Page 12

Chapter 12

Like A Cheap Jersey

Dev

What was I thinking? Letting her convince me to come out with her? Who am I kidding? That required zero convincing. I folded like a cheap jersey when she asked me to. One look in those gorgeous blue eyes, and I’d agree to anything to spend a moment with her.

But now I’ve fucked it all up. Led her on. Come out here with her, and now I have to put a stop to it. It doesn’t matter how protective I feel for her, how much I want to pull her into my arms, or how incredible her soft curves felt pressed against me. I can’t. We can’t. I can’t betray Beau like that.

She’s clearly upset now. Eyes turned down, lids half closed, with her thick lashes almost resting on her full cheeks. I almost reach out to tilt her chin back up, wanting to wipe away the hurt I caused her, but I check myself.

“What are we having? ”

She looks up. “We?”

“You pick whatever you want, and I’ll share a bite or two.” I can’t express the words I want to say to her, so I’m hoping this will be something of a peace offering.

“Don’t you want to pick something yourself?” she asks.

“Nah. I can’t eat much dessert. Not in the plan.” No matter how delicious it all sounds, it’s not in the protein rich athlete’s diet I try my best to stick to during the season.

“Plan?” She tilts her head. “The athlete thing. Gotcha. You weren’t sticking to that when we were at the con.”

I shut my eyes, trying to contain the groan. A flash of her naked body underneath mine has my cock waking up. The deep breaths I drag into my lungs offer no help to cool the fire, either. She’s still there, etched into the back of my mind. Her plump thighs wrapped around my waist, lush ass jiggling as I pounded into her from behind. Those pretty lips wrapped around my cock. Not helping. I shift in my seat, but it fails to ease the uncomfortable ache.

“Are you okay?”

She’s back to studying my face. Maybe we should take it to go? I don’t think I can handle the sweet agony of watching her scoop bites of dessert between those lips. No, I’ve got more self control than that.

“I’m fine.”

“Just get something yourself. I don’t want to share. You don’t have to eat it all.” Her tone is all sass now.

The server walks up before I can reply. He’s got a bored expression on his face. “Can I take your order? ”

“I’ll have a hot chocolate and the caramel apple cheesecake, please. Sweetums?” She looks at me, fluttering her lashes, even though her words are threaded with venom.

“I’ll have a black tea... and the chocolate mousse, please.”

He scribbles our order, eyes trained on the couple having a heated discussion two tables over. We don’t even get a glance as he walks away.

“Well?”

Conversation not forgotten, apparently. “I’m sorry. It’s hard to be near you.”

She winces. “Harsh. That’s a new one. I’ve been turned down by plenty of guys, but that was pretty brutal.”

I’m not explaining myself right. I’m shit with words. Feelings. But I have to try. I can’t hurt her or let her feel like I’m not into her. “Not because I don’t want you.”

“What?” She’s shaking her head again, glancing at the door.

“Because I want you more than I should.”

Her eyes flick back to me. “Is that a thing?” She’s nibbling on her lip now and I want to snatch it away, tuck it between my teeth, give it a gentle nip.

“It is when you’re you, and I’m me.”

More confusion. Why am I so bad at this?

“Your brother is my best friend. My closest friend. The closest thing I have to family. I can’t lose him. No matter how much I want you.”

I lean over the table, getting a noseful of her sweet lemon scent. “And do not underestimate how much I want you. All I want right now is to drag you by your hair to the bathroom and slam into you from behind while I watch your tits bounce in the mirror.”

She inhales a gasp, pink flooding her cheeks, eyes sparkling under the soft lighting of the glass chandelier.

“Then maybe you should.” It’s a challenge. One I should refuse, but I don’t think I’m strong enough.

“Fuck, Cecelia. Don’t tempt me.”

I’m ready to protest when her small hand lands on my thigh, sliding up to find my cock. It’s hard as steel, protesting its confinement, and I shut my eyes as need races through me when her hand makes contact.

Her fingers trace a path along my length, teasing and taunting me as she leans in closer. Her top dips to a deep v in the front, revealing a tempting expanse of plump flesh. “I can keep a secret.”

Her lips curve up in a sly smile at my groan, and my hands are clenched so tight the tendons in my wrists are protesting.

“We shouldn’t.” It’s a weak protest, and she knows it, continuing the long strokes that are setting my nerve endings abuzz.

“But we could. He never needs to know. We’ll enjoy each other like the grown adults we are and not worry so much about what other people think.” Her hand tightens in a squeeze.

“But...”

