Always a fan of champagne, I let Isabella guide me out of the room and down the hall. But not before I looked up and caught Luca watching us leave, offering me a wink. He’d find me. Of that I had no doubt.
***
“Come on,” Luca encouraged as enthusiasm buzzed around him. It was hard not to get caught up in his excitement. He was a different guy to the one I’d arrived with a couple of hours ago. This version was lighter. Carefree. And full of mischief.
With his fingers laced with mine, he led me out into the centre of the field. “Are you sure we should be out here?” I asked, looking around. We were completely on our own. Not another person in sight. With the heavy flood lights beaming down on us, it was definitely a unique experience. The grass smelt freshly cut and was damp with the evening dew. Overhead the dark night sky was settling in.
“Absolutely.” Letting my hand go, he dropped the ball he was cradling under his arm and booted it towards the goals. “You want to play?” he asked, jogging backwards after the ball.
It showed how little Luca knew me. I didn’t run. I didn’t do sports. I definitely didn’t chase after soccer balls. But turns out, I did chase after sexy, playful soccer players.
By the time I caught up to him, he was dribbling the ball and showing off his fancy footwork while I was puffing and panting and trying not to cough up a lung.
“You okay?” he asked genuinely as the ball bounced hypnotically on his knees. The man definitely had some skills.
“Yep,” I wheezed, refusing to concede defeat. I may not be into sports, but I was dead against losing.
Luca let the ball drop to the ground and nudged it in my direction. I tried to stop it with my foot and it bounced back towards him.
“That was terrible, Elise!” He chuckled, darting over to get the ball.
“Hey!”
“What? It was.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” I grumbled, folding my arms over my chest. I hadn’t realised what I’d done until I saw Luca’s eyes widen.
“Don’t you teach kids how to do this?”
“No,” I replied sassily. “That’s what we bring in the professionals for. So I don’t have to.” So there. It took everything I had not to poke my tongue out at him. For some reason, being around Luca turned me into a stubborn, pig-headed eight-year-old. Not that he was much better.
I wasn’t ready for it, but before I had a chance to blink, Luca’s long fingers had threaded through my belt loops and yanked me towards him. Being the uncoordinated klutz I was, I stumbled until I ended up almost laying against him. I’m one hundred percent convinced it was part of his plan.
Reaching up, my palms rested on his chest, and I could feel the warmth and the rapid beat of his heart beneath his t-shirt. While I’d been sipping champagne and dodging questions from his very nosy, very intrusive family, Luca had ducked off and gotten changed. By the time he’d made his appearance, gone was the prim and proper outfit he made look so good, and in its place was a pair of perfectly fitting dark jeans and a tight black shirt. Arianna had snorted when he’d appeared beside me.
“You two are so freaking adorable. I can’t stand it!” she’d exclaimed, and I’d felt my cheeks burn.
“I’m stealing her,” Luca had confirmed as he tangled his fingers with mine.
“What if she doesn’t want to be stolen?” Arianna had retorted, winding her brother up.
“Elise. Would you like to stay here and talk to this lot, or would you like to come with me?” Luca had asked, releasing my hand before dropping his arms over my shoulders, hugging me to him. Feeling how warm he was and how delicious he smelt, it had been a no-brainer. He could’ve asked me to go to the moon with him and I would’ve followed along like a puppy nipping at his heels.
“We have champagne…” Isabella had taunted.
Behind me, I’d felt Luca’s muscles tense. As entertaining as it was to watch his family tease him, it really hadn’t been a hard decision. “Where are you taking me?”
Pressing a soft, quick kiss to my temple, he’d whispered, “You’ll see.”
Now here I was. Once again wrapped in Luca’s long arms—somewhere I was really starting to enjoy being—in the middle of a deserted football field. Before I had a chance to say anything, Luca let go and took off with the ball at his toes, headed straight for the goal before swinging his leg back and launching it towards the net.
