One Northern Morning (A Novella) (Southern Nights Novella Series #2) (6 page)

I assail her mouth, trapping her face with my hands until neither of us can breathe.

“Kam, Jesus.” She pants, grinding against me.

“I need you, Laney. I need you so bad.” I am beyond desperate.

She nods frantically with her eyes closed and cheeks flushed. It’s all the agreement I warrant. I lift her right off the floor and plant her on the countertop. Crushing my lips against hers, I struggle with one hand to remove her shorts. Once off, she moves to unbutton my fly—rip it open is more like it. I barely have time to grab my wallet out of my back pocket before she is yanking my jeans and underwear all the way down my thighs. I’m tingling from head to toe with need as I hastily remove a condom and sheath myself with it. There’s one lingering moment before I take her that resonates through the whole house. One heated heartbeat of yearning that passes between us before I grab her and sink into the most euphoric tightness I have ever known.

Pure. Ecstasy.

“Kam,” Laney sighs with a firm grip on the back of my neck.

That one word sends me soaring. My name spilling irrepressibly from her lips.

“God . . .”
I grind out, unable to control the urges streaming through my system. It doesn’t matter how long we’ve been apart or how many other women I’ve been with; no one makes me feel the way Laney does. Nothing compares to her scent or skin or sighs.

“I want you to come.” I grip her hair and let loose. “I’m dying to feel it. It’s been too long.”

“Kam—” She rolls her hips and draws me closer as I thrust as deep as I possibly can, over and over until it happens, until her muscles spasm and she lets out a strangled moan, delivering exactly what I demanded. Her uninhibited pleasure. Her climax slingshots me straight to the edge, the buildup almost catastrophic. I lift her off the counter and pin her against the refrigerator, sprinting after my own abandoned pleasure.

With Laney’s arms and legs wrapped tightly around me, I lose control. I let go of all the stressors and come violently, as if this climax was locked away for three years and only Laney could set it free.

I moan feebly into her neck as my leg muscles tremble. I’m completely sapped.

Laney kisses my temple and runs her fingers through my hair until I look up at her. I have so many things I want to say, but I can’t seem to articulate any of them. Before I even have a chance to try to communicate what I’m feeling, an ear piercing sound rocks us back to reality.

“Lunch!” Laney exclaims as she tries to wiggle out of my hold.

“Shit!” I set her on her feet and grab for the oven mitts as the sound of the fire alarm shreds our eardrums apart. I pull out the burnt Reubens as Laney opens the front door and windows.

The alarm stops after I wave a mitt in front of it while trying to pull my pants up at the same time. Once everything settles down, I look over at Laney. She’s wearing my T-shirt and a big fat smile. She then erupts in laughter. It is kind of funny.

“At least we know it works,” she says as she slips her arms around me.

“It most definitely does.” I embrace her, kissing her head.

I
slept with Kam.

I knew it was inevitable. I knew what I was doing when I suggested coming to the cabin, but I couldn’t resist him anymore. I barreled straight through the forbidden door, and there’s no going back now.

I clean up after lunch, throwing the paper plates away and wiping the counter. The first batch of Reubens went into the garbage, obviously. The second batch was made with no interruptions. Thank god. I needed a breather. I needed to process everything that just happened, and I knew one sexual advance from Kam and we would be in the same predicament all over again. I feel hyperaware of everything now, as if my body flipped a switch and Kam is the electricity running through my veins.

“Hey, Laney,” Kam comes bounding down the stairs. “Look what I found.” He smiles brightly flipping a football in the air.

“The extension to your hand?” I ask flippantly.

He chuckles. “How’s your arm, Lemon?”

“Rusty,” I admit as I throw the sponge back in the sink.

“Well, let’s see what we can do about that.” He spanks me on the ass arrogantly as he walks by and out the front door.

I follow him outside, and for a few wistful moments, I watch as he palms the ball expertly with a look of elation on his face. Kam personifies the term ‘love of football.’

“C’mon, Lemon!” He tosses the ball to me while I stand on the front porch of the house. “Let’s have a catch.”

“I haven’t thrown a football in a long time,” I inform him, walking down the stairs holding the ball.

“That’s okay. You had a great teacher.” He grins shamelessly. “It’s as easy as riding a bike.”

“Says the professional quarterback.” I flip the football around, reacquainting myself with the leather.

“I’m not pro yet.” Kam puts is hands on his hips. His T-shirt pulling tightly across his chest outlining the sculpted muscles. The same muscles that were just pressed up against me. That body makes me forget how to freakin’ think.

“Soon enough.” I place my fingers between the laces, the way Kam taught me, and launch the ball at him. It actually spirals pretty nicely, but my aim could use a little work. He needed to take a step to the side in order to catch it.

“Not bad, Lemon. Not bad at all.” He smiles brightly as he throws it back. His spiral is way prettier than mine.

“Maybe it is like riding a bike.” We lob the ball back and forth. I lost count how many times Kam and I did this when we were together. Just hung out and watched the sunset over the lake while throwing the football around. It was so simple, yet meant everything.