“Why not? Life is short, Dev. Might as well live it to its fullest. I spent the first half of my life trying to live up to other people’s expectations. And what I discovered was that it was an impossible task. ”

Her words hit home. Life is fucking short. I still want to say no, protest a little more, but I’m weak. I can’t. I need to get my hands on her again. My mouth. We can do this. I think. Beau doesn’t need to find out.

“Oh, God. I can’t think when you’re touching me like that.”

She releases my twitching cock. “Don’t want to sway your decision.” Her smirk doesn’t back up her words.

“Too fucking late.” I snatch the water glass off the table, icy water stinging my throat as I gulp down half the glass in one go.

I lean back in the wooden chair carefully. It feels too delicate for my bulk. I’m scrubbing at my scalp, taking a moment to compose myself. “If we do this, how would it work?”

“Well, you see. Boys have something called a penis, and girls...”

“Careful, Cece. You’re already asking for a spanking. Don’t make your punishment worse.”

Shock replaces the wide-eyed innocent look she was giving me before, her mouth popping open. I lean in closer, unable to resist the temptation of running the pad of my thumb over her lower lip. It’s as soft as it’s been in my dreams.

“Promise?” she says.

“Uh huh.”

Her little pink tongue swipes across her lip as if she can’t wait for a taste of me after I pull my thumb away. “I don’t know. We could wing it.”

I shake my head at her careless shrug. “No. That will never work. We need a plan. ”

“I’m not much of a planner. More of a doer. Kind of like Yoda. Do or do not, you know.”

“I’m pretty sure that weird little green creature still made plans. Okay. How do we make it work? Obviously, I can’t bring you back to the house.” I don’t love that idea. She’s the kind of girl who deserves to be flaunted, not hidden away like a dirty little secret.

“My roommates are chill. Art nerds. Not the type of people in Beau’s inner circle. And of course, there’s that other place you were just talking about.” She smiles, twisting around to glance at the back of the restaurant toward the restrooms.

We can’t do that. Can we? What if we got caught? I have to reach down to adjust myself in my pants. Something about the idea of taking her here and now is really fucking hot, and I’ve never been an exhibitionist.

“That’s a terrible idea. Didn’t you get sent here for that sort of thing?”

“Yes. I guess. We have the rest of the meal to think about it, anyway.”

It’s a good thing the waiter is still paying zero attention to us when he comes back with our food, because anyone less oblivious would have noticed the thick cocoon of tension our table is swathed in.

Steaming liquid sloshes out of the silver teapot when he places it in front of me. I idly dip the tea bag in and out, eyes locked on Cece as she takes a slow lick of the cocoa sprinkled whipped cream on top of her hot chocolate. I wish I’d ordered one too, but I had to exercise some self control. I’m not doing so well in resisting her, so the least I can do is stick to my meal plan.

She buries her face in her drink, moaning as she takes a swallow. A slash of the cream marks her upper lip when she comes up for air. On anyone else, it would be amusing. On her, it’s fucking delicious.

Now she’s taunting me. I reach over to wipe it away, slipping my thumb between her lips when I’ve got it. Her mouth is warm and wet, as she sucks the cream off.

“My cock is going to love slipping between those dirty lips of yours.”

The waiter does a double take as he sets our desserts down in front of us, and Cece giggles. At least we know he’s not a ghost. Something finally cut through his ennui.

Don’t love the attention, though. That was for her ears only. I hunch over my mousse, studying the patterns in the shaved chocolate.

“Cock? I’m just here for the dessert, right?” Cece has no problem pulling the attention back to herself. As if she can sense my unease.

The waiter makes a humph noise, stiffens his spine and walks off muttering about college kids, causing her to erupt into giggles.

“Poor guy.” I shake my head at her.

She laughs, scooping up a mouthful of her apple concoction. My mouth waters, watching her slide the morsel between her lips, but it’s not the caramel oozing off her fork that’s got me interested.

She’s half finished hers as I’m taking small bites, savoring every mouthful of the sweet but light mousse. I jerk it back toward my chest when her fork swoops in to steal a bite.

“I’m so sorry,” she says, pulling away.

Guilt steals my air as the joy slides off her face, leaving it crumpled and unsure. I did that to her.

I shut my eyes. “It’s not you. It’s me. A food thing.” The explanation is lame, but I can’t tell her why I’m so protective of my food. Why I savor every bite, and begrudge anyone who tries to take any? No matter how innocent. I know she’d give me her entire portion without batting an eye, and here I am, a massively damaged asshole unable to share. But there’s no way she can understand the way I grew up. She and Beau have never suffered a single day of hunger in their lives. She’d never understand.

“Oh. Well still. I’m sorry. Do you want a taste of mine? You don’t even need to trade. I probably shouldn’t finish this entire thing, anyway.”

