The Perfect First

by Hughes, Maya

  “Yeah, Reece. We saw the press conference—looks like someone’s eager to get out of here today. I wonder why.” LJ tapped his finger against his chin.

  “Shut up.”

  When I finally got to her building, I hoped the world’s slowest elevator would get me to her floor before it was time for me to collect Social Security. I shoved my hands in my pockets and rocked back and forth on my heels. The doors finally opened and I rushed out.

  Wiping my hands on my jeans, I took a deep breath. Lifting my hand to knock on her door, I came up short when it opened before I touched it.

  A sour-faced Alexa walked out, nearly running into me. “She’s been playing for the past half-hour and it’s driving me crazy.”

  Playing what? Was Seph a secret gamer? I could imagine her huddled up in her room with the controller trying to finish each round as perfectly as possible.

  Alexa huffed, clearly wanting attention or sympathy. Like I’d care about anything that pissed her off. Before I could say a word, she spun around, flinging her hair into my face, and stormed for the elevator.

  I stared after her. How in the hell had Seph put up with being her roommate this long? Stepping into the apartment, I closed the door behind me. The sounds I’d chalked up to someone playing classical music out in the hall weren’t coming from speakers after all. They were coming from Seph’s room.

  Every time I thought I had a bead on her, she changed things up. Apparently she was a musician too. I swore she had more talent in her pinky than most people had in their whole body. How had I not known this about her? How had she not brought it up before?

  The classical melody was equal parts familiar and totally new. The notes were beautiful, winding into a crescendo that gave me goose bumps. As I listened longer, I recognized it, the lyrics floating through my head. She took it and made it into something different. She owned it.

  Pushing open her cracked bedroom door, I stepped inside. She was facing the window, but her eyes were closed. Her fingers flew across the strings. The sway of her body to the rhythm of the music was mesmerizing.

  Seeing her like this added another thing to the growing mountain that made her unlike anyone I’d ever met before. Her hair was up in a different intricately braided style. It was her very own crown; she was like something royal plunked down in the middle of so much normal.

  Her fingers flew faster over the strings as the song reached its crescendo, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I could spend the next fifty years with this girl and I’d still be learning more about her. That thought sent a jolt through my body. She finished the piece and I stared at her, entranced. That was the kind of thing I shouldn’t have been thinking. I wanted to say it made me rethink my plans for the night, but like roots had sprouted from my feet, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I could have watched her forever, could have let her show me more of who she was and peeled back the layers she wore like a shield.

  She dragged the bow across the strings, wiggling her fingers and creating a vibrato on the final note.

  “That was unbelievable.” I clapped after my private performance.

  She jumped at my words and spun around. Her hand clutched to her chest, but she slowly relaxed and a smile spread across her face, the same kind that kept thoughts of her eclipsing all others.

  “How did you get in here?” She put her violin on the bed beside me, flipping open the case.

  “Your roommate was walking out and she let me in.”

  “More like storming out.”

  “Kind of.”

  “She asked me to stop and I told her I’d be finished in thirty minutes.” Her mischievous smile made my chest swell with pride. “I feel bad for subjecting her to that though.”

  “To the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard?” I could have listened to it all day every day.

  She ducked her head and slid the bow into the case. “You don’t have to say that to make me feel better.”

  “Who’s doing that? That was amazing, and I don’t even like classical music.”

  “To the untrained ear, maybe, but my fingering was sloppy.”

  I let that one slide. “You weren’t subjecting anyone to anything. People should be paying you to play for them.”

  She gave me the kind of patronizing smile you give a small kid before patting them on the head and telling them to run along.

  Reaching over, I covered her hand with mine as she closed the case. “Seriously, I’m not blowing smoke.” My thumb ran along the back of her hand, her skin so smooth under my callused touch. A tingle spread across my skin, the kind that only happened when I was around her, the kind that kept me up at night reliving the kiss in the bar and the brush of her against me on the dance floor.

