Page 110 of Stick It
“Then go wait outside.” I fling my arm toward the door. “You don’t need to be by my side every second of the day.” Instead of heading out of the room, he moves closer. His long legs eat up the distance between us, even as I step back in a bid to maintain it. “I can’t breathe with you constantly in my space,” I toss at him. “I can’t think. I can’t?—”
His hand snaps out, fingers curling around my throat as he drags me closer. I gasp as my body collides with his, his chest rising and falling unevenly.
“You think I want this?” he grits out, voice dark and strained. “You think Ilikebeing stuck in this fucking hell where I can’t let you out of my sight? Where I wake up every damn day knowing that if I let my guard down for even a second, something could happen to you?” His fingers flex against my throat. “Because I don’t.”
I stare up at him, chest heaving, pulse rioting against my ribs.
His grip tightens.
My core clenches.
And then he snaps.
In a blur of movement, my back hits the wall. I barely feel the coolness against my overheated skin before his mouth crashes against mine.
I let out a sharp gasp, but he doesn’t give me room to breathe. His hands bracket my face, fingers digging in, controlling the angle, the pace. It’s all-consuming, this kiss—heated and desperate, a battle neither of us can win. His teeth scrape against my bottom lip before his tongue sweeps inside, taking, claiming,owning.
“Do you have any idea how often I’ve thought about this?” he rasps, ripping his lips away but remaining fully in my space, taking up all of my oxygen. “Even though I shouldn’t. You’re a player and I’m the captain, and if you were anyone else I wouldn’t, but it has been driving meinsaneknowing that my friends, my roommates, myteammateshave tasted your lips, and I haven’t.” His nostrils flare, pale blue eyes boring into mine with so much raw heat that it leaves me parched.
His words slowly penetrate, and my eyes widen, realizing he overheard my conversation with Wren.“Careful, Dylan. You’re playing a dangerous game.”At the time, I’d thought he was referencing me kissing the other guys, but now I wonder, did he mean himself? Was Ethan…jealous? My lips part, and Ethan takes that as an invitation, ducking his head and sweeping his tongue inside my mouth. He kisses me until all I see, all I think of, ishim.
My hands fist in the pathetic excuse of a top that he’s wearing. I intend to push him away. That’s exactly what Ishoulddo, but instead I end up pulling him closer.
Fuck it. Breathing is overrated anyway.
I arch into him, my breasts dragging along the hard planes of his chest as my hands roam freely over the expanse of smooth skin. His muscles flex and tighten beneath my touch, while my own body turns soft and pliable.
I’m two seconds from wrapping my legs around his waist and clinging to him like a spider monkey when the door opens.We spring apart like two teenagers caught doing something they shouldn’t.
“How’s it going in here?” Nolan asks, lifting his head from the clipboard in his hand.
Clearing his throat, Ethan turns away, keeping his back to Nolan as he adjusts the obvious erection tenting the thin fabric of his shorts.
“Fine.” My voice sounds anything but, and I focus on the resistance band, going back to my movements as I try again. “Think I’ve got the muscles in my chest and back all worked out.”
“Good.” Nolan appears oblivious as he moves farther into the room, dropping the clipboard before approaching me. “Let’s move on to your legs then.”
For the next hour, tension crackles in the air and my lips tingle like they’ve been stung by a dozen bees, and any time I accidentally catch Ethan’s eyes, everything in the room ceases to exist.
I’ve done it again—kissed another Steelhawk I have no business wanting. And I’m starting to think I don’t want to stop.
I’m well and truly fucked.
34
DYLAN
The energyin the arena is electric, buzzing with the kind of intensity only opening night can bring. The Steelhawks are dominating, and even though I’m stuck on the bench, unable to play, my heart still races with every shift, every pass, every shot on goal.
I’m cheering along with the rest of the team when Finn buries the puck in the back of the net, but beneath the excitement, my mind won’t stop wandering.
To Ethan.
To the escalating tension that has been culminating between us all week, swelling and growing until it couldn’t be contained. Until it resulted in him kissing me like he could consume me whole and still not be satisfied. I still feel the bruising on my lips, the hard planes of him pressed against me, while I wonder what would have happened if Nolan hadn’t interrupted.
To Griffin.
To the fact that he’s been sneaking into my bed every night since the attack. He doesn’t say anything about it, never asks, nor does he seem to expect anything. But he’s there, anddisturbingly, I find comfort in that. No one has ever gone out of their way, risking their health, to climb through my window every night just to ensure I’m safe. Not to mention he’s a surprisingly good cuddler—not that I’d ever tell him that. But every time I roll over, he follows, pulling me right back into his chest so his arms are a steel cage around me. And I let him.
