It took a second to weave through the throng of people lined up for beer, but then I was standing directly in front of her, admiring how good her Wildcats T-shirt looked on her.
“Enjoy the game?”I asked as I crowded her through the doorway and into a corner of the dining room.
Though she played coy with her little shrug, the twinkle in her eyes gave her away.“You seem to know what you’re doing on the field.”
With my back to the room, I placed my hand on the wall beside her head, cocooning us in our own little bubble.“If that touchdown had been in the correct end zone, I would have pulled an O’Reilly and pointed the ball at you like he does to Jamaica.”Grinning, I tipped back a drink of beer and waited for the fireworks.
On cue she straightened to her full 5’8” in her wedge heels, her eyes blazing into mine.“I’m not—we’re not—it’s not like that with us.”
It was my turn to shrug.“Whatever you say, princess.But I bet the two of us end up at my place tonight.”
The fire in those changeable amber eyes blazed brighter.“You are so full of yourself.”
“Yet you can’t stop yourself from sneaking peeks at my mouth.Doesn’t take a clairvoyent to know what you’re thinking about.”I winked.“Seriously, babe, I’m not like those guys who think with their dick first.But when I’m around you, my dick is always paying close attention.”I moved a fraction closer, letting my body heat warm her already smoking-hot body.
A loud cheer went up from the flip-cup game being played on the dining-room table behind us, so I couldn’t be completely certain about the foot stomp I think she indulged in.Still, I didn’t hide my smirk at her response.
Then I leaned down and whispered, “For the record, kissing you—and doing other things with you—has been on my mind ever since you stopped by to see me after you came home from Denver.”
I covered her exasperated gasp with my mouth.The barely-there pressure of my lips on hers gave her the chance to pull away easily if that was what she wanted.Instead, she fisted her hands in my T-shirt and tugged me close as she took over the kiss.Sliding her tongue into my mouth, she teased and plundered me to the point of losing my mind.Somewhere in there, I dropped my hand to the small of her back and hauled her up flush against my front, while our mouths vied for supremacy as the kiss deepened and heated to a conflagration determinedly burning all my common sense to the ground.
Loud laughter in my ear penetrated my lust-filled, Saylor-induced fog.“Hey!Get a room!”
Slowly, with several little nibbles on her lush lips, I pulled out of the kiss.
“Damn, man!That kiss should be in a porno,” some other asshole shouted in my other ear.
The way the air was sawing in and out of my lungs, anyone would think I’d run half the length of the field with eleven hostile defensemen on my heels.I dropped my forehead onto Saylor’s and worked to rein in my breathing.
“Sorry, babe.When it comes to you, I have trouble holding back.”
A breathy little giggle slipped from her.“Same, Mr.Football.Same.”
“Maybe we should go dance or something.”I nodded in the direction of the living room where the thumping hip-hop beat vibrated the floorboards.
“Or we could watch cornhole for a minute on our way through the back yard…” She let her voice drop off, telling me everything I wanted to hear.
I let the corner of my mouth turn up.“Or we could do that.”
Sliding my fingers through hers, I led us out of the dining room, through the kitchen and the laundry room, and into the back yard.I finished what little beer was left in my cup as we watched a few of my teammates razz each other over their cornhole-playing prowess.When a group of basketball players tumbled down the back steps into the yard, Saylor tightened her fingers around mine, a silent cue for us to wander off while everyone’s attention was elsewhere.
After hanging out at the loud party across the alley, the silence of my house when I let us inside echoed around us.A shiver rippled over her, and she let go of me to rub her hands over her arms.
“Hey, if you’ve changed your mind, no worries.We can hang out, catch a movie, play video games—”
She cut me off by slipping her arms around my waist and burying her face in my chest.“I haven’t changed my mind—which is what worries me.”
Though she mumbled that last part under her breath, I caught it anyway—and smiled as I wrapped my arms around her.While she could keep telling herself this thing that had started between us last spring was temporary and only for fun, somewhere deep inside she knew as well as I did that we’d crossed a threshold the first time we made love.She may not be ready to admit it yet, but from tonight on, I was determined that every time she let me come inside her, I’d be binding her closer to me.
Chapter Twenty
Saylor
“Is this floralmonstrosityyourchair?”I asked as I pulled out of Cash’s embrace to wander around the living room of the house he shared with Dalton, Taco, and Dally.
“What are you calling a monstrosity?”Cash sounded genuinely put out, which made me grin.“Before you pass judgment, you might want to park your pretty ass in it.Experience the sheer bliss of its awesomeness.”
Casually, I ran my hands over the faded floral print—giant yellow daisies splashed over a magenta background, interspersed with sprigs of forest-green leaves.The pattern was truly hideous, but also hilarious because of the chair taking pride of place in the middle of the living room.The idea that Cash had deliberately bought it cracked me up.
