The Fourth Time Charm: A Friends to Lovers Romance

by Maya Hughes

  Giddy panic laughter bubbled up.

  Drawers opened then slammed shut in Keyton’s room.

  LJ retrieved my panties and handed them over.

  I shimmied into them still under the blankets with my heart ping-ponging in my esophagus. Kill me now. Send lightning bolts straight through my bedroom window. Maybe I could slam my head in my closet door, or just walk in there and never come out. He’d seen everything. I would have laughed if the panic hadn’t strangled the air out of my lungs. All these months of being careful and I did an OBGYN spread right in front of my open door.

  Damn LJ and his talented fingers and tongue, distracting me from the front door opening and the creaky-as-hell stairs.

  LJ peeked his head out of my room.

  I dragged myself off the bed and gripped his arm, partially hiding, partially using it to keep me upright.

  Keyton froze coming out his door, sliding his wallet into his back pocket. The scarlet crawl of embarrassment crept up his neck under his collar and up to the bottom of his jaw.

  It matched mine.

  LJ skirted along the wall, walking toward him like a horse he didn’t want to spook. “I was…”

  “Checking a bite. A sting. I had a bee sting.” Wow, I was next-level brilliant. The entire time I’d been putting on my underwear and that was the best excuse I could come up with? A bee sting. In November. A week before Thanksgiving.

  Keyton’s nervous laugh filled the hallway. “If you say so.”

  Joining LJ in the hallway, I faced Keyton. “Could you not say anything to anyone?” A panicky edge crept into my voice. “Please?”

  This wasn’t how I needed anyone to find out about me and LJ. Plus, there was the whole draft, graduation and Italy thing looming in the distance. The more people who knew about us, the more people who’d have an opinion on what we should do, and I didn’t even know what I wanted to do—or what he wanted to do.

  “Don’t worry about it. I won’t say a word. But you might want to close the door next time.” He jumped down the stairs and back out the front door.

  Watching him retreat like he’d walked in on a bear foraging in the hallway, I laughed. The kind of laugh of relief you do three minutes after your non-bang buddy roommate had seen you naked from the waist down.

  “Why didn’t you want to tell him?” A trace of disappointment ran through the question.

  I dragged my fingers through my hair. “Tell him you were going down on me?”

  “No, tell him about us.”

  “You’re the one who said you wanted to keep it quiet.”

  “Months ago.” He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “But we’ve been…”

  “We’ve been LJ and Marisa with sex. Things have been busier than ever this semester. It’s only going to get worse. Do you want Berk to know? Reece and Nix? The gloating alone would be annoying. Then questions about how long and what next—we don’t need to deal with all that pressure.”

  He sighed. “You’re right.” Not sounding a hundred percent convinced, he stepped closer. Maybe he didn’t think it made sense now, but in five months, after we’d graduated, it would. Once the real world intruded and we began to drift apart.

  I ran my fingers over his arms. The hair tickling my fingertips. “We’re alone again, right?” Peeking out my doorway, I checked the front door.

  “We are.”

  I pulled him out of the doorway and fully into my room, closing the door behind him. “Then let’s finish what we started.” The cool metal of his jeans button and zipper pressed against my skin.

  We didn’t have much time left. Better satisfy every hunger pang while I could.

  24

  LJ

  The final game of the season. Thanksgiving. Christmas. Playoffs. Another championship.

  Some months felt like they dragged on while others felt like we’d been shot into the future by cannon. Through it all, there had been one constant to anchor me to the present. Marisa.

  Poor Keyton had been subjected to some of our ‘couldn’t hold back anymore and attack one another’ sessions, since he was the only one who knew about us. Berk was at Jules’s more and more.

  He’d also finally gotten it through his thick skull about Alexis, and he and Jules were happier than ever, although none of us had the full story. Not to say things weren’t the same for me and Marisa.

