I hold her thighs tightly. “So…” I slide my fingers up her skin and inches from the delicate perfection between her legs. “Eager.”
She throws her head back and moans, and I can feel her legs quivering slightly, radiating sizzling heat between us.
“I’m just enjoying this.” I jut my chin toward her, losing myself in the depth of her blue eyes, wide and needy and gazing at me with a thousand layers of attraction. “The moment.”
She swallows and tries to catch her breath as I move my hand up her leg and slip a finger into her.
She draws in a sharp breath, rocking her hips against my hand and pressing my forehead to hers, laughing breathlessly with desperation.
“Oh my God, Melody,” I whisper, amazed and somehow even more turned on by how wet she is already.
She lightly runs her nails down my back, tracing every muscle as her chest rises and falls against mine. “I think I lied about not liking professional athletes.”
I slide another finger into her and rub her clit slowly, making her squirm and gasp and wrap her legs harder around me. “Yeah.” I smile. “I think so.”
“Dylan…” My name on her lips sounds like music as she leans back and pants, begging for more. I touch her faster, feeling her tighten around my fingers, getting wetter and hotter and needier with every movement.
My dick is harder than the granite she’s sitting on, and my abs are burning and taut. My head is pounding with need, and watching her parted lips and hearing her sexy moans as I finger her is making me completely lose control.
She picks her head up, grabbing my face with both hands, her eyes bursting with color. “Please screw me.”
I decide quickly that I dragged out the whole moment enough and roll the condom on, guiding my cock inside her slowly.
She gasps and squeezes my shoulders, clinging to me as I push in and out of her gently at first.
Heat races through me and surges in my cock, making my heart slam and my whole body feel like it’s on fire. Slick, hot pleasure washes over me, and everything else in the world disappears.
I grab her pink hair and pull it softly, making her moan and grind against me as I drive harder and faster into her.
“I…” I spread her legs wider as I go even deeper. “Fucking love your hair.”
Melody lets out something that resembles a shriek and a laugh, barely able to manage a response through her rapid breathing and needy moans.
“I love…” She looks at me with a mix of blazing intensity and light airiness. “Your dick.”
A smile tugs at my face as heat and passion crash over me, and I thrust into her more and more.
I just smiled during sex. Smiled. What the fuck is this girl doing to me?
Just as I think she can’t possibly surprise or please me any more than she already has, she lifts a remarkably flexible leg and wraps it over my shoulder.
I groan with pleasure as I stretch her wider, and she opens up for me more and more with every deep push of my dick.
“Please never stop,” she whimpers through desperate pants as I hike her leg up higher and feel my entire body pound and grip and ache as we both get closer and closer to release.
Her needy plea makes me go even harder. I sure as hell don’t ever want to stop.
Melody is tight and sweet, and her elastic body fits with mine like a puzzle piece. Her hands are everywhere, and she moves and bends and twists in ways I’ve never even dreamed of.
My cock is raging, and I feel her breathing pick up. I catch her gaze, which is charged with burning passion, and I feel her pussy squeeze around me as she comes.
“Dylan,” she gasps.
She throws her head back, melting with passion, and I physically can’t take the pleasure and heat anymore. Just seconds after she finishes, her body still swollen and reeling from the orgasm, I let go and release into her, spilling over and over again as my knees practically buckle, and I almost collapse on the kitchen floor.
Waves of explosive chills and paralyzing relief wash over me, and I fall against Melody, who is still catching her breath and laughing in amazement and satisfaction.
We hold each other for a long minute, panting and smiling and completely soaked in a tsunami of passion.
I wrap my arms around her tiny frame, resting my chin on her head and inhaling the beautiful and sexy sweetness of her. “Come here,” I whisper.
Her body folds into mine effortlessly, like it’s always been meant to be there. I scoop her up off the kitchen counter, and she laughs softly as I carry her to the living room. She feels like liquid, and I’m surprised I can even manage the strength to move after that sex.
