of me was protecting you from that. He’s been your coach all these years. I’m sure you like him. He’s good at what he does. I don’t want my relationship with him to skew how you see him.”
I lean in closer to her, helpless to stop myself. I inhale her scent, coconut and lime.
Brushing my lips over her ear, I growl out, “You’re so fucking deep under my skin I’m never going to be able to get you out and you’re worried about protecting my feelings when it comes to your dad?”
She shakes her head in the tiniest of nods, pulse pounding in her throat.
I don’t know what makes me do it, temporary insanity maybe, but a dam breaks and I can no longer hold myself back. Hand on the back of her neck, I move in and she doesn’t fight me. Her eyes flicker to my lips and I know then that she wants this as badly as I do.
This time, I don’t hold myself back from what I’ve wanted since that night at the bonfire.
Our lips connect and it’s like fireworks shoot down my spine. This girl has been driving me crazy for months and I’ve dreamed about what it would be like to touch her, kiss her, hold her. To have her be mine.
She gasps against my mouth and our tongues meet. It’s a passionate kiss, not a timid first meeting of lips. Her pulse drums against my hand at her neck, her heart beating as out of control as mine. I wonder if she can feel it where her palm rests against my chest.
I push into her, spreading her legs with one of mine. She rolls her hips against my leg. I don’t think she even realizes she’s doing it. My hands skim lightly down her sides and she shivers like the last leaf left before winter comes. Settling my hands on her hips I hoist her up and she wraps her legs around my waist. Her arms twine around my neck and I push her into the wall.
Kissing her feels like the closest I’ll ever get to heaven. Her lips are pillow soft and she makes the tiniest sounds in the back of her throat.
My fingers dig into the skin of her waist, exposed from her shirt riding up between us.
Her hands move to my cheeks and she attacks my mouth like she wants this kiss as much, if not more, than I do.
I lose myself in the moment, in her. I allow myself to be selfish and take what I want.
A door in the hallway slams and we jump apart like we’ve been electrocuted. Her legs fall from my waist to the floor, and I keep a steady hold on her hips. Her eyes drop to the floor like she doesn’t want to look at me, and I worry that it’s shame over us finally succumbing to this thing between us.
“Zoey?” I prompt, pleading with her to say something or at least look at me so I know where we stand.
She doesn’t say anything, her eyes staying glued firmly to the gray locker room tiles.
I sigh, stepping back. I don’t even know how to interpret how I feel. We both wanted that kiss. I felt it in the way she kissed me back. It wasn’t just me.
But now…
Her silence speaks volumes.
Hanging my head, I speak softly, “I’m sorry, we’ll forget this ever happened.”
Her head jerks up, lips parted like she wants to say something, but before she can—before I have to hear the rejection on her tongue—I swing the locker room door open, and I’m gone.
20
Zoey
Cole didn’t come home last night.
He found out about my dad, gave me the best kiss of my life, and then he didn’t come back to the apartment.
I know Cole. There’s no way he kissed me and was out spending the night with some other girl. That’s not his style. But it doesn’t mean it hasn’t worried me. When I texted him, asking if he was okay and that I was worried, all I got back was an I’m fine text.
I certainly didn’t expect him to kiss me, especially not when he learned my dad is his coach. It took me by complete surprise. That kiss … it was everything, and it reminded me of everything I would’ve been giving up if I hadn’t caught Todd cheating on me.
I was complacent with him.
But Cole awakens a passion inside me I didn’t know existed.
It’s electric.
As much as I want to