Gasping for air like she’d sprinted a mile, she slowly uncurled her aching fists from the sheets. “What the hell was that?”
His huff of laughter cooled her damp skin. “I think they call it sex.”
She chuckled. Look who’s being fresh now. Like she’d needed another reason to love him. “I’m not sure I’ve ever had sex like that. What the hell am I lying in?”
The damp sheets beneath her were getting cold and uncomfortable. She loathed the idea of moving from this spot with Rhian’s weight on top of her. He grunted and she whimpered when his cock slipped from her body.
“You came,” he said.
She smiled. “I sure as hell did.”
“No, I mean, you ejaculated.”
“I what?”
His chuckle was decidedly smug. “You ejaculated.”
“I did not.”
His bark of laughter shook the bed. “Yes, you did. Trust me.”
“Truly?”
“Yes.” He kissed her shoulder blade. The base of her neck. “I guess you haven’t done that before.”
“No, I, ah…”
A long slow lick warmed her spine. “Are you okay?”
She warmed at the concern in his voice. “I’m fine. Way better than fine. That was amazing.”
She felt him smile against her skin. “I’m glad you liked it.”
“I did. Though I think I’d like to stop lying in the evidence, if that’s all right with you.”
He rolled off her and she no more than lifted her torso from the bed when he slipped a hand under her stomach and hauled her on top of him.
Seriously, the guy was ridiculously strong. As his trainer, she was aware he could bench press her if he wished. How had it never occurred to her how much fun it would be if he did?
His brows drew together. “Is this okay?”
“Yes, yes, of course.” She smiled and leaned down to kiss him. She meant for it to be a peck, but it ended up a long, lingering exploration.
Chapter Twenty Five
Rhian lay back on the bed, floating in a combination of post-coital lassitude and the low hum of arousal brought on by Savannah’s kiss. It would be a while yet before his junk was ready to get back in the game, but he was still enjoying the hell out of this.
It also served as a terrific distraction. He’d been working on instinct—and well outside his usual comfort zone—when he’d hauled Savannah on top of him. Her surprise had burst the bubble of confidence and reminded him of the host of reasons they shouldn’t be doing this.
He opened his mouth to say god-only-knew what, but she silenced him with another kiss. When she released his mouth, he stared at her tousled hair and red, bee-stung lips. He’d done that to her. And Jesus H. Christ, she looked incredible.
“Don’t,” she said softly.
“Don’t what?”
“Freak out.”
He sighed. She knew him too well. “There’s a lot to freak out about.”
Her warm lips brushed his eyebrows, his forehead, the corners of his eyes. Rhian tilted his head, rubbing their faces together as she moved here and there to kiss him again. It was such a foreign experience. Before Savannah, no one had ever done anything like this.
Garrick loved to cuddle, but not soothe him with such lavish attention. Garrick’s affection was a living blanket wrapped around him, something he’d come to love, even if it was sometimes overwhelming. These feather-light caresses quieted him, like discovering a source of heat and light on a cold night.
Savannah folded her hands on his chest, rested her chin on them, and stretched out on top of him. “Is there anything I can say to make you believe this is a good thing?” she asked.
Was there? He shrugged. “What do you think Garrick is going to say?”
She thought about it, then smiled. “Yee haw?”
He grinned. She was probably right.
“Rhian, I don’t want you to get the wrong impression.”
Amazing how he could go from mellow contentedness to gut-curdling dread in the span of a heartbeat. This would be where she snapped out of whatever starry-eyed delusions she’d had last night and explained his place in her world. In Garrick’s world. And he would agree, even as a part of him died. Together, they could make Garrick see the sense of it.
Then he’d leave. Boston. Them.
“Hey. Where’d you go?” She cupped one hand over his cheek. “I just want you to know, this isn’t some sexual escapade or thrill. Not for me. It’s more than that.”
She couldn’t possibly mean—
“I care.”
