“I’ll help you.” It was like a lightbulb went off in the back of my brain. This was what Coach wanted. For him to have the captain in name, but I’d be running it behind the scenes andshowing him the ropes. No one had done that for me when I was younger. This leadership had just happened, and I wished someone had shown me. “I’ll be with you the entire time, talking you through what I’ve done and what the team needs. You got this, J. I got you.”
We parted ways, and any unease or turmoil about Coach’s choice disappeared. I couldn’t wait to tell Mack. She’d be proud of me and scrunch her nose as she smiled. I fucking loved that smile on her, where her eyes seemed to glow with pride.
I showered, dressed, and drove there within fifteen minutes. Lo was at her internship, Luca still working out, so it was just us. I knocked, my stomach bursting with anticipation. I hadn’t seen her in two days. With the guys having a night out together and the girls with their Tuesday meetings, it was a night apart, which sucked. When we had a countdown on our fling, not spending every minute together seemed stupid.
The door twisted, and Mack stood there, all smiles and with tender gaze. “Hi!”
“God, I missed you.” I gripped her waist and pulled her toward me, kissing her hard. My heart thudded in my chest, like my body was finally content. She smelled perfect, like summer and sunscreen, and she kissed me back just as hard.
“Wait,” she said between kisses. “I have something to ask you.”
“Yes, whatever you want,” I said, backing us up into her apartment and kicking the door shut. She had to have put on cherry lip balm or something because her lips tasted exceptionally good. Delicious. Addicting. “You taste.” I sucked her lip into my mouth. “So good. How?”
“Oh, this lip exfoliating thing I tried.” She laughed and put a hand to my chest. “Would you slow it for one goddamn second?”
“Kissing you? No.” I lifted her up and set her on thecounter, her legs immediately going around my waist as I rocked into her. “I have stuff to tell you, but my mouth won’t stop.”
I kissed down her neck, over her collarbone. She wore a black tank top that hugged her body and cutoff jean shorts. Her legs looked ten miles long.
“I have something to say to you to.”
“Is it time sensitive?”
“Potentially.” She moaned and arched her back as I kissed the center of her chest. “It involves getting naked again.”
“Mm, okay.” I pulled back, my cock throbbing with wanting to sink into her. Sex with Mack was incredible. I’d been with a lot of people but never when I had this much connection with anyone. I liked her. I liked her a lot. It was so different to fuck someone you likedandlusted after instead of just having attraction. I stopped putting my mouth on her, but I kept my hands on her shoulders, wanting to feel her warm skin against mine.
“Thank you for your cooperation.” She beamed at me, her hands also resting on my waist. “Now, would you like to accompany me to go camping for one night only? I need to do twenty-four hours without my phone, and I can’t think of a better person to spend it with than you.”
“Camping?”
“Yes. With me.”
“Just you?”
“Yes.”
“None of our dumb friends are going to try to tag along?”
“Correct.”
Fuck. Yes. “Baby, that sounds amazing.”
Her face glowed, and her eyes seemed even bluer. “Yes! Okay, perfect.” She wiggled off the counter. “Come look at the list!”
I didn’t like that I wasn’t touching her anymore. Her shorts showcased her muscles and hugged her ass, so I didn’t mind the view as she bent over her table.
“I’m almost done! I have ‘get a makeover’ and ‘lose a cell phone for a day’ left! I can’t believe this… it went so fast?” Something shifted on her face, her eyes darkening before she masked it into a flirty smile. “I took liberty with theask three guys outand changed it to ask you out three times.”
I studied it, an unpleasant heartburn feeling forming deep in my chest and spreading through my limbs.Two more things left.
The Summer Playbook
Buy a guy a shot
