Page 75 of Fair Catch
“Each star is a famous painting,” Zeke explained, pulling another one out of the jar. He held it up between his forefinger and thumb. “And inside it, a quote or poem to match. On days when practice kills you, or class overwhelms you, or things just start to pile up and you feel disconnected from who you are at the core…” He shrugged, putting the star back in the jar. “You can open a little burst of art to remind you.”
My vision blurred again as I re-read the quote, carefully folding the painting back up — though I couldn’t quite get the star shape. I placed it inside the jar, twisted on the lid, and set it aside before crawling into Zeke’s lap.
“That is, by far, the most thoughtful gift I’ve ever received,” I said, laughing as a couple more tears slid down my cheeks and Zeke wiped them away. “And I am so mad at you for making me cry this much.”
“It’s your birthday,” he whispered, his hand sliding past my cheek and back to tuck my hair behind my ear. “Cry if you want to.”
I shook my head, an unstoppable smile winding on my lips before I lowered them to his.
“I can think of other things I’d much rather do,” I whispered.
He caught my next kiss with a deep inhale and a groan, his hands weaving around my hips as mine threaded into his hair. I bucked my hips, reveling in the feel of him already hardening beneath me, of his bulge rubbing against my core.
I waited for that moment to strike, for when we’d both become animalistic, growling and tearing at clothing until we were both nude. I waited for him to bite my lip and bruise my hips, the way I’d come to love and crave.
But he didn’t.
He didn’t rush me, didn’t do anything other than slow my movements with his hands holding my hips in a steady rocking rhythm. His kiss was leisurely and deep, his lips soft and tender, tongue sweet and unhurried where it teased mine.
And that softness…
It unraveled me.
I felt every knot in my throat release, every tense muscle relax, every anxious thought evaporate like steam into the air between us. I melted into him, melding my body to his, and I felt every new beat of his heart like it was my own.
Tha-dump.
Tha-dump.
It was a dream, how those slow caresses turned into a deliberate shedding of our clothes. His hands slid up my hips and over my rib cage, taking my shirt with them before it was peeled overhead and dropped somewhere behind me. I tugged at his long sleeve next, and he broke our kiss only long enough to dispose of it.
He kissed along the arc of my throat, hands massaging my breasts in steady circles, my nipples pebbling under the touch. I gasped into his next kiss, holding onto him tightly as he stood us both up in one fluid movement.
His sweats, then mine. His briefs, then my panties. And then I wore only his hands as they pulled me into him, guiding us back down, my legs straddling him on the couch.
I shivered at the heat of him slicking between my legs, at how he groaned at the contact, at the way it felt when he flexed his hips and felt my desire coat him from base to tip. But still, he kept that torturous pace, taking his time to kiss and lick and touch every centimeter of my body until I was quivering and begging him to fill me.
He tried to lift me, and I knew what he wanted, knew he would leave me cold on that couch to find a condom. But I held the back of the couch, held him there, kissing him hard and long as I rolled my hips to feel him slick between my labia again.
“I do forgive you,” I whispered, and that stilled him, too — his hands holding my waist steady as he pulled back to look me in the eyes. “I forgive you. I believe you.” I rolled against him again, making his eyelids flutter. “And I trust you.”
He swallowed. “Riley…”
“I want to feel it, even if it’s just once,” I said, those words a kiss and a plea against his lips. “I want to know what it’s like to have you inside me with nothing between us.”
His next breath was fiery and short, his forehead dropping to mine.
“We both know this won’t last forever.” I swallowed, fighting back the emotion that truth lurched to life inside me as Zeke frowned like the words killed him, too. “So just… let me feel you right now.”
A deep, passionate kiss was my answer, and one arm wrapped around the small of my back while he reached between us and positioned himself at my entrance. His crown dipped inside me, making us both hiss and still as I braced my hands on his shoulders and his found the crease of my hips and thighs.
