Caught Stealing (Leighton U, #2)

by C.E. Ricci

But hey, what doesn’t kill you just gives you seriously fucked-up coping mechanisms and one massive self-destruct button.

“Yeah, Hold. I took a page straight from your playbook and let someone get on their knees for me in the upstairs bathroom with a bunch of other people right outside. Best blowjob of my life; the scent of weed and stale beer truly was the best kind of aphrodisiac. I get why you enjoy it now. Ten outta ten, highly recommend.”

Spoken like someone who knows from experience, though I doubt Mr. Monogamous here has ever had a one-night stand in his life. Yet the tone of his voice and the fury in those dark eyes make me think maybe he’s had a night or two of regrets.

After all, he’s supposed to be my best friend. If anything, letting him know about the colossal mistake I made could prevent him from repeating it. But I can’t bring myself to open my mouth and admit to my drunken one-night stand with his teammate.

It doesn’t help that every time our gazes collide, my attention snags on his lips, and I can’t help the way my blood heats when I remember the stunt he pulled in my room.

Fuck, I can’t stand him. What’s more, I can’t stand the way my body wants him. Craves him after that stunt I pulled in his bedroom.

“Your eyes did the talking your mouth wouldn’t.” He glances over his shoulder with a wink. “And don’t worry, Nixy. The first one’s always free.”

None of it feels right because he’s not the person I want to be kissing. Because he’s not his best friend.

He’s crawled under my skin, burrowed beneath the surface and made a home there. And while it was irritating at first, it’s gotten to the point where…I like him there. Want him there.

“Someone finally getting sick of the mind games?” “Yeah, I am.” My attention shifts, dancing between his eyes and mouth. “And I’m sick of knowing how sweet you taste, when in reality, you’re not sweet at all.”

“Why are you doing this?” I whisper. “Because it’s all I can think about anymore.” His attention drifts from my eyes back to my lips. “You’re all I think about. And I can’t do anything to stop it.”

“Don’t you dare,” he whispers harshly while tightening his hold on my hip. “You’re not ending this now. I’m not fucking done with you.” Then he crashes his mouth back to mine, and I drown all over again.

God, he’s beautiful. Beautiful and finally fucking mine. “I want both,” he finally says slowly, fingers dancing down my bicep. “I want you to drive me to the brink of insanity only to stop and let me return the favor.”

Something about him just…gets to me. Messes with me in ways I can’t quite comprehend. “You fuck me up, Nix.” The words fall from my lips without warning, and I’m helpless to stop them. Helpless to keep fighting this when he has a way of turning my entire world inside out with a single touch.

Incapable of walking away or escaping this undeniable chemistry we’ve both been failing to fight. Only, from the way he’s looking at me…it seems he’s done fighting it. He’s just waiting for me to do the same.

“I never regret anything.” His eyes flick back to mine. “Not last night. Not whatever happened back in May. Fucking nothing

After last night, there’s no going back. Not to ignoring each other, and certainly not to enemies. No matter how hard he wants to try, this is one bell that can’t be unrung.

He can feel me, just like I can feel him. The only difference is, he’s choosing to ignore it. Ignore me. Ignore everything happening between us.

“You have to stop looking at me like that.” My eyes follow the lines and planes of his face as I murmur, “I wish I knew how.”

“I don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish here.” His response is immediate. “I want you to give in to this, Nix. The way I know you want to.”

“We can be friends, but I can’t do anything more. I can’t do that to Kason. I just…” I can’t. Holden shifts in front of me, and the sudden heat of his palm cupping the back of my neck sends my eyes flying open. Only the second they do—my gaze colliding with his once again—I realize my mistake. Because now I can’t unsee the look in his eyes. The honesty and vulnerability in them is disarming. “And I can’t just be your friend, Nix. I don’t know how.”

I’m going to Hell for this. But fuck, the road to Hell has never tasted so sweet.

“If this is wrong, then why does it feel so fucking right?”

“Your mouth is something straight out of heaven.”

“Do what you want to me, baby. Do your fucking worst.”

He belongs to me.

Everything about this guy turns me inside out before twisting me in knots.

I’m starting to realize there’s no one else I’d rather have doing it—only him.

“But it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that’s all I was chasing with him. Attraction. He just didn’t light me on fire or get under my skin or make me feel like I can’t breathe unless I’m near him.”

“Then what’s the score with us?” “You tell me, Nix,” I murmur, my attention darting between his eyes and lips. “Because from our conversation in that classroom, I’m under the impression we’re doing this your way. You’re mine, and I’m yours, and that’s the end of it.”

Touching him is all I want. All I need. It’s a craving at this point. An addiction I’m desperate for a fix of.

Let him mark me, brand me, stake his claim. I’m already his.

Instinctually, my eyes flick over to where Holden sits at the other end of the sectional. He must feel my gaze on him, because his focus slowly shifts my way. Holden: Look at me like that again, and I’m gonna need to borrow the pillow beside you. Me: I have no idea what you’re talking about.

Something about him lightens the air around me. Makes me feel like I can breathe again, even through all the shit plaguing my thoughts.

“So you’re a cuddler, huh?” I murmur before wrapping my arm around his waist. “Just with you,” he whispers, his eyes still on the screen while he hits play. “But don’t let it go to your head.” Except it does. Every time he says something sweet or even a bit corny, it sends my head straight into the clouds, at the same time vines of barbed wire wrap around my heart.

“I can help you find your way out, but you have to let me in first.”

fighting for your own happiness should always be your priority.”

“You’re allowed to be a little selfish sometimes, baby. It doesn’t make you a bad person.”

“Okay, maybe I do things for him, but I don’t see how it has anything to do—” “Because you’re living for him and his happiness, Nix.

If I’m being honest with myself, I know I’ve been enabling Kason. Being a place of solace and home and comfort for him was as easy as breathing, despite the way it overshadowed my own happiness at times. But it was never something that mattered until now. Now, it might matter more than ever. Which is why I know Holden is right, and though it might be hard and painful at first, I have to start choosing myself. Because if I’m sure of anything, I don’t want to live with regrets. Especially when it comes to this.

“I don’t know if he’ll forgive me for falling in love with you.”

“Does this have anything to do with what’s going on with Phoenix and Kason? Because those two are thick as thieves, and they haven’t spoken in weeks,” Theo muses, eyes locked on me. If looks could kill.

“You look so fucking sexy in my jersey. I almost don’t want to take it off you.” Running my tongue over my bottom lip, I whisper two words sure to bring his fantasy to life. “Then don’t.”

“Fuck, baby,” he whispers before a lone finger trails down my crease. “You’ve never looked better in your life. Ass in the air, my number on your back. It’s a sight dreams are made of.”

“I want you in all ways,” he murmurs, a seductive tilt of his lips adding to his sinful aura. “But being inside you with my number on your back will, without a doubt, take the cake. So I really know you’re mine.” My blood flares. “Possessive, are we?” His nod is immediate before his words come out all grated and raw. “I wanna claim every part of you.”

“Then claim me. Own me. And if the jersey isn’t enough, feel free to mark every inch of my body with your cum.”

“Give me everything you have,” he rasps, the blunt tips of his fingers digging into my skin. “All of it, Nix. All of you. No holding back.”

“I’ll give you anything you want.” My gaze flicks between his eyes. “Name it, and it’s yours, baby.”

“Then make me yours.”

“You were fucking made for me. Meant to be mine.”