“You’re a menace.”
“I’m a heartthrob, baby.”
“Don’t call me baby.”
“You sleep with a stuffed dog named after me.”
I narrow my eyes. “How do you know that?”
“I know everything.” He taps the side of his head.
“I swear you have the apartment wired.”
“Nah, I’m just damn intuitive.” He chews on a handful of popcorn. “So, have you and Cole boned yet?”
I spit out the orange flavored soda I bought. “Teddy!”
He cackles merrily. “Give me a heads up beforehand. I do not need to catch Mom and Dad having sex.”
“First off, Cole and I … it’s not going to happen.” I swallow past the lump in my throat that’s shaped like the word lie. “Secondly, you have got to give us the key back.”
“Never. I need to escape when Jude invites his groupies over. Gotta be on my best behavior, remember?”
“What’s up with that?” I inquire. He keeps hinting that he’s in deep shit with his parents but never elaborates. “It has to be more than that video of you.”
From bits and pieces I’ve picked up, the school wide viral video of Teddy stripping at a party is sadly normal for him.
He sighs heavily, his eyes growing serious for a change. “I got drunk over the summer, stole a yacht—in my defense I thought it was my parents’ yacht.”
“Because that makes stealing a yacht justifiable.”
“Exactly! I thought I was borrowing it!” More popcorn ends up in his mouth. “Anyway, threw a party on it, the interior was completely trashed, and since I was wasted, I crashed it into the wharf. Cost over a million dollars in damages. My dad was not pleased to say the least. So, now, I have to be on my best behavior, or I’m cut off for good.”
“Sounds tragic,” I say sarcastically. It’s not like I grew up poor, but I definitely didn’t live a life where I could’ve stolen and crashed a yacht.
“It really truly is. I’m not taking all these business classes not to take it over.”
“Business, huh?” I’ve never talked to Teddy about what he’s studying. “What does your dad do?”
“Mostly just sit on his ass and bark orders at his minions.”
“That’s not what I—”
I’m interrupted by the start of the game and I forget all about Teddy’s woes as the guys come onto the court.
Immediately my eyes find Cole’s form and the sound of the announcers and stadium is lost to me as I watch him. He looks at ease out there, like he belongs. My dad says something to him, and he nods.
I grew up around basketball, and I’ve always been interested in the game as a whole. I mean, I even played for years.
But this is the first time when everything else has faded to the background and I’ve only been focused on one player.
My eyes follow Cole the entire game as he runs up and down the court. His body is a lithe machine. By the third quarter he’s drenched in sweat, but not even breathing heavily. He’s a sight to behold and if I wasn’t falling for him before I definitely would be now.
He sinks the ball into the net and my heart stutters with the realization of how much I want him.
It’s more than pure attraction.
It’s who he is as a whole.
For the rest of the game, my mind is lost, and when the final buzzer goes off, I blindly jump and cheer with my friends.
“Do you think they’re still selling popcorn?” Teddy asks as we walk up the stairs.
I eye him, arching a brow. “No.”
“Darn.” He wads up the empty bag and tosses it into the trash can when we get near one. Pulling out his phone, he says to the four of us, “Party at Cree’s house? You guys in?”
Mascen defers to Rory and she wrinkles her nose. “Not tonight.”
“Boo, you whore,” he mocks. “Kenna?”
“Nah, I have some homework to catch up on.”
Teddy clasps his hands beneath his chin, pouting at me. “You’re my last hope, Zoey. Let’s go.”
I’m not really in the mood to party, but the team did win, and I imagine Cole will want to celebrate.
“Fine, I’m in.”
“Yes!” He fist pumps the air and tosses his arm around my shoulder. “You guys are missing out,” he says to the other three.
“There will be more parties.” Mascen takes Rory’s hand. “We’re out.”
“We need to do another girl’s day soon.” Kenna squeezes my arm and then she’s following the other two.
