Chapter 16 #2
I swallowed hard, grabbing another antiseptic wipe and a pair of tweezers from the first aid kit Pete had handed me.
“This is gonna sting,” I said, voice rougher than I intended.
She nodded, biting her bottom lip, eyes wide as she stared at me.
I crouched in front of her, knees brushing the inside of her calves, and braced her ankle lightly with one hand.
Her skin was warm under my palm, a living, breathing furnace, and I had to grit my teeth to keep my hands steady.
One by one, I picked the tiny rocks and dirt out of her skin, every little hiss she made slicing straight through my chest.
“Sorry, sunshine,” I murmured every time she flinched.
Her thigh trembled under my hand as I worked, brushing the back of my knuckles along the sensitive skin just above the wound. Her breathing was ragged, and her hands made fists on the table. I wanted those fists in my hair, tugging and pulling, but I forced the thought away.
“You’re doing great,” I muttered, wrapping gauze around her knee, my fingers trailing up the curve of her thigh longer than necessary.
She sucked in a breath, her chest rising and falling too fast, her lashes fluttering.
I pressed the end of the bandage down, sealing it with medical tape, and leaned back just enough to meet her gaze. Those big blue eyes wrecked me, full of trust and something hotter, needier, more dangerous.
My hands didn’t move from her skin.
And for one wild second, I thought about shoving the first aid kit off the table, pinning her beneath me, and finally giving in to the gravity pulling us together. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”
She shook her head.
My fingers remained on her knees, soft and delicate just like her.
Her chest heaved and the same, lust-filled thoughts overtook my brain.
I swallowed hard, continuing to caress her knees as she stared at me.
“Do you know how fucking hard it was to see you tease and flirt with my teammates all morning?”
She grinned something wicked, then ran her finger over my forearm. “Do you know how fucking easy it is to rile you up?”
“Was that your plan today?” I stepped closer, the heat between her legs pressing against my stiffening cock. “To rile me up?”
She nodded. “Sure was.”
“And why is that?” I moved my hand up her side, barely grazing the side of her breast before resting it on her shoulder again. “Do you enjoy pissing me off?”
“Oh, I didn’t intend to piss you off, O’Brien.” She shifted, sitting higher. “I wanted to make you jealous. I think I was successful.”
“You are a fucking menace.” I breathed her in, taking in her button nose and long eye lashes, pretty lips. “You want the truth, baby? Every time Pavin touched you, I saw red. Every time you smiled at Garcia? I wanted to rip his face off.”
Her eyes flashed with heat, daring me, undoing me, wrecking every last piece of patience I thought I had left.
I bent lower, my lips a breath away from hers, breathing her in like she was the only air left on the planet.
“I want your smiles,” I rasped, my forehead pressing against hers. “I want you to only touch me. I want your moans. Got that?”
“Kinda possessive for a fake boyfriend,” she whispered back, her voice so raspy, so perfect it pushed me over the edge.
That was it.
I crashed my mouth onto hers without another thought, without a prayer left in me. Our lips collided, messy, greedy, desperate, and I swear to God I saw stars behind my eyes.
She gasped into my mouth, and I swallowed it down like it belonged to me.
Her hands clawed at my shoulders, nails digging in, anchoring me to her like she needed me just as much as I needed her.
And fuck, I needed to taste her.
I slid my hand down her spine, gripping her lower back hard, forcing her to arch against me until there was no space left between us.
She fit me—hips to chest, mouth to mouth—like she was made for this, for me.
I licked into her mouth, groaning low in my throat when she opened for me without hesitation, her tongue brushing mine, soft and wild at the same time.
She tasted like sunshine and strawberries and sin, and I was already addicted.
Cassidy whimpered, tilting her head to deepen the kiss, and it shattered the last scrap of control I had.
I gripped her thighs, yanking her legs up around my waist so I could feel all her heat. She tightened around me, dragging me closer, grinding against me in tiny, desperate circles that had me biting back a growl.
“You drive me fucking insane,” I muttered against her mouth, my hands sliding under the hem of her tank top, feeling the burning heat of her skin against my palms.
“Good,” she gasped, tugging at my hair, tilting my mouth harder against hers. “Maybe it’ll teach you some manners.”
I laughed, a broken, haggard sound, and kissed her deeper, harder, until we were both shaking with it.
Until my chest heaved against hers and her nails dug into my back like she wanted to mark me.
My hands roamed over her waist, her ribs, the underside of her breasts, learning every inch of her by heart. She was soft and wild and so fucking real it made my heart hurt.
“You’re mine, sunshine,” I growled into her skin, dragging my mouth down her jaw, over her throat, biting lightly where her pulse pounded frantic against my lips.
“No more flirting with other men.”
She moaned, low and broken, her fingers tangling in the collar of my shirt like she wanted to rip it clean off. “Make me.”
I kissed her harder, rougher, because she only teased me when she felt something.
Her hips bucked against mine, and it was pure instinct when I pressed her back against the training table, pinning her there with my body.
Still kissing her, still losing myself in her, still dying a little because no kiss, no touch, no fucking drug could ever make me feel like this.
Cassidy gasped my name and I damn near came undone from just that.
I pulled back an inch, just enough to see her face, her swollen lips, her dazed, confused, beautiful blue eyes.
And I grinned, slow and dark, because I knew without a doubt. This girl was about to ruin me. I helped her sit up, my hands still lingering too long on her waist, her breath hitching when I touched her.
“God, I could get used to looking at you like this,” I muttered, licking my lips, tasting her on them like it would never be enough.
She rolled her eyes, but her cheeks flushed deep pink. “Relax, O’Brien,” she said, breathless but cocky. “It was just adrenaline.”
I laughed, low and wrecked, because she was lying and we both knew it.
“Sure, sunshine,” I said, brushing my thumb over the corner of her mouth one last time. “Keep telling yourself that.”
She hopped off the table, slipping her jersey back on, pretending like she wasn’t still shaking a little.
“Don’t get attached, old man,” she tossed over her shoulder with a wicked smirk.
I let her walk away, when we both clearly needed space. But I was afraid her words were a little too late. I was already attached to my 12 years younger fake influencer girlfriend and I had no idea what the fuck to do about it.