I slide in beside her and tug her under my arm, her soft breaths filling the room, steady and sure.
The world feels exactly right.
26
TRUST THE NUDGE (EDEN)
It’s nearly noon by the time I stumble into my apartment, still a little unsteady. Nate kept me in bed until he’d coaxed two more orgasms out of me, pinning me there with his body and taking me apart while I could barely catch enough breath to beg. Only then did he haul me into the shower, pressing me to the tile and making me come on his fingers again while the water poured over us.
After that, caretaker mode. Groceries landed at eight sharp. He parked me on a stool in his T-shirt and cooked, sliding over eggs and a protein shake. “To refuel,” he said. “My girl doesn’t leave on an empty stomach.” When I tried to slip away to get dressed, he brushed my hair back and ordered, “Finish.”
Only once I was full and wrung out did he finally call me an Uber. I spent the whole ride floating, thighs aching, staring out the window, wondering what had just happened.
My body is still humming, my cheeks hurt from grinning, and I barely get the door shut before I squeal, “Liz!”
She bolts upright on the couch, coffee sloshing. “Holy shit, girl, what happened?”
I bounce onto the cushions beside her, grabbing her hands in mine. “I did it. Liz, I finally—” I break into a ridiculous little seated dance, hips wiggling, hair a mess. “—got absolutely wrecked.”
Her eyes go wide, then understanding dawns, and she shrieks so loud the neighbors probably hear. “Oh my God! Was it—Tell me it was that big beautiful goalie crush of yours?”
“It was him,” I blurt, still breathless, still glowing. “And it was…” I flop back against the cushions, throwing an arm over my eyes. “…fucking mind-blowing.”
Liz pounces, practically climbing over me. “Details. Immediately. Every. Filthy. Detail.”
“I came,” I squeal. “Like, actually came. On his cock. Vaginal orgasms, Liz. More than once. I didn’t even know my body could?—”
Liz screams into a pillow before I can finish, then pops up, hair wild. “Girl, shut up. No way. You got the unicorn orgasm on the first night?”
I’m laughing so hard I can barely breathe. “He just…knew what to do, where to touch, how to?—”
She cuts me off, eyes blazing. “You do not walk away from a man who delivers that. Ever.”
“You sound like you’re about to propose on my behalf.”
“I would,” she says, dead serious. “A hockey player who knows his way around a clit? He’s not just a keeper. He’s the Stanley Cup of men.”
I groan and throw a pillow at her, but the grin won’t leave my face. I don’t even want it to. For the first time in forever, I feel…awake.
Liz isn’t done. Her eyes gleam. “Okay, but tell me, was he bossy? Please say he was bossy.”
My stomach flips at the memory of Nate’s hand clamped around my wrists, his voice rough in my ear. The look on my face must give me away because Liz yelps and whacks me with a pillow. “Oh my God, he was! You’re living my fantasy. Does he have a friend? Please tell me he has a friend. Or, like, ten of them, so I can take my pick?”
I throw the pillow back at her. “You’re insane.”
“And you’re smiling,” she points out, triumphant.
She’s right. I am. I can’t stop. Every nerve in my body still hums from him. From his weight pinning me down, his mouth luring sounds out of me I didn’t know I could make. I feel different. A part of me that’s been dormant for years has finally woken up, and I’m very happy to meet her.
Liz takes a sip of her coffee, eyeing me. “So what happens now?”
That question lodges in my chest. What now?
Because the high is intoxicating, but underneath it is the reminder that this is all new. He’s my brother’s best friend. He’s everything I shouldn’t want. And yet, last night, I didn’t just want. I leaped.
Maybe that’s why, when Liz finally wanders off to her room muttering about TikTok captions, I start marching across the living room. My body is still buzzing, and my brain won’t sit still.
If I can be brave enough to let Nate Russo ruin me in the best possible way, I can be brave enough to take charge of the rest of my life.
