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Nicole laughed, breathless. “Floor.”
“Yeah.”
He got up and offered her a hand, then brought her down with him onto the rug. It was thick under his knees and warm from the fire. A few rose petals lay near the edge. She’d thought about the floor too.
“Tender Love” faded while he kissed her, giving way to Bobby Brown’s “Roni.” Nicole hummed a few notes against his lips, and he’d bet money she’d planned the order of the songs.
Once she was on her back, he stretched out over her, finally able to get his legs where he wanted them. His hand moved up her ribs to the band of her bra, and she reached behind her to undo it. He slipped it off her and just looked at her, her nipples hard in the firelight. When he cupped one of her tits and brushed his thumb over it, her lips parted.
“God, you’re pretty.”
He bent to kiss her there, taking his time as she grabbed a handful of his hair. She was warm and soft, pushing up into his mouth while his other hand stayed at her waist, his thumb stroking her stomach. He lifted his head and found her watching him, her eyes dark under the makeup and her mouth a little swollen.
He loved her like this, and he loved her on the phone Friday night, so excited about the art program she could hardly get the words out. He just fucking loved her. Looking at her now, he wanted to say it out loud.
He kissed her instead, then drew her thong down her legs, then moved back between her bare thighs, and the first full press of her against him knocked the air out of his chest.
“Fuck.”
She tugged him down and opened her mouth under his. He kissed her with one hand in her hair and the other gripping her hip while her nails dragged down his back. He groaned into the kiss and ground against her, feeling how slick and hot she was, her tits pressed to his chest. She rolled her hips up, and he met her, slower at first, until keeping that pace got harder.
Her hand wrapped around him, and he dropped his forehead to hers.
“Nicole.”
She stroked him once, guiding him, and he stopped thinking about anything but getting inside her. The condom in his wallet never crossed his mind. Hooking an arm under her knee, he opened her wider and pushed in.
They groaned together. He sank into her until his hips met hers, then held still with his eyes shut and his mouth against her cheek. One of her legs hooked around him. She felt so fucking good that he needed a second to breathe.
He started moving, a slow roll of his hips, drawing back and sinking into her again. Nicole let out a quiet moan. He tried to kiss her through it, catching more of the corner of her mouth than her lips before she turned toward him. Under the music, there was nothing but their breathing and the wet sound of him moving inside her.
With one hand still under her knee and his other forearm braced beside her head, he made love to her, watching her face whenever he could keep his eyes open. Her hands slid over his shoulders, then gripped his ass and pulled him into her harder. He gave her what she wanted until she was panting against his mouth.
By the time “Feenin’” came on, sweat had gathered at the small of his back, and her skin was slick under his hand. She clenched around him, and he grunted, but he kept the same slow pace even when everything in him wanted to go faster. He didn’t want to rush this—the way she moved with him, the look on her face when he pushed all the way in and stayed there.
After Jodeci came Janet Jackson, and he recognized “Any Time, Any Place” before Nicole’s heel dug into him and her breath broke. Her body tightened around his, a little flutter at first and then a hard clench that pulled a groan straight out of him. She tipped her head back against the rug, her mouth open, and he kept moving while she came, letting her ride it out on him.
That finished him. He drove in and came right after her, a rough sound against her throat, his hips jammed tight to hers until he had nothing left. His thighs shook as her arms locked around his neck.
For a minute, all he could do was hold on to her.
As it eased, he moved just enough to feel her around him, his mouth finding hers, then her cheek, then her lips again. Nicole kissed him back, out of breath, her leg still hooked around him like she wasn’t ready to let him go either.
Drew rested his forehead against hers and stayed right there, inside her, while “Any Time, Any Place” went on without them.
Chapter Thirty-One
By Wednesday, Nicole was tired of hearing Drew’s voice on the phone when she wanted him where she could reach him.
Monday and Tuesday had disappeared into classes, labs, and work she couldn’t keep putting off. Whenever she had time, he was on his way to a workout or a team meeting or watching film, and once he finished practice, she was usually surrounded by open books. They’d finally found an hour between classes when they were both free, and she had spent the last twenty minutes of her lecture trying not to look at the clock.
When the professor let them go, she shoved her notebook into her backpack and followed the other students into the hall, her wool coat folded over her arm. The classroom had been warm enough to make her regret the burgundy sweater she’d worn with her dark jeans and brown leather boots, though she’d been grateful for it on the walk over. Now she wished she’d checked her hair before leaving her seat.
Then she saw Drew and forgot about her hair.
He was waiting across from the classroom, leaning against the wall beside a bulletin board crowded with tutoring notices and flyers curling away from their staples. His jacket hung open over a navy sweatshirt, and his blond hair tousled with gel, the way he sometimes wore it. When he spotted her, he straightened, his smile spreading until she could see the little creases beside those blue-gray eyes.
She went straight into his arms, slipping hers around his neck as he lifted her off her feet. Nicole laughed and held on, her cheek pressed against his. His jacket was still cool from outside, but he was warm under it, and when she tucked her face closer to his neck, there was his cologne. That smell got her every time.
