Chapter 15
KYLIE
Luc collapsed on top of me after he came with a grunt. I’d lost track of how many orgasms I had had between round one and whatever round we were on now.
“I think you’ve helped me answer a question,” I said.
“And that is?” Luc asked, holding himself up on his elbows.
“I’m definitely not asexual.”
I thought he would laugh, but my statement earned one of Luc’s more serious expressions.
“Did you honestly think that?” Luc asked, rolling off of me and making quick work of the condom.
“Maybe? If not asexual, I worried that I would never be able to get out of my head enough with a partner.”
“How was I different?” Luc asked.
Taking a moment to think about it, my eyes wandered over Luc.
Physically, there was no denying that Luc was the best-looking man I’d ever been with, but that should have made me more nervous about letting go with him.
It was the way he’d been so vocal; he’d told me what I did right, and I never had to guess.
My eyes squeezed closed with the memory of him telling me what a good girl I was.
“I never once wondered if you were into it or if you found me attractive. You told me.”
“Praise.”
“Yeah, I think that’s what they call it,” I said.
His answer to my agreement was another one of those heart-melting smiles.
This beautiful man was a contradiction of hard muscle, a commanding tone, and that soft smile, and the knowledge of how much he liked to take care of me, before, after, and while we were having sex.
“Do you need the bathroom? I need to toss the condom, but then I want to show you something.”
“Yeah,” I said. Sitting up, I made my way into the bathroom. I had only glanced into the room when he gave me the initial tour, but his primary bathroom was bigger than my new apartment bedroom. I imagined he made a decent living as a pitching coach, but this was on another level.
I winced when I used the toilet, the soreness from what we had been doing all night finally setting in. And, yeah, I was cold.
Luc took his turn in the bathroom and then realized I was shivering.
“T-shirt?” he asked.
“Yes, please.”
Luc tugged me towards his bureau and pulled out a Minutemen T-shirt. He helped me slide it over my head, leaving the hem to dust along the top of my knees, longer than the dress I had worn to dinner. Shit, dinner felt like days ago.
“What did you want to show me?” I asked, watching him pull a pair of sweat shorts on; my hand reflexively reached out, tracing the V of his abdomen as it disappeared below the waistband.
“Careful, baby. We won’t make it out of the bedroom.”
“Do you like that?” I asked. I was still unsure of touching him and whether my touch would be welcomed.
Luc brought us towards the mirror and turned us so we were both facing forward.
“You’re gorgeous when decked out for a dinner date, hot as fuck spread wide on my kitchen counter, and beautiful in my T-shirt. I don’t know who made you feel like you aren’t the most beautiful woman in the room, Kylie. But they need a pair of glasses.”
Under his gaze, I felt as beautiful as he claimed I was.
I blinked, taking in the image of the two of us.
Luc’s athletic build was long and lean and rivaled that of some of the Minutemen’s current players.
His tattoos had been unexpected, but I loved the contrast to his generally buttoned-up personality. And damn, he was playful.
At 5’5”, I was neither tall nor short, but the top of my head only met his shoulders, and he had to duck as he wrapped his arms around my waist. It felt good, safe even.
And yes, it was a feeling that I had been seeking and had brought me over and under many partners, who had all left slightly disappointed.
Was I playing with fire?
“What did you want to show me?”
“Come,” he said, his tone had slipped from playful back into full-on command.
I followed a few steps behind to a second bedroom that, at first glance, looked like a regular spare bedroom. And against the back wall, there were what I initially thought were skis, crisscrossed and leaning against the wall.
“Wait, is that a St. Andrew’s Cross?” I had read about the BDSM bondage furniture but had never seen one in person.
“It is,” he said, watching me nervously.
“We’ll use that at some point?” I asked hopefully.
“It appears so,” he answered, watching me as I approached for a closer look.
“What do you know about restraints?” I asked. God, I had fantasized about this, but never had I trusted anyone enough to try it. I hadn’t even been able to talk about those fantasies with anyone.
“Here,” he said, opening a drawer with various types of ropes, cuffs, and a few other items I didn’t recognize. “I’ve had some practice, but most importantly, I can release them fast if you need me to.”
I nodded, and shit, how the hell was I ready to go again?
“I see that,” Luc said. Hid fingertips dusted the tight bud my nipple made under the T-shirt. “But not tonight, Ky. As much as I’d love you strapped to that cross and spread-eagled for me, I’m not ready to play until I know your lists of hell yeses and hard passes.”
I yawned and looked down at my watch. Luc’s gaze followed mine, his eyes widening in surprise as we both realized that it was well past three in the morning.
