Page 14 of The Scrum-Half (Lincoln Knights #3)

Harper

The night out at The Court was exactly what I needed.

Not only was the show absolutely incredible but the community was vibrant and welcoming, greeting me with open arms and making me feel like I’d always been here.

I had no problem finding somewhere to sit, ending up at a table with a group from a local pole dance studio who were here to support their friends.

Pole dance had never really crossed my mind as something to try but by the end of the night I was sorely tempted.

After the drag show ended, the room had been transformed from a camp and kitschy speakeasy into a nightclub and I hadn’t been able to resist the lure of the dance floor.

Especially not when the DJ was playing a mix of noughties cheese, pop hits, and dance anthems. With my Diet Coke in hand, I was in my element, happy to spend hours losing myself in the music.

A couple of guys tried their luck, sliding up to me and flirting softly with their hands on my waist, but I turned all of them down.

I was having far too much fun to end the night with mediocre sex.

True, I’d be going home to an empty bed and my hand, but I wasn’t going to compromise what I wanted just for the sake of a warm body.

At least if I got myself off, I’d be able to lose myself in fantasies of Matty and savour every second like a decadent box of chocolates.

Just after one, when I was sweaty, exhausted, and sore, I finally decided it was time to drag myself home. Luckily I’d be able to have a lie-in, but I did have to be up and presentable by lunchtime for Matty’s match. And the last thing I wanted was to look tired and messy in front of Hannah.

My hypermobility meant my joints would ache when I woke up despite the insoles in my shoes supporting my feet, but to me, the pain was worth it. I loved dancing, and I wasn’t going to give it up because my ankles, knees, and hips moved in ways they shouldn’t.

Maybe I should have been more careful, more cautious, but half the time I forgot my body’s limits until I hit them.

I was so used to being hypermobile, it wasn’t something I was always conscious of.

It was merely another part of me, like the fact I had blond hair and that the tips of my middle fingers pointed slightly outwards.

I hummed an old Lady Gaga song as I let myself into the house, trying to stop the door from squeaking or slamming shut and waking Matty. There were a few lights on in the hallway and the living room, and I loved the fact he’d left them on so I wouldn’t be stumbling around in the dark.

Sliding my shoes off, I put my keys down and paused, my ears straining to listen. The faint sounds of music and voices from further inside the house reached me. Perhaps Matty had left the TV on by accident, or maybe he’d fallen asleep in front of it.

But as I padded down the hallway, socks squeaking on the wooden floor, the sounds ceased suddenly.

“Hello? It’s just me,” I called softly, not wanting to startle Matty and find myself being tackled to the floor by a professional rugby player. Even if, under different circumstances, that sounded fun.

“Hey,” Matty said, appearing at the living room door like a ghost out of the mist, golden lamplight illuminating his frame.

He was wearing a pair of loose grey shorts and an old T-shirt with a faded logo across the chest for some sports team I didn’t know.

He looked tired and rumpled, and there was a rough edge to his voice, which made my dick perk up with interest. “Did you have fun?”

“Yeah. Sorry, did I wake you?”

“Er, no. I was still awake.”

“But it’s half one! And you have a game today!”

“I know, but I…” He trailed off as I stared at him in horror.

“Please tell me you didn’t stay up for me?” I asked, my mouth suddenly dry. If I’d have known he was going to do this, I’d have been back hours ago.

“I can if it helps you feel better.” He shrugged but there was no hint of remorse on his face. If anything he looked more stubborn than ever, like he was preparing for me to argue with him.

I took half a step towards him. Then another. A hundred questions burned in my brain but there was only one I really wanted the answer to. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you stay up?”

He shrugged again, folding his arms across his chest. There was no need for him to be defensive, though. I wasn’t upset. Just desperate to know if it meant what I hoped it did. “In case you needed me,” he said. “I wouldn’t have been able to sleep knowing you weren’t here.”

“Why?” I asked in a hushed voice as I moved even closer, trying to stop myself from shaking as I looked down at him. There was only a couple of inches between us, but he was bigger than me. Broader. His hands would make my thighs look small.

“Because if anything happened to you, I couldn’t live with myself.” He closed the gap between us, reaching up to tentatively brush a strand of hair off my face.

A soft exhale slipped from my lips as I tried to resist leaning into his touch. “I shouldn’t want this.”

“I know. I shouldn’t either.”

“But you do?”

“Yes,” he said, hazel eyes full of a hunger I’d never seen before. But there was hesitation too, like he was trying to hold back. Trying to tell himself this was wrong.

I was fighting the same battle.

And I was losing.

Matty was my employer. Kissing him, hooking up with him, hell, being with him, were all off-limits.

They were things that should be confined to my fantasies alone, not things I was considering acting on.

I loved this job, not to mention Jack, and kissing his dad was the fastest way to ensure my nannying career went straight down the drain.

All those years of work would be for nothing.

So why was I still stood in front of him, leaning into his touch and waiting for him to make a move?

