Leroy put his hands up and shrugged. “Fine.”
Owen stuffed his hands in his shorts pockets. “I want to get better at my dekeing skills, and I want to learn how to hit harder from the village elders like Leroy.”
A laugh filled the room, as well as an enthusiastic “OH!” from half the team.
“He called you old,” Sorrento teased.
Leroy looked bored. “Wouldn’t be the first, won’t be the last.”
And much the same it went until it was time to eat, caffeinate, and load onto the team jet for New Jersey.
As I buckled in on the flight, I peeked down into my bag and saw the bright blue edge ofSeas the Day, the first book Vi picked out for us. The book was pretty good, but it had me ready to float out of my seat for a different reason.
Violet was back in my life. We were doing an activity together, ongoing. We would have things to talk about beyond all the ways we’d hurt each other over the years. A fresh start. And a fun one, at that.
That warm, tingly joy had me stoked to crack the cover and settle in to read.
The tension was tensioning. The grump was softening. I even laughed out loud at something stupid he did. I was enjoying myself. And their steamy kiss two chapters back had me questioning how porn-y this was actually going to get.
I was a healthy man with a healthy sex drive. I spent plenty of time with my hand, and probably delusional entertainment to pair with it.
But in this book, even that steamy kiss made mefeelsomething. I got that secondhand rush of falling in love, of liking someone and wanting them so badly it ached. Trying to see them as much as you can. Wondering what they’re doing and why exactly you’re so drawn to them.
I knew when the heroine came over to help him paint his living room and he offered to make her dinner, things might get messy.
One minute they were eating dinner and having a casual margarita, and the next she was taking her top off and spitting booze into his mouth. I knew the lead looked nothing like Vi. I read the description. Hell, there was a cartoon of a notably redheaded woman on the cover. But all I could picture was Violet. It had been three years since we’d been like that, but it was burned into my brain. There was a time that she had her top off for me too. Those perky, perfect little tits, kissing and sucking them like they were my last meal. I knew I was supposed to like big tits, and sure, I did, but Violet’s were so perfectly her. A quiet grunt escaped me and I coughed as I sat up straighter. Blood was definitely diverting from my brain.
And I was thinking about someone who made it clear that she just needed a friend. I had to respect that.
And I did. But that didn’t mean this book wasn’t making me remember how absurdly fucking sexy she was.
I read the next paragraph, and he was kissing her breasts and licking tequila off her body. And the way they talked to each other? It’s like how I used to talk to Vi, but this guy was more eloquent than I could ever be. And the words themselves weren’t exactly dousing any flames in me. I longed for this. For her. To have her fully, a grown man and a grown woman, choosing each other, surrendering to each other.
I nudged my cock with the heel of my hand, looking around to see if anyone noticed me getting all hot and bothered on the team plane. It had become a full-on raging boner situation. Was that precum running down the side of my cock? In my head, it was her, tracing her tongue down my shaft and fuck, did I want that.
You’re not supposed to text on planes, but I needed to talk to Violet right fucking then, platonic or not.
COLTON
heyy
so I didn’t expect this book to be quite so
VIOLET
quite so what? Good?
COLTON
if good is what it takes for you to have to check your surroundings on the team plane, then yeah
VIOLET
you haven’t developed your smut poker face yet
it’s a skill we all must possess
COLTON
