Page 48 of Green Flag (StormSprint #2)

“I’m sure you could survive one orgasm down there,” I said with a laugh as she stood in front of me, lifting her chin. “As a New Year’s present. You could keep quiet.”

She chewed on her cheek, looking to the door as she contemplated. “We’d need a code word.”

“What do you want to go for?”

“Red wine,” she said. “I’ll say that.”

“And white wine is all systems go?”

“God no,” she laughed, holding my hands. “Cause I’m going to be ordering at least a couple of those tonight.”

“An orgasm per drink sounds like a good idea,” I said, nodding along.

She gasped and slapped my arm. “That would be…”

“Enthralling?” I asked, snatching back her hand and bending to speak in her ear. “Your damn fantasy?”

She swallowed and nodded, eyes bright, before taking my hand.

Nix booked a fancy-as-shit restaurant with a back room, so we would have some privacy.

Given how intimate and beautiful it was, I wondered exactly what his intention had been before adding Ever and I onto the booking. A hundred candles were in the small room.

We sat and ordered drinks — mine and Nix’s just a coke, the girls on wine — and discussed absolutely everything but Livie’s ordeal. Instead, we focused on their new starts: Livie in a different team and Nix in a new championship.

All the time, I couldn’t keep my eyes from Everly and her flushed cheeks. Nor my finger from the app that made her body tighten beside me.

She would stop talking and nod along until she had to speak and her voice would wobble. When she mentioned how cute the waiter was to wind me up, it was to goad me into heightening the vibration.

It was my absolute pleasure to do as I was told.

Sweat made her chest shimmer in her little black dress and I had to hold myself back from upping the device to the max and watching her squirm.

When her eyes fluttered over dessert, I brought it to an immediate stop and she let out an angry, abrupt sigh that Livie frowned at. They’d been talking about Livie’s interior design plans for their apartment.

I was going to edge her until she was at the point of insanity, like she said I needed to be.

She wasn’t getting the tip or the head, let alone every inch of my cock, until she was.

But her parted lips, her chest rising and lowering with the rolls of the vibrator…

When she bit her lip to stop the moan, I was lost. Losing every atom of sense and wanting to spread her on the dining table like she was my dessert. She tasted better than the panna cotta in front of me.

“I need another glass of white wine,” she said.

I was halfway through a mouthful but let my spoon drop into my bowl with a clang.

White wine might not be the ‘go-ahead’ word, but the look she gave me as she said it was enough ‘go-ahead’ for me. Her eyes were dark with lust and her deep inhale had me reaching for my phone again.

“Bar will probably be rammed,” she said. “There’s only ten minutes left of the year.”

Nix nodded and I knew he wanted to be alone with Livie to see the year in.

“Worth a shot,” I said, taking her hand.

“Of tequila?”

“That too.”

The bar area of the restaurant was so busy that I couldn’t see the staff between the heads, but Everly was leading the way and the bar wasn’t her destination. She tugged me into the stairwell and had her hands sliding up my shirt to tug me down to her.

“White wine, white wine, white wine,” she begged, the go-ahead words stumbling over each other. “One hand using that naughty little app, the other up my skirt.”

Arms hooked around my neck, she had no issue with me stepping her back into the wall as I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I looked down at the screen, pretending to contemplate, before looking back up at her.

“Please,” she cried, eyes desperate. “ White wine .”

I pressed it to level one and her thighs pressed together.

“More.”

Level two.

Her nods were quick. “More.”

Level three.

“Fuck,” she mouthed. “Luca.”

Level zero.

The adorable creases between her brows came to life. “Excuse me?”

I bent to speak against her lips. “You’re not desperate enough.”

Her eyes blazed with anger. “That’s not fair.”

“Nothing about you and your existence and any of this is fair.”

I watched her swallow.

“How wet are you, Everly?”

Her cheeks reddened.

“How wet are you?”

“So wet I went to the toilet because I was worried you could see through my dress.”

I chuckled, pulling her into my chest. “Red wine.”

Her mouth fell open and she fought against my chest. Pathetically. If she wanted to, she could get me off.

“Please,” she cried.

“Later,” I said. “Let’s wait for midnight to hit before we go back out there.”

“Because we don’t kiss,” she said, her voice matter-of-fact. “It’s against the rules.”

