Jockblocked: A Novel (Gridiron Book 2)(54)

He rests in my embrace for the count of ten breaths, maybe more, before heaving himself to the side.

I mewl my disappointment, and it wrenches a weak chuckle from him. “Woman, let me recover.”

“I’d slap you if I wasn’t so weak.”

He wedges a hand underneath me and, in one move, flips me onto my side. “Have I mentioned how small your bed is?”

“You might have complained a time or three.”

He grunts and hauls me back against his chest. His knees fit into the back of my knees. One strong arm is under my head and the other is banded around my waist. His thumb idly strokes a path from between my breasts down to my navel. It’s simultaneously soothing and arousing. The duality of the touch sums up Matt himself. He’s both a guy who has had a countless number of partners in the past but somehow still manages to make the girl he’s with feel special.

I don’t, in any way, feel like I’m one of the nameless crowds. I should be worried about that, about how I’m already erasing the image Ace had sketched out and am filling in my own image, but it’s too late. It’s a done thing. Matt has become my Matty—an unselfish guy who seems to only want to make me happy, both in bed and out of it.

“Take a nap. We have to prepare for round three.” His breath ghosts against the back of my neck.

I’ve told him one night, and it appears he wants to get in as much action as possible.

“No. There’s no round three. I’m not an athlete. I’m a delicate flower.”

He leans forward and presses his mouth against my neck, right below my earlobe. Shit, that’s a sensitive spot. “What did I tell you? I’m going to do all the work.”

As I fall asleep in the cocoon of Matty’s body, I wonder how I’m ever going to be satisfied with one night.





20





Lucy




“I’m not trying to be annoying, but I have to ask. How was it?” Sutton blurts as the door of our apartment building closes behind us.

“He’s the unicorn,” I admit glumly.

“Damn.” Sutton jams her hands into her pockets, and we trudge along.

I give her full marks for waiting this long. After Matty left this morning, Sutton and Charity banged on my door and yelled for me to get my ass out into the living room where I would be subject to a full debriefing.

I feigned sleep and hid, not because I was embarrassed, but because I wasn’t sure what it all meant.

Sutton was dressed in her coat, hat, gloves, and boots when I got home from class. No more escaping her. I did make her wait while I tested my glucose. It was disgustingly normal, so I shrugged on my sleeping bag of a coat and now we’re going for our walk, or interrogation.

The snow is bunched up on the sides of the sidewalk where the snowplow pushed it a few days ago. The sun’s out and there’s no wind, which means there are plenty of people out getting a little fresh air. Sutton waits until we’re relatively alone to pepper me with more questions.

“When are you seeing him again?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did he say he would call you?”

“I can’t remember.”

She stops. “What’s that mean?”

“It means…” God, how do I put this delicately? “I was too worn out this morning to remember my own name. He whispered something in my ear, but I just wanted to go back to sleep.” We’d made real inroads into that box of condoms.

Her mouth drops open. “Damn,” she says finally. “Please tell me that you’re going to see him again. Or that if you’re done with him, I can get a shot.”

Every hair on my body bristles in protest. Matty with Sutton? My stomach flips over. Matty bracing himself one-armed over Sutton’s sexy body? I fist my hands. Matty whispering in her ear that he wants her to come all over his dick until there’s not an ounce left in her body? I nearly bare my teeth at her. Sutton knows immediately, without me saying even a word, how much I don’t like the thought of Matty with anyone but me, and bends over to howl with laughter.

“Shut up,” I say, but there’s no fierceness in my command. It’s more of a lament.

I wait until she’s done gasping for air to start walking again.

“So what’s your hang-up?” she says when she catches up a few minutes later—tears from her laughter still clinging to her eyes. “Because if I felt that possessive about a guy, I wouldn’t be letting him go the next morning without a second date chiseled in the sidewalk in front of the student union.”

“Why stop there?” I say sarcastically. “How about I brand him? Put my initials on his ass.”

“No,” Sutton disagrees. “If you’re going to brand him, it’s got to be a place where everyone can see it. Like his wrist. Maybe his knuckles.”

“Are you serious?”

“A little bit.” She spreads her index and thumb in a mock measurement of sorts.

“See, that’s why I’m worried. He’s gone a lot, and when he’s around and I’m busy, he’s going to get bored and wander away.” But when I hear myself criticize Matty, I know immediately it’s unfair. He told me himself that he hadn’t wanted a repeat of his failed freshman romance. I shouldn’t insult him by doubting him when he’s given me no cause for concern.