The Jock and the Dreamer

by Shana Vanterpool

  I slid as close to Wade as I could on the park bench. He was at home, laughing easily, cracking jokes. The soccer wives shot me curious, evil glances. I gave them the same.

  “Esmaie, how’d you wrangle this notorious bachelor?” someone, who Wade had introduced as Bank, asked.

  Bank was gorgeous. With tattoos down both arms and wild, unkempt caramel-colored hair. He had a killer smile and these milk chocolate brown eyes that had undoubtedly melted at least one pair of panties clean off. And even though he was one of the hottest guys I’d ever seen, I felt nothing missing when I looked into his eyes. I felt nothing at all.

  “He was abducted by aliens and they took his memory. And his anal virginity.”

  Wade laughed, humor lighting up his eyes. Looking into them, I felt my universe collide, crash, and converge.

  Why did he have to make this so hard on us? Was fate such a hard concept? Did we really need concrete feelings in place first to admit that there were forces shoving us together outside of our control? Or, I was finally losing my mind. Once and for all.

  Bank’s lips spread into a wide, indulgent grin. “Oh, a funny one. The cute ones aren’t typically funny.”

  “Hey,” the woman next to him said, smacking his shoulder.

  Bank turned to her, no longer smiling. “Who are you?”

  “Seriously?” She seethed at him. “You had your tongue down my throat all night.”

  He snapped his fingers. “Tessa?”

  “Guess again, dickhead.”

  “Lessa?”

  She was the color of rage, this deep dark red. “It’s Naomi, you fucking asshole.” She made a big show of grabbing her purse and storming off.

  Bank looked confused. “Who’s Tessa then?”

  Wade shook his head. “You met her last week at the game. Remember? She snuck into the locker room wearing nothing but your jersey?”

  It clicked. Bank smiled broadly. “Oh yeah. Wait, so who’s Lessa?”

  “That I don’t know. You’re on your own for that one.”

  Bank turned to the girl on his other side. “What’s your name?”

  She gaped at him. “So you can forget it in the morning? No thanks.”

  He smirked, draping his arm over her shoulder. I thought she’d shrug it off, but she leaned into him, giving him a flirty smile.

  “It’s Gina.”

  “Gina,” Bank repeated, the way I would a memory; he’d already forgotten it.

  There was a thing called insta-love. It lived mostly in my book world. When the plot was forfeited for effect, but the effect was always worth it. And though some could say I’d done so to Wade, I hadn’t. All I’d done was tell him the ending. There was still the beginning and middle we had to get through. Looking into Gina’s eyes, she thought she was at the beginning, but Bank was already at the end.

  “Not a chance,” Wade grumbled in my ear, stopping me from pulling out my Kindle. “We’re having fun tonight. Take your clothes off and let’s get in the lake. Stash your things under the table.”

  Tomorrow, he would suffer. I self-consciously pulled off my hoodie and shimmied my jean shorts down my legs, leaving me in a black bikini I’d scored on sale last summer. It had been a year since I’d worn it, and I felt like I was spilling out of it. I tucked my things under the table and looked up to find Wade standing beside me, jaw slack, eyes bugging out if his head.

  A singsong of whistles rang out. Almost every male at the table was grinning like a dog at me.

  “Shut the hell up!” Wade roared, grabbing my wrist and tugging me into the trees. “What the hell is that?”

  “What?” I’d already felt uncomfortable, now I felt even worse. “Do I look fat or something?”

  He laughed without humor. “No, Esmaie. You look like a fucking swimsuit model.”

  “Oh,” I squeaked, blushing. “Yeah right. I thought you weren’t supposed to be drinking?”

  He glared as his eyes traveled over my body. Where his eyes touched, seemed to burn. I was on fire as he studied every curve and inch of flesh. His eyes darkened, and then they slowly rose to meet mine. “I’m completely sober right now.”

  I swallowed hard, an ache between my thighs that hadn’t ached this badly since he’d been shirtless in the hall. “You swear a lot.”

  He grunted, stalking me. His hands settled on my waist. He urged us back until my ass bumped into the tree behind me. “Every guy out there is going to do to you what you did to me on the field today.”