I’d never considered soccer to be graceful. I’d never admit it either. But the way Luca and the ball moved as one was pure delight to watch. It didn’t exactly hurt that with every long stride those jeans pulled across his taut arse either.
“And he scores!” Luca exclaimed, arms raised high above his head as he cheered for himself.
When he made it back to my side, the childish grin covering his face was infectious. Part of me wondered how he was going to be able to walk away from the game. Obviously, out here was his happy place. I found myself worrying about what would happen when it was gone.
“Did you see that? Pure perfection.”
“See what?” I teased, playing dumb.
“I scored.”
“You scored?”
“Yep. All by myself.”
I giggled. I couldn’t help it. He sounded just like the boys in my class. So full of pride and ego it was bursting out of him. Luca might’ve been a fully grown man, but at heart I could tell there was a big kid there waiting to break free given the opportunity.
“You scored all by yourself, and you’re happy about it?”
“Absolutely!”
“Do that often?”
It took a minute, but as soon as he got what I was insinuating, my feet left the ground and I was swung around like a rag doll. “Put me down!”
“Sorry? What was that?”
“Luca! Put me down.”
“Nah, I didn’t hear an apology.”
“Apology? What am I apologising for?” I asked, clinging onto his arms.
Luca was strong and fit, but I wasn’t a little girl. I wasn’t at all convinced he wouldn’t drop me on my head right now.
“Playing with myself?”
“I don’t need to know about your nighttime activities,” I replied with a squeal as his hand landed on my arse with a loud slap before he slid me down his body. His very hard body.
“Who said it was just night time?” Luca growled before cupping my face in his hands and kissing the sass right out of me.
By the time I came up for air, I couldn’t remember what we were even talking about or even what day it was. Stepping back, I needed to put some space between us before I exploded or did something stupid like throw myself at him. Reaching up with shaky fingers, I touched my lips not surprised to find them swollen.
“Wow.” The word escaped from my lips without warning.
“That’s an understatement,” Luca countered, his voice thick and raspy.
After tugging the tie out of my hair, I pulled it back up into a messy bun and piled it on my head. I didn’t need to adjust my hair, I just needed to find something to do to keep my fingers busy to stop me from grabbing hold of Luca and pushing him down on the grass.
“So, are you going to teach me anything or just show off?”
For the next half an hour, Luca attempted to teach me how to play soccer or at least some of the basic skills. It was yet another chance for him to show off and for me to look silly, but we laughed until our sides hurt. When I slipped on the wet grass, landing with a thud on my arse, I called a time out.
“I need food,” I whined.
“Geez you sound like all the other women in my life. And I must say, hangry is definitely not a good look on you, Elise.”
“Oh, I know that. Just ask Jax. I’m a nightmare, apparently, when I don’t get fed.”
“Well then, let’s go eat.”
We’d made it to the edge of the field and just heading down the race before I froze and asked. “Wait! What other women in your life?”
“You only just tho
ught of that, huh?”
“Shut up! What women?” I sounded like an insecure, spoilt brat, but I wasn’t taking another step if I was only one of many. I’d been there. Done that. Got the commemorative t-shirt. I wasn’t about to go back for seconds. Once was more than enough to realise that I deserved to be the centre of someone’s world and if I couldn’t be, well then, they weren’t the person for me.
“You’re cute when you’re jealous, you know that, right?”
“Says the guy who was freaking out about Jax.”
“Fair call.”
“Luca!”
“Elise, you’ve already met most of the women in my life. My mother, my three annoying sisters, and Princess Phoebe.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh.”
“Don’t make fun of me!” I pouted, feeling like an idiot. Of course there were women in his life. He was surrounded by them. And of course he loved them fiercely. It was who he was. Luca was all about family. Something that just added to his appeal.
“I’m not making fun of you.”
“You are!”
“Okay, okay. I was. But I’ll stop.”
“Thank you.” Luca tucked a stray piece of hair behind my ear, and my knees almost buckled.
