“Fuck, yes! But there’s an issue.” As his eyes bounce between mine, he confesses, “I don’t have any condoms. The ones in my wallet are expired.”
His reconfirmation that he hasn’t been with anyone in over a year makes what I say next easy-peasy. “I’m on the pill.”
“Sum—”
“I am! You know I am. You’ve seen me take the pill multiple times the past three years. You can trust me.”
“It isn’t that I don’t trust you, Cocoa. I trust you with my life. I’m just not so sure you should trust me.”
“Why, Lennox? Because you don’t want to hurt me?” When he nods, I add, “Then don’t.”
“It isn’t that easy. I’m selfish and—”
“Cocky and arrogant and full of himself.” Since he can’t deny my claims, he doesn’t. “But you are also kind and sweet and empathetic. All traits your father doesn’t have.” After rolling onto my back, I gather his face in between my hands. “His DNA wasn’t the only one used to make you, Lennox. You have more of your mom’s qualities than your dad’s. It’s just this…” I wiggle my finger in front of his face, “… that confuses everyone.” Before he can correct me, I quickly add on, “Everyonebutme.”
When he smiles a grin that exposes I’m getting through to him, I push aside the exhaustion swamping me, mindful Lennox needs my utmost devotion over the next several hours as much as I do his.
27
Lennox
“Please don’t do this to me again. I will get down on my knees and beg. I’ll sign over my first-born child, but not this. Don’t ask me to give up this again.”
“It’s a year, Lindsay. I’m sure you can hold out for another year.”
“Says the fucking pot,” he roars down the line, his begs switching to fury. “This deal is as good as it gets. You willneversee figures this high again.”
“It isn’t always about the money.”
“No, it isn’t,” he agrees. “But you still have to live. You have student loans, lodging, and all that other shit your father will pull the reins on the moment you announce you’re reneging on a deal you madebeforeyou arrived at Ravenshoe.”
I glance over at Summer sprawled across the bed we messed the sheets on last night to make sure Lindsay’s shouted words didn’t wake her before directing my focus back to our phone conversation. “Because I thought I could do it, that I could leave her behind for a year. But I can’t. She needs me.”
That’s a copout. My renege on a deal worth tens of millions of dollars has nothing to do with Summer’s inability to live without me and everything to do with my inability to live without her. This trip was meant to be about building Summer’s confidence so I wouldn’t feel bad leaving her behind, but the longer it went on, the more I realized her hang-ups are more a reflection of myself. She was fine before I entered her life. I was the only one barely keeping my head afloat.
“Len—”
“No, Lindsay. My say is final, so this is what is happening. I’m finishing my studies at Morrison, then we will decide what happens after that.” By ‘we,’ I mean Summer and me. “Alright?”
His huff could wake half the continent. “No, it’s not alright, but I guess my opinion doesn’t really matter, does it? You’ve made your decision.”
“I have, and I would appreciate if you could respect that.” He loses an exceedingly generous bonus from my decision not to play at Ravenshoe Ravens full-time, but he won’t be completely out of pocket if he continues respecting my decisions. The endorsement deals I’ve secured while here will net him a tidy profit, much less the deal he will negotiate once Summer and I graduate.
“Fine.” He doesn’t sound happy, but before he disconnects our call, he reminds me of a press conference I have after training today.
“I remember. I’ll see you there.”
I take a second to breathe out the frustration making my skin sticky before slipping back between the sheets with Summer. I’m wrecked, but the exhaustion tightening almost every muscle in my body has nothing to do with Coach Randall’s strict training schedule, and everything to do with the marathon sex session Summer and I undertook last night.
I wasn’t lying when I said no one would accuse her of being a virgin by the time I was done with her.
I kept my word.
“Hey,” Summer murmurs against my arm when I roll her onto her side so I can spoon her from behind. “Everything okay? You feel a little stiff.” When I grind my rapidly hardening cock against her glorious ass, she says with a giggle, “Not that you could ever accusethatof being little.”
With the neigh of a horse, I rub against her an additional two times before scooting back half an inch so she can roll over to face me as she’s been endeavoring to do since she felt the unease pumping out of me.
“Oh no, what happened?” When I brush off her claims I’m pissed as fuck with a scoff, she rubs at the grooves scoured into my forehead. “You’ve got old man wrinkles again. You only ever get them when someone pisses you off.”
