Page 95 of Playing for Keeps

And his lips were back on mine with even more intensity. We ground together and I snaked a hand between us so I could jerk him off. It wasn’t long before he was shuddering and coming.

We lay there in the afterglow, my head on his chest, Luke running his hands up and down my side.

“So, I’m officially Ethan the student next week,” I said.

“Has the university updated their insurance policy?”

“Gee, a guy blows up one science lab in high school and he’s forever tarnished,” I grumbled.

Luke laughed softly and deposited a kiss on my temple. My skin tingled under his lips.

“Besides, it’s a biology paper. I’m fairly sure biology labs don’t have explosive substances,” I said.

“I would hope not. You looking forward to it?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

I was kind of terrified too. As if he sensed that, Luke gave my arm a reassuring squeeze.

“Hopefully I’ll manage to balance off-season training and studying and Theo,” I said.

“You’ll be fine.”

“You’ll be away lots soon with the New Zealand team,” I continued to muse. “Which is probably a good thing for my time management. Because I’ve been spending most of my extra-curricular time fucking you.”

“There’s no guarantee I’ll be away at all.” Luke’s voice was tight.

“Come on, they’d be mad not to name you in the squad. There’d be a public outcry. Hell, there’d probably be riots.”

“Stranger things have happened than me not making the team.”

“Yeah, like strange lights in the night sky and the popularity of One Direction.”

Luke didn’t laugh as I expected him to.

I pulled back to study him. “You seriously worried about making the team?”

Luke just stared at me, his eyes glittery. “Sometimes the closer you get to realizing your dream, the more worried you are that it’s going to be snatched away,” he whispered finally.

I settled back down next to him, putting my head on his chest. I loved how in this position I could hear his heart beating. “Fuck, that’s deep. I’ve had too many orgasms to cope with that level of thought.”

He ran his fingers through my hair. “So I fucked your brains out rather than sucked them out?”

“Don’t get too cocky, I’m not sure there was much in there to begin with.”

I felt Luke’s laugh vibrate through my body.

Eventually we dragged ourselves from bed, but only to brush our teeth and get ready to go back to bed.

As we climbed under the duvet, Luke turned off the light and put his arms around me, then suddenly drew back.

“Where are you going?” I asked sleepily.

“I didn’t leave the ensuite light on.”

Luke hadn’t gotten around to furnishing his new place properly, so he didn’t have any lamps in his bedroom. Every night I’d stayed over, he’d left the ensuite light on and the door ajar so a sliver of light penetrated the blackness. I hadn’t even noticed how dark the room was until he’d pointed it out.

But the familiar pulse of fear didn’t come. “It’s actually okay when you’re touching me,” I said.