  Her lips parted and she stared into my eyes. Her pupils dilated and her entire body stilled. She cleared her throat and tugged her hand out from under mine. “You played a great game.” She sat on the bed with the violin case between us.

  “You watched?” I peered over at her.

  “I told you I would. I don’t break promises.” She stared back at me like the question stung. “I tried to read up on as much as I could about the rules and everything, but I think you’re going to have to explain things to me.”

  “That I can definitely do, but not now. I’ve got a surprise for you.”

  Her eyes twinkled with excitement. “What kind of surprise?” I could practically see her rubbing her hands together. A part of me wondered if I was a temporary amusement to her. She played the violin. She was graduating from college at nineteen. She was a math genius and headed for her PhD. I ran across a field and caught a ball—faster than most, yes, but one wrong move and my career was over.

  Once the excitement of her firsts list was over, did she even have a use for me? I was getting in over my head with her in the worst way, in the kind of way that twisted me up in knots and made it hard to sleep or concentrate on anything other than when I’d get to see her next.

  “A list surprise.”

  She grabbed her coat. I held it up and she slipped her arms inside, smiling at me over her shoulder. Her lips were so close to mine. The taste and feel of them had been etched on my soul.

  Sliding my hand down to hers, I led her out of her apartment. I opened my passenger side door for her then jogged around to my side. The engine purred and I pulled out into traffic, headed toward our destination.

  “What’s up with you? You did win the game, right? I don’t know much about football, but I can read the scores.”

  My hands tightened on the steering wheel. “You’re right. We won.”

  “Then why are you so quiet?” She peered over at me, trying to catch my eye.

  Because I want to kiss you again. I want to do more than kiss you again, and I want tonight to be special. I don’t want to fuck up and make you regret it. “No reason.”

  She put her hand on my arm. Her fingers tightened and massaged the spot. “You don’t have to keep indulging me with list stuff. We can watch a movie or grab something to eat instead.”

  “You’re going to love it. How do you know I’m not doing this to entertain myself?” I gave her a strained smiled and snapped my eyes back to the road. If I wasn’t careful, I’d get distracted and wreck the car. My body hummed in anticipation of getting to where we were going just like it did before a game.

  She dropped her hand into her lap.

  “We’re almost there. How do you feel about trying out a pool again?”

  Her eyebrows scrunched along with her nose in her telltale confusion face. “I didn’t bring my suit.”

  My smile was real now, and I couldn’t have held it back if I’d wanted to. “Oh, I know.”

  18

  Seph

  We pulled up around the corner from a house and as Reece flicked the headlights off, I glanced over at him. He put on that devil-may-care smile and climbed out.

  Taking my hand in his, he walked down the sidewalk toward a white three-story colonial house. I
nstead of walking up to the front door, he walked down the driveway to the side gate. When he hopped the fence, my heart jumped into my throat.

  “Hop over.” He held out his arms to help me.

  “What if we get caught?” I glanced over my shoulder.

  “Isn’t that the whole point?”

  I swallowed against the boulder in my throat. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed hold of the top of the fence. My feet slipped on the wood, but I found a groove to jam my foot into and, between that and his arms, I made it over. We stumbled forward, and I clutched his coat as my cheek slammed into his shoulder. When I stared up at him, our lips were inches apart.

  I licked mine and he straightened himself up, taking me with him.

  “Let’s go.” He took my hand and tugged me around the side of the house. Peering over my shoulder, I stared back at the safety of the car, wondering about the minimum jail sentence for breaking and entering.

  At the back of the house there was a beautiful, shimmering blue pool. Steam rose off the surface of the water; it was heated. Blue lights dotted around the sides and bottom gave it a summer oasis look in the dead of winter.

  “What are we doing here?”

  “Skinny-dipping’s on your list, remember?” He sat on one of the loungers and tugged off his boots.