“Shit, I completely lost track of time,” I said.
“Same, let’s go to bed,” Luc said, turning the lights off in the room and shutting the door behind us.
When we got back to his bedroom, Luc turned back the covers and brought me into the bathroom, where he pulled an unopened toothbrush out of the closet for me.
“Do you always keep a toothbrush for your overnight guests?”
“Kylie, you’re the first overnight guest I’ve had here. The toothbrush is thanks to my dentist.”
I nodded, finding more relief in his response than I wanted. I brushed my teeth and used the bathroom once Luc gave me some privacy.
Before getting into bed, I realized that I hadn’t told my Dad not to wait up. Ugh.
“Luc?” As I left the bathroom, I asked, “Have you seen my phone?”
He gestured to the bedside table where he had plugged it into the charger.
“I grabbed it while I was downstairs getting a glass of water.”
Surprised once more at his attentiveness, I nodded and picked up the phone to check, and I found a single text from my father.
Dad: Heading to bed. You know how to reach me if you need me.
Me: Sorry, it’s so late. I’ll be home in the morning.
“Was someone waiting up for you?” Luc asked.
“I thought my dad might be. My mom works overnight, but tonight she’s home. They don’t always have time together, as they aren’t often on the same schedule. Looks like he went to bed hours ago.”
“And now he thinks a serial killer has abducted you…”
“Nah, I share my location with him. He’d know exactly where to find me if I didn’t come home in the morning. Just in case you’re hiding some strange criminal tendencies.”
Luc got into bed and patted the spot beside me, “I’ve shown you the biggest secret I’ve got, and it’s in the spare bedroom.”
“Yeah, that’s not something I’ll be telling my family about.”
“You don’t talk about your mom much? Are you two close?”
I crawled into bed, Luc pulling me into a spoon.
“Yes and no. She’s a great mom, but because she works nights, we often miss out on a lot of normal time with her.
There were benefits while we were growing up; she could always drop us off at school and never miss a field trip, but she was often exhausted.
My father is physically around more. How about your family? ”
“Hmm, not sure where to start. What did your Google search show you, aside from my ex-wife? What did you find out?”
“Your brother plays baseball,” I said, turning in his arms and pressing him onto his back. I placed my cheek against his chest and traced the outline of his tattoos as the light from the bathroom shimmered in the bedroom.
“Yes. Jack plays in LA. My family is from Southern California, and he was fortunate enough to finish his career close to home. Or what we expect to be the end of his career.”
“Are you two close?” I asked, wanting to understand the dynamic of the two brothers.
“Yeah, he’s my best friend,” Luc said, a hint of pride in his voice. “The rest of the family can be a bit tough to handle. My father passed away when we were in high school, and my mother raised us with my grandparents’ help. That help came with a price.”
“I read that you had a sister?” I asked, wondering why Luc hadn’t mentioned her yet.
“Yeah, Molly. I didn’t know about her until I was fourteen.
She’s ten years younger than me, resulting from one of my father’s affairs.
It was pretty scandalous then, but it happened before Jack’s name or mine became recognizable.
But in case you’re wondering, I don’t pay the mortgage with what I earn coaching; my father set us up before he passed.
And until we were thirty, our grandparents had control over our finances, so yeah, the tattoos are only where I can cover them under a polo shirt. ”
I absorbed what his words. I still wanted to know where and how he’d met Skylar. But I supposed that was just my morbid curiosity, wanting to know details that would likely tear me apart in the end.
“I’ve heard a bit about Kelsey, but what about your older sister?”
I sighed, “Kendra and I were close when we were younger, but something happened when she went away to college. We don’t know why, but she’s not the same. And yes, we’ve done everything short of a televised intervention to try getting it out of her.”
I looked at the digital clock on the nightstand, realizing that we’d again gotten caught up talking instead of sleeping.
“I know,” he said, acknowledging the time. “We did it again. What time do you absolutely need to be home?” he asked.
“It’s not an absolute. I honestly don’t have a lot of stuff to move, and I’ve ordered a new bed to be delivered at 1:00 p.m. How about you?” I asked.
“I have to be at the stadium about 11:00 a.m.”
“But the game isn’t until 7:00 p.m.?” I asked, curious about what happened behind the scenes with sports teams.
“There’s a lot that happens outside the game, including studying how every batter in the league behaves at the plate and helping to communicate that with my pitchers and catchers. I decided to spend tonight with you instead.”
“You’ll have to tell me more about that when we have time,” I said. Fighting another yawn.
“Next time,” he said, as I felt his lips press against the top of my head. “Goodnight, Kylie.”
“Night,” I said and fell fast asleep.