She smirked, setting his hat onto her head. Something swelled in Kieran’s chest as he took her in. Wearing something of his, hovering above his dick. He could hardly reconcile the fact that this was the same Sammie he had always known.
Sammie tilted the hat low, shadowing her eyes. She sucked in a deep, shaky breath. “Eyes on me, okay?”
Kieran nodded, running his hands up her thighs, tracing the lines of her tattoo, following one branch to the bend between hip and thigh. Sammie shivered under his touch before sinking slowly down onto him, torturously so.
Then she started to move, and Kieran was gone.
No more thinking. No more worries pulling him every which way. Just Kieran and Sammie and the fire burning between them, lighting him up from within until all he could see was her.
And suddenly he couldn’t stand it, the distance between them. Kieran pushed himself up even as Sammie continued torock against him. He didn’t give a single fuck if his face was on camera, that was a problem for future him. Right now, all he wanted was to feel as much of Sammie as he could.
Trailing his hands up her ribs, fingers pressing indents into soft skin, Kieran tugged her close, pressing his lips against her collarbone. That same strawberry scent of her shampoo enveloped him, filled his senses. Her own hands were grappling for purchase, nails digging into his back, gouging lines as she cried out, her sounds muffled as she pressed her face into his hair. Kieran rocked his hips up, shoving into her again and again. Sammie clutched him to her, every moan, every cry, every sound that left her was for him and him alone. The camera didn’t matter, the people paying to see them like this didn’t matter, none of it mattered in that moment.
Kieran grit his teeth, biting back a yell as he came, his dick pulsing inside of her. Sammie followed him over the edge only a moment later, her body curling around him as her orgasm took her. And still, Kieran couldn’t stop. He continued to roll his hips, slow and steady, until both of them were trembling from overstimulation.
Sammie held him tight, her chest heaving against him. Kieran hadn’t even had the patience to get her fucking shirt off, the fabric damp with the sweat that had built between them. His whole body felt hot, too hot, and the unfamiliar burn in his chest overshadowed it all.
It was pain, even as it soothed something in him. Fear and anticipation, wrapped in a tight ball that contracted within him every time Sammie shifted in his arms. Like he couldn’t suck in enough air, despite the fact that his lungs were already full.
It was beautiful.
It was terrifying.
Sammie finally leaned back. Her hair was a rumpled mess, flyaway strands sticking to the sweat on her face and neck. Thestorm clouds in her gaze had receded, and she looked at him with an openness that Kieran knew she reserved for a select few others. No, the blue in her gaze felt more like settled waters, ones that Kieran thought he might very well be drowning in.
“Stay.” The word was out of him before the thought had time to register. Sammie sucked in a shuddering breath, watching him intently. Kieran was suddenly so afraid she wouldn’t do as he’d asked, that she would instead leave and then the ache in his chest would burn a hole straight through him. He grabbed her hands, both of them, not giving her a chance to start picking at them. “Just for tonight.” Because the most important thing now was to keep from scaring her off, at least until he could get his head on straight and figure out why everything between them suddenly felt so mixed up.
Her expression shuddered. It was a quick thing. Kieran would have missed it if he’d blinked. A flash of different clouds, darker ones, that were gone before he could really even register they’d been there. And then she nodded.
“Just for tonight.”
It was late. They’d just had sex. Of course it was normal to ask her to spend the night with him. Kieran had no expectations, no desire for anything more than to keep her close for a little longer.
When he woke alone the next morning, only the indent in her pillow remained as proof that Sammie had actually stayed with him, their limbs tangled together as sleep took them both. No goodbye. No note. Nothing more than a simple text that he didn’t even see until he’d already showered, eaten breakfast, and made his bed.
Sammie: I think we need to stop working together. I’m sorry. Good luck tonight, Kieran. I’ll be cheering for you the whole time.
Kieran stared at the screen for a long time, long after it had shut off. His skin looked even paler on the black screen, his expression hollow. Unrecognizable. With a deep breath to steady himself, he grabbed his bag and headed out the door.
It was time to win a game.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
IVY: I NEED to talk to you after the game tonight
~
Meredith: Kieran, we hope you win tonight!
Meredith: Soon you’ll be free to be here more with your father and I <3
~
Something was wrong. Sammie could hardly think through the din of the roaring crowd as the Cats won a point in a volley that had gone far too long. Her eyes scanned the player’s bench, searching for a familiar ponytail.
Ivy was there, head bowed low as she scribbled something on her clipboard.
She hadn’t once looked up to the stands.
