Chapter 18 #2
“Getting plates. We’re not poor college kids anymore. We can afford to eat off the plates and not the wrappers,” I say over my shoulder.
“For the record, neither one of us were poor college kids, we just never bought plates of any kind,” she reminds me.
“I prefer to think of us as poor and not lazy,” I say, returning to hand her a plate.
“Ooh and you sprung for real plates,” she teases me as she accepts it and begins plating her food. “Here.” She holds my cheeseburger out to me and I accept it, our fingers brushing lightly.
This is the first time we’ve just hung out like this, and I can’t stop thinking of all the ways that I would love to touch her.
I practically want to invent reasons just so that I have some excuse to put my hands on her.
But I remember what Dex told me—we are working on the long game here.
So, devouring her after we eat our dinner would probably not be the best move.
“You got quiet over there on me.” Hendrix stares at me, waiting for me to respond before turning back to her food.
I reach over and grab a fry that she placed on her plate, popping it into my mouth. “Sorry, just hungry, I guess.”
She nods slowly, staring at me like she’s trying to figure out what I’m hiding. Because she is not buying the response that I gave her. “I just want to hang out tonight. I don’t want to talk about last night.”
I nod. She misread my stare, but I don’t bother to correct her because she doesn’t need to know that I plan on winning her back. However long that might take.
“I’m not going to bring it up unless you want to, Hen. It’s up to you what you say to me about it anymore. I know and that’s that. We can move on from it or discuss as many times as you need to,” I tell her.
“Who are you?” she asks, looking at me with her mouth agape.
“I don’t follow.”
“The August I knew wouldn’t have been so kind about that. You would have insisted that we talk about it because that’s what you wanted,” she reminds me.
“I know, but I’ve changed. Maybe if you tamped down the hate a bit, you could see that.” I go for teasing, but I can see it falls flat.
“I don’t show you that much hate. Especially not lately.” She shoots me a wink that goes straight to my dick.
I groan. “Are you planning on demonstrating any of that tonight?”
“I can if you eat all of your food,” Her voice drops to a deliciously low timber that makes me want to crawl across the floor and pull her beneath me.
“Keep talking to me like that and we’re going to need to reheat this food,” I say, my gaze firmly planted on her.
She just shakes her head and laughs. “I’m not scared of you.”
I smirk. “I’m not trying to make you scared of me, just trying to make you come.”
“I thought the point was to make me not hate you anymore,” she challenges.
“I feel like we’re halfway there. Not sure when that shifted.
Whether it was the night I brought you here, or took you in the locker room, but your hatred for me is starting to lessen.
Might even be with each thrust. I can put in overtime tonight if you think it’ll help.
” I pop a fry in my mouth and just watch her process the moment.
She swallows and says, “If that’s what you think is best.”
I gulp, just watching her. This was not what I expected from her.
“There’s no need to make this too heavy, August. No one promised anyone anything other than dinner tonight,” her voice trails off before she adds, “and maybe some fun. Nothing earth- shattering happening here.”
I nod. She has no idea. She might be thinking this is casual or she’s trying to convince herself that it is, but there’s no way that it could stay that way. She’s everything.
We eat in silence and I flip on the TV while we watch a few Food Network cooking challenge shows.
“You still like to do this, huh?” she asks me once she settles into the couch.
I’ve moved over so that I’m sitting directly beside her. I can feel the heat coming from her thigh that is almost touching mine.
“I do. I might not be able to cook but it’s fun watching others do it.”
“Sometime I’ll have to cook with you. You can catch a live show,” she remarks, stealing a glance in my direction as she says it.
“Really?” My head snaps in her direction. I doubt we have the same definition of live show right now. All I can think about is diving into her and letting anyone who dares come near my door hear what I’m doing to her.
“Yeah, I learned. Felt like it was time to cook for myself and not live off of takeout for the rest of my life,” she says shrugging, the motion bumping her shoulder into mine.
“Good for you,” I deadpan because I have no idea what else to say to this woman.
