Hating Him Wanting Him : A Contemporary Romance Collection

by Summer Brooks

  That was worth everything to me. I just didn’t want him to think that I was making use of him, taking advantage and somehow not giving him what he expected.

  But he was wrong if he thought I was going to pay rent with my body. That wasn’t me. I was here because this was an option he offered, and I took it with the personal understanding that I would make sure he would get some money from me for rent.

  “What have you been up to today?” Bryant asked, walking over to one of the couches. He gestured for me to join him.

  I finished my glass of juice and then placed it in the sink. “You’re on sink duty today, Howard,” I told him in a faux-stern voice. “I’ve noticed that you’ve been slacking off on your housekeeping responsibilities.”

  “What?” he laughed. “No way.”

  “Yeah, it’s true. Even Marvin cleans the bathrooms, he says you never have. And he was the one who got the cleaners to come in after the party.”

  I knew what he was going to do next: he was going to shrug and say that he was the one who paid for it.

  But he didn’t. I could tell he knew that was a mistake, a trap I placed in front of him to test if he was the spoiled rich boy he never wanted himself to be.

  “Yeah, I guess Marvin’s been pulling his weight after all,” he said, thinking about it. “And you’re the glue that brings us sloppy sporty guys together, huh? That’s not bad at all.”

  I smiled, walking to join him on the couch. Our knees touched, and I was glad for the cozy physical touch — and while he was looking hot, all tired from a whole day’s exertions, I wasn’t sure if I wanted sex. After all, wouldn’t that just complicate things further?

  It was more important to me that we establish how sweet we were together, before we tried to do anything more intense. And for other college kids, sex might come first, but I saw how that could break relationships up.

  And with the memory of Sam still fresh here, I knew he had to have something different. He was always the guy acting like he was taking care of everything and everyone, the responsible man who did everything important, but sometimes it was okay for a girl to step in and help him out too.

  Helping didn’t always mean money.

  “You seem a bit tense,” Bryant said. He sat up, reaching for my shoulders, gesturing for me to turn around. “Let me give you a massage.”

  “Oh, wow,” I said. “Uh, okay.”

  “Not a deep-tissue one. You probably couldn’t handle that. I’ll give you a nice back rub to take your mind off of things. Tell me what’s up, though.”

  I was paying close attention to the way Bryant’s hands began kneading into my back, pressing deftly into all the places that revealed just how tense I actually was. I moaned, not that sexually, but still enough to make me blush.

  God, was I glad he couldn’t see me blush.

  Or feel how wet I got when he touched me, even something relatively harmless like this…

  “Well, I’ve just been worrying about money. About figuring out a long-term plan here. I don’t want to ask my parents for money, and I did save up for college from my year at community college. At first I thought I would have trouble transferring all my credits from college and have to take an extra year, effectively making me a freshman, but this week I’ve been seeing a lot of professors and academic advisors, and they all tell me I’m looking pretty good. I might not get everything sorted this semester, but before the end of the academic year, I’ll be on equal terms with any other sophomore.”

  “That’s fantastic news,” Bryant said, his hands gripping my shoulders, his fingers and palms untying the knots under my skin.

  “But yeah, money. I need work. I’ve been trying my best lately but I don’t see anything sustainable, and I don’t want to drop everything to take a full-time job that I’ll have to juggle schoolwork with. That’s going to suck, because I came to Florida thinking I could make everything work.”

  “Florida’s way more expensive than Indiana,” Bryant nodded. “Even I was surprised when I first got down here. Especially since we’re in a big city, after all. Bigger than Indianapolis.”

  I nodded, tilting my head slightly so I could see Bryant. “Well, I’m trying to advertise my services as a proofreader and editor for anything anybody in the university might need. Dissertations, theses, assignments, even presentations. My rate’s pretty low since I’m just a student and nobody’s really hired me, but even so, nobody’s interested.”

  “These things take time.”