Teddy and I walk together to the parking lot. I rode with him and it was my first time in his sleek sports car. I’ve never been a car girl, but this one is a literal dream. The dashboard looks like a spaceship, the leather is buttery soft, and the engine hums so softly that I didn’t even think it was on at first.
Teddy sings along to his music on the drive over to Cree’s place and I sit there, a mere spectator to the performance he’s putting on. He parallel parks easily—something I’m envious of since I lack the skill and finesse to do it. We’re heading into the party when I get a text from Cole.
“You go on in,” I tell Teddy. “Don’t do anything crazy.”
He mock-gasps. “Me? I would never.”
Shaking my head, I tighten my coat around me and read the message.
Cole: Where are you?
Me: Party at Cree’s.
Cole: Not with Teddy. Please.
Me: Uh…
Cole: Shit. I’ll be there soon. Keep an eye on him.
Me: You played incredibly tonight. It was amazing to watch.
I hope I don’t sound too much like a fangirl stalker.
Cole: Thanks. That means a lot coming from you.
Me: Let me know when you get here.
Cole: Will do.
Shoving my phone in my pocket, I head into the house. Music is already pumping and somehow in the timespan I was outside Teddy has found a drink and is standing on the dining room table shouting at one of the guys.
“Put my girl Shania Twain on or so help me—”
Man! I Feel Like A Woman starts to play and Teddy cheers, singing along.
Was he spiking his Coke at the game? I know he wasn’t. This is just Teddy.
“Get off that table!” I yell at him, earning more than a few looks from the partygoers.
“Mom!” he cries when he sees me, spreading his arms wide. “Get up here.”
“No, you get down before I call your real mom.”
He narrows his eyes. “You wouldn’t dare. You don’t even know my mom.”
“I have my ways.”
“Fine,” he grumbles, jumping off the table. Beer sloshes out of his cup and he licks his fingers clean. He wraps an arm around my shoulders like he did when we left the game. “Let’s get you a drink.”
“I don’t want a drink.”
“It’s a party. Of course, you want a drink. And take that coat off. Who wears a coat inside a house?” I shrug off his arm and then my coat as we enter the kitchen. He takes my coat and I think he’s going to put it somewhere, but instead he tosses it at some guy, smacking him in the face with it. “Stick that in a closet, Jenkins.”
“Do you even know him?” I whisper-shout, so that he can hear but chances are slim anyone else will.
“I make it a habit to know everyone, Mom. I’m a social butterfly.”
I sigh heavily. What was I thinking agreeing to come to a party with Teddy? He’s exhausting just watching a movie with him, let alone in a situation like this.
“Let’s get you that drink now.”
Grabbing a red solo cup, he pours me some beer from the keg in the corner of the kitchen. Shoving it into my hands, he gives himself a refill to top off what he spilled out.
Taking my free hand, he tugs me back into the family room where the furniture is shoved out of the way to make space for dancing.
He doesn’t really ask me to dance, it sort of happens by accident. Nelly’s Just a Dream
plays, and we sort of dance around each other, holding onto our drinks. I laugh, allowing myself to feel free for a bit and let loose. I’ve mostly been studying and focused on the upcoming finals, as well as work, so there’s been less time to decompress.
One song bleeds into another and then Teddy grips me by the waist, pulling me in. My drink falls from my hand, what’s left spilling onto the floor.
The room smells strongly of booze, marijuana, and a mix of overpowering perfume.
“I’ve been waiting for this,” he chuckles, looking over my head. To me, he says, “Sorry about this, Z.”
And then he kisses me.
I’m taken by surprise and don’t have a chance to react. He doesn’t try to force any tongue on me, but he really goes for the dramatics of making it seem like he is. Hands on my face. Wild movements like he can’t get enough of me.
As quick as the kiss started, it’s cut off.
Teddy’s body flies away from mine as he’s yanked backwards. A punch flies into the side of his face.
“What the hell, Teddy!” Cole thunders, inserting his body in front of mine, between me and his friend.
