The Hardest Fall

by Ella Maise

  My breath hitched as he pressed two fingers right against my clit. “Come on, Zoe. Let me have everything.” My toes curled, my eyes rolled back in my head, and I completely froze. Every muscle in my body tensed as pleasure surged through me. I’m not sure how many seconds I lasted without breathing, but when it was over, I couldn’t breathe quickly enough. I gripped his hard, unyielding biceps and groaned as loudly as I could as he slowed yet somehow deepened his thrusts.

  “Shit, Zoe,” he murmured, and before I was ready for it, he pulled out, pushed me down with a hand on my stomach, and came all over me in thick spurts. I was fascinated by the way his hand moved on his cock. His hold was tighter than I would’ve dared to squeeze, and he drew out every single drop. I felt a wet line slide down the side of my waist, tickling me.

  My body bucked in response and I tipped my head back, closing my eyes.

  “Stick a fork in me—I’m done.”

  I heard a tired chuckle then felt hands moving on the tops of my thighs.

  “You should see the way you look right now.” His words came out just a little more than a whisper, and each one was a caress on my naked skin.

  I closed my eyes and stretched. “Let’s do that again,” I said with a dopey smile on my face. “I don’t have the strength to open my eyes, but I can totally do that again.”

  This time his chuckle was louder, and it made me shiver all over.

  Dylan cleaned me up then kissed me for a full minute. I was over the moon. He helped me dress and then I watched him pull on his own clothes. We managed the impossible and lay down on the couch together. It was worse than his narrow bed in the apartment, yet it couldn’t have been more perfect in my eyes.

  “I can’t wait to fuck you in a normal bed.” His voice was all sexy and drowsy, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I wouldn’t have said no to another go, but he looked so sleepy, so tired.

  I kissed him, just a gentle sweep of my lips, and his closed eyes opened to find me.

  “I don’t want to miss you like that again. You make fun of me for saying it, but you’re my buddy, my best friend. I don’t want to let you go, no matter what.”

  “I’m not going anywhere, baby. It’s just us from now on.”

  “Just us.” I exhaled, the words giving me life, and then I hesitated. It wasn’t the time, but… “But, you won’t be here next year, and if—”

  “Don’t even finish that sentence, Zoe. We’ll figure everything out when the time comes, but believe me when I say I have no intention of letting you go. Just let me sleep with you in my arms and we’ll take it one step at a time tomorrow, okay?”

  I snuggled in closer and closed my eyes, breathing in his scent.

  Just when I was about to drift off, right in that between space, his voice brought me back to the room.

  “I’m going to hate myself for even asking this, but what’s your number?”

  I opened my eyes halfway, my brows drawing together in confusion.

  “What? What number?”

  “How many guys have you slept with?”

  “Dylan…” I groaned. “I don’t think that’s—”

  “Tell me.”

  I sighed. “Three.”

  “Three,” he repeated, his body tense around me.

  “It’s not that many, and I definitely don’t want to hear yo—”

  His body tensed further behind me. “Not that many?” he asked incredulously. His fingers pulsed around my wrist. “That’s three too many.” I felt him rest his forehead against the back of my head. “I wish I could’ve been your first. I know I probably sound like a caveman saying that, but even picturing you near another man makes the blood boil in my veins. I can’t stand to picture you in someone else’s bed, lying just like this.” He pulled me closer. “Just me from now on—I’ll be the only one touching you, kissing you, holding you, fucking you.”

  “You won’t hear any complaints from me on that,” I returned after a few seconds passed and his body gradually thawed.

  That night, I got the best sleep after weeks of being miserable, and I was pretty sure Dylan did too.

  Chapter Thirty

  Dylan

  A few months later…

  It was the big day—draft day. I’d woken up before the sunrise in the hotel room we were staying at in Arlington, Texas, where the draft would be held. My dad, my mom, Amelia, Mason, my agent—everyone was there to support me. Well, all but one. The one person that was missing had just landed fifteen minutes ago, and I was getting restless and impatient waiting for her at the airport.

  When she still hadn’t come out, I headed for a shop to grab a bottle of water. I wasn’t sure if my excitement was because I was about to see Zoe or because of the big day—probably a mixture of both—and even though it sounded ridiculous to miss her so much since it’d only been a handful days since I’d left her back in Los Angeles in the shitty little apartment we shared with another student, I’d already accepted that everything was different with her.

  I’d never been a jealous person in my life, not to the extent that I was with Zoe, and while sometimes the intensity of my feelings for her scared the shit out of me, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. If it meant I’d feel like a Neanderthal trying to keep her away from every person who had a dick between their legs, I’d make my peace with it. As far as I knew, she had no complaints either, which might have had something to do with the fact that I kissed her senseless every time she was about to complain, but we’ll never know for sure.

  As I waited in line to pay for my water, someone poked me in the shoulder. I turned around and there she was, smiling, glowing, bouncing on her feet, hands covering her mouth.

  My lips stretched into a big grin.

  “Where did you come from?”

  Instead of answering, she squealed and wrapped her arms around me. Chuckling, I returned her hug and held her tighter. After a long moment, she looked up at me and smiled.

  “I missed you.”