  No one even knew we were now more than friends. After the season ended, it seemed natural to tell everyone, but Marisa kept stalling. There was always a reason to keep things quiet and suddenly my act of self-preservation back in October felt like an albatross around my neck.

  I’d leave for the last combine before the draft tomorrow. I’d gotten the invitation. My agent had nearly blasted out my ear drum when I called him to let him know.

  Coach Saunders would be there, along with Keyton, Berk and a few other guys from our team.

  And there were my classes on top of everything else.

  “Jules is the best neighbor ever.” Marisa kicked the front door closed and walked in with a clear container and a cup of sauce balanced on top. She was in her museum tour guide clothes, which was part of the reason my plan would work without raising suspicion.

  “What did she make us this time?”

  “Churros and a chocolate sauce. I didn’t think I could love her more, but I do. I so, so do.”

  She loved Jules, but had yet to say it back to me since I’d said it to her in November.

  I couldn’t say it didn’t hurt. It felt like a sliver of glass buried in my skin, but determination pumped through my veins to get her to see it. To get her to say it.

  It was time for me to tell her this wasn’t junior high and high school love. This was a crazy, can’t-imagine-my-life-without-her kind of love.

  “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

  “You do?” She glanced up at me with half a churro in her mouth. Setting them down, she held one out to me, dangling it from the ends of her fingers.

  I wrapped mine around her wrist to steady her hand and took a bite. “We’re going out.”

  “We are?” She licked the cinnamon sugar from her fingers.

  My nostrils flared and I tightened the reins so I didn’t scrap all the plans I’d put in place and make Keyton break out the headphones. “Yeah, let’s go.”

  “I’m still in my tour clothes. I don’t need to change?”

  “Nope.” I grabbed our coats and tugged her toward the front door.

  “Where are we going?” She buckled up and I pulled away from the curb.

  “Somewhere special.”

  The traffic fell in between rush hour and the nightlife crowd, so we moved through the city quickly.

  “What’s the occasion?”

  “We’re together.” I dropped my hand onto her knee, brushing my fingers over the fabric.

  She laughed. “That was a next-level answer. Your wooing skills are at peak capacity right now.”

  “I try my best.”

  The deflection with humor. It was easy to fall into our normal, silly, antagonistic pattern, but tonight I wanted it to be more. We pulled into a city lot and I opened her door.

  “You coming?”

  “What are you up to?” Her eyebrows furrowed and lips pinched.

  “You could come with me to find out.”

  She slid her hand into mine.

  I checked the address one more time, and we walked down an alley before popping out on the other side of the Northern Liberties strip of businesses and shops.

  “Here we are.” I stopped and looked to her.

  “Seriously?” She jumped onto me with her arms wrapped around my neck.

  I smiled into her hair and hugged her back. The plan was working. Part of me was afraid we’d get here and she’d tell me this was the one particular artist she couldn’t stand. “I saw the flyers in the Art History department.”

  “So you brought me to the opening?” She held her hands to her chest and looked at me like I’d showed up
with a diamond bracelet.

  “Something tells me art is your thing.”

  Inside the gallery waiters walked around with wine and champagne on trays. There were fancy hors d’oeuvres.

  We handed our coats over to the coat check and wandered through the wild world of modern art. “How’d you get tickets to this? Professor Morgan could only get two, and by the time I saw the email they’d already been taken.”

  Leaning in, I whispered in her ear, wanting so badly to run my lips along the curve of her neck, and to find a dark corner and show her how much I’d missed her. Not traveling since the championship had made it easy to forget how much being away from her sucked.

  But we wouldn’t have to do that again. We’d have the summer. Maybe we’d even go to Italy. It wouldn’t be the two years like she planned, but I’d make it up to her. We could spend the whole off-season in Venice if she wanted.

  Gondola rides, good food, and great nights together, wrapped up in one another.

  The temptation to rush back home and say screw the art increased when I rested my hand on the small of her back. “Nix’s restaurant is doing the catering. He put in a word with the organizers.”

