Chapter 17
Erin’s mouth was on hers the second Lia stepped inside Erin’s apartment.
Her back collided with the closed front door, Erin’s hands curling around her hips and trapping Lia in place. Not that she minded. How could she when Erin kissed her with such ferocity? As if it had been years since their last meeting instead of two days?
Lia had felt the ache of those two days, too.
Seeing Erin in training next to her on the pitch and not being able to react, not being able to reach out and touch her, had been torture.
Second-guessing every word that came out her mouth, not wanting to make it obvious that their relationship had evolved, was already so difficult.
How was she going to manage the rest of the season?
But, oh, it was all worth it for the hot slide of Erin’s mouth against the side of her neck, the graze of her teeth against Lia’s pulse point before they sank into the flesh of her shoulder, the sting soon soothed by the swipe of Erin’s tongue.
“Are you always like this after a game?” Lia’s words came out breathless; her heart thundered in her ears. Though she’d knocked on Erin’s door a mere minute ago, she was already wet.
Had been since she’d grasped Erin’s wrist in the tunnel and felt the thrum of Erin’s pulse beneath her fingertips.
“Am I always like what?” Erin lifted her head from Lia’s collarbones, her eyes dark.
Lia draped her arms over Erin’s shoulders and brushed a hand through Erin’s short hair, soft following her post-match shower. “Needy.”
Leaning closer, Erin pressed her thigh between Lia’s legs.
Lia couldn’t help the rock of her hips against the pressure, lips parting in a gasp.
“Looks like I’m not the needy one.”
Lia laughed, scratching her nails along the back of Erin’s neck just to see her eyelids flutter. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“I told you.” Erin’s mouth returned to her neck, settling at the spot beneath Lia’s ear that made her knees weak. “This is new to me. But I do get restless after a game—win or lose. This seemed a good way to release all that energy.”
Lia had to agree. But then, if it kept Erin’s tongue swirling over her skin, she’d agree to anything.
“Now, do you want to talk”—Erin gripped her hips, encouraging a slow grind against her flexed thigh—“or do you want to fuck?”
“Why not both?”
Erin stopped, pinning Lia’s hips to the door and lifting her mouth away from Lia’s neck. Lia’s clit throbbed, protesting the sudden loss of friction. To have Erin so close but not touching her was maddening.
“Pick one.” Erin’s voice was rough, affected. The knowledge that Lia had done that to her made Lia wetter. Plus, that commanding tone…
Lia shuddered.
“Fine.” She tried to rock her hips, tried to break out of Erin’s grip, but Erin held fast. It was torture—but it also felt good. “I pick fucking.”
Still, Erin didn’t move—except to tilt her head to one side, considering. The intensity of her gaze was scorching.
“Did you hear me?”
“I heard you.” Erin squeezed her hips but didn’t release her iron grip. “But you’re still talking.”
“Because you’re—” At a raised eyebrow from Erin, Lia snapped her mouth closed.
“Good girl.”
Okay. That should have been condescending. Should have made Lia open her mouth again, indignant—but instead her hips twitched and she shivered, goose bumps erupting over her skin.
And Erin, goddamn her, noticed. Her eyes narrowed, cataloguing Lia’s every reaction as if she were studying an organism under a microscope. “Do you like that? Being told what to do?”
“I…” A denial leapt to Lia’s mouth, the response automatic, ingrained, before she hesitated.
She hadn’t been with many women, fumbling through her first teenaged encounters too quickly to think about what she liked—and what she didn’t. It hadn’t mattered when it was a short-lived fling.
Hannah had been her only long-term relationship, and the sex with her had always been vanilla. Unadventurous. And Lia had been in love and too content with what they had to ever consider asking for more. To push outside her usual comfort zone.
But the thought of Erin, holding her like this, whispering orders into her ear for her to follow, pulling her strings until they were taut and screaming for release made her ache.
“I don’t know,” Lia whispered, though it felt like a lie as soon as the words passed her lips. “I’ve never tried it.”
Erin’s gaze never strayed from Lia’s face. Her eyes had gone dark and hungry, with a predatory gleam to them that promised Lia a night she’d never forget. “Do you want to?”
This time, denial was the farthest thing from Lia’s mind. “Yes.”
Erin’s smile turned wicked. “Good.” She pressed that wicked smile to Lia’s lips, kissing her hot and hard as her hands released Lia’s hips to sneak beneath her Albion hoodie.
Beneath it, Lia was bare—after showering, she hadn’t seen the point in pulling on clothes she was going to take off at Erin’s anyway—and Erin groaned in unmistakeable approval.
