Page 47 of The Game

“Maybe I should leave you two alone out here?”

The bright voice breaks through my trance. Good thing. I’m pretty sure I was seconds away from discovering just what she tastes like.

Jazz’s head snaps back up, and her wig tips forward to her brow. “This thing.” She mutters, yanking some pins out and fumbling to pull the wig off. She’s got a hairnet containing the waterfall of her shiny black hair, but there are stray bits poking out all over.

“We’re good. This is Jazz. Jazz, this is Beau’s sister Cecelia. I ran into her and her brother upstairs and she wanted to come meet you. She’s new to Lakeview this year.”

“Nice to meet you.” My girl straightens up in her seat, giving the other girl all of her attention. “What’s your major?”

“You can call me Cece. Only my family calls me Cecelia. Beau calls me Sissy when he’s not being an overprotective doofus. I’m in marketing, but what I really want to do is animation. I create my own comics in my spare time. How about you?”

“I’m taking business management with a focus on entrepreneurship.”

“Amazing. Love that. Look, we definitely need to hang out some time, but in the meantime, I’m gonna head back in there.” She looks over to the window at the dark shadow behind thecurtain. Must be Beau waiting for his sister to get back. “Let me airdrop you my deets.”

The girls tap their phones together, and then she’s off, slamming the front door behind her.

“That was kind of weird, but she seems nice.”

“Yeah. It was the first time I met her, but I’m sure she’s great. I think Beau has been keeping her away from the team.”

She laughs. “That doesn’t surprise me in the least after what he was doing to JJ when we got here.”

Her shoulders shudder, and she crosses her arms over her chest. The chilly air must be hitting all that exposed skin. Goosebumps have popped up on the exposed expanse of flesh at her midriff.

I act on impulse, dropping an arm around her shoulder and tucking her into my side. I haven’t had a girl this close since, well, since Charlene destroyed me. But there’s no room for her in my head right now. For the very first time since she shattered me, I feel like maybe I’ll be able to heal. Maybe one day I’ll be able to let someone back in.

Chapter 17

Blurred Lines

Jazz

The crisp air feltgood on my overheated skin when we first got out here, but after my internal temperature leveled out, the chill set in. Cole must have caught my shiver because he closed the distance between us, pulling me in close to share his body heat. I nuzzle in, dropping my head to his chest, and he rubs a hand up and down my arm. The gesture sends a different kind of shiver through my system.

“You want to go in?” he asks.

“No. I’m kind of liking it out here. It’s peaceful.” I love a good party, but sometimes you need a break from the peopling and now that I’m the arms of my fake boyfriend I’m reluctant to leave them. Who knows how long it’ll be before I’ll be able to get this kind of human contact? Should I start dating again? The problem is when I think about it, the only face I imagine sitting across from me is his. Everything is getting all jumbledup in my head. The lines between real and pretend blurring like the veil between life and death this time of year.

The side of his finger strays a little to the left, brushing the side of my breast through the tight fabric of my costume. My nipples ache, and warmth stirs in my neglected lady parts.

“I’m so sorry.”

I tilt my head up to look at him. His eyes are glazed, and I place a hand on the one he tried to pull away from my arm. “It’s ok.” I stretch up, his liquid brown eyes dragging me in, pulling me toward him like a magnet.

His lips part and he dips his head down inch by slow inch as if he can’t resist me, either. The memory of his lips on mine at the game is seared into my brain, and I want to experience it again. Maybe it was a fluke. The one-off passion of two lonely people. Maybe if I let myself kiss him again, I’ll be able to move past this restless need that’s been riding me.

I stretch up in my seat until we’re so close I can feel the heat of his breath. He makes the final move, closing the last gap between us. His lips are soft and warm, just like I remember them. My eyes drift closed as we move against each other in a gentle dance of give and take. I need more. Tingles run from my lips to my hardened nipples and my pulsing core.

Our mouths part in sync, and he pulls my lower lip between his teeth, tongue swiping against mine. I swing around, throwing a leg over his thighs. His long, steely length is ready for me, and I gasp into his mouth as it presses against me in just the right place.

My hips grind against it as my hands slip up the shorn hair at the back of his head until I can reach the longer locks on top, tangling my fingers in their silkiness.

He traces a swirling line down my back until he reaches my hips, digging into the flesh and pulling me closer until we’re shifting together in a desperate grind.

“Jazz,” he moans out.

“Cole.” I trace my tongue along his, rubbing my chest against him, wishing his hands would slide up to touch me there, craving the friction.

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