Page 209 of There's No Us Without You
I breathe her in before she pulls away, giving me a big smile. “I missed you,” she says, and bites her bottom lip, eyes shining under the last rays of sunlight coming in through the window.
“I missed those,” I say, glancing at her lips. “You have no idea how fucking hard I am right now seeing you in that dress.”
Her smile grows bigger if that’s even possible. She glances down, smoothing the fabric over her thighs. “You like it?”
“Like it? I fucking love it, baby. You look beautiful.” I grab the few stray hairs falling down her forehead and twist them around my finger. “Tell me, Pop-Tart, has Will seen you in this dress?”
Eden tilts her head, frowning. “No. Why?”
I clear my throat, a little smirk lifting one corner of my mouth. “No reason. Come on, I want to show you something.”
By the time we pull out onto the main road, the sun has fallen below the tree line, sending the sky into a mixture of orange, pink, and blue. Forty-five minutes later, I pull into the carpark of the small club house, and motion for Eden to follow me.
It’s now dark—just the way I want it—but there’s enough light coming from the surrounding streetlights to allow us to see where we’re going.
“What are we doing?” Eden says, linking our fingers when she comes up beside me.
“Patience, baby.” I give her hand a squeeze and lead her down to the fence line that surrounds the small soccer field.
A smile creeps onto my lips as I take in my old playing ground. The grass is as green as I remember it; the stands the same—white and green, matching the club colours.
This place is where I realised I wanted to make soccer my life.
I jump the fence with ease, and motion for Eden to follow me.
Her eyes widen, and she shakes her head. “I can’t climb that.”
A laugh escapes me, and I hold my arms out for her. “I’ll help, come on.”
She blows out a breath. “Fine, but if I fall and break my neck, you’re in trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?” I wiggle my eyebrows, letting her place her hands on my shoulders as I grip her waist.
“Concentrate,” she says, giving my chest a little slap.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Eden shoves the toes of her shoes into the wire fence and pushes herself up. Using my shoulders for balance, she throws her legs over the top railing one at a time, then jumps down.
“See? Easy.” I give her a wink and walk backwards, my arms out wide. “What do you think?”
Eden glances around, eyes darting between the stands and the old brick clubhouse. “What is this place?”
Shoving my hands in my pockets, I take in my childhood. “I used to play here when I was younger,” I say as I lead her over to the stands. “When I was about thirteen, my team won our first ever division one match right on this field. It didn’t matter that we came third last over all that season. All that mattered was the feeling I got while playing, and that’s when I knew what I wanted to do with my life.”
Eden sits on a bench and pulls me down to sit next to her. “So you didn’t always know you wanted to play soccer professionally?”
I shake my head. “I was always good, but it was in that moment I knew that’s what I was put on this earth for.” I cringeat the words coming out of my mouth, and rub the back of my neck, heat crawling up my chest and into my face. “I know that sounds corny as all hell, but it’s the only way I can describe it.”
Eden rubs her hand over my thigh and down over my injured knee. “It’s not corny at all. I’m proud of you.” She gets choked up, her eyes brimming with tears. “You’re going to be so great, you know that, right?”
Everything I want to say to her gets caught in my throat, so I do the next best thing and grab the back of her neck, pulling her towards me to crush my lips to hers. I run my tongue over the seam of her mouth, urging her to let me in.
Hands sliding up my chest, she moans and opens for me. My tongue finds hers, our kiss turning frantic and heated as though we’ve been starved for each other for an eternity.
I need to have her right now, so I pull her onto my lap to straddle my thighs. Her knees press into the bench on either side of my legs, and with slow, sensual movements of her hips, she grinds herself against my crotch, making me grip her arse tighter, my fingers digging into her softness.
“Make love to me,” Eden says against my lips. “I need you inside me.”
