Dear sweet rosy-cheeked baby Jesus and all the saints in heaven.
His mouth needed to come with a warning label. Danger. Highly flammable.
But it was too late. I’d had a taste and I liked the burn.
We were so close, I could feel his heartbeat thumping against my chest, half a beat off from the allegro tempo of my own. The fingers of my other hand slid under the soft cotton of his shirt, impatient to feel more of him. As my thumb mapped the grooves of his abs, the firm squares of muscle flexed beneath me. Laird growled his approval.
His knee nudged my legs apart, his thick thigh filling the opening, and then his hand pulled my leg up, hooking it around his hip. The hard length of his erection throbbed between us, separated only by two layers of denim and some thin cotton. I shifted beneath him and reveled at the heady friction.
His tongue traced the bottom curve of my lip, then the seam, begging for entrance. I parted my mouth, stole a hasty breath, and then welcomed the slick invasion of his tongue. The calloused hand still cupping my jaw shifted, slid down my throat until the pulse at the base of my neck fluttered against the pad of his thumb.
And somewhere along the way, the kiss softened. Conquering melted into exploration. His lips traced a wet path up my jaw to the tender spot beneath my ear, then journeyed south and discovered another, even more sensitive point where the curve of my shoulder met my neck. He lingered there, licking and nipping my skin while I shuddered beneath him, his name both a plea and a homage as I murmured it twice, three times.
Rational thought disappeared.
His hands gripped my ass and lifted until I wrapped both legs around his waist and he propped me against the door. My hands wandered the bulge of his biceps, the breadth of his shoulders, the planes of his chest, and I repeated the path a second time, because I couldn’t decide which part was my favorite.
His shoulders. Definitely his shoulders.
Laird’s muscles hardened beneath my palms, rising to meet my touch. Our mouths clashed again, my greedy lips seeking his, and the rough stubble on his jaw scratched my cheeks and chin. I’d never kissed a guy with stubble before. The boys I’d known in high school had always been smooth-shaven, and it just highlighted the difference between them and Laird.
I liked the roughness of his jaw, how it tugged at my skin, demanding I pay attention. I wanted to feel it on other, softer places. On the swells of my breasts. The back of my neck. My inner thighs.
“Reese,” he groaned, tearing his mouth from mine. But he was back a moment later like he couldn’t help returning for another taste, his teeth nipping my lower lip until I yelped. I caught a quick glimpse of the tortured expression twisting his face before he buried it in my neck, exhaling harshly.
I pushed my hips against him restlessly. His mouth was addicting and I wanted more, but his arms tightened around my ribs to keep me still when I tried to recapture it.
“We have to stop,” he panted raggedly. His chest rose and fell against me in staccato bursts. “We have to stop or I won’t be able to.”
My head fell back against the door with a thud, my body protesting every word he just said. I cracked my eyes open to see if he was serious, but his gaze was fixated on the arch of my throat in that position. He licked the length of it and his dick grew impossibly harder.
“Do we?” I barely recognized my own voice.
“Yes.” Reluctance was carved on his face as he loosened his grip and I slid back to solid ground. I swayed against him when my knees threatened to give out. “No. We have to pause at least. Relocate. Because we are not doing this in Bubba’s fucking bathroom with the rest of the drumline on the other side of that door.”
I could see the logic in his argument but my body was screaming at me more, please, and now.
“My place is closer.” Who was this person controlling my mouth? “My roommate isn’t due for seven more hours.”
“Good. Because when you scream my name the first time, I don’t want anyone hearing it but me. That moment is mine and I don’t share.”
He brushed a kiss across my temple, his hands smoothing my shirt back into place. Crouching just a bit, he rattled off instructions against the shell of my ear, his lips skimming my skin with each syllable. Ten minutes. His truck. Third row over in the parking lot, halfway back. Avoid Marco.
I twisted my head, until the tip of my nose grazed his. “I only need five.”
He caught my wrist, pressed my hand to his zipper. “I need ten.”
The door to my dorm room hadn’t even fully closed before his mouth was on me again. We didn’t bother with the light, and I was already so lost in his kiss, that if I hadn’t heard the thunk of Laird latching the deadbolt behind me, I wouldn’t have even thought to lock the door.
What a difference a change in scenery made.
Gone was the hesitation from before. When I yanked on his shirt, he ripped it over his head and threw it across the room. Mine followed seconds later, and then his hands were covering my breasts, kneading them over the silky fabric of my bra.
I moaned into his mouth, and his tongue delved inside to celebrate with me. Impatient, and feeling bold within the familiar space of my own room, I reached behind my back to unclasp my bra. It sailed through the air, meeting the same fate as our shirts.
And then my bare chest was flush against his for the first time. Laird hissed out a breath of pleasure as I wrapped my arms around his back, sealing us together. Goose bumps prickled the skin of my arms and furled my nipples. Since modesty wasn’t going to get me what I wanted, I made shameless and wanton my new best friends. Unable to resist the temptation, I rubbed myself against him like a cat in heat, and Laird threaded his hands through my hair, tugging until I tipped my face up to his.
“You’re better than the fantasy I had of this moment,” he confessed. His green eyes were dark with lust and something more, something deeper. “And I had a pretty damn good fantasy.”
I laughed, leaned up to nibble his lower lip, and then hummed in appreciation when his fingers tightened their grip. “Sounds like it’s time for some new ones.”
He groaned. “The way you don’t hold back in anything you do? It’s sexy as fuck, Reese Holland.” At his words, the heat inside me splintered. Half of it stampeded to my wet core and the other half settled in my chest, draping me in a soft, fluffy warmth, like a down comforter straight out of the dryer.
“That dirty mouth of yours is pretty hot too,” I whispered, dipping my hands into the back of his jeans.
“We’ve barely started.” The husky promise in his voice made me forget any doubts I had about the wisdom of hooking up with the snare line captain. Because right now, that wasn’t who was in this room. That guy could’ve been a million miles away for all I cared. But the person in front of me, the one who couldn’t take his eyes off me and whose hands were stroking my breasts like he intended to sculpt them later, was the guy I’d seen whenever I’d closed my eyes at night for the last two weeks.
And I was done fighting it.
Maybe I was just horny. Maybe it was the insane chemistry that sparked to life whenever we were near each other. Whatever it was, I was succumbing to it.
His confidence and innate sex appeal had caught my attention the first day of auditions, but it was the vulnerability that sometimes slipped through the cracks of his raw masculinity that showed me his real strength. Hell, I think I’d been his since I’d heard him call dibs on me with Eli at the hospital. It was just in my nature to make things difficult, to prove I could do it solo, that had me resisting so much.
But why the hell would I want to be in this room alone, getting myself off with some vibrating plastic, when he could take care of it for me?
“Tell me—” I paused to lick his neck while my fingers undid the button of his jeans, “—tell me what happens next.”
My boobs were swollen and achy when his hands dropped lower, his palms rubbing the flare of my hips. “Your shorts come off but not your panties, and you lay across your bed, spread your legs, and wait for me.”
I turned around so my back was to him, then bent over at the waist to undo my sandals, purposefully pushing my ass into his groin. And when I worked my hips from side to side to remove my shorts, I rubbed against him some more. By the time they were off, his jaw was clenched tight and the look in his eyes was feral. I was halfway to orgasming already.