Teddy chuckles, eyes lit with amusement. He rubs his split lip, working his jaw back and forth. “Proving a point.”
“And what point is that?”
Teddy straightens his shoulders, starting back at the glowering Cole who’s quite a few inches taller than him. “That you want her.” His eyes flicker to me. “Sorry, Z. But I had to do something to get his head out of his ass.”
“You crossed a line.” Cole’s shoulders are tense in front of me.
People are staring, expecting a fight and I hate that they’re eager for the potential confrontation.
I curl my hand around Cole’s forearm, and he relaxes the tiniest bit. “Come on,” I tug on him, “let’s go.”
Cole points a warning finger in Teddy’s face. “Try that shit again and you’ll regret it.”
Teddy just smirks when Cole wraps an arm around me to steer me away.
“You can thank me later!” Teddy yells after us.
Cole freezes, his body tensing. “Let’s go,” I plead. He shakes his head and strides forward. “Wait, my coat.” I look behind me, not sure where it ended up.
“I’ll get you a new one.”
“Cole—” I gasp when my back is pressed up against the wall of the entryway, his body crowds around me. “Wha—”
My question is cut off when he kisses me. Like that day in the locker room, I’m taken completely by surprise, and this is nothing like that stunt Teddy pulled.
His tongue strokes mine, the smell of his cologne invading my senses. Cupping my cheek, he angles my head back, deepening the kiss. He tastes of his favorite cinnamon gum.
As quickly as it began, he stops. Dark eyes pierce mine. Stroking his thumb over my bottom lip he murmurs, “His lips couldn’t be the last ones to touch yours. I won’t allow it.”
“A-Allow it?” I stutter.
He shakes his head, lower to press his lips against my ear. “Not when you’re mine. I know it. You know it.”
An unspoken question reflects in his eyes.
A thousand thoughts and concerns war through my head, but I silence them all, blocking out the noise.
“Yes.”
Cole grips the wheel with one hand, gaze forward, while his other hand sits on my jean-clad leg, his thumb rubbing in circles that get gradually closer to my center that pulses with a need only he can satisfy.
I’m aching with a desire that vibrates through my entire body.
I’ve never felt like this before. Even with Todd, sex was just … something we did. It wasn’t really a want or a need. I thought for a long time that maybe I just lacked much of a sex-drive, but I realize now the missing ingredient was true attraction.
Cole parks the truck and we’re silent as we walk up the stairs, our hands clasped together.
He unlocks the door, closing it gently behind us. We keep staring at one another, like we’re afraid to break the silence. I swear if he changes his mind, I’m going to have whatever is the female equivalent of blue balls. Blue clitoris, perhaps?
He looks delicious in a pair of dark blue jeans and fitted black Henley with a leather jacket over top. His brows are dipped low, brown eyes intense. His jaw is perfectly sculpted by the Greek Gods themselves and whatever is in his cologne is making my hormones go crazy.
It seems like he’s not going to make the first move, probably gauging how much I actually want this. Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I reach for my Aldridge U sweatshirt and slip it off my head. It drops to the floor. Next, I toe off my white Converse. His eyes follow my fingers when I pop the button on my jeans, the zipper sliding down before I wiggle them off my hips. I teasingly sway my hips as I take off my shirt and it joins the rest of my clothes on the floor until I’m left in only my bra and panties. I can’t even remember which ones I put on this morning and I hope to God they at least match, but I don’t take my eyes off him to look.
“You’re wearing too much.”
He arches a brow, wetting his lips with his tongue. “That so?”
“I mean, unless you don’t want—”
He crosses the distance between us in a single breath, silencing me with a bruising kiss. “I want to.”
He removes his clothes in record time until he’s left in only a pair of boxer-briefs that hug his thighs and highlight his massive erection.
I choke back a gasp at the sheer size of it held back by its fabric prison.
“It’s so big,” I blurt.
Todd wasn’t my first, but he was my second, and all I can say is neither of the two guys I’ve slept with have been anywhere near Cole’s size.
