Page 82 of The Rookie

“Come for me, Avery,” I whisper against her, my fingers and tongue working in perfect tandem. “Let go, baby. I’ve got you.”

Her body tenses, every muscle going taut as her climax hits her like a wave crashing to shore. She cries out, my name tumbling from her lips like a prayer, over and over again, until she collapses against the bed, utterly spent and glowing in the aftermath.

I press a kiss to her thigh, savoring the way her skin is still trembling under my touch, and crawl back up to lie beside her. My heart’s still racing—part adrenaline, part something I can’t quite name—and when I meet her gaze, she’s looking at me like she doesn’t know what just hit her.

“Good?” I ask, though I know the answer. My voice comes out low and rough, betraying just how much she’s wreckedme, too.

Avery lets out a shaky laugh, her chest still rising and falling in unsteady breaths. Her eyes are wide, pupils dilated. “You’re wondering if you were good?”

“Uh, yeah?” I ask. Sincerely.

For once I drop my cocky veneer. I’m not about to admit that was the first time I’ve ever done that, and I have no idea how I performed, or if how she responded was above or below the status quo.

“That was…I don’t even have the words to describe it. Where did you learn to do…” she shakes her head. “Actually, never mind. I don’t want to know. Just, thank you for that. I’ve never orgasmed likethatfrom oral.”

“Really?”

“Really. And I just had two.”

The words say one thing, but the way she smiles—the kind of soft, half-dazed smile that feels private, like it’s just for me—says something else entirely.

“Well it’s my pleasure,” I murmur, dragging my knuckles softly down the curve of her waist, tracing the warm path of her skin as I climb back onto the bed with her.

She rolls her eyes, but her cheeks are still flushed, and I feel a strange surge of pride—like I just pulled off the play of my life and scored the game-winning touchdown. But it’s not just that. It’s not just the physical rush or the way she came undone under my hands.

It’s the way she trusted me. The way her walls cracked, even just for a second, and let me see her like this—unguarded, vulnerable,real.

I tilt my head back, running a hand over her stomach, dragging in a slow breath to steady myself, because my body is still in full arousal mode. The faint scent of her skin—warm and sweet, something soft like vanilla but entirely her—lingers in my head, making it impossible to think straight.

Hell, I don’t even want to think straight. Not when her hair is a tangled mess against my pillow. Not when my fingertips still remember the dip of her waist, the faint hitch in her breath when I pressed my mouth lower.

Not when she’s lying so close I can feel the heat rolling off her, and every part of me is screaming to pull her back against me.

The words are on the tip of my tongue. I should just tell her what I need to: that I’ve never done this. Not with anyone. Not ever.

Look, I know it sounds crazy that I’m this big sports star, and yet my high school girlfriend and I just kissed and nothing past that. We did. My mom—and dad—always taught me that sex was something very special. They didn’t at all tell me I had to stay a virgin, but for whatever reason I never felt comfortable with anyone.

Until Avery.

“You okay?” She asks, running her hand along the side of my hip.

“Uh…yeah. Totally.”

“Seems like you’ve got something on your mind.”

“Just thinking about the rules,” I lie.

“Oh, what about them?”

She slides a hand down my abs, slowly, keeping her eyes locked on mine until she grabs the base of my dick.

“About the…ah, oh, fuck,” I mutter. Her hand is sleight and her touch is delicate and I’m getting stiffer by the second. Her touch reinforces my gut intuition that Avery is the most caring person I’ve ever met.

“You’re hard,” she comments, biting her lip, running her hand softly up and down my hard length.

“Are you…turned on from going down on me?” She grins.

“Very.”

---