She palmed Lia’s breasts, then brushed her nipples with her thumbs until Lia’s back arched into her, causing the rocking of her hips against Erin’s thigh to quicken.
“Not yet.” Erin’s hands dropped back to her hips, slowing their rhythm.
Lia nearly sobbed. Five minutes in and she was wrecked, desperate, sure the first swipe of Erin’s fingers against her clit would send her tumbling over the edge.
Agonisingly slowly, Erin drew down the zipper of Lia’s hoodie until she finally tugged it off Lia’s shoulders and threw it over her shoulder.
As the cold air hit Lia’s bare skin, she shivered.
The heat of Erin’s gaze warmed her from the inside out, molten lava building in her stomach as it lingered on Lia’s breasts. “Turn around.”
Lia swallowed but obeyed, facing Erin’s front door, her hands resting lightly on the wood.
“Good.” Erin took Lia’s chin in her hand, turning her head enough to press their lips together.
The warm weight of Erin pressed her fully against the door, and Lia gasped at the shock of the cold against her overheated skin, her fingers curling against the wood.
“Can you be quiet?” Erin’s words ghosted over her neck and back as she kissed along the notches of Lia’s spine. “We wouldn’t want any of the neighbours coming to investigate, would we?”
Fuck.
Hands curved around Lia’s waist to undo the button of her jeans, and Lia kicked off her shoes so Erin could peel both them and her underwear down her legs. She wanted to turn around fully, wanted to see the look on Erin’s face, wanted to watch Erin worship her body, but she didn’t dare move.
Gently, Erin pushed her legs apart. Anticipation made Lia’s throat dry as Erin’s body shifted behind her. She gasped when a warm mouth kissed a trail from the back of her knee to the top of her thigh.
“Remember what I said.” Erin gripped her hips, holding Lia in place, and her breath was hot between her thighs, where Lia needed it most.
Trembling, Lia ached to have Erin’s mouth on her. She felt the slick evidence of her own arousal coating her thighs.
“Can you be quiet for me?”
“Yes.” Lia would do anything—anything—to get Erin to touch her.
With a soft hum of approval, Erin tilted Lia’s hips away from the door—and onto her waiting mouth. Lia bit her knuckle so she didn’t cry out as Erin’s tongue slid along the length of her, teasing at her entrance before circling her clit.
Bracing her weight against her forearms, Lia rocked against her, her movements already messy and uncoordinated. She wouldn’t last long—couldn’t—with Erin gently sucking at her clit, not when she was already so tightly wound.
When she did come, she bit so hard on her own hand, she was sure she’d have a bruise tomorrow, but, oh, it was worth it. Erin’s tongue slowed, her hands on Lia’s hips the only thing keeping her upright—her knees trembled, threatening to give out.
Pulling away, Erin kissed along Lia’s spine as she got to her feet. She paused, the length of her body pressed against Lia’s back, her breathing ragged in Lia’s ear. “Okay?”
“I’m okay.” Lia twisted in Erin’s arms, turning to capture her lips in a kiss. “Are you?”
“Yes.” Erin’s kisses were still hungry, the fire in her eyes growing in intensity rather than dimming. “But I can’t kneel on that floor any longer.”
“You were the one so eager you could barely let me through the door.”
“You weren’t complaining.” Erin took Lia’s wrist and dragged her forward, abandoning Lia’s clothes in the entryway.
She couldn’t even see her hoodie—or her underwear. Good thing she had a change of clothes in her bag.
Erin marched her to the bedroom, pushing Lia lightly onto the bed before stripping out of her own clothes.
If this was how every matchday was going to end from now on—with Erin climbing into her lap, thighs bracketing Lia’s hips, and her body responsive to Lia’s touch—it might be her best end to a season yet.
* * *
“What’s Lia’s jacket doing here?”
Alarm bells rang in Erin’s head as she glanced toward Maisie. She stood beside the couch, holding an Albion hoodie aloft. Even from a few feet away, Erin could see the number thirteen on the pocket—a clear indication it wasn’t her own.
“Oh. Um. She came over last night to…watch some videos back from the game yesterday.” There. That was plausible, wasn’t it? Much better than the truth.
Because if Erin thought too much about what had happened when Lia had come over last night—the rush of having Lia pliant beneath her hands, patiently awaiting Erin’s next order—she’d sink into those memories and might never resurface.
Erin scratched at the back of her neck, hoping Maisie wouldn’t notice her hesitation.
“Oh. I thought you might have just taken the wrong one after the game yesterday.”
Well, that would have been a better excuse. Erin smothered a groan. Luckily, Maisie seemed to accept her explanation.
Jessica—standing at Erin’s kitchen counter making sandwiches for their planned picnic in the park—didn’t look so convinced.