Chapter 38
THIRTY-EIGHT
CONNOR
Daisy is lying on the living room floor when I get home, headphones on and feet kicked up behind her while her fingers fly across the keyboard. I have no clue how she does that without getting a kink in her neck, but it’s not the first time I’ve caught her sprawled out on the floor to write.
I stop in the doorway, leaning one shoulder against the frame and crossing my arms over my chest. I should pull back and let her be, but I don’t want to.
My sweatshirt is too big on her, the hem on her shorts barely peeking out under it. I like this version of her—when she’s all herself.
She must feel my eyes on her, because she glances up. She pushes her headphones back and I raise my brows at her. “You know we have a perfectly good couch, right?”
She rolls her eyes before dipping her eyes back down to the screen. “I can’t lie on my stomach on that thing. It’s not comfy.”
“Do you want to test that theory?” I challenge. Her eyes snap back to mine and I enjoy the way her mouth falls open on an O. The things I could do to that mouth.
I can’t help the little twinge of disappointment that runs through me when she shakes herself out of it a little too soon. “You’re home early.”
“Coach had us leave an hour early to avoid the afternoon traffic. Finn gave me a ride. You looked terrified when I left you with me car, so I thought I would spare you the trip.” I snicker, earning myself a scowl from her.
“It’s not my fault you drive a tank.”
“Your odd sense of sizing really works in my favor.” I laugh. She just grumbles before turning her attention back to her laptop. I push off of the doorframe and head for the couch.
“What are you doing?” she asks a few minutes later when she looks up and finds me watching her.
“Just watching.” I shrug.
“Don’t you have something better to do?”
“I don’t think so.”
Probably should be catching up on my homework or figuring out a way to apologize to Luke instead of sitting here staring at you like a lost puppy, waiting for you to notice me.
But I’m so tired I might fall asleep before I open my textbook, and Luke didn’t even glance my way when I boarded the team bus this morning, so that’s an out too. Besides, I don’t have the energy to deal with him after last night. I sat next to Aiden in silence on the five-hour drive home.
“I’m not going to be able to concentrate if you keep looking at me like that.” She sighs, pushing up so she’s sitting. Her hands reach for her hair, and she ties it up in a knot at the top of her head.
“Is that a problem?”
“It will be if I never finish this manuscript.”
“I’ve seen the way you type away on your phone when you think I’m asleep. I think you’ll be just fine,” I tease her. I’m pretty sure the world could come crumbling down around her and she wouldn’t notice as long as she has her head buried in her story. “I think you deserve a break.”
She only hesitates for a second before sliding her headphones all the way off and ditching them next to her laptop.
I’m beaming at her when she pushes off the floor and rounds the coffee table.
She falls onto the couch next to me and my hand instantly finds her thigh, loving the way her soft skin feels under my calloused fingers.
I shouldn’t be feeling this relieved at touching her again after only being away for two nights.
“How was the rest of your week?” I ask, pretending not to notice how she shuffles closer to me when I lean my head against the back of the couch and look at her.
“Really? That’s what you want to talk about?”
“Why not?” My thumb slides across her skin, slow circles that probably calm myself more than her.
She shrugs, resting her head against the cushion so we’re eye to eye.
I love her eyes. Light brown with a sprinkle of green that I could get lost in forever.
“It’s been two days. I figured you would want to have me halfway naked by now.”
“I always want you naked.”
“Yet I’m fully clothed.”
“I want to hear about your day first.”
She bites her lip before a wide beam takes over her face. “I met with Tarah. She seems to think I’m finally on the right track.”
“That’s good, right?”
She picks at a loose thread of the cushion between us.
Her fingers are so close to my hip I wish she would just touch me instead even if it’s just to take her nervous energy out on me.
My thumb does another slow sweep on her thigh.
“Yeah, it’s really good. I’m just hoping I can keep it up through the end. ”
“You’ll figure it out.”
She smirks at me, brows raised as she says, “Maybe if you had let me stay on the floor I would be done by now.”
“You can crawl back down if you want.”
My heartbeat spikes when she stays seated. We fall into silence and my eyes slide closed at their own accord, soaking up the feel of her next to me.
I’m not sure how long we sit like this, neither of us moving, this weird in-between of touching without really touching.
I like it way more than I probably should, knowing the rules she’s put in place for us.
