Hendrix (Raleigh Raptors 3)

A smile tugged at the corner of my lips. “Maybe we stop with the one week, the one month, and we go for a whole season.”

Her eyes brightened. “You want that? An actual shot at…” Her lips pursed.

“Us,” I said softly. “An actual shot at us.”

“I want that,” she whispered as if admitting her greatest weakness.

“Me, too.” Even as my heart leaped, my stomach twisted. “I hate hiding it.”

“We don’t have a choice.” A line of worry crinkled her forehead.

“I know, but it doesn’t mean I like it. I hate not being able to hold your hand in public, or beat the shit out of the guys who come on to you.”

“And I hate the way other women look at you like you’re fair game. But there’s no one but you,” she promised, moving to straddle me. “And I can keep our secret in public, if you can. I’m not saying it will be easy, but it will be worth it. I’ll just have to make it up to you in private.” She gave me a wicked grin and proceeded to do just that.

14

Savannah

"I don't like this," Hendrix said as he pulled me in for a tight hug.

I could still feel the pleasant burn between my thighs from our earlier session and I took a steadying breath, savoring his scent since I’d be without it for a few days.

"I've gotten really used to having you around," he continued, pushing me out just a little so he could look down to my eyes.

And damn me to hell, but those blue eyes did everything to make me want to agree with him. To join him in his lamenting the distance.

But I knew I couldn't do that. This would be a struggle enough without me adding more of a strain into the mix.

So instead, I stepped out of his embrace and gave him the wicked little smile I knew he loved so much. The one that had gotten him to do all kinds of wicked things to my body. Warm shivers danced down my spine just thinking about it.

"Hendrix Malone, are you saying you're going to miss me?"

Hendrix scrunched up his nose as he shook his head, a slight tease to his eyes.

But I could see the truth churning in those blue depths. Even if all he would miss with me was our marathon sex sessions that left us both limp and exhausted and panting.

"It's not like you to miss a game, even if it is an away game." Hendrix shrugged, his eyes falling behind me toward the door where his game bag rested.

"Well," I said, shrugging. "You know I wouldn't miss it if it wasn't for that whole graduation thing."

"And I hate that I'm missing your graduation," he said. Something about the desperation in his voice, the battle there made my heart clench. "Just about as much as I’ll miss having you cheering for me in the stands."

I smirked at him and shook my head. "I cheer for the whole team," I said teasingly. "Not just you."

"Oh, but you would only scream for me if you came to the game now," he said, such confidence in his tone. I was delighted that his voice had almost returned to normal, but it was the storminess in his eyes just beneath the surface of his confident exterior that had me doing the unthinkable.

I reached behind me and underneath my hair, unclasping my necklace. Hendrix tracked my every move as I stepped closer, reaching up on my tiptoes to secure the necklace around his neck.

"Savannah," he chided as I took a step back. "I can't take this." He fingered the tiny, almost invisible star hanging around his neck. It settled perfectly beneath his shirt.

"I know, right?" I arched a brow at him. "It's my graduation week. I should be the one getting presents." I smirked up at him and shook my head as I laid my hand over the necklace around his neck. "I get it if you don't want to wear it, it's totally fine with me. I won't be offended. But this way you’ll have a little piece of me with you during the game. You won’t miss me as much and fumble the ball."

Hendrix growled at the joke but folded his hand over mine. His crushing blue eyes turned serious. "I won't take it off," he said, his other hand coming up to cup my cheek.

The air charged and crackled between us, filling up with all the words we weren't saying. And I clamped down on those words because damn me to hell again, my heart was beating, racing for this man. My very pulse screamed Hendrix Hendrix Hendrix. Not just because of the craving—that carnal, primal craving I had deep inside me. It was more than that. It had become more than that with each minute I’d stolen with him. And I knew that feeling inside me, that storming, swirling wave of emotion that continued to flip my stomach and stop my breath.