22. Sienna
SIENNA
Istumble as I climb out of the rideshare outside our apartment building.
“Whoa,” Calvin says, his giant hand wrapping around my upper arm to steady me. “I know I managed to carry you to bed the other week, but all the way up to your apartment might be a bit much.”
I turn and look into his eyes. They’re full of determination. If I were to ask him to carry me, he’d put everything into making it happen. I won’t, though. I’m not that drunk.
“I’m fine,” I argue, rolling my shoulders back and holding my head high as I stride toward the doors. I want to say that I do so in a straight line, but the deep chuckle that erupts from behind me makes me question how successful I am.
“Yes. Yes, you are,” he rasps from behind me.
I spin around and glare at him, but it’s hard to keep it up when he looks so freaking cute carrying my coat and purse for me.
We’ve had the best night together. Of course, it helps that the Vipers won. Three goals to zero, just like the server at Bills said.
Bitterness races through my veins as I think of her.
She was trying to hit on Calvin right in front of me.
We might not have been on a date, but who does that?
Since when was girl code that freaking dead?
And to call him “sir,” well…It was all I could do to bite my tongue.
But I knew that saying something, reacting in any way, would give Calvin the wrong idea.
I wasn’t jealous because I’m not interested in him. And I certainly don’t want to be the one calling him that.
A shudder runs through me, and I tell myself that it’s a knee-jerk reaction to calling him that and not the way his eyes run the length of my body as he closes the space between us.
It seems that I’m becoming very, very good at lying to myself at the moment.
“Calvin,” I warn.
“Yeah, I know. Stop telling you how hot you are. I got the memo,” he states as he gets so close, I don’t have a choice but to back up if I don’t want us to collide. “It just comes out because you’re so fucking hot.”
We’ve both probably had one drink too many, but we’re not drunk. Just happily tipsy. And I’m learning that that makes Calvin’s tongue even looser than normal.
My mouth runs dry, and I struggle to swallow as my back hits the closed elevator doors. But nothing seems to stop him. He just keeps coming until the heat of his body burns down my front.
Oh God.
He doesn’t touch me, but there’s barely an inch between us.
If I were to breathe in a little deeper, let my lungs expand a little more, my breasts would brush against him, and I have a suspicion of just how good that might feel.
His eyes are dark as he stares down at me, almost reverently.
He’s been doing it all night, watching me in a way that is entirely too comforting.
It makes me wonder what he can see.
Suddenly, the world falls from behind me. I shriek as I begin tumbling backward, but it’s only for a second. because Calvin proves that his defensive instincts are still alive by wrapping his arms around my back and hauling me into his body.
He walks me backward into the elevator and doesn’t stop until my ass hits the rail.
“T-thank you,” I breathe, craning my neck to hold his eyes.
“I’ll always save you, darlin’.” His voice is as deep and as smooth as dark chocolate.
Desire curls inside me, heat radiating from my core, my chest rising and falling at an embarrassing rate.
I startle when his free hand lands on my waist, the heat of it scorching.
His head lowers, his eyes dropping to my lips.
We’ve been in this position before, and I’ve managed to put an end to it.
But with the alcohol flowing through my system, I’m not sure I’m going to have the strength to do it tonight.
And if I’m being honest with myself, I don’t want to stop him.
I want to know what it would be like to kiss a man like Calvin Keller.
He’s always so in control, so composed. He knows what he wants, and he takes it, and I get the feeling that kissing him will be exactly the same.
The space between our faces disappears with every second that passes.
My temperature soars, but just before our lips collide, panic slams into me, and I press my palms against his chest, forcing him back.
“I don’t do hookups,” I blurt, dragging my eyes from his and staring straight ahead at his chest, which, I discover, is moving as erratically as mine.
My breath catches when his fingers tuck under my chin, forcing me to look up at him again.
“I don’t want to hook up with you, Sienna.”
God. The way he says my name…I swear, I could melt into a puddle at his feet. His southern accent is always there, but when he’s…I swallow thickly. When he’s turned on, it gets thicker. Sexier.
I shutter my eyes, remembering someone else with a southern accent who stole my heart once.
Apparently, I have a type.
It takes a hot second, but once my reaction to his voice subsides and his words settle in, I deflate and attempt to slip from my spot pinned between his unmoving, hard body and the unforgiving elevator wall behind me.
“No,” he growls, his hand dropping to my waist again, holding me in place.
“Calvin,” I whimper desperately—although I’m not sure if I’m desperate for him to release me or to hold me tighter.
