Page 39 of Personal Foul
I quickly hit the button to open the doors, coming face-to-face with the woman who’s been on my mind for the past week. Sydney runs into the elevator, nearly collapsing against the wall on the opposite side, holding a hand against her chest as she takes in a deep breath.
“Hi,” she says. “Sorry, I didn’t want to wait for the elevator to come back down. I didn’t—” She pauses when she sees me.
She hadn’t realized it was me in the elevator. If she had, she probably would’ve waited for the next lift.
“No problem,” I say, punching the button to our floor.
The long ride up is spent in total silence, but as each second ticks by, my thoughts eat at me. My mind swirls around, wondering if she plans to continue to dodge me or if she’ll finally let me talk to her.
I’m sick of this cat and mouse game. I want us to sit down and talk about this, like two grown adults. No more running. No more hiding from what we are thinking or feeling.
As soon as we reach our floor, I stand back and let her walk out. The urge to stop her and ask her to talk to me is simmering below the surface, except I’m sick of being the one to initiate the conversations.
I follow behind her as she walks toward her door. My footsteps slow as she reaches her door, knowing this is my only opportunity. Isn’t this why I declined plans to head to the bar to meet up with my teammates?
I sense her hesitation when she holds her key near the lock, ready to enter before she stops.
“Colson,” she sighs, halting my footsteps as I shoulder past her.
Stopping, I turn slightly to glance at her over my shoulder.
“You have plans tonight?” she asks quietly.
I consider telling her I did, how I was planning on going out and meeting up with the guys. It would sound totally pathetic to admit I was planning on staying home alone. However, I know her well enough that if she knew I had plans, she’d drop it entirely. I decide to see what she’ll say and roll with it.
“I debated ordering takeout and watching some football, but that’s about it.”
“Oh, um…” She pauses, running her teeth over her lower lip, contemplating.
“What’s on your mind, Syd?”
“Well, if you want, maybe you could stop over, and we could order takeout together? You know, talk. I wouldn’t mind watching some football, too.”
I get the feeling Sydney doesn’t let her walls down and show vulnerability with anyone. If she tries to push you away, it’s going to take a lot for her to give you another chance. The fact she’s taking the initiative now, means we are finally getting somewhere.
“I was hoping you’d ask.” I smile, taking the few steps separating us to join her. “How about Chinese? There’s this place I know. Apparently, they have the best Chinese in town.”
“I think I’ve heard of the place.” She grins, remembering our first night together.
The smile curving the edge of her lips doesn’t escape my notice when she turns back to unlock her door. She lets out a slow but heavy breath as if the weight of the question finally eases some of the tension we’ve both been feeling.
I shed my bag near the entrance, while we both toe off our shoes. Following behind her into her living room, I wrap my hands around her hips, stopping her before she takes a seat on her couch.
I turn her to face me, wrapping my arms around her waist, guiding her into my arms. This time, she comes easily, and I can’t help but feel like something has shifted in her.
She is letting her walls down with me now as she runs her hands up my arms and around my neck.
“I missed you,” I murmur against her ear.
“I know,” she sighs. “I missed you, too.”
Pressing my hand against the side of her face, I tilt my head back enough to look her in the eyes. This time I don’t stop or wait. I kiss her with so much passion and intensity, all the frustration and emotion from the past few days rain down around us. She hooks her arms around my neck, yanking me closer to her. Running my hands down her sides, gripping her hips, I kiss her like I’ll never get the chance to kiss her again.
The thought crosses my mind how I don’t want this to be about the physical part of our relationship. We’ve had the chemistry down since we first met. We need to sort through the rest of it, but I can’t resist kissing her.
My fingers dig into her thigh when she hitches her leg over my hip. I rub my thigh over the front of her pussy. A moan escapes her mouth and the sound nearly has me coming out of my pants. When she reaches her hand down between us, rubbing over where my dick begs to be set free, all my worries and hesitations are washed away.
“Rush,” she groans, leaning her head back.
