Page 71 of Lavender and Linebackers

My heart feels like it has wings.

“Our Mighty Monarch game is that Monday night game. Other than sending a few emails to go over logistics, I have no plans.” And it’s here I tamp down my nerves and get bold. “That is, unless you’re telling me I now do.”

His fingers repeat the movement, and I think my core temperature goes up two degrees.

“You do. Come over and let me cook you dinner.”

His cheeks turn strawberry, and my stomach clenches.

He wants me to come to his house? I think I had resigned myself to never getting that invitation. I mean, up until recently, I didn’t want one. But now it’s here, and I have to fight off emotions that I don’t want him to see.

“You cook?”

He shrugs one shoulder, as one corner of his mouth tips up. “A little.”

The boy I once knew made basic things like spaghetti and grilled cheese. Has he learned some new tricks? Has he become a bit of a foodie?

Regardless, count me in.

“Okay,” I tell him. Be bold, Alice. “It’s a date.”

Relief loosens the muscles in his face, but his eyes are now locked on my lips.

His hand moves to the back of my neck. It’s large, warm, and his thumb starts swiping along my skin.

We’re leaning closer to each other.

My heart rate picks up, and I know there’s a change in my breathing. Does he see the change? Is he thinking about kissing me like I’m thinking about kissing him? He has to be, right?

Ten seconds pass. Eleven. And then Ryder’s mouth collides with mine. The gasp that had been halfway through my lips is swallowed, along with any unsureness I’d felt just a moment ago. I slip my fingers into his hair, realizing this is one of the first times I’ve ever truly felt his thick, soft hair, and I tug. The need to have him closer, the need to hold on to him harder, the pulse beats through me.

Ryder groans. He allows me to tilt his head to the right, where I want him to deepen the kiss. Over and over, our tongues reacquaint themselves with each other after last night, and his hands slide and move over my body like he doesn’t know where to touch me next. Eventually, he takes over, easily picks me up, and drags me to straddle his lap.

Have I kissed boys? Yes. Have I made out with them in a way that leaves me breathless and quivering for more? No. Then again, Ryder isn’t a boy. He’s all man, and there is no mistaking how I’m making him feel. He is hard underneath me, and I’m sitting just so that I can feel the full length of him.

The one part of him that I’ve never known.

I might die.

“Is this okay?” he asks, pulling back a fraction to take in my reaction. Across his cheekbones is the telltale red flush, his lips look slightly puffy and wet, and my heart thumps hard in my chest at how close he is to me. It’s like Ryder’s magnified, and it’s the most incredible view.

“More than okay,” I whisper, and he groans as he leans back in to kiss me again and speak into my skin.

“Since last night, I haven’t stopped thinking about kissing you. Those three minutes in the photo booth were torture. I feel like a starved man, and I can’t get enough of you. I don’t even know what it is. We’re sitting here together, my hands are all over you, and all I can think is more, more, more.”

His mouth drags across my cheek to my neck, and my head voluntarily tilts back. He sucks and bites along the line of my jaw, down my chest, and stops at the edge of my dress. My chest is frantically moving up and down as I can’t seem to get enough air, and then he leans down and runs his mouth directly across the fleshy top of my breast. A low sound escapes me as I lean back against the steering wheel, effectively rotating my hips across his.

He’s not wrong. My body is also screaming more, more, more.

His hands slide up my thighs, under the skirt of my dress to my ass, and before he sucks on my skin, he says, “Do it again.”

I roll my hips, his hands now guiding me, and I move back and forth over him. I have never ever felt anything like this, and it feels incredible.

“Oh God, Ryder.”

“I know, sweetheart.”

But he doesn’t. While I don’t know his dating history, I know mine, and there isn’t any.