Page 53 of Green Flag
Luca Mendes’s arm was in the crook of my waist. All my senses heightened to his body behind me, my back pressed into him, his soft snores just above my ear.
We had cuddled.
I reached for my phone on the bedside table slowly so as not to disturb his much-needed sleep.
The last thing I’d known was that we’d showered separately — because I couldn’t let him see me completely naked — and had another session, and then he’d come out with a wet towel to clean me as I went in and out of blissful consciousness. He had the most soothing voice, rough and clear, deep and throaty enough to lure me into sleep.
The exhaustion from the number of times he’d made me come helped me fall deeply too.
And that was exactly why my heartbeat quickened, thinking of how long we’d been asleep.
The hotel corridor would be crawling with StormSprint workers, including my father.
Luca was a good guy; I couldn’t put him in the middle of this, even if it meant pissing off my father.
Luca being a good guy also meant my dad might not even care. He might have warned everyone, but Luca wasn’t exactly a man any father could disapprove of.
Exhibit A: He’d put my phone on charge. And there was a pint of water beside it.
Which I knew made my bar pretty low but, if we continued like this, I would no doubt fall in love with him.
Because Luca Mendes was oh-so-fuckable and oh-so-lovable.
Damn the Mendes’s genes.
I glugged the water, parched from last night’s activities. As I set the drink aside again, I managed to slide my phone off the side, gravity pulling it free from the charger and falling onto the floor. He didn’t flinch but his snores stopped, his thumb rubbed at my bare stomach and then he was out again after pulling me closer to him and sighing in my ear.
I’d come six times last night. Six.
But because I hadn’t been filled… there was this unsatisfied tingle within me. I still needed more. I pressed further back into him, feeling his morning hard-on. The stamina of a fucking horse, this man.
For a few minutes, I allowed myself to enjoy his embrace, eyeing up the muscled arms that held me in place, the solid feel of his chest against me. The length of him that I wanted to wriggle on.
And I could feel the fall. The opening of my mind. Like I was stepping closer and closer to the cliffedge without realising.
I’d always been like it. When I loved, I loved freely and fiercely.
That couldn’t happen here. I had a purpose and Luca Mendes was a distraction.
Without mercy, I ripped myself from his grip and ran to the ensuite to clean my teeth, grabbing some pyjamas on the way.
“Everly?” he called after me, voice hoarse.
“Yeah, one second,” I said, shoving my legs into the silk trousers.
I’d done nothing wrong, but I wanted to cry. My hormones were all over the place.
It wasn’t that I owed Pedro anything — definitely not — but this was the first time I’d cuddled anyone other than him… and felt something too. There was a relief, freeing my breaths, but also an overwhelming tug on my heart because I didn’t know where to go from here.
When I came back out, somewhat refreshed, he was sitting up in bed, scrolling through his phone. He looked up at me with a lazy smile. “Your pyjamas are nice. They look soft.”
On the bed, I shuffled over to him on my knees. He took my hips, stroking the silk, his finger running under the elastic band.
When he reached up to kiss me, I gave him an awkward peck, eyes open, when it was clear he’d been after more.
I fell to sit back on my heels.
He nodded, looking away at his phone.