“Okay.” She waves her hand through the air as I gently set her on the couch and lie down with her, pulling her as close as possible. “I was wrong about the energy.”
I draw back and kiss her delicate nose. “Oh yeah?”
“I thought the vibe of the space would get imbalanced if we made love, but I think I like this vibe better.”
I smile and stroke her hair lightly, my other hand grazing the soft slope of her naked hip. “I like this vibe better, too.”
We stay silent for a moment, looking at each other and holding each other, and everything seems to be washed in this weird sense of peace. Right now, looking at Melody’s blue eyes and watching her lips form that insanely bright smile, nothing could bother me. Nothing could even matter but her.
I feel all floaty in my chest as I toy with her light pink waves. “I’ve never met someone,” I whisper, strangely okay with whatever stream of consciousness is about to come out of my mouth, “who is so beautiful outside and inside.”
Melody’s face flushes, and her eyes sparkle at the compliment. “That’s just about the cheesiest thing you’ve ever said,” she teases, nudging me.
“Don’t tell the guys,” I grumble.
She rolls her eyes and kisses me softly, reinforcing just how right everything about this moment feels.
“But, for real, thank you.” I meet her gaze and swallow hard. “For what you’re doing for my dad. I don’t know what kind of voodoo yogi spell you’ve put on him, but it’s obviously working.”
She purses her lips. “There’s no spell.”
“There has to be. Because it’s working on me, too.”
Nineteen
Melody
Holy shit-monkeys.
“Want some water?” Dylan asks as he gets up off the couch and walks to the kitchen.
I stare in pure amazement at his bare ass, which completely inhibits me from forming a coherent response. “Mm-huh.”
He chuckles. “I’ll get you some.”
I grab a throw pillow and squeeze it tight against my chest as I flip over on the couch and curl myself into a ball.
Dylan Rivera just single-handedly ensured I will never, for as long as I live, be able to bang anyone else. Or look at a kitchen counter the same way.
Yikes.
I smile to myself and clutch the pillow, giddy swirls of happiness and excitement racing through my tummy. I feel like I’m floating on a cloud of bliss and joy and pleasure, and I never, ever want to come down.
“You better hydrate.” He hands me a cool glass of water and gives a wink that makes my heart somersault.
I sit up and take a drink, holding the pillow to my chest with my knees and trying to figure out just how far I can take this crush before it becomes full-on attachment or serious feelings or…something else. Except I think it already has.
“What’s going on in that pretty pink head?” Dylan grabs my purple throw blanket that has a llama on it and drapes it over the two of us.
“For the first time in my entire life…” I pull the blanket tight around my shoulder and sip the water. “I have no earthly idea.”
“You’re happy, right?” His voice is low and raspy. That flawless balance of sexy and sweet. Dylan doesn’t even try to hide his shiny, golden heart around me any longer, which just makes me adore him even more.
&nb
sp; “I’m so happy,” I say, a genuine smile pulling at my cheeks and coming straight from my soul.
“Me, too.” He leans close to me, and I rest my head on his broad shoulder, feeling more than ever before like I’m truly home.
But I’m not home. The ocean is my home. Or at least it’s about to be. But how will it top this? How will whatever soul mate is waiting for me on the water make me feel even a tenth of what I feel for the gruff and gentle football player sitting next to me?
I swallow and look out the window as the sun sets, painting the sky five shades of pink and orange.
“I have to go to Boston tomorrow morning for the next round of playoffs. I’ll be back Monday morning.” He wrinkles his nose, disliking this fact almost as much as I am.
“Of course you do”—I gesture toward the kitchen—“that right before you have to leave. So I can just sit here and think about it nonstop for two days.”
His shoulders shake with a laugh. “That was my evil plan, obviously.”
I reach down for Dylan’s hand and lace my fingers through his. He gives my hand a squeeze, the tiniest gesture that hits my heart like a freight train. I look up at him and meet the warmth of his brown eyes, which wraps me in even more joy and peace.
