The Single Game

by Amanda Black

  “I never thought of it like that.”

  “It’s true,” she continued. “Marriage is a partnership, and partnerships take work. If you’re not willing to work then you’re not ready to be married. Some people don’t figure that out until they’re much older, while others catch on pretty quickly.” She smiled at me knowingly. “I have a feeling that you’re going to fall into the latter category.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Well, you’re very intelligent and mature more every day. I’d like to think that I had something to do with that. And it doesn’t hurt that you’re a Foster.”

  “Huh?” I said around a loud laugh.

  “Come on, I’m sure you’ve heard your Grandma Barbara go on and on about the family’s good luck with love. It’s silly, but she thinks that once we find ‘the one,’ we give our hearts completely and never look back. We may date here and there before that, but once it’s for real, we know it.”

  I thought about that for a moment before a memory struck me. “Wait, but wasn’t Uncle Ethan practically married to someone else before Aunt Lily? How does that work?” It was rarely talked about but the reminder was right there in any of his old press clippings; pictures of Ethan and his glamorous manager girlfriend who, after nearly ten years, had run off with all his money and a younger artist.

  “Yes, well,” she coughed uncomfortably. “That was different. Your uncle admitted later that he never should have stayed with her for so long.”

  “Then why did he?”

  “Well, that’s a very long story, and not mine to share, but let’s just say that the sum of it is that he never believed in ‘the one.’ He never thought it would happen to him so he stayed with who he thought made sense at the time.”

  “And then he met Aunt Lily?”

  “And then he met Aunt Lily,” my mother said with a nod, smiling fondly at the memory. “Why don’t you get some sleep? It’s been a long, emotional day.”

  You could say that again.

  “All right. Thanks, Mom.” We hugged again and she waited while I got under the covers.

  Leaning over next to me, she turned out my bedside lamp and whispered in the dark. “You’re still taking your pills, though, right?

  “Mom!” I gasped, not expecting the comment.

  “Hey, just doing my job,” she chuckled, backing out the door. “I love you, sweetie. Get some sleep.” She closed the door behind her and I rolled over onto my side, feeling my face flame in the dark.

  So much for keeping my sex life a secret.

  Chapter 25

  The next morning there was a knock on the door promptly at seven fifteen. Since I was still finishing my cereal in the kitchen, Mom answered it for me.

  “Oh, hello there, Logan.”

  “Good morning, Mrs.—uh, Maggie.”

  “Eden’s just finishing up her breakfast. Why don’t you come in?”

  “Thank you.”

  I heard footsteps coming into the room and when I looked up at him I nearly spit out my food. He looked so beautiful it twisted my heart in my chest. Logan stood before me wearing a light gray cardigan over a white button-up shirt and jeans. It wasn’t so much the clothes that were killing me, although he looked sophisticated as hell, but more the look on his face.

  He was positively glowing.

  His gray eyes shone brightly behind his glasses as he smiled at me, his hair sticking up in its usual disarray. I felt myself starting to blush the moment I looked at him, remembering all of our admissions the night before.

  “Good morning,” he smiled warmly.

  “Hi,” I gushed as soon as I had swallowed my mouthful of cereal. “Sorry, I’m almost done. I ran later than I expected.”

  “No problem, take your time.” He walked over and hopped up on the counter opposite me, watching over me like a painfully beautiful guardian angel.

  I shoveled the last few bites of food in my mouth and dumped out my milk in the sink. Not the most ladylike, I’m sure, but give me a break. I just wanted to get the hell out of that house and away from my mom so that I could grab Logan and kiss him and tell him I loved him over and over again.

  “All ready,” I said, grabbing my book bag.

  “Okay,” he smiled again, jumping off the counter and brushing off his jeans.

  God, if I could only bottle that smile; I would be a multi-millionaire.

  We both said good-bye to Mom and headed outside to Logan’s car. Once we closed the doors I noticed Logan glancing back toward the house, making sure we weren’t being watched. Before I knew what was happening, I was yanked halfway over the center console and kissed within an inch of sanity. His lips were strong and forceful, coaxing mine to open for him so that our tongues could get reacquainted. By the time he pulled away, I was gasping for air and more than a bit overheated.

  “I’ve been waiting to do that since I left here last night,” he panted against my mouth.

  “Me too…yeah…a lot.” So I wasn’t the most eloquent speaker when addlebrained.

  “I love you, my beautiful girl,” he whispered, and I swear he was glowing even more than before.

  “I love you, too.” We did nothing but stare into each other’s eyes for a moment, completely lost in the new world we’d created for ourselves. When I finally realized that time wasn’t standing still, I reminded him that we needed to get to school.

  “I know,” he sighed, straightening up in his seat and starting the car. “To be honest, though, sitting through class is the last thing I want to do right now. I could care less about studying history and calculus today.”

  “Did you have something else in mind?” I asked suggestively as we made our way to the school.

  He glanced at me sideways while he drove, growling low in his chest. “I’d rather be someplace private…studying your body and all the ways I can make it sing for me.”

  “Holy…” I took a deep breath to calm myself. “Great, now I’m totally useless for school, too.”

