“We’ll have breakfast in the morning?” Dad asked. We’d just had a late dinner out, following an afternoon spent at my apartment.
I nodded. “Yes. I promise.”
Dad eyed me critically. “You’ll call me if you hear anything from your agent?”
It was ten o’clock at night. I highly doubted she was going to call me before the next morning, but I kept my mouth closed. My dad seemed more nervous than I was about everything now that the season was over, and I didn’t want to fuel the fire. One of us with indigestion was bad enough. “Promise.”
“Okay.” He smiled over at me. “I’ll see you in the morning then.” One more hug and he whistled over to where Rey stood next to their car, talking to my mom while Ceci sat inside, the glow from her cell illuminating her face. “Amor, estas lista?”
Mom had to have rolled her eyes considering she was the one who’d been standing by the car waiting for him for the last five minutes. “Ya vamonos. Salomé, dame un abrazo.”
Snorting under my breath, I walked back and gave her the hug she just demanded, knocking on the window to wave at Ceci. I could see Mom and Dad arguing inside and a second later, the driver side window rolled down possibly an inch. I’m pretty sure the words, “Bye, Kulti,” were mumbled out a second before the window was rolled back up and my dad pulled the car away and out of the lot.
“I’m pretty sure my dad told you bye,” I laughed.
The German had a small smile on his face. “I believe so.”
Dad hadn’t said a word to him during dinner, using me as a workaround to ask him questions. He was a freaking lunatic. “At this rate it’ll be six months before he shakes your hand and a year before he asks you how you’re doing.”
“I’m in no rush,” he said, giving me a nudge.
I nudged him back. “Listo?” I asked him in Spanish if he was ready. His Audi was parked two rows down.
“Si,” he nodded, grabbing my hand.
Him speaking Spanish… Dear God. It would never get old.
We made our way to the car and got into the back. The driver must have turned it on when we’d walked out of the restaurant because the inside was nice and cool. Rey slid in after me, draping an arm over my shoulder. I tipped my head up to whisper, “I’m curious, when can you apply to get your license back?”
“In two months,” he replied, looking down at me.
“Are you going to get a new one?”
Rey raised a single shoulder. “If we’re here.”
If we’re here. The togetherness of his statement sent a chill down my spine. Two weeks ago, I would have laughed if someone told me I’d be sitting in the back of Rey’s Audi with his arm around me, talking about him following me to a different country. Yet here we were, and it made me feel so lame that I couldn’t find it in me to put up more of a fight. “You really will come with me?” I asked. “Even if I end up in Poland?”
“You won’t end up in Poland but if you did, then yes, I would still go with you.” He nudged me.
“What are you going to do? I don’t want you to get bored or hate me—“
“I can do whatever I want. I’ve enjoyed my career and nothing would make me happier than to see you enjoy yours. Understand?” Rey raised his thick, brown eyebrows at me, as his hand slid all the way down until he reached my bare thigh.
“I don’t see how I could get bored when I’ll have to keep you out of starting fights all the time.”
“Oh please.” I laughed.
“You’re a troublemaker, schnecke.” He grinned, the rough calluses on his fingertips brushed over my kneecaps as he shifted in his seat to get a better reach.
Rolling my eyes, I shook my head. “Whatever. I just want you to be happy. I think I can handle your circus—”
“You can and you will,” he cut me off, trailing a line down my shin with his fingertips. His entire body was angled toward mine.
I barely restrained myself from rolling my eyes. “But I want to make sure you can handle mine.”
Those swamp-colored eyes seemed to swallow me whole. His fingers went over my calf, squeezing the muscle lightly. His big hand kneaded my calf again. “There is nothing I’m not willing to do for you.”
I was suddenly so thankful I’d put on one of my nicer dressy shorts instead of jeans. I shivered, arching my back without even realizing it. He was the one that made my chest tighten. The person whose face both seemed to be able to make me scream in anger, and within days make me feel like I was living a dream.
“Sal,” he drawled in a low rumble, sucking me out of my quiet admiration. His hand crawled back up my leg and onto my thigh, slowly slinking up the material of my shorts to caress the skin there. Kulti squeezed the meaty, muscular part of my hamstring before shifting me forward on the seat so that his fingers could slide even deeper into the confines of my bottoms.
