Goal Keeper_A Pearson Players novel

by Sarah Nego

  “She headed that way toward the river.” I jerked my thumb over my shoulder, and Luci stared into the darkness as if she was desperate to follow her friend anywhere but here. “Looks like it’s just you and me.”

  I held my can out towards her, and she reluctantly clinked them together.

  “Cheers.” She barely whispered the word and then took a long drink from her can, probably draining close to half of it. “I can’t believe Erin ditched me.”

  Luci looked ticked, but I wasn’t upset about the situation at all. “I wouldn’t get mad. Mark’s parties tend to end up spread out all over the property by the end of the night.”

  She nodded and took another more restrained sip of beer.

  “Hey, why don’t we go find a place to sit. I think I saw some empty rocking chairs on the roof.”

  Luci hesitated and looked around us as if she hoped a life raft would appear out of nowhere to save her from more conversation with me. I wasn’t too proud to admit it hit my ego a bit that she was so keen to get away from me. Eventually, she nodded. “Okay, fine.”

  Not the enthusiastic answer I was hoping for, but I’d take it. For some reason I couldn’t explain, I had a thirst to learn everything there was to know about Luci Ryder. Including what her mouth tasted like and how she would feel naked underneath me. But that was a lesson for another day. First, I needed to get her comfortable enough that she didn’t feel the need to run away from me the first chance she got.

  I grabbed her hand without stopping to wonder if it was a good idea and led her up a side set of stairs to the roof.

  Two hours later, Luci was finally having a good time. We rocked side by side in a pair of old mesquite wood rockers. She was still quiet and didn’t offer any information voluntarily. But at least she answered my questions without contemplating every answer. And I could tell she was more comfortable with the way her shoulders relaxed and her hands rested lightly on the arm rests of her rocking chair.

  So far I’d learned that Luci was the oldest and only girl of four kids, she’d played soccer since second grade, her favorite class in school was art, and she was looking forward to more Spanish classes the way she’d look forward to a root canal. Every question she answered made me want to learn more about her.

  “So what does your dad do?” she asked, closing her eyes and letting her head rest against the back of the rocker.

  I smiled. I could talk about my dad all night.

  “He’s the best mechanic is Brownwood.” I tipped my beer at her and took a quick sip. “He runs a shop there. It isn’t anything fancy, but it’s his and he gets lots of the rich ranchers and oil guys that bring him their over-priced babies when they make a weird noise.”

  She laughed, and the sound made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. God, this girl was getting to me, and she wasn’t even trying. “You say that like these rich guys don’t know what they’re doing.”

  “They don’t.” I rolled my eyes and didn’t have to worry about Luci being offended that I was making fun of some jerk with more money than sense. Vanessa always got ticked when I said anything bad about the douches that dropped their cars off with my dad. “Is that how you want some snotty kid to talk about you when you’re the one with the jaguar in a few years?” she’d say. I cursed myself again for staying with her for so long.

  “Last month some guy came into the shop with a top-of-the-line Audi. I’m talking all the bells and whistles. He was frantic because an odd noise was coming out of the vents. The guy was paranoid and kept insisting that he needed a new engine.” I paused and glanced over at her. She was hanging on my every word. “Want to know what it was?”

  “No,” she said with the best deadpan face I’d ever seen. “I would love it if you would stop the story right there and leave it on a cliffhanger.”

  I let out a belly laugh that felt like letting go of years of pent-up anger. “It was a leaf.”

  “You’re kidding.” She tilted her head up to the sky and let out a genuine laugh of her own.

  “No. It must’ve gotten sucked in through the grill and lodged by one of the fans.” I rolled my eyes at the memory. “My dad popped the hood, plucked it out, and started the engine. It purred like a lion. Dad wasn’t going to charge the guy, but he insisted and gave my dad a hundred bucks. One hundred dollars for leaf removal.”

  “Good lord.”