  “Sorry, baby,” he chuckled. “At least we’re in this together.”

  “Yeah, right,” I grumbled, making him laugh even harder.

  Somehow we both managed to make it through the day, even with two tests and a pop quiz between us. Logan certainly wasn’t making it any easier on me, either. He kept shooting heated glances at me over lunch, and then during zoology he slid his trusty notebook over to me while I was trying to make myself pay attention to the lecture.

  Is your mom going to be home after school?

  I shook my head in response, then reached over and added my own note.

  Shopping with my grandma.

  Logan’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline before he regrouped and started writing again.

  You promised I could help you start up a Facebook page.

  I looked up at him, noticing that his eyes were dark with suggestion.

  Then you should probably come over so we can get started on that.

  Just what I was thinking.

  We didn’t say or write any more after that because the teacher started asking questions about the lecture, but I knew damn well we were both thinking about it. From that point on I couldn’t stop staring at the clock, willing it to move faster.

  By the time I was finally done with my last class I practically sprinted through the parking lot to Logan’s car. He was somehow already waiting for me, leaning back against the car with his arms crossed, looking like the personification of sex.

  “Have a nice day in school, dear?” he asked with a smirk.

  “Shut up and get in the car,” I laughed, bumping him out of the way with my hip so I could get in.

  “Ooh, I love it when you’re forceful,” he teased, walking around to his side of the car.

  We drove in silence back to my house, but the tension between us was so thick I could feel it charging the air around us with electricity. There were furtive glances and lingering touches, and every single movement seemed to hint at so much more to come.

&
nbsp; The silence lasted until I closed my front door and locked it. We took one look at each other and that was it. Both of our bags dropped to the floor at the same time, and the next thing I knew I was jumping, wrapping my legs around his waist as he caught me and pinned me to the door, devouring my mouth. We were panting and moaning, our hands looking for anywhere and everywhere to touch.

  “Upstairs!” I gasped. He whimpered and nodded, reaching down to grip my ass. He turned us around and made his way up the stairs, kissing and laughing with me the entire way. It was clumsy and slow, but he didn’t seem to have the slightest inclination of putting me down until my bedroom was in sight.

  When we were finally through the door, he kicked it closed behind him, kneeling on the edge of my bed and following me down when I toppled onto the mattress. I pulled him to me hungrily, wrapping my legs around him again and shoving my hands into his thick hair.

  “Eden,” he groaned. “I need you.” He kissed and licked at my neck, following it up with small nibbles that lit my body on fire. “I need to feel you. Please let me make love to you.”

  “Yes…God yes!” I panted.

  “Naked,” he grunted, sliding his hands up to squeeze my breasts, flicking his thumbs over my nipples until they were straining against the fabric. “I need to feel you naked underneath me.”

  Logan rose to his knees as I sat up and pushed his sweater off his shoulders. While he was preoccupied with pulling his arms out of the sleeves, I started in on the buttons of his shirt.

  “Did I tell you how delicious you look today?” I purred, kissing each new piece of exposed flesh as it was revealed.

  “Really?” he squeaked when I circled my tongue around his nipple.

  “Mm…so sexy. My little college professor.”

  “Huh?”

  Oops! Did I say that out loud?

  “It’s…sort of a glasses thing,” I said with a blush. “I keep having this fantasy about you being a naughty professor, letting me earn a little…extra credit. I guess your outfit today just added to that.”

  I watched as his eyes fluttered, almost rolling back into his head before he groaned again. “You’re killing me here, you know that, right?”

  “Why?”

  “Because now all I can think about is bending you over a desk and spanking you.”

  I bit his other nipple before leaning back to look up at him. “Now we have the same fantasy.”

  “Fuck!” He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and when he opened them again they were blazing. “Oh, we are definitely revisiting this topic again.” He looked down at me and shook his head. “Why the hell aren’t you naked yet? Forget my clothes!”

  He shrugged out of his shirt and pants and tossed them in the corner before pulling at the hem of my T-shirt and yanking it over my head. I reached back to unhook my bra while he unzipped my jeans and started pulling them down over my hips, taking my underwear with them. When I was completely naked he stood up and looked down at me, his eyes traveling the entire length of my body.

  “My God…you’re exquisite.”

  He quickly shed the rest of his clothes and climbed onto the bed. It was hard not to stare at his gorgeous erection—it bobbed whenever he moved—but I was trying not to be rude.

  All right, I totally stared.

  We both sighed as he covered my body with his own, finally pressed against each other with nothing in the way.

  “I love you so much, Eden.” He smiled down at me sweetly before kissing my lips with the softest pressure imaginable. “Let me love you everywhere.”

  I merely nodded, too overcome with emotion to speak. He started kissing his way down my body, paying close attention to my swollen nipples, licking and sucking each one until they were almost sore…but it felt amazing. When he had himself settled between my thighs, he pushed them open wide, groaning loudly as he used his fingers to spread me apart.

