Page 73 of Breakaway Hearts

“Hey,” I start, not sure where I plan to go with that, but I bridge the distance between us and put my hand on her cheek, letting my thumb wipe away the single tear that falls.

“Fuck it.” She sighs, then uses the back of my neck to pull my mouth to hers. It’s desperate and messy, but the sigh she lets out isn’t in frustration, it’s like relief at finally getting what she needs, and it goes straight to my chest.

She rests her forehead on me and says, “This has to not mean anything.”

She’s already made it clear she wants me to mean nothing to her.

“Mads.” I want to tell her she can’t tease me like this, but honestly, she can do anything to me. And on the off chance she means this, I don’t want to ruin it.

“This is just to get each other out of our systems,” she says through kisses. It shouldn’t bother me, because that’s exactly what I wanted…but it feels…like I’m already dreading the ending.

“Are you sure about this?” I ask, pulling away. My dick hates me, but I would never forgive myself if she wasn’t. If she regretted this. Us.

“Fuck yes, right?”

“You tell me,” I insist.

“Is that your vehicle?”

“Hop in,” I agree, unlocking the doors and opening the passenger side for her.

I assume she wants us to discuss the situation in private, but by the time I walk around and get in the driver’s seat, she’s climbing over the console to sit in my lap. She kisses me hungrily, with the tiniest smile when she feels what she’s doing to me.

“Mads…”

“Owen,” she tells me, but I’m not sure if using my first name is more convincing, or proof she’s not thinking this through. Not allowing herself to. “One time, we both get what we want, and then you stop tempting me.”

“Pretty sure that’s not how⁠—”

She puts her fingers on my lips to stop me, which you’d think would be upsetting, but fuck, it’s hot.

“Do you really want to sit here and try to talk me out of it while I’m straddling you?”

She has a point. An excellent one. But it’s a rule for a reason.

“I do.”

She looks fucking annoyed.

“You know I want you. I’ve told you; you can feel it. But I won’t be some spur of the moment decision you regret.”

“It’s a fuck yes, Brooks,” she says as she rolls her eyes at me, much more like the Mads I get in the library than the one who constantly tells me off after games.

I go to kiss her, but she again puts her fingers to my lips.

“But it means nothing,” she reminds me. “I don’t do athletes.”

“I don’t date,” I agree.

“Perfect.”

She lets me kiss her mango-flavored lips while her hands explore me over my shirt. I want to feel them on me, so I pull off my shirt and throw it in the back seat.

The move is not seamless, as it stays caught on my hand, but Maddie laughs at my ineptitude, and fuck, I love that sound.

She helps me get it off, then drops it in the passenger seat before untying the strings on my sweatpants. I should tell her that’s completely unnecessary, but I watch on, anticipation building, as she hovers over me.

I keep my eyes on her face when she pulls my pants down, on the way she bites her bottom lip as she frees me from my boxers. I’m already painfully hard and dying to be inside her.