“Elise, I don’t know what guys you’ve known in your past, but I’m not them. I don’t play games, well other than the ones with balls…” I snorted. That was some funny shit. “Shit that sounded so wrong. Anyway, I’m not a cheat. I don’t date multiple women at once. I’m not that guy. So, if we’re doing this, if we’re trying to figure out what this is between us, then I’m one hundred and ten percent in.”
“Ah. Okay then. So, dinner?” This conversation was way too heavy on an empty stomach.
“I promise I’ll feed you in a minute, I just want to clear this up first.” I gulped. I didn’t want him to clear anything up. I just wanted him to give me a bag of hot chips smothered in tomato sauce and pretend this conversation never happened. “I have five games left to play. Three of them are away games. That means trips away, hotels, and since I’m retiring, I’m guessing drinks with the boys. That’s part of my life, for the next five weeks anyway. But I am promising you right here and now, I won’t do anything to give you a reason to ever doubt me.”
“I don’t know what to say,” I admitted, completely overwhelmed.
“You don’t have to say anything. Just wanted to make sure you knew where I stand.”
“Thank you.”
“Right, let’s get you some food.”
Chapter Seventeen – Luca
I was sick. A sick, sick man. Watching Elise devour chip on a stick was the biggest turn-on ever. The way her eyes lit up when she realised dinner was being served out of one of the food trucks, was like all her Christmases had come at once.
Chip on a stick, a bucket of fairy floss, and a couple of raspberry slushies later, and I was ready to kick off my shoes and relax. Based on the way Elise was moaning and groaning, she wasn’t far behind.
“How was your dinner?”
“Not what I was expecting,” she admitted, licking her fingers in a way that had me imagining her licking other things.
Noticing the way she shivered, I suggested we get out of there. Elise quickly agreed, moving towards me and wrapping her arm around my waist. I’ll admit having her be the one to make the first move was good for my ego. Maybe I was reading too much into it, or maybe it was just a bit of wishful thinking, I was starting to believe that maybe, just maybe, she was in this as much as I was. Even if she hadn’t said the words.
After slipping Mario some cash and thanking him for opening up his truck tonight, we headed towards the car, making it just in time before the heavens opened and the rain came. Driving slowly, I convinced myself it was because of the slippery roads and not because I wasn’t ready to call it a night.
When I pulled the car to a stop out the front of Elise’s building, she invited me upstairs, and I couldn’t get out of the car fast enough. Following her inside, my heart was beating out of my chest while I tried to recount soccer stats to calm all the excited parts of me. Even the icy cold rain shower I’d copped on the way to the door wasn’t able to douse my excitement.
“Come on in,” she invited, dropping her bag and keys on the table just inside the door.
While Elise fussed, I looked around. It was neat and homely. Her couch was covered in colourful throw pillows, there were photo frames and knick-knacks lined up along windowsills, and there was a massive bowl of fruit on the end of the counter.
“Want a drink?” Elise called out from in the kitchen.
“Just water thanks.”
Elise handed me the bottle, and when our fingers touched, I felt a zing race through my body. Like the possessed man I was, I grabbed her wrist and hauled her into my lap. I didn’t want to let go. After the squawk of shock that escaped from her, Elise settled her denim-clad arse right over my thickening cock. I knew I was acting like a Neanderthal but there was absolutely nothing in this world I could do to stop it. I didn’t even want to try.
“Luca.” My name fell breathlessly from her perfect, pink pouty lips. I slammed my mouth down over hers.
If Elise was slow on the uptake, she was now fully onboard. When her lips parted, my tongue snaked in, duelling with hers. She squirmed in my lap. I knew I was completely and utterly fucked. This girl owned me. She might not know it yet. She might not be ready for it, but it was undoubtable. Elise McCoy had me by the balls, and I’d never been so excited for the adventure.
Her fingers threaded through my hair, tugging roughly at the roots, the pain instantly turning pleasurable as she rubbed her hot centre against me. Not going to be the one holding back, my hands were everywhere. Cupping her arse, holding her head, splayed across her back, holding her to me. With every wriggle, she grew more and more ravenous. And when she pressed her herself down against me, there was absolutely no way she could’ve missed my aching cock, which was now a steel beam beneath her perky butt.