  “You can’t be serious,” I whisper-shouted.

  “Deadly.” He unzipped his coat and tugged his shirt up over his head. The muscles in his stomach tightened as the freezing air hit them. He turned his back to me, the wide expanse making me want to run my hands over it.

  His jeans went down right along with his boxers. I spun on my heels, trying not to think about his toned ass. And, oh, what an ass it was. A warm water droplet hit my face, which quickly turned into a cold splash as the freezing air cooled it. The sharp sound of him hitting the water was the only thing I heard over the thundering jackhammering of my heart.

  “I’ll turn my back. Get naked, Wild Child. Where I am is only four and a half feet deep. Stick to this end and you’ll be fine.”

  Our last time in a pool flashed back to me, but this time was different. He was different, and there was no doubt in my mind I’d be safe this time.

  Staring at him, I sucked in a shuddering breath. I glanced around at the high white wooden fence around the sides of the pool. Beyond that there were tall trees lining the edge of the property as far as I could see. A lot of the houses on the drive over had had their lights out. There hadn’t been any sounds other than us for a while.

  “I’m turning around and covering my eyes.” He spun in the water and made a big show of bringing his hands up over his face.

  My trembling fingers slid off the buttons of my coat three times before I finally undid the first one. From there, things went quicker. I shrugged off my coat. Unbuttoned my shirt. Unzipped my pants and hesitated before leaving my underwear on. Kicking off my shoes, I hopped across the cold concrete surrounding the pool and lowered myself into the water. The chilly wind forced me in quicker, frostbite battling against nerves. A tingling spread throughout my body as the heated water lapped against my chest.

  He spun around, and droplets of water clung to his eyelashes.

  He swam closer to me. The lyrical jingle of his body cutting through the water sent my stomach flipping. His gaze dipped down to the purple cups of my bra. “That’s cheating, but I’ll allow it.” His finger trailed along my collarbone, running it under my bra strap. Goose bumps rose along my arms and I bit my bottom lip. “You do know you’re going to have to get dressed without a bra now.” His lips turned up into a Cheshire Cat smile. He moved us until my back hit the wall of the pool.

  My face dropped. “Crap.”

  “I can’t say I’m complaining about it.” Pushing away from the wall, he swam away toward the center of the pool. I lifted my hand, reaching out for him. I wanted him back in front of me, so close I could smell his freshly showered scent even over the chlorine of the pool.

  My heart settled back into a normal rhythm after twenty minutes in the water. Nothing was going to grab me from the deep end. We played a whisper version of Marco Polo. We had a running race to the edge of the pool, keeping to the shallow end. Our laughter bounced off the walls surrounding us and every trace of fear related to drowning was gone, but the whole being-naked-in-a-stranger’s-pool part was still very present.

  “Shouldn’t we go soon? What if they come home?” I stared up at the darkened windows of the three-story house steps away. There was a one-story pool house close to where we’d undressed. It was probably bigger than a lot of people’s homes.

  “What if they do?” He swam closer. The water crested over his back and shoulders. He caged me between his arms and the steps.

  The backs of my knees hit the concrete and my butt hit the flat of the step. “You’re going to have a lot of explaining to do about why you’re in here naked.”

  He moved closer, his hips making contact with my legs. I relaxed, letting the gentle ebb and flow of the water part my thighs—or maybe that was all me. I’d been really good about not peeking beneath the water at what exactly Reece was packing, but that didn’t mean I hadn’t caught a glimpse or two.

  I leaned back on the steps, propping my elbows up on the next highest one.

  He grinned wide and moved in closer. His hands were just above my shoulders, brushing against my skin, and it wasn’t just his hands that were making themselves known.

  Against the wet fabric of my underwear, there was the insistent nudge of a dangerous instrument. Unable to stop myself, my gaze darted down. His muscled thighs rubbed against the sensitive skin between my legs. I caught my lip between my teeth. The pressure and sharp nip on my lip were enough to keep me from wrapping my legs around him and tugging him forward.