  Tonight was for her. I couldn’t come up with a way for her to still go to Italy, but I could wander around this place and pretend I knew what any of it was—for her.

  The food, drinks and company made this the best night in a long time.

  “L, this is amazing.” She stood in front of artwork spotlighted in the center of the room.

  None of it made any sense to me, but I loved watching her take it all in. “I’ve been wanting to come here forever.”

  “Why haven’t you?”

  She shrugged. “The museum. Tutoring. Classes. And the bus schedule to get here would’ve taken forever.”

  “You could’ve borrowed my car.”

  She whirled around, stalking toward me. “Who are you and what have you done with LJ?”

  My laugh was shotgun loud. “When have I ever not let you borrow anything of mine?”

  “Ninth grade biology.”

  “I didn’t want you swabbing my jock strap for bacterium cultures. Sorry for having a little dignity.”

  “It was for science!” She laughed and grinned. The future fog cleared when she looked at me. All the hazy uncertainty crystalized, and it felt like there wasn’t anything to worry about. One smile. One laugh. One look.

  “That’s exactly what I wanted our entire bio class to know. ‘There’s a strange never-before-seen growth in this petri dish.’”

  “It knocked you out of your no showering phase, didn’t it?” Every guy went through a funky phase, but right now I could certainly use a shower—with her.

  We wandered around the gallery.

  Her excitement as contagious as the first time she’d wandered through the Philadelphia Museum of Art making us both late to the field trip bus.

  I slipped my arm around her shoulder on the way back to the car.

  She didn’t pull away, but held on to the front of my coat and hugged herself to my side. “Thank you for tonight. It was perfect.”

  “Anytime.” All the time. I’d take her to every art exhibit I could get my hands on, once I signed on the dotted line.

  Back at the house, it was silent. Not ‘everyone’s upstairs’ silent. ‘Long gone’ silent.

  The lights were on at Jules’s place, so Berk would be there for the night.

  Keyton’s door was open with all the lights off.

  She stopped in the hallway with her hands out at her side like it helped her hear better. “No one’s home.”

  I stepped behind her, letting my chest press against her back. “I know.”

  She shuddered. Not from cold. The heat was cranked in the house. Her chin dropped to her shoulder. “Seems like we should probably do something about it.”

  We fell into my bedroom.

  The raspy, rich tone of her voice sent bolts of pleasure down my spine and straight to my cock, which was determined not to be ignored any longer. Her ass nestled on my lap and the rubbing against the grain of my jeans tortured me.

  With both my hands, I ran my fingers through her hair, pressing against her scalp and parting her thick, soft locks.

  She moaned and dropped her head back, letting me massage her. “Scratch what I said earlier. This is perfect.”

  Ducking my head, I ran my lips along her collarbone and up her neck.

  Her fingers tightened on my shoulders, kneading and stroking them.

  I followed the curve of her neck to her cheek, I didn’t stop until I’d reached my prize—her lips.

  Every taste was always too short and left me starving for more. She stole my restraint and my breath away. It was like she smashed a window, snuck in, and snatched it from my lungs.

  But I needed more. And so did she.

  She parted her lips and our tongues met, hungrily restrained. Craving, yearning, burning.

  My heart pounded in my chest like an animal waiting to be released for the full meal laid out in front of me, but the restraints were still on.

  One hand dropped to the back of her head, sliding down to her neck, my fingers dancing along the delicate skin.

  She broke our kiss, her lips red and swollen. “More, L. Haven’t I been patient enough?” Sliding off my lap, she tugged her shirt up over her head and dropped it to the floor. She reached behind herself and unfastened her bra.

  I ran my fingers over the curve of her breasts and teased the stiff peaks of her nipples.

