Chapter 12 Cole
TWELVE
COLE
It feels like a live wire is tangled around my heart. There’s so much going on in the club for the countdown, but all I’m aware of is Eve’s hand fitting perfectly in mine.
She follows me down the hallway without letting go. I caress her silky smooth skin with my thumb again. Has it always felt this nice? The need to explore every inch of her to discover the answer beats in time with the thump of my pulse.
“Nine…eight…”
I’m not thinking straight. Hell, I’m not thinking at all.
Not about everything I should be.
Tonight started with me being on edge. All because Eve looks like she walked right out of my fantasies with her hot as fuck shimmery dress that hugs her curves and has a low back exposing her skin.
Until Benson dragged me away, I was prepared to stand behind her all night to keep any other guy’s eyes off her. It’s been hell posted up at the bar, watching them all undress her with their hungry gazes.
I almost kissed her earlier after we downed our shots. If we hadn’t been interrupted, I would’ve claimed her mouth with a searing kiss.
“Seven…six…”
Seeing her ex-boyfriend in her face, trying to put his hands on her was my breaking point.
I was moving through the dance floor looking to join her. I found her at the edge of it, struggling against that piece of shit, then I saw red.
“Four…three…”
I pull up short. She nearly bumps into me with a gasp that could be my undoing.
Drawing in a deep breath that does absolutely fuck all to stop me, I gently turn to her. Nudge her against the wall. Brace my hand by her head while my attention falls to her mouth.
She’s my best friend’s sister. The head coach’s daughter.
Everything off-limits to me, and it should give me pause. But it doesn’t. Not for a second.
I don’t care. I can’t. Because right now every fiber of my being is fixated on this moment.
“Two…one…”
Ten seconds. That was all it took for me to decide I’m kissing Eve tonight.
Less—far fucking less—if I’m counting every moment I’ve ever thought about kissing her.
“Happy New Year!”
Distantly, I’m aware of the people shouting and cheering. Lights flashing down the dark hall I’ve hidden us away in, and the music turning back up.
Eve stares up at me. She’s stunning, her expression open, so damn open. The depth of her beautiful eyes swallows me whole.
I take her chin between my thumb and finger, lifting it slightly. Her lips part and her tongue darts out. Fuck, I want to chase it.
“Happy birthday,” I rasp.
Then I brush my mouth against hers. She smothers a tiny sound.
It makes my fist clench against the wall so I don’t grab her. So I don’t bury my fingers in her perfectly braided hair and muss it up while I devour her mouth.
This isn’t how I want to kiss her. It’s light. Too soft and barely there.
I want it as hard and desperate as the burning tightness in my chest from being near her. I want her melting for me, and to hear how she sounds when she moans. For her to be gasping little pleas between kisses while she tugs at me because she can’t get enough.
I want to hear her say my name. As an urgent whisper. As a cry of pleasure. Screaming it.
She presses into me, hands splayed on my chest. A groan catches in my throat, swallowed back before I let it out.
Christ, it’s killing me not to touch her more than this. Not to slip my hand beneath this sexy dress and sink my fingers into her or fall to my knees and taste her.
We kiss longer than could be considered a polite New Year’s kiss between friends.
I want more, so much more, but she already panicked when we matched on Love Struck the first time. Every time since then, I’ve almost told her how much I’ve thought about asking her out, to hell with the consequences and the unwritten rules I shouldn’t break.
It takes all my willpower to stop kissing her. I pull back slowly, savoring every moment, committing it to memory.
Neither of us say anything. She blinks once, twice. Touches her plush lips.
Those gorgeous eyes flit to mine. Her chest rises and falls with her rapid breaths.
The tightness in mine is back, constricting my heart. Shit. She kissed me back. Does she regret it?
I’m about to ask if she’s alright when she surprises me with one of her radiant smiles that steals my breath faster than the hardest hit I’ve ever taken in a game. She slips her hand in mine.
“If we don’t get back out there, everyone will wonder where we went,” she says brightly. “The birthday girl can’t go missing from her own party.”
I shift back a step, because if I don’t I might do another stupid thing, like keep her caged against the wall for another kiss. A real one.
When she turns, my gaze rakes over her exposed back to her ass. I’m still drunk on her sweet scent of strawberries blended with vanilla and the taste of her lips.
“Happy New Year, by the way,” she throws over her shoulder. “Thanks for making sure I got a midnight kiss.”
“Right,” I respond woodenly.
I let her lead me back out to the main area of the club. We find the others not far into the dance floor. The girls are hyping Benson up while he dances with zero rhythm.
The moment Eve’s hand leaves mine, I curl my fingers into my palm.
“There you are!” Julia exclaims.
“That bathroom line was insane. Thankfully the men’s was empty. Cole stood guard for me.” Eve pats my chest.
“You missed the ball drop,” Caroline says.
Eve waves her off, cheeks flushed. “It’s fine. Let’s get a few more songs in before last call.”
Benson sidles up to me while I stand there watching her. I tense, then force myself to relax. Hopefully he can’t read me as well as he could when we were teammates because I don’t want to end the night with his fist in my face for kissing his sister.
“Thanks for always watching out for her,” he says.
My mind blanks. I grunt out some form of agreement. It’s all I manage, otherwise I might give myself away.
I forget all about him when Eve swings around, laughing with her friends while they dance. Her gaze finds mine, the corners of her eyes crinkled.
Christ, the way she looks at me does me in. How can one glance from her make me so crazy? I don’t care if she’s Benson’s sister, or any other reason we shouldn’t cross the line. I’ve fought my need for her all night until I couldn’t any longer. And now that I’ve had a taste?
It’s official. I’m fucked.