Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
STEVIE
T he drive from mini golf to my house was like a fever dream. Maverick drove with one hand on the wheel and the other in mine, his thumb circling over my knuckles, around and around and around.
That touch had pulled me into a trance. Buildings streaked past the windows. The tires whirred on the asphalt. My body would shift, left and right, with different turns. But I was so locked into those circles, I couldn’t focus on anything else.
My mind was spinning in time with those loops. The pulse in my core had started as a weak flutter and steadily grown into a booming throb. The tingles from my knuckles surged through my nerves like endless ripples, crashing into each other as they built into stormy waves.
I’d never been this turned on. Never been so flustered and edgy. Not even when my anxiety would spike before a game. Not even when I was keyed up over an exam.
Maverick pushed buttons I hadn’t even known existed .
At this point, I couldn’t tell if I liked it, or if I should jump out of this truck at the next light and run away.
I was losing control. It slipped away, like water through my fingers, with each of those infuriating circles of Maverick’s thumb.
And while I was having an internal fucking crisis, he’d become the epitome of calm and collected. He drove the speed limit. He came to a full stop at every sign. He took corners at a glacial pace.
This was not the same man who’d pressed me against his truck and frantically devoured my mouth.
Was he trying to torture me? If so, it was working.
I pressed my thighs together, craving some friction for the ache in my center. When he finally turned onto my street, my exhale was audible. My knees began to bounce in rhythm with my racing heart.
Then we were in my driveway and his hand was gone. The tingles stopped, and I’d never been so aware of my bare knuckles before.
Mav climbed out of the truck, spinning his keys on a finger as he took in the neighborhood, inspecting it like he’d never been here before.
All while I fumbled with the door’s handle and hopped out onto wobbly legs.
I wasn’t just in over my head.
I was drowning.
Maverick met me in front of his truck, and for a moment, I worried he’d say goodnight. That on the drive, he’d changed his mind about taking this any further. But when I met his eyes, the color wasn’t his usual icy blue. They’d darkened to a silvery gray. His pupils were blown wide and inky black.
There was a promise in those eyes. A challenge .
Everything would change after this, wouldn’t it? If I let him inside my house, my bedroom, there’d be no going back.
What were we doing?
This was going to get messy. This had the potential to end in a bloodbath. Didn’t we have enough problems to deal with at the moment? The last thing we needed was to go up in flames.
We could just hit pause. Go back to the original agreement. Saturday dinners where he’d watch TV and I’d read a book. Fake smiles and feigned friendship in front of his parents.
That could work. Probably. Right?
“Mav, I?—”
“Don’t.” His hand came to my chin, taking hold to gently pull me forward as he stepped closer. “Don’t think.”
“I don’t...” I exhaled, shoulders sagging. “I don’t know how to stop.”
The corner of his mouth turned up. “I can help with that.”
Then his lips were on mine, his hand still holding my chin as his tongue slipped past my teeth.
The worries vanished in a blink, like he’d shut off my brain. Maverick slanted his mouth over mine, groaning as that urgency from earlier returned. His kiss was rough. Hard. Wet.
I swayed, my head spinning, as his tongue circled mine, just like his thumb. Around and around and around.
Maverick growled, the vibration driving right to my center. Then he ripped his mouth away and grabbed my wrist, pulling me behind him as he stalked to the house.
“Keys.” He held out his hand, waiting until I fished them from my pocket and flipped through to the brass key that fit the lock.
Time seemed to warp as he opened the door. One moment, we were outside. The next, I was pressed against the wall of the entryway, the door closed and the keys landing with a sharp crash on the floor beside our feet. His hat had tumbled off his head, or maybe I’d pushed it free.
Mav swallowed my gasp as he hoisted me up by the back of the knees, wrapping me around his hips as he pressed into my center. His hands slid up my thighs as his frame kept me pinned. His fingertips dipped beneath the frayed hem of my shorts, squeezing my ass as he fluttered his tongue against mine.
He was everywhere, and not where I needed him most.
A noise came from my throat, a cross between a whimper, a moan and a plea. A sound I’d never made before. I clung to Mav’s shoulders, meeting every stroke of his tongue with my own. My hands fisted his shirt, balling it up as I locked my ankles around his back, pulling my chest against his.
