by Harlow Layne
Taking my face in his calloused hands, West swept in and kissed me breathless.
“I can’t wait to celebrate with you tonight,” he said against the shell of my ear once we broke apart.
“Imagine the celebration we’ll have when you win the Super Bowl,” I answered back in our own little bubble.
West’s green eyes glittered back at me with happiness. “I feel like I’m living in a dream.”
“I’m so fucking proud of you,” I kissed him back, showing West how amazing I thought he was.
Over his shoulder, I noticed the other people in the room who were waiting for their players, looking at us wide-eyed, but I didn’t care. While they all knew we were together, they were not used to PDA from us. We hugged and held hands occasionally, but that was it when we were at the stadium.
“Holy fuck, I wish I had someone who was that happy to see me,” Ridley remarked.
Breaking apart, West turned to look over his shoulder at our friends. “If you’d like, I can give you a similar greeting.”
“No thanks, but if you can find me a girl to do that, I’m game.”
Ford rolled his eyes at Ridley. “We’ve been trying to find you a girl for the past four years. What makes you think we’re going to have better luck now?”
West moved to hug our friends and let them congratulate and joke with him. “Let’s get out of here. We’ve got dinner reservations to make, and I’m starved.”
We all piled out of the waiting room and down the tunnel that led to the parking garage. I threw my keys to Oz so he could drive my car and I could ride with West.
“You really should have your man make you a proper lunch on game day,” Oz joked.
“I’ll get on that. Follow us,” West called, slinging his arm around my shoulders.
“Can I come with you guys?” Easton called as he jogged back over to us.
“No,” I answered at the same time that West answered with a ‘yes.’
Easton jumped into the back seat before I could stop him.
Wrapping my arm around West’s waist, I pulled him close and kissed him on the cheek. “I was going to give you a blowjob on the way there, and now…”
“Fuck, I should have known when you let Oz drive your car. Now I’m going to be hard all through dinner.”
“If you want, I can give you a handy under the table,” I laughed at the pained expression on his face.
“Let’s go,” Easton yelled from the inside of West’s SUV. “I thought you were hungry.”
“Sometimes brothers can be annoying,” West chuckled under his breath.
For the next few hours, we sat in a back room of an Italian restaurant where we all ate until we could barely move and talked and laughed about everything under the sun before we all got back in our cars and headed back to our house. Everyone would be leaving in the morning to go back to their lives, and while we’d see them again soon for the big game, we had no idea when the next time after that we’d see them.
When I pulled up to the house, West’s SUV was already in the garage. The guys piled out of my car and headed inside—everyone except for Oz, who sat in the passenger seat with a silly grin on his face.
“Why are we hanging out here when all our friends are inside?”
“Because I’m supposed to keep you here for a couple of minutes,” Oz placed his hand on my shoulder as if to hold me back. “When you walk inside, be happy. You deserve it.”
I swallowed thickly. “Is someone dying?”
“Far from it,” he laughed. “I think enough time has passed that we can go inside.”
Reaching for my door handle, I looked back at Oz with narrowed eyes. “Have I ever told you I don’t like surprises?”
“Can’t say that you have. Perhaps because everyone was always too afraid to do anything for you.” He tried but failed at biting back a smile, which piqued my curiosity.
“This better be good, or I’m going to kick your ass,” I grumbled.
“I’d like to see you try,” he laughed. “Now, let’s go before they think something bad has happened to us.”
An uneasy feeling settled in my gut as I opened the door from the garage into the house. I had no reason to think anything bad would happen. Things between West and I had been great, but maybe Oz was right, and I needed to step up my game. But surely West wouldn’t ambush me in front of our friends to say he wanted more out of our relationship.
The house was dark as we walked inside, which was strange. Was the power out? It wasn’t snowing, and the generator would have kicked on if the power had gone down.
“West?” I called out. “Where is everyone?”
“God, you really do hate surprises. Come on, you big baby.” Oz grabbed me by the arm and dragged me further into the house.
When we were close to the living room, there was soft light flickering from the shadows. With each step I took, I saw candles on every surface of our living room and up the staircase.
“Is the power out?” I asked, but my words cut off when I saw West standing in the middle of the room by himself. I wasn’t sure where everyone else was, but I didn’t care at that moment. “What are you doing?”
“I’m hoping to make our lives even better, but for me to do that, you need to take a deep breath.” I did as he asked, but my eyes skimmed around the room and my ears picked up the sounds of our friends whispering. West held his hand out, and without thought, I took his in mine. His thumb moved back and forth over the back of my hand in a soothing motion.
Taking his other hand in mine, I held on a little too tight. “Our life is pretty perfect.”
“Would you be opposed to it being better?” West bit his plump bottom lip as he looked nervous all of a sudden. “I want to be able to call you more than my boyfriend or lover. I want the world to recognize us for what we are to each other. I want to look down at your left hand and see my ring on your finger and your ring on mine, and I hope you want all that too because I believe you’re the one for me.”
Even after all I put him through.
