Rush

by Gina Gordon

  “It’s not time to go home yet.”

  I dug out my wallet with my other hand and pulled out a twenty. I threw it inside the cab and waved him off.

  “That was the only cab. How am I supposed to go home now?” Her foot did a cute little stomp on the ground.

  She wasn’t getting away so easily. I had refrained from prying about the real reason why we were out—the list—but if I was going to get ditched, she at least owed me the truth.

  “Tell me about the list?”

  I needed to know. I needed to know why she had it and why she was hiding from it.

  “I-I-I…” Her stutter was cute. The way she moved her lips, talking to herself instead of answering my question, was even cuter.

  I let go of her forearm and she rubbed the spot where I had manhandled her. I’d never touched a woman with anything but a respectful touch, ever, even during rough sex. Unless she wanted me to. I’d been with a couple of spankers in my time.

  With a heavy sigh of resignation, she said, “My grandmother died. Just after Christmas.”

  Shit. And I was being such an asshole. “I’m sorry.”

  She nodded. “Along with the deed to her house, she left me the bucket list.”

  That explained the old lady furniture.

  “She stipulated that I have to finish it before I graduate. No explanation.” She threw her arms up in the air. “It’s cryptic, but there was always a method to her madness, and I’m not going to doubt her now.”

  “But you haven’t checked any of them off.”

  She fisted her cute, little hands at her sides. “I know. I just…” She looked up at me, appreciation in her eyes. “I just had no idea where to start.” She snorted. That cute little sound that always escaped her lips whenever I did something to amuse her. “I thought maybe she sent you on purpose. I wouldn’t put it past her.”

  “The list doesn’t seem very difficult.” I tapped my chin. “It looks like it would be a good time.”

  As of yesterday, I could have checked off every single item except for one. And tonight, after my date with Everly, the list would have been complete.

  “Maybe for someone like you.” She let out a heavy breath. “I can’t remember the last time I had fun.” She walked away, closer to the brick wall, but her body remained tense. Her eyes were distant again, like she was thinking about something else even though she was deep in conversation with me. “She was always telling me to live life. I never listened.”

  I had told her the same thing.

  “Look, you don’t have to pretend you care. You’ve played your part. The date is over. You can go back to your real world now. A world where a guy like you would never be with a girl like me.”

  She kept saying that—a guy like me. Exactly what kind of guy did she think I was?

  “You think I don’t want you?” She was insane. She was the exact opposite of what I thought I wanted, but I wanted her anyway.

  I pulled her against me and nuzzled her neck. She smelled like oranges. Never had the smell of citrus caused a stir of desire in my pants. I couldn’t deny it anymore.

  I kissed her jaw then her chin, moving my lips slowly toward hers, fully expecting her to push me away, but she didn’t. She sighed and whimpered, let down her guard for a moment, and I took advantage of that. I pressed my lips against hers. Softly at first. When she moved into me, pressed her chest against my body, I enveloped her in my arms and deepened the kiss.

  I pulled her closer, harder, fully aware that my hard-on pressed against the softness of her. I couldn’t think. Just act.

  Instinctively, her legs wrapped around my hips when I lifted her. I took us the few feet to the brick wall. I placed her gently against it then, pressing my hands on either side of her face, I pushed out my pelvis to support her body. I pulled away, only for a moment. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was pursed. Desire radiating from every molecule. When she pulled back and opened her eyes, my chest tightened and my heart threatened to pound out of my chest.

  “Wow…” I whispered silently, coaxing a smile from the beautiful, unassuming face that stared back at me.

  In another moment, we were kissing again. I guided her lips in a slow rhythm, but she kissed me back with more vigor than I’d expected. This bookworm sure knew her way around a set of lips.

  She was the one to slow it down, to pull her lips away from mine and breathe heavy against my face.

  Her hands cradled my jaw as she pressed her forehead to mine, refusing to look me in the eye. But I wanted that contact. Craved that contact more than I craved her body.