“Lots of things we used to do are just like riding a bike,” he insinuates.

I catch the ball then flutter my eyes. But I can’t deny he’s right. Our chemistry is still off the charts, maybe even hotter now than it was before. I actually get butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it. Thinking about how he touched me, and kissed and completely overtook me.

I fire the football back at him.

“Geez, Laney.” He catches it in the crook of his arm. “That one had some power behind it.”

I actually giggle like a little girl. What the fuck is wrong with me? The control Kam has over my panties is ridiculous.

“So, do you have any idea what team is going to draft you?” It’s time to change the subject to something safer. Something that will let me hold on to my self-respect a little while longer.

“There are rumors Seattle is going to draft me.”

“Seattle? Wow. They’re a really good team.”

“Yup.”

“That doesn’t surprise me.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re a really good player. The best player. Why wouldn’t they want you?”

“Because they already have the best quarterback in the league.” He sighs.

“So what does that mean?”

“It means no playing time for me.”

“Oh?” I frown, catching the ball.

“Yeah, second string sucks.”

“Well, maybe you’ll get scooped up by someone else first. They can’t be the only team interested in you.”

“They aren’t, but they have first pick. So if they want me, then that’s where I’ll end up.”

“Too bad the draft doesn’t work the other way around.” I throw the football then roll my shoulder. It’s starting to hurt.

“Too bad.” He laughs, tossing it back.

“Well . . .” I rest the football against my thigh. “If you do end up in Seattle, just make sure to buy a parka and lots of umbrellas,” I joke.

“Anything else you recommend before I’m exiled to the state with highest suicide rate?”

“Yeah.” I laugh. “A trade.”

“Smartass.” Kam rushes me and I try to run. But he’s too fast and tackles before I make it two feet.

“Kam!” I squeal as he takes me down to the ground.

“What?” He pins me beneath him.

“Quarterbacks aren’t supposed to tackle.”

“In special circumstances they are.”

“And you interpreted me just standing there minding my own business a special circumstance?”

“In those little shorts holding a football? Yeah.” He leans in and kisses me. I swear I melt; my body just softens right underneath his.

We don’t do anything but kiss. Kam’s hands keeping a firm grip on my wrists as his tongue goes exploring. He’s not aggressive or overbearing, but there’s enough force to make me succumb. To make me surrender and revel in the warmth of his mouth. I yank my wrists free just so I can wrap my arms around him. Just so I can get a little bit closer. We lay on the ground kissing, caressing, and stroking until we are panting and the sunlight fades away.

“Kam,” I murmur, nearly ripping off his shirt. I don’t care that we’re outside on the bare ground. I don’t care that we have no blanket and there are owls hooting in the trees above us. The only thing I care about it getting closer to Kam. As close as we were in the kitchen. As close as humanly possible.

“We have to go inside, Lemon.”

“Why?” I suck on his neck and grind against him.

“Because . . . oh shit, Laney.” He grabs my hip and squeezes firmly.

“We’ve had sex under the stars before.” I try to persuade him.

“We also had protection.”

“I’m on the pill,” I hastily reply.

Kam pauses, looking down at me dumbfounded. “No condom?”

“Only if you’re hell-bent on using one. Then I understand.”

“You trust me that much?”

I simply nod. “I shouldn’t?”

“You definitely should.” He hauls me up. “But if we’re going raw, I don’t want it to be some two-cent fuck in the dirt.”

“Oh? That doesn’t sound so bad to me.”

“Lemon,” Kam scoffs amused. “We can roll around in the mud tomorrow. Tonight, I want dinner, then dessert, and then you.”

“In that exact order?” I rub up against him.

He inhales a collective breath. “Yes.”

“Fine.” I can hold out if he can.

I think.

“Good.” He smiles boldly. “Now get in the kitchen and start cooking, woman.”

“What!”
My voice elevates three octaves as Kam takes off toward the house, laughing.
“You better run!”

I spoon a serving of lemon chicken onto each of our plates and have chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven. Kam said he wanted dinner and dessert before me, so I’m giving him exactly what he asked for—while wearing nothing but one of his T-shirts. No bra, no panties, no nothing. He’s watched me cook like a starving animal for the last hour, and I know he’s craving more than just food. We both are.

I place the plates on the small kitchen table and go to take a seat when Kam tugs on my arm. “Where are you going?”

“Um, to sit.” I point at my chair.

He shakes his head. “You sit with me.” He pulls me onto his lap. This is hazardous on so many levels, but I love it. Kam cuts up all the chicken and asparagus on his plate, then proceeds to start feeding me and himself, alternating forkfuls of food back and forth between the two of us. The simple dinner I expected has turned into something flirtatious and playful.

“Kam.” I giggle as he teases me with the food, pulling the fork back just as I go to take a bite. He’s getting way too much enjoyment out of seeing me squirm.

The timer dings on the oven, alerting me the cookies are done. If he wants to tease, then I can tease.