Page 49 of Ricochet

“You wanna tell me what the hell that was all about?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t play stupid, Callum. You’re too smart for that.” He stalks toward me, just a few steps, before he stops again. His jaw ticks, and his hands tense at his sides like he’s trying to control himself from coming closer. “How did we play like that today? Were you just in a good mood after seeing your old buddy? Had to show off for him?”

“Eric didn’t have anything to do with it,” I tell him honestly.

“Then what the fuck changed?”

I can’t give himthattruth.

But maybe I can give him a different one.

I take a breath, then, “I panicked.”

His eyes narrow. “What does that mean?”

“Last week. In the locker room. I panicked.” The next words don’t want to come right away, and I have to swallow past the knot in my throat that’s holding them back. “I didn’t want you to stop.”

Stone’s eyes grow even darker when he takes a single step closer to me and further away from the light. He tilts his head, studying me. “No?”

I shake my head, barely managing a quiet, “No.”

A deep rumbling noise comes from his chest, and I swear it’s a growl. Like he’s a fucking animal. He nearly closes the distance between us, and his hands come up, palms landing flat on the door on either side of my head, trapping me all over again.

I stare into his eyes and breathe in his scent, losing myself in the forest of both.

No part of him is touching any part of me, but I swear I can feel him. Every inch of my skin is suddenly tingling and hot, every atom sparking until they’ve all caught fire.

He leans forward an inch, our warm breath meeting in the air between us. There’s more of mine because I’m breathing twice as heavily as he is.

“Are you at risk of telling me to stop again?” he asks as though he’s worried I’m going to start hyperventilating like I did that one day after class.

I’d be pissed if he wasn’t entirely wrong.

“I don’t think so.”

“In that case, choose a safe word.”

There’s a tug between my brows. “A safe word?”

“Yes. A fucking safe word.” His voice grows more husky, more desperate, with every second that passes that he’s not touching me. “That way you can tell me to stop all you fucking want.”

It takes about two seconds for my brain to catch up with what he’s saying, and when it does, I think I feel another one of those things Ishouldn’tbe feeling.

He’s putting all the power, all the control, inmyhands.

Fuck, I love it.

“Hurry the fuck up, Callum.”

Yeah,thatwas definitely a growl.

My dick is straining against the zipper of my jeans, demanding me to hurry the fuck up too.

“Um.” For some reason, I think back to the last goal of our game tonight, when his eyes were the only ones I saw. My mouth speaks the first word that comes to the tip of my tongue. “Ricochet.”

He grins. “I like it.”

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