  “Max…” She whispered softly in my ear. “Put me down, please.”

  I obeyed. At this moment, I would do anything she wanted me to. Anything but put her in a cab and let her drive away.

  She slid down my body until her feet hit the dirty ground beneath us. With her fingers pressed to her lips, she focused on me.

  “Now do you believe me?”

  She didn’t react, didn’t acknowledge my comment except to lick her swollen bottom lip. I had to force myself from smashing my mouth against hers again.

  “Do you want to go back to your place?” she asked quietly, almost too low for me to hear because she’d timed it perfectly with a blaring siren that accompanied a fast-moving police car whizzing down the street.

  But I did hear it. And she couldn’t take it back. I didn’t want her to. But that didn’t mean I had to follow through.

  “No, sweetheart.”

  Sadness fell across her face, and she straightened. Her familiar stone-cold glare replacing the desire that had been on her face less than two minutes ago.

  “But I…”

  I wanted to fuck her, but more than that, I wanted to see her again. Maybe this bucket list was the perfect excuse.

  “Maybe we could check another item off your list.”

  She looked up at me with a curious glare. “You want to help me complete my bucket list? Not have sex with me?” She cocked her head. “What’s the fine print?”

  I laughed. Always lawyering. “No fine print. Totally legit.”

  “This is…really weird.”

  She had no idea just how weird. “For me, too.”

  No one said you won’t end up in bed. It just won’t be tonight.

  “I think I know exactly which item to check off next.” I smiled. “Will you meet me at Centennial Park tomorrow at six?”

  She hesitated, but finally relented. With a nod, she answered, “Yes.”

  I remembered some of the items. Be the center of attention. Lose control. Those were the kinds of things I could help her with. See something amazing? I didn’t think my cock counted, so I would have to be more creative with that one.

  Some of the items I knew I wouldn’t be able to help with. Break someone’s heart? There was no way she was getting her hands on mine. To this day, it’s remained untouched. And it was going to stay that way.

  Maybe this was my chance to prove I was more than just tits on the cover of a porn flick, more than the guy who paid people to have sex.

  Maybe, by helping Everly, I would finally become the man I always thought I could be.

  Chapter 6

  Everly

  My zombie-like state meant I had no idea how I’d gotten here.

  I leaned against the trunk of my car in the lot of Centennial Park. I had dropped off my paper earlier today, slipping it under my professor’s office door, barely making the five o’clock deadline. It was probably the worst excuse for academic writing the world had ever seen. My only saving grace was that three-quarters of it had been written before I met Max. I couldn’t remember my closing arguments and I was pretty sure my footnotes were misnumbered.

  I wanted to blame it on lack of sleep more than anything. As soon as I’d gotten home from our date last night, I had turned on my laptop and set to work, but even if I didn’t have a paper due this morning, I wouldn’t have slept a wink.

  That. Kiss.

  The one tha
t set my thighs on fire and ignited something in me I’d never felt before. And the dancing. Shit! He’d gotten me to forget about everything. About school. About my paper. About my overbearing parents. It had all faded away. And I’d let it. I’d liked it.

  I let my eyes flutter closed and pulled my hoodie up and around my neck, shielding myself from the chilly spring breeze. I focused in on the sound of the wind rustling the branches. The chirping of the birds in the distance. The music that wafted over the asphalt from the lawn where a group of women did burpees.

  I let sensation take over and it reminded me of the way every hair on my body prickled in acknowledgment when his hands were on me. The way my blood rushed through my ears. The way my heart hammered in my chest. With only a simple touch to my face he had me panting and shivering. I couldn’t even imagine what my body would do if he ever got me naked and under him.

  I might have limited sexual experience, but I knew that Max Levin would be all the experience I needed.

  But that would never happen. No. I couldn’t let that happen.

