“And you’ll move into the house with us?”
“I’ll probably keep an apartment near the aquatic center but yes,” he kissed my neck, “I’ve already talked about it to Oliver.”
“Good thing that house is so big.” We’d all have our own bedrooms. An arrangement like ours required a little space. “I doubt Oliver’s step-mother had this in mind when she bought it.”
It felt nice having a leisurely moment to spend with Anderson, but despite our no-sex agreeme
nt, the tension between us grew with every passing second, making it harder and harder to resist.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked me.
“You,” I admitted. “And Hayden, and how I’ll be happy when this sex embargo is over.”
He groaned and ran his hands through his hair, making it stick up in a million directions. I loved him when he looked feral like that. It didn’t help with the tension.
“It’s killing me, babe. Like literally killing me. I think my balls are permanently blue.”
“Don’t be so dramatic.”
Anderson grabbed me, shifting me until I was on his lap, straddling his long legs that are stretched down the length of the couch. “Feel that?”
Oh yeah.
“I’ve been like that for a week straight. And you prancing around here in that shirt with no pants isn’t helping.”
“I can put on pants,” I said, starting to move. He held me tight and I swear he got even bigger.
He touched my cheek, my neck, and trailed his fingers down my arm. “Don’t even think about it.”
“I can’t believe we let this go, you know?”
“I’m promising you now,” he said, green eyes boring into mine. “It won’t happen. The guys and I have spoken, we’re in, one-hundred percent.”
The way he said it sent a shiver up my spine. When the Allendale Four made a decision—a commitment—it would take an act of congress to change it.
He stared at me for a long minute, jaw tense.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked, flipping the tables.
“About how I want to bury myself inside of you. How I want to feel your mouth on me. How I want to taste you. How I know it’s been too goddam long and a man only has so much self-control.” His hand fisted next to his side, like he was barely holding back. I eyed him. All of him, his gorgeous face, his perfect lips and fantastic body down to his agile hands.
“What?” he asked with narrowed eyes.
“I think I’d very much like to see you slip, just once, losing that control.” I bit my bottom lip. “Maybe break a rule or two.”
It was a taunt, one that I knew would get under his skin. Anderson was a man of routine, strategy, and smarts. Very rarely did he lose control and most of those times had been with me. But never had he allowed his façade of control to truly slip during sex.
There was a beat between us, the absence of air, as the clock ticked the tension away. I spotted the smirk first and jumped, sensing something predatory and feral. I made it halfway off the couch before his long arms captured me, yanking me back against his chest. He didn’t speak, he just tossed me on the couch.
A thrill ran through me as he exerted his power and I scrambled to get away from him, not because I didn’t want him, I did, but I liked the chase. I wanted him to catch me. Claim me. I crawled over the arm of the couch, laughing as he prowled toward me. With the furniture between us, I hooked my thumbs in my shorts, teasing him with a peek of my skin. If I thought the obstacle would protect me, I was wrong. He smiled wickedly and used his long legs to climb over the cushions, cornering me in a small space against the wall.
“I think you’re out of moves,” he said, smiling wickedly.
I eyed the space to his right, just enough for me to get through to the hallway. If I could slip through…
Anderson was tall and lithe, his arms made to slice through water, but I was fast, small, and I feinted left, using his over-confidence to toss him off balance. I jumped over the coffee table, knocking a bowl of marbles to the floor, the sound of them hitting like pounding rain. I kept running, laughing as Anderson cursed at the hard balls under his feet, trying not to fall. I looked over my shoulder to make sure he wasn’t following me and crashed into something hard.
“Oof,” I said, the air knocking out of me. I looked up into Hayden’s handsome face. “I was just…”