She nods. “The night that Dad and I had a fight, and I found out you were on the football team.”

Now it’s my turn to feel like something’s been ripped out of me. There was so much pain in that piece. I hate that I had any hand in it.

“I’m sorry,” I say.

“What?” She crosses to me. “What could you possibly have to be sorry about?”

“I made you feel that . . . that ache.”

She smiles. “Only because I was stubborn enough to think I couldn’t have you.”

“You have me. Completely.”

She lifts up on her toes and kisses me, and she’s the sweetest damn thing I’ve ever tasted.

She says, “You were so good tonight.” I exhale, dropping my shoulders. “Stop that. You were. It’s all anyone is talking about. You did everything you were supposed to do. Our defense just wasn’t as strong as theirs.”

She shivers, and I grab her Rusk T-shirt off the ground. “Let’s get you inside.”

I hand her T-shirt back to her, but she doesn’t put it on. So I wrap my arm around her shoulder to keep her warm until we get to my place.

I lay my keys on the table just inside the door, and we both slip off our shoes. I stretch my neck back and forth, knowing I’m going to be sore tomorrow. I take a step toward the couch, but she grabs my hand.

“You’re tired.”

I nod. And step toward the couch again for just that reason, but she pulls me straight ahead instead, back toward the bedroom. My heart rolls over in my chest, and my blood pumps a little faster, and I am suddenly not as tired as I thought.

She’s stayed the night twice since this started, but both times we fell asleep on the couch after a movie. We never talked about whether or not she was going to stay, it just happened.

The door to my bedroom is open just a crack and she pushes it a little farther with two fingers. It’s dark, but she makes no move to turn on the light. The light from the hallway is enough to cast a glow on the bed, and she steps up beside it.

“I’m not ready to have sex,” she says quickly. “I mean . . . I want to, but I also don’t, so for now, can we just sleep together in the normal sense?”

I work to keep my expression clear of any disappointment. I want her to be ready, but I also can’t deny that seeing her beside my bed makes my whole body buzz with want.

“Of course. I’ll take you in my bed however I can have you.”

I can see the blush burn across her cheeks even in the dim light. She places a hand on my shoulder and says, “Sit down.”

I do as she asks, and she steps between my open knees. She fingers the sleeve of my T-shirt and adds, “Take this off?”

I reach back and grab the fabric behind my neck, pulling it over my head. I feel the light touch of her fingers helping to pull it off the rest of the way. Instead of letting my hands drop, I rest them on her hips and pull her a little closer.

Her fingers are warm on my bare shoulders, and she sighs at the contact. She moves both hands to my right shoulder, and starts working the tight muscles. I groan and drop my head down, resting my forehead against her stomach. She kneads at my shoulder, skating down to my biceps on occasion, her fingers strong and sure. I close my eyes, and try to keep from getting too worked up. I try for about a minute before I give up and let my hands slide down from her hips to her thighs. Her breathing picks up as I run my palms up and down, curling my fingers around the backs of her legs.

I don’t push any further than that, though, letting her stay in control. And she’s completely in control when she pushes me back on my unmade bed and straddles my hips. She runs her hands up my abdomen, first soft and then harder, pushing on my muscles there like she did at my shoulder. I let her explore my chest while every ounce of blood in my body heads south. She leans down and presses a kiss on my sternum. She hovers there, her hot breath making all my muscles tense. She drags her mouth from the center of my chest to where my heart beats wildly beneath my skin. Her tongue peeks out tentatively as she does, and I fist my hands in my sheets to keep from grabbing her and flipping us over.

She looks up at me, her pupils deep and black. “Not sex. But maybe we could . . . Maybe we could do other things?”

I growl and roll her beneath me, pressing my hips down into hers. She moans, and with her stretchy pants and my gym shorts, I can feel the heat of her through the thin material.

“Other things sound pretty damn perfect.”

Chapter 24

Dallas

Kissing Carson McClain has officially become my favorite hobby.

His lips are soft even though he kisses me hard. I curl my legs around him, and a masculine noise of approval sounds in his chest. I thread my fingers through his hair, and my blood is rushing so fast that my limbs feel both light and heavy at the same time.

His lips leave mine to slide over my jaw, and the rasp of his stubble sends shivers down my spine. His elbows rest on either side of me, and his hands slide under me to curl around my shoulders. The heat of his breath touches my neck before his lips do, and I grip his hair tight.

I lean my head to the side to give him more room, and his lips burn a line down to my collarbone. Then he dips lower, down to the top of my strappy camisole. His hands smooth from my shoulders down to my ribs as he skims his lips over the curve of my breast peeking just above the fabric. He places a kiss on my sternum, and I shift my hands from his hair to the bare skin of his shoulders.

“Carson,” I breathe.

His eyes lift to mine, hooded, dark, and questioning. I don’t know what I was planning to say or that I had anything to say at all. I just needed to say his name. I let my fingertips travel down his back as far as they can reach, playing over the taut muscles and warm skin.

He surges back up to take my mouth in a bruising kiss, shifting to lie beside me as he does. When his hand slides along the waistband of my yoga pants, I’m not sure whether I want to lock up or arch into his touch.

He pulls back to look at me, and though I’m mildly terrified, I don’t close my eyes. His gaze roams my face as his fingers slide beneath the fabric into a territory we’ve not covered yet.

He’s slow, waiting for me to say no, I think. But no matter how many pieces of me want to say no, there are far more begging me to say yes.

His fingers slide against me, teasing sensitive flesh. He pushes one long finger into me, grinding the heel of his hand down at the same time, and I dig my nails into his muscled shoulders. I tilt my hips up, moving on his finger, and he moans.