“Emerson, if you keep this up, I swear I won’t be able to stop,” he said almost painfully.

“Don’t you dare ask me to stop,” I quickly said as I came back off my toes and kissed a line down his chest.

Before I could even finish saying, “stop,” he grabbed me by the waist and lifted me effortlessly up to his mouth again. My legs instinctively wrapped around him and I dug my fingers through his hair roughly. Finally. This was finally happening.

He walked us down the hall toward his bedroom, which was directly across from Jace’s. Thankfully, neither of the other guys was home yet. I feel like I’ve been in his room to study a thousand times already but it felt different today. Today there wouldn’t be any textbooks involved. He always kept it perfectly tidy. I also noticed when I would sit on his bed to study that his sheets always had a clean scent to them. He climbed onto his bed, still holding me from behind with one arm. When we reached the middle of the mattress, he laid me down on top of the comforter. His hands came down on either side of my head, our lips never parted. I felt like he was devouring me, like he couldn’t get enough. I pray that was the case, because I know I couldn’t; I’ve been waiting for this for too long.

I kept my legs wrapped around his waist and he dipped down to rub up against me. The longest moan ever escaped from my mouth before I could catch it. He made me feel as if I’d never done this before; it was almost embarrassing. I reached down to pull open his towel and I tossed it off the bed. Holy shit, he’s gorgeous. I couldn’t help but to run my tongue down his neck and suck on his pulse point.

Without moving his neck away from my mouth, he whispered in my ear, “You have me at a disadvantage here, it’s not fair.”

Throughout my perusing of his body, I forgot that I was still fully clothed. He didn’t let that last long though. He took the hem of my shirt and pulled it over my head tossing it behind him. In one swoop, he grabbed my shorts and panties and slipped them down my legs. I sat up and reached behind my back to unhook my bra. He was right there sliding the straps down my shoulders, leaving a trail with his lips in their wake.

“Fuck, your body is amazing,” he growled.

He ducked his head down to kiss the swell of my br**sts and I fell back onto the bed. He went down with me, and I ran my hands down his back to get him closer. He reached down with one hand to see if I was ready and I heard his muffled groan on my skin, the vibrations rocked all the way down my body. I had never been more ready in my life. My breaths were coming in small gasps now in anticipation of him.

Suddenly, he sat up on his knees, leaving me cold. I followed his movements with my eyes as he reached into his nightstand to grab a foil packet. When he came back to kneel between my thighs, I took the packet from him. Without letting my eyes leave his, I tore the package open and I watched his eyes close as I slid the condom on him, slowly. When I finally felt every inch of him inside me, I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer either. His name passed through my lips.

“Emerson, you’re so beautiful, I need to see your eyes.” He continued rocking into me as I peeled my eyes open and looked up at him. The view from down here couldn’t get any better. “I’ve wanted to be this close to you since the moment I first saw you.”

I gripped his back tighter to pull him even closer. “I was basically na**d, of course you did,” I tried to laugh but a moan escaped instead.

“I’m not going to lie; you were f**king hot sneaking out of that house. This has nothing to do with your gorgeous body though. It was the way you squared your shoulders when you knew you’d been caught and decided not to be embarrassed. Oh, and the way you were limping on your foot… so damn adorable. ” He grinned down at me.

I’d never met a guy who could carry on a conversation so well during sex. No one had ever said anything like that to me before either. I didn’t want to like it, but I usually got bumbling idiots that were way too excited about the size of my boobs or they were done by now. Jaxon’s words were refreshing to hear but deeply terrifying at the same time.

“Shut up,” I said as I pushed up against him to meet his strokes and smashed my lips against his. He pushed my legs up closer to my head as I shouted his name again.

His movements came quicker and shorter and he buried his face in my neck. I loved the sound of his groan as he pushed into me one more time. Then I felt the full weight of his body on top of me. When he rolled off, he pulled me with him so I was laying my head on his shoulder and our legs were tangled.

