Summer Fling (Players of Marycliff University Book 1) (12 page)

After a moment of enjoying the feel of his large hand on her bare skin, Abby reciprocated. Cautiously at first, but with growing confidence, she ran her hand down the front of Lance's shirt from his chest over his abs until she encountered the hem. She slid her hand up under the fabric, so she could feel his warm skin against her palm. His muscles were firm under her hands, and she felt a thin covering of soft hair surrounding his belly button and leading to his waistband.
 

Taking her touch as encouragement, Lance's hand drifted further up her rib cage until he encountered the lower band of her bra. One of his fingers slid just under the elastic and traced back and forth against her skin. "I thought you were going to get more comfortable," he said against her mouth.

"I did."

Lance made a sound of disagreement in the back of his throat. "You can't tell me you wouldn't be even more comfortable without the bra." His hand traced under the band around her back until he came to the closure. His finger came out from under her bra and drew along the rectangle that held the hooks.
 

"I guess I would be." Abby's voice sounded breathless even to her own ears.

Her agreement was all the permission Lance needed. He deftly undid the hooks on her bra one handed. Abby didn't want to think about why exactly he was so good at that. He released his grip on her ass and brought both hands to the bare skin of her back, the shirt bunching around his wrists. He brought his left arm out from under her so she was lying directly on the bed. His mouth came down on hers, kissing her deeply again. His hands slid over her rib cage under the fabric of her bra until they came to rest directly on her breasts. She arched into his hands, enjoying the feeling of his heated skin against hers. He kneaded her breasts while his mouth went exploring. He moved to one side, kissed her just below her ear, behind the point of her jaw, then gently took her earlobe between his teeth. She shivered at the sensation, finding it oddly erotic. No one had ever treated her ears that way before, and she squirmed under him. After nibbling on her ear and tracing the shell with his tongue, he blazed a trail of hot kisses down the side of her neck.
 

Abby suddenly felt cool air on her chest as his hands lifted away, exposing her breasts to his gaze. She barely registered the change before his hot wet mouth was there, nuzzling, licking, suckling. His hand covered one breast, kneading the flesh and plucking at the nipple, while his mouth devoured the other. Then he switched, giving them equal attention.
 

While his mouth was working on her breast, his right hand drifted down her belly until he encountered the waistband of her shorts. His fingers teased underneath, tracing the elastic band at the top of her panties. He lifted his head, and she opened her eyes to see what he was doing. He watched her face while sliding his hand beneath her panties, waiting for her reaction. When she didn't move or say anything to stop him, he slid all the way down and cupped her mound. She spread her legs to give him more access and rocked herself into his palm.
 

Lance groaned and took her mouth again. He rubbed his fingers over her flesh, seeking her entrance. He groaned again when he felt the wetness there. He pressed one finger inside, then drew it out and up, spreading her wetness all around. He began to work her with his expert fingers. While his fingers danced and rubbed in all the right places in all the right ways, he devoured her with his mouth. When she was getting close, he moved from her mouth to her ear. He bit her lobe again, and then whispered, "Come for me." Her body arched, her head pressed back into the pillows, and she reached her shuddering climax while his fingers continued to play her, drawing out her pleasure, then slowing to bring her back down.
 

Abby opened her eyes when Lance finally withdrew his hand. Her lips were swollen from his kisses, and her limbs felt almost too heavy to move. He was propped on his elbow staring down at her. "Beautiful," he whispered.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Lance opened his eyes in the darkness. Emptiness next to him made him realize what had woken him. He reached out and encountered Abby sitting on the side of the bed.

He ran his hand over her bare back. "What are you doing?"

The bluish light of her phone cast its glow on her skin. "I have to go to the bathroom and then I need to go home."

Lance rubbed his eyes, blinking against the intrusion of light in the dark room. "What time is it?"

Abby turned to look at him. "It's almost 3:30."