The universe is confusing me. And when the universe confuses me, I know exactly who I have to talk to. But first I need to rest in the passionate happiness that’s filling every inch of this condo.
Twenty
Melody
“Girls, I need help.” I dig my toes into the warm sand and inhale the salty breeze. There’s a slight chill in the air, which makes sense, considering it’s January, but it’s still classic South Florida warm and sunny.
“We’re your soul sisters.” Clementine stretches her arms to the sky as we finish another sun salutation. “That’s what we’re here for.”
“It’s true,” Alyssa affirms as she bends forward, and her long braids fall all around her head. “We’re also nosy as hell and want details.”
“All the details,” Clementine squeals as she lifts her chest.
“Okay, okay. Let’s sit.”
The three of us sit Padmasana—crisscross applesauce, as Dylan calls it—on the beach and face the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean. Our sunrise beach yoga, just the three of us, has always been such a restorative and calming practice for me, and after the events of yesterday, I need all the calm and restoration I can get.
“It’s about football boy, isn’t it?” Alyssa hugs her knees to her chest and raises a full, defined brow.
“What was your first clue?” I ask sarcastically, shaking my head at my own insane situation.
“Um, hello…” Clementine waves her hands around, gesturing at my face. “Glow much?”
I glance down at the sand and giggle, pushing my hair out of my face and meeting my best friends’ knowing stares. “Is it that obvious?”
They exchange a look. “Yes,” they assert in unison.
Clementine leans forward and shakes my shoulders vigorously. “Tell, tell, tell! You guys are totally doing it. Duh. But what else? Do you…like him?”
Alyssa crosses her arms and tilts her head, and the two of them study me as I search for an answer to that seemingly simple question.
“Okay, we’re doing it. Well, we did it once. He left this morning to go to Boston for an away game. Playoffs or whatever. But, you guys…” I raise my brows. “Over my dead little body will it be the last time. I haven’t been able to think straight ever since. It’s like all of our annoyance with each other and our opposite-ness just…exploded. The chemistry and passion are…” I watch the ocean waves crash on the beach. “Hard to describe.”
Alyssa flips her dangling braids. “I’m sure he absolutely adores you.”
A smile slides across my lips, and a swirl of butterflies releases in my chest. “I don’t know.” I wave off the comment. “I get on his nerves. He thinks I’m silly and crazy and ridiculous. He’s so practical, and I’m so…not.”
Clementine giggles. “Doesn’t sound like you were exactly getting on his nerves when he was laying the ol’ PVC last night.”
I frown. “PVC?”
“You know.” Clementine gestures between her legs, making the shape of a dick. “The pipe.”
I snort.
“Yeah, nobody says that, sweetie.” Alyssa touches her leg gently, and we all laugh.
“I’m just confused,” I muse, picking up handfuls of soft sand and watching it fall through my fingers. “Is it just a crush? Attraction and sparks and chemistry? Or is this something real? Something I should pay attention to.”
Clementine lies back on the beach. “Well, have there been any signs?”
I lie down to join her, shutting my eyes and feeling the warm sun baking into my skin. “I don’t even know.”
My conversations with Robert race through my mind, but I promised Dylan I’d keep the stuff about his dad private, so I opt not to mention anything.
Alyssa lies back, too, turning onto her side and resting her chin in her hand. “I mean, you still want to take the cruise job, right? You leave so soon.”
“Yeah,” I say quickly. “Yes. It’s my dream.”
“And your destiny,” Clementine adds. “If Psychic Angela is right about the whole soul-mate-being-on-the-water thing.”
“Of course she’s right.” Alyssa narrows her gaze. “She’s a psychic. I think Mel’s dilemma is more a question of interpreting Angela’s prediction. What if this particular cruise line job isn’t the epic fate she was talking about? And what about the whole leaves-falling thing?”