  My blush deepened. I forced myself to hold his eyes, let the burn in them heat me from the inside out. It was rare I felt… coveted. Wanted. Desired at all. Under Wade’s gaze, I felt all that and more. My thighs quivered, and his fingertips dug deeply into my waist where he still held. “That’s a bad thing?” I stated, not asking. He obviously thought it was.

  He nodded once. “An extremely bad thing.”

  “Why?” I whispered, moving my gaze finally to study his biteable lips. Our five-second kiss had replayed itself in my mind a million times.

  “I don’t know. But I do know the idea of those pricks fucking your body with their eyes isn’t something I like.” He leaned down, his lips hovering over mine. “I hate myself for wanting to kiss you.”

  My breath left me. I brought my hands to rest on his chest, feeling his heartbeat pound. From sadness and desire. The torture he must be feeling… As much as I wanted to taste his lips again, I didn’t want him to hurt because of it. “Let’s go swim.”

  He shook his head, lowering his lips another inch. We were breathing in each other’s breath, both tinged with desire. My heart hammered in my chest and my body felt like it would both catch fire and float away. “You’re so damn innocent, my little dreamer. But you want me as badly as I want you, don’t you?”

  His tone had become a growl, panting his words. He pressed his groin against mine, and the hardness of his erection pressed over my pussy. The contact made me gasp, took control of my mouth. “Yes, I want you.”

  He lowered his mouth on my chin, kissing it the way he wanted to kiss me. He talked as he kissed, moving down to my jaw. “Why do you smell so good? Huh? Why do you smell so edible?” He growled, biting down on my pulse.

  I moaned, a blast of desire shooting through me. It filled my body until reason was no more. I tilted my head to the side, giving him all the room that he needed to devour me. He licked and bit at my skin, moving along my shoulder. He bit into my bikini string and yanked it aside with his teeth. That side of my top went down immediately, but we were pressed so close together that his chest stopped my boob from popping out. He lowered his head, kissing down my clavicle, and across my chest.

  One wrong move and my breast would be free.

  My nipples were plump with want, so tender as he pressed into me. My nails drug down his chest.

  His tongue slid, hot and wet, up my neck and returned to my jaw. I tried to ask him to wait, he wasn’t ready, but his lips came down on mine before I could, and there was no stopping me after that.

  He flipped a switch in me. Awakened parts of me who had been in a forever slumber. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and matched the deep, erotic thrusts of his tongue. He tasted like every good thing in the world. Happiness, love, want, acceptance, and hope—he tasted perfect. I devoured every inch of his mouth as he did the same. There would be nothing left if we weren’t careful.

  He pressed his hard groin against my middle, inserting new pleasure in the downpour I was already feeling. I must’ve whined, because he reached down and gripped my hip, tugging one of my legs up to give him room. The moment his hard cock pressed against me through the thin scrap of my bikini, I knew I was right about us.

  Nothing that felt this good could be a mistake.

  But I also knew that that wasn’t the hard part. The hard part would be getting him to realize the same. It felt impossible; in order to prove to him that we weren’t wrong for each other, he had to let another go, and how could I do that to him?

  �
��Where did you go?” he groaned against my lips. “Come back to me.”

  His tongue delved deeper into my mouth and his groin began relentlessly stroking my sensitive core through my bottoms. The contact drenched me in hunger once more. I ground my hips over him, finding the perfect position and rhythm for his hard cock to wedge between the cloth of my bottoms; each time I came down on him, he caressed my clit.

  “I missed you,” he whispered against my lips. “Don’t take off again.” His hand slipped between us and ripped my bikini top off, flinging it over his shoulder. He crushed his chest to mine, dry humping me against the tree in the woods.

  I moaned senselessly against his kiss, unable to form cohesive thoughts. We moved our hips in the most destructive pattern, sending me spiraling into an orgasm I hadn’t been expecting. One second, I was sensations all over, the next I was a balloon with a clipped string; I was floating in outer-fucking-space, moaning unhindered into his chest as I came like crazy. I humped him as best I could, my body jerking like it was malfunctioning. Tears pricked my eyes. I’d never felt anything this good in my entire life.

