“In four years of high school youneverkissed a girl beneath the bleachers?” Paxton asked, her voice thready. She was trying her hardest not to gasp. “Isn’t that, like, a rite of passage or something?”
“The only girl I wanted to kiss beneath the bleachers was never at the games. But since she’s here now, it’s only fair that I get to kiss her.”
Her heartbeat escalated as Sawyer slanted his lips over hers.
“Eww, gross,” came a teenage voice from somewhere in the darkness. “Let’s get out of here. I’m not here to see some old couple making out.”
Paxton nearly backed away from the kiss so she could tell the kid off for calling them old, but when Sawyer’s wet tongue started a hot trail along the seam of her lips, she forgot teenagers even existed. She forgot about everything but the man whose splayed hand was slowly making its way up her spine. He pulled her closer, and the telling bulge pressing against her stomach told Paxton all she needed to know about how incredibly turned on he was.
He wasn’t the only one.
A roar erupted above them, and the bleachers shook with the crowd’s rowdy cheers, but Paxton could not care less about whatever was happening above their heads or on the field. Apparently, neither could Sawyer. He never lost stride as he parted her lips and found his way inside.
Paxton closed her eyes and soaked in this moment as her girlhood dreams were brought to life within Sawyer’s arms. Back and forth her tongue moved in rhythm with his as she rediscovered his texture, his taste. She moved her hands inside his letterman jacket, trailing them along his sides before settling them at his waist.
Sawyer narrowed the distance between them even more, his big, solid body pressing against hers as his tongue delved deeper, the gentle yet sure thrusts awakening those same feelings she’d experienced when he kissed her in the arbor. Paxton moved her hand to the back of his head and held him in place. She sucked his tongue, wanting it,needingit to fill her mouth. Her entire being grabbed hungrily at this small glimpse of heaven on earth.
“Okay, you two. Break it up.”
She and Sawyer both jumped and pulled apart at the strictly spoken command.
Zoe Taylor, who had been a senior and student body president during their freshman year—and who had just been hired as the new assistant principal at Gauthier High—crossed her arms over her chest and cleared her throat.
“Really?” she said. “I expected better from the two of you.” Then she smiled, winked, and walked away.
“I can’t believe we got caught kissing under the bleachers by the principal,” Paxton said.
“I think that’s another of those rites of passage. We’re hitting it out of the ballpark tonight.”
“I’ll check it off my bucket list as soon as I get home.”
His deep chuckle caused goosebumps to pop up all along her skin. Or maybe those were the lingering effects of that kiss. Paxton had a feeling she would be experiencing those for the rest of the week.
“Do you still want to leave?” Sawyer asked.
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded. “I do. I just don’t like football.”
He put a hand over his heart. “You’re killing me, Pax.”
She laughed. “Sorry.”
He smoothed his hand up her arm and to her neck, fitting the back of her head in his palm and brushing his thumb back and forth along the pulse point behind her ear.
“Would you mind if I walked you to your car?”
She frowned. “Actually, I don’t have a car. Shayla was my ride.”
He arched a brow quizzically. “So how exactly were you planning on getting home?”
“I guess I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”
A low, deep laugh rumbled from his chest yet again. Paxton would be annoyed with him if she didn’t find the sound so sexy. He caught her by both hands and started to walk backward.
“Where are we going?”
“I’ll drive you to your mom’s.”
Paxton stopped short. “But don’t you want to stay for the rest of the game?”