I’m not sure where this falls on her scale—probably somewhere between bad idea and definitely shouldn’t be doing.
If it were up to me those rules would be long gone.
The way Daisy shivers every time my thumb brushes against the inner part of her thigh has me thinking she might be okay with that.
Her phone buzzes on the coffee table, breaking the bubble around us. I bite back a groan as she reaches for it, shifting away from me.
“It’s Lauren.” She sighs. “She wants to have a girls’ night.”
I blink my eyes open, trying to keep the disappointment from showing on my face. “That sounds fun. You should go.”
Just because I blew off my plans to see her doesn’t mean I expect her to do the same.
She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth, looking conflicted and blooms in my chest, enough for me to add “Unless you don’t want to?”
She glances between her phone and me, a blush forming on her cheeks. “What would happen if I stayed?”
Suddenly I’m wide awake, fighting the urge to tug her against me. I shrug instead, my fingers on her thigh stilling. “We could sit here and ignore each other,” I tell her, knowing damn well that would never happen. “Or we could watch a movie.”
“Or?”
“Or I could kiss you.”
I wait with bated breath as her eyes shift between me and the screen. I can barely believe my own eyes when she turns her phone on silent and flips it upside down on the coffee table.
“Are you sure?” I probably shouldn’t be questioning this right now, in case she changes her mind, but I also could never force her to do anything she didn’t want to.
She nods and then she’s settling back next to me, bottom lip trapped between her teeth. It pops out when she turns to me and it’s all I can do not to dip down and claim it for my own.
“I like your plans better,” she confesses, sliding a hand up my chest and it’s giving me all the permission I need to pull her leg across my lap until she’s turned into my side.
Yeah, my plan is definitely better.
Her hand on my chest travels up and around the back of my neck, her fingers sliding through the short hair at the back of my head.
She’s the one pulling me down to close the gap between us, her lips finding mine.
It’s slow and lazy, testing, teasing, until neither of us can stand it any longer. She’s the first one to give in, her tongue swiping against my lip, and I open for her, letting her set the pace and loving how she takes the lead even if it’s tentative.
Her tongue swipes against mine and my hand finds her waist, holding her to me. No wonder half of the team always rush home to their girls after games—I don’t think anything could beat this feeling right now.
Daisy’s fingers tighten in my hair, her grip angling me so she can deepen the kiss, and I love this new side of her coming out to play. With one hand on her hip, I shift her until she’s straddling me on the couch, her knees digging into the cushion on either side of me.
She gasps and the sound sends an electric current down my spine. “That was hot.”
“You like being thrown around by me?”
There’s that lip bite again. “Maybe.” Fuck. That little glimmer of mischief in her eyes does something unspeakable to me.
“How about this?” I ask, my hands finding purchase on her hips, steadying her. I gently switch her off my lap, letting her fall to the cushion before I flip her over so she’s lying on her stomach. I straddle her thighs from behind and she gasps, her cheek pushed against the cushion.
I keep one hand on her hip, letting the other travel up her spine until I’m pressing down gently between her shoulders, letting her feel the weight of me. “Did you like that?”
She gasps again and I dip down, swallowing the sound with a kiss. “Yes.”
“Looks like you fit just fine, Tulip,” I tell her, loving having her under me like this. She fits perfectly spread out on the couch on her stomach, my knee resting between her thighs and keeping her open for me.
She writhes beneath me, letting out a low hushed moan when my lips skim her pulse point, my breath fanning against her neck. She twists her head, trying to bare more of her neck for me, but I keep myself hovering there, so close yet so far. “Unless this is uncomfortable?”
She lets out a little breathless no that has me leaning closer into her. My hand slides around the front of her, pressing in between her and the couch cushion.
She angles her hips upward, allowing me the space I need to reach her front. My hand dips into the waistband of her shorts and she writhes against me, trying to get my hand lower.
“Do you want me to stop?” I ask, mouth hovering over the delicate skin on her throat just under her ear. “Words, Tulip.”
“No!”
“No, what?”
“Don’t stop,” she whines. “Please Connor.”
I slip two fingers into her. “Anything you want, Tulip. I’m yours.”
“More,” she begs. “Please give me more.”
“I love it when you beg for me. Love how easily I can unravel you.”
“Connor.”
“Love you saying my name even more.”