He groaned. "Come back to bed, baby. Let's sleep some more before I take you home." He reached for her and started to pull her against him again. The phone went dark and he thought for a moment that she was giving in. Then he felt her hand pushing against his chest, and she lit up her phone again.
 

She shook her head at him and got up. "I can't. I have to pee."
 

Lance flopped back against the pillows. Abby closed the bathroom door before turning on the light, but the brightness seeped out around the edges of the door, more blinding than the light from her phone.
 

He was still feeling the uncomfortable effects of Abby's proximity and his lack of release. After he'd made her come, he'd stripped her shirt and bra the rest of the way off, adding them and his own shirt to the pile of clothes by the closet. She'd roused slightly from her boneless state, starting to run her hand down his abs to his waistband. He'd stopped her, though, kissed her and gathered her against him again. They'd talked and kissed until they both fell asleep. He'd only wanted—no, needed—to feel her bare skin against his.
 

Not that he didn't want to get off. But if he was with Abby, he didn't want to get off like that, in her hand. He wanted to be inside her, feeling her tight heat clenching around him. And he'd felt just how tight she was.
 

He was being patient with her, though. Yesterday had been a breakthrough, and he didn't want to push too hard after that. He knew he was already pushing her as it was. He had been since they first met. Normally he wouldn't push someone like he was doing with Abby. If a girl didn't want him, or didn't want to move as fast as he did, that was fine. He didn't hold it against her. He'd just move on. But with Abby, he didn't want to move on. He didn't think that she didn't want him, just that she was hesitant about trusting him. He wanted to get her to trust him so she wouldn't regret going all the way.

He felt like he was making progress. She'd called him when she needed help and then opened up to him about the problems with her mom. With what she'd told him, it was understandable that she was hesitant with him. She'd been responsible for her mom for years. Her brother had been there to help for a while, but then he'd bailed just like their dad had years earlier. It wasn't shocking that she might not want to get involved with him knowing that he was leaving. But he couldn't bring himself to let her go. Maybe that was selfish, but there it was. He didn't feel like examining his motives any further.
 

He almost couldn't believe he'd gotten her to come home with him and agree to keep seeing him. Now that she was here, in his bed, he wasn't ready for her to go home yet. He had been sleeping so well with her spooned in close to him.
 

That was another thing different about her. He normally didn't linger with a girl, either at his place or hers, much less sleep in the same bed.
 

He heard Abby shut off the water in the sink, and then she opened the door. She'd turned off the bathroom light, but had turned on the light on her phone. She had one arm crossed in front of her chest, and with the other she scanned the floor with her light, finally bending down to scoop her bra out of the pile of his clothes.

Lance propped himself on his elbows. "Abby, what are you doing?"

She stopped mid-step and turned to him. "I'm getting my clothes."

He ran a hand down his face. "I can see that, but why?"

She gave him an exasperated look. "I told you I need to go home. You don't expect me to go in nothing but a pair of your boxers, do you?"

"Of course not. I wouldn't want anyone else seeing you like that." He gestured to where her arm shielded her breasts from his gaze. "But why do you have to go home now?"

Abby sighed and turned to get her other clothes. "I have to be at work to run the first language lab at 8:00. I don't want to wear the same clothes from yesterday. If I go home now, I can get a few hours of sleep before I have to get up and get ready."

Lance swung his legs out of bed and caught her by the arm when she stood back up. He took the phone out of her hand and set it down on the nightstand so the light was shining toward the ceiling and not in his face. "Or you could sleep for a few more hours here and I'll take you home with enough time to get ready and get to your language lab on time."

Abby was holding her clothes in front of her like a shield. She compressed her lips into a thin line. "Lance, I'd really like to go home now. I don't want to do the walk of shame in front of your roommates or mine. Especially since we didn't even have sex."

He pulled her closer to him, smiling down at her. "We could fix that, you know."

Abby rolled her eyes at him. He smiled even wider. She freed her hand and patted him on the chest. "Yes, I'm sure we
could
"—a slight emphasis there—"but we're not going to." Then she looked up at him, her face softening from the acerbic look she'd just given him. "Please, Lance. Just take me home."

