Getting Lucky Number Seven (14 page)

Chapter Twenty

Beck

Lyla and I had been missing each other all week. Either I was busy with practice, classes, and games—we had one on both Friday and Saturday this week—or she had study groups or projects due. After spending so much time together the previous few weeks, the days without her seemed especially long and boring. Coach was pushing us extra hard lately, too, so add being able to hardly move to the list that was making everything suck.

All I wanted to do was soak my sore muscles and see Lyla. If she said she was busy, I was going to drive over and tell her it was too bad as I hauled her out of her apartment—that like it or not, I needed her.

Figured I’d go for the subtler, asking nicely method first, though.

Me:
I’m gonna soak in the hot tub before our movie. Grab your swimsuit and meet me ASAP

Lyla:
Be right there.

Me:
Smiley face. LOL. Other required text things

Lyla:
(_E=MC2_) Do you know what that means?

I stared at it. Obviously it was Einstein. Energy.
Is she asking if I have energy? Saying I don’t? Saying she doesn’t? Or that she does?

Me:
Tell me, Einstein

Lyla:
Smartass

For a second, I thought she meant I was a smartass for calling her Einstein. Then I realized she meant the original text, although she’d probably say it applied to both. I grinned like an idiot, thinking she couldn’t get here fast enough. The girl was like crack for good moods, and I desperately needed a fix.

I tugged off my clothes and changed into my swim trunks. Thanks to being rammed into the goalpost during last night’s game, a large bruise had formed down my left side. I’d still sent the puck across the line, so that was all that really mattered.

The complex I lived in had an indoor pool and hot tub, which was especially nice in the winter. I made my way down to it, and had only been soaking for about ten minutes when Lyla showed up. She tossed me a quick “Hey” and started peeling off layers. First her coat, then her T-shirt. The bikini top was brightly colored and gloriously tiny, with a beaded bow in the center that begged to be untied. Good thing the jets covered me from the waist down right now, because
holy shit
. She shimmied out of her pants and I got lightheaded.

This wasn’t exactly the relaxing soak I’d planned—not that I was complaining. She wound her hair into a bun—she actually had an elastic band to secure it this time—and stepped down the stairs, hissing when the water hit her skin. “Hot.”

Yes, yes you are.

“I was feeling bold when I got this swimsuit—or thinking I wanted to be, anyway—but I’m starting to rethink if it was a good idea.” She looked down at her perfect breasts. “I feel like I’m one wrong movement away from a wardrobe malfunction.”

She was trying to kill me now, I was sure of it. Surely she couldn’t be that oblivious to the fact that I’d had trouble not staring at her lately. Not to mention the way I couldn’t keep my hands to myself whenever she was around. Even now, my brain spun for an excuse to touch her.

If she’d noticed, she certainly didn’t show it. She sat next to me and started talking about her week and classes, and I tried to follow, but really all I could do was stare, mesmerized by the water clinging to her skin. When I reached over to grab my bottle of Gatorade, Lyla moved closer and put her hand on my side. “What happened?”

Her skin against mine. Her lips so close.

“I…” My breath grew so shallow I didn’t think any oxygen was managing to reach my lungs. “Got slammed into the goal post during last night’s game. It’s why I wanted to come out here and get heat on my muscles.”

A crease formed between her eyebrows as she tipped her head and studied it, her fingers lightly brushing down the red and purple bruise. “Looks painful.”

I swear, I was about to lose control right there in the hot tub. Capture her lips with mine, press her against the side, and just give in to everything I couldn’t stop thinking about. This was a bad idea. Or the best idea ever. Who could think right now anyway? “It’s not so bad.”

She sat back and I immediately missed her touch. I needed to get this out of my system. Get
her
out of my system.

“I brought my laptop so I can show you the tattoos I’ve picked when we’re back in your apartment. What do you think?” She stood and ran her fingers over her hip, and the overwhelming urge to do the same slammed into me. “Here? Or maybe up my side?” Her fingers trailed up to the tiny string holding her bikini top in place.

My throat went bone dry. “I hear the ribs hurt.”