Rhian’s brain ground to a halt.
Fear clutched at his chest, fucked with his breathing. He was a goddamn idiot. He should get up and go, but instead he lay there, trapped by her direct gaze, wanting desperately to tell her the truth.
He shouldn’t give her more power to hurt him. The rational, logical side of his brain screamed at him to protect himself. But counter to every instinct he’d ever honed, he gave her a piece of himself.
“I care, too.”
She searched his face. “So you’ll stay?”
“For now.” No point departing from brutal honesty now.
The truth was, it didn’t matter if he slept with Garrick, or Savannah, or both of them together—though that last thought sent a shiver through his body that got his dick to take notice.
In the end, he’d leave, or be left. That was life.
Savannah squirmed and he realized he was squeezing her tight against him. He tried to let go.
She reached behind her to hold his hand against her back. “Please. Don’t.”
He traced his palm down the long curve of her back, soothing her. Instincts again. They were killing him.
She smiled at him. Either he was doing a shit job of making his expectations clear, or she was willfully ignoring them. He didn’t know how to make her see the light.
His stomach filled the silence, noisily announcing an objection to skipping dinner last night.
Savannah’s eyebrow quirked. “Hungry?”
“I could eat a cow.”
“I don’t have a cow.” She said it as though this was truly regrettable. “But I can make cheesy eggs, bacon and toast.”
Rhian’s stomach voted for him, agreeing loudly. “How many eggs?”
Savannah laughed. “You’ve met my brothers. Are you questioning my ability to feed you properly?”
“Point taken.”
He jumped when she pinched his side. “Now get up,” she ordered, and sprang to her knees beside him. “I’ll let you have dibs on the shower while I start cooking. Then after breakfast and some time to digest, we’ll stop by your place so you can change, and we’ll go for our run.”
He groaned. He’d been hoping to spend the day in bed.
With her.
Savannah raced over the Charles River from Boston into Cambridge, Harvard’s campus just ahead. To her right would be a spectacular vista of the Boston skyline, but it wouldn’t hold a candle to the view right in front of her.
Rhian’s ass flexed, his quads bulging as he slowed on the downhill slope of the bridge before reaching the stairs. If she could, she’d have someone film him from all angles, just so she could watch. For hours.
She lamented the chill in the air and Rhian’s T-shirt, wishing she could watch the ripple of muscles in his shoulders and haunches, too. Every single inch of the man’s body was magnificent.
Rhian Savage is athletic trainer porn.
She laughed and almost lost her footing on the stairs before Rhian’s arm looped around her waist and hoisted her down to level ground.
“Thanks,” she said between breaths. She wasn’t sucking wind, but her lungs were definitely working hard. Rhian was the same, so she’d held her own at least.
“Where to now?” he asked. “Back to the apartment?”
They usually ran the round trip in one go, but she didn’t want to rush back to the apartment. She was enjoying being out with Rhian, witho
ut the tension that had ebbed between them until last night. Now they seemed to have a thousand reasons to brush up against one another. The touch of a hand, a shoulder bumped. Smiles came easier.
“How about lunch? We can call Lachlan and see if he’s free.”
She didn’t mention that Lachlan would probably like to see for himself that she and Rhian had survived the night in one piece.
Rhian agreed and she called her brother as they walked into the buzz of Harvard Square. Lachlan needed a few minutes to get to them, so Savannah led the way to the news agent in the heart of the Square and just a few feet from Lachlan’s office.
She took a couple bottles of water to the register while Rhian poked through a magazine stand nearby. Someone came into the shop, and she did a double take when she glanced out the door, hardly noticing when the cashier handed back her change.
“Rhian.” She stepped up to the dirty glass door. “Come here.”
He put his hand on her back. “What’s wrong?”
“Look who is standing on the corner.”
His gaze narrowed as he searched the milling crowds. She knew the moment he saw his look-alike stalker, his eyes widening. She grabbed his arm before he could dash out the door.