  “Hey, I’m not complaining.” I lifted my leg and pointed down at my foot. “My dad said it felt like free money, so he gave me half to get a new pair of shoes before school started.”

  “Nice choice,” she said, staring appreciatively at my new sneakers.

  Seriously, a girl who could drink a beer, laugh at my lame jokes, and appreciate a pair of shoes that didn’t have red soles. Meeting Luci felt a little like free money. Someone I certainly didn’t deserve but was glad for all the same.

  Excited laughter and shouts broke out of the house under us. A large group poured out into the night air, carrying towels and heading down the path to the river.

  “What’s that all about?” Luci stood up and walked to the edge of the roof to watch the mayhem.

  “Come on. I’ll show you.” I grabbed her hand to help her down the steep stairs off the roof.

  When her hand gripped mine, I let out a tiny sigh. Her fingers laced with mine felt perfect.

  I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and turned on the flashlight so we could make it down the hill without tripping over something or falling off the path. It wasn’t far to the river, but it was pitch dark other than a bit of moonlight. Luci clung to my hand, and I had to split my focus between the rocky path and the way her fingers slid against mine and woke up feelings I hadn’t had in a while.

  By the time we made it to the edge of the river, half the group was already splashing into the water. A convenient bank in the path of Dove River had created a perfect swimming spot down at the edge of the property. Someone had bolstered the sides with large concrete slabs so the water was deep enough for even a tall person to be fully submerged.

  I shined the flashlight around us to make sure we didn’t run into anything, and Luci’s grip on my hand tightened.

  “Are those…” She pointed at the dark piles of fabric.

  “Everyone’s clothes? Yep.” I turned off the flashlight and shoved my phone into my pocket. “You gotta take ‘em off or else you have to wear soggy pants the rest of the night.”

  I turned to face her and sucked in a deep breath. With a hint of moonlight breaking through the darkness, her face was lit up like an angel. I’d never wanted to kiss someone more in my entire life, but even with her hand still firmly in mine, I knew that was a bad idea.

  Luci was the kind of girl who didn’t take big jumps. Just from our few conversations, I could tell she needed to ease into every decision. Weigh the pros and cons and deliberate possible outcomes. Kissing me came with some huge cons, mainly Vanessa, but maybe I could show Luci I had some pros as well.

  I dropped her hand and grabbed the hem of my shirt, pulling it up over my head. “Are you getting in?”

  “I … um…” Luci’s tongue darted out to wet her lips, and a touch of pink joined the glow of the moon on her face.

  Oh, she was definitely checking out my abs. Luci, meet pro number one. Constant work outs and practices for the soccer team did have a few benefits.

  “Come on.” I tugged at the button of my jeans. “It’s dark, and we can hardly see a thing out here. You can leave your underwear on, and it’ll be like wearing a swimsuit.” A very see-through swimsuit, but I didn’t mention that.

  “I don’t think—”

  “Get in the water, Luci, or I’ll shred your color-coded calendar.” The voice came out of the darkness from the water and was followed by more cries for her to get in.

  Luci let out a huff, and I had to assume the heckler was her roommate, Erin, of the sparkly skirt.

  “Fine.” Luci turned around and lifted off her shirt.

  The top of her s
houlders caught some of the moonlight, and I was treated to a show of skin that looked soft and delicious. I made a mental note to thank Erin when I finally met her.

  “Um…” Luci turned her head over her shoulder. “Could you turn around?”

  Hell no! “Sure.” I tore my eyes away from her supple skin and finished undressing, piling my clothes up into a wad. “If you hand me your clothes, I’ll put them with mine on this rock.”

  With her back still to me, Luci handed me a stack of neatly folded clothes. By the time I set them down and turned around, she was already climbing over the concrete barricade toward the water. The moon hit even more of her skin, and my mouth went dry.

  I didn’t waste another minute and scrambled after her to get into the water so I wouldn’t lose her in the darkness. Careful not to bump into anyone, I made my way to where she was treading water close to the bank and a little separate from the rest of the group. She was hidden by the inky black river from the shoulders down, but that didn’t stop my brain from imagining what she looked like beneath the surface. My lower brain got in on the action too, springing to attention in the water, still warm from the day’s summer sun.