Stepping closer until I could smell the scent of his body wash and cologne mix together to become an irresistible aphrodisiac. I wanted to press my lips to his and tell him how sorry I was for the millionth time for the way I treated him when I didn’t understand my feelings toward him. It killed me to remember how I made his life a living hell and how much it pleased me to see the pain I brought him on his face. “I love you, Fin. Then, now, and always. Please tell me you feel the same.”
“I do. You know I do, even when I didn’t act like it. I was a stupid kid. Hell, I still am. I can’t promise I won’t mess up. Hell, I didn’t even think marriage was on your radar. I’m so clueless.”
“I’m going to mess up too, but I want to continue to screw up and succeed with you by my side.”
“I fucking love you, West, and I’d love nothing more than to marry you. I want the world to know you’re all mine.” Gripping him by the back of the neck, I crushed my mouth to his and probed him with my tongue. I wanted to taste every inch of him. To commit this moment to memory.
In the background, I could hear Easton and our friends hooting and hollering, and just as quickly, their noise faded away, and all I could feel was West’s body pressed to mine. His mouth moving with mine, and his long fingers pulling my hair to angle my head just the way he wanted me.
“I love how possessive you are of me,” he said against my swollen lips.
“Hell, yes, I am. I can’t believe we’re going to get married.” I smiled, my lips brushing against his.
“I want to do it before next season.” His grip around my waist tightened. “Maybe this spring.”
“Whatever you want.” He probably already had half of it planned. It was then I remembered the candles placed all around the room. “How long have you been planning this?”
“Since freshman year? I only wished the girls could have been here, but I knew you’d become suspicious if everyone came for the game.”
“No, I wouldn’t. Playing in the AFC championship game is a very big deal, especially in your first season. It might have been the highlight of your career.”
West’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “Way to believe in me.” He chuckled. “Even if we win in a couple of weeks, tonight will be the best of my life. Well, that is until we get married, but today will always be special. Now let me show you just how special you make my life.”
“Did you instruct everyone to get lost if I said yes?” I asked as West led me upstairs to our bedroom.
“And if you said no to take me out to a bar and get me drunk,” he replied, pulling into our bedroom and slamming the door shut.
Once it was locked, I pressed West to the door and started to undress him. Normally I would have drawn it out, but tonight I needed my flesh to his as quickly as possible. West seemed to be on wavelength as me, trying to see who could get the other undressed the fastest.
Nimbly, my fingers quickly unleashed his rigid cock from the confines of his boxer briefs and watched it bob up and hit the smooth skin that covered his chiseled abs. “Did you really think I’d say no?”
Cupping me through the now tight fabric of my boxer briefs, West nipped down the column of my neck. “Maybe for a nanosecond, but I know what a catch I am and knew you couldn’t deny me.”
“Wow, who’s the cocky one now?” I laughed, slowly sinking to my knees in the plush carpet of our room.
“You like my cock and how cocky I am.”
I hummed, not denying it. It was hot when West was like this. He wasn’t often cocky, but tonight he had every right. To show him how much I liked said cock, I licked around the tip once before my hand found his base and started to pump in sync with my mouth. I wanted to drive him wild and have him begging for my cock in his ass. I let one finger circle his asshole, taunting him for what was to come until he pressed back, and my finger pressed inside.
“Fuck, Fin.” He pulled the long strands of my hair hard enough to get me to stop my movements. “I need to bury myself deep inside you tonight. Let me fuck that white ass of yours nice and hard.” I let West’s dick fall from my mouth and looked up at him. “Get on the bed,” he demanded.
“As you command.” I stood slowly, running my hands up his rock-hard thighs, and felt the tickle of his leg hair under my fingertips.
“Drop your underwear as you go,” West ordered.
My insides lit with excitement. “Are you going to tie me up?”
A spark blazed in West’s eyes. “I like the way you think. Climb up to the headboard and assume the position.”
As I walked, I kicked off my underwear before I climbed up on to the bed and prowled up to the top of the bed. When I got there, I looked over my shoulder to find West at the end of the bed watching me.
Placing my hands on the headboard, I closed my eyes and waited for West to tie my hands down and then place a blindfold over my eyes. He would be the only one to give me pleasure with his hands, his mouth, and his cock.
“My sweet fuck boy, look at you now at my mercy. You’re lucky I’m so amped up, or I’d draw this out until the sun came up, but instead, I’m going to fuck you fast and hard. Do you have a problem with that?” He ran a finger up one arm and down the other, only to repeat the action again and again.
“Use me however you want.” I was desperate for his touch.
The bed dipped as West positioned himself behind me. His large, warm hands skated across the planes of my body. He slapped the insides of my thighs with his hands, making me immediately widened my stance.
“That’s right, spread for me. Give me access to all that is you.” One hand moved up my torso, and the other wrapped around my straining erection.