I purse my lips and consider this for a second. “No, no. There’s no way. The timing is too perfect. And I’ll figure out what she meant about the leaves.”
“The universe speaks in timing,” Clementine says softly.
“Exactly. And the timing of this job offer was loud and clear.”
Alyssa rests her head on a towel. “Then why would the universe have you falling for Dylan at such an inconvenient time?”
“I wouldn’t say falling…” I swallow and shield my eyes from the blistering sun.
“Is the energy mutual?” Clementine asks. “Or is he just, like, you know…” She shimmies her shoulders jokingly. “‘Yay, sex.’ How boys are.”
I chuckle, trying to push away a heavy confusion that settles in my gut. I don’t know how Dylan feels. “His energy can be hard to read,” I admit. “I know how he feels physically. That is pretty…obvious. But I don’t see how he could ever take me seriously. I’m just, like, his quirky temporary roommate.”
“Who he has sex with…” Alyssa adds slowly.
“Yeah.”
The three of us lie on the sand quietly, in collective bewilderment about the whole situation.
“This is quite a dilemma,” Alyssa says after a long silence.
“You could say,” Clementine adds, “it’s a Dyl-emma.” She jabs my side playfully, no doubt trying to elicit my inevitable giggle and eye roll.
“I just want a clear answer. I want a sign the size of a freaking highway billboard that tells me exactly what I need to do. Should I follow my heart, my psychic, my destiny, or my vag?”
They laugh heartily.
“Don’t worry.” Alyssa places a soothing hand on my forearm. “You’ll know.”
I take a long, deep breath and sit up slowly, searching for peace and comfort and not knowing where to find them.
In his arms.
I shut my eyes and shake my hair out, and as soon as I open them…
“Guys!” I perk up and point out to the ocean, where, not far in the distance, an enormous and magnificent cruise ship is moving slowly across the horizon.
Alyssa and Clementine sit up and squint to see the big white ship out on the clear-blue water.
“Well, shit, girly.” Clementine smacks my leg lightly. “There’s your highway billboard.”
I grapple with the racing mix of emotions that courses through my head and my heart
as I stare at the universe’s blatant message. A note of disappointment and sadness tickles the back of my mind, but I push it away quickly.
“I’ll be damned,” Alyssa says through a soft laugh. “The ocean speaks to you, doesn’t it?”
I nod slowly. “You guys are right. It’s my destiny. The cruise job, the soul mate, the water. The leaves. I can’t get distracted by stupid, crazy-hot sex with a football player. It’s just sex. Nothing more.” Those words taste wrong on my tongue, but I know I have to believe them.
I gaze at the boat, watching it majestically float by and wondering if that’s really what’s meant for me.
“He can’t be the one,” I whisper, more to myself than either of the girls. “Even if I kind of want him to be. I can’t ignore the signs. The truth. I can’t throw away my fate for some mind-blowing, professional-athlete-level sex.”
And a heart of pure, selfless gold.
“Well.” Alyssa smiles calmly and lifts a shoulder. “There’s your answer.”
“There it is,” I agree. “Clear as day.”
So then why the hell do I feel worse than before? Seeing the cruise ship shook me up more than it should have. But I guess following your destiny isn’t always the easiest thing in the world.
Dylan Rivera is my total opposite. He doesn’t even remotely understand me or my thoughts or my philosophies. He’ll never understand me. We’ll never be truly, deeply compatible.
I puff out a sigh and push my hands into the sand. “We were right from day one. After we went home together from the Riders Christmas party. We agreed that anything between us would make zero sense. And that’s still true.”
Alyssa’s brows knit together. “You’re sure?”
“I want to be.”
Twenty-one
Dylan
I’m in a weirdly good mood as I pull into the parking lot of my building after a weekend in Boston, and it’s not just because we crushed the Pats and made it to the division semifinals. I can’t stop thinking about Melody. I haven’t stopped the entire time I’ve been gone, and knowing she’s in my condo waiting for me feels better than any football win could.
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