“I’m going to have to get up; I have practice in like fifteen minutes. But I want you to nap in my bed, anytime you want. Seriously. Just don’t go get in Cole’s bed, please or Jace’s, for that matter. That’s my rule.” He winked at me.

“You do understand we’re not dating, right?” I sounded like such a bitch saying that right now, but his possessive tone was scaring me. I didn’t need another Micah.

“Oh, I understand. Crystal clear.”

He scooted out from under me and came down to brush his lips across mine. I closed my eyes to inhale his scent. I loved that his scent was mixed with mine in this bed. He finally pressed his lips down on mine and pushed his tongue inside. The kiss became more eager and I wanted him all over again. I couldn’t stop my fingers from sliding into his hair and holding his mouth to mine.

I heard him groan and say, “You’re revving me back up again. I wish I could, but Coach will bench me tomorrow if I’m late, and I have a bet to win.” He leaned down to kiss me again and then got up to grab clothes out of his dresser. “Are you and Quinn going to go to that house party with us tonight?”

“Yeah, Cole said we could all ride together after you guys get out of practice,” I replied while smiling at him.

I watched him pull on some running shorts as I moved underneath his comforter. He smiled over at me getting comfortable in his bed. He pulled a University football t-shirt over his rippling muscles, when he said, “Nice, I’ll catch ya later then, Beautiful.” He pulled the door closed behind him and I was already halfway asleep before he got out of the apartment.

After spending the next couple of hours lounging in Jaxon’s bed, I finally got up when I knew Quinn would be home. As I was walking out of Jaxon’s bedroom in one of his long t-shirts, Jace came out of his bedroom across the hall at the same time.

I froze and pointed behind me at the bedroom, “Jaxon… was here. Earlier. But he had… to leave,” I sounded like a child getting caught with my hand in the cookie jar. Why was I nervous about Jace seeing me leave his brother’s room, it’s not like I’d run into his mom?

He burst out laughing at my appearance. “You’re so cute, Em. Don’t worry, I’ve been waiting for this to happen. Maybe now he’ll shut up about you.”

“Alright, well thanks… I’ll see you tonight?” When he nodded his head, I said, “Tell him I’ll give him his shirt back later.”

When we walked into the house party that night we heard chanting coming from the kitchen in the back. The house was already packed bodies-to-bodies and they were all heavily intoxicated. The music was so loud that I could feel the beat in my chest to the rhythm of the music. Jaxon and Jace made a barrier to help us squeeze through the crowd while Cole stayed in the back to make sure no one pushed us from behind. I never hold hands with anybody, it’s just an unspoken rule of mine. But when Jaxon grabbed mine as we walked into the house and wouldn’t let me go, it didn’t take long for me to stop fighting him. For some reason, it felt nice to have his big strong hand wrapped around mine. These guys were way too protective of us though. Quinn and I had gone to plenty of parties on our own and survived.

When we walked in, there were guys lining up shots in front of Garrett. Apparently, it was his birthday and he needed to finish off his celebratory birthday shots. When he was done, I reached in-between the guys and grabbed five shot glasses and the bottle of tequila.

“Come on, Garrett, do another birthday shot with us!” I shouted.

Quinn and I were both leaning up against the bar while the guys stood behind us. I felt Jaxon’s fingertips touch the skin under my shirt around my waist. I moved just an inch backward to lean into him a little bit more. When he didn’t move forward any, I leaned over the counter so my backside would move up against his groin. The instant I touched him, he shot forward over me and groaned. Quinn shot him a dirty look thinking that he had just crashed into me.

“Someone shoved me,” he said pointing behind him.

He sat up a little straighter, not moving away from touching me though. I tried holding it in, but I couldn’t stop laughing at the scared expression he gave Quinn, and he pinched me in the side. It only made me laugh harder. By this point, Garrett had lined up a row of shots for everyone around him.

“I’m only doing this for you, Em, because I’m already f**king hammered! Also because I owe you one for throwing your clothes in a tree, although I heard some guys got a pretty good wakeup call that morning.” He winked and my mouth dropped open.

“YOU DID THAT?” I yelled.

