feeling of relief sweeping over me. Despite that and my mother
being in such high spirits, I couldn’t help the guilt I felt creeping up inside
of me. I had gotten lucky this time, but what if mom had experienced an
exceptionally bad day and I wasn’t around to help her through it? I needed to
be more careful. Kissing a boy wasn’t worth the risk of putting her through
more pain and discomfort than she already was.

 
    Mom touched her
hand to my cheek and asked, “Why are your cheeks so red, dear?”

 
    “Oh, uh, must be
because I ran home,” I tried to reason. I knew that wasn’t the reason. “Are you
sure you don’t need anything, mom?”

 
    “No, dear, you go
on to your room and study or relax,” she reassured me. I smiled sweetly, leaned
in to give her a peck on the cheek, and grabbed my messenger bag to trot off to
my bedroom.

 
    As soon as I
stepped inside I dropped it on the floor, locked the door, and flopped down
onto my bed. I rolled over and let out a heavy groan against my pillow. I still
couldn’t wrap my head around everything that had just happened. He was the last person I would have ever thought this
would happen with. I remembered my mother asking why he’d gotten under my skin.
At first I blew her statement off. I didn’t think he had gotten under my skin
at all. Now I knew it was true. My mother was right. But he had bothered me in
a way I could have never anticipated.

 
    I shut my eyes and
took several deep breaths, counting the seconds in my mind. It helped to calm
me down when I started to feel overwhelmed, but the thoughts of Landon and his
kiss wouldn’t disappear. I sighed. As much as I hated to admit it, that kiss
was easily the best I ever had. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was as good at other stuff as he was at kissing.

 
      “That certainly would explain some of his
insufferable confidence,” I mumbled.

 
    I sat up and
started to really think about the repercussions of kissing him. Maybe for him
it was all a big game and something he could joke about in the locker room, but
it was a huge deal for me. It jeopardized my job. It was against the academic
handbook for a tutor to be involved with one of his or her students. That meant
anything with Landon was strictly off limits, including fiery kisses in the
library. If someone saw us or somehow they found out, I would surely lose my
job. It didn’t help that Landon Bryce was such a big name and came from a
powerful family, either. If anyone found out it would spread like wildfire.

 
      I groaned and rubbed my hands over my