Page 65 of Cross Check Daddies
“But Tanner…”
I swing my leg over and hand her the spare helmet. “You’re gonna love it.”
Ten minutes later, she’s clinging to me on the back of the bike, legs tight around mine, her laughter echoing in my helmet as we fly down the side roads away from the city, taking the back way through Palmetto Bay. Her hands tighten around my waist every time I lean into a curve.
I take her to a bluff I found years ago when I needed to be alone. It’s hidden behind a line of mangroves, with a view that cracks open over the water, glittering and wild. We dismount. She pulls off the helmet and shakes out her hair, wide-eyed.
“Okay, this is... a view.”
I nod, grin. “I’m just winning points.”
She laughs, turning to face me, chest rising and falling, eyes dark now. I step into her space. Her fingers curl into my shirt without asking. My hands grip her waist.
She leans in first, lips brushing mine. The kiss starts soft—barely-there kisses stacked like breaths—but then I deepen it, and she moans into my mouth like she’s waited too long to be this close.
I walk her backward until her back hits a tree, my hands already under her shirt. I kiss down her throat, drag my teeth lightly across her collarbone. She gasps, and it spurs me on.
Her hands are tugging my belt loose, and mine are under her skirt, pushing panties aside. She’s wet, slick with want, and I curse under my breath when she wraps her hand around my cock and strokes slowly. I reach into my wallet, pull out the condom, and roll it on fast.
I lift her, her legs lock around my waist, and I slide into her. Her breath hitches, eyes fluttering shut, back arching as her nails drag down my back.
We move together, grinding in a rhythm that feels like an apology and a promise. I kiss her through the moans, the whispers, the bite of her teeth against my neck. The wind picks up around us, and still, she clings to me like I’m the only thing real.
She comes first, biting my shoulder to stifle the cry, and I follow, muffling a groan into her throat as I spill into the condom.
We stay there a while, breathless, pressed together, bodies humming from the high.
“Okay,” she whispers, dazed. “That... was a lot of points.”
I kiss her again and don’t let go.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Brooke
Two months.That’s how long it’s been since everything shifted—since I stopped trying to follow a script that never fit and started living in the chaos I built with open hands and an open heart. I don’t even know what to call this anymore. It’s not traditional. It’s not polished. But it’s mine.
I’m sleeping with all three of them.
Ivy thinks I am totally crazy.
I mean, maybe she is right. I have been screwing three men who belong to the same damn team. Not together. Never like that. Each relationship is its own orbit.
Cam comes to me late, when the city’s quiet and his thoughts are loud. Tanner shows up like summer storms—unpredictable, hot, wild around the edges. Ace moves slowly. His messages always ask if I’ve eaten, if I’ve rested, if I need to scream into a pillow.
I see them at different times, never overlapping, never messy. Not one of them has pushed for exclusivity. Not one of them has made me feel like I have to explain myself.
And somehow, I’m doing the best work of my life.
GameHatch is thriving. The game is almost ready. We hit gold last week. The team ordered champagne and cupcakes. Ididn’t cry until I was alone in my office, hands still shaking from the final code merge. We did it. No major bugs. No dropped assets. Every render, every voice line, every patch—it works.
My inbox is full of interest from investors and sponsorships from eSports teams that never used to give us the time of day.
The launch will make me rich. But more than that, it will make meknown.
My phone buzzes with a text from Ace.
>> ETA 15. Want wine or snacks?