  “It’s true,” I sighed. “Well, maybe I can find some job online.”

  “Or…” Bryant started to speak.

  I shrugged out of his grasp so I could face him again. “Not going to take your money, Bryant. Please.”

  “That wasn’t my suggestion.”

  This got me intrigued. “What were you suggesting, then?”

  “Well, football’s more than just a bunch of guys on a field trying to move pigskin from one side of the field to another,” Bryant said, grinning. “It’s a big-money industry, you know? Lots of jobs related to football, and I could probably hook you up with something there. I know this guy who runs a tailgate company here. He works with the university.”

  “That’s interesting,” I said, waiting to see where this was going.

  “Well, this won’t even be me pulling strings. The owner, Andy, he’s looking for an intern to help coordinate rentals, stalls and tents for all the tailgating on game days. You’d be doing marketing work, but it’s not so bad, most of it can be done on your laptop or on your phone. It’s funny, not a lot of people know about these jobs. He pays you by the day, but it’s a good rate, I’ve heard.”

  I burst into a big smile. “That sounds perfect. Seriously, Bryant, thank you. Can you pass me his details so I can apply right away? I’m really excited about this. I think I’d be a good fit.”

  This could really work. I had experience coming from working at the sporting goods store anyway, so dealing with team-related merchandise and just keeping the tailgates organized sounded like something I knew I could easily do. Plus I liked working with people.

  “It’ll mean travel, as well. Andy’s company opens away stalls when we play at other universities, not to mention when we have games at home. You know, I like this idea because this way you’ll always be there when we win a game.”

  “Sounding real cocky there, Bryant,” I said, leaning forward to give him a quick kiss. He instantly lit up, looking incredibly pleased to get that from me.

  “Well, you’re my lucky charm, if that game against Kentucky is anything to go by,” he murmured softly.

  I placed my hands on his knees. Oh, Bryant looked so attractive now, his handsomeness etched on his features as he sat up on the couch across from me. It felt nice when he helped me and respected the boundaries I needed.

  Exhaling, I looked at him right in the eyes and said, “I… want to ask you something.”

  Bryant nodded purposefully, reaching for my hands and squeezing them once. It felt really nice to have him touch me…

  “Do you want to come to my room with me? I’d like that a lot. Just want to feel you close to me right now.”

  I was blushing as I said all that, confessing that I wanted him as much as he had been wanting me. Me refusing him before wasn’t because of a lack of desire, but because I wanted us to only hook up when we wanted to, not because it was convenient, not because it was easy.

  I didn’t want to hurt him. I wanted him to know I was here.

  “Let’s go,” he said, picking me up and carrying me to my room.

  16

  Bryant

  Fuck, I was so turned on. She was light in my hands as I carried her from the couch to her room, my footsteps light and quiet as we made down the corridor.

  She just looked up at me, her eyes flashing desire. I knew I was feeling the same. I couldn’t wait to be in bed with her, touching her, our bodies meeting, our skin pressed to each other.

  “Oh man,” I whispered to her.
“You really drive me crazy, Mia.”

  “It’s worth it,” she whispered back.

  I set her down on her bed. This was a much bigger bed than that one in the single occupancy dorm she lived in for just one day. I was glad Allie wasn’t giving me a lot of shit over that mixup of plans.

  Right now, what mattered was Mia. I wanted her to experience just how much passion I had for her. Every morning, it took me so much restraint to not just pounce her, not to kiss her in front of all the guys, not to pull her by her wrist and press her to my chest.

  This little petite blonde somehow made me wild for her the way no other person I had met here did. I don’t know why that was. I didn’t even question it anymore. What mattered was that we were close.

  “I want you,” Mia whispered. Compared to the first night, she was starting to take some control in bed, and we were starting to be equal partners. I knew how special it had been for her to give me her virginity, and I had been craving showing her exactly what she had been missing all week by dodging out of my advances.

  “I want you more,” I growled in her ear, starting to undress her.