She just nods and looks in my direction before leaning across me to my discarded plate and grabbing one of the fries that are left. Before she can bring the fry to her mouth, I catch her wrist and direct it into my mouth.
“Thank you,” my voice comes out low and throaty. Her breath hitches and I lean in, placing my forehead against hers. I can tell her breath is coming out slow and ragged. “Can I kiss you?”
“Since when do you ask?” she breathes.
“Since I want to start doing something right when it comes to you. And that includes asking before I put my lips on yours,” I tell her.
“Is that all you want to do?”
I chuckle. “I figure that we could start with that and then see where the night takes us.” My hand lands firmly on her hip, and I feel a jolt of electricity shoot through me at just one touch.
She feels it too.
Her dark eyes widen as she swallows and draws her bottom lip in between her teeth.
My eyes flick to her mouth and back again. What I wouldn’t give to bite that lip and hear her moan with just that action.
“August.” My name comes out like a plea.
I know what she wants. I can feel the electricity between us. If I moved a quarter of an inch, I’d have her on me and there would be no stopping us. I don’t care if the neighbors come banging on my door because it’s too loud. Nothing would make me stop.
“Henny,” the nickname slides out so easily. It’s one I haven’t used in years. It’s full of memories, wanting and needing. I could never bring myself to let it cross my lips. But something about this moment just feels right.
“What are you doing to me?”
The question catches me off guard, but I chuckle. “I could ask you the same thing.”
“This isn’t a good idea,” she protests, drawing back when all I want to do is draw her in.
“And the bedroom was? What about the locker room? Were all of those bad ideas too? Because I think this is the most hidden we’ve been since whatever this is started,” I say, gesturing between us. “It’s okay to still want me, Hen. God knows that I still want you.”
The confession comes out before I can stop and I see her shake her head. My heart sinks thinking that she is going to walk out of here right now. I’ve said the only thing that would make her run.
And I hate myself for it.
“August, it’s more complicated now than back then. It’s not just me and you trying to survive college. This is my career and yours,” she reminds me.
I shake my head. “I’m so fucking sick of everyone else getting to dictate our lives, Hendrix.
When is it time for me and you to finally get what we want?
When does it get to stop being about duty and responsibility?
When does it get to just be about you and me being happy together? You want that and I want that.”
I pull her towards me, taking away the space she tried to create between us. “Think about it,” I breathe out.
“Sometimes it’s all I think about.”
Her confession knocks me flat. I can’t believe those words left her mouth. Based on the way she treated from the first time she landed in Tampa, I never in a million years thought we would be sitting here on my couch like this, with her saying those words.
“Really?”
She nods, biting her lip again. I have the urge to lean forward and capture it.
“You hate me,” I remind her.
She shakes her head, tears forming in her eyes. “It’s easier to hate you than to miss you, August. Haven’t you figured that out yet?”
I chuckle. “No, clearly not.”
“There’s a thin line between love and hate,” she reminds me of the saying that I’ve heard so many times and never truly believed until this moment.
“What does that even mean? You’ve loved me all this time?” I ask her, swallowing.
A tear falls and she shrugs. “I don’t think I’m ready to say that I love you again. But I know that I’m exhausted from pretending that I don’t want you anymore. It’s getting old and very lonely,” she admits.
I pull her to me, capturing her lips. There’s nothing tentative about this kiss.
It’s heated and rushed. Her lips are fighting to keep up with mine as I nip and suck.
My tongue finds its way into her mouth without really asking for permission.
She responds by gripping onto the hem of my shorts and pulling me to her.
I need her closer.
Grabbing her hips, I pull her flush against me, sliding my hands down to grab at the back of her thighs.
She figures out what I’m trying to do and places her legs on either side of me.
I can feel her heat through the thin shorts she wears.
My cock is bulging against my own shorts, wishing to dive into the warmth.
But I don’t rush her. I continue to kiss and tease her while she moans deep in her throat.
I take her sounds as a request for more.
