by Hughes, Maya
Nix held out his hand, offering me the floor. “You wanted to talk, so talk.”
I swallowed, trying to buy myself time. My plan didn’t exactly extend beyond finding him in the party house. “Everything you said…you’re right.” I wrapped my arms around my waist. “But it really hurt me that after everything I told you, you didn’t come clean. Maybe I’d have been an asshole if you told me that first day, but after the Franklin Institute? It hurt.”
He leaned forward, gestured to the empty seat across from him, and then rested his forearms on his knees, hands clasped.
I sat on the seat, perched on the edge, ready to make a fast getaway.
He stared at the grass between us and let out a deep breath. “I shouldn’t have lied to you. I know that wasn’t cool, but we were finally starting to not hate each other and I didn’t want to ruin it. My dad is on this kick to make sure my image is perfect for the draft. I told him not to run that story, but he’s never listened to me. Not sure why I expected him to do it now.” He peered up at me with disappointment heavy in his eyes.
My fingers tightened around the front of the chair. “You didn’t want him to use the story?”
He shook his head with a noise of disgust. “No, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t have told you, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have told you, especially after the things you told me about what you’ve gone through. Lying to you…” He made a growl of frustration. “I know all about how much that hurts, and I didn’t want you to think I was using you or the work we did at Make It Home. I’d just gotten you to see I wasn’t an asshole.”
“I’m sorry you felt you had to keep it from me, and you were totally right about how I would have, and did, react. The story has Rick up to his eyeballs in volunteers, and there are even some donation and sponsorship ideas being thrown around. So, thank you for bringing the spotlight to what Rick’s doing over there. It’ll make a world of difference to him and the people he can help. Thank you.” I drummed my fingers on the seat on either side of me, nervous under his exacting gaze.
“Looks like we both screwed things up.”
“I’m happy to take the bulk of the blame.”
He let out an amused huff. “I’m not going to fight you for it.”
The secluded nook in the backyard might as well have been an island away from everyone else.
His jaw clenched and he set down his beer. “We had something good, didn’t we?” He stood up, and I lifted my chin to stare him in the eyes.
My throat tightened. “Had? As in, in the past?”
“Only if you want it to be.” The hoarse whisper sent a shiver down my spine.
The words caught in my throat, and I shook my head.
“Good.” He took my hand. The rough pads of his fingers unfurled the aching need I’d wrapped up tight and locked away.
I found my voice, and the words came out as a hungry whisper. “What now?”
“Let me show you.” He walked us back through the kitchen, and everyone moved out of his way. Determination burned in his gaze and in the clench of his jaw, which had nothing to do with anger.
The same burning need ping-ponged inside me. He kept me close as we walked through the living room, shifting and holding my hand against his back as the crush of bodies got even thicker.
We burst free from the throngs of people and thumping music. Outside, the warm spring air felt cool after leaving the writhing mass of partygoers. My ears adjusted to the volume crash, and it sounded like the whole world was underwater.
Nix didn’t slow his steps until we got to my front door. His gaze skirted up my body, tender and hungry all at once. I squeezed my thighs together against the heady throb between my legs. He held on to me like he was afraid to let go, but that was all I wanted—to let go with him.
I fumbled for my keys, trying to remember how locks worked. My fingers shook and his hand enveloped mine, steadying it.
He pressed a soft kiss against the back of my neck, and my knees nearly gave out.
I pushed open the front door and dropped my chin to my shoulder, looking at him behind me.
“What now?”
20
Elle
The door slammed closed behind us. Light from the street was the only thing illuminating the entryway. People laughed outside. The house was whisper quiet. It was only us, secluded in a cocoon of darkness. Every breath crackled with anticipation. Every creak of the floorboard sent a shiver through my body. Each creak a step closer. His body blocked out the little bit of light from outside.
“Elle.” The keen longing of my name on his lips was the only warning I got before he bridged the gap between us. His hands were in my hair, on my face, everywhere I wanted them and nowhere near close to where I needed them.
