I sit here staring at Cole as if he’s grown a second head, “You want me to, what?”
He rolls his eyes at me like I’m being dramatic. I assure you, I am not. “Chance, this is part of being the paper’s photographer. I don’t see the problem. You’ve taken pics at the games before.”
I raise a brow, “Do I look like the kind of girl who mingles with the football jocks? Filling in and snapping a couple of images at a random game here and there does not make me a good candidate for this,” I say, motioning to myself with my hand as I speak.
Cole drops his head and starts rubbing his temples, “You don’t have to be friends with him, Chance, you just have to take pictures.”
I’m not trying to be difficult, I swear I’m not. But seriously, anyone else would be a better choice for this project “What makes you think he will give me the time of day? They’re all A grade arseholes with superiority sticks shoved up their arses. Can’t Kass do this? Anyone can point a camera and click the button. Even Kass.”
He smirks then covers his mouth with his hand attempting to hide his amusement, and I glare at him. Cole really isn’t that bad, he’s the Editor-in-Chief and he reminds me of that guy from Pretty Little Liars. The teacher who hooks up with that chick, and she turns out to be his student, yeah, that’s who Cole looks like.
Finally, he loses it and starts outright laughing in my face. I wait with my hands on my hips, for him to calm himself, “Are you done?” I ask with a raised brow.
He’s hunched at the waist, holding onto his knees for support. It’s really not that funny, I don’t see why he’s getting such a kick out of this. “I’m sorry,” he pants, “It’s just,” he shakes his head, “The look on your face, it’s priceless.”
I frown, “Glad I could amuse you, but seriously, can’t someone else do this?”
The smile on his face makes a dimple on his left cheek pop, it’s kinda cute, but I’m mad at him, so no swooning, I remind myself, and make sure I’m still glaring at him.
“No way. This is all yours, Chance. Show me what you got,” he says, grinning.
I huff, knowing I’m not going to be able to get out of this. “I don’t like you right now, just so you know.”
His grin widens, “I know.”
I walk out of his office without waiting to be dismissed.
Kass is waiting in the hall for me when I exit. “So, what’s your assignment?”
“Football Captain,” I practically sneer.
Laughter erupts from beside me and I ignore him, just like I wish I could ignore this assignment.
Kass is still chucking beside me as we exit the building, which just so happens to be across from the campus field house. Kass stops abruptly, his arm flying out across my chest, stopping me too. “Perfect, look who’s walking into the locker room,” he says with a huge smile on his face. “If I were you I’d want to get it over with as quickly as possible, now’s your chance, Chance.” His eyes shine with mischief and amusement.
“You think I won’t?” I challenge.
He looks down at me with a look that says what he’s thinking before he even says the words, “I know you won’t.”
“Right then, looks like I’m going to pop my locker room cherry,” I tell him, as I push his arm away from my body and storm across the distance between the buildings, toward the one door in this place I was sure I would never go through.
My nose wrinkles as I push the door open. The smell of multiple deodorants mingling together is so overpowering, the pressure builds in my nose until it finally unleashes in a succession of sneezes. Five in a row, to be exact. My nose is faulty, and incapable of performing one single solo sneeze.
When I open my scrunched eyes and look up, I realise I’ve drawn the attention of several nearly naked guys, as well as some who are most definitely completely naked. Some of them cover their junk as horrified expressions fill their faces, while others smirk and position themselves in what I assume they think is a sexy stance.
I roll my eyes at the cocky pricks and wave, “Hi,” I say.
Some dude I recognise from one of my classes, Mase I think his name is, sizes me up, then grins, “I know you, you’re the weird camera chick,” he says.
I raise a brow, “I prefer quirky.”
His grin morphs into a smile, “Alright, I can roll with that. You want to take a picture of me naked, quirky camera chick? Cause I can take these off,” he says, as he begins lowering the band of his boxer briefs.
My brows jump to my hairline, “I’m going to say a solid no, it’s not really my style, but thanks for the offer.” Scanning the room, I look for Carter, the captain, but come up empty. Shifting my focus back to the dude in front of me, I ask, “Hey, is Carter in here?”
He nods, a huge grin spreading over his face, “Yeah, back here, come on,” he turns and starts making his way through the lockers to the back of the room, where steam billows up to the ceiling.
I follow until he stops and turns abruptly making me run into him, “Crap, sorry.” My hands are plastered to his pecs and I yank them away, horrified that I just felt up this random guy.
“No worries, gorgeous, you can run those little hands over me anytime,” he says with a wink.
I cringe, “I’ll pass, and my name’s Chance, not gorgeous.”
He lifts one muscular shoulder in a shrug, “Carter’s around the corner.”
“Thanks,” I mumble as I turn the corner. “Holy shit,” I breathe, frozen in place, staring at the most spectacular arse I’ve ever seen. And I’m not even exaggerating.
