“I’m sorry,” I blurt out when he starts stalking toward me with a dark expression on his face. “She was talking about getting you to fall in love with her so you’d invest in her dumb fashion line. I lost my shit. Temporary insanity. I’ve been in the sun too long.”
He doesn’t say anything as he crowds into my space.
“I’m sorry,” I say again in case he missed that part.
“Don’t be. You’re fuck hot when you’re jealous.” His lips finally twist into a cocky smirk, and he steps within an inch of our bodies being flush.
“It wasn’t jealousy. I was being a good friend. I don’t want to see you get played.”
“I’ve been rich my entire life, Kota. I know how to spot a chick that’s only into me because of money.”
“Oh.”
He rests a hand against the wall and leans in. The brim of his hat that I’m still wearing on my head keeps him from getting closer. “Admit it.”
“Admit what?” My breaths come in quick gulps as his hazel eyes lock on me.
“Admit you were jealous.” He fingers a strand of my hair with the hand on the wall, and the other comes up to caress my cheek. “Admit it, and then I can finally kiss you.”
“I’m not kissing you. Hockey players are off-limits, remember?” I bring my palms to his chest to push him away, but in a swift movement I don’t see coming, he picks me up and carries me into the bathroom. After he shuts us in and locks the door, he deposits me on the ground and backs me against the wall.
“What are you doing?” I ask, pressing my shoulder blades into the cool wall. I need to hold on to any anger I can because my body feels anything but angry.
“The door is locked, and no one can see or hear us,” he whispers, resting a palm on the wall above me and leaning down, so his mouth hovers near my neck. “I know your internship is important to you, and I don’t want to fuck that up, so I need to hear you say the words.”
“Your ego will be fine.” I roll my eyes.
“This has nothing to do with my ego. I know you want me. The same way I want you. So are you only holding back because of the internship, or is it something else?”
“Johnny.” My voice breaks. I can’t give him what he wants. Internship rules aside, we’re not a good match. He lives for the moment and doesn’t take anything seriously. I want more than that. Plus, we’re friends and roommates. It’s a lot to risk.
“Dakota.” The hand not on the wall skims across my cheek, and he drags a thumb across my bottom lip.
They part, and the tip of my tongue touches his skin. He brings his thumb farther into my mouth like he wants me to suck on it. I do, heat pooling in my stomach, and then bite it. He pulls back, chuckling, and smears his wet thumb down my neck to my collarbone and dipping into the valley of my breasts.
“You’re stubborn and very sexy.” He slides that hand back up and cups my neck, holding my face in place as he brings his lips so close to mine, I can almost feel them. “Admit it, Kota. I wanna taste you.”
I shake my head and issue my own challenge. One I’m most definitely going to regret. “Make me.”
Maverick doesn’t respond right away, and the faint sound of the music outside is the only noise interrupting the quiet pulsing between us. He takes the hat off my head and places it on his backward. Then he resumes his position crowding into me. One of his legs goes between mine and forces my feet farther apart. He tucks my hair behind my ear and toys with a strand near the nape of my neck.
I keep my hands at my sides, refusing to break. This feels so much bigger than a kiss. Giving in now and admitting I want him, it’ll be disastrous.
He lifts my left arm over my head and pins it against the wall while his nose grazes along the side of my neck. Then he brings my other hand to meet it and works the elastic hairband on the left over the right, effectively tying them together. My breaths come in quick, shallow gulps. The barest hint of a smile tugs at his lips. One of his large palms continues to hold mine against the wall while the other caresses my face and then my neck. Somehow that hand seems to be everywhere and not in the right place either.
I lift my chin to show him I’m not backing down. I will not be the first to break. He tilts his head like he’s going in for a kiss and then pulls back. His lips move, and I realize he’s mouthing the words of the music outside. Something about not wanting to be my friend.
My heart is pounding in my chest.
I wanna kiss you until I lose my breath.
He’s full on smiling now as he whispers the words against my lips. And despite how much I want to resist him, I smile too. I still don’t give in, though. I push against his hand and bring my hands around his neck, caging him in now and bringing my face closer. Just like he did, I zone in on his mouth and tilt my head, only redirecting when my lips are millimeters from his.
My hands still tied together with the elastic are around his neck, and I finger the thick locks, pulling a groan from him. I don’t think I’ve ever been so turned on in my life, but I’ll die before admitting how much I’m enjoying this.
He growls and uses his chest to push me back until my shoulders bite into the wall. If he gets any closer, he’ll be flattening me into the drywall.
“Admit it.” He holds his mouth over mine. “Please.”
My heart hammers in my chest. “I was jealous.”
He rubs his nose against mine and hums lightly. He drops the quickest, softest kiss onto my lips and pulls back. I melt into it, but it isn’t enough. I need the ravenous, desperate kiss that was leading up to.
He’s going to make me beg. And I will. He was right. Damn him.
23
Johnny
A noise outside of the bathroom catches my attention.
“Fuck,” I mutter. “I didn’t lock the outside door.”
She stills in front of me. Motherfucker. She was seconds from begging me. I know it.
