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“Save it. I don’t need a play-by-play.”
I caress her other arm in tandem, and she relaxes even more into my touch. “I can give you one if you’d like?” I’m fucking with her, but that’s the beauty of our dynamic.
Where she’s levelheaded, I’m unpredictable. And right now, I have the upper hand.
I move closer. As close as I can get, and at the rate Tenley turns to face me, I can tell she assumed I was further. I’m close enough to see the lines of worry across her forehead in the dimness of the hall.
They put me on edge.
“August, just please go back to your photoshoot. I’msorry for interrupting it. You know what? I should probably just leav?—”
“You want me, Tenley,” I whisper against the shell of her ear, pulling her close to me. With my chest against hers, as soon as the words leave my mouth, I feel her defeat.
“I shouldn’t have said that,” she retorts. “It wasn’t my?—”
“It drove you mad to see another woman with her hands on me, riding me like you want to, didn’t it?” She shakes her head, falling into my chest, and I continue, “You want me, and it’s not in the way you’re used to. You don’t just want my cock. You want me all to yourself, and you don’t know what to do with that.”
Silence. Silence fills the isolated hall, and for once, I’m grateful for it. I want Tenley to stew on my words and let them fester. Hopefully, she’ll finally grasp that she and I are happening at some point or another.
“The way Kodi had you both situated was…inappropriate.” She bites the inside of her cheek. “You don’t even know each other,” Tenley attempts to remind me.
I chuckle because that’s bullshit and she knows it. “Little venom, that in there was mild for an underwear shoot. You seem to be forgetting theSports Illustratedone the team did just last year. I was naked with a glove over my cock.”
Her pretty blues peer up at me. “Well, I wasn’t there for that.”
“This is a part of my job, Tenley. You signed me up for this, and like it or not, I need to continue if I stand any chance at keeping my endorsements.”
I see the moment understanding and guilt flood her. “I never should have said that. God, I feel so stupid.”
“Can you answer something for me?” I tuck a strand ofblonde hair behind her ear. She’s wearing the gold lightning bolt earrings I noticed she rarely takes off.
Tenley nods, and the deep exhale she takes tells me she’s expecting something she won’t like. She’s not wrong.
“Will you tell me why you reacted that way? I’ve never known my girl to show anything other than resilience. You looked seconds away from screaming.”
“I’m not your girl, August,” she sighs, sounding exhausted from the fight.
“In time.”
“But to answer your question, I don’t know. I don’t have an answer for you, but I will say this…I didn’t like the feeling,” Tenley tells me truthfully.
Hot dog. That’s progress.
“You basically just told me you love me.” I grin, knowing she’ll hate it.
She rolls her eyes, and a small smile ghosts her lips. “I said nothing close to that.”
“In Tenley language, you did. I speak fluent Tenley Abrams.”
Her arms cross at her chest, pushing her full breasts above the scoop of her tank top. Fuck. Her tits were a hearty handful before she was pregnant, but now…they’re bigger than the width of my palm.
Have mercy. I need to focus.
“Okay, bat boy. If you speak my language so well, what am I thinking right now?”
I don’t hesitate. “Easy. You wish that was you out there. Straddling my lap. But there’s one substantial difference between you and Layla.”
“And what’s that?”
