Don't You Dare (Reckless Games #1)

by C.E. Ricci

“Fuck, Pen.” A groan escapes him as his hand moves faster over his shaft. “Why’re you not here right now? Why am I in Arizona instead of in your bed?” “Because you’re the best goddamn catcher Foltyn has had in years. And because if I was there right now...” I trail off, swallowing. “I don’t think I could stop myself from railing you into the goddamn tile wall of that shower.” “...

“Keene,” I growl out his name, forcing his eyes to snap back open. He’s not coming. Not until his fingers are in his ass and my name is on his fucking lips. “Put your fingers in your ass.” He shakes his head. “No lube.” I lick my lips and squeeze my shaft, refusing to pull myself free. I need my full attention on him. “Use something else. The conditioner.” Keene releases himself instantly, grabbing for the bottle of conditioner. He squirts a small amount on his fingers before rubbing it around.

I don’t miss his wince as his index finger presses into him either. “God, it burns.” Shit. “I know, but it’ll get better. I promise. Just breathe.”

“That’s it, Kee,” I praise him, my voice dripping with heat and arousal, a vice grip around my shaft. I don’t even catch the term of endearment slipping past my lips right away. “You’re gonna be such a tight fit around my cock, baby. Snug and warm and fucking perfect.”

“You need to keep doing that if you want a dick to fit. I don’t want to hurt you.” His eyes roll. “I know that. It’s not like I’m gonna try to ride your dick tomorrow or something.”

“I want you to be able to take a third finger by the time you’re home on Sunday,” I growl out. I try not to think about him spending his downtime finger-fucking his own ass over the weekend because the pain my dick is in might actually cause it to combust. “Do you hear me? I want three of my fingers milking your prostate on Sunday night when you get home.” He smiles at me through the phone, still sated and happy as a clam, and lets out a sarcastic, “Yes, sir.” My dick officially has a pulse at this point. “Call me that again. See what happens next time I have you alone.” Keene just grins wider. “Goodnight, Pen. I’ll call you tomorrow.” I swallow, desperate to keep him on the line so I can get off too, yet knowing he needs to rest for tomorrow. “Of course. Night, Kee.”

Pulling my cock free, I feel hotter and thicker and heavier than ever. It’s almost painful. Scratch that, it is painful and I need some relief. I don’t even bother with lube, just spit a few times into my palm before taking care of the ache. And as I picture my best friend fingering his own ass, I come harder than I ever have in my life.

Damn, I sound like a needy bitch right now. Still, it doesn’t stop me from crossing the room and peeling back the covers from his bed, sliding into place beside him. He’s facing the wall, not stirring at all as my weight shifts the mattress. It’s not ‘till I turn on my side and wrap my arm around his waist beneath the sheets that he literally bolts upright in the bed.

“Yeah, it’s me. Go back to sleep.” He lets out a soft groan before stretching and sliding back down into place beside me. A warm, muscular arm reaches around me and pulls me against him, and I almost stop breathing when he nudges his head into the crook of my neck. “You turn off the light I left on for you?” He speaks the question into my shoulder as I slip one arm under him, the other over him. His hot breath on my skin has me on full alert. My words come out mangled. “I did. Thanks.” He pulls me tighter against him, our bare chests pressing together as our legs tangle. Holding me closer than he ever has dared before as a kiss is pressed to the side of my head.

And I can’t breathe. We’ve never been this close. He isn’t affectionate. Ever. But right now, it feels like...fuck, I don’t want to think about how it feels. Then he rests his forehead against mine, and I can’t stop myself from snaking my hand up to the back of his head to hold him there. Never fucking let him go. Not until I ingrain every second of this moment in my mind.

“Hey, Kee?” “Yeah?” “I missed you.” My stupid heart squeezes. “I missed you too, Pen.”