Carter turns his head, looking over his shoulder as water cascades over his mouth-watering body from the doorless shower cubical he’s standing in, and I lick my lips. His big hands are pushed up against the brick wall in front of him, then he cocks a brow at me, and waits for me to say something.
I swallow hard, he makes no move to cover himself, he just stares at me and I stare right back. I know I should say something, explain myself, or at the very least stop drooling. But I don’t do any of those things, I stay stock still. Except for the rapid rise and fall of my chest as my breathing becomes erratic.
Eventually he turns back to the wall, lifting his face up into the shower spray for a moment before he turns it off. “Can I help you?” he asks, turning to face me fully.
I swear I try not to, but I can’t help it, my eyes follow the path of the water droplets as they travel down his body. Rolling over each muscle, dipping into each groove, before continuing their journey. “Holy shit,” I whisper slash groan when my gaze lands on the magical V. My teeth sink into my bottom lip as I follow it down to his cock. My glasses choose that very moment to fog up from the steam swirling around the room.
“You said that already,” he says, and my eyes snap back up to his as he reaches for a towel hanging on the cubical wall and wraps it around his waist, then raises his brow again.
“Oh shit, fuck, shit.” I drop my head back and look up at the ceiling, “Shit,” I mutter again, this is not how I saw my marching in here going. I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t this. By the time I gather my thoughts and go to look at him again, he’s standing less than a foot away from me.
I slide my glasses down my nose so I can wipe away the condensation from the lenses, when he says, “I’m assuming you didn’t come in here to stare at my arse, so, what can I do for you, Chance?” his voice is cool, calm, and collected. Everything I am not feeling at the moment.
I blink slowly, “I, ah . . .” Pull yourself together girl! Shaking my head, I clear my throat, “Right, no, although it was pretty amazing, but no, that’s not why I’m here. I have to ask you something.” Carter is fighting a smile and I narrow my eyes, “What?” I huff, as I slide my, now clear, glasses back into position.
“My arse is amazing?” He stops fighting the smile and lets it take over his whole face.
Well this has officially gone from a crappy day to an extremely awkward one. I may as well roll with it now, awkward is my specialty, after all. I shrug, “Yeah, I’d even go as far as spectacular. In fact, that was my initial thought.”
Carter chuckles, and it’s deep and throaty. A shiver works its way down my spine at the sound, I like it way too much. Carter is not my type at all, so why am I reacting to him like this?
He moves a little closer, and leans down until his lips are lightly grazing my ear, “I’ve admired your arse a time or two as well, Chance, and I gotta say, the thought of sinking my teeth into it has crossed my mind more than once.”
I gulp as the warmth from his breath tickles my ear and sends wave after wave of need coursing through my body. Jesus, I need to get laid. The fact that he’s practically naked and still covered in water droplets only fuels the lust that’s overtaking me, and I can’t stop it.
Then his mouth is on my neck, and I’m tilting my head, giving him better access. His hands grip my hips, pulling me into his hard body as he bites down on my sensitive flesh. My skin erupts in goose bumps and a moan escapes my throat.
My hands shoot up, gripping his biceps for support as he feasts on my neck, making his way down to my collar bone. Next thing I know, he has me pinned against a wall and I can feel his erection pressing into my pelvis. “Holy shit,” I mumble, definitely not how I saw this going. But I’m powerless to stop it. He feels too good, his soft lips, his hot tongue, his sharp teeth.
“Jesus, you taste good, Chance,” he says, as he makes his way back up my throat and begins nibbling on my jaw. “Do you know how long I’ve wanted to taste you? How long I’ve wanted to fuck you?”
My eyes snap open, say what now? I have no idea how we got from me needing to ask him if I can take his picture for the paper, to him dry humping me against a wall, confessing his desire to fuck me. But we need to stop, well, I mean, he needs to stop.
I move my hands to his solid chest and push. “Whoa now,” I say, with less conviction than the statement really needs, but he takes the hint and pulls back a wee bit.
His eyes are searching mine, then he swears under his breath, “Shit.”
He takes a slight step back away from me, and for some reason I reach out, grabbing onto his arms again, holding him in place. “What is happening right now? Not that I’m complaining, I’m just really confused.”
Those big hands of his come to rest on the wall on either side of my head. “Remind me why you came in here again?” he says with narrowed eyes.
I swallow, and search my mind for the reason I decided to waltz in here in the first place. Oh right, Kassidy was being a dick and I was proving him wrong. But I can’t say that, can I? “I ah, I need to take your picture.”
His brows crease, “What?”
I lick my lips and his eyes hone in on the movement. “I have to shoot you for the paper,” I explain.
“Shoot me?”
“With my camera, not a gun,” I say, then realise how stupid I sound and cringe. “Actually, you know what? I should go, this has been great and all, but I’ve got a thing, an important thing, and I need to do it right now. So, I’ll catch up with you another time. Nice chatting to you,” I ramble, my cheeks flush with embarrassment, and before he has a chance to say anything in response, I drop down and slip under his extended arm, making for the exit like a bat out of hell.