I looked down at her, thinking of all the times I’d wanted to kiss her but not had the nerve. “Exactly.”

Could I bargain that I’d get her off if she’d let me kiss her?

But I didn’t want to cross the one line we’d made. Well, the one line that remained intact.

Pillow wall? Demolished.

No penetration? ‘Just the tip’ed.

Kissing? Too far.

“We’ve broken so many of those rules,” she said, gaze flickering from my eyes to my mouth and back. “We should keep at least one intact.”

“Exactly,” I said, unsure of what I was really saying, instead so focused on her parted mouth and how much I wanted to press mine against hers. “At least one.”

“Yeah,” she agreed, but the hunger in her eyes matched mine.

And what awful timing for the shouts to start in the other room.

“Ten… nine…”

“It would ruin everything,” she said quickly.

“Seven…”

“We’ve done such a good job so far,” I lied.

She laughed, looking down at her feet, shaking her head.

“Five… four…”

“We shouldn’t,” she said, but her head arched as mine bent.

“We shouldn’t,” I repeated.

“Two… one!”

“Fuck it,” I muttered against her lips.

Without giving myself the chance to think or back out, I kissed her.

Finally. Her lips were as soft as I remembered and they parted beneath mine, inviting me in.

The second we touched, the world faded because Everly Bacque was kissing me back as if she’d been waiting as long as I had, as if she needed me as much as I needed her.

There was no hesitation. We were both in this. All in. And that undid me.

Somewhere, there were cheers and clapping and champagne corks popping — but they were far away, a blur of noise outside of the gravity that was her kissing me.

My fingers intertwined with hers and I pressed them against the wall, holding every inch of my hard body against hers as she moaned in my mouth and I held her ransom to kiss her with everything I had to give.

Everything I was.

Her kiss was as desperate and demanding as mine.

She nipped my lip, and when I heard her shallow breaths, my mouth went to her throat, giving her time to settle her breathing, but she whimpered at my touch, and when she said my name again, I had to kiss her lips because those noises would make me come in my trousers again.

And that couldn’t happen.

When I pulled back, it was only because the door beside us opened and a worker came through with a disgusted frown.

My forehead pressed against hers.

“You’re such a rebel,” I groaned.

“Huh?” she breathed, breasts straining against her tight dress.

“Forcing me to break the last rule.”

She laughed against my mouth and I wanted to kiss her nose. Her cheek. Her forehead.

Something less sexually charged.

“It was a special occasion,” she laughed. “It was only because I had no one to kiss at midnight.”

My shoulders lowered. A one-off.

I hadn’t savoured it enough.

“But I think we should go back to the hotel soon. If not immediately.”

I straightened and took her hand. “You need to be our little investigator first.”

“One second,” she said and swiped at my lips with her thumb. “I like the look of you with my lipstick on.”

“I love it on my cock.”

She snorted. “Of course you do.”

Her hand fit mine perfectly, and her firm grip tugged me back to our private room. There, Livie rested her head on Nix’s shoulder, and he stroked her hair.

His second dessert of the night was half-eaten in front of him.

Livie’s smile was tired as she sipped the last drop of her wine.

I also wanted to get home.

“I heard Pedro tried to get a job at MotoBike,” Everly laughed once we had sat down and my fists flexed under the table. Fuck him. I hated his name coming out of her mouth.

We only had a few days until the end of the championship.

If we were to get evidence to force the end of my contract…

we were going to have to push some buttons.

It didn’t help the violent hatred simmering in my chest, softened only slightly by the thought…

If I did leave… what would happen between us?

Nix snorted on his drink. “Did he? Don’t see that working out for him, personally.”

“Not after shipping drugs across the world,” she laughed. “Not after prison time.”

“Not after being a fucking nonce,” I snapped, unable to help myself.

Nix and Livie’s heads snapped to me. Her eyes were wide in shock and Nix’s dessert fork clattered onto his plate. “What?” they asked together.

“Nothing,” Everly said quickly and placed her hand on top of my fist.

Neither of them moved. Nix’s eyes searched Everly’s face and Livie’s stare didn’t leave our intertwined hands on the table.

Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.

“I heard a rumour,” Everly continued, “that drugs are still being transported on the planes.”

Nix frowned and cleared his throat. “Where did you hear that?”

She shrugged again. “Around. I’ve got my suspicions.”