  He urged me back, exposing my breasts to the air. His head ducked, and just when I thought my orgasm would ebb, he pulled one of my aching nipples between his lips and sucked me into a second one.

  “Wade,” I gasped, plunging my fingers in his hair.

  He moaned with my nipple in his mouth. I felt his hips still and knew his orgasm was close. I wanted to make it as earth-shattering as my own. I reached down to pull my bottoms to the side, exposing myself to him. I unzipped his jeans as fast as I could, and he crammed his cock, only covered by his boxers, against my slick mound. He parted my lips and stroked my aching pussy with rough, incredible thrusts.

  Right as he came, I grabbed a fistful of his hair and pulled his head back, bringing my lips down on his as his body stilled, and his hips short-circuited. I kissed his orgasm out of him, swallowing every single deep moan he let go of. The contact of his briefs and cock sliding over my clit, sent intense after-shocks through my body.

  We trembled in each other’s arms, trying as hard as we could to stay in space a moment longer, where dreams weren’t impossible, and love was a way of life.

  Chapter Eight

  Wade

  I thought I’d had sex before.

  Made love before.

  Came so hard I feared I’d go blind before.

  As much of an asshole as it made me, I was too fucking drunk on her to care, and knew I had never, never, felt anything better in my entire life than hooking up with Esmaie against a tree, in the woods, while my team was a few feet away.

  Shit.

  Her body trembled in my arms and little moans escaped her lips. We were both still breathing hard. Her legs were around my waist and her head was on my chest. Unable to stand a moment longer, I clutched her body to mine and turned us around, sinking down on the ground so she was straddling my lap. I reached down blindly to pull her bikini panties back in place. If I saw her pussy right now, I’d be inside her in seconds.

  Humping against a tree was one thing. Fucking her innocent, perfect pussy would be my undoing. I didn’t have to do it to know it. I brought her head to my shoulder and wrapped my arms around her, closing my eyes as I replayed the moment in my head.

  The sight of her in her bikini had struck a fuse in me. The way Bank looked at her, the way I looked at her. The globes of her cherry-shaped ass in that black scrap of cloth. The round, plump swells of her tits cascading out of her top. Her rich green eyes full of innocence, like she had no idea she was a knockout. Her lips, her touch—it had all been too much for me.

  But the kiss had pushed me over the edge. The intensity of it, the sheer amount of desire I felt in her and in myself. It was like I could feel her want mixing with my own to create a bomb that had exploded the moment our tongues touched. I was glad—even though I’d never say it out loud—that I had thirty days with her left.

  Thirty days of feeling something I thought I’d never have again.

  And scared. Scared that thirty days wouldn’t be enough.

  I found my lips kissing her neck, unable to help myself still. Her pulse had calmed. The scent of strawberries clinging to her skin made my mouth water. I bet her pussy tasted the same. Wet, sweet, and pink inside… I groaned, biting at her neck. She’d have a hickey for sure. One on each side. Something about my mark on her skin made my cock hard once again. I sucked and bit at her neck, pulling back to find a deep bruise already forming.

  Her hands were in my hair, stroking my scalp just the way I liked. “How do you feel?” I asked her, wanting to know if she felt the same way I did. Afraid to feel as good as I did.

  “Mmm,” she mumbled.

  I grinned. “Not able to talk yet?”

  Her head shook.

  I kissed her temple, and then her ear, whispering in it. “Can I talk for you?”

  “Mhm.”

  “You feel hollow, but full. Tired, but completely aware. Afraid, but content. And you want to go again, but you know that if we do, we’re going to screw this up.”

  Her fingers stopped stroking my hair. She nodded softly, burrowing deeper into my hold. And then her fingers started again. A shiver traveled down her spine and chill bumps rose on her skin.

  “You’re cold.” Something about her being cold bothered the shit out of me. I reached with my fingertips to grab her bikini bra. “Sit back for a second.”

