Chapter Five Decker
Chapter Five
Decker
She tasted like mint and a hint of maraschino cherries, but more. It was everything I’d ever wanted.
Maia let out a soft moan, one I felt more than heard, and my fingers tightened in her hair. I wanted to take her right here in this damn hallway. And that wasn’t me.
I forced myself to pull back, to loosen my hold on her hair. As I did, I took in her dazed green eyes. Maia stumbled a step, and my hands went to her waist on instinct to steady her.
“I’m so sorry.” Pink hit her cheeks. “My ex was walking by, and he was the last person I wanted to see. But I shouldn’t have accosted a perfect stranger. I’m so sorry.”
Panic flooded my system. “A perfect stranger.”
Maia had no idea who she’d just kissed. But I had. I’d known exactly whose mouth I’d been about to take, and I didn’t regret it for a single second.
“I’m not sorry.” My voice was a step lower than usual, grit coating each word.
I saw a wave of recognition hit her. Her head tilted as she tried to place the familiar sound.
And I knew why. It had been almost four months since I’d last seen her.
And it wasn’t as if we talked on the phone.
An occasional text here and there. Usually it was Maia checking in on me after a rough game.
A second wave hit, and her eyes widened. On the third, her fingers lifted to her lips as she finally realized what she’d done. “Deck?” she squeaked.
“Hey, Birdie.” The nickname slipped out as easy as breathing. It was the one I’d given her when I helped her rescue a robin with a broken wing.
“No, no, no. This isn’t happening.”
I couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at my lips. Maia was a play-by-the-rules, everything-has-a-plan sort of person, and I could see how kissing your ex’s older brother could put a crimp in all of that.
“Pretty sure it is,” I told her.
Maia smacked my shoulder. “This isn’t funny,” she hissed.
“It’s a little funny,” I amended. “But it was a hell of a kiss, Birdie.” The best I’d ever had.
The flush on her cheeks spread down her throat and over her chest. Hell. I wanted to trace exactly how far that pretty pink went.
“Deck,” she rasped, her lips parting.
“You feel it?” I asked, my thumb tracing the dip of her waist to the curve of her hip.
Maia’s breaths came quicker, soft little gasps for air. “I felt like I was flying.”
“Birdie,” I growled. There was nothing better than knowing I could make her feel that. That everything I’d always imagined could be between us was reality.
“I-I can’t. It’s wrong.” A flash of heat filled those green eyes. “You should’ve told me who you were.”
“There wasn’t exactly a whole lot of time. You were all ‘I really need you to kiss me right now.’”
The heat took on an angrier tinge. “Well, I wouldn’t have if I’d known who you were.”
“Sure about that, Birdie? Would you take it back now? Knowing the way my hands feel in your hair, how my tongue feels in your mouth? Knowing I can make you moan from nothing more than a kiss?”
Maia’s jaw dropped open. “You—you—I . . .”
“I’m taking that as a no,” I said with a smirk.
Another flash of heat. “You barely say ten words at a time usually, and now you’re suddenly all verbose?”
My smile grew. “I guess you bring it out of me.”
“Well, put it away,” she snapped.
I barked out a laugh. “You sound like I just whipped out my dick.”
“Don’t say dick.” The flush on her cheeks deepened.
God, she was fucking cute. And funny. And gorgeous when she was all flustered. “I solemnly swear not to say the D-word.”
Maia let out a huff of air. “Thank you.”
Neither of us moved for a moment.
“I don’t think I can unknow this,” she whispered.
“What?” My thumb stroked her waist again.
A flash of pain crossed her expression. “What it feels like to kiss you. I didn’t know it could be like that.”
Fiery need ripped through me with the razor’s edge of pleasure and pain. I’d spent so many years wondering if I’d imagined my pull to Maia. Made up some connection that wasn’t really there.
I dropped my forehead to hers, breathing in the scent of honeysuckle that always clung to her skin as my mask shifted. “Birdie.”
“What in the actual hell?” an angry voice demanded.
One I knew.
I turned slightly, not losing hold of Maia but also managing to block the majority of her from my brother’s sight. “Jackson,” I said calmly. Something had stopped him in his tracks and made him recognize us. Maybe Maia’s long red hair or when my mask had slipped.
“Are you kidding me right now? You just had your tongue down my girlfriend’s throat,” he snarled.
The girl on his arm reared back. “Girlfriend? You said you were single.”
“Ex-girlfriend,” I amended, my back molars grinding together.
I could practically feel the anxiety bleeding off Maia in waves as she gripped the back of my suit jacket.
“You that desperate for my leftovers, brother?” Jackson snapped.
Everything in me was wound so tight that a single touch felt like it might snap my muscles in two. “You think you can talk about her like that in front of me? I’ll show you otherwise,” I growled.
Maia’s grip on my jacket tightened. “Deck, don’t.”
“Deck, don’t,” Jackson sneered. “You’re so desperate for me you’re going for second best.”
Someone snickered, and I realized it was Booker striding down the hallway.
As though he had radar for when I might need him to watch my back.
He shook his head at Jackson. “Oh, yeah, second best. The man who’s worked his whole life to be at the top of his game.
Gives back to his community. Takes care of his parents—unlike your lazy fool self.
Shows up for your girl when she needs him.
And just generally isn’t a waste of space. ”
“Can’t even fight your own battles, can you, Deck?” Jackson clipped.
“I don’t need to fight with you. Because I’m secure in who I am. It’s you who feels the need to tear down everyone around you.”
For the first time, I realized how true that was.
Jackson had to drag down anyone he saw as either competition or better than him.
The thing that killed me was that I’d seen him do it to Maia over the years.
Tiny little comments about her job or her clothes.
He made her feel less than. And that was the thing that made me hate him the most.
Jackson turned his focus on a target he thought would be an easier hit and glared at Maia. “How long have you been fucking him behind my back? You play all high and mighty, but you’re just a slut.”
My fist lashed out, connecting with my brother’s jaw. His head snapped back, dislodging his companion’s clinging hold.
Jackson crashed to the floor. The second he regained his composure, he glared up at me with rage-filled eyes. “I’ll kill you for that.”