Hook Shot (Hoops #3)(113)

“We’re the adults,” I force myself to say, even though my voice shakes, my resolve shakes. “I’m not saying it’s forever.”

I meet the outraged disbelief, the refusal of his stare.

“I can’t be away from you forever,” I say softly. “You already know that, Kenan, but I am saying for now, for her, let’s just step away from this. At least for the season. As if basketball isn’t enough of a distraction while you’re negotiating this, you don’t need me, too.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” he says. “I need you so bad.”

He pulls me into him by my wrist, and the smell of him, the heat of him, seduces me. I close my eyes and savor the light press of our bodies together. I imagine the grind, how it feels when he’s buried inside of me. When will I have that again?

“I want it, too,” he whispers in my ear his hand sliding to my ass. “What you’re thinking about right now. What you’re remembering. I want to fuck you, too.”

“Kenan, don’t.” It’s a pathetic protest overshadowed by the way my body throbs with him so close.

“I love you,” he says, his voice a wisp of sound and breath over my lips before he captures them with his. His tongue hunts for mine, seeking, seizing. My convictions fade, and I kiss him back. He groans, his hands fumbling between us and under my dress. His unfailing fingers find me through my panties.

“God,” he breathes, pressing his temple into mine. “You’re soaked.”

“Kenan, we can’t.” I say it, but my hips roll into the urgency of his hand. My clit flowers under his fingers.

“Why can’t we?” He kisses my neck, sucks the curve hard, and walks us a few feet back until my back hits the wall. “You’re mine.” He unzips his jeans and hoists me up by my thighs, pressing me into the wall.

“Did you forget?” He asks, his voice gruff, graveled. “You said you belong to me. Are you a liar?”

“No. You know I’m yours, but we need to do this for her. Can’t you see that?”

“This is what I see. What I know.” He jerks my panties aside and plunges inside of me like a warrior charging into battle.

“Oh, my God.” I can’t resist the call of our bodies fused together, and I rock into him, heedless of my intentions, damning my plan. My pussy clenches around him, possessive, demanding.

“That’s it. Fuck me, Lotus,” he breathes into the paltry space left between us while our aggressive thrusts thump my back into the wall. “Tell me whose you are, whose I am.”

I score my nails across his head, sink my fingers into his neck with a ferocious desire borne from desperation. When this is over, I’ll make him go, and I’m not sure when I’ll have him again.

“My beloved is mine,” I quote, my head thrown back, tears slipping from under my closed eyes. “And I am his.”

“Again.” His hands tighten under my thighs and he slams into me, the churning of our bodies furious, frantic. “Tell me again.”

“My beloved is mine and I am his.” The words come louder, harder as my climax builds.

“Again! Tell me.”

“My beloved is mine and I am his,” I scream so loud the words scrape my throat and ricochet off the walls.

“How dare you think you can take this from us?” he growls into my neck. “A fucking break? There’s no break. No separation. Tell me again.”

“Oh, God. I’m yours, Kenan.” I shake against him with my sobs, with the orgasm thundering through my body even as I weep. “You know I’m yours.”

“And I have found the one whom my soul loves,” he quotes back to me, his voice crashing into the curve of my neck. He comes, a roar strangled in his throat. A growl dying on his lips as he loses his breath with the force of his release.

We stay that way for long minutes, me pinned to the wall, my legs wrapped around him, his hands gripping my thighs. I relish the wet evidence of our love, our passion. I hate that it’s already sliding out of my body. Lost on my thighs. I want to hold him inside me forever.

“Don’t leave me, Lotus. God, I can’t take it.” He presses his forehead into mine. “Not now. Not ever, but not now.”

“But it has to be now,” I whisper. “I’m so sorry, baby, but it has to be now.”

I drop my legs, but he doesn’t move, keeping me pinned to the wall. I poke at his chest, but my strength is puny beside his, and he doesn’t move. I look up at him through my lashes and starch my will.

“Move,” I say firmly. “Go.”

“No.”

“You can’t stay here forever,” I reason. “At some point you have to go. You’re just delaying the inevitable. The sooner you focus on Simone, the sooner we can . . .”

“The sooner we can get back together?” He pushes my hair back and traces the shell of my ear. “We’re not breaking up.”

“Kenan.” I blow out a frustrated breath. “We are. For now, we are. It’s not forever, but it needs to happen. She failed this time. I doubt she wanted to succeed. She did it in your apartment, in your bedroom, knowing you’d be coming home. But what if she still feels like she’s not getting your attention? What if she does it again?”