“You do?” Livie asked, tearing her eyes from our hands. She seemed suddenly more lively. We were silent as the staff came to collect our empty glasses. When offered more drinks, we didn’t order them, knowing without speaking that we were all going soon.

But Everly glanced around us, panicked as her time was running out.

I knew this was her plan, but I prayed when the staff left, a new topic would arise.

Nix tried to strike up a conversation about darts, but Livie only let him get four words out. “Who?”

“Well, I was wondering if Nix could help with that…”

His eyes narrowed on her.

“Well, you got your drugs from Pedro, didn’t you?” She waited for him to deny it, but he was still. Her swallow was fierce, and her blinks were frequent. She’d said so many times that Pedro couldn’t have dealt the drugs. What had made her change her mind?

“Didn’t you?” Her voice heightened.

“Everly, I don’t think this is an appropriate conversation,” Livie said and took Nix’s hand. He looked Everly over, concern deep in his expression.

“Well, when he went to prison, who did you get them from?”

“He’s been sober for two years—”

Everly blinked and quickly gathered herself from her surprise. “But the other two years? It’s okay. I know it was him.”

Livie stood, pushing her chair back, her glare lethal. “I don’t know what you’re trying to insinuate here—”

“No, not Nix, my dad!”

Livie laughed, a sound full of relief, and I wished I could laugh with her as she sank back into her seat. “Everly, there is no way. Absolutely none. You need another glass of wine.”

Nix didn’t take his eyes off Everly, assessing her silently.

Everly and Nix shared a look that curled my toes. It was loaded with warning and anger.

Nix and Cris were friends. They argued like nobody’s business but I didn’t realise just how protective he was of his boss.

“Sorry,” Everly said and shook her head. “Shit, I think I may have had too many. God, I hate to have ruined our night.”

Livie leaned over the table to take her hand. “You haven’t. We’re all good.”

“All good,” Nix agreed but by the cold expression in his gaze, I wasn’t so sure.

“Let’s go and spray your face with some water,” Livie said and I kissed Ever’s cheek.

She bent and it looked like she may have kissed me back, but she whispered, “White wine when we get home?”

“With tequila.”

I watched her perfect ass walk away, forcing my eyes to the app where I turned on the vibrator. Straight to level two.

The second they were out of earshot, Nix gestured to Livie’s seat. “Sit.”

“Why? What’s—”

“Sit, Luca. This can’t be overheard.”

I did as I was told, only because of how serious he looked and how tight his voice was. I raised the bar to level three.

“Is she using?”

My thumb froze on the screen. “Using what?”

Nix breathed deeply through his nose and then stared at me as if I were stupid. “Drugs.”

“Oh, no, of course not,” I said, surprise adding laughter to my words. “She just wants to know if her dad is up to anything dodgy.”

His frown didn’t budge. “You’re certain? Because most people don’t get desperate over knowing where drugs are if they’re not hell-bent on using them.”

I shook my head. “She is 100% not using.”

His whole posture changed, shoulders sagging as he finally took a relaxed breath. “Thank fuck. I worry about her.”

“Me too.”

He gestured to his mouth. “Get a little frisky at the bar? You didn’t return with any drinks.”

Ah, shit.

“Maybe.”

He chuckled, leaning back into the chair. “So, what’s going on there? Were there cameras?”

“Cameras? Why would there be cameras?”

“So you just kissed?”

“Yeah?”

His eyes narrowed on me and I wondered what he saw. “I thought it was a showmance, but you two are actually friends and now… you’re kissing?”

I blinked.

Livie had sworn not to tell anyone. That included Nix.

“Excuse me?”

He shrugged, taking in my shocked reaction.

“What do you know?”

“I’m just really observant.”

That could be true.

“Fine. She said you two weren’t fucking. You’re just friends. So what is going on here?”

“She said that?”

He nodded. “She did.”

My phone was still in my hand, on the app. We weren’t fucking, were we?

I upped it three levels as she walked over.

She halted, Livie narrowly avoiding walking into her.

“Luca, we’ve got to go,” she called, voice hard as steel.

But she didn’t say ‘red wine’, only leaned against the wall as Livie worried over her.

“Just a hot flush,” she said, fanning herself. “Oh, god. Lu— cah .”

“Let’s get you back to our room, my love nugget,” I said and wrapped my arm around her shoulder.