  “Yeah?”

  “You have no idea.”

  Seeing how happy she was, I felt a little more centered. “Where have you been? I was going crazy without you,” I admitted into her ear then kissed her until I had to stop and pay when it was my turn in line.

  Grabbing her carry-on, I linked our hands together, and we walked out of the airport, talking the entire way. As we waited for our Uber to come, she leaned back against me and I wrapped my arms just under her breasts, resting my chin on the top of her head.

  “I think I’m starting to freak out, and look”—she raised her palms—“my hands are sweating.”

  “Why are you freaking out again?”

  “I’m about to meet your parents, Dylan, and your brother, and your sister. What if they don’t like me? What if they don’t like what I’m wearing? What if they think I have no right to be here? I want to be there with you, but if it’s going to be awkward for them, maybe I should wait back at the hotel with your brother and sister? But I don’t want to do that either…”

  I gave her a squeeze and sighed. “Zoe, you’re not going to leave my side for a minute, and my parents will love you—they already do from everything I’ve told them about you. Amelia is even more shy than you are, so she’ll probably be quiet, but she’s sweet. You’ll love her.”

  She grumbled a little under her breath but didn’t protest after that.

  Only because I thought I should distract her, I pushed my hips forward so she could feel how hard I was for her then pressed a lingering kiss right under her ear.

  Her body went rigid and her hands gripped my forearms tighter.

  “That’s not fair,” she whispered, resting her head back on my shoulder.

  I licked my lips and pressed another kiss on her neck. “What’s that?”

  She wiggled her butt and groaned. We’d been going at each other like rabbits for months.

  “I missed you,” I whispered.

  “Do we even have time for that?” she whispered back.

>   I sighed and pulled back. “I don’t think so, not until after tonight.”

  “Not even five minutes?”

  I gently bit her earlobe and absorbed the way her body shivered. “You’re adorable. Does that feel like something you can take care of in just five minutes?”

  There was a soft slap on my arm. “You’re adorable.”

  I laughed, finally feeling complete after days of not seeing her. “Why do you make it sound like an insult? Of course I’m adorable.”

  Our car showed up and we held hands through the entire car ride back to the hotel where my family was waiting for us. We’d become one of those obnoxious couples everyone hated who had to touch each other at all times. I loved it.

  “Are you scared?” Zoe asked when we were a few minutes away from the hotel. “About tonight.”

  “Scared, no, but I am excited. I want to get it over with so we’ll know where we have to move.” I tried to act casual and started playing with her fingers. We hadn’t had that talk yet. For me, it wasn’t necessary—I wanted her with me no matter what—but I didn’t know how she was feeling about it. I knew she wanted to move to New York because of her photography work, and one of the teams that had wanted to talk to me and my agent was the Giants—along with several other teams that were nowhere near the northeast—but I didn’t want to tell her anything until it was certain. Unfortunately, nothing was certain when it came to the NFL. You could feel pretty good about yourself, confident that you’d be picked in the first round—maybe even in the top ten—and then out of nowhere you could end up going in the third round, if you got picked up at all.

  I had no idea where I’d end up or how long I’d have to wait.

  “We, huh?”

  I stiffened in my seat and stopped playing with her hand. She picked up from where I’d left off, linking and unlinking our hands.

  “Flash?” I prompted when nothing else came from her lips.

  “Hmmm?”

  “You didn’t answer.”

  “Sorry, did you ask something?”

  All of a sudden, the car was parking in front of the hotel and we had to get out. I put her carry-on bag on the ground and waited. She got out too and stood in front of me.

  “Zoe…”

  “What?”

  I tilted my head and waited.

  “What! You never asked me. We got so busy trying to find a place to live, and then there was the combine. How am I supposed to know whether you want me there or not? Plus, I have one more year, and maybe you—”

  I let go of the handle of her carry-on and cradled her face in my hands. She was still trying to talk when I slipped my tongue into her mouth and kissed her senseless right there in front of the strangers walking in and out of the hotel.

  “I always want you with me—don’t you know that by now? It’s been months.” I groaned against her lips, my breathing already heavy, my heart racing. “I’ve always wanted you, Zoe Clarke.”

  “I wasn’t sure.”

  I rested my brows against hers and let her arms snake around my shoulders.

  “I’ll go wherever you are, probably the day I graduate, Dylan Reed. You’re the best roommate I’ve ever had, and I won’t let go that easily.”

  I let out the breath I hadn’t even realized I was holding and pulled her body flat against mine.

  Someone cleared their throat pretty loudly, but neither one of us cared about it enough to break apart.

  Then I heard my mom’s voice.

  “Dylan, I’d like to see your girlfriend, please. Stop mauling her face.”

  Before my mom was even finished with her sentence, Zoe had pushed me away with unexpected force and her face was already turning that beautiful shade of pink I loved so much. She licked her lips and when that wasn’t enough, she swiped them with the back of her hand a few times, her face flushing even brighter.

  “Mrs. Reed, it’s so nice to meet you.”

  My mom looked at my grinning face and shook her head. Then she was in front of Zoe and pulling her into her arms. “Just Lauren. I’ve been dying to meet you. I’m so happy you could take a few days off and meet us here.”