“You’ve got me,” I moaned out when he gripped my tip and tugged. I heard the sound of the nightstand drawer open and the cap on the lube snap open. Cool liquid poured down the crack of my ass before West ran his fingers through the wetness and used it to coat his fingers. His other hand wrapped around my cock, slick and warm, and started to stroke.
“Give me that ass.” He bit the shell of my ear at his order.
Tilting my ass up to give him access, two of West’s fingers probed and slipped inside. Slowly at first, and then they started to pick up speed. My breath picked up each time he hit my prostate until I was panting and ready to beg for his cock in my ass when his fingers retreated. For a brief moment, I thought he’d changed his mind about drawing this out. It wasn’t like we couldn’t go for a round or two or three. We had all night. We could sleep once our guests left and then start all over again.
When West ran the tip of his thick cock between my ass cheeks, a thrill shot through me. Kissing between my shoulder blades and up the nape of my neck, West pressed at my opening. His hand left my aching shaft and skated up to wrap around my chest, hugging his front to my back.
Letting out a deep breath, I felt my body relax and kept my mind on the feel of West’s hard body against mine as he sunk into me inch by glorious inch.
Even though West said it would be hard and fast, he kept every inch possible between us connected as he pistoned inside of me while placing kisses along my shoulders, neck, and face.
Without being able to use my hands and not being able to see, I was all feeling. Each slap of his balls against my ass, each stroke against my prostate, each brush of his chest to my back had me climbing higher and higher.
Arching back into him, I was desperate to touch him, but I also loved the thrill of being at his mercy. “I’m so close.”
“Me too, but don’t come until I tell you.”
West’s hand pumped me faster, bringing me closer to the edge, making it nearly impossible to hold back.
“I can’t hold—”
“Come for me,” he groaned, biting down on my ear and sending me soaring. Our bodies jerked and shuddered as we released simultaneously.
Resting against my back, West lazily ran his hands up my chest, down my abs, and back up again before he untied my hands. I turned and tackled him to the bed, pinning him with my body, and nuzzled into his neck.
Strong arms wrapped around me and kept me where I lay. Back in high school, or even when I first started going to Willow Bay, I never would have imagined this was where I’d be. To have West forgive me for being the biggest asshole and tormentor still astonishes me, and for my friends and their families to all accept me has made me stronger than I ever thought possible. To be an advocate to anyone who was like me when I couldn’t accept myself fills me with pride.
“Thank you,” I kissed the dip between his neck and shoulder and tightened my hold on West.
“For what, the best sex of your life?” I could feel the silent laughter, and while he was right, West did give me what I wanted and needed—he gave me so much more.
“Because of you, I now have everything I’ve ever wanted.”
Want More of Coach Kyle
If you’d like to know more about Coach Kyle and Archer? They’ve got their own short, You Make It Easy which was previously in the Heard It In a Love Song anthology. If you’d like to read their story, click here for a free copy by signing up for my newsletter.
Read You Make It Easy for free.
Did you enjoy AWAY GAME? If so, please consider leaving a review on Goodreads, Amazon, or BookBub. Reviews mean the world to authors especially to authors who are starting out. You can help get your favorite books into the hands of new readers.
I’d appreciate your help in spreading the word and it will only take a moment to leave a quick review. It can be as short or as long as you like. Your review could be the deciding factor or whether or not someone else buys my book.
To stay up to date on all my releases subscribe to my newsletter. http://bit.ly/HarlowNewsletter
Acknowledgments
My family- your support means so much. Thank you for all of your encouragement and giving me the time to do what makes me happy.
Misty Walker: Thank you for giving the confidence to write W
est and Fin’s story and always answering all my outrageous questions.
Wendy: You’re my champion. Thank you for pushing me when I need it, and for rooting for and every character I write.
Kelsey: If it wasn’t for our online writing, I’m not sure how many books I’d get done. Thank you for always being there.
To my girls: QB Tyler , Carmel Rhodes, Erica Marselas. I love each and every one of you. Thank you for all of your support.
Thank you Kristen Breanne for making my story into a book.
To all my author friends, you know who you are. Thank you for accepting me and making me feel welcome in this amazing community.
To Wildfire Marketing Solutions and Shauna, thank you for all your knowledge and for helping me make Away Game a success!
Lovers thank you for always being there.
Team Harlow’s Girls: Each and everyone of you are amazing. Thank you for all of your support. You ROCK!
To each and every reader, reviewer, and blogger - I would be nowhere without you. Thank you for taking a chance on an unknown author.
About Harlow
Harlow Layne is a hopeless romantic who is known for her contemporary writing style of beautiful slow-burn, sweet, sexy and swoon-worthy alpha and fast pace, super steamy romance in her Love is Blind series.
When Harlow's not writing you'll find her online shopping on Amazon, Facebook, or Instagram, reading, or hanging out with her family and two dogs.
Indie Author. Romance Writer. Reader. Mom. Wife. Dog Lover. Addicted to all things Happily Ever After and Amazon.
Also by Harlow Layne
Fairlane Series - Small Town Romance
With Love, Alex - Women’s Fiction, Self Discovery