“How the hell did she follow us here?” he asked.
“I don’t think she did. Look. She’s talking to two girlfriends. And she’s wearing heels. There’s no way in hell she followed us on foot.”
Savannah stared at Rhian’s beautiful young stalker. She hadn’t imagined the resemblance, though it wasn’t as pronounced today. The young woman had the same blonde curls as Rhian, but hers were long, reaching halfway down her back. Savannah wished she could see her eyes.
The young woman turned and smiled before walking into the subway station. Rhian gasped.
“You see it too, don’t you?” Savannah asked. She slipped her hand into his. He appeared more stunned than panicky, but she wasn’t taking any chances.
“My god, she’s…”
“Gorgeous. Like you.”
“I’m not gorgeous,” he muttered, his cheeks turning pink as he tried to shake her hand loose.
She snorted and held on. “Yeah, right. Have you looked in the mirror recently?”
His cheeks edged toward crimson, his eyes not quite meeting hers. “Shut up.”
She laughed. “Shut up? That’s the best you can do? Shut up? Oh, my sexy, beautiful friend, you’re going to have to do better than that if you want to win an argument with me. Look at you,” she continued, enjoying how he cast his eyes around the little shop, desperately searching for an escape. His neck and ears glowed a dull red. “The eyes, the hair, the smile. You have these amazing crow’s feet. And then, of course, there’s the body. Should I tell you about your body?” She pitched her voice low, so only he could hear her. “I’ve dreamed about licking every square inch of your long, gorgeous—”
Rhian clapped a hand over her mouth. “Hi, Lachlan!”
“Hi, Sis.”
Savannah spun at the sound of Lachlan’s deep voice. He stood not three feet away, one eyebrow way up. She barely suppressed the urge to fidget.
Once again, she wondered how the hell was she going to explain two boyfriends—two lovers—to her family?
“Hi!” she said, a shade too brightly, and kissed Lachlan’s cheek.
Rhian reached to shake Lachlan’s hand, careful not to touch her. “Lach.”
Lachlan looked between them, his lips pursed in thought. She couldn’t get her perceptive brother out of the store and to the restaurant fast enough.
Chapter Twenty Six
It was decadent and lazy, but Rhian was grateful to take a taxi home from Harvard Square after scarfing down an enormous lunch. Tomorrow he’d hit the gym, go for a run, and generally work himself into the ground. It was the best way to get through the days Savannah had to work while he waited for the biopsy results. In truth, he probably ought to indulge a little more often. He was getting thinner and eventually Savannah would notice and kick his ass.
Worse, he worried she and Garrick would find it unattractive.
Not that it was an issue right now. Only an hour ago she’d been telling him she wanted to lick his long, gorgeous…what?
He stared at her ass, at the perfect height in front of him as they climbed the stairs to her apartment. His mind blanked. His feet kept moving, one in front of the other, while he became hypnotized by the sway of muscle and bitable flesh.
He wanted to ask her about the licking she’d promised, but didn’t want to appear like he was fishing for a compliment. Nothing could be further from the truth. What he would be fishing for was that licking.
He almost ran into her when she stopped at her door.
“I should do some work,” she said as she stepped into the apartment.
Dreams of imitating a human popsicle went out the window. “Okay.”
She waved at the living room. “Go watch TV, nap, whatever. I won’t be long.”
He nodded, deflated. Now might be the time to go back to his place. Some distance might help him think straight.
He’d tried not to dwell on it, but he hated how she’d been careful not to touch him in front of Lachlan. He’d done the same, following her lead, but it stung. First he and Garrick couldn’t be out because of their careers, now he and Savannah couldn’t because…well, why the hell couldn’t they?
Oh yeah, because he was the extra bonus dick, not the real thing.
He turned toward the door. “I’m going to head over to my place to shower and change. Give me a shout when you have time.”
