Hail Mary: An Enemies-to-Lovers Roommate Sports Romance(62)

A deep inhale of him had my eyes closing, and I curled up in the sheets only to huff and throw them off me in the next breath. My nipples peaked under the cool air, adding to my already-over-sensitized nervous system as I stared up at the ceiling.

“Go to bed,” I told myself, like saying it out loud would give me the restraint I needed.

But it didn’t.

Instead, my breathing intensified, eyes racing over the lines of the ceiling fan above me. He wasn’t even there anymore and I could feel his hands on me, feel the way he surrounded me when he pulled me into him, how he sighed into my hair like holding me was all he ever wanted.

I could see his eyes, the way they heated when they took in my dress last night, how they dragged over me so slowly my skin burned with every centimeter of that stare.

I could hear him, all around me — his laugh, the stiff breath he held when I was pressed against him, the deep baritone of his voice when he verified what I felt to be true at the shop — that he wanted me.

All of me.

He knew who I was now. He knew me past and present, the girl he hurt and the woman who grew strong despite him.

I pressed a hand to where my heart thumped loudly under my rib cage, waiting for good sense to find me and give me some reason why I couldn’t have Leo, why I shouldn’t let him have me.

But that voice had quieted.

I no longer heard the girl of my past screaming in pain, no longer felt her constant reminder of what he’d done to me. A softer version had moved in, one armed with the truth about that day, about everything that had happened since.

And now, all I could think about was the past couple of months, about late nights with him and the guys, video games and parties, him cooking for me, the candles, the rooftop, the jacket, last night at the bar, today at the tattoo shop.

He’d offered me a place to stay when I had nowhere to go.

He’d given up his bed for me without thinking twice.

My heart kicked so hard I sat upright.

Because now, the one overwhelming thing I felt was that I wanted him in that bed with me.

I didn’t let myself overthink it, didn’t consider how it might hurt in the morning. I threw the rest of the covers off me and scrambled out of bed, all but tripping over my bare feet as I lunged for the door. I yanked it open so fast the air blew my hair back.

And then I froze, because Leo stood waiting on the other side.

His jaw was a hard line, the muscle of it ticking under the skin as he stood perfectly still. All he had on was a pair of black sweatpants, and my eyes trailed the hills and valleys of his tan abdomen before they snagged on the fresh ink marking his chest.

My ink.

My art.

Mine.

The word echoed inside me the longer I stood there, hand still wrapped around the doorknob. Leo’s hands were balled at his sides, like he’d been restraining himself to keep from knocking. His eyes flicked between mine with ragged breaths leaving his chest like he was in absolute agony.

The entire universe teetered precariously in that moment, the stars and planets stalling as if one wrong move from any of them would alter destiny’s plan.

Slowly — so achingly slowly that my chest seized with the pressure of watching it — Leo lifted his hand. He stretched it out, toward me, his eyes following the movement until his fingers found my t-shirt. He caught it right above my hips, and we both stopped breathing with that one singular touch.

Then, he twisted his fist in the fabric and pulled me into him, catching me as we collided in a kiss that shattered time.

It was like a first breath and a last all at once, how we both inhaled together, our lips melding with a firm, delicious pressure that sent heat all the way down to my toes. My chest loosened with relief all while my heart surged and swelled and came alive.

He was everywhere.

His hands ran roughly up the length of me, a deep groan vibrating my lips as he traced every curve until he held my face in his grip. I felt that groan like my own heartbeat, his body pressing into mine, backing me up one heated kiss at a time until we were in his room and he kicked the door shut behind us.

Back back back, he pushed and invaded until my spine hit a wall and he could properly surround me, caging me in as if I’d ever want to escape now.

So many times I’d imagined what it would feel like to kiss him, to feel want radiating off him and know it was for me. Not just when we were younger, but here in this house, when I felt that tension so tight between us that one long-lasting look could have snapped it.

Now I knew that nothing I could have dreamed up would have ever compared to reality.

“You have consumed me for months,” Leo breathed against my neck, maneuvering my head so he could kiss along the column of my throat before working his way back to my mouth. “Para a?os.” A bruising kiss punctuated that anguished confession before he pressed his forehead to mine, our breaths hot and frantic between us. “I couldn’t sleep one more night without making you mine.”

I whimpered at the words, at the way he sealed them with another punishing kiss that jolted me to the core. His thumbs held my jaw steady, fingers curling around the back of my neck possessively and holding me to him as he coaxed my mouth open and swept his tongue inside.

Another moan, another jolt — this time hotter and wetter and pooling between my thighs. I squeezed them together, as if that could bring relief, as if I could do anything to spare my body or my heart from the hurricane that was Leo Hernandez as he crashed upon the shores of my soul.