  The one thing I’d wanted since the beginning was so close. He shifted his body against mine. The nudge of his head against my blazing, hot core nearly made me moan. Why was he torturing me? I could feel how much he wanted this; couldn’t he? My clit throbbed with every brush of his cock against me. I bit back a moan that threatened to escape my mouth.

  “There’s something I need to tell you.” The gentle movement of the water was agony as we gave our bodies over to it.

  “What?”

  His lips were inches from mine, full and soft. He was equal parts raw masculinity and caring that made me almost come out of my skin. My body was on fire for him and I wanted him to devour me. I knew he’d make my first time one I’d never want to forget.

  “I think I heard a car pull up in the driveway.”

  My head shot up and I snapped forward, nearly headbutting him. “Oh my god!” I slapped my hands over my mouth. What if they heard me?

  Scrambling out of the pool, I raced toward my clothes. He’d been right—how the hell was I going to put all of it on with my wet underwear? Puffs of frozen breath floated in front of my face.

  Reece scooped everything up in his arms. The water on the ground instantly turned to ice and we skated along the concrete surrounding the pool. Instead of turning to rush back to the driveway, he swung a right, straight up to the door of the pool house.

  I grabbed his wrist and tried to yank him back. “We can’t go in there.”

  “Where else are we supposed to go?” He tugged me toward the door. His hand was on the knob and it turned. The click of the latch opening sent my heart rate spiking. No alarm. No sirens. I rushed inside and he closed the door behind us.

  “I can’t believe we did this.” I shoved against his shoulder as he peered out the door.

  He spun around and faced me. Water dripped off him and the splatters on the floor were the only sounds over our breathing.

  “We’re going to get arrested.” My dad would bail me out and have me on a plane back to Boston before I could blink.

  “We’re not going to get arrested.” He dropped our clothes onto the chair beside the door. “We’ll be fine. No one’s even turned on the lights in the house.”

  Walkin
g past me, he walked farther into the pool house. I grabbed my clothes from the pile. There was a small door at the end of the hallway, maybe a linen closet. I’d find a towel so I could dry myself off and then get out of there. Opening it, I sighed with relief at the sight of the neatly stacked light blue towels. I snagged one, planning to fold it up when I was finished so no one would know.

  I jumped at the sharp sound of a cork being pulled. “You’re drinking their wine?” My mouth hung open.

  Reece stood behind the counter and put the corkscrew down.

  “It’s here.” He shrugged and poured two glasses.

  He’d actually lost his mind. I’d heard of people in high-stress situations acting oddly, but this was another level of insanity. Not wanting to drip even more water on everything and the deathly fear of getting caught for trespassing, burglary, and theft sent me racing back to my clothes.

  “I can’t believe you’re doing this. You’re going to get us caught. What if something happens and you get arrested? What about playing this season? They could kick you off the team.”

  Trying to minimize my water drippage, I turned my back to Reece and reached behind me to unclip my bra. Normally, undressing in front of him would have sent me into an anxiety spiral, but I was already there with the whole B&E thing. Shaking out the towel, I dried myself off. “Of all the irresponsible, insane things,” I grumbled under my breath.

  A pair of lips pressed against my shoulder, and goose bumps that had nothing to do with the cold spread throughout my whole body. The chill from outside was replaced by a heated flush that crept all over my skin. His bare chest pressed against my back, the definition of his muscles imprinting itself on me, and the tap of his dick brushing against my ass made my head swim.

  “We’re not going to get caught because we’re guests.”

  I glanced at him over my shoulder. “Guests?”

  He planted another kiss on my exposed skin, crossing that unwritten line he’d drawn between us and I’d redrawn after our kiss, the same one that had gotten so faint it might as well have been painted in invisible ink. “This is Nix’s house. His dad’s away and he gave me a key.”