Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Lucien
Talia grazes her fingertips up and down my chest, going a little bit lower each time. It feels so amazing that I pretend I’m still asleep, waiting for her to reach my cock.
Her breath is warm on the shell of my ear. When she finally gets her hand where I want it, I can’t help groaning.
We’ve been lying low at Isaac’s for the past couple of days, and this afternoon, we have to return to reality.
Coach gave us the morning off, but we’re practicing this afternoon and we have a home game tomorrow. I only have a few more hours of being mostly alone with Talia all day, every day.
Isaac’s been here, of course, since it’s his house. But we have a bedroom to ourselves, even if it’s nothing more than a queen-size bed. That’s all we really need, anyway. Our stuff is piled up on the floor.
“I want you,” Talia whispers in my ear.
My lips quirk with a smile. “I couldn’t tell.”
She nips at my earlobe. “I’ll take care of myself if I need to.”
I turn to face her. “The fuck you will.”
She smiles, her hair messy and her skin natural, without a bit of makeup. This is how I like her best. Only I get to see her this way, and I plan to keep it that way.
I slide my hand beneath the T-shirt she sleeps in, which is one of mine that I packed for our trip. Isaac offered to loan her some of his clothes, and I just laughed. Over my dead body will she wear another man’s clothes. I’ll go naked so she can wear mine if I have to.
Suki dropped off some clothes for both of us, but Talia slipped into my shirt before bed our first night here, and I don’t want her to sleep in anything else now.
When I cup one of her breasts and tease her nipple, she moans softly.
She must finally be feeling better. That hangover really took her down. Yesterday, she spent a lot of time curled up on Isaac’s couch, reading a book on her phone. She ate a can of chicken noodle soup, but that was it.
I texted Isaac on our flight home and told him no talking about the toast, the video, or anything else about the wedding or our trip. He’s been good about it.
Within two minutes of putting my hands under her shirt, Talia is squeezing my ass, urging me to get on top of her. When she wants sex, she doesn’t like waiting, and I like that about her.
I kiss her neck, her moans becoming more insistent. When I kiss her cheek, her nose, and her forehead, she squeezes my ass so hard her nails dig in, and I arch my brows.
“You want me bad, huh?”
She smiles. “My headache is finally gone. You’ve got fifteen seconds to get your cock inside me, or I’m getting on top of you.”
I kiss her lips lightly, humming with amusement. “You can try.”
“If you don’t want to fuck me, I can always go see if Isaac will,” she says playfully.
I scoff. “Don’t make me beat the shit out of my own goalie. Your dad wouldn’t like that.”
She wrinkles her nose. “Not a good time to mention him.”
“Sorry about that.” I move on top of her, lacing my hands through her fingers on both hands and pinning them to her pillow. “I’ll make it up to you.”
“I look forward to it.”
Her eyes are like an abstract painting. They’re a swirl of amber, warm browns and earthy greens. I want to wake up to this view of her every day.
“I love you, Talia. I don’t know if you’re ready to say it when you’re sober, but it doesn’t matter. When you’re looking for a job and deciding where to move, I want you to know I’m in love with you. I don’t want anyone else.”
She gently squeezes my hands. “I love you, too. I didn’t even realize it was happening, but you’ve become my closest friend, and you also happen to be incredible in bed. It’s a killer combo.”
I get to my knees and fist my cock, sliding the crotch of her panties aside. Then I line the tip of my cock up and bury myself all the way inside her with one hard thrust.
“Oh, fuck,” she cries, gasping. “That feels good.”
“You’re going to have some wet panties after this, love. Not just from your hot pussy, but from my cum.”
Her eyes brighten with desire and she pants, “Yes.”
I put my hands on the backs of her thighs and push them forward, driving into her again.
“Fuck me hard,” she whispers. “Make me come, baby.”
Her words are like a drug, my body responding to her without thought.
I’m fucking feral for the way she looks and sounds, spread open to me, her cheeks rosy and her round tits bouncing hard as I plow into her over and over.
I want her to call me baby every day. On the phone.
Over breakfast, when I bring her a fresh cup of coffee.
But especially when I’m fucking her like this.
She arches her back and her lips round into a silent O of pleasure. She’s got a thing about Isaac not hearing her orgasm.
Not me. I want him to tell every member of my team—or better, every man on the planet—that she’s mine now. I groan hard as I pump my hips into her one last time, filling her pussy.
“God, you’re amazing,” she says when I pull out of her a few seconds later.
“You bring it out of me.” I move onto my back and she curls against my side, her fingertip back on my chest, making a slow circle.
“I don’t want to get out of this bed,” she says softly.
“We don’t have to.” I brush the hair away from her eyes with my fingers. “At least not yet.”
“I like this world. Just us. Let’s live here for a little bit longer.”
I pull the covers over us and try not to think about her applying for jobs in other states.
“Thanks for breaking your dick off in my ass, cocksucker!” Isaac yells at the TV.