“I’ll go out first,” I tell her and nip at her bottom lip. “Meet me at the truck.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Fuck good ideas. This is happening.” I step into her one last time and run a single finger from her neck to the middle of her suit top and slip my finger under the string. “Get in the goddamn truck, Kota.”
She ducks under my arm and goes out the door. I blow out a breath and count to thirty before I follow. Jack is in the kitchen mixing a drink.
He looks toward the now open sliding glass doors and then back to me. “Seems one of us is having a good time.”
“I’m going to take off, man,” I say. “Thanks for having us.”
“Already? Things are just about to get wild.”
Yeah, they are, but not here.
“We’ll do it up another night when I’m not nursing an injury.”
“I’m holding you to that.” He tosses back the drink and then holds out a hand.
I take it, and he pulls me closer. “Do I even want to know what’s going on with you and the intern?”
“Probably not,” I say honestly.
“Not my pussy. Not my problem. Thanks for coming, rook. See you Monday.”
Dakota is nowhere in sight, so I take that to assume she took my instruction. I wave to the guys. Most of them are too busy drinking or hooking up to care anyway.
Kota sits in the passenger seat with her phone. I can feel the distance she’s put between us as I slide into the driver’s seat.
I play music, knee bouncing. It’s a short drive, but every second I worry she’s changed her mind. Not about us. I know she feels it, but about acting on it. She has a lot better impulse control than I do. And also more to lose. I get the need for discretion.
At the apartment, I whip into a spot and cut the engine. She still doesn’t speak as we take the elevator to the eleventh floor. I unlock the door and scoop up an excited Charli.
She steps inside and looks to her feet. “Maybe we should get some distance and talk about this in the morning.”
“Runn
ing away?”
“Being responsible.”
“Being responsible or hiding behind it?”
She glares. Setting Charli on the floor, I step to Dakota.
“Tell me what you’re afraid of?” I cup her neck. When I touch her, the blue in her eyes darkens like two giant mood rings.
“This job is important to me.”
“I know. I won’t say a word. It stays between us.”
“What if they figure it out?”
“How? We’re friends. They know we’re friends. No one is trying to catch us, baby.” I rub my thumb along her cheek. “That rule was meant to keep crazy interns from lashing out at players who fucked them over. You’re not crazy, and I’m not going to fuck you over.” I smile at her. “Well, you’re not that crazy.”
“I want more than one night.”
“Good. I’m going to need more than one.”
Her expression still doesn’t give. “We’ll still be friends?”
“Always. I just plan to know you a little more intimately.” My hand slips under the hem of her dress, and I slide a palm up her thigh to her hip and then untie the side of her bikini, so it falls open. Then do the same to the other. It drops to the ground at our feet.
“Say you’ll be mine for the summer.” I bite her shoulder and walk two fingers across her hip bone and down to the apex of her thighs.
When she doesn’t answer, I glide one digit over her sensitive clit. A hand shoots out and grasps my forearm, steadying herself on me.
While teasing her, I drop kisses along her neck and collarbone. “Hop on, baby, let’s go for a ride.”
I curl one finger inside of her and then add another. Slowly, I pump in and out of her. She drenches my fingers as her pussy squeezes them tight.
She wraps her arms around my neck and rolls her hips. Pinching her clit, I ask again, “Be mine.”
“Johnny.” She gasps. She’s close, and I want nothing more than to feel her come on my fingers.
“I take care of what’s mine.”
“I don’t need you to take care of me,” she says even as she rides my fingers harder.
“Need and want, baby. Look up the difference.” I push a third finger into her tight pussy.
Her body shakes, and she lets her head fall against my chest. “I need to come.”
“And I want to be the one that gives it to you. Be mine, Dakota.”
She nods. It isn’t the enthusiastic screaming answer I was hoping for, but I put her out of her misery anyway. Rubbing my thumb along her clit, I continue to pump her until she cries out and goes limp against me.
With the hand that was inside of her, I lift her chin so I can finally kiss her the way I’ve been dying to. Her eyes are still a darker blue and hooded as I lower my mouth to hers. She opens immediately, and I tangle my tongue with hers.
Fuck, this is going to be a good summer.
“I gotta take Charli for a walk and feed her. Stay mostly naked.”
I can read the hesitation on her even before she says, “I need to take this slow.”
“Slower than riding my hand like a joystick?”
She narrows her gaze.
Chuckling, I kiss her softly. “We’ve got all summer. We can take it as slow as you want.” I take her hand. “You can slowly fuck my hand again in my big comfy bed.”
24
Dakota
I shower and then hide out in my room while Maverick takes care of Charli. I’m stalling, giving myself time to talk myself out of it, but thirty minutes pass, and I still want to do this. Whatever it is. Friends with benefits? Fuck buddies? I don’t like any of the labels, but I want a lot more of his hands on me. And inside of me. My face warms. A summer of sex and fun. Maybe it’s exactly what I need.
When I finally emerge from my bedroom, I wonder if it’s going to be weird between us, but my question is answered as I spot a shirtless Johnny in the living room holding up two bottles of lube. “Do you like a tingling sensation, or are you more au naturel?”
“What happened to slow?”
“I just want to be prepared like a good Boy Scout.”