Admitting defeat, Lance nodded. "Okay. If you really want me to, I'll take you home."

She relaxed against him in relief. "I do."
 

Lance leaned in and kissed her, then headed for the bathroom himself. When he came back out, Abby had changed back into her own clothes, leaving the boxers he'd lent her on the bed. He pulled on a t-shirt and grabbed his wallet and keys from his dresser.

Lance led Abby by the hand through the dark living room and out the front door. The night air chilled his bare arms and legs. He noticed goose bumps on Abby, and reached his arm around her to pull her into his warmth and rub them away.
 

They drove home in a sleepy comfortable silence, Lance's hand in its now accustomed spot on Abby's leg. She simply laid her hand on top of his, occasionally rubbing slightly up his wrist and forearm before returning to rest on top of his hand.

When they got to her parking lot, he parked the car and turned it off.
 

Abby stopped in the middle of unbuckling her seatbelt. "Lance, you really don't have to walk me to my door."

Lance unbuckled his seatbelt and looked at her. "Abby, I really do. I always see a lady safely to her door."

He grinned when she muttered, "Fine, whatever."

"Will you need a ride to work or back?"

She shook her head. "No. I usually walk anyway."

He nodded. "Okay, good. What time do you get home?"

Abby had her hand on the door handle, but stopped before opening it. She eyed him warily. "I usually leave at five and it takes about fifteen minutes to walk if I'm not in a hurry. Why?"

Lance shrugged. "Text me when you get home. I'll come over and check out your car, see if I can fix it."

She relaxed a little, but still seemed unsure. "You don't have to fix my car, you know. I can just get it towed somewhere."

He waved away her objections. "Abby, my dad owns a garage. I grew up taking cars apart and putting them back together. Let me at least look at it. Towing's expensive. There's no need to pay for all that when I'll look at it for free." When she didn't immediately agree, he took her hand. "Let me help you, Abby. I want to do it. I wouldn't offer if I didn't."

She studied his face for a moment before finally nodding. "Okay. I'll let you know when I get home and you can come look at my car." She pointed a finger at him and narrowed her eyes. "I'm paying for any parts, though."

In response he just kissed her. He didn't feel like arguing with her about details right then. He was glad that she'd agreed to let him fix her car without putting up a fight.
 

Abby responded to his kiss, pressing herself closer to him. What he'd meant as a simple touch of his lips to hers turned into something more. He found himself snaking his arms around her, pulling her closer, deepening their kiss, hanging on until she finally broke it off.
 

He looked down into her face, her lips red from his kiss. "Are you sure you don't want to just grab some clothes and come back home with me?"
 

Her lips curved into a smile. This one was different than her other smiles. It was private and knowing, and meant only for him. For a moment he thought she might say yes. Instead she said, "Tempting. But no. I need to go home and get some more sleep."
 

He let out a breath and loosened his hold on her. "Okay. I'll walk you to your door."

"Lance, my door is right there. You don't need—"

He missed the rest of her protest because he got out of the car and closed the door.
 

She scrambled out of her side before he could get there and open the door for her. "Lance, you can't just leave when I'm in the middle of talking to you."

He silenced the rest of that reproach with a kiss. This one was just a simple kiss, like he intended. "I can when you're talking nonsense, sweetheart. I like walking you to your door. I'm going to walk you to your door. It has nothing to do with your capability of walking to the door without me, and everything to do with my desire to see you safely inside." With that he took her hand and walked the short distance from his car to her apartment. "If I didn't walk you to your door, I wouldn't get my good night kiss." And he kissed her again.

He felt her lips smiling against his. "Is it really a goodnight kiss when it's almost four in the morning?"

Lance kissed her again. "Fine, a good morning kiss then. Either way, that was two kisses I wouldn't have gotten if I hadn't walked you to your door."