She stuck out her lips and then sat back down. “There’s also my back. Not lower back, but more upper back or shoulder. It depends on what I go with. I know people will say that butterflies or flowers are so cliché, but when I look at other things, I think, man, I don’t want that on my body forever. So who cares if they’re overdone? I want what I want.”

I want what I want. I know I shouldn’t, but I do.
I didn’t want to screw up our friendship, but the constant wondering what it’d be like to cross that line had ruined my focus, not only when we were together, but every day. Even hockey didn’t shut it out anymore.

Plus I’d told her I’d help her with her list—it was a weak justification and I knew it. I clung onto it anyway.

“Lyla?”

She glanced up.

“Do you trust me?” I asked.

For what seemed like the first time all night, she actually looked at me. I watched her throat work a swallow. “You know I do.”

I moved closer and hooked my hand around her hip. “I want to help you out with number seven.”

Her hands came up on my arms, and her voice came out as shaky as I felt. “Beck.” Her gaze locked onto mine, and she licked her full lips. I could see the hesitation, but as I slid my hand around to her back and splayed my fingers on her bare skin, the rise and fall of her chest grew faster and faster, so I knew she wasn’t unaffected. “Could you even—I mean, I know you don’t find me attractive that way, and—”

A laugh escaped my lips. “You’re kidding, right?” I pulled her tight against me, against my giant hard-on. She gasped, digging her fingernails into my skin, only making me harder. “You’ve been doing this to me every time we’re in the same room, lately. I can’t stop thinking about it, and seeing your list…it only made it worse. I want to show you what you’ve been missing.”

“Oh?”

I traced her bottom lip with my thumb. “That’s the goal.”

Her skin blushed all the way down, from cheeks to neck to chest. Fire spread through my limbs, awakening every thought I’d tried to suppress these past few weeks. I was about to get carried away, but I knew I needed to draw lines before it was too late.

“I’m not a relationship guy. I can’t be your boyfriend. If we do this, it’s got to be just sex.”

She turned her big eyes up to me, and I waited for her to tell me she couldn’t. That we shouldn’t.

Instead she pressed closer, bumping her hips into mine. “Okay.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Lyla

Time ground to a halt as Beck lowered his lips to mine. One hand remained on my back, drawing me closer, as his other cupped my neck. The warmth of his skin soaked into mine. He pressed his thumb to my chin, tipping it up as he parted my lips with his.

Heat wound through my body, short-circuiting my nerve endings and all thoughts besides the here and now along with them. I needed closer.
More
. I looped my arms around his neck, bringing our bodies tighter together, and threw myself into the kiss, matching each stroke of his tongue.

He groaned and turned us so that my butt was against the wall of the hot tub. He moved his lips to my ear and I clung onto him as he whispered, “I think we better move this upstairs.”

Beck gripped my hips and boosted me out of the water. I scrambled for my towel, patting myself dry as quickly as possible. Then I gathered up the rest of my belongings, my heartbeats tripping over each other.

Beck came up behind me, slid his arm around my waist, and kissed the base of my neck. I leaned back against him, fighting all the sounds that wanted to burst from my lips. Luckily no one else was around, but who knew when someone from the complex would decide to go for a swim?

“Come on,” Beck said, catching my hand and tugging me toward his apartment. The cool air against my wet skin took away the edge of the haze I’d experienced when Beck kissed me.

Rational thoughts were poking at me, tapping my shoulder and whispering that this might end up going all kinds of wrong. Sex and friendship didn’t mix. Beck made it clear he didn’t want a relationship, and despite my goal to remain unattached as well, I already liked him way too much. But I’ve
never
been kissed like that, and my body was still humming. I could only imagine what it’d do if we took things further.

You only live once. Be careful who you pretend to be. No regrets. Fools rush in. Every saying I’d ever read flew through my head, one telling me to go for it, the next warning me to slow down. I still wasn’t sure exactly who I wanted to be, or even what style I wanted to commit to. All I knew was that I trusted Beck, and if I didn’t go through with this, I’d always wonder. If anyone knew how to deliver mind-blowing sex, I was sure it was him.

So screw everything else.