  Luci floated silently next to me. I wanted to say something, anything, but I couldn’t seem to make that part of my mind cooperate. What exactly do you say to a high-strung girl you really just met when you’re both floating half naked in a river? This scenario hadn’t exactly cropped up before. Luckily, Luci saved me from synapsis overload.

  “Is this how most of Mark’s parties go? Everyone drinks enough to not care and then swims in the river?”

  “Pretty much.” I floated a little closer to her, but not enough to make her think I was putting the moves on her. Though I totally wanted to put the moves on her. “But only for another month or so. Come October, the water will get too cold, and us guys will have to wait around until spring before we can get pretty girls to go swimming with us again.”

  Luci didn’t say anything to that, and I mentally kicked myself. I was usually smoother than this, but I was out of practice. And Luci kept me from thinking straight. Something about her made me want to try a little too hard.

  “It’s perfectly safe, though, in case you’re wondering.” I closed my eyes and forced my heartbeat to slow down a bit. “The snakes are more afraid of us, so they don’t ever come near a huge group like this.”

  “Snakes!” Luci lunged toward the shore and then let out a shriek before jumping back away from the riverbank and right into me. “Something touched my leg.”

  It took an eternity for my brain to reconnect with my mouth. Luci was frantically staring into the water and seemed to be completely unaware that in her panic she’d pressed her wet body up against mine. Something I definitely noticed. I was hyper aware of her toned legs and hot flesh against mine. She turned to check the water to my right, and her breast brushed against my chest, her hard nipples pushing against the thin cotton of her bra.

  I tried so hard to hold back the reaction, but my willpower was no match for raging hormones. My dick pulsed between us, and there was no way Luci didn’t feel it.

  “Oh.” She glanced up at me, her eyes wide with realization, but she didn’t pull away as I’d expected her to.

  We stood there, our bodies pressed against each other and the moonlight playing across Luci’s face. I’d been wrong before when I’d called her pretty. God, she was beautiful. And I could only be expected to have so much self-control.

  “Hell,” I muttered before dipping my head down to capture her lips with mine.

  Luci let out a tiny whimper before kissing me back.

  My body took over after that, nipping and licking at her lips, tasting the last traces of her one beer and a hint of metallic river water. I ran my tongue along the seam of her lips, and Luci opened to me, matching my movements as we explored each other’s mouths.

  I gripped her shoulders, tugging her against me, her nipples rubbing against my skin and setting off fireworks in my veins. I wanted—no, needed—to touch and taste every bit of Luci Ryder, starting with her delectable mouth. My hands roved from her shoulders down the strong planes of her back.

  Luci wasn’t a delicate spring flower. Her firm muscles and soft curves were a perfect blend of strength and femininity. Like a steel lily. I wanted to pose her on a bed of silk and immortalize her perfection with my camera before devouring every inch of her.

  I nipped at her lip and tilted my face to kiss the inviting skin where her jaw met her neck. Luci tilted her head back and let out a soft moan of approval. I could spend hours appreciating this three-inch square of perfection. Luci’s hands wove into my hair, tugging at the dark strands overdue for a cut. Pulling her closer, my hands followed the curve of her back to her pert ass. My fingers gripped at the firm muscles, perfected from hours in the gym, and pulled her hips tight against my body.

  “Oh,” Luci said again, but this time I heard the tone of panic in her voice.

  Luci froze and then pushed against my shoulders, creating painful distance between us.

  “I … no … I’m sorry.” Without looking me in the eyes, Luci scrambled back to the riverbank and rushed out of the water. “Erin, we’re leaving. Now.”

  I’d been wrong. One taste of Luci was not going to be enough.

