Page 59 of The Game

I walk around to lie down on the other side of the bed from her and prop my hands behind my head. She turns to study me, and I stretch out my hand and beckon her closer, and she shuffles up, placing her phone on the nightstand. Her head settles into my shoulder, and her hand lands on my stomach, which my libido finds far too interesting.

“I’m sorry I left you lying on the gym floor after what we did,” I say. “I can’t believe I bolted. It seemed logical at the time, but …”

She chuckles. “The whole thing was a bit of a surprise if I’m honest.” She squeezes my middle. “Agoodsurprise.”

She lifts her head to look at me, and my gaze roams over her lips, cheeks, and deep-brown eyes. My hand invades the back of her hair, loosening her ponytail, the strands like silk against my fingers as I lean in to brush my lips across hers. Her mouth chases mine, and my body tightens as her hand moves from my abs up my chest.

She pulls back. “You said it was really hot. It was for me, too. Clearly!”

I groan. “Don’t say things like that. I’m about to share a bed with you, and I won’t be able to keep my hands to myself.”

“You don’t have to keep your hands to yourself! And I’d do another jujitsu lesson with you any time.”

I laugh, rolling her onto her back and nuzzling into her, and that smell of ginger and toffee fills my nose again. I kiss up her throat, and she tilts her head to give me better access. Fuck, I’ve missed this. Touching. Being touched. Warm skin under my fingertips. I trail my mouth over her cheek and find her lips. I’m hard already, and I don’t want a repeat of the gym where my control went out the window, so I ease off a little, rolling onto my side beside her. She turns her head on the pillow to look at me, reaching out to stroke her thumb across my lips.

I can’t quite rid myself of the thought that she’s this megastar and I’m a random guy who hasn’t had sex in a really long time. “So, what are we now, friends with benefits?” I blurt out.Can I not be smooth for one second?Open mouth, engage brain later.

She shrugs. “I don’t want to label it at all to tell you the truth. Perhaps we’re doing what feels good, what we’d both like to explore. God knows, the boyfriend/girlfriend thing hasn’t worked for either of us.”

I reach up and capture her hand, squeezing her fingers. “I like you, Anna.”

This gets me a beaming smile. “I really like you, too, but I want to be cautious. I’ve dragged you into a mess of my own making—rather selfishly, I’m thinking now.”

“Maroz created the mess, not you.”

She nods, and her pink lips are right there, so I lean in and touch my mouth to hers. It’s like my body has woken up from some deep slumber, like I have no say anymore in where this goes. But she’s just as eager, opening her mouth as our tongues meet in a heated tangle. Perhaps resisting whatever this is is an impossible dream right now.

Kissing down her neck, I move the T-shirt with my nose, and her palms trail down the front of my shirt across all the buttons, so I shift over her propping myself up on both hands as she fumbles and starts to pop them open, strongfingers working their way down from my chest to my waist. Holy hell, I want them somewhere else. My hips tilt forward into her of their own accord, and she wriggles against me, eyes meeting mine with a smile.

“Are you rubbing all over me again, Anna?” I say, grinning.

“I hope so. I went off like a bomb last time.” Her answering smirk makes me laugh.

But her questing fingers have reached my zipper, and she trails a thumb down the front of my jeans. Vibrations spread out from where she’s touching me, and I close my eyes, heart thumping.

“Anna.” My eyes pop open to fix on hers. “I haven’t … I haven’t done this in a while.” Shit, I don’t want to admit how long it’s been. I’ve been celibate, sort of by choice, for the best part of ten years. It wasn’t even a conscious decision—my business just sort of took over my life.

Her eyes are fixed on mine. “How long?” she whispers, and I shake my head. “What have you been doing instead? I mean …”

“My hand has been my friend if I’m being honest here.”

“But why?”

I rest down on my elbows. Maybe I don’t need to tell her the whole story. “The relationship that blew up in my face in college broke something in me. At first, I didn’t want to be anywhere near a woman, and somehow I let that feeling carry on and I buried myself in my business. The idea of doing this …” I swallow thickly. “You’re the first woman I’ve wanted to be with in years. That’s what happened in the gym: I had a mini freak-out.”

She squeezes my waist. “Just to reiterate, I liked what we did in the gym.”

I grin down at her. “Despite me disappearing into the bathroom like my ass was on fire?”

She laughs. “Despite that. I enjoyed being sat on and ground against.”

“That sounds good.” I tilt my hips into her.

“Actually, I just liked seeing the pain on your face.”

“Oh, so you’re a masochist? No, that’s not right: a sadist. You like torturing men.”

She laughs. “Perhaps it’s my new kink.”

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