And that’s what I give her.
My lips leave hers and slide down her neck. Hendrix cries out when I nip over her throbbing pulse, my hands working their way inside of her shirt so that I can cup her breasts. Before I touch her, really touch her, there’s something that I have to know.
“Are you mine again?” I ask her.
The question startles her. Her eyes widen and snap to mine. “I...” she stammers out. “I have no idea,” she says, finding her voice again. “I just know that I’m not walking out of this room until you fuck me.”
I grin at her. “I think I can help you with that.”
I lie back, taking her with me so that I can feel the full weight of her on top of me.
My lips find hers again, but this time more tender and slower, like I want to memorize this feeling, in case it’s the last time she lets me kiss her like this.
Her hands are searching underneath my shirt, for what I’m not sure, but I’ll take her touching me in any way I can get.
I hear a groan come from her lips, so I pull back. It’s not the kind I was expecting—this one sounds frustrated.
I pull back. “Can I help you?”
“I want to feel your skin,” she tells me breathlessly.
I grin at her, realizing what she’s been working on. “Then you shall.” I wiggle my shirt out from underneath of me and slowly pull it over my head. “But I get to have your shirt too.” She grins and does exactly as I ask. “And I really hate that you are wearing pants right now.”
Her grin widens. “They’re shorts, actually.”
“Shorts, pants, whatever. I don’t want anything between me and that pussy. So, baby, lose it all.”
I love the flush that covers her cheeks. She can be so bold and so innocent at the same time. She’s my favorite contradiction.
“That goes for you too,” she tells me as she stands and quickly discards the shorts and her underwear all in one swift motion.
“Yes ma’am.” I wink at her and immediately remove the final pieces of my clothing. “You wanna come here and go for a ride?” I ask her, sitting up and beckoning her with my finger.
“God, yes,” she replies, squealing as she jumps on.
I grin at her. I love seeing her like this—carefree and uninhibited. I never thought she could be this way with me again. I maneuver us so that my back is against the couch which she can use for leverage.
I line my cock up with her entrance, looking her square in the eye, waiting for that nod. She gives it to me and I fill her. Slowly, like I want to memorize the motion should she ever decide that we can’t do this anymore.
“August,” she moans out when I’m fully inside of her. “Nothing has ever felt this good.”
“Good,” I say, pulling her closer. “I want nothing to ever feel like this.”
I let her set the pace. She rides me slowly, tentatively at first. It’s not until I have a nipple in my hand and the other in my mouth that she picks up her pace. It becomes fast and furious, and I can tell by the way she tightens around my cock that she doesn’t have long. Frankly, neither do I.
“You are so fucking amazing,” I tell her as I roll her nipples.
“I’ve missed this and you,” she breathes out.
“I have too. You have no idea how many times I’ve fantasized about you here just like this,” I tell her, my breath coming out ragged as my release continues to build.
I reach down and rub small circles on her clit because I need her to come, I’m not going to make it much longer. Hendrix throws her head back and cries out, and I decide it’s not only my new favorite sight, but sound too.
“Fuck yes, August,” she cries as she comes all over my cock.
I follow her. “You are so fucking amazing,” I tell her as my thrusts slow to a stop.
We sit there staring into each other’s eyes, neither one of us wanting to end the moment.
A minute passes and reality settles in. “I hate to say this, but if we don’t move soon, we might ruin the couch.”
“You can afford a new one,” she teases me, leaning down to place a quick kiss on my lips.
“I can and I will if that’s what you want,” I admit.
“Oh really?” she asks me, her tone teasing but her eyes are watching me carefully like they are trying to catch the bullshit.
I pull her closer to me again so that our chests are touching, “Really, Hendrix. Whatever you want, I’m in.”
She doesn’t speak, but we spend the next few hours fucking on any surface we can find in my apartment, which I take as good sign.
I hold her while we sleep and she’s even there in the morning.
She might not have admitted she’s mine again, but I take it as a step in the right direction that she didn’t run.