“I’m going to kill him.”
“I’d suggest refraining from murder,” I said.
“Would you? Would you suggest that? Helpful, Luca. Helpful.” She shook her head, mumbling under her breath. We walked for ten minutes and were enough distance away from the stadium that it felt safe to let her unleash. I texted Dean I’d take her home. It was the two of us now, for better or worse.
“Want to talk about what happened?”
Please say yes.
After hearing her come to my name yesterday, then watching her on the field, which…. Fuck. She was divine. Her focus and muscles, the way her body moved and her hair going everywhere. Lorelei on a normal boring day was incredible, but seeing her on the field sparked a new longing for her. I wanted that passion, that spark just for myself. She was addictive, and despite the warning bells going off in my head that it was a bad idea, I couldn’t stop being drawn to her. This electricity between us would destroy me if I didn’t do something about it. That much was clear.
I knew after last night that this tension and attraction between us would bubble over. I came up with a terrible, disaster-promised plan, but it was the only thing I could do. I wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about her or wanting her, so why not find a way to make it fit in my carefully crafted life?
If she’ll be up for it.
But then her dumbass ex wanted to talk to her, wearing her number like he cared for her. And she went with him! My own irritation threatened to ruin the moment. She needed a friend, not a guy obsessed with her. Jealousy ate at me when Eric spoke to her but then she yelled, and I knew it was time to step in.
So yeah. I needed to know what he’d said.
“He missed us as friends and had the audacity to say he missed us talking in class! You damn well know he wanted to pry about my project since we’re in competition for the internship. The bastard used my emotions to try and get information. I’m so pissed I could spit!” She growled and kicked the air.
I almost laughed but refrained. Not the time. “Why did you talk to him then if you knew he was a rat bastard?”
She stopped as we neared the front door, and I unlocked it, gesturing her in. She went in and tossed her bag against the hall closet, then stomped up the stairs. I followed because where else would I go? I wanted to orbit around her. I’d worship her like the sun if I had a different life, one where I could be a normal person. Once she got to the top floor, she spun around and pointed at my chest.
“I keep thinking he’ll provide closure or a reason why everything happened the way it did. My poor heart needs an explanation, like what if there was a noble reason he played me that way? Or what if I misread the entire situation? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have feelings for him anymore. Not like that. Do I have leftover hurt? Yes. But my foolish ass hoped, for the last time, that he’d share something meaningful.”
“Mm.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes. “I sound dumb, don’t I?”
“No.” I shook my head. I had to touch her, show her that she was the opposite of dumb. She was incredible and trusting and kind. “Not foolish or dumb for hoping for an answer. It’s not the same but… I can relate. People make decisions that don’t make sense, and sometimes, there’s a reason. Other times… there isn’t, and it’s hard to live without one.”
She nodded, her eyes opening and swirling with emotion. She couldn’t read my mind, but she had to understand how fast my heart beat near her or how I wanted to breathe her in. Her lotion smelled like peaches. And my mouth watered with hunger. “I never found out the reason my parents didn’t want to raise me. They left me with my grandma one day and never came back.”
“Luca.” She squeezed her eyes shut, closing down the window into her soul. I was never a huge fan of brown, but her eyes were beautiful. So many different shades and hints of other colors.
She chewed her bottom lip as her face fell. “Your parents abandoning you is mountains worse than my dumb heartache. They aren’t even comparable.”
“When people you love treat you differently than how they should, it’s all comparable.” I shrugged, glad I could read her emotions again. “I never got an answer and probably never will, and it sucks. I choose to let that go because what I have with my grandma is a love and trust some people never get with their own families. Bad things happen, but that doesn’t mean good isn’t right around the corner.”
She shuddered, a line forming between her eyebrows. She fisted her hands and groaned, loudly. She raised her arms over her head, walking away from me. I immediately felt the loss of her heat, her energy, and panic clawed up my throat. Did I say something bad?
“Where are you going? What’s wrong?” I asked, hoping she didn’t hear the desperation on my throat. I wanted to keep talking to her, standing by her. Maybe she needed space. While I hated it, I accepted she could need time alone. “Do you… did I upset you? I was trying to help.”
She spun around, her eyes flashing with an unexpected heat. Her warm gaze moved from my feet, pausing around my chest and landing on my mouth. My lips tingled from her staring, my stomach tightening with lust. Lorelei wet her bottom lip, and the little gesture was a lightning bolt straight to my groin.
“When you say things like that, all I want to do is kiss you.” She swallowed, hard as her cheeks flushed red.
Tell her the idea. Tell her. Do it.
Her chest heaved, and the softness of her mouth, the half a second I’d felt it in the car, drove me wild.
