Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
Nate
“You wouldn’t have won if we’d beaten you.”
Yogi Berra
She was still asleep when I opened my eyes—curled on her side, one arm flung over the pillow that used to belong to me. Hair everywhere. Lips parted. A soft breath rising and falling from the center of her chest.
I didn’t move. Just watched her. Let myself look because this moment was borrowed, and I knew it.
She wore my hoodie, sleeves bunched up around her wrists, one pale leg tangled in the sheets like she’d tried to kick them off in the night. I remembered how she looked in the glow of the TV, all warm and tucked into my side, quoting The Sandlot and laughing so hard she snorted.
I remembered the kiss, too. God, the kiss. I’d had flings. Hookups. The kind of lazy, forgettable moments you tuck away and barely remember after a few months.
But that kiss?
That one lived in my ribs now like an echo. It was brave of her to admit she didn’t know what she wanted—she wasn’t putting on a front or saying what she thought I wanted to hear.
I traced the edge of her jaw with one finger, careful not to wake her. I followed the line to her chin, then up, just barely brushing her lips. She stirred, lips parting a little, and let out a soft breath that caused my heart to race. She was so fucking sexy.
She looked peaceful here.
Too peaceful to be lying in a bed with a man twelve years older, twice as jaded, and maybe too broken for someone like her.
We were opposites. She was all color and noise and sunshine and recklessness.
I was everything she wasn’t. I was quiet, grumpy, methodical, stuck.
This was supposed to be a PR stunt. A strategy.
A favor to Lauren and a distraction from my stats and a way to show the team I’d do anything to stay here where my life was.
Yet when Cassidy snuggled closer to me, I knew deep down this shit wasn’t fake anymore. I was gonna do whatever I could to show her I could be what she needs.
“You watching me like a creepy old man?” she mumbled, her voice thick with sleep but her lips curving up like she was already proud of herself. “I can feel you staring.”
I scoffed, half annoyed, half entertained. “We need to move on from this old man shit.”
“But it’s so fun to rile you.” She yawned, stretching her slim and fit body, and when her eyes finally blinked open, she smiled up at me. “See? You get the wrinkle right here.” She reached up and tapped between my brows, fingers warm on my skin. “Adorable.”
“First I’m a creepy old man, now I’m adorable?
” I pushed up onto one elbow, hovering just enough to look at her without completely losing it.
My hoodie had slipped halfway down her shoulder, exposing her collarbone and a sliver of skin that was going to haunt me until I died. I wanted to fucking taste her.
She giggled, light and wicked, and poked my chest. “So easy to mess with you. You get all growly. That stern daddy voice comes out.”
“Stern daddy?”
She nodded solemnly, but her eyes were sparkling. “Oh yeah. Big stern brunch daddy energy. You know—like you’d scold me for being late to a reservation, but also order for me and pay.”
“Wait … what the fuck are you even talking about?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.” She licked the corner of her lip, slow and taunting, and I swear my soul left my body.
“I never know if you’re teasing me, mocking me, or trying to kill me.”
“That is the point, O’Brien.”
Her voice dropped just a hair lower, silk laced with heat, and her gaze flicked down to my mouth and back up, slow enough to be intentional, fast enough to feel like sin. She wasn’t laughing anymore. She wasn’t hiding behind the teasing.
I leaned in an inch, then another, not closing the distance, just watching her breathe faster. My fingers brushed her jaw, tracing the delicate line beneath her ear. Her skin was warm, soft, and when I slid my hand down to the curve of her neck, her pulse thudded against my thumb. Hard. Fast.
“Tell me you’ve thought about that kiss,” I said, my voice rough, damn near wrecked. Not a question. A fact.
“Every night since,” she whispered. “What about you, old man? Still thinking about it, or just trying to top it?”
I groaned, low and dark. She had no idea what she was doing to me. Or maybe she did. And that was even worse. But I couldn’t take it anymore. She was in my bed in my clothes and I wanted to kiss that attitude out of her mouth, consequences be damned.
I had to pull away. Respect what she said. It took a shit ton of effort, but I pulled back. “Look, Cass—”
“Don’t pull away from me.”
“You said you weren’t ready,” I gritted out, my blood pumping. I fisted my hand to hold myself back.
“For a relationship, not this. Please,” she begged, absolutely destroying any resolve I had left.
“You are a menace,” I said, leaning down and taking her earlobe between my teeth.
“Tell me to stop.” I finally let myself give into my thoughts and rolled on top of her, sucking the skin right beneath her ear, my blood heating as she rocked her hips against me.