Ever since the morning I woke up after he returned from Arizona to find him in my bed, half of my body sticky with sweat since he’s a literal space heater, I’ve come to crave more contact with him. And as much as I despise sharing a bed with anyone—and Keene takes up more room than any girl I’ve ever had sleep over—I can’t help but love waking with our limbs tangled together. It’s just…different with him. I’m different with him.

He hasn’t tried to crawl in my bed since, but I’m to the point where I don’t think I’d stop him if he tried. In fact, I think I’m more disappointed he hasn’t snuck in here in the few days since. Besides, I’d love nothing more than to wake him up with a blowjob in the middle of the night, one of these days. Which I haven’t gotten to do yet, since he keeps denying me the chance.

He can keep watching all he wants, but I’m over this shit. Nothing’s turning me on more than he is right now, seeing his want and desire before me plain as day. Which is how I find myself leaning over him until my lips press against the column of his throat, just below his ear.

He swallows hard and his eyes slam shut again, almost pained. And when they reopen, I understand that he really is in pain. Maybe not physically, but emotionally. He’s at war with himself. Caught in a battle between whatever is rampaging through his head and the want his body is feeling. It’s more than evident in his voice when he lets out a ragged sigh and murmurs, “You don’t have to.”

And it hurts. Damn, it fucking hurts to hear how much he wants this, but he can’t bring himself to ask for it. Demand it, even. My tongue lashes against his tip, the bead of pre-cum hitting my tongue with a salty tang. He hisses out a curse, the hand in my hair tightening painfully, but nowhere near as much as the ache in my chest or throat when I see that look in his eyes, barely discernible in the dim light. “I want to,” I mutter,

If he asks me to stop, I will. I’ll get up and go for a run to clear my head. Do my best to forget the sting of rejection from the one person on this Earth I’m not equipped to handle it from.

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to think—” “I want to, Kee,” I say again, more firmly this time. “Let me make you feel as good as you make me feel every time the roles are reversed.”

“Tell me if I’m bad at this,” I murmur, still holding his stare. “Show me what you need. I want it to be good for you.” He cracks a small smile, then. “I doubt I’ll even last long with a view like this.”

“Mmm, more tongue,” he coaxes, his hips rising in shallow thrusts to meet me. “Along the bottom.” Doing as he asks, I glide my tongue along the underside of his shaft, paying special attention to the sensitive spot just below the head. Then for good measure, I lightly scrape my teeth along the same path as I pull him back so just the head is in my mouth. “Fuck, yes. Just like that, Pen.” Pride surges through me, emboldening me to take things a step further. To something else we just watched happen on his laptop.

“Then what’re you doing?” His whisper is gruff and grated when he breaks away from me to meet my gaze. The confusion written in them increases the ache in my chest. “Just kissing you.” “But…why?” Because you’re mine.

I’ve said that to him before, in the heat of the moment. But saying it now, it feels so much more…real? So instead of answering, I kiss him again. Needier, this time. But something doesn’t sit right with me, and I can’t push the thought away now. Not even his lips are enough for me to let go.

Why the hell am I not trying to get this to lead to sex? That’s all this is supposed to be between us. Fun and fucking. That’s what we agreed to. That’s the rule I put in place for us to follow, trying to make sure we d...

So it makes no sense for me to be the one to break them, especially as the one who thinks things through before acting. Who knows all actions have consequences, and the fallout of this could be downright catastrophic. A ticking time bomb lodged right next to my...

But how can I be afraid when everything about him screams things like safety and security and home?

I breathe him in, all citrus and musk and Keene, letting the scent overwhelm me until I’m cocooned in it like a security blanket. In the safety that is Keene.

At least, I thought so until his breath, hot against my lips, destroys it all with three words. Not those words, but ones that answer thoughts I never spoke aloud. Ones with the power to detonate that fucking bomb sitting inside my chest.

“You’re min...