I hissed when the tips of his fingers grazed my bare ass, dipping under the damp cotton of my underwear. “Rey, wait.”
“No,” he said, toying with the band. “I’ve waited long enough.”
“Your driver can hear us,” I whispered, way too self-conscious about the man sitting three feet away.
He let out a grunt that I took as acceptance until his mouth covered mine, a deep groan rattled in his chest. Hot wet lips grazed over my parted ones as he gripped my leg tightly. It was endless. His full mouth was the Pacific Ocean; it was huge and dark and wide and so, so easy to get lost in. The little pleased noises he was making sucked me out into his ocean even deeper.
He pulled away for a minute, swiping his hot tongue over my lip. He moved his hand to grip the width of my thigh, pulling my legs apart. “He has headphones in,” he said against my skin, pressing those perfect, straight white teeth into my skin. Kulti dragged his teeth over the curve of my jaw and the column of my throat, where he paused and bit gently.
I sucked in a breath and jerked away just a little, conscious of the driver who seemed to be minding his own business, but… “Rey, I showered early this morning. I probably smell.”
Rey took a quick inhale that had me break out in a shiver, the tip of his nose a brush on my neck. “You don’t.” I would have sworn the tip of his tongue touched my skin.
Oh my.
My hips shifted forward in the seat on their own, searching for his hand, for his groin, anything and everything, while he moved down to bite where my neck and shoulder met. “I need you, Sal.”
Jesus Christ. Jesus freaking Christ. I couldn’t help but eye the driver.
Rey nipped at my earlobe. “He can’t hear.” The hand that had been on top of my thigh slid up and under my shorts so fast, I didn’t even get a chance to mentally prepare myself for the thumb brushing over the seam of my body through my underwear. His mouth covered mine again, sucking my bottom lip between his as his finger grazed over the material covering my clit. Rey made a noise in his throat as he slipped one of his fingers under my panties to graze against my lips with the back of his digit. He did it once, twice, three times. I knew I was turned on, really turned on despite being self-conscious about our location.
He brushed over my lower lips one last time, sliding his finger out of my underwear. Gaze on mine, Rey brought his fingers to his mouth. Those brown-green eyes were locked on me as he licked his index and middle finger slowly. A smile crept across his face. “I’m going to need another taste.” He licked his fingers once more.
I was going to go into cardiac arrest.
The car pulled into my driveway, and the second it was in park, Rey put my clothes back into place right before he linked his fingers through mine and pulled me out of the car. My keys were handed over for him to unlock the door. We’d barely gone inside when he leaned down to fuse his soft lips to mine, kissing me gently. He towered over me. His hands gripped my hips loosely, thumbs pressing into my bones.
“I want you,” he murmured against my mouth. “More than I have ever wanted anything…” He kissed the edge of my lips. “Are you sure you want this?” he asked, pressing his lips to my neck again.
Was I sure I was a woman? Or that I liked sunny days and chocolate-covered strawberries?
I arched against him. “I’m positive.”
“Yes? You understand what you’re getting yourself into?” He gave my neck a light bite that had me shaking in his arms.
Did I understand that nothing would ever be the same? That I was probably giving up my privacy and life as I knew it if this—us—didn’t burst into flames?
Yeah, I knew. But I knew that I loved him, and I didn’t give my heart away willingly. Like he’d said, life had worked to bring us to this point. Why should I start counting down the days now?
Most importantly I knew he’d done all the things I would ever want from someone I loved. He protected me, supported me, he was giving, and he worked hard. He was loyal. You don’t throw away something like that even if it isn’t perfect and effortless. As cheesy as it was, the best things in life aren’t easy or cheap. I didn’t eat fast food because I knew I could go home and make a nutritious meal instead. I could have used cardio as my only exercise, but I wanted my body to be in the best shape possible, so I did a variety of different exercises. Why wouldn’t love be the same way?
“I know, Rey,” I said, wrapping my arms around his shoulders.
He straightened up and gave me the most intense look I would ever witness. “This is not temporary.”
Oh hell.
