A guy who is in deep with a girl. The answer is as that simple.
I turned the water to warm and kissed her under the spray until it ran cold again. I talked dirty to her. She shocked the shit out of me by talking even dirtier. We laughed and played and taunted each other until we hit a now or never moment when clothes needed to get the fuck out of the way and let nature take over. That’s when I backed off. That’s when I killed the water, wrapped her shivering body inside a thick towel, and led her to the laundry room. She stripped down behind a closed door and tossed her clothes inside the dryer. When she walked out in nothing but that towel I almost lost my restraint. Her hair was smoothed back, stuck to her still wet skin in saturated, dark chunks. Her eyes looked larger than ever. Darker. Warmer.
She blushes when I stare at her in that towel. She does that a lot. It’s cute as shit and sexy in an innocent, reticent kind of way I’ve never seen before.
When we’re both dressed and waiting for our clothes to dry we sit down on the couch together, the TV turned to late night television. She huddles in deep under a thick gray blanket I’ve never used, her body pressed into my side.
“That is so stupid,” she grumbles quietly.
“The egg thing?”
“Who has that much trouble cracking an egg? Seriously?”
I smile at her disdain. “Not all of us are pros.”
“You might not be good at cooking but you can crack an egg.”
“I challenge that assumption.”
“Show me?” she demands fervently. “Do you have any eggs?”
“Yeah, but we’re not touching them. Maria needs them for my omelet in the morning.”
“Do you have another early practice?”
“No. Afternoon. And it’s a shorter one.”
“And you’ve got the Panthers on Sunday?”
“At two, yeah.” I look down at her. I can only see the top of her head where it’s laying against my chest. The curve of her body made indistinct by the blanket. I touch a section of her hair, running it slowly through my fingers. It’s impossibly cold and smooth. “Are you going to watch?”
“I think so. I’ll be at my parent’s house. Dad will have it on. I’ll watch with him.”
“Will you tell him you’ve showered with their star player?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she answers casually. “I barely know Trey.”
“Oh,” I laugh. “That’s cold.”
“It was funny though.”
“Yeah, you’re hilarious.”
She yawns, burrowing in deeper. “Watch. This is the best part. They’re going to tell you the price but if you act now you can get a second one for free. For when the first piece of shit breaks after a week.”
“I’m getting you one of these for Christmas.”
“What are you going to do with the other one?”
“I’ll give it to my mom. She’ll hate it.”
“We have that in common.”
“I think you have a lot in common.”
“Us and the Dragon Mother.”
I smile down at her, threading my fingers through her hair again and again. Slow and steady until I hear her breathing change, evening out in a way that only comes with sleep. I don’t bother waking her. I don’t move her or try to shimmy my way out from under her so I can get on with my night. I stay still and silent, watching the TV flicker quietly across the room, across her hair.
I’m not big on sitting still, but tonight it gets me high in a way I’ve never felt before. Different from the high of getting off, from playing ball, from beer and bars and clubs and the thrill of the chase. This high is blue eyes and pink lips. A rough voice and soft hair.
It’s a mellow roll in my blood that makes my apartment feel brighter than it ever has before, even in the dark.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
LILLY
“Lilly.”
My eyes flutter open. I don’t remember closing them.
I’m burning alive, sweating under the weight of a blanket. I kick at it mildly. Suddenly it lifts, disappearing as cold air rushes around me, making me shiver.
“Lilly, it’s late,” Colt tells me quietly. “I should get you home if you want to go.”
I don’t. I want the blanket back on. I want to stay here with his body against mine. I want him to keep running his fingertips up and down my naked arm the way he’s doing right now.
I want him to finish what he started in the shower.
I lift my head to look in his eyes. They’re staring down at me in the darkness. The TV is off, the room barely lit. He’s nothing but an outline against the black sky. A mountain in the desert, deceptively close but so far away. As distant as I keep him.
“Will you do something for me?” I whisper hoarsely.
“Anything,” his voice rumbles deep in the darkness, making it vibrate around me. Inside me.
“Say my name again.”
“Lilly,” he murmurs.
I sit up, crawling into his lap the way I was downstairs. His hand caresses the side of my face, sliding behind my head to pull me closer until our foreheads touch. Until his breath is burning on my trembling lips.