“Shit,” he cursed under his breath.
“What?”
He upended his shower bag, shaking loose the last few contents. No small plastic squares floated out. “Shit.”
Sitting up in bed, I inspected the mess he’d made ripping his suitcase apart. “You can’t say shit twice and not fill the naked woman in the room in on why you’re saying that.”
His hands combed through his hair as he turned in a circle like he was looking for something. “Condoms.”
“Yeah. I’ve heard of them.”
His gaze landed on me. “I don’t have any.”
I swallowed. “Shit.”
“My word exactly.”
Now it was me digging around in the nightstand drawer, shaking the bible out just to make sure there wasn’t one hiding in the pages. You know, since so many people probably used a condom as a bookmark while they were reading the good word at night. “Are you sure? I mean, you’re Luke Archer. I thought you’d be on an automatic refill program or something. You know, where they drop a cargo box out of the air every month.”
A dark brow lifted at me. “I’m sure. Do you have one?”
“Yeah, right here in my back pocket,” I said, patting my bare backside. “Oh, wait.”
“You’re telling me you don’t have a condom in that giant magic bag of yours?” Archer paced over to my duffel bag.
“Oddly enough, that kind of protection doesn’t fall under my job duties.”
He groaned like my answer was causing physical pain. “I could run out and get a box.”
My head whipped with a firm no. “You are not supposed to be running anywhere. If anyone on the team saw you, they’d string me up.” He shouldn’t even be on his feet right now, pacing around like a crazed man desperate to unearth some condom cache. “Plus, I’m on the shot, so if you’re worried about getting me pregnant, I’m covered.” I cleared my throat. “In case you’re worried about anything else, I’m good there too.”
Archer’s hands went to his hips, still pacing the room. “Yeah, yeah, I’m set there too, but I want to be careful. It shouldn’t just be up to the woman to take care of birth control.”
I sat up straighter. “Wow. You are oddly progressive for being such a Neanderthal.”
“I could call Reynolds.” He was already moving for his cell phone on top of the desk. “He has those things coming out of his ears.”
“Yeah, because that would be a great idea.” I deepened my voice a few notes before continuing, “Hey, Reynolds, can I borrow a condom when the only woman in my room right now is the team’s athletic trainer?”
“That would imply that Reynolds has the mental capacity to put one and one together.”
I gave that a moment’s thought then shrugged. “Good point. Give him a call.”
“No, you’re right.” Archer’s head shook, sending his damp hair spilling across his forehead. “He’d suspect something.”
He got back to pacing in all his glorious naked and ready glory, making a frustrated groan erupt from my chest. “Are you serious right now, Archer? You’ve been doing everything short of groveling at my feet to get me into bed, and now that I’m in it, you don’t have any condoms?”
A pained look broke across his face when he took in the view of me lounging on his bed. “I didn’t actually think you’d agree.”
“So why all of the effort if you didn’t think I’d eventually go against my better judgment and fall into bed with you?”
His eyes landed on mine from across the room. “Because I go after what I want, no matter the likelihood or, in your case, unlikelihood of it happening.”
“Admirable. Even a little romantic.” I tipped my head at him. “Except for your lack of planning and preparation.” I motioned between him and me, an entire room keeping us apart thanks to one missing piece of latex.
Suddenly, Archer’s face flattened like he was remembering something, and he bounded across the room. He pulled his wallet out of his coat pocket and shook it. Black shiny credit cards and large bills tumbled to the ground right before his face lit up. He pulled something from a small pocket.
“Fuck yes, I have one. I forgot all about it.” His wallet dropped to the floor, his hand clutching the condom like it was a priceless artifact thrust into the air. A moment later, his forehead creased. “These things come with an expiration date though, right?” He lowered the condom so it was in front of his eyes, the skin between his brows creasing.
“Yeah,” I said slowly. “So if you bought them in the Cretaceous Period, you might want to toss it out.”
“Okay, no, we’re good.” His eyes squinted a little more as he read something on the wrapper. “At least for another month.”
At the same time my body relaxed with relief knowing we’d be able to have sex soon, it tensed with nervousness at the same realization. “Why is the only condom Luke Archer has on him is about to expire?”
“It’s been a while.” The torn wrapper was already on the floor as he moved back toward the bed, the condom rolling into place down his hard length.
I had to swallow back the flames licking up my throat. “It’s been a while since what? You had to supply your own form of birth control?”
Archer stopped at the edge of the bed again, gently nudging my legs apart before stepping between them. “Since I’ve been with a woman.”
“How long?”
“A while.”
“In quantitative terms?” My eyes closed when he lowered his body over me, pressing my back into the mattress with his wide chest.
“I’d rather not confess that for fear of it ruining the mood,” he whispered then kissed my neck. “How long’s it been for you?”
Just feeling his naked body against mine, kissing me, my body ready to lose itself in the throes of pleasure, was enough of an answer to that question. “A while.”
Archer’s arm wound around me, sliding me back on the mattress until my head fell into the pillows. Every part of my body was connected to some part of his: our mouths as they explored each other again, our arms as he lifted mine above my head, his fingers knitting through mine and holding me there. The rest of our bodies were pressed together, wound together, moving together . . . Luke Archer was everywhere.
