Page 30 of The Good Girl Next Door

Her fingers are stroking my back, soft and delicate, and I swear I’m about to get hard all over again.

“I love you, Prudence.”

She snorts. “Mmmhmm,” she mutters into my ear. “And I lo—oh.”

I slip out of her and she gasps. “I love you,” she says, finally, our foreheads touching as we lay together. “And the way you fill me up.”

I cup her face, kissing her harshly as she whimpers against my mouth, arms curled up against my chest.

I can feel her smile against my lips when we finally break away.

“Favorite summer ever,” she whispers.

“It will be,” I say, brushing my nose against hers. “Until next summer. It’s only going to get better from here, Pru.”

“I believe you,” she says after a beat. “You’re not what I expected, Silas. But you’re…” She drags her tongue across the tattoos on my forearm, smiles, and then says, “Mine.”

She nuzzles against my chest as I hold her close.

“And the mess leaking from me makes it clear I’m yours.”

I smile against her head, breathing her in before kissing her hair.

“Forever, Prudence.”

* * *

A few weeks later…

Life couldn’t be better. I guess it could be if Prudence was my wife, but that will have to wait.

For now.

The day we graduate is the day I slip a ring on her finger and officially lock her down. Everyone on the team knows she’s mine, except for Coach. He’s unaware that every night his daughter sneaks out of her room and into the pool house.

She screams my name as I lay my claim. I don’t think either of us has slept so well now that we’ve hammered out our nightly routine. I swear everything has fallen into place. When I’m not at practice, I’m in the library with Prudence.

I know my good girl wants to be taken in the stacks. She’s told me as much but won’t let me fulfill her fantasy. I’ll save it for a graduation present then.

And as much as I love sinking into her every single night, I love being with her just as much. I’ve never been so open with anyone before—so candid and raw about my past. What it was like basically raising myself after my father left me and my mother. After my mother spiraled…

I held her in my arms as she cried, recounting the death of her mother. It gutted me to hear see her sobbing, but I understand why she’s so close with her dad, and she’s never left the house. It’s just them and has been for a while.

I’m not trying to break up their relationship, but Prudence can’t stay at home forever.

I sink into the bench, my body on fire as I glance across the ice. Practice is over and everyone’s filtering out. If I keep having more weeks like these past few, there’s no question we’ll have a title at the end of the season and I might get drafted after all.

But questions still remain. I’m leaving the pool house at the end of summer, and I want Prudence to come with me. As much as I’ve liked sneaking around with Pru—I want to go public. I want there to be no question in anyone’s mind, including Coach’s that she’s mine.

I don’t care about the fallout. Pru’s all that matters to me. And she’s walking down the steps across the ice right now. She never attends practices.

But she’s never dated a player until me.

“Little Miss Prude showed up to practice?” says the guy next to me, taking a long swig from his water bottle.

I glance at him sidelong. He’s a winger, but I don’t know his name. All I know is he’s got a fucking death wish.

“Chill,” Liam, a defender and the only person on the team to give me a warm welcome.

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