When he nodded his head, Jaxon reached past me, and high-fived Garrett in the air. “Thanks man, that was the best damn morning of my life!” he boomed over the crowd.

Everyone around us starting laughing and I elbowed Jaxon in the ribs behind me, with a “oomph” he leaned forward into my ear, “What? I can’t help but thank the guy.”

“Okay, get ready boys!” Micah interrupted by yelling. “And ladies.” He smiled at Quinn and me.

“Hold up, I think Jax needs to do the toast, he was always good at those in high school,” Cole shouted above the noise. Jace started laughing like he knew exactly what Cole was talking about.

“Alright, hold’em up high!” Jaxon shouted in a heavier southern accent than he normally had. I melted against him further when I heard that. Suddenly, I felt him lean forward across me. His solid chest smashed up against my back. For a second, I remembered what it felt like to run my hands across that wide bare chest and I lost my breath. He was damn sexy and now that I knew what he was capable of, I was seconds away from pulling him across this bar top and making a scene for everyone around us. I felt his mouth next to my ear.

“Don’t get offended at me for this,” he whispered, then his warmth disappeared and I whimpered at the loss. The hand not holding the shot glass came around my h*ps and squeezed me in close to let me know he heard that.

“Here’s to honor. Get on her. Stay on her. If you fall off. Get back on her. If you can’t cum in her. Cum on her! Happy Birthday Man!” Jaxon shouted in his deep voice.

Everyone was laughing so hard they couldn’t take their shots at first. When they finally calmed down enough, I watched as all of their heads rocked backward and they poured the tequila down. Cole pulled Quinn to the dance floor immediately afterward and Jace found a small pretty brunette that he could dance with.

“You didn’t take yours. You didn’t like the toast?”

I spun around to face Jaxon. He was still right up against me so we were almost touching when I turned. He had a sexy smirk at the corner of lips. How is it fair to all other men in the world for Jaxon to have so many sexy qualities? I didn’t even want to start thinking about the fact that he had an identical version of him twenty feet away from us.

“The toast was great. I just wanted to take mine with you,” I replied, smiling.

The seduction in his eyes was inebriating; I could get drunk on that look alone, forget the tequila. I lifted my glass to him and he grabbed my waist roughly. I kept my eyes on him the entire time. When I got an idea, I lowered the shot and he gave me a confused expression. I rotated slightly not letting his hands slip from around me.

“Hey, Gar, do you have lime and salt?” He nodded as he slid it across the counter.

Jaxon raised an enquiring eyebrow at me. “I shoot cheap tequila with lime and salt,” I replied to his unspoken question.

I reached up and tugged the collar of his shirt over and his mouth opened slightly. I grabbed the lime and slowly dabbed it on his collarbone. Still looking into his eyes, I sprinkled salt across the wet area on his skin. I heard his breath suck in past his teeth when I moved my mouth to hover over him. He was so much taller than I was that I had to stand on my toes while he leaned down some for my mouth to reach. My tongue slowly swiped across his skin and I could taste the mixture of the salt and him together. I let my lips glide across his collarbone in a leisurely kiss. When I pulled back, his eyes were closed. When they finally opened again, they were clouded with desire. I lifted my glass back up and slowly brought it to my mouth. I raised my eyebrow at him. He pulled my h*ps sharply up against him and I could feel his sexual need growing, the feeling made me moan.

“Bottoms up, Beautiful,” his whisper sounded raspy and thick.

Our faces were so close to each other now I could barely fit the shot glass between us. I leaned back my head and let the liquid slowly flow into my mouth. When the glass was empty, I opened my throat and let it coarse and burn on its way down. I brought my face back to his and bit into the lime.

“You’re hot as hell, babe. I’d kill to have you in my bed every night.” He leaned down to trail kisses and his tongue down the curve of my neck.

I leaned in and let his delicious torture continue. “Sorry, that can’t happen, but I’ll unquestionably enjoy a couple more times with you.”

He grabbed my hand and pulled me out to the dance floor with the rest of our friends. He made me laugh all night long and he didn’t try to push the topic of a relationship anymore.