“Remind me why we can’t… give in. Just a little bit. Reward ourselves. I need an escape, nothing more.” She inched closer to me, her voice throaty and raspy. Her damn tongue licked the side of her mouth as her feet were an inch from mine. She gently touched my chest. Each tap on my shirt felt like a hammer. “Luca, you can’t get emotionally invested for good, solid reasons, and I refuse to fall for anyone right now, let alone my brother’s teammate. But this… thing between us, it doesn’t have to be complicated. We can use each other. I saw the way you watched me yesterday. The way your cock pressed against your sweats. The way your hands tensed and the heat in your eyes grew. You want me too.”
I swallowed the ball of emotion in my throat. My skin grew two sizes too small, and my lungs forgot their entire purpose for existing—breathing. I gasped for air as my pulse punched through my body. Was she… suggesting… what I wanted? Her fingers brushed over my pecs, dancing up toward my chin where she traced my jawline. To give in to this chemistry and get lost in her, but only one time. Then she’d be out of my system, and I could breathe again.
I forgot we were in the hallway, where any of my teammates could see us.
I forgot my rules.
I forgot everything except the fact she wanted me to be her escape. “Lorelei,” I growled, gripping her fingers in my hand. If she kept touching me, I’d need her.
She laughed, softly, her minty breath hitting my face.
“I promise I won’t catch feelings or do anything to ruin your plans. I just want to get rid of this energy and feeling, and you make me so… “ She trailed off, her eyes heating up as she zeroed in on my mouth. “Tell me. Have you thought about how it would be between us?”
“Yes.” My voice came out all gravelly, rough. A million and a half different times in the most secret fantasies in the back of my mind.
Victory flashed in her eyes. “Amazing, right?”
I nodded, my restraint seconds away from snapping. I squeezed her fingers in my fist, my last terrible attempt at stopping this. Once it began… my body vibrated. I wouldn’t be the same. “You deserve more than what I can offer, Lorelei.”
Anger flashed in her eyes, her lips curving into a wicked smile. “Are you making a decision for me? I’m sick of men doing that. Let me choose my own path, and I’m telling you—I want you. Right now.”
My cock swelled, and my gut tightened. Every muscle went rigid, ready to pounce on her. She wanted to use me, and I wanted to get lost in her. I moved closer so our chests touched, and I stared down at her. I gripped the base of her neck, dipping my thumb into the apex of her throat. Her pulse skyrocketed. Yes, that’s my girl. I’m not the only one combusting inside.
“One time,” I said, digging my nail into her skin in warning and a promise. “We do this one time.”
“Once,” she repeated, breathless.
“No feelings.”
“None,” she whispered.
“Doesn’t mean anything.” I tightened my hold on her, lowering my mouth so our lips were an inch apart. “This changes nothing.”
“Nothing.” She gripped my shirt hard, her hands trembling. Her eyes turned to molten liquid and heat. The air intensified, each breath a sharp crash in the silence. I licked my lips, overcome with joy that this was happening. Every cell in my body was on edge. My toes dug into my shoes, and my jaw twitched as I fought the aggressive urge to claim her.
I wasn’t an animal. I was attentive in bed, but with her, I wanted to lick every part of her body until she couldn’t move. I wanted to erase every memory she had of Eric with my tongue alone. I wanted to bite her skin and mark her. In all the thoughts of what I wanted to do, dreamt about doing, trying to say these things completely immobilized me.
My desire for Lorelei Romano overtook rational thought.
“Make the move, Luca. I need you to make the first move.” She pulled me hard against her so there was nothing between our bodies. I towered over her, my hand still at her throat and her face tilted up toward mine.
“Shh,” I said, the control essentially disappearing. I shoved her against the wall and bent low, dragging my nose along her jaw and breathing her in. Peaches and vanilla and soap. The best combination in the world.
I licked the spot behind her ear, pulling on the lobe with my teeth. Her head fell forward, resting on my shoulder as I said, “Don’t rush me, Lorelei. It’s not every day I get to live out my fantasy of fucking you. I’m going slow, and you’re going to let me.”
“Luca,” she moaned, the sound a shot of adrenaline. I wanted that sound on repeat, her pleasure and surprise mixing with my name. I’d heard women shout my name at games, but those calls had nothing on her throaty voice.
I nipped her neck, letting my other hand move from her throat over her chest. Her chest heaved, and the large curve of her breasts was perfect. God. I felt like a kid in a candy store, where I wanted everything all together at once.
Focus. Make it good for her.
Goose bumps broke out over her neck from my lips, and I loved that. Testing the move out again, I sucked the spot right where her shoulder met her neck, and she trembled. “You like this?”
“I-I do now.” She groaned and let out a tiny whimper.
