“Mel?” My voice was low and breathless as I gazed down at her.

“I… I just… I wasn't…” she stuttered.

My dick was still throbbing from the intense orgasm I’d had moments before. I pictured her face as I gripped myself and came hard with only the clear vision of her before me. Only it wasn't a vision. She was there.

Mel’s cheeks were flushed bright pink as she looked everywhere else but at me. How much had she seen? What was she even doing here?

When I tipped her chin, her eyes went wide as she blinked up at me.

“How long have you been here?” I asked, hoping she hadn't witnessed me jacking off in the shower. The blush that crept up on her neck and travelled to her cheeks told me she had seen everything. Fuck, I should have been embarrassed, but I wasn't. She’d felt intrigued enough to watch me please myself. Did she enjoy watching me come all over my hand? Was she turned on as much as I was at the thought of her prying eyes taking everything in?

Her breathing was rapid, her chest rising and falling hard. I was suddenly hard all over again, desperate to feel her body beneath mine. I wanted so much for her fingers to reach out and stroke me, just like I had pictured her doing a few moments ago.

I couldn't get her out of my head. She was all I could think about. All I wanted. I’d convinced myself that being friends was for the best, but it was a lie. I couldn't be friends with the girl. Not when I needed her more than my next breath.

I stepped closer, my length pressing against her thigh. Mel swallowed down hard, a slight frown marring her forehead.

“You watched me.”

Her breasts brushed against my chest teasingly. When I lowered my mouth to hers, she froze. I lifted a hand between us and brushed my thumb against her nipple. It hardened beneath my touch, the thin fabric of her shirt doing nothing to hide the prominent peak as I tugged it between my fingers and let it go. My roughness had been her undoing. Her lips parted and brushed against my own. Our tongues tangled and met in slow, steady strokes as I palmed her breast, squeezing the softness between my fingers.

I slipped my hands down her waist to her thighs and pushed up the black pencil skirt so it rose to just below her knicker line. She let out a gasp as I cupped her pussy through her underwear, her heated centre warming my hand as I pressed firmly against it. My dick was aching, begging to be inside her. I’d never wanted someone as much as I did right then. I knew there was no way I could walk away from her. She had seen too much.

“Jake…” she panted, her eyes pleading with mine. She wanted me just as much. Those big brown eyes were all I could see as I gripped her waist, lifted her in the air and lowered her to the sink. My mouth went straight to her neck as a fierce hunger took over me. I couldn't think of anything other than being with her. Like this. Telling each other with unspoken words how much we wanted it. The last few weeks had been torture, no matter how much we both denied it.

Mel arched her back, granting me access to her neck. I trailed kisses along her jaw and nibbled below her ear, sucking at the soft spot behind it that I knew drove her wild. My fingers dug into her skin as I pressed myself against her.

“Jake,” she panted again, her fingernails clawing away at my shirtless back. “Please, Jake.”

Fuck! I wanted inside her so badly. The way her body responded to my every touch as though it was made just for me, the way she begged and pleaded for release... she drove me crazy. I knew no girl would ever match up to her. Ever.

I gripped the hem of her skirt and pushed it up to her waist again. Mel forced my mouth on hers just as I trailed a finger down her centre. I could feel how wet she was through the fabric of her underwear, the only thing standing in the way of me pushing inside of her and taking what I wanted. I hooked both thumbs inside her underwear and grazed her bottom lip with my teeth. “You know there's no going back after this, right?” I pulled back, hoping she understood what I was saying.

When her big brown eyes met mine, desire flashed before me. “No going back,” she repeated in understanding.

God, she was beautiful. Too fucking beautiful. Her long, chestnut-brown hair clung to her face as she drew in a shaky breath. I wanted to steal those breaths and own them forever. Mine.

Once I’d pulled the fabric halfway down her thighs, Mel shifted and hurriedly kicked them aside. The kiss that came next was hard and aggressive. So many weeks of pent-up tension were about to be released. But not before I had a taste of her.

I dropped to my knees in front of her, my hands gripping and pushing her thighs apart as I ran my nose along the inside of her thigh. My teasing touch caused her to groan in frustration and I laughed lightly against her skin.

With my hands curled around her knees, I gazed up at Mel with a burning desire I only ever felt when I was around her. Mel parted her legs farther and looked down on me in anticipation. With our eyes firmly locked on each other, I lowered my mouth to her pussy, pushed my tongue between her folds and dragged it across, once, twice, three times.

“Ah, God…” she moaned as her hips moved in slow circles.

