32
Blake
Zip’s Diner is packed to the brim, Scottie’s surprise birthday party in full swing now that the guest of honor has arrived, and the noise and activity are teeming with sensory input.
But my eyes have only a singular direction of focus—to the darkest corner by the back booth, where Lexi stands talking to some douchebag I’ve never seen before for the sixth consecutive minute.
I try to distract myself, heading over to where Finn and Ace stand to greet Finn and let them redirect my thoughts so I don’t do something stupid like walk right over there and tell that guy to take a fucking hike. But my mind is so fucking one-track, instead of joining their ongoing conversation about pulling off Scottie’s big surprise, I start a new one of my own—topic: motherfucker in the back corner with my girl.
“Who’s that guy?” I ask, and Finn shakes his head in confusion.
“What guy?”
“Seriously? The one talking to Lexi.” Frustration finds its way into my veins, but Ace, the asshole, laughs.
“You’re fucking intense right now, Boden.”
“I don’t care.” I look at Finn. “I need to know who he is.”
“He works at the Hodge Clinic, dude,” Finn finally explains. “He came because he’s been working a lot with Scottie. Just wanted to give her his support.”
I nod. Okay, okay. That’s not as bad as I thought. Though, I still don’t like the way he’s smiling at Lexi and watching her with fucking awe in his eyes as she talks.
Say hello and move on, fucker.
Finn’s hearty laugh fills my ears. “You know you sound a lot like a jealous boyfriend right now, right? For a girl who won’t give you the time of day.”
His words ricochet inside my chest, striking me first with pain, and then following up with audacity. A girl who won’t give me the time of day? Ha. If only they knew that most nights, that beautiful, perfect, intriguing-as-fuck girl is in my arms, my mouth, and my hands.
Too bad you can’t tell them that. Can’t tell anyone that, in fact.
I brush off the thought and choose to focus on the positive—behind closed doors, Lexi Winslow is my girl. Every part of her.
Both Ace and Finn are looking at me curiously, and I just lift one nonchalant shoulder. “We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us, Finnley,” I comment through a secret but knowing smile. “There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.”
“The fuck did you just say?” Ace asks, and Finn cracks up.
I shake my head. “Never mind. I’m going in.”
“You’re going in? What does that mean?” Ace tosses back, but it’s too late. I’m already on the move, striding across the restaurant and heading straight for Lexi.
I may have intimate knowledge of all the ways Lexi Winslow is already mine, and I may be secure in that—but I’ll be damned if I’m going to let that fucker have ten more minutes of unfettered access to the brilliant recesses of her mind. I want to hear her theories and musings and data for myself.
“You’re incredibly intelligent,” the douchebag says to her, Lexi-inspired stars in his stupid eyes, as I approach. He’s in deep—the admiration for her genius sinking in one nugget of information at a time—and it won’t be long before he’s groveling for more. I know, because that’s exactly what happens to me anytime I’m around her.
“Lexi Winslow is the smartest girl you’ll ever meet in your life,” I correct as I join their conversation uninvited, startling both Lexi’s attention and beautiful blue eyes. I purposely but calmly position myself between her and the physical therapist as I smile down at her. “Hi, Lex.”
I don’t wrap an arm around the small of her back, and I don’t place a kiss to the soft skin behind her ear—I know she wouldn’t approve. But my presence is commanding, my intention clear. Just like on the field, I’m unrattled and in control, even if I can’t run the plays I want.
“Hi…” She tilts her head to the side, and her eyebrows crease in the center as a warning. I smile, knowing confidence is the best and only approach in situations like these.
“Who’s your new friend?” I ask, and she blinks a few times, searching my steady gaze for insecurities I won’t bare.
“Blake, this is Adam Houth,” Lex introduces us. “He’s one of Scottie’s physical therapists at the Hodge Clinic.”
I nod and glance briefly at Adam to offer a half smile, holding out a strong hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Blake Boden.” Lexi’s fucking boyfriend. I clear my throat. “Glad to have you here to celebrate Scottie.”
“Nice to meet you too, man,” Adam replies, but I’m already looking back at Lexi, ignoring him completely.
“You need anything, Lex?” I ask, playing the role of boyfriend in all ways but the physical. “Something to drink?”
“No…thanks. I’m good, Blake.”
“Okay,” I say with a flash of a smile and a coy wink that makes a blush steal across her high cheeks. “Let me know if that changes.”
She glances between me and Adam with a flutter of lashes, but in almost no time at all, she’s once again staring at me. Her chest rises and falls quickly, and her tongue peeks out to wet her now-dry lips. She’s craving me, just as I’m craving her, and it’s all she can do to hold back the will of her body as she fights it.
It’s all I need to see to feel confident in leaving her here to talk to Adam—in leaving her to talk to any stupid, awestruck fucker at this party. I spin on my heel and head back to where Finn and Ace stand, renewed and at ease.
The idea of some other schmuck flirting with her, going out with her, touching her, is skin-itching. But from what Lexi just showed me, I don’t have anything to worry about. She wants me just as much as I want her—even if she isn’t ready to publicly admit it.