He tosses his head back and laughs. “Fuck, you’re adorable.”
“Adorable?” I scoff, hands on my hips. “More like—”
Once again, he silences me with a kiss and I let out a tiny scream of surprise when he lifts me up, my legs winding around his waist. The sound quickly turns into a moan when I feel the press of his cock against my aching pussy. Glancing down between us, I see the mushroom-shaped tip poking out of his boxers.
“I want it.” Apparently, I’m just speaking every thought I have tonight.
“I want you,” he murmurs, suckling my neck. No doubt there will be a giant hickey there in the morning, but I can’t bring myself to care.
He carries me into my room. It’s dark except for the light from the moon pouring in through the open blinds. I roll my hips against his cock, seeking some sort of relief for the pulsing ache inside me, and he hisses out a breath.
“Fuck.”
“Yes, fuck. Me. Please.”
“You’re a greedy little thing, aren’t you?” He nips my lips, palming my ass in his massive hands.
Grinding my hips down upon him, I grip his chin in my hand. His dark eyes meet mine, hazy with lust. “I know what I want, and I want it now.”
He lays me on my bed, his big body coming down across mine. He kisses me languidly, like we have all the time in the world, when all I want is to feel the glide of his body above mine. My hand glides down his chest, palming his erection through the cotton fabric. Air hisses between his teeth.
His hand covers mine, pulling it away. Taking both my hands he pins them beside my head.
“What was that for?” I pout.
“Do you want this over before it even starts?”
I arch a brow. “Is it only going to happen once?”
He smothers my lips in a kiss. “Good point. Slow later?”
“Absolutely.” I raise up and snap my bra clasp in the back, letting it fall down my arms. His eyes take in my breasts hungrily. “Condom?”
“Shit, yeah.” My body feels cold with the loss of his as he dashes across the hallway, returning with several foils.
“Confident, are we?” I challenge when he tosses the strip of condoms down on the bed.
“There’s no going back after this for me, Zoey. If you�
�re not in, say it now.”
I stare at my gorgeous roommate. His big body towering at the end of my bed. His chest tattoo of angel wings, and the full sleeve that snakes down his muscular arm. His chiseled jaw is taut as he waits for my reply.
“I’m in.”
“Thank God,” he breathes in relief. I squeal when he grabs me by the hips, yanking off my panties. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this.”
Before I can ask him to elaborate on what this is, he kneels between my parted thighs, licking my pussy like it’s a feast that’s been put before him.
Todd never wanted to go down on me, and frankly I didn’t mind it since I didn’t like the idea of a guy’s face down there, but the way Cole moves his tongue expertly in and around my folds has me realizing what I’ve been missing out on all this time.
Cole hums, the vibrations adding to my pleasure, and when his fingers join the mix I go off like a rocket. I cover my face, slightly embarrassed by how fast I came. It’s been so long and he’s just so … so him.
Suddenly my hands are pried away from my face and I blink my eyes open to find Cole hovering above me. “Don’t do that. Don’t hide. Not from me.”
He grabs a condom from the bed and rips the foil open. I watch with rapt attention as he kicks off his boxer-briefs and rolls the condom down his cock.
His eyes hold mine as he grips the base of his cock and guides it to my pussy.
“Oh my God,” I moan as he stretches me.
He’s so big and I’m so full and—
“Stay with me, Zo. Eyes on me.” He lifts my left leg, putting it over his shoulder as he strokes into me, slow and steady at first.
“More,” I beg, raking my fingernails down his abs. “Harder. Please.”
“You feel so good.”
It’s the last thing he says before he loses control, gripping my hips and pounding into me until I’m finding my second release.
He comes with a shout, emptying into the condom. His body collapses on top of mine and I wrap my arms around him, gently scratching my fingernails down his back.
“That was—” He starts.
“Everything,” I finish for him.
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Nice Guys Don't Win (A College Sport's Romance) Page 18
