Jess pushes between my shoulder blades until my chest is flat against the mattress, angles my hips upward, then slides into me from behind. I lurch forward with a gasp, not expecting how intense it would be like this.
“Get back here,” he says, yanking my hips until my ass is flush against his pelvis. He holds me in place as he fucks me, my hands fisting the sheets, eyes squeezed shut.
“It’s so deep,” I mumble into the mattress.
He covers my body with his, his hands covering the backs of my own. “Not deep enough.”
I feel his lips on the back of my neck, his sweat-slicked skin sticking to mine as he pumps his hips into me. I feel myself tightening around him as he slides in and out, over and over.
“Fuck, I need to come,” Jesse says as he snakes a hand underneath me, rubbing my clit as he picks up the pace.
Oh my God. Just like that, I’m contracting around him, unable to stop from grinding into his hand, my clit pulsing under his fingertips. Once I slow my movements, Jesse sits up, fucking my boneless body until I feel him jerking inside me.
He pulls out of me, and I hear him dispose of the condom before he crawls back into bed behind my spent body, both of us lying across the bed horizontally, too tired and sated to right ourselves. His arm curls around me, cupping my breast, his chin resting above my head, and it only feels like seconds before I succumb to sleep.
* * *
JESSE STAYED IN MY ROOM last night, even though Dare and Lo were home. We’re getting sloppy. Careless. But something has shifted, and I think we both feel it.
“That thing happening tonight?” Jess asks, bringing me out of my thoughts. I look over at his profile, one hand on the steering wheel, the other hand pushing through his hair. He insisted on driving me to school this morning, which is a first.
“Yep,” I say, surprised he remembered the show.
Jess pulls into the parking lot, cutting the engine before getting out. He rounds the hood of the truck and then he’s at my door, opening it for me.
“What are you doing?” I ask warily.
“Walking you to class.”
I stay in my seat, momentarily stunned that he’s not just dropping me off, and Jesse reaches across my lap to unbuckle my seatbelt. I raise an eyebrow at him.
“What’s with the boyfriend act?”
“I’m walking you to class, not asking you to go steady. Chill.”
I hop down, swinging my bag over my shoulder as I make my way toward campus, binder in hand. Jess falls into step next to me, throwing his arm around my shoulder, bringing me in close.
What has gotten into him?
Once we get close to the courtyard where students are milling around, we get a couple of curious looks and double takes, but Jesse either doesn’t notice it or doesn’t acknowledge it. Straightening my posture, I hold my binder at my chest, Jesse’s bruised knuckles hanging over my shoulder.
“Shepherd!” a gruff voice calls out.
Jess stops short at the sound of his name. When we turn around, it’s to see a middle-aged man in a white polo with a red Wildcats logo.
“Heard you were back,” the man says, smiling like he’s genuinely happy to see him. “Staying out of trouble?”
“Never,” Jess says as he’s pulled in for a hug, the man clapping his back.
“Maybe I can help with that.”
Jess looks at him inquisitively, his thick eyebrows pulling together.
“I have to get to class,” I interrupt, hitching a thumb over my shoulder.
“Shit, this is Allie,” Jesse says belatedly. “Allie, this is Coach Standifer. He’s the reason I’m not in jail right now.”
Coach Standifer holds his hand out to shake mine.