Or Pen’s bed, that one time. Which is where I want to be every night, but I know he likes his space. I don’t want to infringe on that, best friend or not. Even if the dorm room is the only place I can act the way I want with him, it doesn’t mean he always wants me fawning on him or whatever. Not that I exactly fawn on him…I don’t think. Hell if I know.

guys like balls4lyfe on Toppr doesn’t really cross into that realm. Still, it doesn’t stop me from feeling any less…itchy. Which is why I’m currently telling balls4lyfe that I’m not really looking or interested in anything right now. That I’ve sort of started seeing someone—not a lie—and that I need to focus on that more.

After reading it over once, I hit send just as the little red dot beside his name turns green, signaling he’s now online and updating his location. Within .1 miles.

It’s better for him to think I flat out ghosted him than to know the truth. That I’m his fucking teammate.

“I’ve been hit by a pitch plenty of times. You’ve seen it in person, you’ve watched it on TV. It’s part of the game.” Yeah, but your body wasn’t mine any other time this has happened.

“What’d you do while I was gone, anyway?” I wet my lips. “Nothing worth talking about.” His brow raises. “You played video games the entire time, didn’t you?” No, I missed you the entire fucking time. Not that I’d ever dare say the words out loud, because they feel like they’d be crossing into territory we really need to stay away from.

Because it’s not the normal kind of missing him. Hell, it wasn’t even missing the sex the few days he was gone, which is exactly the reaction I should be having if this is just sex between us. There shouldn’t be this…aching need inside me that’s been growing for him. But no matter how I try to deny it, it’s there. It’s shifted something between us, changed our dynamic already in ways that terrify me.

problem is...I’m not tired anymore. Definitely not by a long shot when Keene’s hand reaches behind him, searching blindly for a moment before it comes in contact with my fingers. His own wrap around them and he tugs, pulling my body into his back, not letting go until he’s got us spooning. Him being the little spoon.

his incessant need for physical contact that’s only grown since we’ve started hooking up. But right now, I’m just doing my best to not dry-hump the hell out of him while he falls back to sleep. Which is nearly impossible, with the way the warm, smooth skin on his back feels pressed against my chest.

Somehow, I managed to behave myself. For a whole two minutes. When his ass nestles back into my crotch, my dick right in his crease, all thoughts of keeping this to a PG-rated snuggle session quickly fly out the da...

“Want you,” I murmur those two simple words into his neck.

Grinding and chasing a release we’re both desperate for. “Fuck. Need you, Kee.” “Then take me.” Hell yes. I love the way that sounds on his—

Then he says it again, his voice hoarse, “Take me.” His palm reaches up to cup the side of my face, and I see those two words spoken once more, this time with just his eyes. Take me. And up until this moment, I didn’t realize how much I wanted to do just that. Take him and make him mine.

But it’s not enough. Nothing with him ever is, and the thought alone is terrifying.

different. “Whatever you want,” I murmur. “I’ll give you whatever you want, Kee.”

“Kee,” I mumble, though it comes out choked. Because the way he’s looking at me right now, the amount of emotion in his gaze, I can’t handle it. The fire in his eyes ignites every single cell in my body. My fucking soul. “I want this,” he tells me, voice hoarse. “I want you. Inside me. Fucking me.”

Goddamn, I want that too. It doesn’t matter that we haven’t really talked about this. Real sex. Not apart from that one night weeks ago when I watched him finger his ass in a hotel shower a thousand miles away, telling him I wanted him ready to take my dick by the time he made it back to me.

“I want that too.”

“I don’t wanna hurt you.” He nods, eyes full of trust. “Then don’t hurt me.”

My chest aches at the need in his voice. The tremble in his tone. It’s a vulnerability like I’ve never seen from him before. All I can do is nod, giving him permission to use me. And that’s what this is, right? Him using me to figure out where his mind is and what he wants. Right?

The thing is, I feel anything but used. Definitely not in the bad, dirty sense of the word, because I want this as much as he does. When it comes to the things Keene and I do together, the way we touch each other or how we are togeth...

“I’m ready, Pen,” he pants, eyes meeting mine. “Just get inside me.”