“Fuck,” I cursed and quickened my pace, alternating between licking and sucking, sucking and nibbling. Nothing could ever taste as sweet as this.

The scent of her arousal filled my lungs as I breathed her in one final time, and pressed a light kiss to where I had just been. When I got to my feet and positioned myself at her entrance, Mel’s hands curled around my biceps and her fingernails dug in as she braced herself for the impact.

There was nothing sweet about the way I fucked her. No slow build up, no teasing back and forth. This was all us taking what we wanted that we’d been too afraid to admit we needed. As I moved inside of her, I knew there was no going back. I wanted her, and I would do everything in my power to keep her this time.

Mel lay beside me on the bed, her body curled against my side as she drew lazy patterns on my chest. After I’d fucked her in the shower, we ended up in bed. I should have known that once would never be enough when it came to Melanie. Even after round two, when her sleepy eyes told me she needed a rest, I could think of nothing other than being inside her again.

When I gazed down at her, my fingertips stroking her bare shoulder, I couldn’t ignore the worry in her eyes as she breathed quietly against me. I knew what she was thinking. I was thinking it, too. How was this going to work? This thing that was happening between us wasn’t what I’d had in mind when I came back home. I’d thought I was over her. I tried to forget how I felt when we were together, and I did. For a little while, anyway. Only when I came back and saw her again it all came flooding back to me. Those few short months together had meant more than I was willing to let on. I left her with unanswered questions, moved away so I didn’t have to face her again because I was far too messed up in the head to deal with how she’d made me feel on top of my already shit life. I told myself that it had nothing to do with Mel—that moving away was what I had to do to get past what my father had done. But I had been hiding my real reasons. Being around someone that you wanted to give your heart to was hard enough. But loving someone who didn’t love you back? That hurt more. Knowing that she was still in love with my brother while she was with me stung like a bitch. I told myself I wouldn’t let it happen again. I wouldn’t settle for being second best. I had been so angry at the time. Hating her had been easy. All I needed to do was remind myself that the girl I was in love with could never give herself to me fully, and that hatred would all come flooding back to me. I was risking my heart all over again, and unlike the last time, there was no way of walking away from it. If I had to fight for her love then I would.

“What are you thinking?” I eventually asked her.

Mel looked up at me, her eyes searching mine for answers to the questions that burned deep inside of her. “What is this, Jake? Us? What does it mean?”

I lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know. All I know is that whatever this is between us, I kinda want it to continue.” There. I said it.

“Me, too,” she whispered sadly.

“Hey,” I said, nudging her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing. Tell me. What is it you’re thinking?”

“I can’t explain it. It feels like… like… I don’t know. Too good to be true, maybe? Like something bad is going to happen and this little bubble I’ve found myself in is going to burst any minute.”

Threading my fingers through her hair, I kissed the top of her head and breathed her in. I knew what she meant. I could feel it, too. There was a dark cloud hanging over us, ruining what should have been a serene moment. It was what happened whenever I found happiness. There was always something in the distance, just a few miles away, ready to rip the world out from underneath me. But I wasn’t going to let it. I didn’t fight for her last time. This time she wasn’t going to get away so easily.

“You feel it, too, don’t you?” she sighed.

“It’s going to be okay,” I assured her.

“I wish I met you before the others. Maybe things would have been different,” she confessed, a sad smile touching her lips.

I wished we had, too. The thought of her being with Taylor drove me insane. The thought of him touching her and kissing her in the places I had touched—the very thought of him seeing her naked and bare made me sick. I couldn’t help but wonder if we wouldn’t have been so screwed up had we met each other first

“Jake?”

“Huh?”

“Where did you go?” She smiled up at me.

“Honestly?” I breathed. “The thought of anyone touching you makes me crazy. I’d rather you didn't mention it again.”

Mel was still smiling as she brushed her lips across my chest. “I’m glad you said that because the thought of you having sex with anyone else unleashes my inner psycho,” she said, laughing lightly.

“Good to know.” I smirked back.

Mel prodded my ribs and frowned. “I mean it, Jake. When I realised you were with Sadie the other night, I was so jealous and angry. I might have even hated you a little.”

“Sadie?” I frowned. “I didn’t…” I shook my head. “I didn’t sleep with Sadie.”

“But…”

“I didn’t have sex with her, Mel. I just… I couldn’t,” I admitted.

“You didn’t?” She pushed up on her elbows to look at me. “But I thought…”

“She wanted to. I thought I did, too, but I couldn’t.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s not you.”