As soon as the door to his apartment closed behind us, he pushed me against it and kissed me again. The thin fabric of our swimsuits was barely a barrier at all, and I gasped again as I felt his erection against me—the fact that I could even do that to him gave me a surge of confidence. I reached up and undid my bun. My hair brushed my shoulders as I shook it out.

Beck reached around my back and gripped the bow holding my bikini top in place. “If you want to stop, you better tell me now.”

I ran my hands across his toned chest, down his abs. Too many lines had already been crossed to simply go back to the way things used to be, and between the kissing and the chemistry that’d been building for weeks pulsing between us, all I could think was
more.
“I don’t want to stop.”

He yanked the string, undoing the bow there, then made quick work of the one behind my neck. In one fluid motion, my top slid to the floor. I tried not to think about how many perfect bodies he’d seen. Despite trying to become more confident, and the many low-cut tops I’d worn over the past few weeks, I was acutely aware of every flaw I’d wished away before. My pulse hammered so loud in my ears it was all I could hear.

I leaned in for another kiss, figuring at least then I wouldn’t be quite as exposed. It had the added benefit of feeling his skin against mine. We headed to his bedroom, a tangle of lips and arms and legs. Beck laid me gently on the bed and peeled off my bikini bottoms. He kicked out of his trunks and then all I could do was stare at his ridiculously in-shape naked body.

Wow.

He leaned over me and kissed his way down my neck, over the swell of my breast. I whimpered when his tongue flicked my nipple. How embarrassing. He moved to kiss the other one, a million amazing sensations going through me when he did the same to it. He slid his hand down my side, over my hip, and then his fingers dipped lower.

I clamped my lips together, fighting the urge to moan.

Suddenly Beck stopped the intoxicating circling of his fingers and I froze, wondering what I’d done wrong.
Oh no, he’s changed his mind. And now that he’s seen me naked, I’ll never be able to look at him again.

“Lyla?” He lifted himself onto his elbows and his blue, blue eyes bored into me. “You and I are the only people here. The only one who’s going to hear you is me, and I want to. It lets me know what you like. If you don’t like something say so. Or just tap me on the shoulder. Okay?”

Exposed. I was naked on top of being naked in a whole other way. But it was a relief, too. That he knew me so well. That he’d given me permission to let go, something I should know how to do by myself but had never quite figured out. I nodded, and then Beck slid his hand between my thighs again. I let out a breath, dropped my head back on the pillow, and didn’t bother hiding any of the sounds that wanted to escape my mouth.

He slid a finger inside me and then his mouth was over my center, warm and hot and causing pressure to build faster and faster. I gripped the sheets and let everything else go. Thoughts, worries, my inhibitions. I focused on the desire coursing through my veins, on the tingling surges taking over my body. Heat pooled low in my stomach, and every inch of my skin prickled in the most delicious way.

“Yes,” I moaned, lost in the sea of sensations I’d never felt before. Then everything came undone inside me, rocketing me over the edge. “Beck, I…” Oblivion took over, every part of me screaming at once, and then I sank deeper into the sheets, a floating puddle of a girl, unable to catch my breath, while thinking I didn’t need to breathe anyway.

Beck leaned across me, his bare skin warm and solid against mine. He swept my hair off my face. “You okay?”

“Uh, yeah. That was…” I closed my eyes, my breathing still too erratic to form complete sentences.
That
was what people talked about. Why they’d miss class to have sex. Suddenly it all made sense. I’d never imagined it could be so, so…the words to even describe it escaped me. “
Mmmm
. I’m more okay than I’ve ever been, like,
ever
.”

When I opened my eyes, it was to his drool-worthy grin.

I ran my hands down his ridiculously cut abs, smiling when the muscles twitched under my fingertips. I followed the dark trail of hair and then gripped the shaft of his penis. His eyelids fluttered, and then he made a low growl that sent a spark of excitement through my stomach. He reached into his side table and took out a condom. Once he had it on, he cupped my cheek. “Same rules. You talk to me, and no holding back.”

I arched against him. “Less rules. More doing.”

A slow smile curved his lips, and then he kissed me as he entered me. As he thrust deeper, I cried out. When the position wasn’t quite working and I needed to shift, he propped a pillow under me. I wrapped my legs around him and rolled my hips, finding a rhythm with him. Oh yeah. I’d definitely been doing this wrong before, because it’d never felt like this.

