Page 31 of Power Play

“Look, I’m not really the best at putting myself out there. So you don’t have to say anything. If you want to just go into your room, I’ll go into my room. We can pretend that the other day didn’t happen. Just hand me my key, and I’ll go,” she says.

I look back down at the keycards, then slowly back up to her.

Her eyes are big again, and she’s biting that pouty little lip.

Fuck.

I take the key to her room and lift it up. Her eyebrows raise, but then I slide it down into my back pocket. I scan my own, and the door unlocks. Then I take her hand and pull her inside my room, closing the door behind us.

Before I touch her again, I look down at her.

“Lo, are you…is this what you want? Are you sure?” I ask her again. God knows, this is what I have been waiting for. I want to take my time with her, worship every square inch of her the way she deserves. Kiss all the parts of her that that bastard broke all those years ago and slowly wipe him from her memory.

I want her so fucking badly. But if she doesn’t want me, if she has even an ounce of hesitation, I don’t want to do this. Iwon’tdo this.

I won’t let that happen to her.

Again.

She tilts her head to the side, her eyebrows knit together.

“Do you not?” she asks me. “Or is this, like, a pity thing?”

I swallow.

She’s a decade-plus my junior, but she’s got an old soul. She’s seen a lot more life than most other twenty-two-year-olds. I hate that for her.

“No, uh, it’s not…it’s not a pity…uh,” I sputter. She has me all tangled up. She takes a step toward me.

“Stop reliving the past. That’s not your job. If you want me…if you want this,” she says, motioning between us, “just take it.”

Jesus.

Talk about a gut-punch.

The truth is, I haven’t stopped replaying that night since it happened.

But tonight, with her permission, I think I can put it on pause.

I think I will.

I cup her cheek and rub it with my thumb, my other hand weaving through her hair.

“Yes, ma’am,” I tell her before my lips go crashing into hers. She’s so soft and sweet it makes me hard as a fucking brick before I even have her off the floor. I bend down to scoop her up, light as a feather, and carry her toward the bed. I set her down in front of it, my tongue still searching hers, her hands on my face, my bottom lip between her teeth.

I look down into her eyes for a moment, taking her in. God, she’s fucking beautiful.

“Can I have you, Lola Calway?” I whisper. It sounds playful, but it’s also me trying to feel her out one more time before we do something that can’t be undone.

A slow smile tugs on the corner of her lips, making my dick harder than ever.

“I’ve been waiting for you to ask me that for a very,verylong time,” she whispers back. I lean forward and kiss her again, softly at first, while my fingers search for the shoulder of her jacket. I push it off her, and she shimmies out of it. Then I reach for the hem of the sexy little cami she has underneath it. I slide it up over her head, and I want to dive face-first into the middle of her chest. I pull my own shirt off in case she feels more exposed than I do, and then she reaches for my jeans and undoes them. But before she takes her hand off my zipper, I press into my hardness.

“That’s all for you, baby girl,” I whisper. Her eyes meet mine, and subconsciously, she juts her tongue out to wet her lips.

Then she takes her hands off me and undoes her own pants, shimmying out of them slowly and kicking them to the side. She’s got on white lace panties, and it’s all I can do not to tear them off her. She takes a step forward, reaching for my hand and sliding it down between her legs. I can feel the heat, the dampness through the lace, and my heart skips a fucking beat. I’m breathing like a barbarian now as my eyes jump back to hers.

“And that’s all for you, Buck,” she says.

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