The Prospect (Crawfield Football Club #3)

28. G R E E N

TWENTY-EIGHT

G R E E N

Her first.

The thought propels through my mind, drives me up the wall, and then does it all over again as I clutch a hold of her satin-lined hips.

“You…” I gulp down my reservations. My hesitations.“You’ve never been with anyone before?” I ask, though the look in Hazel’s eyes tells me everything I need to know.

She’s telling me the truth.

She hasn’t, and with a simple shake of her head, she confirms it once more.

“I guess I just wanted to wait until the timing was right,” she confesses, yet there's an ulterior motive to her words. “Until the person was right.”

There it is.

“Haze.” I rest my forehead against hers, trying to combat the fear in my mind.

I’ve never taken someone’s virginity before. The concept alone always felt too fragile. The girl who took mine in Year Eleven had already slept with a handful of guys by then, not to mention the fact that I’d told her I was just as experienced.

Needless to say, it didn’t take her long to uncover my truth and to tell me that had she known, she would’ve never gone ahead with it.

I suppose now I know why she said what she said. Taking someone’s virginity is a big deal, especially when you aren’t one. There’s a fear associated with it, not inwardly, but outwardly. You want the moment to be perfect for them. You want them to feel safe, protected, like they’re in capable hands.

I know I can be all of these things and more for Hazel, but still, something holds me back.

“I—are you sure?” The hastiness behind her words doesn’t ease me at all. “It’s so soon, so sudden, I—I don’t want to hurt you, Hazel.”

“You know you’d never hurt me, Green.” Hazel’s voice is as dainty as her frame as she wraps her hands behind my neck and pulls me in. “You know I trust you. You know I know you’ll take care of me, but most importantly…” She stands to whisper into my ear. “You know that I love you too.”

Those four words are enough of a reason for me to dispose of any fear, doubt and idiotic belief that I’m not the right person for this moment when, in actuality, I’m the only person for it.

There’s no one else in this world that could appease her like I could. Hazel’s pure, delicate, and everything beyond my wildest imagination.

It’s her and I—no one else.

“You always know what to say, don’t you?” I scoop her back into my arms. This time, a beaming smirk looms on her lips as I carry her across the remainder of the bridge and toward the grass.

“Most of the time.” She peers back toward our destination as I gently plant her feet onto the ground.

“Are you positive you want to do this here?” I may have her consent when it comes to seeing this through, but this location is far from glamorous. I don’t think I’ve ever slept with someone outside before, let alone felt the desire to— until now .

In place of a response, she pulls at the fabric of my jacket, helping to release it from my shoulders before tossing it toward the dew-covered grass up ahead.

“Answer your question?” Her nose brushes up against mine, forcing me to melt into her. “I don’t want to wait any longer, Green. Don’t make me.”

And I don’t—I pull her back into my lips in no time, all the while my hands achingly dance up and down her spine, slowly brushing along the fabric until finally, I stop at the zipper.

I stay put as I’m transported back in time, only unlike before, instead of zipping her dress up, I pull it down— quickly.

“You’re like an angel.” My head sinks into her shoulder, where I whisper sweet nothings and plant slow, tender kisses along her collarbone until my lips reach her bra. “My angel. My Haze.”

For some inexplicable reason, at this moment, the opening chords of Unchained Melody consume my mind, quite like how my hands consume the fabric of her dress as I alleviate the material from her upper body.

“Beautiful,” I manage to spit out before she suckers me in with a kiss. I can feel the smile behind her lips as her hands gravitate toward my abdomen, delicately toying with the fabric of my jumper.

I catch wind of what she’s trying to insinuate toward soon enough as I yank the material away from my body and replace the fabric with the feeling of her skin pressed into mine.

Slowly, things start to escalate as we grow entangled with one another. My hands get lost in her hair. Her hands get lost in undoing my belt, and before we know it, we’ve fallen back onto my discarded jacket as my lips pave their way along the soft of her cleavage.

“Take it off.” She squirms beneath me, gesturing toward the bra that cups around her breasts. “Please.”

I do as I’m told as I reach for the clasp behind her spine, releasing the material as she wriggles the dress down her thighs and kicks it away.

“ Fuck. ” I’m downright entranced by the sight that is her lying beneath me, staring up at me with those deep brown eyes as she blushes with a passion and shies away.

“Don’t go all shy on me now.” I whip my belt off in a flash, my trousers soon following. “Because you, my love…” My eyes dance along her skin before I settle on the most perfect part of all—her face. “Have got nothing to be shy about.”

She’s reluctant to accept the compliment as she continues to shield her face. “Don’t flatter me, Green.”

“I’m not,” I protest, tilting her chin so she’s looking right at me. “You’re everything to me, Hazel. Everything and more.”

The kiss that she draws me back into only intensifies from here on out. One second, she’s on top, and the next, I’m on top of her—it’s like a wrestling match until, finally, my hands graze over the top of her panties and toy with the seam.

The action prompts her to gulp, a gesture I don’t take lightly as I meet her face for reassurance yet again.

She nods willingly as I slowly slip my fingers beneath the lace of her panties and guide them down her thighs until, finally, all I can see is her.

Simply her.

It’s all I could ever want. All I could ever ask for as the moonlight glistens along the highs and lows of her curves.

