Defeat threatened to silence my words, but I pushed past that internal wilting feeling and stood my ground.
“I want you," I said, wetting my lips as my mouth suddenly went dry. "I want you to take what they were wagering for. I want you to give me my power back."
Hendrix tilted his head, understanding at the edge of his narrowing eyes, but not fully there.
So I popped a hand on my hip and said without any hint of shame or embarrassment or hesitance, "I want you to take my virginity, Hendrix."
5
Hendrix
“You’re a virgin?” My eyes just about popped out of my head before I could school my features. Savannah Goodman was one of the most confident, intelligent women I’d ever met, and she held herself like she owned her sexuality in every aspect.
How the hell was she still a virgin? I’d felt her under me, tasted how passionate she was. If I’d ever been lucky enough to call Savannah Goodman my girlfriend, I definitely would have given us both reasons to explore the depths of her inherent sensuality.
But no one had.
Say yes. Say yes. Say yes. The devil on my shoulder was practically dancing.
“That’s the point you’re hung up on?” She rolled her eyes.
“It’s a pretty big point.” I grabbed a towel from my locker and rubbed the sweat off my neck. Rowing was my favorite workout—full-bodied, quiet, and came with the incentive that if I stopped before it was complete, I was stuck in the middle of the river. That’s where I should have stayed—in the middle of the river. Where I was safe from my overwhelming need for Savannah.
“It’s really not,” she argued. “It’s just a technicality.”
“No, it’s not just a technicality.” I grabbed two bottles of water out of the case I kept stored in my boathouse locker and tossed one at Savannah, who caught it easily. It was second nature to look after her—I’d been doing it for years, but her request was…enticing, intoxicating, maddening.
Ludicrous. It was ludicrous, no matter how loudly my body argued her way. Speaking of my body, I did not need to give her any more encouragement, so I slipped on a pair of loose athletic shorts over my rowing gear to cover the rising evidence of my very real interest.
“Why? Because some man decided thousands of years ago that his penis had the right to magically transform women from maidens to mothers…or whores?” She folded her arms under her breasts and arched an eyebrow, leaving her water unopened as she stared me down with those gorgeous brown eyes.
Fuck, I’d always loved her eyes. Warm and deep, with little flecks of gold and green—I used to think they were the only thing soft about her. Unfortunately, I now knew her breasts were even softer, especially when they swelled beneath my mouth.
Stop it. If only I could get the memories out of my damned head.
“You know I don’t subscribe to that bullshit.” I twisted the top and downed the entire bottle of water, wishing it could quench my thirst for her.
“You don’t?” Savannah watched me, her gaze tracking the movement of my throat.
“No. Your body is yours to do whatever you want with it, Savannah.” Shit, her name slid off my tongue with a caress. I threw the bottle into the recycling bin I kept in here for exactly that purpose and turned back to my locker. If I could just keep my eyes off her, we’d both make it through this encounter with our clothes intact.
“Well, I want to use it…with you.”
“No, you don’t.” I shook my head, then yanked a clean shirt from my bag, and hung it over the locker door. “You’re pissed at your dickwad ex, and you have every right to be.” Which fucking frat was his, anyway? I needed to pay him a visit. Maybe I’d even bring whatever Raptors were in town with me, just to see the little bitch piss his Abercrombie pants. I ripped my shirt off and threw it into my bag.
“Uh…”
I shoved my head and arms through the clean, cotton shirt, then tugged it down my bare torso, which had all of Savannah’s attention. “Like what you see?” I snarled, just to snap her out of it.
Her gaze flew to mine, and though there was a slight flush on her cheeks, there was no apology, no embarrassment in her eyes. “Well, yes. Every woman in America likes what I see.” No coy flirtation, just…Savannah. Honest and blunt, as always.
I sighed, fighting off the smile that tugged at my lips. “Look, even if I wanted to—” Which you do. Right here. Now. On that bench. In the backseat of your car. On the dock. Wherever. “—your father is my coach. The first rule of being a Raptor is that you’re off limits. He’ll kick me off the team. And as much as I’d love to assist in the whole revenge-sex plot you’ve got going on, I’m not risking my career over it. People depend on me.”