“You were never a Boy Scout.”
“No, but I’m just as good with my hands.”
I laugh, and the worries I had disappear. We can do this. We can be friends and also have a little fun exploring the chemistry between us. But I meant what I said about needing to take it slow. Insane chemistry or not, jumping straight from kissing to letting him put his dick inside of me in one day isn’t something I’m comfortable with. “Maybe we can just watch a movie or something?”
He tosses the lube on the coffee table. “Yeah. Movie. We can do that.”
While he flips through options, I sit on the couch with Charli.
“Which one? You pick.”
“Crazy, Stupid, Love.” The other is a Tarantino film, and gore is not my thing.
“You just want to stare at Ryan Gosling for two hours.” He sits next to me, and Charli crawls over me to get to him before settling on the other side of him.
“Duh.”
He tickles my sides and pulls me so my back rests against his chest. His arm circles around me, and his palm splays over the top of my thigh. I keep waiting for the weirdness, but it never comes.
For the next two hours, he doesn’t make any attempt to make out with me, and somehow that makes me want him even more. Did I say I wanted to take things slow? Because what I really think I meant is I’m not ready for sex. I want everything else, though. The bottles of lube are taunting me.
“I love Steve Carell,” he says. “We should do a binge of The Office.”
“Yeah,” I agree, not really thinking about it. He sits forward and grabs the remote so he can navigate to it, and he plays season one, episode one.
When he sits back, I place my hands on his shoulders and sling a leg over him, so I’m straddling his lap. An amused smile tips up the corners of his mouth. “Need something?”
“Sex is off the table. For now,” I clarify. “But I want to take care of you.”
“I took care of myself while you were stalling in your room.” He winks. “I’m good, Kota.”
His arms circle my waist. I can feel him hard underneath me despite his saying he’s good.
I lean back and grab the lube. “Which do you prefer?”
“That one.” He nods toward the one that tingles with a giant smirk on his handsome face.
I toss the other one back on the coffee table and scoot off his lap, then drop between his legs.
“Oh fuck,” he says as if he can’t believe this is actually happening.
He stands and pulls me to my feet. “Bedroom. I’ve been fantasizing about having you touch my dick in there for so long.”
He pulls me along behind him. It smells like Johnny in here. I don’t get a good look around because the lights are off, and he kisses me while bringing us down to the mattress. His kisses are possessive and hungry. Nipping, licking, biting, groaning. Just like he does everything else, it’s all out with nothing left to the imagination. When I do something he likes, he makes sure I know it either by verbally responding in grunts and groans or pumping his hips against me.
We lie on our sides, kissing until I hook a finger under the band of his sweats, letting his dick spring free. He helps me get them off and continues to kiss me. I turn my head, and he lavishes my neck while I uncap the lube and squirt some in my hand.
He’s thick and long, and it twitches when I wrap my fingers along the base. I work my hand up and down, coating him in the liquid.
I’m wearing another baggy T-shirt, and he ducks his head under it, eliciting a laugh from me. It’s cut short when he bites my nipple through the lace of my bra. He does the same to the other and then sucks hard until my nipple peaks.
While I pump my hand around his length, he kisses everywhere he can access.
“Does it tingle?” I ask.
He pops out from under my shirt and pulls my bottom lip between his teeth. “Touc
h yourself and find out.”
I hesitate, and he guides my hand down my shorts, encouraging me. My fingers are wet from the lube and warm from his skin, and I don’t know which is hotter, that or the way he watches me while gripping himself and pumping in slow, steady jerks.
“Does it feel good?”
“I liked your fingers on me better,” I admit. “But yeah.”
“Tradesies?”
Smiling, we switch, and he dives his fingers eagerly into my shorts, taking over as I try to mimic the way he was jerking himself.
For the second time tonight, my orgasm builds as he rubs my clit.
“Are you close?” I ask. “Want my mouth?”
“I want your tits,” he says.
“You want to fuck my tits?”
“Oh fuck.” He groans. “That isn’t what I meant, but damn right I do. I won’t last that long, though. Show them to me. You have the best tits.”
I lift my shirt and bra for him. He rubs harder and pumps into my hand. “Oh goddamn, Kota. This is beyond anything I imagined. So far beyond.”
He waits for my orgasm and then leans forward and suctions his mouth around my nipple, sucking hard while I explode around his fingers. He follows a few pumps later, still holding my nipple hostage as he shoots on his stomach.
“So fucking beyond,” he repeats.
I wake up Sunday morning with Maverick’s lips on my neck. I don’t know how many times he made me orgasm last night (That’s a lie; I was totally counting, and it was four), but my body doesn’t care. The light touch of his mouth on my skin already has my insides on fire.
“Wanna go out for breakfast?” he asks.
“What if someone sees us?”
“Then all they’ll see is two friends out sharing a meal.”
“Okay,” I agree readily. I’m starving, and I need some fresh air to decide how I feel about everything that went down last night.
He hops up and tugs my hand to pull me to a standing position. We slept shirtless, and he appreciates the view for a few seconds before sliding his gaze back up to my face.
Wild Love (Campus Nights Book 4) Page 15