Page 80 of The Baller

I spun around. “What just happened?”

He was silent for the longest second, his eyes scanning over me, assessing.

“Repeat what you said to me out there,” he demanded slowly.

I was no expert, but I swear the timbre of Lux’s voice had dropped a pitch. It was the same tone he’d hit this morning, deep and gravelly, right on the precipice of losing control. His eyes, usually so bright and filled with amusement, were now nothingbut dark orbs; kind of dangerous, very much a warning.

And yet I’d never felt safer.

“I would like to have sex. I would likeusto have sex.”

I had to force myself to swallow as he stepped toward me.

There was something about his stride and the way he didn’t blink, predatory almost. I didn’t know how to describe it. The way the air suddenly seemed lacking in oxygen was making my brain burst.

All I knew was that I’d never felt more alive.

My entire body buzzed like a live wire, a fluttering heartbeat bashed in every cell, except between my legs. There, it was thumping, like a prisoner desperate for release.

He stood over me, tugging on the end of my ponytail again, until my entire vision was filled with him. Only him.

“You don’t need to do this for me, Radley.”

Just like Holiday said yesterday, it felt like my entire life had been leading to this moment. I’d never been more sure of anything. That’s how our story would go.

“I’m not. I’m doing it for me. Only one person has ever had their hands on me, and I want to change that. I want to make new memories, and I want to make them with you.”

Anger flared for a split second before his cheeks puffed out, like it was the only way he could keep control over himself. For a terrifying moment I thought he was going to back out, tell me no, but instead, his fingers brushed against my burning cheek until he was pinching my chin, and once more, I found myself forced to look at him.

“Anytime you want to stop, we stop. Got it?”

I nodded.

“Tell me you understand.”

“I understand.”

Then his mouth fell on mine.

From that moment on, I had no doubt I had made the right decision, and there was zero chance we were stopping. All our kisses before had been tender and sweet; needy, but wrapped in a boundary of limits that had never been broken. And from the way Lux was hungrily licking against my tongue, tangling us together, I realized just how much he’d been holding back, because if I wasn’t mistaken, this man was about to devour me.

Before I was ready, he stepped back, only leaving the briefest gap between us while his eyes slowly roamed over me.

The first and only time I’d had sex, I’d spent days picking out the ideal underwear. I’d made sure the blue was the perfect shade to compliment my skin tone, I’d checked and rechecked it snuggled against my boobs and ass, that it made my legs longer and my tummy flatter. Now, I was wearing nothing but a pair of white cotton briefs under his sweatpants and hoodie, yet I couldn’t have felt sexier; not with the way he was looking at me like I was the only person he’d ever laid eyes on. Like he was struggling to control himself.

The longer he stared, the harder the pulse between my legs beat, until I was squirming so excruciatingly, I was struggling to controlmyself.

“Arms up,” he ordered, his warm palms pushing underneath the hoodie and brushing against my ribcage as he tugged it free.

And if I thought I felt sexy before, it was nothing compared to how he was making me feel now, under a gaze that could only be described as scalding.

I didn’t have time to react before he dropped to his knees and untied the drawstring of the trackpants. They pooled at my feet, andhe sat back on his haunches.

“Fuck, Radley, my strong, beautiful girl. You’re fucking perfect.”

My skin tightened with goosebumps as his hands ghosted up the back of my calves, inching higher so painfully slowly that I could only manage short, sharp inhales. His hands kept moving until his palms eased under the edge of my panties and cupped my ass.

“Do you want to stop?”

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