“Thanks, but I’m good. Why shouldn’t you finish it?”

Her head tilts at me, and she’s staring at me like I’m not the sharpest blade on the ice. “Um.” I follow her hands as she waves them in front of her body. “Don’t need all those calories.”

It dawns on me. She’s referring to that gorgeous body. As if there’s something negative about those curves. “I hope you’re not saying what I think you’re saying?”

“That I could stand to lose some weight?”

“Don’t say that. Your body is perfection. Like everything else about you. If I hear you saying anything negative about it again, I’m going to have to have to show you just how wrong you are. Those thighs, those hips. That fucking ass. They’ve been haunting my dreams all month.”

The deep pink flush of her cheeks doesn’t give away whether she’s embarrassed or turned on by my words, but the way she’s squirming in her seat gives me some idea. I bet if I slid my hand down her pants right now, I’d find her wet.

“Maybe so, but it’s kind of hard to shake a lifetime of people telling you that you need to lose weight. I try to be all strong and confident, but you know, sometimes those insecurities creep in.”

“I get it.” She arches a brow at me. “Not that, but your past creeping in to tear you down.”

Her lips are pressed together, and she’s frowning. That’s not where we want this night going. Maybe I need to show her how excited I am to make her come.

I mirror her action from before, slipping a hand up her thigh. She’s wearing jeans under the Lakeview jersey, but there’s an obvious damp patch even through the thick fabric. She lets out the softest moan when I make contact, but it’s not enough. It’s a bit of a struggle to snap open the button, but I pull it off one handed.

Her eyes drop to my left hand that’s still scooping tiny bites of mousse into my mouth.

“You’ve got skills on and off the ice.”

“Too many words.” I need to get her to the point where the only word she can whisper through those lips is my name .

As soon as I’ve got her zipper gaping open, I slide a slow trail over her mound until I reach the top of her cotton panties.

“This okay?” I ask.

She nods. “God, please.”

“I’m no god, and I’m certainly no angel, haven’t you heard? They don’t call me Lucy for nothing.”

My hand dips beneath her underwear. Her neatly trimmed hair is smooth under my fingers, and she’s already soaked.

“Holy fuck.”

“Shh.” Her hips jump as my finger circles her entrance, then slips in and out in a shallow tease.

Good thing we snagged the shadowy corner. I’m pretty confident we’re safe from ogling eyes here. I continue my tease, circling my thumb around her clit as my finger plunges into her slippery tunnel a little deeper with each thrust. I scoop a solid bite of mousse onto my spoon, sliding it between her lips, and as she’s swallowing it down, my thumb presses down on her clit.

She gasps, arching toward me. See, I can share my food. Under very special circumstances.

I add a second finger, dipping into her heat, stretching her out. Getting her ready for my cock. She slides a foot up my leg, inching toward it as if she wants to return the favor, but I brush it away. This is already too much. It would be fucking embarrassing to blow my load in my pants.

She makes a small, frustrated noise when I pull away from her, leaving her empty and wanting. She was too close, hanging on by a rapidly fraying thread, and I want to make this last. I take another bite. The smooth chocolate treat is almost as sweet as her.

“You really are the devil,” she hisses at me.

I smile, walking my fingers back up her trembling thigh.

This time I go in hard and fast, thrusting two digits inside her clenching pussy. She gasps, eyes blazing. I keep up a steady rhythm, thumb bringing her closer and closer as I curve my fingers up to press on the sweet spot on her inner wall. Benefits to long fingers.

She’s almost there again, letting out a gasp as the waiter walks back. I turn my head toward him, but don’t make eye contact, stilling the movement between her thighs.

“Everything okay here?” he asks, lips pursed.

“Fine. Check. Please.” Her words come out in quick gasps as if she’s struggling for breath, but the apathetic lines of his face never change.

“You’ve got to stop,” she whispers at me. “I’m going to come right here in the middle of the restaurant.”

“Kind of the point.”

“Seriously. What if someone sees?”

I glance around the handful of other tables draped in flickering shadows. There’s one four top full of giggling girls, and a few other couples who are completely absorbed in each other. “I think we’re safe.”

“But...” she’s biting her lip again, and the strands of hair that have escaped from her ponytail are damp.

“Fine. I can wait. ”

I stare her directly in the eyes as I lift my hand up and pop my fingers into my mouth.

“Dev!”

“What? You taste better than any dessert in here... Cupcake.” I tell her.

Her cheeks are flushed as she pushes up from her seat, a little shaky. She fumbles with her purse, tossing a pile of cash on the table.

“Don’t make me wait.” She stares me down, then turns around, hips swaying as she threads her way to the back of the restaurant.