Everywhere but where I needed him to be right then.
When my hips tipped against him, pressing down when I felt him in place, he groaned against my mouth, shaking his head. “Not yet . . .” His tongue dove back into my mouth, stroking mine before his mouth left mine. “I make sure to hit every base before sliding into home plate.”
I shook my head. “Still with the baseball references?”
I felt his smile curve against my mouth. “Always,” he whispered, before his mouth moved lower. My breath caught in my throat when his mouth latched onto my nipple, sucking it. His tongue teased me, circling it a few times in such a way it made me wonder if I was going to orgasm from Luke Archer doing this and nothing more, before he released me.
“First base,” he whispered, his tongue drawing a line across my chest before his lips formed around my other breast. This one he sucked harder, lashing it with his tongue until I was writhing below him in bed. He released it a minute later with a wet pop. “Second base.”
When he glanced up at me beneath the frame of hair covering his forehead, the look in his eyes had a direct line to my sex. I moaned from that look, my head falling back on the pillows as his mouth trailed lower.
His tongue painted a wet line down my stomach, drawing every nerve I’d never known I had out of hibernation. Drawing every nerve to the surface of my skin where he was touching me.
My back arched as he traveled lower, and just when his tongue reached my belly button, his finger moved inside me. As his tongue circled my belly button a few times, his finger moved in and out, curling into me when it could go no deeper, and he found that spot that made me almost scream his name every time.
“I can’t wait any longer. I’m sorry. I wanted to take my time,
but fuck, I’m about to come right now, and there’s no way we’ll be twice lucky finding a condom.” He kissed the sensitive area winding down my hip, pulling his finger out before crawling up my body. “I want to be inside you when I come. I need to be.”
All I could do was nod, because I’d lost the capacity for speech one finger screwing ago.
At least I had right up until I saw his face form something of a wince when he made a sudden movement getting his legs between mine.
“You need to be careful,” I said, still panting beneath him. I had to close my eyes to concentrate when I felt him move into position. “No leg movement. You need to keep the muscle stationary. In fact, I should be on top to make sure you listen.”
Archer’s arms fell into the pillows on either side of my head, pinning me beneath him. “Sorry. There is no way I’m going to just lay there during our first time.”
When he tipped his hips into mine, starting to move inside me, my fingers dug into his back.
“Our second? Third? Maybe. But our first time, I want to be on top of you, my body pinning yours beneath mine, my face hovering above yours.” His face moved right above mine then, his eyes unblinking. “I want to watch you as I make you come. I want you to watch me when you make me come. I want to watch everything so I know what makes your eyes close, what makes your mouth fall open, what makes your face flush. I want to know so I can give you everything you need. Whenever you need it.”
He kissed my mouth sweetly then, right before driving the rest of himself inside me. My moan of pleasure tangled with his, filling the four walls of his hotel room. His mouth dropped outside of my ear as he started to move inside me, breathing hard as our bodies started spiraling together in their shared release.
“I want to know everything there is to know about you, Allie Eden.”
OUR FIRST TIME had been the best sex of my life. Our first time had also been the shortest sex of my life.
All it had taken was feeling him moving inside me a few times before my body lost control, the power of my orgasm bringing him to his own release. I’d never come so quickly. Ever. It was almost like Luke’s body had been created to please mine as quickly and as powerfully as possible. It almost was like mine was had been built the same for him.
Sex with Luke Archer made me question what I’d been doing with men before, because whatever that had been, it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t even in the same galaxy.
The one downside to having that kind of sex was that I wanted to do it again. Right after.
But we were in a bit of a condom supply crisis.
When Luke had come out of the bathroom with a towel tied around his waist, he grabbed a twenty-dollar bill from the floor as he headed for the door to go in search of the missing contraband, and I’d barely managed to stop him.
At least I barely had until I dropped to my knees, my mouth wrapping around him. He collapsed into the door, his mission to find a box of rubbers long forgotten.
I’d never experienced or given so much oral in my life, but desperate times called for desperate measures, and Luke Archer’s head between my legs wasn’t exactly a poor substitute for his dick.
This round, he’d backed me into a wall, lifted me until my legs were tangled over his shoulders, and lowered his head between my legs.
“God, Luke,” I moaned, my back bumping against the wall as he assaulted me with his mouth. “After this . . . you need another . . .”—my fingers raked through his hair as his tongue fluttered against me—“ice and heat treatment.”
He murmured his answer against me, making my head fall back into the wall.
“Are you sure you don’t want a muscle relaxer or . . .”—his finger sank into me, another one joining it—“. . . or something?”
His mouth left me just long enough to answer. “My tongue’s a muscle.” Said muscle circled a very sensitive part of my body. “Are you sure you want my muscles relaxed?” Said tongue got back to lashing across me, drawing my orgasm from deep in my body.
“Scratch the muscle relaxers.” I sighed, my hips riding his fingers still plunging in and out of me. “Just don’t stop.”