“Good answer.” I kissed up her neck, over her jaw until I was half an inch from her lips. The absolutely chokehold this girl had on me… she had no idea. I had permission, from her and my own rules, to kiss her, but the thought of doing it stilled me. This was my girl. The one of my dreams.
I had to kiss her right.
My entire body hummed with anticipation, and I carefully, with the most control I had ever shown in my life, kissed around her mouth. I teased the side of her lips. “Lo—”
“Stop fucking around, Monroe,” she growled. “If you don’t kiss me in—”
I kissed her.
I slammed my lips against hers, a current exploding throughout my body. I felt that kiss deep in my chest, all the way to my cock and through my toes. Her lips were the softest, most luscious things I had ever felt. She tasted like cherries and smelled like peaches, and when she parted those pillow lips, I darted my tongue inside to taste her.
Fuck me. She kissed hard and fast and wild, like we only had ten seconds left on earth and we’d both agreed to die by kissing. Our teeth clashed together, and the animalistic sounds escaping me were unfamiliar.
I wanted to eat her alive.
“Luca,” she moaned. “Fuck.”
I answered by picked her up and slamming her back against the wall. I wrapped her legs around me, grinding my aching cock into her. She whimpered again, her hands moving toward my hair. I sucked her tongue, the taste of her mouth my undoing.
Everything she did enticed me, and I wanted it all. I rocked into her, the gesture making her breathe harder. She pulled my hair to the point it stung, but I didn’t care. I was touching her. Her neck, her hips, her curves. I craved skin.
Sliding my hand under her shirt, her warm body met mine, and my knees almost buckled.
“Shit,” she said, pulling back. “Put me down. I’m too heavy.”
“What?” I blinked, entranced by her existing alone. Her cheeks were red and her lips swollen and wet from my mouth. Her hair was everywhere, and I needed to run my hands through it.
“Luca, set me down.”
“No.” I blinked and made the decision. Instead letting go of her, I brought us both to her bedroom. I kicked the door shut before walking us to her bed. “You’re not too heavy.”
“Yes, I am. I can’t injure you.”
I tossed her on the bed, my pulse hammering my skull. She pushed up onto her elbows and stared at me, concern on her face. I didn’t like the worry lines, so I lay over her, framing her face in between my arms. “The truth? I touched your skin, and my knees gave out. You undo me, all from your skin.”
Her lips parted, and I used that to kiss her again, this time more slowly. I felt every stroke of her tongue, the need for her to be in control. I let her, instead grinding against her.
We were both completely clothed and yet this was the most turned on I had ever been in my entire life. Would I survive more?
She writhed beneath me, and I finally, after years of thinking about it, tugged the tie out of her hair. Her curls were soft, and fuck. I shuddered and broke the kiss.
“What? What is it?” she asked.
“Look at you.” I stared down at her, wishing I could take a fucking photo. “You’re… gorgeous. Perfection.” I worked my jaw, the aggressive urge to take her almost too much. “Lo, you’re a dream.”
“You’re not so bad yourself, Monroe,” she said, smiling. “Now please, touch me. I’m dying.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I grinned, for real, before guiding her to sit up. I ran my hands along her stomach a few times, enjoying her sounds, before lifting the shirt over her head. Her perfectly creamy skin greeted me, and I cupped her breasts in her black bra. They were so heavy, larger than my hands, and I pinched her nipples through the fabric.
My mouth watered, and my cock strained against my jeans.
I bent down and ran my nose between the valley of her breasts, feeling the weight of them on either side of my face and holy shit. She dragged her fingers over my scalp, and I tugged one of the cups down, finally taking her perfectly pink and pebbled nipple into my mouth. I sucked, and she thrashed on the bed.
“Yes, shit,” she said, arching her back to have me suck deeper. “Wow.”
I flicked the tip with my tongue, then bit down gently enough so it wouldn’t hurt. Every gesture caused a different reaction from her. “You like this?”
“Yes.”
I moved to the other one, doing the same thing for a few minutes. Then, I pushed her breasts together, kneading and squeezing until I could almost suck both at the same time. I could die with my face here and be all right with it.
“I could lick these for hours,” I said, drawing one in harder than before. She whimpered, and I stopped, reaching behind her back to undo the clasp. It took a few tries, then it was on the floor. Nothing on her chest. “Lay back, baby, I want to see what else you enjoy.”
“Shirt off,” she demanded, almost caveman-like with her words. “Skin.”
Laughing, I grabbed the hem near the back of my neck and had it removed in seconds. She reached out and dug her hands into my shoulders, pecs, abs, then she let out a strangled sound. “You. Sexy. Fuck.”
“You’ll get a turn, Lo. Right now, let me have mine. I beg you.”