  “Oh my God, baby…there’s so much I couldn’t see before when it was dark outside. You’re so beautiful…so wet.” He watched his fingers slide inside me as he spoke, two long, slender digits, stroking me deep. “Do you like that?” he asked when I moaned and bucked my hips.

  “You know I do,” I panted.

  “I know what else you like, too.” Without a moment’s hesitation he buried his face between my legs, lapping at my wet folds while he pumped his fingers inside me. I propped myself up on my elbows so that I could look down at him, and seeing him like that was enough to send me straight over the edge. He didn’t look like he was doing me a favor or suffering through it—he looked like he was in ecstasy.

  “Oh, God!” I cried out, the tremors in my legs impossible to control. I grabbed the back of his head and held him to me while I ground myself against him, screaming out my release. He groaned loudly against me, sending vibrations through my body that triggered another orgasm.

  When he rose up to look at me I could only manage to squeak out one word: “Now!” I grabbed and pulled at his arms, desperate to feel him on top of me again. Even though I had just experienced two spectacular orgasms, my body only felt more hollow than before, throbbing and aching to feel him inside me.

  While he climbed back up onto his knees, I reached over to my bedside table and grabbed a condom from the drawer. I held it up to him and he shook his head, gesturing for me to do it.

  “I can’t concentrate on that right now,” he gasped. “I’m so turned on I can’t think straight. I didn’t even remember needing one.”

  Honestly, I barely did, either. I almost ignored it altogether since I was on the pill, but I had promised him that we would always be cautious. The last thing we needed this early on was an accident.

  Before I rolled the condom on I rose up and kissed his swollen tip, pulling away with a flick of my tongue.

  “Christ, Eden!” he gasped. “Do you want me to come already?”

  “Sorry,” I giggled. “I couldn’t resist. It’s just so…perfect.” I finished rolling the condom on and lay back on the bed. “Please, Logan,” I whimpered. “I need you.”

  “God, baby…you don’t know how long I’ve imagined this…you looking up at me like that.” He grabbed himself and lined us up, staring down between us as he rubbed the tip up and down my swollen folds. “Fuck, that’s gorgeous,” he grunted, slipping just inside me. He continued to watch as he slid in further, sinking all the way to the hilt.

  I couldn’t handle him being so far away from me for something that felt so intimate, so I pulled on his arms until he was covering me. “I need to feel you everywhere.”

  He smiled down at me as he slowly withdrew, thrusting back inside me more deeply. “Oh…oh, God…” The look on his face was almost pained. He actually looked scared that it felt so good. “It’s so intense!”

  I wrapped my arms around his back and hugged him to me, letting him know that we were experiencing it together. He buried his face in my neck, kissing me everywhere he could reach as he continued to thrust inside me.

  “Yes… Oh, Logan, that feels so good,” I moaned, rising up to meet him thrust for thrust.

  “Oh, God, say my name again,” he growled, speeding up his rhythm.

  “Logan.”

  “Again!”

  “Logan!”

  “Yes, baby… God, you feel amazing!” He raised his head back far enough to look down at me. “I love you, Eden… I love you so much!”

  “I love you, too.” I reached up and pulled him back down so that I could kiss him, pouring every ounce of passion and love I was feeling into the kiss. I slid my hands down until I was gripping his ass, pulling him into me more roughly. I was the closest to euphoria I’d ever been, and suddenly I couldn’t stop babbling. “I love you, Logan… I love everything about you… I love how you make me feel… oh, God, I love the way you’re moving!”

  “Yes!” He started rocking into me with more force, his movements becoming slightly erratic as my headboard began slamming into the wall. I wrapped my legs around his waist and held on for dear l
ife, completely incoherent with the pleasure that rocketed through my body.

  It was obvious that he was close, and let me just say that if I had ever thought any of his sounds were sexy before, they were nothing compared to how he sounded when he came. Sure, I had heard him come before, but there was something different about it when he was in control. It was more visceral…more intense…and sexy as hell. After a few final thrusts, Logan threw his head back and cried out his release. “Eden!”

  Logan collapsed on top of me, rolling us sideways until he had pulled me over to lie on his chest. We were perfectly still for a while, taking the time to catch our breath as he stroked my hair.

  “That was… God, everything I want to say sounds so sappy,” he groaned.

  “Hey, this is a perfect time for sappy,” I said, kissing his chest.

  “Okay, well… I had no idea that there was an actual feeling that could be as powerful as the love I feel for you, but that was it. There at the end… I felt like my heart was going to explode.”

  “I felt it, too,” I whispered. “It was like all my love for you boiled up and over, and it was shooting out of every pore at once.”

  “Why do you think that is?” he asked. “I mean, the other night was amazing, but it wasn’t like this.”

  “Probably for a few reasons,” I said. “We were rushing, it was outside, and it was freezing—it’s no wonder this was better. But I think what really made the difference is that we aren’t holding back anymore.”

  “Who would have thought that saying a few words to each other could make such a big difference?”

  “Well, maybe it doesn’t for everyone. Who knows? I just know I love you.”

  Logan grabbed my chin and pulled me up for a sweet, tender kiss. “I love you, too. That’s all that matters, beautiful girl.”