Page 17 of Ruck Me

“I guess I didn’t realize until recently how close we actually are. I like you, and I think you like me too. But I have to wonder if it weren’t for you playing on Declan’s team, would we still be friends?”

“First of all, it’s not Declan’s team,” I said, a touch more forcefully than I’d meant to. Yes, he was the captain, and yes he was the big name player most journalists wrote about, but every single player on the team—each damn one of us, including me—gave their all for Dublin Rugby. It was ourteam.

“You know what I mean,” came her quick reply.

“It’s my team too Aoife. I haven’t played for Dublin as long as Declan has, but I’m him five years ago. And if I have anything to say about it, I’ll be better than he ever was five years fromnow.”

She scoffed. “You better not let him hear you saythat.”

“What? You don’t think I haven’t said it to his face already?” I stared her down, willing her to answer. I couldn’t say why, but it was important to me that Aoife understood that I had goals I intended to see through.

She studied me for a quick moment and then gave me a smirk. “No, I’m sure youhave.”

“Damn straight.”

The car fell silent and I waited for her to continue on with whatever she’d been about to confess. When she didn’t, a thought came to me, crystal clear. So clear I was surprised I’d never realized it before now. “It’s all an act, isn’tit?”

“What do youmean?”

I swept my hand in her direction. “You. The loud, boisterous partygirl.”

Her eyes flashed with indignant heat. “Are you calling me a fraud?” She leaned forward and poked her finger into my chest. Hard.

“Whoa, hold up a second,” I said, wrapping her hand in mine and setting it atop my thigh. I didn’t let go. “That’s not what I meant. I’m fucking thisup.”

“You are,” she tried to tug her fingers free but I wouldn’t loosen my grip. “Give me my handback!”

“I will when I’m good and ready.” I glanced down and was surprised to see my thumb sweeping back and forth over the skin near her wrist. I hadn’t even realized I was doing it. I dragged my eyes back up. “What I meant was I always assumed you were the most fearless person I knew. That you did whatever you wanted to, whenever you wanted, and consequences be damned.” She tried pulling her hand away again but I held onto it even tighter. “But I think deep down, you’re not that person at all. No, that’s not it either. Shit, I’m fucking thisup.”

“You are,” she agreed.

“I told you I was good at fucking, not talking,” I reminded her. “What I’m trying to say is that I think you are that person, but I also think you’re shy too. Or maybe you do care what people think. Whatever it is, that’s what’s causing you to worry so much aboutthis.”

“There is no this,” she said, tugging again and I finally letgo.

I leaned forward in the confined space and placed my hand on Aoife’s cheek. Her eyes looked panicked, but I didn’t relent. She was trying to put the brakes on us and there was no way I was letting that happen. Not after I’d gotten the small taste of her I had. It wasn’t enough. I neededmore.

“That’s where you’re wrong.” I slid my hand to the nape of her neck and pulled her forward. “This is definitely something,” I whispered, dropping a soft kiss to her lips. Barely enough pressure to even call it a kiss, in fact, but it did the trick.

Aoife fisted her hands in my t-shirt, hanging onto me for dear life as she kissed me back, wild and wanton and so full of life. “I am that girl!” she exclaimed when she stopped to catch her breath. “What you see is what you get,” she murmured against my lips as she started kissing me again.

I licked my way inside her mouth, my dick growing painfully hard the longer this went on. For fuck’s sake, what was she doing to me? It’d been a long time since something as innocent as kissing caused my dick to swell like this. I hadn’t even touched her titsyet.

Jesus Christ, I want to see hertits.

I slowed the slip and slide of my lips and pulled away. “What I see is what I get? Well, I see you Aoife. I see all of you. Please, let me haveyou.”

After a few tense moments, Aoife speared her hands through my hair and pulled me to her. When my elbow hit the steering wheel, the seat belt dug into my chest, and my knee hit the gear shaft, I grunted. It wasn’t painful, exactly, but it wasn’t comfortable either. And it also reminded me that it was damn hard to make out in a car. Well, the front seat anyhow.

“Let’s get in the back seat,” I suggested, disentangling myself from her hold to see her lips were red and swollen, her hair a mess, her eyes shiny.

She glanced to the backseat, to me, and then to the backseat again. Without saying a word, she undid her seatbelt and crawled between the seats. “You coming orwhat?”

That was the million dollar question, wasn’tit?

I certainly hopedso.

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