My eyes locked with hers as I began to push forward slowly. I hissed through my teeth the further I went. She felt incredible. We both moaned when I was buried to the hilt. Our bodies fit as if we were made for each other.
Her nails dug into my arms as I sped up, losing myself in her. I became riveted by the look of sheer pleasure dancing across her face. Wanting to give her more, I lifted her legs over my shoulders to hit another angle.
The way she screamed my name was every man’s dream. So satisfying. She was close. I could feel the way she gripped me tight. My own release was building up, and my pace became erratic. Reaching between our sweat-slicked bodies, I caressed her clit, determined to make her come undone again.
With a keening cry, she quaked in my hold, her walls clamping like a vise around me. That set off my orgasm, and I followed her with a shout. Feeling drained yet strangely invigorated, I gently lowered her legs and collapsed beside her.
After my breathing steadied, I turned to her with a grin. “That was three. Are we going for four?”
She half-groaned, half-laughed and shuffled onto her side to face me. “I think I’ll work with three for now.”
I pulled her close, tucking her head under my chin. It was a reflex, so I didn't think much about it. However, Ava instantly relaxed, sighing her contentment. My heart lifted with hope. I drifted off to sleep, thinking that maybe I’d win her heart again sooner than expected.
21
AVA
I was on a private jet, nestled into a luxurious cream leather seat that probably cost more than my car. I even held a glass of champagne that was perfectly chilled and poured by a flight attendant who looked like she belonged on a fashion runway. This entire lifestyle was surreal. Lincoln’s life—penthouses, jets, and private islands—was so far removed from mine.
I watched him over my glass. He sat in front of me, frowning at his phone.
“Everything alright?” I asked.
He looked up, and his expression softened. “Of course.” The tiniest smile lifted his lips. “I just got a text from a client expressing her disappointment that the toilet doesnotflush the other way in Australia. I don’t know why she felt the need to share that with me.” His eyes swirled with a mix of amusement and bewilderment.
I laughed. I’d learned that his clients were mostly rising stars in their late teens to early twenties, and theyadoredhim. That said a lot about the kind of man he’d become, and God help me, my emotional walls were crumbling by the day around him. Itwas getting harder to remember why I shouldn’t lose my heart to him again.
“It’s like I have a bunch of adult children running around the athletic world,” he joked.
“I think it’s sweet how comfortable they are with you. Jaden gushes nonstop about you. A good portion of his feature is about his amazing agent, who got him this far.”
The slightest tinge of pink—you had to squint to see it—seeped into his cheeks. “He gives me too much credit.”
“I think it’s well-earned. I’ve seen firsthand how you go above and beyond for these kids. Agents don’t typically protect their entire well-being the way you do, Lincoln.” Most of them just wanted that ten percent. Of course, I learned that Lincoln donated his income as an agent to charity. I had wondered why a retired billionaire athlete felt the need to work, and I finally asked. His revelation had left me stunned. I thought it was so sweet. He just kept giving me reasons to fall back in love with him… not that I had ever stopped.
“Well, I care about the rascals as much as they drive me up the wall with silly texts and insane questions at all hours of the day.”
Jaw propped on my hand, I studied him. He was so good to other people’s kids. I bet he’d make a great dad. My thoughts came to a screeching halt.
Whoa!
Why would my mind go there? Just because he was sweet to his “kids” as he sometimes called his younger clients, just because he was a sort of my hero right now, helping me with my investigation, and just because we had the most insanely amazing sex, did not mean I was falling back into his charming trap.
I gulped and sat up in my seat, no longer relaxed.
Lincoln’s eyes narrowed on me and moved over my face. “Are you okay?”
“Great.”
He wasn’t convinced. “Does your shift in mood have anything to do with those phone calls you get at all hours of the night? The ones that make you look like you want to jump out of your skin?”
I glowered at him for squeezing that in. I knew he’d been dying to ask me about it.
“No.” It was the truth. It wasn’t my psycho ex-fiancé that had me scowling, but my ex-boyfriend, who was… incredibly sweet. Damn him. He was reeling me back in, wasn’t he?
“Are you ever going to?—”
“No.”
