“You like it.”
I did. I really did.
I lined up and pushed in, watching his face for any sign of pain. What I found instead was hunger—desperate want that matched the pressure building in my own chest. When I was fully seated, I held still, letting us both adjust.
“Move,” Tanner said. His legs wrapped around my waist, heels digging into my lower back. “Seth, please?—”
I moved.
Hard and deep, the way he’d asked for. The headboard knocked against the wall with every thrust, and I couldn’t bring myself to care about neighbors or noise or anything except the way Tanner was falling apart underneath me. His nails raked down my back. His voice broke on my name, over and over.
“Look at me.” I gripped his jaw, made him meet my eyes. “I want to see you.”
His gaze locked onto mine. I forgot how to breathe. Everything I felt for him—the terrifying depth of it, the way it had snuck up on me over months of shared coffee and late nights and falling asleep tangled together—rose in my throat. The words were right there, pressing against my teeth.
I almost said them. Almost let them spill out.
But then Tanner flipped us over, using the moment to take control. Suddenly, he was on top, sinking down onto me, rolling his hips with a confidence that hadn’t been there our first time.
“I need you to know,” he said, riding me with deliberate, devastating strokes. “What this means to me. What you mean to me.” His voice cracked. “I’ve never had this before. Never wanted anyone the way I want you.”
My hands found his hips, guiding him, urging him faster. “I know. Me too.”
“Promise me this is real.” He braced his hands on my chest, his rhythm faltering. “Promise me you’re not going anywhere.”
“I’m not.” I sat up, pulling him closer, our foreheads pressed together. “I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”
He wrapped a hand around himself, stroking fast, and I knew neither of us would last much longer. His whole body was trembling, his breath coming in sharp gasps against my mouth.
“Seth—” His voice shattered.
He came with a shout, clenching around me, and the pressure sent me over the edge after him. I pulled him down against my chest as the shockwaves rolled through us, both of us shaking, both of us holding on.
Later, we lay tangled in sheets that needed washing, my hand tracing idle patterns on his back. The lamp cast warm shadows across the ceiling. Outside, someone was playing music too loud for midnight on a Saturday, but I couldn’t find it in me to care.
“I meant it,” Tanner said. His voice was sleep-rough, muffled against my chest. “What I said. About what this means.”
“I know.” I pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “I meant mine too.”
“Good.” He shifted, propping his chin on my sternum to look at me. “Because I’m not taking it back.”
“I don’t want you to.”
His smile crinkled the corners of his eyes, softened his jaw. The one he only gave me when no one else was watching.
“Tonight was hard,” he admitted. “Being at that bar, watching you be Landry. I kept thinking about how many people don’t get to know you like I do. How they see the player, the teammate, but they don’t see how you make terrible coffee on purpose because you know I’ll get up and fix it. Or how you sing off-key in the shower every single morning. Or how you look at me when you think I’m not paying attention.”
My throat tightened. “How do I look at you?”
“Like I’m special.” He settled back against my chest, his weight warm and grounding. “Like you’d do anything for me.”
“You are, and I would.”
“I know. That’s the part I’m finally starting to believe.” His fingers traced lazy circles on my ribs. “Three more games.”
“Maybe four.”
“Then we’re done hiding.”