“We shouldn’t,” I said quietly as his hand cupped my jaw, drawing me down to look at him. My skin felt like it was on fire and all I wanted was to give in to his embrace. “I’m your nanny. It could go so wrong.”

“I know. But I want you, Harper. I want this. And I know you do too.” He leant a little closer, breath ghosting over my lips. “I won’t hold it against you. I’m not going to fire you, whatever happens.”

“You can’t make that promise. Not unless you can see the future.”

“I can and I will. I promise that whatever happens, I won’t fire you. And if I turn into a miserable, cantankerous git again, you can call me out on it. Or rat me out to Hannah. Either way, I’m not going to punish you for kissing me.”

I swallowed, my heart racing so fast it felt like I’d drunk six straight shots of espresso. “And if I said no?”

He let go of my face and stepped back, his hands dropping down beside him. “Then we go to bed and pretend this never happened.”

“Okay,” I said. And then I grabbed the front of his T-shirt and slammed my mouth into his, kissing him like my life depended on it.

He tasted like salt and whisky, smokiness lingering on his tongue as he pushed it between my lips.

I groaned as he licked into my mouth, melting into his touch as he put one hand on my jaw and the other on my waist. My senses were overwhelmed, my mind stuck on what to do.

I’d never been indecisive, but now there were too many options in front of me.

All I could do was keep kissing him and see where it led.

My hands found the bottom of his T-shirt, sliding under it to grasp the heated skin of his hips and drag him against me.

Matty moaned as I shoved my thigh between his legs, trying to stabilize myself.

Dancing had made me tender and exhausted, and that was still pulling at my joints despite the wave of lust overriding it.

“We should… I…” I broke away to gesture at the living room and the sofa barely three feet away from us.

“Good idea.” Matty stepped back and reached for my hand, pulling me along with him.

The nearest sofa was the smaller of the two but it would do.

Except Matty clearly didn’t think so because he took me straight to the larger one, barely avoiding the edge of the coffee table as he walked backwards around it.

He flopped onto the wide plush cushions, hand still in mine.

I tried not to laugh as he dragged me down, and I sprawled out on top of him, one leg between his thighs and the other almost hanging over the edge of the sofa.

His body was warm and solid underneath me, and my suppressed laughter melted into a needy moan as his hardening cock pressed against my hip.

“You look so good like this,” Matty said as he slid one broad hand around the side of my neck, gently pulling me in for another kiss. “Look so pretty in my lap.”

“I like being here.”

“Yeah? Been thinking about it?”

“More than I should have been,” I murmured, my lips barely an inch from his.

“Good. So have I.” His kiss was deep and hungry, barely holding back from devouring me. I couldn’t remember the last time anyone had wanted me this much.

We kissed and kissed until my lips were almost sore, our hands barely roaming below each other’s shoulders, leaving my body aching for more.

But I didn’t want to push my luck and break the spell.

Making out was one thing, but anything more could remind Matty how many boundaries we’d already crossed and then everything would end.

And now we’d started, I couldn’t imagine going back to normal. Not when I knew exactly what it felt like to kiss him.

I shifted slightly in his lap as I gently teased his bottom lip with my teeth, making my cock rub across his thigh. I froze because it would be impossible for him not to notice how hard I was.

Shit, he’d probably already realised. My body hadn’t exactly been subtle up to this point. It was just the first time I’d really noticed it. Maybe because I’d been so lost in how good kissing Matty felt that I’d pretty much been having an out-of-body experience.

Matty tilted his head back slightly and grinned at me, his red hair spread out on the cushion underneath him like a sexy halo.

“I’m sorry,” I said, putting my hands on either side of him so I could push back, but I didn’t get far because he put his hand on my lower back and slid it down to my arse, holding me gently in place.

“Why are you apologising?” he asked, shifting underneath me so his muscled thigh was right under my cock.

“I don’t know. For getting hard?” It sounded ridiculous to say it out loud and I wanted to bury my face in his shoulder to hide my embarrassment. I wasn’t going to run away, though, because I liked the feeling of his hand on my arse too much.

“Isn’t that the point?”

“Probably.” I snorted. “Ignore me, I’m being ridiculous.”

“Do you want to stop?”

“No?”

“You don’t sound sure.”

“I am,” I said, slowly arching my back and pushing into his hand. “I’m just struggling to believe this is real. It feels like a dream.”

“What would make it feel real?” There was a teasing curl to his mouth but a sweet sincerity to his gaze that made my insides bubble.

“Keep kissing me? Please? I don’t need anything else, not tonight, but please, keep kissing me so I can remember what it feels like when I wake up later.”

“I’m not going to say no to that.” Matty drew me in for another kiss as a thousand butterflies exploded into life inside me.

There was so much more I wanted, but I wasn’t going to rush, no matter how much my body was screaming at me. Whatever this was, there were a thousand ways it could go wrong, and it wasn’t just me who’d be hurt if it did.

I had to be sensible and dip my toe in first, test the water before I went leaping in. Otherwise, there was a very good chance I’d be swept away and left with a broken heart, no career, and nowhere to go.

But damn if for once in my life, I wanted to be the furthest thing from sensible.