“You really didn’t sleep with her?”

“No. I thought about it. I was horny as hell and tired of using my right hand to get off. I wanted it so badly. Just not with her.”

“What happened?”

“I took her back to mine. We didn’t even make it through the door before I was leading her back up the path and throwing her in a taxi home. It didn’t feel right. I couldn’t do it.”

“So… you haven’t… with anyone?”

I shook my head. “Not since I’ve been back. It was only you.”

“Well, hell.” She frowned and sat up. “Now I feel bad.”

“Why? What did you do?” What the fuck had she done? Had she slept with someone? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know if she had.

“I might have told a little white lie.”

“What?”

“Just a little one.” She cringed.

“Mel?”

“Okay, alright,” she said, shielding her eyes with both hands. “I might’ve lied about going on a date.”

“You didn’t go?” I asked.

Mel pulled her hands away from her eyes and shook her head. “There was no date, Jake. I lied. I thought you spent the night with Sadie. I was angry and jealous, furious, and I lied. I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t go on a date? But… you text me when you were on the date.”

“I was at home when you messaged me. There was no date.”

“I can’t decide whether I want to kiss you or be mad at you right now.”

“I’d settle for a kiss,” she said sweetly.

“I’m sure you would.” I grinned, lowering my mouth to hers. There was no date. She was jealous. I made her jealous. I couldn’t be mad at her. I’d have done the same if I was her.

Mel broke the kiss and shifted on the bed to straddle my legs, gazing down at me. “I’m sorry for lying about the date, but I think there might be a way to make it up to you.” She pressed herself against me.

“Oh, yeah?” I challenged.

“Yep,” she said, her lips moving to my ear. I gripped her waist as she lifted off the bed and positioned herself over me. She didn’t even need to touch me. My dick was already wide awake and waiting as she rocked her hips back and forth, gripped the base of my cock and sank down on me. Mel bit down on her lip and moaned, her pussy tight and locked as I lifted my hips and pushed farther into her. Her hands found my biceps and stayed there while she continued to ease out of me before sliding back down, slow and steady.

I palmed her breasts as she continued to buck against me, her breathing rapid as she took all of me in. When she ground against me, seeking friction, I pressed my thumb to her clit and rubbed there. Her movements quickened as she rode my dick like it was the last time she’d ever get to feel it. I knew she was close. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as my name fell from her lips and her pussy clenched around me. I pinched her clit and drove into her, my breaths coming quicker as she dug her nails into my skin and cried out. Her legs shook as she orgasmed around me, and I tensed up as I followed right along with her. When the last wave of pleasure tore through me, I pulled her mouth down to mine and kissed her long and hard.

Mel let out a sleepy yawn and settled back onto the bed beside me, her hand coming up to rest on my head before her fingers stroked through my hair. The innocent move forced me back in time, to when I had gotten my very first taste of Melanie Livingston’s magical fingers.

When I knew she was the girl for me.

We hadn’t been together long, maybe just a few weeks, but at the time it had felt like forever. Everything we did was new and fresh, exciting and raw. I had convinced her to come to our final game of the season, before we left college and the real world took over. I knew she wanted to be there. She’d been so happy for the team having made it that far. I knew it was a big ask considering what had happened with Lola, and Mel knew they would all be at the game. She was apprehensive, but she came anyway. I watched her watch me from afar as I scored my final goal of the season, a secret smile on her face I knew was for me and me alone. When Taylor scored the winning goal and the crowd erupted, there was only one way I wanted to celebrate, and that was with my girl.

I ran from one side of the pitch to the other, desperate to see her, smell her, breathe her in. When I started to jog the last few feet towards her, Mel jumped down from the stand and ran at me with open arms. My hands flew to the back of her neck, my fingers threading through her hair as I pulled her face to mine and kissed her with so much passion that I could feel it everywhere. Her legs wrapped around my waist as she held on tight. The warmth of her embrace enveloping me in a blanket of comfort. She was all I wanted. All I needed.

I took her home and made love to her that night, and fell asleep with her fingers stroking my hair. It was such an innocent move, but the way it felt to have her in my arms, hearing her soft contented breaths mingling with my own, I knew I’d never feel anything quite like that again. She felt like home. My home. And I never wanted that feeling to end.

Now, with her fingers in my hair and her contented breaths dancing across my chest, I knew that whatever storm awaited us, we would ride it out together. Because as long as we had each other, nothing and no one could tear us apart.