  When my mom let her go, she was still flushed, but instead of that mortified look on her face, she was smiling softly.

  “And look at you,” my mom gushed, cupping Zoe’s face. “Gosh, you’re gorgeous. Look at her eyes, Dylan. She is beautiful.”

  Zoe sent me a helpless look and I laughed, reaching for her hand.

  “I know, Mom. That’s why I’m keeping her—so I’ll have something nice to look at for the rest of my life.. What are you doing out here? The rest of the gang still at the restaurant?”

  Finally she let go of Zoe and turned to me. Pulling my face down, she kissed my cheek.

  “I couldn’t sit down and wait, and, I admit”—she sent Zoe a quick wink—“I wanted to see Zoe before everyone else. Now she is here and everything is so perfect. I’m so proud of you, Dylan. We’re so excited.”

  I groaned. “Lauren Reed, if you start crying again, so help me—”

  “No crying, not yet. Oh, okay. Maybe a little bit of crying.” She quickly brushed away her tears. “Come on, let’s take Zoe inside so she can meet everyone before you disappear for those interviews.”

  With one of my hands suffering a death grip in Zoe’s, I grabbed the handle of her luggage with my free hand and took two of my favorite women inside.

  The lights at the stadium, the hushed conversations, the camera guys walking around the tables—all the people around us were starting to get to me. I felt Zoe’s hand on my leg, stopping me from bouncing it against the table.

  The show was about to start in less than ten minutes.

  “You, okay?” she asked, leaning toward me, her eyes worried.

  I grabbed her hand under the table and held on. “Everything’s good.”

  She didn’t look like she believed me, but her touch calmed me down just enough.

  My parents were talking with my agent when I felt a hand close on my shoulder.

  “What’s up, man?” Chris greeted me with a huge grin on his face when I twisted in my seat to look back.

  I rose and we gave each other a quick hug.

  “I called you on the way here, wasn’t sure you’d make it.”

  He sighed and played with his tie. “Just a little late, that’s all.” When Zoe pushed her chair back and joined us, Chris leaned down and kissed her cheek.

  She was beaming up at him.

  “Hi, Zoe.”

  “Hey. I texted you earlier to wish you luck, wasn’t sure I’d get to talk to you here.”

  “I called you, but I guess you can’t hear a thing with everything going on.”

  Zoe stood beside me as her eyes skittered around, no doubt looking to see if Mark was around.

  “He’s not here,” Chris commented before I could say anything.

  Zoe’s frown deepened. “This is the biggest day of your life, how could h—”

  Chris turned to me. “You didn’t tell her?”

  “Didn’t come up,” I replied, avoiding Zoe’s curious gaze as I absentmindedly stroked her back.

  Their interaction was still awkward at best, nowhere near a normal sibling relationship, but I knew Chris wanted that…maybe not as much as Zoe wanted it, at least not yet, but I knew he was trying to get there.

  A camera guy started to film us as he passed by, and Zoe inched closer to my side. “Tell me what?”

  As Chris started to tell her how he’d basically forced Mark’s hand to make him resign from the team, Zoe’s fingers gripped my forearm tighter and tighter.

  “It was either that or I was going to tell my mom I knew about the adoption. In his own weird, sick way, he cares about her…I think.” Chris must’ve seen the look on Zoe’s face because he shook his head and gave her the rest of the story. “It’s not just you, Zoe. He was messing around with students…girls. He was going to get himself into trouble eventually.”

  We weren’t giving he
r the whole story, but I’d already spoken to Chris and he’d promised me he wouldn’t tell her how I’d broken his father’s nose soon after he was no longer our official coach. You see, Zoe had forgotten to tell me what had happened in the apartment right before I’d walked in that night. I’d learned about it only because Chris had made an offhand comment, thinking she’d already told me.

  I slid my arm around Zoe’s waist and pulled her to my side just as they announced that the event was about to begin.

  After promising to meet up after the night was over, we had to say goodbye so Chris could go to the table they had him seated at.

  “It’s gonna be a long night,” Zoe murmured beside me, wringing her hands in her lap.

  “How do you feel?” I asked into her ear.

  She looked up at me. “About what?”

  “Your dad.”

  “He is not my dad,” she replied automatically. “I don’t feel anything.” She shrugged. “I don’t care one way or another, and he is the last person I want to talk about tonight.” She reached up to touch my cheek. “Tonight is all about you.” Her smile got bigger. “You made it, Dylan. All those shifts at the bar, all those morning workouts—which I enjoyed immensely, thank you very much—studying your ass off to graduate early…all your hard work, and look where you are. I’m so proud of you.”

  Turning my head, I pressed a kiss to her palm. “Not yet, Flash. We don’t know anything yet. I have no idea where we’re gonna end up.”

  “Oh, come on. I read some of the predictions—someone will snatch you up in the first round. Your NFL combine was legendary.”

  I laughed. “Yeah? What do you know about it?”

  “Nothing, but I know whichever team gets you will have one hell of a season next year with you on their side.”

  I laughed harder and drew the attention of my parents. I nuzzled her neck. “You crack me up, Flash.”