I kissed him again, absorbing his heat, welcoming the way my head started to spin. Lightness filled my chest while simultaneously feeling fit to burst. His grip was firm, controlled, enough to keep me from floating away.
Eddie broke the kiss with a heavy breath and even heavier eyelids. “We should go.”
The reluctance in his voice bled into the gravelly need.
“We should.” I pulled myself together, easing away, knowing Coach would definitely kick my ass if I didn’t get a move on. Plus, Lottie was out there.
I smoothed out my hair and dipped out my tongue, wetting my bottom lip and savoring the taste of Eddie. When he groaned, my gaze snapped to his.
“Come on.” He shook his head, as though waking himself up or perhaps trying to make sense return to his brain.
As I bobbed my head and followed him out, my mind reeled. Not only had he kissed me, he’d chased me down and said he wanted more. Exhilarated that this was finally happening, I couldn’t even begin to tame my grin. By the time we returned to the court, it was still there and not budging. Not even when Coach yelled my name so damn loud the roof shook.
“Don’t run off,” I called out to him as I backed away. “I still need my pep talk from Lottie.”
With his gaze fixed on me, he nodded, an intensity etched into his features that I’d never seen before, but fuck if it wasn’t the hottest look I’d ever seen on him. I’d just started to wonder what his come face would look like when Ollie grabbed me by the shoulder.
“Where’s Lottie?” I immediately asked.
He pointed over toward the sideline, where she was with a couple of the guys and now with her dad.
A breath of relief escaped when I realized she hadn’t been abandoned.
“Seriously, Coach is close to having a fucking aneurysm. What the hell, Pearce?”
Dragging my focus away from Eddie and Lottie, I looked at my captain. He stopped short from wherever he was maneuvering me to, eyes narrowing before widening. “You… Holy shit, man, now, seriouslynowyou get yourself some?” He shook his head, though from the twitch of his mouth, he wasn’t as pissed as he pretended to be.
“Where’d you just drift off to?” Cassius joined us, ball in hand.
Before I could answer, Ollie butted in. “Having a pre-celebration, apparently.”
Still grinning, I rolled my eyes, not bothering to confirm or deny.
Cassius snorted, then froze for a beat, doing this weird wide-eyed, shaking-his-head thing. “Holy shit!”
“What?” Ollie glanced between the two of us.
“Pearce disappeared with Eddie.”
“Noooo,” Ollie dragged out. “For real?”
“And I’m out of here.” I made to turn, but Cassius clamped down on my shoulder.
“No fucking chance. You really hooked up with the DILFnow?”
“Guys, get your head focused on tonight’s game.” Somehow I kept a straight face and stopped my giddy excitement from showing. “Now is not the t—”
“Fuck that,” Cassius cut in, loud enough to get more than one head whipping in our direction. Unfortunately one of them was Coach’s.
“If the three of you don’t quit whatever the hell you’ve got going on, I will not be held responsible for the level of pai—”
“Got it, Coach,” Ollie hollered back, taking the ball from Cassius and indicating for us to follow him quick smart.
We did immediately, but not before Cassius mouthed, “I’ve so won the cash.”
CHAPTER11
EDDIE
