Page 38 of Getting Lucky Number Seven

Her skin against mine. Her lips so close.

“I…” My breath grew so shallow I didn’t think any oxygen was managing to reach my lungs. “Got slammed into the goal post during last night’s game. It’s why I wanted to come out here and get heat on my muscles.”

A crease formed between her eyebrows as she tipped her head and studied it, her fingers lightly brushing down the red and purple bruise. “Looks painful.”

I swear, I was about to lose control right there in the hot tub. Capture her lips with mine, press her against the side, and just give in to everything I couldn’t stop thinking about. This was a bad idea. Or the best idea ever. Who could think right now anyway? “It’s not so bad.”

She sat back and I immediately missed her touch. I needed to get this out of my system. Getherout of my system.

“I brought my laptop so I can show you the tattoos I’ve picked when we’re back in your apartment. What do you think?” She stood and ran her fingers over her hip, and the overwhelming urge to do the same slammed into me. “Here? Or maybe up my side?” Her fingers trailed up to the tiny string holding her bikini top in place.

My throat went bone dry. “I hear the ribs hurt.”

She stuck out her lips and then sat back down. “There’s also my back. Not lower back, but more upper back or shoulder. It depends on what I go with. I know people will say that butterflies or flowers are so cliché, but when I look at other things, I think, man, I don’t want that on my body forever. So who cares if they’re overdone? I want what I want.”

I want what I want. I know I shouldn’t, but I do.I didn’t want to screw up our friendship, but the constant wondering what it’d be like to cross that line had ruined my focus, not only when we were together, but every day. Even hockey didn’t shut it out anymore.

Plus I’d told her I’d help her with her list—it was a weak justification and I knew it. I clung onto it anyway.

“Lyla?”

She glanced up.

“Do you trust me?” I asked.

For what seemed like the first time all night, she actually looked at me. I watched her throat work a swallow. “You know I do.”

I moved closer and hooked my hand around her hip. “I want to help you out with number seven.”

Her hands came up on my arms, and her voice came out as shaky as I felt. “Beck.” Her gaze locked onto mine, and she licked her full lips. I could see the hesitation, but as I slid my hand around to her back and splayed my fingers on her bare skin, the rise and fall of her chest grew faster and faster, so I knew she wasn’t unaffected. “Could you even—I mean, I know you don’t find me attractive that way, and—”

A laugh escaped my lips. “You’re kidding, right?” I pulled her tight against me, against my giant hard-on. She gasped, digging her fingernails into my skin, only making me harder. “You’ve been doing this to me every time we’re in the same room, lately. I can’t stop thinking about it, and seeing your list…it only made it worse. I want to show you what you’ve been missing.”

“Oh?”

I traced her bottom lip with my thumb. “That’s the goal.”

Her skin blushed all the way down, from cheeks to neck to chest. Fire spread through my limbs, awakening every thought I’d tried to suppress these past few weeks. I was about to get carried away, but I knew I needed to draw lines before it was too late.

“I’m not a relationship guy. I can’t be your boyfriend. If we do this, it’s got to be just sex.”

She turned her big eyes up to me, and I waited for her to tell me she couldn’t. That we shouldn’t.

Instead she pressed closer, bumping her hips into mine. “Okay.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Lyla

Time ground to a halt as Beck lowered his lips to mine. One hand remained on my back, drawing me closer, as his other cupped my neck. The warmth of his skin soaked into mine. He pressed his thumb to my chin, tipping it up as he parted my lips with his.

Heat wound through my body, short-circuiting my nerve endings and all thoughts besides the here and now along with them. I needed closer.More. I looped my arms around his neck, bringing our bodies tighter together, and threw myself into the kiss, matching each stroke of his tongue.

He groaned and turned us so that my butt was against the wall of the hot tub. He moved his lips to my ear and I clung onto him as he whispered, “I think we better move this upstairs.”

Beck gripped my hips and boosted me out of the water. I scrambled for my towel, patting myself dry as quickly as possible. Then I gathered up the rest of my belongings, my heartbeats tripping over each other.

Beck came up behind me, slid his arm around my waist, and kissed the base of my neck. I leaned back against him, fighting all the sounds that wanted to burst from my lips. Luckily no one else was around, but who knew when someone from the complex would decide to go for a swim?

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