Page 34 of Catch Me

I grab his face, pulling his lips to mine and kissing him hard. His hands find my waist and he grips me tight, lifting me up so my toes are bushing the ground.

I break the kiss, feeling the pink seep into my cheeks. “Ok, see you later.” I say, leaving him breathing a little harder than usual and adjusting his trousers.

My head is laid against Nick’s thighs as he chews a pen between his teeth, notebook in one hand. The light streams through the open windows of his bedroom, the music flowing through my earphones and sending comforting ripples down my spine as I let my eyes flutter closed for a moment. Last night was just what I needed. Letting Nick fuck me until there were spots in myvision was just the medicine I needed after my stressful day in the gym. My competition is in two days and I'm running through my routines in my head every chance I get. Nick is studying too, writing down new tactics to pitch to Sean and his coach tomorrow at practice. I know he’d love to be the captain of the team and if my brother ever decides to step down, I know Nick will jump at the chance to replace him. He’s a natural leader like Sean and I know he’d make a reliable, strong, dependable captain if he ever needed to step into my brother’s intimidatingly large shoes.

His pen clicks between his teeth as the song in my ears changes to one of my favourites. I let my eyes open slowly and glance up at Nick’s serious, concentrated expression. I smile at him without even meaning to, my face just reacts to his like a bee to pollen. He doesn’t look back at me though, he’s engrossed in whatever he’s writing, the pen in his hand moving across the page at lightening speed.

I pull one earphone out and twist my face to him. “You know, I never believed in love at first sight,” a teasing grin tugs at my mouth. “Until I met you of course.”

Nick takes the pen out from between his teeth and without looking at me he mutters, “Yeah, me too.”

I sit up then, a little annoyed that he’s clearly not listening to me. “You’re not listening to me, are you?” I grumble, shifting my body so that I'm now straddling his thighs. His eyes finally meet mine, creased with confusion as he takes the notebook off his lap and frisbees it onto the bedside table along with his half chewed pen.

“Yeah baby, I am listening. You said you didn’t believe in love at first sight until you met me and I said me too.” He smiles softly, taking my face between his huge hands and pecking my forehead.

I sit up straighter now, confusion knitting my eyebrows together. “Wait, what? You loved me when you first met me? You can’t have, you never even acknowledged my existence until that night after the party.”

“Ok, maybe I don’t believe in love at first sight,” he smirks, “but love at first sex, that’s a different thing altogether.”

I throw him an eye roll and a slap towards his smug face, but he grabs my wrist before I can make contact and flips us so I'm under his body. His nose tickles mine and his warm breath dances across my parted lips, my gaze flitting between his own perfect lips and deep brown eyes. He stares at me for a beat, the words in his head floating around me without him needing to say them out loud. Then his mouth descends on mine, so slowly, so softly I barely feel it. But it’s comforting, warm and familiar and it melts me instantly.

“I think back to that night sometimes,” he coos against my lips, “how I very nearly turned you down because I knew what Sean would do if he found out I’d fucked his little sister. But deciding to let you in that night was the best thing I ever did, and immediately after our kiss I knew that I never wanted you to leave.”

I smile back at him, the most genuine smile I’ve ever worn and he knows it. I can tell by the way he looks back at me, like I'm the only person in his world.

CHAPTER 19

NICK

It’s already midday when Lois finally climbs off my lap — no matter how much I protest — and gets in the shower ready to leave. I asked her to stay here all day with me, rotting in bed together but she refused. She said Ellen is opening the gym especially for her this afternoon so she can nail down her routines before her competition on Friday.

Steam fills the room when she reappears in the bathroom doorway. Skin tight jeans hug her perfect ass and her t-shirt gives me an excellent view of her pert nipples as they poke through the sheer material. I’m dying to suck them between my lips, but the stressed out look in her hazel eyes tells me now isn’t the time to try. She's gathering clothes from the ground and stuffing them into the much too small bag that’s alreadycrammed with books and her laptop. We studied together all morning…well, not all morning. We also rolled around naked for a few hours, coming more times than I can keep count of.

“Hey,” I reach out for her arm, stopping her maniacal packing. “Baby relax for a minute, I’ll pack these for you, just sit down.”

She does as she’s told with a heavy sigh, dropping down onto the edge of my mattress and raking a hand through her wispy curls. “I can’t cope with this anxiety anymore, I need a release from it.” Her leg bobs with worry as she speaks, “These routines are killing me slowly and I'm ready to just end it all at this point. This competition can’t come quick enough. At least when I fail I can come home and eat my weight in ice cream, then curl up under my duvet for seven to ten business days.”

I laugh under my breath and squat down in front of her, taking her hands in mine. “You’re going to do great mini Taylor, you’re an amazing gymnast. Anyway, it doesn’t matter if you don’t win because you’ll come home to me and I’ll make you feel fucking amazing.”

She looks through her eyelashes at me, unamused expression plastered on her beautiful, freckled face. “You’re hilarious. But if I fail I won’t want to feel amazing, I deserve to feel shit because that’s what I am.”

“Don’t say that, ever.” I grip her face in my hands, jaw tight with annoyance, not at her but at the way she views herself. I don’t like it one bit.

Her face softens and she looks down at the ground again. “I’m sorry, I know I'm too much sometimes and I need to learn when to stop complaining about things.”

“Stop saying that to me, you’re not too much Lo and you need to get that out of your head. You’re the perfect amount, always have been, always will be. There’s no such thing as too much for me. Call me twelve times a day, text me about how your day’s going every ten minutes, leave me messages when you can’t sleep andmake sure when we’re in the same room that you’re touching me at all times.”

She smiles, then smudges a tear across her cheek. “You always know the right thing to say don’t you?”

“Just call me the perfect boyfriend.” I grin cheesily and she kisses me hard, fingers gripping my chin before she collapses into me on my bedroom floor. I hold her against my chest, our hearts beating in unison as she lays flat against my body, my whole world breathing softly in my arms.

When she’s ready to leave I kiss her goodbye for the hundredth time, taking a handful of each ass cheek in my hands as my tongue explores her mouth for as long as she’ll let me. She drops one last kiss to my lips, one I want to last forever. But instead she pulls away after only a second, leaving my bedroom with a smile spread wide across her face.

Her footsteps echo down the hallway towards the stairs, until they stop abruptly and I can’t help but press my ear to my bedroom door to see which one of my annoying as fuck roommates have caught her now. But to my horror, it’s Sean's voice I hear questioning her.

“Lo?” His voice is gruff, puzzled like he’s half asleep even though it’s the middle of the day. “What are you doing here?”

“I was erm…” she stutters and without being able to see her I know she’s picking at her fingers nervously. “I was looking for Callie!” She exclaims, breathing a sigh of relief. “Yeah, Callie, I was looking for Callie, is she here?”

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