Page 35 of Play the Last Card

Ivy

I’m running late.

I laid in bed for an extra thirty minutes this morning, fingers tracing the outline of my lips gently, thoughts stuck on the events of last night. Jesus, I am so far gone already and I don’t even know his last name.

Careful not to spill my coffee all over the front of myself, I take the front steps two at a time. One hand blindly searches my bag for my car keys while my jacket hangs off one shoulder.

My concentration waivers for a single moment as my focus snaps towards something shifting in my peripheral vision but before I can center myself, my instincts have already forced me to flinch, glancing over my shoulder to try and get a better look at whatever is there.

I only have a second and half to take in the tall form wearing his signature black baseball cap and running shorts when I feel my coffee slip from my hands and my bag fall from my shoulder. I try to save it all at once, over correcting myself.

It’s too late.

I’m falling.

Or I would’ve been falling.

Two large hands find themselves wrapped around my hips as Scott keeps me the right way up.

“Woah.” His fingers dig into my jeans, steadying me. I give in, leaning into him and watching as my coffee pours from my keep cup and onto the pavement.

“You okay?” he asks.

I sigh. “Yeah.”

My poor coffee.

He laughs quietly, one hand loosening as the other curls further around my waist. He lifts my bag from where it’s hanging off my wrist, his breath skirting my skin as he leans down. My attention is drawn away from the wasted coffee when his lips gently press into the stretch of bare skin at the base of my neck. His grip on my waist tightens, and he presses another into my skin.

The coffee is no longer important, time is suddenly irrelevant, the school day completely forgotten.

I turn in his arms, lifting my chin and meeting his eyes. His cap keeps them in shadows despite the rays of sunshine that peek through the trees lining my street.

“Hi,” I say quietly leaning up on my toes.

He nudges his cap up before dipping down, kissing me softly. “Good morning, Ivy.”

He doesn’t pull back very far, keeping me tightly wrapped in the one arm that was around my waist where the other holds my bag beside us. “Are you okay?”

“Running late. I had a lazy morning and now I’m paying for it.”

“Lazy morning, huh?” he asks.

“Laid in bed with my thoughts for too long.” I elaborate, lifting a hand to fix his cap as thoughts of the blistering kiss from last night fill my head again. I already know that the same soft smile that I’ve been sporting all morning is spread across my face again. I can’t bring myself to care. Not when I am wrapped tightly in this man’s arms. Not when our mouths are so close. Not when the intoxicating smell of him fills my nose and makes me light headed.

“What were you thinking about?”

I don’t hesitate.

“You.”

He hums, a smirk curling his lips up. “Me too.” He leans down, kissing me again. And again. I press myself against him.

I could do this all-damn day.

But with my hand pressing into his chest and gently pushing him away, I know that I can’t. “I’m already running late. This isn’t helping.”

“Sorry,” he murmurs. He kisses me again, swallowing my answering sigh when he does. He pulls back, further this time, untangling himself from me. “I just wanted to see you before you went to school.”

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