I could practically feel his smirk against me right before he sucked at my clit, and that was all it took. My body went rigid at the top of my orgasm right before thrusting my hips against him as he continued to work my body, not stopping until the last aftershocks of my release had long been finished.
“Good?” he said a minute later, leaving a trail of kisses down my inner thigh.
“Do you need an actual verbal confirmation?”
“I’m a guy. We like verbal confirmations.”
Running my fingers through his hair, I smiled down at him, my chest still firing from my breathing. “Then that was so much better than good, there hasn’t been a word created for what that was because so few people have experienced it.”
He winked up at me. “Now that’s a verbal confirmation.,” he said, lifting me just enough to make untangling my shaking legs from his shoulders possible. Then he slowly slid me down the wall, maintaining his hold on me when my feet hit the floor, probably worried I’d collapse if he let go.
Which I might have.
“I still can’t believe you almost came up empty in the condom department.”
Luke’s arms caged around my head, his head lowering until it was level with mine. “I wasn’t exactly expecting last night.”
“You weren’t?” I raised a doubtful eyebrow at him.
“Hoping, always hoping.” The corner of his mouth twitched. “But I didn’t think I’d worn you down anywhere close enough for that.”
“So I’m easier than I seem,” I teased. “My parents would be proud.”
He chuckled. “Thank god for that, because you had me worried we’d finally be doing it on my deathbed by the time you came around.”
“Yeah, that condom hiding in your wallet definitely would have exceeded its shelf life by then.”
“Although if you were ninety, I think your baby-making days would be over.”
I made a clucking sound with my tongue, running my hands down his sides. His skin was warm, and a sheen of sweat clung to him. “Ah, the perks of geriatric sex. I mean, sure, you might break a hip, but you can ride bareback without worrying about knocking a grandma up.”
Luke shook his head before kissing my forehead. “You’re strange.”
“Thank you,” I replied, right before the alarm on my phone went off. “Time for your bath.”
Luke groaned. “Can we just say we did and not?”
My hand dropped to his right leg, lightly curling around his inner thigh. The swelling had gone down some, but it was still inflamed. “Definitely not. You’re lucky you didn’t injure it worse with all of the thrusting you did last night. As it is, you’re lucky I’m not putting you on a two-hour rotation instead of a three-hour.” Ducking beneath the brace of his arms, I headed for my phone to turn off the alarm. It was seven in the morning, and the team was to head out from the hotel at nine. I had a lot to get done in two hours and, unfortunately, no time to do Luke anymore.
“I think your and my definitions of lucky are different.”
Laughing, I paused just outside the bathroom door to admire him. He was still buttressed up against the wall he’d just gotten me off on. The morning sun coming through the window across from him bathed him in golden light, almost making him glow, highlighting a body that hinted at perfection. When his face turned toward me, my breath caught in my lungs. This man could not be real. That this man seemed into me and almost made for me could not be real either.
When his smile crept into place, I accepted that, real or not, I was going to let myself enjoy this time with Luke Archer. No matter how brief it was, no matter how careful we had to be, I was going to enjoy it because life didn’t hand out an abundance of these kinds of experiences.
These were the kinds of memories people held onto instead of trying to forget.
“Thank you, Luke.”
; His head tipped. “For what?”
My answer was forming when a pounding sounded on the outside of the door.
“Room service,” he said, snagging his sweats from the floor and sliding them into place.
“Good. I’m starving.” Pulling one of the hotel robes from the closet, I slid into it.
“Can’t imagine why.” Luke smirked at me before pulling the door open.
“You are so lucky I’m not Coach right now.” A voice I was not expecting broke into the room right before Reynolds did. “Because heads would roll if he saw you upright, starting with yours.”
Lunging the few steps into the bathroom, I shut the door and locked it. Reynolds hadn’t seen me, but that had been close. So much for placing such a high priority on being careful.
I’d just have to hang out in here until he left, and we’d have to implement a check-the-peephole policy before opening the door for anyone when I was traipsing around Luke’s hotel room, freshly fucked and wearing a bathrobe.
“Does Eden know you’re up on your feet right now? Because I’d be more scared of her seeing you up than Coach.”
Shit. It would seem strange if Reynolds didn’t see me doing something that an athletic trainer who hadn’t spent most of the night naked with the man she was tending to should be doing.
Thank god I’d stuffed my suitcase in here last night. I could step out of the bathroom in clothes instead of a plush white robe with the hotel’s emblem and fine print that read Archer and I Got It On Last Night.
As I rustled through my suitcase, scrambling for a fresh set of clothes, I could make out Luke’s and Reynolds’s voices in the other room. It sounded like they were talking about the upcoming game, but there was a little too much adrenaline shooting through my system to focus on anything besides getting dressed before Reynolds got suspicious.
I’d guessed that if Luke and I kept this kind of relationship up for any kind of duration, someone would eventually figure it out—I hadn’t guessed it would happen less than eight hours later.
Once I’d wrestled into the usual khakis and team polo I wore during the season, I flew to the bath and cranked on the water. There were a few bags of fresh ice piled on the floor, so I started upending them into the tub while it filled.