Chapter 22 #2
Erin settled her own hands on Lia’s hips, feeling them rock as she started to move, her weight braced against Erin.
What Erin would give to feel it, to feel Lia’s walls squeezing her tight as she moved faster, growing more desperate with each passing second.
Every cant of Lia’s hips rubbed the base against Erin’s clit, made her throb, made the muscles in her stomach tighten until she was burning from the inside out.
“I n-need more.” Lia’s breath was ragged, coming in quick pants. “Touch me. Please.”
Eager to oblige, Erin slipped a hand between their sweat-slick bodies.
A few circles of Lia’s clit and she was crying out, nails biting into Erin’s shoulders as she rode the wave.
Erin had never seen a more perfect sight than the flush on Lia’s cheeks, the way her teeth snared her bottom lip to quiet her moans.
Once Lia’s thighs had stopped quaking, Erin dropped her hand, returning to Lia’s hips and smoothing her thumbs over the ridge of her pelvis.
“I love you.” The words slipped from her mouth before she could bite them back—but as Lia’s eyes blinked open, widening as she stared back at her, Erin knew in her soul that they were true.
Somehow, impossibly, she had fallen in love with this beautiful, perfect, infuriating football player.
And saying it out loud didn’t terrify her.
“I love you, too.”
And hearing it back?
That made her heart soar.
“Question.” A teasing smile pulled at Lia’s lips. “Would you have said that if we hadn’t won the league today?”
Erin laughed. “Depends how grumpy I was about it. But it wouldn’t have changed the way I feel about you.”
“Good.” Lia leaned down, the toy still inside her, groaning at the feeling as she brushed their lips together. “Now, can I show you just how much I love you? And how appreciative I am for your excellent passing today?” Her hands roamed, cupping Erin’s breasts.
Her back arching into Lia’s touch, Erin nodded. “I think that can be arranged.”
* * *
“Wow.” Lia’s eyes widened when Erin opened her front door. “You clean up nice.”
The blue pinstripe suit pants were tailored, hugging her hips. Her matching blazer was unbuttoned, revealing a pressed white shirt that had a plunging neckline to show off the curves of her breasts and the sharp lines of her collarbones.
“So do you.” Erin ran her own appreciative gaze over Lia’s body, taking in the blue dress she’d bought especially for the occasion—tight to her waist, off the shoulder and backless, making it obvious she wasn’t wearing a bra.
It wasn’t something she’d usually wear, but the thought of Erin’s expression when she got her first look at Lia wearing it had made her pull it off the rack.
And the way Erin’s eyes darkened right now as her tongue ran along her bottom lip? So worth it.
“You look amazing. If there’s an award for best dressed tonight, you’re taking it home.”
Lia wasn’t so sure that would be a category at Albion’s end-of-season awards night but appreciated the sentiment all the same. “Thank you.” She offered her cheek for Erin to kiss, not wanting to risk smudging her painted red lips. “Shall we?”
Closing the door of her apartment behind her, Erin slipped her arm through Lia’s as they walked to the lift.
“Are you sure you want to turn up together?” Lia asked once they were on the way to the lobby.
“Yes. It makes sense—we live in the same building.”
“Still. People might talk. I’ve heard a few rumours about us lately.” Whispers around the changing room and in training. Nothing to Lia’s face, but enough for her to suspect someone, somewhere along the way, had seen them being too familiar with one another.
But they’d made it almost to the end of the season without anyone else noticing. Only one game—the FA Cup final against, of course, Wanderers—loomed a week away.
Managing to keep their relationship—their love—a secret for six weeks was an achievement, right?
“Lia.” Erin stopped her from stepping outside to where the waiting car was idling with a hand on her waist. “Stop worrying. I don’t care.”
“Don’t care about the rumours? Or don’t care what other people think?”
“Both.”
She wasn’t quick enough to hide her frown.
Reaching up a hand, Erin traced the crease with her thumb. “What is it?”
“Nothing. I just… Hiding it is hard, sometimes.”
“So, let’s stop.” Erin made it sound so easy, so simple. “Let’s arrive tonight not just together, but together. Hand in hand. If that’s something you want.”
It was something Lia did want. Deeply. She didn’t want to have to second-guess herself whenever she sought Erin out in training.
Or, worse, not talk to her at all. Lie about her summer plans to her teammates when they asked how she was spending the off-season, because if she mentioned a trip to Marbella, they’d ask her why. “Is it something you want?”
“I told you—I don’t care. I wanted to keep it quiet because I didn’t want everyone in my business, but maybe they should know that you’re my business.” Stepping closer, Erin tucked a strand of Lia’s hair behind her ear. “So Adrianna thinks twice the next time she asks you out for a drink.”
Lia laughed. The last time Adrianna had tried, Erin’s dark eyes had glowered at her from across the room. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” Wary of her lipstick, Erin lifted one of Lia’s hands to her lips and kissed the back of it. “I am sure of you. And I never want you to doubt that. I’m sorry if I have.”
“You haven’t.” Erin had been clear in the way she felt—every lingering glance, every soft touch, every whisper into Lia’s ear that she couldn’t wait to see her after training was done. “They’re going to lose their minds.”
