Lamp light for the win. He drops me onto my floral comforter and lowers himself over me.Yes. This.I reach for him, threading my legs with his. “I love board games.”
“Mm. My favorite.”
I tug his shirt up, feeling goosebumps rise on his skin under my fingers. I touch even lighter, and grin when he shivers.
“Proud of yourself?”
“Very.”
He pushes himself up and rolls me onto my stomach, then bunches up my tank top, sucking in a breath when he sees that’s all I was wearing. Calder brushes his knuckles along my spine, then rubs my shoulders, pressing his thumbs into every tense muscle.
“That. Is the most amazing thing in the world,” I murmur into my pillow. The next thing I feel is the scruff of his jaw against my skin. His hands clasped over my hips.
Okay. I stand corrected.
I reach back and wrap my hands over whatever I can find. His wrists, his forearms, and when I can’t take it a second longer, I flip back to face him and pull his shirt up. He straightens and takes it off, tossing it on the floor.
I suck in a breath, taking him in. The dark hair on his chest, the lines of muscle that expand and shift with his inhale.
He settles next to me, his fingers splaying over my stomach as he finds my mouth. He listens to my breath, notices when my body reacts to a kiss or a touch, and does it again to make sure he got it right. All that intensity and focus he uses on the court is doubly effective in this situation, and I can’t believe I ever thought I could only want this for a night.
My touch grows more desperate. “I love melatonin.”
Calder laughs. “What?”
“Shh. It’s our inside joke.”
It takes him a second, but when he remembers, he kisses me harder. I push at the waistband of his joggers, done with subtlety.
He cups my face in his hand and tilts my head, kissing a line down my throat. “Enchanted. Definitely enchanted.”
twenty-one
Sam already hasa lemon-ginger tea steaming on her desk when I walk in. I close the door behind me and lean against it, trying for casual and failing spectacularly.
She grins. “You didn’t call in sick.”
I scoff. “I’d never do that.” I tried three times, but Calder wouldn’t let me. He was doing dishes in his boxer briefs when I left. I wasn’t mad about it.
“Well?” Her eyes glitter as she leans back in her chair and twists back and forth.
We both know stalling isn’t my strong suit. I launch myself into the egg chair and start in with every detail from the time we left Smash Point.
Sam’s cup is empty by the time I finish. It didn’t take Calder nearly that long.
Sam throws a pen cap at me. “Ugh. I’m so jealous.”
I laugh and toss it back on the desk. “How was the rest of singles’ night?”
She sighs. “Fun until I heard all that.”
“Did you see Justin again?”
Sam leans forward, lowering her voice even though the door is closed. “He’s the owner’s son. Talk about nepotism. I guess heworks with some big-name pickleball company. Travels around and does tournaments or something.”
I purse my lips. “Well, that sucks.”
“Does it?”
