He reached over with his right hand, placing his palm over my thigh and gripping my leg. Heat spreadeverywherefrom his touch, and I sucked in a breath. My jeans were the only layer, but I might have been naked with how I reacted.
“I feel carefree around you, goofy.Normal.I can be myself with you without worrying about anything else, and selfishly, I want more of it, but I need rules, limitations to not mess everything up. You want to protect your heart, but I need to protect myself too,” he said softly.
“Relationships shouldn’t have stipulations,” I said, immediately regretting it. Relationship wasn’t on the table at all, and I foolishly ducked my head, avoiding his stare.
“This isn’t arelationship, Lorelei.”
His tone wasn’t mean, but it was direct. We hadn’t agreed to a damn thing, and here I was, making it more than what it was. I crossed my arms and glanced out the window as my face heated in embarrassment.
Luca released a resigned sigh. “Lo, who cares about what we do with our rules? Do you enjoy spending time with me?”
“A little.”
He growled and squeezed my leg tighter. “Little liar.”
“Okay, yes.”
“And have you thought about Sunday night often? I have, every second I can.”
“Obviously.” I squirmed in my seat. His fingers moved up my thigh, digging into the fabric like he was afraid to let go of me.
“You do something to me no one else does, and football will always come first, but I want you too. You know going in what this will be. No surprises. No lies, no games. Your ex was a dick, but I’ll always be honest with you.”
Sexually, not a relationship.I repeated in my head. I ran my hands through my hair, giving up on my resolve. There was no way I couldn’t agree to this—to explore this chemistry for as long as I could? I’d be a fool not to, but I justhadto build in layers of protection. This was similar to Eric, with baseball being his reason to dump me. Luca was not Eric. That was certain, but this still hadheartbreakall over it. I nodded, more to myself than Luca, and smiled.
“If I were to agree to this, and that’s an if, would we have a schedule? Like a quick bang on Monday and Saturdays?”
“Big fan of everything you said. The biggest, really.” He laughed and gripped my thigh again, harder and in control.
My skin prickled with awareness and heat, any hang-ups I had completely gone. Licking my lips, I spread my legs a little farther apart.
Luca groaned and his grip tightened. It was a metaphor to how I felt around him—amazing, but with a little pain.
Maybe I was a masochist.
Chewing my lip, the flicker of resolve I still had shattered into a million horny pieces. “Fine. I’min.”
“Lorelei,” he panted, his voice strained. “You’re… in, in?”
“Yes. Let’s do this,” I said, not even fighting
A strangled, throaty sound left his mouth, a mix between pleasure and annoyance. I arched a brow, on the edge of my seat.
“You alright there, Monroe?”
“I’m contemplating what excuse I can give my grandma so we can turn around this second.”
While my skin tightened with need, disappointing people, like his grandma, was not an option. I took his hand settled between my legs and intertwined our fingers, ignoring the blip of my heart at how natural this felt. “We will not let your grandma down. You can keep it together for a few more hours.”
“I didn’t expect you to agree this soon into the trip. I figured I’d convince you all afternoon. This was never part of the playbook.”
“Ah, well, like any good athlete, you gotta adjust. I’m on the offense now, Monroe.”
He slid a warm look my way, something like pride shining from his eyes. “I’m fucking glad we’re on the same team, temporarily. This is gonna be fun.”
Temporarily.
I blinked, giving myself one hot second to be hurt by that word, and pushed it away. I didn’t get to be angry or upset when he spoke the truth. This was a more structured fling, nothing more. I forced a smile, attempting to let go of his hand, but he held on tighter. We remained that way the entire ride.