  I couldn’t let him mess with my mojo. I barely had time to sleep, let alone allow him to help me finish the bucket list. I had agreed to his terms last night under a haze of desire and bad decisions, but here I was, waiting with excitement simmering under my skin, for a man I knew I should stay far away from.

  “Are you ready?” A familiar voice woke me from my own head.

  I opened my eyes and was face-to-face with Max Levin. He looked…hot. Sexy as hell, in black basketball shorts and a white hoodie. Dark hair covered his strong calves. I didn’t like muscle-y men. Looking at him, with the glow of sweat covering his exposed skin, a slight flush to his cheeks and the earbuds dangling from his ear, I didn’t know which Max I liked better, casual or suited up.

  Neither. You don’t like Max Levin, remember.

  “Ready for what?”

  “We’re running.” He pointed his thumb at the track. “Do something athletic, right?”

  I snorted. Somehow the dainty laugh I reserved for adults and colleagues didn’t make it into my conversations with him.

  “You’re taking this list seriously, aren’t you?”

  I had no idea why. I had barely contemplated how to go about tackling it, and within twenty-four hours Max was on his way to having two checked off.

  Which led me to believe there was more to this offer. No one was this nice. No one went out of their way to help a stranger with a stupid list so she could alleviate her guilt by finally pleasing her dead grandmother. Even Mother Teresa herself wouldn’t have taken on this case.

  “This is serious. We don’t have much time to conquer the list before you graduate. Although there are a few items I’m not sure I can help you with, but I’ll do my best.”

  “You remember the list?”

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Inside was a small piece of paper. He’d written his own copy of the bucket list, and the first item was already crossed off. I smiled up at him, appreciating the lengths he’d gone to help.

  “Lock your car. Let’s go.”

  We walked from the parking lot to the track. Men and women whizzed by us, barely paying attention to the newcomers. The group of women were now doing sit-ups, their trainer leaning over each of them, screaming something to keep them motivated. That so wouldn’t work on me.

  Max started to jog in place, shaking out his arms and hands, moving his neck and torso from side to side.

  I realized I wasn’t going to get out of this. The only thing more embarrassing than my life experiences were my athletic skills.

  With a smile on his face, he led me in a round of stretches, which were apparently important to keep the blood moving and muscles loose. I needed all the looseness I could get.

  When I was relaxed, he pulled out a stopwatch. “The easiest way to learn how to run is intervals. We’re going to walk for five minutes, run for thirty seconds. Again and again and again.”

  “Thirty seconds?”

  I could totally do this. Thirty seconds was easy.

  “Are you ready?”

  Our eyes met. I felt it in my toes. In my chest. In my limbs. Everywhere. For some reason this man had a way of touching my insides. And suddenly, it wasn’t so chilly.

  I nodded. Without wasting a second, he pressed the button on the stopwatch. A sharp beep sounded, and then we were off.

  I had no concept of how much time had passed, but my sides burned, and the cramp that had seized my pancreas—or was that my kidney—had spread, and was now an ache that throbbed across my whole body.

  My feet hit the red dirt in a steady rhythm. With every step I took a sharp pain stabbed me in the side, but I wouldn’t stop. Next to me, Max had barely broken a sweat.

  Beep, damn you. Fucking beep.

  The thirty-second intervals felt like thirty minutes. I was so out of shape it was embarrassing.

  “Are we almost done?” I panted out my words. Choked them out, was more like it. “How much longer?”

  “No idea.” His voice was smug. I hated him right now. “I’m not paying attention to the time.”

  As if God himself saved me from my torture, the stopwatch beeped.

  I slowed down, taking long, careful steps. I grabbed my side, wincing, wishing that I had never set foot on this track. There had to be something athletic that was less…torture. I’d rather be studying. Or even listening to Sadie and Grace recounting their worst dates. Those were some horrifying stories.

  Gram said to try something athletic. She didn’t say I had to finish it.

  But you’re not a quitter.

  I limped off the track, toward a tree near the fence that lined the perimeter.