“So…?” Ace urges. I shrug and slide my hands into my jeans pockets, a teasing smile lifting just one corner of my mouth.
One good thing about keeping this secret from my friends is that it makes them fucking with me over my rejection much more tolerable.
“I obviously asked her to share our love with the world, and she very graciously said no.”
“What?” Finn blurts out on a snort. “Get real. You got rejected.”
Ace is nearly wheezing from laughter. “Why do you look so happy about that and, please, even more than that, why are you talking like a fucking poet tonight?”
I briefly glance over at Lexi again, who is no longer talking to Adam, but instead, chatting with Ace’s parents, and I can’t stop the smile that spreads across my face. “Because it’s only a matter of time.”
Ace and Finn both look at each other in confusion.
“Mark my words,” I add confidently. “That girl will be mine.”
“Finn. Help me out here,” Ace says. “Bring this man back down to earth.”
“Dude, I can’t judge,” Finn responds. “I spent four weeks in hospital waiting rooms for Scottie.”
“That’s what I’m saying.” I wrap my arm around Finn’s shoulder. “When you know, you fucking know. Right, Finn?”
“When you know, you know,” Finn agrees.
And trust me, I know . Lexi is the only girl for me.
I pull a naked Lexi closer to my chest, and everything feels right with the world.
It’s only a little after nine, our usual nighttime habits moved up a few hours because Scottie’s party at Zip’s made Lex take a day off from her evening lab routine, and while I was a little worried she’d be gun-shy about getting together after I cut into her conversation with Adam at the party, she’s been nothing but proactive since her first text around six when I was getting back to my place.
Are you at home? she asked.
To which I responded, Yep. Just waiting for you to get here.
She showed up thirty minutes later.
Confidently setting the hook and letting her take the line out, it seems, has worked just as I’d hoped—I pull her tighter in my arms, reeling her in and smelling the top of her hair.
Sex is always incredible with Lexi, and this time was no exception. She’s this perfect combination of innocent and uninhibited. She’s direct in the best ways, telling me the things she likes and doesn’t like, and she dives headfirst into her pleasure.
I fucking love it.
But that shouldn’t be a surprise either because I fucking love her .
If only you could tell her.
I lean my head back slightly and slip my fingers under her chin, pulling her gaze to lock with mine. Her eyes are still a little hazy, but I don’t let that deter me from dancing around my truth a little.
“I like you, Lexi.”
“I like you too, Blake.”
“Actually, I really like you, Lexi.” I up the ante a little. “I’m talking a lot of liking you. Like, a lot.”
“Okay…” She scrunches up her nose. “Is this some kind of riddle I’m supposed to solve?”
“No riddles.” A soft laugh leaves my lips. “But I do have a question.”
She quirks her brow.
“Will you be my girlfriend?”
“Blake.” She flashes a knowing look. “We’ve already been through this.”
“Have we?” I question. “Because it feels like there are a lot of unspoken things happening between us related to our secret relationship but not a hell of a lot of spoken ones. Maybe we need to talk through it in scientific terms, if you will. You eggheads usually love the details, don’t you?”
She searches my eyes for a long moment, and I’m on pins and needles, wondering what her response to that is going be.
“You want to know a secret?” she eventually asks, and it’s my turn to search her eyes.
“I’d love to.” Because I love you.
But she doesn’t respond with words. Instead, she leans forward to press her mouth to mine. Her kiss starts out soft and slow until a little moan escapes her throat, and she adjusts her body so she’s on top of me. Her thighs straddle my hips, and my bare cock is already growing hard again when she grinds herself against me.
“I’m on birth control now. Have been for a full cycle,” she whispers toward me before kissing me again. “And right now, I want to know what it feels like to have you inside me…bare.”
Fuck. Little Blake with the rapidly swelling head is happy—undeniably, physically so—but Big Blake is devastated that she’s completely avoided the entire subject of our relationship.
When she starts to grind herself against me some more and then begins to slide the tip of my cock inside her, my brain fucking buffers over how good she feels, and Little Blake officially wins.
“Lex.”
“Please,” she begs, and I’m too far gone on this girl to deny something she wants.
So, I slide myself inside her a little deeper. And a little deeper. And a little deeper until I’m pressed to the hilt. She’s warm and tight and fucking perfect, and I have to hold my breath for a good ten seconds just to keep myself from coming on the fucking spot.
“It feels so good.” She lets her head fall back, and her breasts bounce up and down with each panting breath.
“ You feel so good,” I tell her and reach out to grip her hips, guiding us into a slow rhythm.
Her eyes meet mine again, and I swear, for the briefest of moments, I see her rare vulnerability. I see the way a sheen of emotion coats her beautiful eyes. In that moment, I know again, just like I did when I interrupted her with Adam this afternoon, I’m not the only one who has feelings.
She has feelings too. For me.
I’m going to do everything I can to make her mine, starting right now, with fucking her raw.