Unconcerned, Erin lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “Let them. Shall we? We’re going to be late.”
She let Erin pull her out to the waiting car, excited for the night ahead.
The ceremony was being held in the Hilton hotel in the city centre, one of the tallest buildings around and made almost entirely of floor-to-ceiling windows.
Lia had never been inside, and as she and Erin walked into the grand lobby, with its white marble floors and prominent spiral staircase leading to the floors above, she felt out of place.
By the desk, one of the Albion representatives was waiting, smiling when they approached.
“Erin, Lia. Welcome. We’re in meeting room four—take the stairs to the first floor, and the signs will direct you from there.”
“This place is beautiful,” Lia said as she followed the instructions, her heels clicking across the floor. “Are the awards always in here? It must be expensive.”
“They have been the last couple of years. Only the best for the league champions.”
When they reached the first floor, the open meeting room door beckoning at the other end of the hallway, Erin slipped her fingers through Lia’s.
“Are you sure?” Before they stepped inside, Lia needed to check one more time. If they did this, there was no going back.
“I’m sure. Come on.”
They walked in together, hand in hand.
Inside, a dozen tables of players and staff alike were dotted around the room. The tables were covered with white tablecloths and held copious bottles of wine—Ayla giving them one last chance to blow off steam before preparing them for their final game.
After that, they would be free for the summer. With no international tournaments that year, Lia would have a precious ten weeks off, a precious ten weeks to spend time with Erin and her family.
She couldn’t wait.
So far, no one was reacting. Was this going to be an anticlimax? Imagine if no one noticed they were together! She didn’t know how she’d deal with that.
But slowly, as she and Erin looked for their seats with clasped hands, whispers rippled across the room. Everyone seemed to be deciding who would be the first person to ask them about it.
A duty that fell, of course, to Shanice. She cornered them after they’d checked the first two tables, hands settled on her hips as she glanced between them. “What’s this, then? You two are together?”
Erin ran a thumb over the back of Lia’s knuckles. “Yes.”
“Since when?”
“A few weeks.”
“When, specifically?”
Lia glanced at the side of Erin’s face, her eyebrows creased into a frown.
“What, you want the exact date?” She sounded as confused as Lia felt.
“Preferably, yeah.”
It was then that Lia noticed a few other ears listening in around them. “Don’t tell me you’ve got some kind of betting ring going.”
Shanice at least had the grace to look embarrassed.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Annoyance flashed across Erin’s face. “And you’re in on it? You’re supposed to be our captain!”
“Oh, please.” Shanice shook her head. “After the will-they, won’t-they saga of the last few months, this was the only way to keep ourselves sane.”
“What do you mean, months?” Erin’s hand squeezed hers, hard, a tremor of anger in her shoulders.
“The sexual tension between the two of you has been obvious since the day Lia arrived. It wasn’t a question of if, but when. I’m sorry, okay? But oh my God, dealing with it has been exhausting. Sue us for coming up with a way to cope.”
Lia held her breath, waiting for Erin to snap—waiting for her to turn on her heel and storm away.
But instead, she took a deep breath and released it slowly, shaking her head. “It was April 12.”
A cheer sounded somewhere behind them, but Lia didn’t dare look at who had won. She was too busy looking at Erin, searching her face for any sign of regret.
Thankfully, she found none, only Erin’s weight, solid against Lia’s shoulder, hand warm in Lia’s own as Erin pulled her away, continuing her quest to find their table. They were on the same one but seated opposite each other—with a flick of her wrist, Erin swapped her own name with Cerys’s.
Cerys, who was already sat in her assigned seat, rolled her eyes. “Yeah, sure, I’ll move. Always a pleasure to see you, Erin.” She shifted to sit beside Alex, letting Lia and Erin settle next to one another. “I hope you guys are happy. Alex and I lost out on two hundred quid because of you two.”
“You knew about the bet?” Lia turned to her friend, betrayed. “Why didn’t you tell me?!”
“Because you’d freak out.”
“You could’ve joined in.” Erin told Alex as she poured Lia and then herself a generous glass of red wine. “You’d have been a certain winner.”
“It didn’t feel very sportspersonlike.” Alex flashed Erin a wry smile. “You doing okay, now the cat’s out of the bag?”
“Yes.” Beneath the table, Erin’s hand settled on Lia’s thigh as she focused on Alex and Cerys. “Thank you both for keeping it to yourselves until we were ready.”
“Wow.” Cerys pressed a hand to her chest. “I think that might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“Don’t get used to it.” But Erin’s lips were quirked into a smile; she had a relaxed look on her face.
She looked like a weight had been lifted, and Lia knew how that felt. It was amazing to reach for Erin’s hand, to smooth the collar of her shirt, to feel Erin’s lips against her cheek.
That night, Lia won three awards: top goalscorer, biggest gamechanger, and player of the season.
But her greatest win was seeing the pride in Erin’s gaze each time she was called to the stage, to see her clapping harder than anyone else in the room. And her best prize was going home with Erin, where she was pressed against the nearest wall, a warm mouth settling between her thighs.