He cocked a brow.
“I think… we should keep seeing each other.” I swallowed, lifting my eyes to his. “Friends, with perks.”
I tried to read his expression then, because it changed — just slightly. He still wore a little smile, but it didn’t feel quite as genuine.
“I just mean, we have fun, we… we can keep it that way. No expectations, no promises for more. Just… sex.”
“Just sex,” he echoed.
Again, I couldn’t read him.
But he almost looked… relieved.
It made sense. Maybe he was already thinking this, listening to me fumble for words while in his head he’s like, “Well, yeah, duh.”
“I still want what we talked about last night, though,” I clarified. “If we’re going to do this, I don’t want you to have sex with anyone else. And I won’t either.”
“Damn fucking straight, you won’t.”
I arched a brow a little at his tone. “I just want us to be safe.”
Vince scratched the back of his neck, opening his mouth like he was going to say something, but I kept talking.
“I also think this is the best for both of us, professionally. I’m finally making a name for myself, Vince. I… I really enjoy what I do. And I don’t want to spoil this opportunity. I don’t want to be the punchline of a joke everyone in Tampa loves to tell.”
His brows folded together at that. “And you think being seen with me would make you the butt of a joke?”
I laughed. “I mean, honestly? Yes.” I reached for him when I said the word. “You should see the comments that are already rolling in after that photo you posted of us. Everyone knows you could never actually be serious about someone like me. They’re calling me names, saying I only got this job because you wanted in my pants, telling me to let them know when you’re done with me so they can have their turn.” I shook my head. “When this is all over, I’ll go back to work, back to my life that never crossed paths with yours. And you’ll go back to being Vince Cool, with your whole career ahead of you, and the whole world at your fingertips.”
I ignored the way my stomach somersaulted as I tried to play off the nonchalance of that assessment. Because I knew that also meant he’d move on to fucking someone else into oblivion, and to waking up next to them with bed hair and a sleepy smile I wished was only for me.
Vince watched me for a long moment before he blinked and pulled his hand away from mine. He stood, giving me a beautiful morning view of his backside before he ran a hand roughly through his hair.
For a small, microscopic moment, I let myself envision an alternate universe. I imagined him turning around and shaking his head, his jaw tight as he said, “Fuck no.” I imagined him wanting me for more than just sex, wondered what it would be like to be claimed by him, to be on his arm after every game, to watch him from the box where all the wives and girlfriends sat. The WAGs. Could I be one of them? Would he ever want me to be?
But I only let myself daydream for a moment before I exhaled the thought away.
I’d literally let the guy fuck my ass last night. That was the kind of sexual power he had.
I would be a fool to think he’d ever spend it only on me.
After what felt like forever, Vince turned to look at me, hanging his hands on his hips. He watched me for a long time, his eyes flicking between mine under furrowed brows.
“If that’s what you want,” he finally said.
My heart cracked.
I didn’t know what I expected. I was in control of the situation, just like I’d wanted to be. I was setting the ground rules, the terms.
But he didn’t even fight me on it, and I felt so silly for thinking that he might.
“It is,” I lied.
He nodded. “I can be your dirty little secret, Maven.”
I thought I saw a bit of sadness with those words, but a wicked smile spread on his face before I could fully catalog it. And there he was, right back to playful Vince, knowing he could have his fun with me and was completely off the hook for anything past that.
It was what every guy wanted, especially a world-renowned professional athlete like him.
The theme park without the roller coaster.
I tried to channel my best friend’s words, her idea that this could be fun. I wanted Vince, even if this was the only way I could have him. Because I knew if we didn’t draw lines in the sand now, I’d read too much into every look, every touch, every sweet word he whispered against my skin.
Vince Tanev was far too easy to fall in love with.
And I knew I wouldn’t survive it if I did.
Now, I had him wrangled back into a box. It wasn’t the same one I’d shoved him into after that first night we met, but it was a box nonetheless, one with solid walls and a lid I could shut and tape up when the time came.
But my heart squeezed painfully in my chest, because even being in control, I had a feeling I was already too far gone to come out of this unscathed.
“Now,” he said, climbing back into bed with me. He grabbed his phone off the nightstand and looked at the screen before tossing it back face-down. “I have forty-five minutes before I have to be at practice.”
He kissed me, long and slow, his lips massaging mine as he settled between my legs. My core fired up at the feeling of him pressed against me, at his tongue dancing with mine.
“How about you sit this pretty pussy on my face,” he mused, reaching down to slip a hand between my legs. “And show off that lack of gag reflex you teased me with last night.”
“Is this your proposal to sixty-nine, Vince Tanev?”
He slid a fingertip inside me, and I bit my lip, rolling into the touch.
“Oh wait,” he said, withdrawing. “I forgot. You’re too sore. Maybe we should—”
Before he could finish that sentence, I kissed him silent, rolling until I was on top of him and crawling up to straddle that sexy scruff around his smile.
Witchcraft
Maven
Fall slipped away like a summer vacation after that.
In so many ways, nothing had changed. Vince still had practices and games and travel. I was still there with him every step of the way. We still volleyed back and forth with each other around the team, nothing out of the ordinary, him trying his best to push my buttons only for me to turn around and do the same to him. I grew closer with the other players and the coach. I spent what spare time I could wiggle into my schedule catching up with Livia over cocktails or a greasy pizza at her place.
But in every other way, my life was unrecognizable.
Whenever we weren’t traveling or at the arena for practice or a game, Vince was inside me.
He took me every morning, every night, and every afternoon we could make it work. Any time we were alone, his hands were in my hair, his lips fastened to mine, his thighs spreading mine open until he could find the contact he so desperately searched for.
I knew that man’s hands and mouth and body more intimately than I knew my own now. I knew how his fingers pressed into the skin at my hips when I straddled him, knew the exact sighs and moans he would set free the moment he was inside, knew the gentle sweep of his tongue when we were warming up, and the passionate frenzy it became when foreplay turned to fucking.
And I was content.