  While I had been massaging her just now, I had already been stripping her naked in my mind. She always wore cozy clothes at home that were unprovocative to most people who saw her, but made me think she was the sexiest girl around.

  She wore a cute little baby blue tank top, and I knew she didn’t have a bra on, because when I was massaging her and she turned around, I could see her nipples were hard against her tank top.

  And the pajama bottoms she wore might be ankle-length, but all I had to do was undo the knot at her waist and then pull those pants off her. Then she’d be bared to me.

  “Mmm,” she murmured as I pinned her down in bed, kissing her. I gave her deep, long kisses. I wanted my mouth to enter hers, my lips moving to give her a dozen hard kisses in quick succession.

  “Wow, you’re really… into this,” she said when I pulled away from the kiss. Her hands were already reaching for my jeans, her palm smoothing the creases of my crotch as she sought out my cock. “That bulge is so big.”

  “Guess why,” I grinned, before kissing her neck. She was flat under me, while I was arched at an angle so she could keep stroking the outline of my cock through my jeans and briefs. That felt good. It wasn’t the direct stimulation I really craved right now, but it was a teaser for what was going to come.

  “You always tease me like this,” Mia moaned, starting to sound desperate. My hands were getting under her top, cupping her small but perky breasts. Every so often I’d push my mouth forward and kiss her again. “Take my clothes off, please.”

  “Thought you’d never ask,” I growled again, unable to keep the grin from my face. I wanted her to experience all the pleasure now, to be as turned on by me as I was by her.

  So I undressed her rapidly, my hands greedily removing everything I could. First I moved her arms so I could pull her tank top off, and then while she was topless, I kissed at the space between her breasts while starting to take her pants off.

  She had cute little white striped panties, beige and pink. “So fucking adorable,” I said, grinning. “You’re really something, you know that?”

  “Tease,” Mia said, looking lost in the pleasure. She pouted her lips, desperate for another kiss from me. I gave her exactly as she asked.

  Soon she was naked, and I was too turned on to take my own clothes off. I yanked my jeans down, thumbs into the band of my briefs so they fell as well, and allowed them to settle just under my knees, because I needed so bad to be inside Mia.

  “Mia, mmm,” I moaned as I lined her up for my play. I gripped my hard cock with one hand as I began to open her legs up for me, revealing that she was already incredibly wet.

  First I wanted to tease her a little, rub my cock to her wetness, have strings of it cling to me. Her breathing got hot and heavy as I did, my body moving in a sawing position that was the ultimate tease to her now.

  She was grinding herself against me. “Please, just do it, just put it in. I want you so bad, Bryant.”

  Every time she said my name my cock just pulsed even harder. I knew I was gifted downstairs, and I had always been a passionate lover who cared about giving his partner as much pleasure as I could… but with Mia, I was hungry for her, and I knew only the best would do.

  I wanted her to have everything. I wanted her to have me.

  So I started to press myself to her entrance and then I pushed inside her, and we both moaned.

  She was perfect. Her warmth began to envelope me and her hands reached for mine. We immediately began to squeeze our hands together, fingers interlocking, already immediately entering a passionate rhythm, because I knew she and I had a connection and bond that was truly out of this world. I couldn’t even tell why this was the case, I didn’t know what it was about her that made me go this way, but now that we had truly gotten past all the bullshit of the past, and we could look to the future, I was so fucking into her. I was going into her deep, ready to make my body meet hers in the most intense way possible. Our bodies clashed into each other and this gave us the feeling of incredible closeness. I didn’t want her to just think sex with me was good.

  I wanted it to be mind-blowing every time.

  Mia was mine.

  “Please,” she murmured, spreading her legs wide. I loved it when she opened them like that, inviting me to go in closer, get in deeper… because that was what I wanted. I knew I had to be in her, I knew we needed to fuck all the pain from our previous years away.