His lips crashed down on mine, demanding repayment for the teasing I hadn’t even realized I’d been doing. Only weeks ago, we’d called a truce, and now I wanted nothing more than all of him. Every touch. Every taste. Every temptation I’d never stopped needing. The backs of his fingers ran along the gap between my shirt and my jeans.
My hands bunched in his shirt. The soft cotton dragged up over the hard surface of his abs.
He moved forward with his arm wrapped around my waist, lifting me off the floor. My back pressed against the wall and the solid muscles of his chest.
I ripped his shirt up and over his head.
He shoved my jeans down over my ass and palmed it, squeezing and lifting me off my feet. I clenched my thighs together at the ache brought on by the bulge at the front of his jeans. He dropped kisses onto my bare shoulder.
“Are we taking the scenic route?” I chuckled and my head rolled back as he nipped and sucked on the spot where my neck and shoulder met.
“I’m not going to let you rush me, Elle. I’ve been waiting for this for too long.” He let go of me and peeled my top off, dangling it from his fingers before letting it drift to the floor.
“How long?”
A flicker flashed across his eyes. He sank to his knees and tugged my jeans the rest of the way down. “Probably since the first time I saw you dancing in your bedroom window when you first moved in.” Staring up at me, he ran his hands up and down my thighs, sliding them between and skimming across the purple fabric covering my heated pussy.
“That was at the beginning of junior year.” I shuddered. The ache between my thighs became a cascading inferno as he began his sexual torture.
His lips turned down. “I know. Can you even imagine how pissed I was the first time you called campus police on us?” He unbuttoned his jeans. Each pop of his button fly sent another throbbing ache straight to my clit. My greedy need made it hard to think.
“Your house was so loud, I could barely see straight.” I stuck my hands on my hips.
“You could’ve come over. No one would’ve turned you away.” His fingers danced along the frilly edge of the cup of my bra, backing me up each step of the way to my bedroom.
“Maybe I didn’t want to be just another pretty face in the sea of FU Trojan groupies.” I sucked in a sharp breath, my stomach coiling around the building pleasure, the old embers of our anger sparking the heat between us even hotter.
He ran the backs of his fingers along my cheek. “You were never just another pretty face, Elle. Never.” He slipped his hand to the back of my neck and captured my lips in a kiss that demanded nothing more than my complete surrender.
I fell into him, my hands plastered against him. His heart hammered under my touch, each thump driving my need for him even higher.
Taking the steps two at a time, he wrapped his arms tighter around me.
He stood at the top of the staircase, his cock bouncing against my ass. Without a word from me, he shouldered his way into my bedroom.
“How’d you—”
“You think I haven’t been paying attention?” He smiled at me, his caramel-colored eyes glinting with mischief and desire all rolled into one. He kicked the door closed.
His hand trave
led up my bare back, exploring the new expanse of skin naked to his touch. My body rippled with an unfettered pleasure, and the hungry edge of need grew with each unrushed stroke as he moved like he had all the time in the world.
“Nix.” It came out high and reedy like a whine from a kid being teased with a piece of candy, only he wasn’t candy—he was the whole freaking cake, and I was just getting licks of frosting. I wanted a slice.
“Don’t rush me.” His lips never left mine. Nipping, licking, lathing. His skills on the field weren’t the only ones that were head and shoulders above the rest. His tongue danced with mine, giving me a prelude to what was to come.
Wrapping his arm tighter around my waist, he walked us backward. He turned and sat me on the edge of my dresser. A couple bottles beside me rattled and clinked together. The cool mirror against my back sent goose bumps breaking out all over my body.
He crouched and slipped his hands down my waist. His fingers spanned the width and tugged me forward against him. Kissing me until my head swam, he slipped his hands lower. His fingers slid under the elastic of my pink- and purple-striped boy shorts. Our eyes met, a clash of fiery desire. My breath caught and I stared at him, unable to break this connection between us, a tether that sent me sky high and kept me grounded at the same time, hyperaware of every racing beat of my heart and determined touch of his fingers.
