Blindsided (LSU, #1)

by Becca Steele

There was no doubt that he was very, very hot, but it was more or less negated by the fact that, based on first impressions, he was a complete and utter bellend.

“You’re bi?” Preston stared at him. “Uh, yeah. The year after you left school, when I became captain… You know our old rivals, Highnam Academy? We started some shit with them, and their team captain didn’t take it too well. One thing led to another, and now…he’s my boyfriend.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him smile, and something small and warm unfurled inside me.

“Fuck,” he whispered, his breath hitting my lips, and then he planted his hands on the wall on either side of my face. I didn’t even dare to breathe. Then, he kissed me. And my entire world was turned upside down.

If I could think straight, I probably would’ve said something like, What the fuck am I doing? But all I could focus on was the fact that Elliot had his hands all over Noah, and no. Fuck. That. Mine. Mine. Mine. The word resonated through me like a drumbeat, impossible to ignore.

He glared at me, all bared teeth and fury in his eyes, and it was so fucking hot. There had to be something wrong with me that I was finding his anger such a turn-on.

A sudden weird urge came over me, and I followed it through without even thinking about it. Stepping up right behind him, I planted one arm on the counter and wrapped the other around his waist. Then before he had a chance to react, I angled my head forwards and clamped my teeth down on the top of his shoulder.

The problem was I didn’t want to do the right thing. I couldn’t admit it out loud, but I wanted Noah for myself.

His eyes met mine. Angling his head forward, he spoke in a whisper. “Are you interested in me, Liam?” I couldn’t fucking speak. There was a moment of silence when it felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room, and then, finally, I gave a single nod. “Good,” he breathed, and then his lips were on mine.

Liam used the moment to turn his head the tiniest bit. His breath caressed my skin as his soft rasp sounded in my ear, too low for anyone else to hear. “After this, you’re mine.”

There was no turning back this time. I knew I’d confused Noah with the way I’d been acting around him—but I didn’t know if he realised just how confused I’d been myself. But after our conversation in the library earlier, cemented by our mutual decision to be here together, right now, I was all in. All I wanted was to lose myself in him, to make him forget anyone’s name but mine.

The sight of him wearing my hoodie…it made me feel things that I’d never felt before. Things that scared me.

“There are no other girls. I’m not fucking interested, okay? I want you. I want you, and I can’t tell anyone.”

“I’m going to take you home and make you forget everyone else’s name but mine.”

He’d shown up in my life and completely blindsided me, and everything had changed.

That smile did things to my insides—butterflies, stomach flipping, the whole works. I was so fucking gone for him.