My nipples were hard and aching, my breasts heavy inside my bra. But no matter how tightly I pressed my body against his, how hard he ground into my core, the friction wasn’t enough.
He tore his lips away, dragging them down the column of my throat, his teeth scratching at my skin. “Fuck, Stevie.”
“Yes,” I panted.
“Bedroom.”
I flung out an arm toward the hallway. “That way.”
He shifted an arm beneath my ass and another around my back, then he hauled me off the wall and carried me through the house, all while he sucked and nipped at my neck.
No one had carried me in years. Not since I was a kid. I wasn’t a petite woman, but Mav carried me without effort, and God, I liked it. A lot. I liked feeling precious. I liked that he was tall and strong and that nothing about my own strength and height had ever intimidated him before.
When we walked through the door to my suite, he kicked it closed, the slam rattling through the house. The blinds were open, and the summer sun filtered through the glass.
“Let me get the shades.” I unhooked my ankles, about to drop to my feet, but Maverick stalked for the bed, planting a knee in the mattress before we crashed, his weight settling over my body.
“Leave them open.” His teeth skimmed my earlobe as his hand slid beneath my shirt. “I want to see you.”
No way. I wouldn’t be able to shut off my mind if it was this bright. I’d only ever imagined this in the dark. “Just let me?—”
“Close your eyes, Nadine.”
I shook my head. “Mav?—”
His mouth sealed over mine, silencing any other protest.
Okay, so we’d do this in the light. I could handle it, right? I squeezed my eyes closed, focusing on the kiss. On that hand of his splayed over my ribs, inching toward the bottom of my bra.
What did I do with my legs? I raised a knee. Laid it flat. Bent it to the side. Pushed it straight.
I squirmed beneath Maverick, all while he kept kissing me, the slow, languid strokes of his tongue tasting every corner of my mouth before he moved to my neck again.
Another whimper escaped my lips, this one laced with frustration as my hand fisted at my side. There was making out in the back of his truck, where it was so cramped all I could do was feel up his torso.
But this was a bed. My bed. Maverick Houston was in my bed and seemingly intent on giving me an orgasm. What did I do with my hands? Should I touch him too? Kissing was one thing, but this?
How did I do this? I didn’t know how to do this.
I lifted an arm in the air, then let it fall to the mattress as my eyes popped open.
The ceiling had a thick texture beneath the white paint, like tiny mountain peaks. There was a spot that seemed more gray than white, like it was the drywall and the painters had missed it during construction. I’d never noticed that spot before.
Mav lifted off me, his hand sliding out of my shirt as he propped up on his elbows and stared down at me with those stormy eyes. “What’s happening in your head?”
“Well, there’s a spot on my ceiling I’ll never be able to unsee. And I don’t know what I’m doing,” I blurted.
“So?”
“So, I don’t like when I don’t know what to do.”
His eyes softened, a hand coming to my hair, pushing the strands away from my temple. “Does it feel good?”
I nodded.
“Then do whatever feels good. That’s it. There’s no secret. If it feels good, do it. If it doesn’t, try something else.”
“But what about you?”
“What about me? I just kissed Stevie Adair. In her bed. If I’m lucky, she’ll let me touch her boobs. That’s a thousand teenage fantasies come true. I’m good, honey. ”
Oh. My. God. “You had teenage fantasies about kissing me?”
“Have you seen you?”
My head had been spinning one direction and now it was whirling the opposite. “Mav.”
His fingers dove deeper into my hair, gently tugging at the strands. “Say the word and we stop.”
“I don’t want to stop,” I whispered, searching his eyes. “I just... I need you to tell me what to do.”
“Close your eyes.”
I closed them.
“Put your hand on my throat.”
I gulped, sliding my arm between us to cup his throat. His Adam’s apple bobbed beneath my palm. “Okay.”
“Feel my pulse?”
“Yes.” It raced beneath my fingers. Pounded. For me.
“You can touch me anywhere you want. Anywhere. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“Good.” He kissed the corner of my mouth, sweet and light.
My lips parted, my breaths shallow as he nuzzled his nose against mine.
“Don’t move.” He brushed his mouth across the line of my jaw, then he was gone, his weight lifting from the bed.
My eyes instantly opened as he stood at my feet.