  I laid my palms flat on my aching thighs, trying to breathe through the burn in my lungs. I swallowed hard and there was the distinct taste of blood settling at the back of my throat. I wanted to breath deeply, needing the air to fill my lungs, but it hurt.

  “You look like you’re in pain.” His shadow fell across the grass in front of me.

  “What gave you that idea?” I doubled over, my body betraying my words.

  “Let me help you.” He was next to me in one step, his big hand on my side, his fingers pushing into the exact spot where I had cramped.

  “Take deep breaths,” he demanded.

  His fingertips worked into my skin and with just a few deep breaths, the stitch in my side eased up.

  “Better?”

  I nodded.

  “Where else do you hurt?”

  I hated that he had to see me like this. Thirty seconds was easy, my ass. Maybe I could will away the pain. Or pretend it didn’t exist.

  “How do you know I…” My body betrayed me, my damn calf spasming as I tried to take a step away from him, and I winced, almost toppling into the tree.

  “Next time, you need to drink more water before we begin. Muscles cramp when you’re dehydrated.” He pointed to the grass. “Have a seat.”

  I hesitated. Unless it was my parents, I didn’t like taking orders. By the stern set to his jaw, I knew he wasn’t going to take no for an answer, though. Besides, taking the stress off my leg was a good idea. With a huff, I struggled to get my ass on the grass.

  He sat beside me. His broad shoulders blocked my entire view of the track and when he grabbed the bare skin of my calf, I shivered. His warm fingers worked my muscle, kneading out the cramp. I moaned…from relief. At least that’s what I told myself. It had nothing to do with his hands on my body. Nothing to do with the way his eyes bore into mine—the warm, chestnut color reminding me of warm fires and Christmastime.

  “That was great for your first time,” he said as he continued, his hands now working the muscle on my other calf. My left leg didn’t have a cramp, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. I was enjoying his hands on my body. A little too much.

  “Right. I feel great.”

  He smiled, and damn it if that smile didn’t zing right to my girl parts, spreading heat to the
center of my body. I knew if I didn’t tamp it down, the flush that spread across my cheeks wouldn’t be as easy to hide as my injury.

  Despite the magic he was working on my muscles, it didn’t look like I was going to get my breathing under control at this point. Max stole the very air I was trying to breathe. He stole a lot of things: the air, my rationale, my intelligence. If I wasn’t careful, I might just end up being one of those girls who allowed him to steal their panties.

  So I changed the subject.

  “How do you know how to do that?”

  He shrugged. Such a noncommittal gesture from someone so sure of themselves. At least that was the impression I had gotten during the first time we met.

  “Are you a runner?”

  “Since high school. I ran cross-country, but now I just do it because I like it.”

  So that’s how he maintained his smoking hot body. I approved.

  “At least I can cross the item off the list now.”

  I let my head fall back, proud of my accomplishment.

  “Not just yet.”

  My head snapped up. “What do you mean?”

  He looked at me, his heated stare burning a hole right through me. Without a change in his expression, he answered. “This is just the first day of our training. We’ll be training six days a week.”

  “Training? For what?”

  “By the time you graduate you should be able to run two kilometers. That’s the goal.” His mouth turned up in a grin. “But you have to do everything I say.”

  I was right in the middle of preparing for final exams. I was so close to graduating I could taste it. Distracting myself with a new activity, and Max, was not the smartest move on my part.

  “I’m not good with taking orders.”

  “I believe that.” He tapped my nose with his finger. “Which is why this is going to be fun.”

  “I haven’t agreed yet.”

  I pulled out the elastic band that held my hair, letting it fall down my back. His eyes followed the bounce of the strands on my shoulders.

  This guy was surrounded by hundreds of women who would give him their entire world. I can’t imagine loving anyone, liking anyone, enough to allow them entry into my world. If love was anything like my parents’ marriage, it was an arbitration decision—binding and inarguable.