As I squeezed her arse, she lifted her lips from mine. Her hands found my shoulders and when she rocked back, putting a gap between us, a gap I was less than ecstatic about, I held my breath.
Waiting for the inevitable rejection that was surely coming, the ‘we need to slow down’ speech, or even the ‘I’m not that type of girl’ speech, I felt like I’d been kicked in the nuts. So, when Elise lifted herself off me, I was already mentally running for the door. I’d go home, lick my wounds, and try to figure out how everything had gone from awesome to fucked-up in zero point one seconds.
Peeling her own shirt off, she threw it away before climbing back into my lap, straddling me. I almost passed out with relief as I stared at her lace covered tits. “Are you sure?” I spluttered.
I was almost one hundred percent positive there was no blood left in my head. It’d all migrated on a one-way trip south and was the reason my cock was pressing painfully against my zipper. Instead of answering, Elise’s fingers found the too-long hair at the nape of my neck and pulled me towards her, stealing control and the desperate, dirty kiss she wanted. Damn, this woman could kiss. I couldn’t wait to strip her down and listen to her scream my name as she fell apart on my tongue.
Without deliberately doing it, my hands found her boobs and cupped them. Almost as if it was her hot button, the more I squeezed, the faster she rocked back and forth on my now painful and eager cock. When she moaned for more, I slipped my hands under her shirt and pinched her pointed nipples through their lace cage. A cage that was barely containing them as she mewled.
Pulling my mouth away from hers, I trailed open-mouthed kisses down her neck, careful not to leave marks. I may have been acting like an animal right now, I may have been bordering on feral, but there was no way I wanted to mark her perfectly creamy skin. Elise wasn’t some cheap skank I’d picked up in a bar. She had class. And style. And morals.
Before I knew it, she was tugging my shirt over my head, her fingernails scratching my shoulders
as she clung tight. After tossing it across the room, completely uninterested where it landed. Looking down at her heaving chest, I was mesmerised. With every short, sharp breath she took, her white, lace-covered tits heaved. Her skin was so smooth, so soft, I found myself wanting to slow down and indulge. Elise, though, had other ideas.
“Luca, you have two choices.”
“Huh?”
Choices? What choices was she talking about?
“You can fuck me here on the couch, or you can carry me into my bedroom. I don’t care which as long as you hurry the fuck up.”
Wait! What?
Not that I was about to turn down her offer, but Elise was definitely showing a different side of her. One that I didn’t mind one little bit. One that I was positive I was going to have a hell of a lot of fun exploring and enjoying in the very near future.
“Sweetheart,” I practically growled. She mightn’t have known it at the time, but her words had unleashed the beast, and there was no way she was going to be able to stuff him back in his cage. “If you think I can do all the things I want to do to you on this couch, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Not giving her a chance to think about what I’d said, I grabbed her arse, my fingers digging into her flesh, and stood up. Impressed by my own ability not to trip over or drop her, I headed down the hallway while the tiger in my arms rubbed herself against me desperately as she dropped wet kisses across my collarbone.
I made it to her room, and I didn’t even bother to look around. Why would I? Not when there was a half-naked woman panting on the bed in front of me, popping the button on her jeans and peeling them down her legs. With every inch of skin she revealed, my mouth got drier, and I got a little dumber. At this rate, by the time she was naked I’d be lucky if I could remember my own name.
While I was distracted Elise’s nimble little fingers were undoing my jeans and reaching inside. Her hand wrapped around me, and I almost blew my load. With her thumb, she spread the leaking bead of pre-cum down my shaft using just the right amount of pressure to have my balls drawing up. As much as it pained me to bring this to a halt, I had a rule I needed to stick to. The woman always came first. Always. I hadn’t made it this far to break it now. Grabbing hold of her wrist stopped her delicious torture.
Overtime (Playing The Field Book 1) Page 10