  It was honestly not bragging at all to say this was heaven to me. I couldn’t compare her to other girls, I knew that, and there was no need to — not when she was so perfect underneath me.

  Seconds became minutes as we shifted positions and changed things up. First I went fast, then I went slow, then I went slower still until she was the one doing all the work, grinding against me, humping her legs so that I could just kneel over her, letting her enjoy herself with me.

  I couldn’t think of anything that I wanted more than to just be with her at that moment.

  “Oh, Mia,” I said, as I felt my first orgasm start to come to me. She hadn’t come yet, so I knew I had to hold it down. I wanted her to hit multiple climaxes with me, counting each time she did, taking and taking and taking because here she was fully allowed to be whatever she wanted and needed to be.

  But only if it meant being mine.

  “Oh, Mia,” I moaned again, over the sounds of us having fierce, frenetic sex. This was as much a workout as all the workouts I had been doing all week. These were offensive drills, defensive practices, these used up all my muscles the way no test run of plays would for me.

  Because although football was what I loved most, in bed with Mia, I could be my truest self. I could explore her body, treat her like a princess.

  No, like a queen, because she was worth every crown.

  Part of me had questioned, even criticized, the way I was when I was with her. Like it was a problem that I was trying so hard to impress her, by joining her in that media law class, by giving her this huge room that was better than any dorm.

  I behaved funny around Mia Cowell, but there was nothing funny about how we enjoyed the pleasures of each other’s bodies.

  Wanting her as I did right now, I began to hold her by her hips and then really ram myself into her, foregoing deep strokes for the shallow machine-gun reflex of continuously going in and out of her.

  “Bryant!” she screamed, pulled into the surge of energy here. “You’re gonna make me… you’re gonna make me…”

  She was at a loss for words, so I instead of changing things up, I kept on doing exactly what I was doing.

  Her legs were splayed over my chest, her ass was bouncing against the impact from my hard-slamming thrusts. I began to shift my angle just enough so I knew I would be able to get at her G-spot, take her by surprise.

  “Oh my God!” she called out, and I felt her body ripple with release.
She couldn’t help herself, this wasn’t a conscious decision where she allowed herself to reach her climax. No, this was me thoroughly dominating her body the way I wanted, using the sheer athletic force I had to give her an orgasm exactly when I wanted to.

  “Wow, holy… wow,” Mia said, tossing and turning in bed. I slowed my strokes down, but I was still playfully fucking her, just pacing myself a little bit so I could hold back my own impending volcano of an orgasm.

  “You really enjoyed that, huh?” I said, impressed at my own handiwork. She was still tossing and turning, her mouth opening and closing as she struggled for words, just breathing in and out as much as she could.

  She finally opened her eyes just as I was making a long stroke out of her, popping my cock out as I withdrew. “No, I want you back inside me,” she said, still out of breath.

  Her hand reached for me, pulling me back in.

  I was the one who was impressed now. She was really trying to work me, and this was more energy I was spending than I would have at a football game.

  Now she turned around so she was on her belly, exhausted but still engaged in our acts of passion. She rested face forward, her face planted against a pillow.

  I pulled her by her hair, excited by the sight of her naked back. “No, you don’t,” I murmured. “You don’t get to hide that beautiful face when I’m with you. I want you to look at me.”

  She had to arch her back and pull her head up as much as she could so I had an angle where I could kiss her, and when I kissed her, I delved right back into her, my cock popping back in.

  Oh, we both moaned again while still kissing. The fierceness of the way I wanted her made me want to treat her even rougher than before. This was only the second time she was having sex, but the former virgin was a natural. She had no shyness at all, and this intense chemistry between us made me crave the next time we would have sex again.

  Even when I was still deep inside her.

  I couldn’t think about anything else around Mia. She was all I could focus on, she was all that mattered. I had already forgotten everything about this week, all the classes I had to attend, all the assignments that needed to be prepared, all the training plans for the game against Missouri.