Once Upon A Half-Time: A Sports Romance - Sosie Frost Page 0,152

have done it.

“It means you’re the only girl I’ve wanted since I took you that first time.” His eyes flashed a deep and genuine green. “Mandy, I haven’t fucked anyone else since we hooked up two months ago. No one else could compare.”

Oh.

I wasn’t ready for that. For him. For his kiss or his touch or his honesty. He pulled the pillow away, or maybe I tossed it to the side. It didn’t matter. My arms circled his neck, and I surrendered to him.

His hands tickled my sides, aiming for my jeans. I didn’t protest as his zipper tugged down or my pants came off, but I searched him for any hint, any indication of what he expected.

Or what I expected.

“What happens after this?” I whispered. “When we’ve had each other again?”

“There you go, worrying about the future.” His touch silenced me, brushing his fingers along the warmth pooling between my legs. “I’m going to make sure you focus on right now. Don’t worry about what happens later.”

“It’s important.”

“Not as important as this.”

I gasped as his hardness pressed against my core. The slickness should have shamed me, but we were beyond embarrassment or surprise at our reaction for the other.

I wanted him. He wanted me.

And maybe I should have thought only of that moment.

Just of me and him.

Together.

He thrust inside me, and my delighted cry echoed with his determined grunt. The strength of his body ached me with such a perfect and wonderful power, something that built and swayed and controlled me with the demands of his movement.

It was a bad idea to let him get this close. Every thrust heated me beyond control, and every wave of pleasure teased me with the thought of more than just this short time with him.

I envisioned a dozen moments leading to a handful of days then a span of weeks and finally the joy that could be the rest of our lives.

I don’t know when it happened, but my feelings for him grew until they were no longer a simple crush. Every time I welcomed him deep within me, my addiction to him strengthened. He was the wrong man who might have given me the right things. I couldn’t risk losing his touch, his kiss, this amazingly full feeling.

So I didn’t think of the future. Nothing of the baby or the wedding or even what I’d say after I gave myself to him again.

I welcomed the simplicity and wove myself deeper into the knot I cast.

And I wondered if I’d ever be able to unravel it.

14

Nate

I was pretty certain I’d slept with the stripper.

We lived in a small town, and not many people escaped to the bigger cities. I couldn’t remember her name, but I recognized the tattoo. She had a tribal band inked over her bicep.

I’d liked it then. Now I wasn’t sure what I saw in her. The ink marred what should have been beautiful skin.

Now Mandy…she had beautiful skin. Smooth. Dark. Soft…

Too bad she wasn’t performing.

The stripper did her dance. The guys at the bar hooted.

Rick did his best to offer Bryce the same excitement Lindsey demanded from her bachelorette party, but Bryce refused the night out and opted for a couple drinks in my bar.

I wasn’t sure he tasted them. He had five beers before he said a single word, and he wasn’t too excited about the stripper. The guys thought she was pretty, and all women who glued tassels to their nipples had an entertaining quality about them, but Bryce wasn’t interested.

Then again, neither was I.

The stripper was once my type—fake and blonde—but she didn’t do it for me this time.

Son of a bitch, I knew why.

She wasn’t Mandy.

She didn’t have her curves. Didn’t share that innocent quirk in her smile. Didn’t have the gentle swell of her breasts.

She didn’t have her laugh. Her sense of humor. The tinkling little sing-song inflection to her words.

I closed my eyes and tried to remember fucking the stripper. Couldn’t.

All I pictured was Mandy, and it was a damn good memory. I remembered the first time I took her, I still fantasized about that night under the stars, and I relived those perfect hours on her couch when I forgot to breathe, to think, to do anything but stare in her eyes as we moved together in a perfect embrace.

What the hell was wrong with me?

I never liked it gentle before, and suddenly I was…making love?

Jesus, I needed to shotgun a couple beers too.

I broke out a new brew I’d saved