Some people don’t find possessiveness attractive. My last boyfriend had been the most trusting, even-tempered guy I would ever meet. But the words coming out of Rey’s mouth… It was like I was signing part of myself away to this man who claimed everything and nothing.
In what felt like a heartbeat later, we were in my room and he was pulling my shirt up over my head.
“Let me shower first,” I told him.
He shook his head, already dragging his tongue and teeth over the swells of my breasts. He sucked my nipples over the soft material of the normal bra I’d put on as his hand jerked my shorts and panties down to my knees. Rey palmed me between my legs, groaning deeply as he undid the clasp of my bra and let it gape, exposing my breasts.
“You’re so wet.” His fingers grazed over my lower lips before spreading them gently. Rey groaned, walking us over to the big chair I had in the corner of the room. He sat down first before sitting me on his lap with my back to his chest. He kicked my bottoms the rest of the way off, tossing each of my legs over his own spread knees. Kisses peppered my neck, alternating between brushes of his tongue. “My Sal,” he murmured, smoothing his rough hands over the inside of my thighs. Each pass was longer, slower, reminding me that I was spread wide open to the cool air conditioning. The simple, easy motions of his hands alone turned me on so much and left me panting with anticipation. The fact he wasn’t rushing this was like straight electricity to my veins.
My voice was a million miles away, lost in a galaxy that hadn’t been discovered yet.
Rey made a soft noise against my ear as he swept his palms over and over my thighs, once, twice, each pass alternating between getting closer and further away from where I wanted him the most. Then he did it. With a high pass of his right hand, he detoured to slide the meaty part of his palm over that sensitive button of nerves between my legs and slipped his middle finger deep inside of me.
“Rey!”
His answer was a groan right into my ear, hot breath fanning over the side of my face. That finger moved in and out of me slowly, letting his palm press tightly against me on each downward stroke. His lips suckled the thin skin on my neck, making my hips buck. His finger curled inside, and I whimpered.
Rey slid another finger in to join the first, pressing as deep as they could go. He curled his fingers again and touched something that made my legs tremble. “Feel good?”
“Yes, yes.” My hips were squirming to meet with his movement. It was too much, but I still wanted more, and from the sounds he was making, he did too.
“You’re dripping down my fingers, Sal. Soaking my pants,” he groaned.
I tried to move my hips away, but he quickly wrapped an arm around my waist and held me to him, his proud, impressive erection a log against my bottom and back.
“No, stay. I love it.” His pelvis bucked against me, telling me just how much he liked it. After a few more slow passes, his hand started jerking in me quickly, his fingers pressed into that one magical spot so tightly I was gasping for air. “Just like that. I want you like that.”
“Oh my God!”
“Good?” he asked, earning a tiny nod. The wet sound of him moving in and out of me quickly filled the room. Rey grunted, moving his fingers even faster, making me cry out even louder at the strange, euphoric feeling starting in the center of my body. “I want you all over my hand. I know you can do it,” he said, sucking on my earlobe.
I couldn’t catch my breath. I’d been running miles and miles every day since I was a kid. My stamina was something to brag about, but with his fingering and the way he pressed on my g-spot, I couldn’t even think of whether this was heaven or not. When the tingling heightened, I arched against him and gasped.
Out of nowhere, the most explosive, hot orgasm of my life took over, blinding me, making me cry hoarsely something that was blasphemous in a dozen religions.
Rey was groaning behind me, grinding his lean hips into me. He cooed something in German, sweet, sweet, sweet, as he nuzzled my neck.
I was panting, my insides throbbing almost violently around his fingers. My freaking abs were contracting and cramping. “Oh!”
He made a humming noise in his throat before closing his legs and mine in one movement. His fingers slipped out of me before shifting my body so that I was boneless and sideways across his lap. I could hear him breathing loudly as his mouth dropped down to mine, kissing me sweetly on the lips. His tongue gently explored past my lips and into my mouth. His hand cupped my shoulder before he snuck his fingers under the loose strap of my bra, our kisses only breaking apart long enough for him to pull the entire thing off.
