Wrecking Ball (Hard to Love 1)

His fingers gently brush my hair back while he takes in my reaction. “Tomorrow you’re mine.”

He shifts, returning to his spot next to me. Then he wraps his arm around my waist and buries his face in the curve of my neck, exhaling one long relaxed breath. There isn’t any part of us that isn’t touching. Like he can’t bear to have even an inch separating us, like he’s afraid I’ll sneak away.

I’m so close to proclaiming my love out loud that I have to forcibly bite my tongue. Instead, I pet and stroke up and down his arm, place tender kisses all over his face, squeeze him tight. In answer, he grumbles his appreciation and snuggles closer. Not ten minutes after that I hear his soft snore. It’s suddenly the dearest sound in the world to me. In my excitement, I almost forgot he played a game today. But tomorrow…tomorrow he’s mine.

The next morning I walk into the kitchen to find Calvin cooking breakfast––I kid you not. I’m actually surprised he didn’t pack their bags and put them out on the front doorsteps. Sam and Amanda are at the kitchen table, digging into…are those pancakes triangular?

“Mercedes?” I ask the chef.

With a lethal smirk, he says, “Gave her the day off.”

I take a seat at the table and load my plate with scrambled eggs.

“Would you like some triangular pancakes?” Amanda queries. My eyes connect with hers over the rim of her coffee cup and we both chuckle.

After we all have breakfast together, Cal and I help Amanda load her Mercedes with all of Sam’s Lego sets, which takes much longer than Cal anticipated. By noon, I think he’s ready to have an honest to goodness meltdown. We all say our goodbyes. I hug Sam tightly, almost incapable of letting go, and tell him I love him and I’ll miss him and make sure he has my number so he can call any time he wishes. They’ll be coming up for Christmas and we make plans to get together.

Amanda is in her car, about to drive off, when Ethan’s Audi comes up the driveway. Before he even parks the car, Calvin is waving his arms in the air.

“Hell no! Go home, Ethan. Can a man get some goddamn time alone with his girlfriend!”

The smirk Ethan levels at me is one of pure victory. With that, Amanda drives off and Ethan follows immediately afterward. Cal has his arm around my neck as we watch them disappear down the driveway. He looks down at me and what I find on his face makes my heart leap inside my chest. There’s lust, a lot of it. But more importantly, there’s reverence and wonder. And there’s love. Plenty of love. I have no doubt because I know what it looks like, and I know it’s all over my face, too.

“You wreck me…every time I look at you.” He searches my face to see the effects of his words. The effect is that I can’t see the beginning or end of my love for him. It’s a constant never-ending thing. How did this happen? How did we get here? Not too long ago we were barely able to tolerate each other. He snuck up on me, this sex on a stick, six foot four, two hundred and thirty pound man, snuck up on me and stole my heart.

I’ve only ever had sex with one person. I’m so nervous right now I’m practically vibrating out of my skin. Taking my wrist, he drags me into the foyer and doesn’t make it much farther. We’ve waited far too long to do this. Desire explodes between us, making us both impatient and clumsy, out of control. He wraps his hands around my face and devours my mouth, kissing me like his life depends on it.

Rising on my toes, I shove my fingers into his hair and hold him in place. He grabs my ass and pulls me against the baseball bat he has hidden under his favorite black track pants. Goodness gracious. It ignites a fire in my belly, awakening every primal instinct in my body, which is currently screaming, ‘Now! Do it now!’

He rips my long sleeve henley off. I return the favor with his t-shirt. Then I jump and wrap my legs around his waist, hooking my ankles while he carries me to the stairs. Thank fuck they’re covered with carpeting. Although at this point, nothing short of a fatal wound is gonna stop me. Placing me down on the stairs, he whisks off my jeans in a nanosecond and rears back to inspect his handiwork. His intense gaze takes in every inch of skin the daylight reveals. I’ve never seen his expression so…taken, awestruck––and hungry. I’ve never seen anyone look at me this way.

“Do you trust me?”