  Goosebumps broke out over her skin and she shuddered, her eyes hooded and churning with the urgency I tried to keep at bay. I wanted this to last. I wanted this to never end. I wanted to brand myself on her memories, filling them with the same greedy feelings I couldn’t beat back.

  Her pupils dilated, swallowing up the chocolate brown almost entirely.

  My fingers skimmed down the backs of her shoulders to the band across her back.

  Her cleavage was at eye level. The soft mounds of her breasts swelled over the cups of the bra.

  With one flick, the fabric went lax, falling down and exposing her to me. Her nipples pebbled and she sucked in a breath as I lowered my mouth to one and then the other.

  She dropped her arms and her bra was completely off, falling into the pile of clothes growing at our feet.

  I cupped her breasts and rolled her nipples between my fingers, teasing them with my tongue and teeth.

  Her gasps and moans guided me.

  The excitement built fast and hard, and my erection strained, pressed against the zipper of my pants. Touching her at this point was a liability. The faintest brush of my dick against her soft skin and I might embarrass myself. After all these months, sometimes it felt like the first time.

  I backed her up to the bed, laying her down, spread out in front of me.

  She was finally mine.

  Her hands were all over my neck, back and shoulders. Her fingers raked through my hair, holding me against her chest. Shudders rippled through her as I slid lower.

  My nose brushed against her thatch of hair and her hands stilled as I parted her folds and ran my tongue through her sweetness. Circling her clit, her body shook and shuddered as I took my time, savoring every taste, smell and feel of her body pressed against mine.

  “How?” She propped herself up before her head rolled back. “How the fuck are you so good at this?” A moan escaped her lips.

  I chuckled, but didn’t let her words deter me from my prize. Making this every bit as good for her as it could be for me was my number one goal. I’d take my time even as my dick throbbed and I got lightheaded, almost unable to contain myself.

  Running my hands along the smooth insides of her thighs, I kept up the constant pressure and attention to every part of her pussy. Tasting, sampling, devouring.

  Her fingers tightened in my hair as I slid one finger inside her and added another.

  The trembling of her thighs told me how close she was. The pa
nting, gasps got sharper, higher and even more musical to my ears. With one more broad stroke of my tongue against her clit, she came undone, screaming my name with her thighs locked tight around my head, deafening me to her cries.

  That was the most satisfying sound in the world. Pride welled in my chest that I’d drawn them out of her.

  Her leg lock loosened, and I crawled back up her body, gritting my teeth as my dick rubbed against the bed and nudged at her heated core.

  I braced my hands on either side of her as she looked up at me with a wide smile.

  “That was an unexpected end to our evening.” She laughed like someone had told a joke for her ears only.

  The pounding demand from my erection waned the tiniest bit. “Most classy art gallery visits don’t end with hot, crazy sex once you get back home?”

  Her eyes widened and she hitched her legs around my waist, digging her heels into my ass. “They might not, but they sure as hell should. It was fan-fucking-tastic. It was sophomore-year-championship-trick-play good.”

  She rubbed her hands over my shoulders, urging me closer.

  To drop down onto her and give us both what we’d been denying ourselves and finally gorging on one another like there was no tomorrow.

  She was beautiful. Perfection. Everything I’d always wanted.

  I ripped off my jeans. Fumbling around on the bed, I found the smooth, metallic package. Ripping it open with my teeth, I lifted up, separating our bodies just enough to slide the latex on and settled myself between her thighs. The head of my cock rested at her entrance, heavy, throbbing and ready for her.

  She urged me closer, harder, faster and I gratefully accepted the invitation.

  I’d never been with anyone else. I didn’t have even a whisper of an idea that it could be better with another woman, and I didn’t want to find out.

  Sweaty and tangled in my sheets, we collapsed on one another. Her smooth arms and legs rubbed against the hair on mine. Content to never move again, I felt the words building in my throat.

  “I love you, Marisa.”

  She kissed my chest and her smile widened. “I love you too.” She said it like any other time the words had passed her lips.