Our slow, deep kisses of tongue on tongue ate up the time. Unrushed and tender, they went on and on, his hands stroking and painting lazy circles on my bare spine. Right around the same time his breathing calmed, his mouth pulled away from mine. Those heavy beautiful eyes were on me, searching my face, my neck and then down to my chest, stomach and bare hips. Rey shook his head while licking his lips. His hand caressed my shoulder before making its way to my breast and nipple. He hummed, brushing the back of his fingers over my nipple again. “I’ve been waiting for this forever.”
“I love you very much.” The words were out of my mouth, steady and determined. And true. They were so, so true.
I felt my face heat up under his intense scrutiny. His words were like gold, and I didn’t mind that he didn’t say anything in return. Instead his eyes were lasers, scanning over every inch of my exposed skin—everything. His hands were gentle and slow as they caressed me, brushing over the many, tiny and nearly invisible scars I had on my thighs and knees from years of soccer and from just being a kid.
He must have known that because he rubbed over me more reverently, squeezing my thighs in his big hands, thoughtless words in his mother language slipping out of his mouth. He slid his hands up my quads and over my hip bone. He brushed his fingers over my stomach, my belly button. His palm moved up to cup my breast, bringing it up to his face, and in a heartbeat his lips were sucking my nipple roughly again. His other hand kneaded my hip.
It all kind of went up in flames right then. I started grinding my pelvis into his hard thigh, and at some point he picked me up effortlessly and dropped me onto the middle of my queen-sized bed. He laid on top of me as I pulled his shirt off roughly and tossed it to the side. Reiner Kulti shirtless was probably the most magnificent thing I’d ever seen, but Reiner Kulti shirtless and covering me should have made me start spontaneously ovulating. His skin was tight and hot as I smoothed my palms over his pecs while he nipped at my neck. My hands were moving as if they’d unbuckled and unbuttoned a hundred belts in the past.
In the blink of an eye, we’d pushed his pants off his hips, and I was cupping his huge hard-on through the thin material of his jade-green boxer briefs. Rey’s wet mouth kissed a line down my chest as he kicked his underwear off his legs.
His long cock bobbed in the air as he kneeled over me, a deep fascinating shade of pink and red and purple. In his full glory, Rey was lines of muscle, a hard, thick cock and strong, muscular thighs that told me a story about what his secret had been when becoming one of the best players in the world.
He was perfect.
“You’re on birth control, yes?” he whispered after dropping down to his elbows to cage me between his bunched biceps.
I pressed my mouth against his, sucking on that full bottom lip I’d eyed countless times in the past. “Yes.”
He groaned, kissing me with vigor, moving his mouth a moment later to suck on my earlobe. His erection was heavy on the inside of my leg, that blunt, damp head prodding against my lower lips. “I’ve been abstinent since I stopped drinking,” he said softly.
A year? I was a deeply possessive person. I didn’t want to think about him being with anyone, ever, but I guess I couldn’t complain about his inactivity. I guess. But a year? It was almost hard to believe—almost. If this was anyone else telling me something like that I might have a hard time believing them, but I knew Rey wouldn’t lie to me.
I also knew what he was telling me. We’d all been tested for everything under the sun when the season started, coaches included. Plus, God knows there was nothing for him to worry about.
His hips surged upward, rubbing his length over the seam of my cleft and I arched too, loving the feel of his hot, soft skin. Wrapping my legs loosely around his thighs must have been enough of an answer because he was smiling, dropping those narrows hips between mine.
Rey kissed me deep, his tongue against mine as he aligned himself. Inch by inch he pressed in, his thick cock stretching his path forward. He groaned louder than I did, having to work himself deep into me. “Sal, Christ,“ he grunted, looking down at where we were connected.
I couldn’t help but look down at us too. The dark thatch of hair, a shade darker than what he had on his head, clashed against me; dark to smooth, the thick base of his shaft barely noticeable as he made his way inside of me. Rey rocked forward, kissing me softly as he slid in to the hilt. I groaned into his mouth as he pulled out completely before pushing in deep again.
His hand cupped my cheek, palming it just shy of being too rough. Those brown-green eyes were filled with something I couldn’t recognize. His hips rolled heavy, his weight pressing him hard against me, pounding, filling; the sound of our skin slapping together was the most erotic sound in the world. Rey’s eyes were locked on mine constantly, his jaw clenched with each thrust.