There was a smirk on his face when he adjusted the bulge straining against his shorts. He reached for my shoes, pulling them off and tossing them to the floor. He toed off his own, then took me by the knees, and with a quick tug, pulled my ass to the end of the bed .
I gasped, lifting to an elbow.
“Lie back,” he ordered, and I obeyed, my eyes lifting to the ceiling, to that spot, as his hands skirted up my bare thighs, trailing over my shorts to the button beneath my navel.
“Eyes on me.” He waited until I looked down, then he flipped that button free. “Say the word and I stop.”
I shook my head. “Don’t stop.”
“Good girl.” His grin stretched as he took my hand, hauling me to a seat. Then his hands came to my shirt, lifting it over my ribs and off my head in a whoosh.
The air was cool against my skin, mingling with my nerves, and my nipples turned to pebbles, straining at the fabric of my bra. My hair tickled my bare shoulders and spine.
Maverick dropped to a knee, his eyes locked on mine as his hands spanned my ribs, his thumbs drawing the same circles he’d been drawing in the truck. “You’re so fucking sexy. You don’t even see it, do you?”
My hand lifted to his hair, diving into the thick strands, weaving them between my fingers. “Are you sure about this?”
“That’s my line.” He cupped my face, his thumb tracing over my mouth. “Are you?”
“Yes,” I whispered. “I’m sure.”
“Then fucking kiss me.”
I leaned in to take his mouth, hesitant at first, not sure how to lead this, but like he’d told me, I did what felt good, and when he moaned, it was my reward.
Maverick lifted up, using his lips to press me back into the bed, and then he was kissing down my throat, to my sternum before trailing his tongue to my breast. He tugged the cup down on my bra and took a nipple into his hot mouth.
I sank into the bed as he toyed with it, licking and sucking, until my hands were splayed along the smooth, white cotton duvet. A stripe of sunlight hit my face, and for a brief moment, I gave the outside my attention. The green grass and blue sky and absolutely nothing stopping someone from peeking into my window.
But Mav was right about the light. It meant I could see him too. Watch as his long hands slid up my torso, cupping my breasts as he moved to the other side, yanking my bra away to give that nipple the same attention.
Damn , he was hot. The ache in my core was overpowering, that need for more and more.
His teeth grazed my nipple, a hint of pain mixing with the pleasure, as he let it free from his mouth. Then his trail of kisses went lower, across the sensitive skin of my ribs to my navel.
His fingers came to the hem of my shorts, dragging them over my hip bones.
My black lace panties came with them, inch by inch, exposing more of my body.
“Mav.” My voice was shaky from the nerves. The lust. “I don’t?—”
“Do you trust me?” He spoke against my stomach, then lifted his chin, those stormy eyes finding mine.
“Yes.”
“Then close your eyes.”
My lids fluttered closed as he stripped the shorts from my legs, baring me completely. I could feel his gaze on my center, but I was too nervous to look, so I bit my bottom lip and waited.
“You’re perfect.” His hand came to my calf, his touch igniting a rush of tingles as he urged my leg to the side.
When I risked a glance, Maverick’s broad shoulders were settling between my knees, forcing me to spread wider.
The first kiss on my inner thigh made me gasp. The second conjured a noise so wanton, so desperate, it took a moment for my ears to register it had come from me.
Maverick moved toward my center, his breath soft against my folds. When his tongue dragged through my slit, I tensed, every muscle in my body going taut. And then he did it again, and I melted. Into. A. Puddle.
“Oh God.”
“You taste so good.” He licked at me again, the tip of his tongue flicking my clit before he sucked it into his mouth and I came off my shoulders like a woman possessed. My body was no longer my own.
It was Maverick’s and he seemed intent on making me come apart.
He kept lapping at my clit, licking until my hips began to rock against his face, my knees spread wide and my toes curled. When he brought his finger to my center, sliding one inside, my cry filled the room.
It was more sensation than I’d ever felt, so overpowering it was hard to breathe. “I’m... it’s too much.”
“You can take it.” He kept going, not relenting for even a moment as he added a finger, finding that spot inside that made me begin to tremble, head to toe. “Come. Just let go.”
He put those perfect lips on my clit, and with a quick suck, a flutter of his tongue, I shattered.