With one smooth tug, he lifted me and yanked my underwear down over my hips. His hands squeezed my ass, palming it. The rough pads of his fingers sent shivers of pleasure pulsing through my body.
Spreading my thighs apart, he ran his strong hands along my sensitive skin. I moaned at the whisper of his breath against my clit, the heat building to an unbearable crescendo in anticipation of his lips on me. My heart pounded and the entire world became centered on his hands, his gaze, his mouth.
His fingers sank into the flesh of my thighs. Leaning forward, I stared at the decadent sight in front of me. He was chocolate chunk cookies on top of a brownie sundae. The corner of his mouth lifted, and I sucked in a shuddering breath.
I wasn’t prepared. I’d thought I was, but I sure as hell wasn’t. Nix ran his tongue along my pussy, equal parts leisurely to drive me crazy and precise to hit all the right buttons. I couldn’t stop myself from bucking against his mouth. He held on to me, pinning me against the dresser top. My heels banged against the wooden drawers below, drumming out a rhythm of pleasure.
I threw my head back and sank my fingers into his hair. My legs trembled and I tried to close them against the sexual onslaught. It was too much and not enough all at once. Nix plunged two fingers into me. My walls clamped around them and fireworks exploded in front of my eyes.
They could probably hear me coming halfway across campus. While I was still in the clouds, Nix lifted me off the dresser.
Snagging a condom from his wallet, he rolled it on with his hands on mine the entire time. He covered me with his body. The warm wall of muscle descended on top of me.
“I guess I was wrong.” I lifted my hands to the sides of his face and pulled him closer. Our lips mashed together in a fevered pitch, and the minutes-long reprieve from the driving, pounding need to have him inside me evaporated.
I hooked my legs around his waist. My foot dug into his ass as I tried to pull him in closer.
Goose bumps rose on my skin at the brush of his cock against my soaking wet entrance. The broad tip tapped against my clit, and my hips shot off the bed. I reached down between us and positioned him against the seam of my pussy.
He rested his forehead against mine. “Eager much?” The strained smile and growl to his voice told me he was hanging on by a thread, possibly one thinner than mine.
“Shut up. We could always go back downstairs and finish those—” Before the sentence was out of my mouth, he thrusted his hips and the thick head of his cock pushed inside me, stretching me to my limit. I sucked in a sharp breath and rolled my hips. Every nerve ending received special attention from his overpowering invasion. My toes curled and my back shot off the bed.
I hitched my legs higher and he sank in even deeper. He shuddered on top of me and I held on tighter as his grinding thrusts rubbed my clit, stealing my breath away with each push and pull. I dug my fingers into his back and my entire body seized, paralyzed by the rocketing orgasm ripping through me.
His hips slammed into me and his cock expanded, sending another shudder through me as he groaned out his release against the side of my neck.
21
Nix
There wasn’t anything sweeter than Elle. One round melded into two. I wrapped my hands around her hips, fingers sinking into her flesh, and slammed into her again. Releasing my grip with one hand, I slipped it between us and found her clit. Circling it with my finger, I kept up my thrusts. The hot wetness of her threatened to consume me.
It was too much and not enough all at once. Her muscles tightened and her core squeezed me in a blissfully excruciating hold. The pleasure shot to my toes. My name on her lips was more than I could bear. Under me she writhed and jerked, her walls clamping even tighter, and I couldn’t hold back anymore.
Turning nearly inside out, I held her close, needing to feel every part of her. Stars danced in front of my eyes and I tried to remember how to breathe. In a sweat-covered haze, I collapsed on top of her smooth softness like I’d just run in a ninety-yard touchdown.
