The command in them had me standing up straighter. I liked this Hayden.
“I want us to be together. I don’t know what that means. Fuck.” He ran a hand through his hair before closing the distance between us. He looped one arm around my waist, the other pulling gently on my hair to tilt my head back. “God, you’re gorgeous.”
My knees almost buckled at his words. Hayden said the words I had dreamed about hearing my entire life. I smiled so hard that my face hurt.
“I love your smile.” He touched my dimple with his finger before trailing his hand toward my waist. He stared atme with hooded eyes. “I’ve thought about being with you for half my life, but I’m nervous as shit.”
“Me too,” I whispered. My limbs tingled, and my heart pounded against my ribs. Every nerve ending was in tune to this moment. The way he smelled like coffee and aftershave, the softness of his grip on my hair, the possessive way his fingers dug into my hip. I felt protected and safe while also hot and ready to climb him like a tree.
“We could mess everything up, but what if we don’t?” He ran his nose against mine. “We work in a field where .300 of success gets people into the Hall of Fame. I’ll take those odds with you.”
Then he kissed me again. He wasn’t gentle this time either. No probing or teasing. He slid his tongue into my mouth and groaned like he’d been waiting years for it. I gripped his hoodie as he kissed me deeper.
Kissing Hayden was my favorite thing ever. I decided then and there that I never wanted to stop. He didn’t just kiss with his mouth. He put his whole body into it.
“Fuck, your mouth is trouble.”
“Yeah?” I arched a brow, absolutely giddy and overwhelmed by him. “What are you gonna do about it?”
Heat flashed in his eyes before he used one arm to hoist me up and toss me on the bed. I wasn’t a petite or fragile woman. I had more muscles than average and was thick and curvy. But he tossed me like it was no big deal, and holy cow, it was sexy. He licked the corner of his lip before he played with the strings of my pajamas. “You are so damn hot right now.”
“I’m in plaid pajamas.”
“Yes.” His nostrils flared as he massaged my calves. “Doesn’t matter. Everything you wear is sexy, Charlotte. You are my own personal aphrodisiac.”
I gulped. “That’s… unrealistic.”
He shook his head as he ran his hand up my knee, over my thighs. “These make me think of waking up with you and how that’ll feel. Or wondering if you wear anything underneath them. Or how it’d feel to slide up next to you and take this off. That’s what I think when I see you in them.”
“Oh.”
He winked before dipping a finger into the waistband and sucking in a breath. “No panties?”
I shook my head as my entire body heated. He looked at me like he wanted to eat me for a snack. No one had looked at me with this much heat and care. Not one other person. Even if .300 were okay odds, it was gonna be easy to become obsessed with Hayden. He had never stared at me like this, and I already wanted more.
What turned him on? What did he like? Was he as aggressive in the bedroom as he was on the field, or gentler like he was as a dad? I needed to learn the answers to these things immediately. “Hayden,” I whispered as he slid a hand over my waist, under my sleep shirt. I moaned as his calloused fingers teased circles beneath my belly button. It wasn’t even that naughty a touch, but my body was in hyperdrive.
“Char.” He let out a frustrated groan, one that didn’t sound like pleasure. He fisted my shirt as he repositioned himself to sit at my side.
The absence of his touch cooled me, and I shivered.He’s pulling away.Fear clawed at my throat. He had changed his mind. I couldn’t even look at him as he spoke.
“We should go slow.”
“Hm? Slow what?” I willed my heart to settle down and my stomach to stop clenching in dread.
“I don’t know what this is yet, so I don’t want to compromise anything by going too far.” He released my shirt and rubbed my calves, almost like he couldn’t stop touching me as he stopped whatever this was.
“So if it doesn’t work out, we can say we at least didn’t sleep together?”Come on, filter, where are you?
He tensed. “No. I just—” He ran his finger over his eyebrow like I’d seen him do a hundred times before. “I don’t want to hurt you, and no matter what choice I make, there’s a chance I will.”
“You’re trying to be a martyr then.” He was trying to do the right thing, even if it felt like the opposite. “It sounds like you’re in your head too much.”
He nodded as he gazed at me. His gray eyes swirled with lust and longing. I realized that maybe he was right. I had my own insecurities to deal with too. “You’re right. Going slow might be a good idea for us. I need to figure out some of my own things too.”
“I’m glad you agree with me, but now we have a new problem.” He pushed up from the bed and paced near the fire. With his hands on his hips, the hoodie stretched across his chest, and the glasses, I was completely gone. My feelings sure as hell weren’t slowing down.
“Which is?” I asked.