It’s an hour later, and the smell of brewing coffee got me and Talia out of bed. We came down to find Isaac had been up all night playing Call of Duty with his online gaming friends.
He has dark circles beneath his eyes and his coffee table is crowded with empty energy drink cans, dirty dishes and open chip bags. Some of the stuff has been on the coffee table since we got here a couple days ago. Isaac is not a good housekeeper, and that’s putting it mildly.
Talia is currently loading dishes from yesterday into the dishwasher.
“Hey. You don’t need to clean his house, babe,” I say.
“I can’t look at these any longer,” she gripes. “They’re about to grow legs and walk away.”
“What the fuck, man?” Isaac yells. “Are you new here?”
Talia shakes her head. “He’s a fourteen-year-old trapped in a twenty-six-year-old’s body. Does he bring women here?”
“I have no idea.”
“He’s the kind of guy who offers to cook you dinner and then microwaves a couple of Hot Pockets.”
“Hot Pockets are delicious!” Isaac yells from the other room. “Don’t walk in here for the next minute, I’m pissing in a Gatorade bottle.”
Talia makes a face. Isaac refuses to leave his matches to use the bathroom, so he pisses in empty bottles while he’s playing. It’s disgusting.
“I don’t care if there are photographers outside your place, we’re staying there tonight,” Talia says.
“Yep.” I glance at my watch. “Isaac, we have to leave for practice in five minutes.”
“Yeah, I’m ready.”
Talia looks at me over her shoulder. “I’m staying here to clean this place.”
“Don’t. It’ll be a mess again in a few days.”
She shrugs a shoulder. “Probably. But I’ve got nervous energy, and I feel like cleaning.”
Yesterday, she called her dad and told him she won’t be coming to help out with the team anymore.
She doesn’t want to bring any negative attention on us from the viral video.
He said he understands, and that even though she’s welcome to stay with him as long as she wants, he’s glad she’s ready to move forward and look for a job.
I’m not. I’d prefer she move in with me, but I know she wouldn’t be happy just being my live-in girlfriend.
It sounds perfect to me, having her waiting in my bed when I get home late from road trips, and looking for her in the stands or the boxes at home games, wearing my jersey.
I don’t want to come on too strong, though.
My mom wrote me a letter when she knew she was going to die, and I’ve read it dozens of times.
She told me the right woman won’t cling to me and expect us to do everything together.
She’ll have her own friends and interests.
Her own career and hobbies. That’s the key to a lasting relationship, she said.
Both of you leaving the bubble of your relationship.
Trusting the other person is doing what they want and need to be happy and healthy.
And then coming back together to hear about the other person’s life outside the relationship, and spending time together.
My mom was wise. I miss her every day, but her letter helps me feel like she’s still with me. She knew what challenges and choices life would throw at me.
She’d love Talia. Mom volunteered with Special Olympics because one of her close friends had a son who was part of it, and she loved it so much that she kept volunteering.
She’d light up if she could talk to Talia about her work, and she’d approve of the way Talia shut my shit down the night we met.
“Feel like going out for dinner tonight?” I ask Talia.
“Yes, I’m over being cooped up and eating delivery food.”
I stand behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist. “Are you sure you don’t want to come on one last road trip?”
She relaxes back against my chest, sighing. “I want to, but with the video, I don’t think I should.”
“People are overwhelmingly in support of you. You’ll get more requests for autographs than anyone on the team.”
She groans. “A drunken tirade isn’t something to sign autographs for. I’m planning to hang out with Suki tomorrow. Charlotte is in a school play in the evening, and we’re going to it.”
“Good. I’m sure Carter hates that he can’t be there.”
Talia fits in so well with my Crush family. I always envied what Carter and Suki have, and if Talia stays close by, I think we could end up with a life like theirs. Kids, a home, maybe even a giant pet pig who destroys the floors and hogs the couch.
“Don’t wear yourself out cleaning up after Isaac.”
“I won’t. Seriously, I don’t mind. I’m doing our laundry, too.”
I reluctantly step away from her. “Then I guess this is where we stop being together twenty-four seven.”
She smiles at me over her shoulder. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
“It also makes the dick grow harder.”
“I’ll never complain about that.” She turns and leans up to kiss me. “Have a good practice.”
“I’ll see you back at my place, babe.”
I walk into the living room, where Isaac is still immersed in his game.
“I’m not gonna be late for practice, and I don’t have my car here, so get off your lazy ass and let’s go.”
He flicks a glare at me. “Fine.” A couple seconds pass. “I have to go, guys. My asshole friend is making me go to work.”
“You got a whole week off from your head injury. You should’ve been rehabbing over the break.”
He takes off his headset and sets it next to him on the couch. “I did. It’s just not the only thing I did.”
I gesture at the coffee table. “Clearly.”
“You’re busting my balls a lot for someone who left cum stains all over my guest room.”
I shake my head. “Yeah, I shot it all over the walls, dumbass. Let’s go.”