“Please, tell me to stop because I’m not sure I can. ”
“I can’t,” she whispered, voice breaking. “Not sure I want to.”
“Say you want this,” I demanded, breath hot against her cheek. My self-restraint was in a chokehold, barely hanging on with her scent surrounding me and her wet, pillow lips right in front of me.
“Nate,” she whispered, her heated gaze already on my mouth. “Stop talking and prove you’ve been thinking about it too.”
Her gaze dropped to my mouth, then back up with something sharp behind it. Things would get a thousand times harder if she walked away, but in one slow inhale, the tip of her tongue against her lip, and everything inside me snapped.
My mouth landed on hers, hard. She met it with the same intensity, hands already fisting in my shirt like she wanted me closer than skin allowed.
Her lips moved against mine fast, confident, hot.
No hesitation. Her body shifted under mine, thighs pressing together, chest rising faster with every breath.
I slid my hand along her jaw, fingers curling into her hair.
Tilted her head the way I wanted. Her mouth opened wider, deeper, like she needed more.
Tongue slick against mine, teeth catching the edge of my lip.
My hips pressed forward. She arched into it, chasing friction.
Heat rolled through my spine and out to my fingertips.
Her hands tugged me down harder. Hips grinding up, seeking more. I dropped a hand to her waist, dragged it along the hem of my hoodie bunched up around her thighs. Her legs spread and wrapped around mine, pulling me flush.
I rocked against her. Slow. Controlled. She gasped into my mouth and did it again. Again. Her rhythm caught mine. Her breath hitched when I groaned, deep and sharp in the back of my throat.
The hoodie slid higher. Bare skin. Her thighs bracketing my hips. I pressed harder, caught the edge of her panties against the front of my sweats. She moaned. Not quiet. Not shy. Desperate, raspy, and sexy as hell.
She rocked faster against me, her breathing more erratic and her moans deeper.
Heat pulsed through every point of contact.
Her grip shifted to my neck, then my shoulders.
Fingernails dragged along my skin. I buried my mouth in her neck and kissed there, then bit gently, sucking the skin until her back arched.
More. She needed more. So did I.
I dropped to my elbows, chest flush with hers, mouths locked again. Her thighs flexed around me. She rolled her hips once, twice, until she hit the perfect angle and ground against me with a sound that made my vision go white.
“Nate, oh my god, I might…”
“Yes, give it to me,” I urged, kissing along her jaw to her mouth. “Take what you need from me.”
She dug into my shoulders, her legs tightening around my waist as she arched her hips again. Her breath hitched. Then it caught, sharp and high, and her whole body trembled under mine.
“Nate—” Her voice cracked, almost a sob, and she ground against me once more, eyes fluttering closed, mouth falling open.
That sound. That moment. I lost my goddamn mind.
Her body tightened. Her thighs shook. She gasped my name again. Her face flushed, cheeks blooming pink, mouth slack, and she clung to me as her body trembled.
I froze. Just watched. Felt her come apart under me with nothing between us but cotton and need. My breath hitched. My chest cracked open.
She was beautiful. So fucking beautiful as she came.
Head thrown back, lips parted, breathing hard—her eyes squeezed shut. Her hands gripped my back like she was still trying to pull me closer, even as her entire body shook through it.
I whispered her name, kissed her jaw, her mouth, her cheek. I didn’t stop touching her. Didn’t let up. I wasn’t going to let her go.
She whimpered—raw, unfiltered—and I swear to God, my own body shuddered just from watching hers come down. My cock throbbed, tight and desperate, but I didn’t move. I couldn’t.
“Fuck,” I breathed against her temple. “You just … I can’t—”
She blinked up at me, eyes glassy and lips kiss-swollen, still catching her breath. Her cheeks flushed. Her chest still rising fast. She smiled briefly, before her eyes widened.
“I can’t believe I just orgasmed. Oh my god,” she whispered.
“Do that to me every day,” I said, voice rough. “Every fucking day, Cassidy.”
She pressed her lips together, almost like she was embarrassed, but I wouldn’t have any of that. “No,” I tilted her chin until she looked at me. “I refuse to let you feel any way but good after that.”
She swallowed so hard it clicked and she blew out a long breath. “I might be in shock.”
“Yeah?” I smiled, cradling her face in my hands as I remained laying on top of her. Her legs were still wrapped around me, my cock pressing into her middle. “Imagine how good it would be if I actually touched you.”
She laughed and brushed her hair out of her face. “It’s been so long since I’ve come with someone. Even with Mathias—”