Pulling my eyes away feels like a crime, only I do when I catch her sneakily glancing down at the bulge throbbing behind my boxers.

“Like what you see?” I jokingly remark, her face redder than I’ve ever seen it.

She runs her nails along her lips. “I’m just wondering if you uh…have something.” Her voice is hoarse, something she quickly resolves with a cough. “It's just… I, uh…didn’t come prepared, Green. I’m sorry.”

Only Hazel would apologize for something as ridiculous as this. It’s part of the reason why I love her that much more.

“You mean to tell me you didn’t anticipate that we’d end up sleeping together tonight?” I can’t help but tease. “That’s so unlike you to be so ill-prepared, Hazel.”

Playfully, she rolls her eyes and swats my shoulders. “This isn’t the time for jokes, Green. Just tell me, do you have something or not? Because I’m not on the pill, and if we’ve gone this far for nothing, I’m going to seriously?—”

I pull a condom out of my wallet and flash it in her direction. Almost immediately, she quiets down and replaces her rant with a smirk.

“Answer your question?” I throw back at her, peeling the wrapper back between my teeth as I discard my boxers to the side and roll it down my length.

“Is it…going to hurt?” Hazel’s voice is as tender as her touch as she brushes along my face, seeking assurance in my eyes as I line myself in between her thighs.

I plant a kiss on top of her forehead. “It might a little, Haze,” I can’t help but admit, my biggest fears coming to light. “But I promise you that I’ll go slow,” I tell her without an ounce of reluctance. “I promise you, baby. Just…breathe, okay?”

I can feel her tremble beneath me. By now, I can’t tell if it's the brisk air or the anxiety that’s managed to find its way flooding back in. Either way, as I slowly pulse forward, I kiss her lips, reassuring her, soothing her, and trying my absolute hardest not to let this moment pass too soon.

Just my tip is enough to make Hazel fidget beneath me and force her eyes to slam shut, using the sleeve of my jacket as a refuge to hide into.

“Open your eyes, Haze,” I encourage her. “Open them for me, bug . I want to see your face. Your beautiful face.”

She slowly comes around.

“That’s it.” I make note of the fact that as I speak, the tension in her body disappears. Therefore, I don’t stop. I keep talking and with each word that escapes my lips, I slowly ease myself deeper.

“You’re doing so well, baby.” My words of encouragement allow a moan to softly propel out of Hazel’s lips, compelling me to sink in that much more. “Look at you, Hazel.”

My eyes may be locked on her face, but my hands show not an ounce of reluctance when it comes to exploring her frame.

“You’re my girl,” I’m so close to reaching my all. “You’ve always…” another pulse, “been my…” I'm almost there, “ girl .”

And just like that, in the midst of all my distractions, I’m all the way in, guiding Hazel to meet my gaze with wide eyes.

“Are you alright, Haze?” Her silence is like torture to me, kicking my worry into full force. “Do you want me to pull out?”

“ No .” Her voice is a mumble, but it’s direct enough for me to listen. “It’s just…stiff.” She attempts to readjust herself. “Keep going,” she instructs. “Keep moving. Please.”

I rock my hips ever so slightly. “Better?”

“Better.” Her voice is stronger—slowly going back to normal as I heighten my pace, watching as the look of unease on her face eventually transforms into one of pleasure.

It’s so easy to fall into a rhythm with her. What’s difficult is trying to stop myself from falling out of one.

It’s been so long since I’ve been with someone that I don’t want to stop, but at the same time, I want this moment to last. Better yet, I want to last, though Hazel is proving the task almost impossible.

“Just like that,” she guides me with a moan. “It feels…ugh…so… Green .” Her eyes roll to the back of her head in pleasure and I just about nearly come undone.

“Don’t do that,” I tell her. “Don’t you dare do that.”

“Do what?” She does it again without even realizing it.

Fuck . It only urges me to keep going. “Rolling your eyes back like that. Christ, baby…” I’m practically out of breath. “We’re only just getting started. Does it feel good?”

“Yes.” She can hardly spit the word out. “It feels good. It feels so good.”

“ Fuck .”

Growing up, I never quite understood the fascination with sex. Sure, I craved it, desired it, but something about it never felt quite right. Sex was always just…sex. A part of life. An inward desire.

At the start of this, I thought that there would be nothing new for me to discover with sex. That I’d seen and or done it all. That Hazel would be the only one experiencing a first tonight, but I was wrong. This right here? Well, it’s a first for me too.

They say that when something is right, you’ll know it. You’ll feel it. You won’t have to question it. So, I guess now I understand the hype of intimacy because, before tonight, I’d never properly experienced it.

“I love you so much, Hazel.” Nothing has ever felt more natural to say than those five words to her.

“I—I love you too, Green,” she responds. “I do. I always have.”

And just like that, on the brink of trying to hold back, I no longer can, as I release and fall limp into Hazel’s neck.

It takes a few seconds for either of us to move after I come. It’s like we both stay put, too scared to say anything to break us away from this bliss.

“You’ve always been my missing piece, Green,” Hazel looks up at me. “The prince in my picture.”

“The what?” I gently pull out, smiling down at her with the slightest look of confusion.

She shakes the thought away with a laugh. “I’ll tell you about it another time.”

I smile, planting another kiss on her lips, and this time, unlike all of our kisses before, as I pull back, I don't have to wonder if this will be the last.

It won’t be.