Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 121095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 605(@200wpm)___ 484(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 605(@200wpm)___ 484(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
I run a palm down my face. “Romeo stood underneath Juliet’s balcony, Luca. He didn’t maniacally climb a three-story hotel façade after curfew like a lizard and then smash his face against Juliet’s sliding glass like a Peeping Tom. Never give me a heart attack like that again.”
“I promise I’ll text before climbing up next time.”
“There won’t be a next time!” I throw up my hands. “Seriously, how the hell did you get all the way up here?”
Luca flashes a self-satisfied smile. “It was easy. I just did a little shimmy up a drainage pipe that was thankfully attached by someone who took pride in their work, and then I leaped like a flying squirrel from balcony to balcony, did some pull-ups to get where I needed to go next, and boomshakalaka, here I am.”
I blow out my cheeks in disbelief. “If anyone saw you, you’ll get cut. Is that what you want, after all the hard work you’ve put in?”
“Yes, Chelsea. That’s exactly what I want.”
“You’ve smoked Moriarty in back-to-back scrimmages and made him look like a clown, and now—”
“That’s why I had to come see you! To celebrate how much I’ve dog-walked Moriarty! Oh my God, Chelsea, I’ve been making him look like an overpaid backup!” With a happy cackle, he enthusiastically raises a palm for a high five, and as pissed and freaked out as I feel in this moment, I couldn’t possibly leave him hanging. Not when he’s smiling like that. And not when he really has made Moriarty’s new deal look like a very bad decision, indeed.
Begrudgingly, I slap Luca’s palm with mine. “Moriarty wishes you made him look like an overpriced backup. He looked more like an overpriced member of the practice squad to me.”
Luca whoops at that and folds me into a bear hug without warning, and the second my face is smashed into the soft fleece covering his hard chest, I’m instantly hit with a scent that sends tingles racing across all my most intimate nerve endings: the musky, delicious scent of Luca’s distinctive aftershave.
“I’m gonna make this team, baby,” Luca murmurs into the top of my head. “And it’s all because of you.”
I press my nose into his warm chest and inhale deeply, reveling in his intoxicating aroma and the sensation of his strong arms wrapped around me. “I know you are,” I murmur, my voice stifled by his body. “But you’re going to do it all by yourself.”
All of a sudden, I feel a certain bulge poking at me, and just like that, our warm, happy embrace has ignited into something heated and sexual. Plainly, our wholesome celebration is now over and has morphed into foreplay.
Luca pulls back slightly from our hug, enough to peer down into my upturned face. He slides a finger underneath my chin and bends to kiss me, but before his lips meet mine, I muster the will to step back and shake my head.
“Oh my God,” he mutters.
“We can’t, Luca.”
“We can, Chelsea. We must.”
“We shouldn’t.”
“You’re not my coach anymore, and we’ve got something amazing to celebrate.”
“I’m still on the staff and you’re still a player. Plus, I’d be an atomic bomb to your career, if anyone—”
“That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
“Well, I’m not. I’m not willing to do anything that might mess things up for you. Especially not now. Also, what if you having blue balls is the secret sauce to how well you’ve been doing at scrimmages?”
“Come on, Chelsea. I’m not a boxer.”
“Huh?”
“They notoriously don’t have sex before fights. Or maybe that’s only in movies. Who knows. Either way, I’ll take the risk.”
I shake my head. “Let’s get through tomorrow’s game, and then we’ll revisit this.”
Luca’s eyebrow perks up, and I realize I’ve given myself away. I want him. Desperately. Wantonly. So badly, it hurts. And I’m hanging on by the barest of threads here.
“It’s already well past when you should be fast asleep,” I blurt. “Are you saying you’re fine with our very first time being lightning fast? Because that’s all we’d have time for, and barely that if we did what you’re suggesting.” I step back and fold my arms over my chest. “If that’s truly your game plan—a quickie with me, after all this buildup—then I’m honestly deeply unimpressed and offended.”
Luca smirks. “Wow, Chelsea. I only came here to get a little good luck kiss for tomorrow.”
I bat his shoulder and laugh. “Liar.”
Luca chuckles with me, conceding he’s full of shit. “Okay, let’s forget about ‘revisiting’ this later and make an airtight deal right now. If I pull off a sack tomorrow in whatever paltry minutes of playing time they give me, then promise you’ll jump my bones in celebration afterward.”
My clit feels like it’s nodding furiously at the idea, even though my brain knows all the same reasons to say no will still exist. I place a hand on my hip. “The enticement of my flesh is only worth one measly sack to you?”