“I’m not interested in one night of sex, only to be cast aside as soon as we’re done. I’m not a one-night stand kind of girl; I’m a dating girl.”
“Sienna, I—”
We both startle when the doors open and voices spill into the elevator. Calvin takes a step back, but it looks like it takes every ounce of his self-control to do so.
Coldness washes over me, and my fingers twitch at my sides with my need to reach out and drag him back to me.
No, this is for the best.
“Sorry, this elevator is taken,” Calvin grunts before jabbing his finger into the close door button, quickly followed by my floor.
He glances at me from under his lashes, but to my surprise, he doesn’t step back in front of me. Instead, he moves to my side.
I try to suck in the air I need, but it’s laced with his scent, and everything comes crashing down when his knuckles brush against mine and there’s nothing accidental about it.
Fire burns up my arm from the innocent contact, and I turn to look at him to find him already staring down at me.
His lips twitch into the smallest smile before he drags his bottom lip between his teeth. The move is almost my undoing. Thankfully, the elevator comes to a stop and the doors open, forcing us to break eye contact—unless we want to spend the rest of the night in the enclosed space.
I mean, I could think of worse things.
Nope. Keep your head, Sienna. Think with your brain, not your vagina.
I surge forward, prepared to outrun him if necessary, but despite his injury, he keeps pace right behind me, and when I come to a stop at my door, realizing that he has my purse, and therefore, my key, I find that he’s right on my heels.
“Thank you for tonight,” I say, hoping my tone doesn’t sound all breathy and needy. “It was fun. Maybe we should do it again sometime.” I kick myself the second the words spill free. Doing this again is a bad, bad idea. The best thing I can do is keep as much distance between us as possible.
“Is that your way of asking me for a second date, darlin’?”
“What?” I gasp. “No, this wasn’t even a date. We—”
He prowls closer again and reaches up to tuck a lock of hair behind my ear.
“It was a date,” he states. “Can I let you in on a little secret?”
No.
“It was my first ever date.”
My breath catches.
“And I think it’ll forever be my favorite.”
“I think you’re rating it a little too high, considering I’m not going to put out.”
A wide smile spreads across his lips. “So you’re finally admitting that this was a date?” His hand returns to its new home on my waist, anchoring me to him.
“N-no, that’s not what I—”
He laughs, sending a puff of warm air spreading across my face. Goose bumps erupt down my neck, and my nipples pebble against the confines of my bra.
“Just admit it, darlin’. You went on a date tonight with Calvin Keller.”
I roll my eyes at him and gasp as his fingers grasp my chin.
Seconds pass, but he doesn’t say anything, and when he finally does, it has my resolve crumbling.
“I don’t want to hook up with you because I know that one night would never be enough.
I wouldn’t be able to send you away once we were done.
It would be physically impossible. Every time I leave you, I want more, and if we were to spend the night together, I know that it would be exactly the same in the morning.
“You’re the only woman I’ve ever wanted to spend time with, just to hang out. I love spending time with you, Sienna. I always have.”
I search his eyes, trying to find the lie in his words, but they’re not there.
“I wanted you from the very first time I saw you, and that hasn’t changed.
“So, what do you say? Go on a second date with me?”
All the reasons why I should say no spin around my head, but as his eyes bore into mine and his hand burns into my skin, I can’t verbalize a single one of them. Instead, I find myself whispering, “Yes.”
As if he were holding his breath, waiting for my answer, a rush of air tickles over me again, and I shudder. Even if there was a chance of him missing it, he’d have felt it.
“I’m not going to ask if I can come in. I want to. Fuck, darlin’. I really fucking want to. But I won’t, because that isn’t what this is.”
What is this?
“I’m just gonna ask for one thing?”
I nod, unable to speak.
“Can I kiss you?”
I swear my heart skips a beat.
This man, a player who usually takes exactly what he wants, fuck the consequences, is standing before me, asking for permission to kiss me.
I roll my lips between my teeth, pretending to think about my answer.
The truth is, there really only is one.
And anyway, what’s the harm in one little kiss?
People do it all the time. It’s not like it really means anything.
Right?
“Yes.”
My agreement is barely audible, and from the way Calvin’s eyes widen, I don’t think he was expecting it.
“Fuck. Really?”
“Don’t give me a chance to come to my senses.”
“Shit, yeah. You’re right. I should be blowing your mind instead.”
And then, finally, after what feels like a lifetime of teasing, he lowers his head, his eyes locked on mine as if he’s waiting for me to back out.
But I won’t. Not this time.
This time, just for a few moments, I let myself indulge in my wildest fantasy.
I allow myself to be his.