He had his hand on the doorknob, almost free, when Savannah flew around him and slammed her back against the door.
“What the hell just happened?” She searched his face with those all-seeing green eyes.
“Nothing. These clothes are a little ripe from our run and you need time to work.”
There, that sounded perfectly reasonable. Nothing like it makes me want to puke when I think about being your dirty little secret.
She rubbed a palm over his chest. “I don’t want you to go.”
His stupid heart lurched. He was doing a lousy job of managing his own expectations.
“I’ll be back,” he heard himself promising.
“Right away?”
He sighed. “Right away.”
“With a suitcase?”
His brain stuttered. “A suitcase?”
She ran both hands up over his shoulders and around his neck, drawing him closer. “So you don’t have to go back as often. Bring clothes. Your razor.” She paused to trail a finger along his jaw. “The contents of your freezer.”
His ass clenched and his knees wobbled. He caught himself with a hand on the door above her head, their faces mere inches apart.
“Craving ice cream?” he asked.
She smiled. “We can probably find a use for that, too.”
Rhian didn’t make a conscious decision to kiss her. It was simply imperative. Like his next breath. His body throbbed. Fire thread through his veins. He tried to extinguish it by pinning her to the door.
Funny how that didn’t help.
Shit, wasn’t I about to leave? He ground his hips forward and slipped a leg between hers. Soon they were humping up against the door like a couple of horny teenagers.
He cupped her ass in his hands and hoisted her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist.
“God, I love how you manhandle me,” she muttered.
Her tongue delved into his mouth, making it damn hard to respond. Not that he had anything to say. I like manhandling you seemed fairly self-evident.
He staggered away from the door, not because of her weight, but because Savannah was rubbing against him like a damn cat. Blood rushed from his brain to his dick so fast, he nearly dropped her.
He crashed into the kitchen table and the zing of pain cleared his head. He realized two things. First, he would probably kill them both on the way to the bedroom. Second, it was too damn lon
g to wait.
He dumped Savannah onto the tabletop and stepped away. She tried to hold onto him with legs and hands. He stilled her protest by stripping his shorts and boxer briefs to his ankles.
That got her attention.
She laughed and immediately yanked off her running shoes and tossed them over her shoulder into the living room. It was a race to see who could get naked faster. An easy win for him, but only because she had to wrestle a sports bra over her head. The minute she had, he hauled her up against him, bent her backwards over his arm, and devoured her mouth.
He was ravenous. For her. For this. Determined to make a permanent impression. He shouldn’t think that way, but hell, it was hard to hold onto anything but the most primal urges when Savannah Morrison was in his arms.
Cupping her ass, he looked down at her splayed beneath him and a shuddered. He could see she was ready for him, for this. He thrust all the way into her in one long push.
Her eyes lost focus, her mouth hanging open. “Oh god. Rhian. Rhian.”
God, he fucking loved how she cried his name. All the time. Eyes opened, eyes closed, facing him or away, he always knew she was perfectly aware of him. That it was his cock encased in her hot, clinging body. His hips that jammed against hers, grinding his way into heaven.
She moaned and planted her hands behind her, grinding back. He gripped her ass more firmly and changed the angle so his cock was forced up against the front wall of her pussy.
She whimpered as he rubbed there, oh-so gently. Her eyes raked over his chest, down to his abs, his belly, then stared at the point where her body clung to his as he slowly pulled back.
“Holy shit, that’s hot,” she breathed.
He snuck a peek before whipping his gaze back to her face. “Too hot. Can’t look.”
She laughed. “I’m not talking about that.” She checked for herself, watching him slide in. “Though, wow, that is hot. I’m talking about you.”
Her eyes focused on his chest. Abs. Belly.
Holy shit, he’d never again be able to hang with his teammates in the trainer’s office if she didn’t knock it off. How could he forget the look on her face as she studied him?
The Hat Trick Box Set Page 60