The feel of her body beneath me made me never want to move, but I didn’t want to crush her. Rolling to my side, I took her with me, keeping her pressed against my chest. My head swam and even now, every stroke of her fingers down my skin sent more blood straight to my dick like a boxer who refused to get KO’ed. Down boy or I’m headed straight for a coronary. My heart pounding like a rookie on his first day of practice, I brushed back the streaks of pink hair plastered to the skin of her forehead.
I stared into her eyes. The hooded exhaustion in them mirrored my own, along with the unbridled hunger that meant we’d both spend the rest of the night satisfying one another until sleep overcame us.
“That was unexpected.” She chuckled.
“It’s your fault for doing what you did.”
“What did I do? Look at you?”
“Exactly.” I kissed the tip of her nose.
Holding her in my arms, I stared down at her and ran my fingers along her collarbone. I’d never be full of her. This one moment was etched bone deep, and I didn’t want it to end.
That scared the shit out of me.
Dragging my arm from under her shoulder, I got up and disposed of the condom.
She spread out on her bed, propping her head up on her hand. “While you’re up, there’s still half a tray of Jules’ heart-stopping-good brownies down in the kitchen.” There was a mischievous curl to her lips.
“Your wish is my command.” I bowed and grabbed my jeans off the floor, throwing them on and going back downstairs to retrieve the treat for Elle. I was sure they’d taste even better when I ate the chocolate off her skin.
Taking a plate out of the cabinet, I sliced two giant brownies for us before heading back upstairs. Her roommate probably wouldn’t appreciate coming back to a completely empty pan after her hard work.
Leaning back, I peered down at Elle. Her eyes were closed. I smiled at the low, gentle cadence of her snore. Kissing the top of her head, I pulled the blanket over the two of us and shifted down lower in the bed. “Night, Elle.”
* * *
Elle grumbled in her sleep, not a mumble or talking even, but a steady gripe session under her breath like she was one second away from pushing someone off her front porch. This felt more right than anything had in a long time, maybe as much as walking back into Tavola, like something had been missing and I hadn’t realized it—only with Elle, it was someone.
After nearly two years living across the street from one another, there hadn’t been more than glares and verbal barbs exchanged between us until a month ago. Now, I wasn’t sure what happened next.
What
I wanted to happen was to never leave this bedroom again. Well, maybe except for regular trips down to the kitchen to see what Jules had baked. We could both be forklifted out of the house at the end of the semester.
I brushed back the hair from Elle’s face and she grumbled, burrowing deeper into my side. Grabbing my phone, I checked the time and groaned, dropping my head back onto the pillow.
An angry, red glowing reminder of a meeting I had coming up blinked on my screen.
Sliding my arm out from under her head, I kissed her on the cheek. Her eyes fluttered open as the bed dipped with my departure.
I grabbed my clothes up off the floor and threw them on.
“You’re leaving.” She sat up and didn’t do that thing girls sometimes do when they cover themselves up, like in movies where the dude has the sheet at his waist while she has it chastely tucked up around her neck. Elle stayed bare and stretched her arms overhead, trying to torture me or maybe make me tackle her back into the pillows.
“I have to meet with my dad. What are you up to today?”
“Tutoring, working on my end-of-year papers, and eating whatever’s wafting up here from the kitchen. I have a shift at Uncommon Grounds later tonight.”
Like my nose was linked to Elle’s words, a delicious buttery smell poured into the room like a blanket of sugary bliss. She put on some clothes and followed me downstairs.
Jules sat at the kitchen table, chewing on the arm of her glasses.
“You two are going to have heart attacks by the end of the semester.” I slid on my shoes.
Elle hopped up on the counter. “She’s a stickler for giving almost all of it away—sometimes too much of it. It’ll stay in the house for like two days max then she ships it all out like wayward orphans looking for a good home.”
“The baking is relaxing, but having all that extra food around makes me antsy.”
“I’m more than happy to take anything you’re looking to unload off your hands, and I might even share it with some of the guys.”