Within a few minutes, I was screaming again, the orgasm completely different than my first, but just as amazing.

“
Lyla
…” The control slipped from Beck’s features. His fingers wrapped around my wrists, digging into my skin as he found his own release. He slowly lowered himself onto me, his weight pressing against me in a way that made me want to wrap my entire body around him and never let go. He kissed the curve of my neck as his breaths gradually returned to normal.

Then he rolled onto his back, arms crossed behind his head, and his eyes drifted closed, giving me the chance to take in every detail about him. From the slight indentation on his chin, to the way his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, to the planes of his torso, and the way lying back like that made the muscles in his arms stand out.

Beck and me in his bed, completely naked and covered in a sheen of sweat. The entire scene almost seemed like a dream. An amazing dream that I hated to end. But I didn’t know the rules, and he’d made it clear it was just sex.

The last thing I wanted him to think was that I’d get clingy now. I sat up. “So… D-do you still want to watch the movie, or I can just go home and—”

Beck grabbed my arm and tugged me down next to him. “Not so fast. You’ve got to enjoy the afterglow.”

Testing the waters, I reached out and ran my fingers down his chest, then let my hand rest on his stomach. “I don’t know the rules.” I couldn’t believe I’d said it out loud—I never would’ve had the guts with anyone else—but this was too important to ruin, and I did better with well-defined boundaries. I
ruled
at following rules.

He covered my hand with his. “No matter what happens, we’re friends first. I hope you know how much having you in my life means to me.”

Happiness bubbled up in me. I turned so that I could rest my chin on his chest and look into his handsome face. “Well, you’re not much for talk of feelings…”

He shrugged a cute, what-can-you-do shrug.

“But right back at you,” I said.

“Good. Now that that’s settled…” He pushed me over to lay flat on my back and then rolled onto his side. “I didn’t get long enough to worship your naked body.” My skin burned every place his gaze touched. “You have the most amazing boobs.” He kissed the top of each one, his whiskers lightly brushing my skin and sending a swarm of butterflies through my belly. “I could write a sonnet about them.”

“Iambic pentameter and fourteen lines even?”

His eyebrows drew together. “That’s what a sonnet is?” he asked, and I nodded. “No, screw that. How about an ode? Are there rules to odes?”

I laughed. “It depends if you’re going Greek ode with three stanzas, but I think the term is used more loosely nowadays, if you’re looking to go for the lazy version.”

“Definitely the lazy one.” One side of his mouth kicked up. “Love that you know that, by the way.” He cleared his throat. “Ode to Lyla’s boobs—wait, I don’t want to sound too crass. Let’s go with Ode to Lyla’s Breasts.”

“Much classier,” I said with a laugh. My stomach growled and I quickly put my hand over it. “Just ignore that.”

“I think that means it’s movie and ice cream time.” Beck got out of bed, pulled on a pair of boxer briefs and his jeans, and picked up a shirt off the floor. “Don’t bother with pants. We’re going super casual for movie night tonight.”

I stood and stopped him as he started to pull the shirt over his head. “Then don’t bother with a shirt.”

“Deal.” Beck lifted it off and then put it on me. When we got to the living room, I grabbed the bag I’d brought and pulled on my underwear. Then I headed to the kitchen, where Beck was dishing up ice cream.

I watched the muscles in his back move as he fought with one of the cartons—must’ve been frozen solid. I bent down and kissed the large bruise running down his side and he shot me a sidelong glance. “Maybe that’ll make it better,” I said.

Beck handed me a bowl with cookies and cream ice cream and nudged the chocolate sauce toward me. I wondered if that meant no kissing outside of sex time. Friends didn’t do that, right? Then again, it wasn’t his lips.

Which I was now thinking about gliding down my skin. Time to start making my own boundaries to stay in line with my goal of temporary fun and no expectations, and to keep from getting hurt. I wasn’t even sure we would have sex again. But I knew one thing for sure. Getting lucky number seven crossed off the list was something I’d most definitely never forget.