Those unpolished, desperate strokes of him inside of me went on and on, faster and faster. Hard meat slapping wet flesh. He started sweating, his back damp under my fingers. I ran my hands over his back and the butt I’d been obsessing over forever, squeezing it, grabbing it and pulling him in even when there wasn’t any more room for him to move. His pubic hair was dewy against me as he circled his hips, making me cry out.
I wanted him all. Every inch long, every inch wide, his girth and his heat. I wanted each powerful stroke that tried to tunnel him into me.
Then I was coming. I groaned so loudly I’m sure if anyone had been standing outside, they would have heard me. Rey was biting his lip and groaning as an orgasm rushed through my spine and lower body, milking his long length.
“I need to come,” he panted.
Who was I to argue? I arched up and kissed him, and I kept right on kissing him as his thrusts turned frantic and shallow before he finally pushed in to the hilt and stayed there, pulsing and groaning loud against my mouth.
We stayed like that forever, him on top, inside of me, his body hot, sweaty and perfect. It took me forever to catch my breath, but I rubbed all over those sleek, honed muscles in the meantime. I pressed my lips to the parts of his shoulders I could reach and kneaded his back. When his breathing evened out, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get a huge kick out of how worn-out he was, I wrapped my arms around him and gave him a hug. He lifted his head enough to give me a few pecks on my mouth and cheek, but it wasn’t until he pulled back even further that my heart soared. He was smiling the biggest smile I’d ever seen, and it reached deep into my existence.
My poor heart didn’t know it could love so much. I wasn’t going to let my fears get the best of me. I had this one life, and if I didn’t make the best of it, then what was the point? I’d been given plenty of good things to be appreciative of, and I wasn’t going to let this newest gift go to waste. I had never considered myself to be unappreciative.
So I said to him the three words that felt more real than anything while I palmed the small of his back, repeating the words I’d said moments before. “I love you, Reindeer.”
That smile the size of the solar system stayed strong but the emotion in his eyes quadrupled. “I know.”
The arrogant ass. “You do?”
He kissed the corner of my mouth. “Ja.” Rey kissed the other side. “You always have.”
I snorted. “I don’t know about always—“
“No. Always,” he insisted.
“You haven’t always cared for me, and I can live with that.”
“You’re a better person than I am, and I haven’t loved anything the way that I love you, schnecke. I would say we’re tied,” he argued. His smile was gentle, his skin bright and flushed. “I’ve been waiting every day of my life for you. Your honesty, your loyalty,” he punctuated each of my traits with a kiss to a different part of my face that had me grinning like a freaking fool. “Your competitiveness, your fierceness, your kindness and this body… I would do anything for you. Lie, cheat and steal. There is nothing I wouldn’t do. Understand?”
I didn’t, not completely at least. I didn’t have a lot of self-esteem issues, I was good with myself but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, I figured. I never wanted to become a cocky asshole.
I could love one, but I didn’t want to be one.
“Sort of,” I answered him honestly. “Are you really not staying on with the Pipers next season?”
“Absolutely not. I’m staying with you.”
“But I don’t even know where I’m going,” I reminded him again with the least amount of panic I could muster.
“It doesn’t matter. You’ll go somewhere, and you aren’t going alone,” he assured me.
I blew out a deep breath and scrunched up my toes against his leg hair, making him jerk. “What about your house here?”
Rey dropped another kiss, ignoring what I was doing. “I’ll sell it.”
I let out a shaky exhale I couldn’t hide into his neck. “I’m a little scared.”
“Don’t be.”
“I can’t help it.”
“Remember that idiotic question you asked me in the car? About what would happen when you can’t play soccer any longer?” He didn’t wait for any acknowledgment. “Nothing would happen. We would have a different adventure to go on. You are my best friend, my love, my playmate and my teammate. You’ll have a team with me wherever we are, with whatever we are playing.”
For a man who didn’t talk much, he really went for the knockout when he tried. Jesus Christ. Tears came into my eyes, and I couldn’t even bother blinking them away. “I guess we’ll figure out everything, right?”
He nodded. “I won’t let you give up.”
I smiled at him right before pulling at his leg hair again, earning a grunt that time. “I’ve never given up on anything. I’m not about to start now.”