  Twelve

  Luci

  Monday

  Calculus

  Intro to art

  Speech

  Practice

  Review first 5 chapters of art book

  Make Spanish flashcards for chapter 3

  I rushed onto the field with a few minutes to spare before the start of practice. My whole Monday had been off, and I only had myself to blame. After the party on Friday, I needed to spend Saturday catching up on laundry and getting some reading done. Instead, I spent the whole day completely unable to focus on anything because my mind kept wandering back to Ryan and those moments with him in the river.

  That wasn’t me. That girl who stripped down to her underwear with a guy she barely knew. And I had no idea who it was that stood there and didn’t move when she accidentally bumped into him and his massive cock. Lord help the girl who let him kiss her like that because that wasn’t me.

  Jesus, that kiss. It lit me up and pushed every ounce of common sense I had right out of my head. That common sense should have been telling me to run away—kissing the ex of your pissed-off team captain was a horrible idea. But how was I supposed to leave with his mouth taking control of mine and his hands soft and strong on my back. And I didn’t know any woman alive capable of resisting when a man found that sensitive spot right under the jaw where there must be a million nerves waiting for a perfect pair of lips.

  I could have stood there all night in the warm river letting Ryan VanKamp kiss me stupid. And I would have too, if he hadn’t brought me back to reality with those strong fingers digging into my ass. For one fleeting second, my thoughts had flown to those fingers moving to more sensitive areas and what those hands might be capable of. That thought called my common sense home, and I was able to get the hell out of there before my traitorous body let things go any further.

  So I spent Saturday switching between reliving the way Ryan had made my body come alive and kicking myself for getting into the river in the first place. That meant Sunday was a mess as I tried to cram two days’ worth of work into one day. I completely forgot about a load of laundry I’d left in the washing machine and woke up for class without clean socks. I’d had to skip breakfast so I could get my clothes dry. Without my morning coffee, I felt completely off in calculus and gave a wrong answer in class to a simple question. Everything had spiraled downward from there.

  My stomach grumbled at having only been given lunch so far, and I kept cursing myself for going to that stupid party with the stupid boys and their stupid soft lips that I couldn’t stop thinking about.

  I tossed my bag at the bench and joined Sam and Avery where they were stretching. It felt heavenly to sit down for a few seconds, but I
knew it wouldn’t last.

  Avery looked over at me, her mouth drawn into a worried frown. “I’d stay low if I were you today.”

  I closed my eyes and sucked in a deep breath through my nose. “Great, now what?”

  “Rough day?” Sam asked, her torso bent over her extended leg.

  “You could say that.” I stretched my arms up over my head and bent over into a seated toe touch.

  “I hate to be the one to pile on more stress, but word on the street is that Vanessa is pissed at you.” Avery tilted her head to where Vanessa was stretching.

  She was glaring at me, her body a statue as she sunk lower into the lunge designed to stretch her hamstring.

  Sweat dripped down my neck that had nothing to do with the hot afternoon sun. Shit. How much did Vanessa know?

  “So, why does our fearless leader look like she wants to strangle you with her bare hands?” Sam asked, swaying her torso to her other leg.

  I shook out my arms and took another steadying breath. “I went to a party Friday night.”

  “Okay,” Avery said, drawing the word out into at least eight syllables. “Why would she be pissed. It’s okay to go to a party so long as we don’t have a game the next morning.”

  “Ryan VanKamp was there.” My stomach flipped as I said his name. Stupid stomach. Didn’t it know that liking that boy was a messy recipe for disaster and a complete breakdown of my plan?

  Avery glanced over my head at Sam, and I could practically feel the worry coming off them.

  “I didn’t know he was going to be there. It was supposed to be a party for the people who work on the newspaper. I was only there because of my roommate.”

  Avery patted my arm. “I’m sure it’s fine. It’s not like it was a date. Vanessa is just…”

  “A narcissistic bitch with a flair for dramatics and an inability to process emotions.” Sam smiled over at both of us as if she’d said it was a beautiful day.

  Avery tilted her head toward Sam, a sly smile on her face. “What she said.”