“Maverick.” I arched beneath him, my hands fisting the duvet as fireworks exploded behind my eyes.
Every part of my body was shaking, like my bones themselves were rattling, as he kept at me, drawing out an orgasm unlike anything I’d ever felt in my life. I lost touch with reality for a moment, my mind so blank and empty I wasn’t even sure of my own name.
I clenched around his fingers, my hips bucking against his mouth. Pulse after pulse, I kept quaking, riding out the release until, finally, the world returned in pieces. The chirp of birds outside. The scent of Maverick’s cologne mingling with my fabric softener. The wetness between my thighs and the man sliding his fingers from my body.
Before I could risk a glance, he picked me up by the waist and lifted me higher into the pillows, his weight settling beside mine as he tugged the throw I kept at the foot of my bed over my body. Like he knew I wouldn’t be able to look at him if I was naked.
I cracked an eye.
Maverick was stretched out beside me. A part of me had expected a cocky smirk on his face. Maybe another quip about his teenage fantasies. But he stared at me with so much affection my heart thumped so hard it hurt.
His hand came to my face, his thumb drawing a line across my cheek. “You good?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “This should be weird.”
“Yeah.”
Maverick, my Maverick, had just gone down on me. He’d given me an orgasm that had blanked my mind. It should most definitely be awkward or embarrassing.
“But it’s not, is it?”
“No, it’s not.”
All these years, what if it wasn’t hate that had kept us from pushing and pulling?
What if there’d always been something more buried beneath our animosity? What if we’d spent years fighting a pull that we were both too stubborn to acknowledge?
Okay, now I really had something to think about.
Mav leaned down, kissing my forehead. “Want me to go? Or stay?”
I could hug him for giving me a choice. I had a feeling that he didn’t do that for other women. He’d just leave. Or maybe that was my own wishful thinking.
“Stay.”
“Got an extra toothbrush?” he asked.
“Yes.
“Um, what about that?” I let my eyes drop to his shorts. To the erection straining his zipper.
“It’ll go away.”
“Should I, um?—”
“You’ll have your chance.” He winked, then rolled off the bed and ducked into my bathroom.
“Middle drawer,” I called, hearing it open. Then the water turned on, and while he brushed his teeth, I took a minute to breathe.
When the faucet shut off, I flew off the bed, streaking naked past my open windows for my walk-in closet. I pulled on a fresh pair of panties and some baggy sweats with a Wildcats volleyball T-shirt, then padded into the room as Maverick stripped off his shirt, tossing it on the floor.
Holy. Abs. My mouth watered. I’d seen Maverick without a shirt, but he’d never been standing beside my bed before. I’d never been in a position to stare .
He pulled the covers down, fixing the pillows before he unclasped his shorts and let them fall to the floor.
The bulge in his black boxer briefs was hard and thick and prominent enough to make out the crown of his cock.
I’d just had the best orgasm of my life, but the throb of desire was immediate.
“Are you going to stand there and drool over me or get in this bed?”
“Drool,” I said.
He smiled, his chiseled jaw sharpening. A dimple flashed, a dimple I hadn’t seen in a long time.
His teenage fantasies might have been about my boobs, but I’d always wanted a guy with dimples like Maverick’s. I just hadn’t let myself consider they’d be his.
I crossed the room as he climbed into bed, pulling back the covers for me to slide beneath. It was still early, hours before I normally went to bed. But I didn’t want to leave this room.
Maybe because I feared if we left, it would all go away. And tonight, I wanted to linger in this bubble. Eventually, it would pop. But not yet.
“Remember our last sleepover?” I said, turning sideways to stare at his profile, tucking my hands beneath my cheek.
“That time we made a fort in the basement?”
“No, after that. When we built that cardboard house in my backyard.”
He smiled, linking his hands behind his head. “Then it rained and we were both too stubborn to go inside, so we stayed there all night, getting soaked. And we each got sick.”
“Mom was so upset when we came in and our lips were blue. To this day, I can’t ever remember being so cold. ”
“Same.” He glanced over, his brilliant eyes catching the light.
“You said you missed me. I’ve missed you too.”
He reached for me, banding an arm around my belly as he dragged me to the center of the bed. Then he curled his large frame around mine, his nose buried in my hair. “Goodnight, Adair.”
“Goodnight, Houston.”