  She did, her swollen tits on display. Her nipples and areola were the hottest shade of pink. Her nipples were still slightly damp from my saliva and she had a hickey above one of her nipples already. I met her drunk, post-orgasm eyes as I slid her bikini top back on. I tied it around her neck and then placed a kiss to her lips. “Let’s go slip in the lake. It’ll warm you up.”

  She kissed me back for a moment longer, a slow, sweet, cock-hardening kind of kiss. There was so much tenderness and emotion in her lips. I wanted to feel that tenderness on other parts of my body.

  She got to her feet unsteadily. Other than the hickeys on her neck, she looked the same as when we came into the woods. Only I saw the difference in her eyes. I pushed to my feet and zipped my jeans back up, ignoring the wet spot on my boxers from rubbing against her wet pussy. I took her hand and we both broke the edge of the woods, the sounds of the party coming back.

  Women screamed joyously in the lake, music blared, people danced, and a couple of people were making out on the benches. I stopped on the edge and tore my clothes off, leaving me with my half-massed cock and my boxers. Esmaie and I both stepped into the water and lowered our bodies in. The water was warm like a bath, and it wrapped enticingly around us both.

  “Better?” I reached for her, getting her waist. I pulled her close to me. The night was broken up by the lanterns. The glow shone onto her face, haloing her in light.

  In response, she wrapped her legs around my waist and rested her head on my chest. I swam us to the middle of the lake where it was warmest, taking us on a slow swim. Every once in a while, I’d catch Bank’s eyes. He was making heart eyes and pretending to jack off. I gave him the finger, floating us away.

  I couldn’t remember the last time I felt so peaceful. I was in the moment. Not thinking of the past or tomorrow. I had the woman in my arms to thank for that. I kissed her temple, inhaling what remained of her scent.

  A low growl sounded from her. I chuckled, rubbing her back. “You hungry?”

  “Mmm.”

  Since I’d done this to her, I took it upon myself to take care of her. I walked us out of the lake. I grabbed my clothes and we both dressed, her clumsily, me quick. I grabbed her bag and we both slipped away from the party without running into anyone.

  When we got in my truck, she was slightly more awake. Blushing when our eyes met. If she had any idea how sexy those innocent green eyes were, she wouldn’t be giving them to me. I knew what they looked like drunk with lust, and it was hard as hell not to imagine them that way when she looked so sweet and f
lushed.

  “Where are we going?” she asked tiredly.

  “Home. To feed you.” I turned the heater on.

  “But Bri’s there.”

  “So? She’s not your friend, Es. She’s a spoiled, mean girl. You’re just too nice to see it. Plus, I think you’re comfortable around her, and you’re willing to look beyond that shit to keep it.”

  Her hand crept toward me, trailing lazy circles on my thigh as I drove. “You should ditch the business degree and think about psychology.”

  When we made it home, both Bri and Ren were there. They had serious looks on their faces that made Esmaie and I both pause.

  “What?” she asked.

  “You’re going to let a man come between you and your best friend?” Ren demanded.

  “He’s using you!” Bri squawked.

  I rolled my eyes and went into the kitchen. Poor Esmaie. Ren was a judgmental prick. One of those people who loved to point out everyone else’s flaws instead of looking inward. I started looking for dinner.

  “Don’t do this to me right now,” Esmaie groaned. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “You’re letting a jerk brainwash you,” Bri sneered. “Do you really think a guy like him would want you, Esmaie? Seriously, think about it. You’re quiet, which is nice I guess for a little while, but not for men. You’re not really interesting. You have like no male experience. You drink too much. I mean, you’re not a prime candidate for a guy like Wade. You’re a little psycho. Like your mom.”

  “Bri!” Ren chastised.

  Anger slashed through me. I turned around to find Esmaie staring at her best friend with tears welling in her eyes. The heartbreak in her gaze broke mine too. No one should have to surround themselves with people like that just so they didn’t have to be alone.

  She didn’t need this shit. I stomped over to her and grabbed her face between my hands, forcing her eyes on mine. “Don’t listen to her. She’s a jealous bitch. Do you hear me? She’s nobody.”

  Her tears spilled over. “She’s right. I am like my mom. I’m not interesting. I’m not—”