Luke closed his eyes for a moment and waited for his breathing to even out and his heart rate to slow. He grabbed a tissue from his nightstand to remove the condom and threw it in the wastebasket he kept next to his bed. Then, he flopped back and stared up at the ceiling.

“Holy shit,” Elise said beside him, sounding as winded as he felt.

He turned his head to look at her. “You okay?”

She rolled up onto her side, toward him. “Hell yes.” She cleared her throat and shifted her eyes away from his, like she was nervous. “How did you learn how to do that?”

He shook his head, not understanding. “Do what?”

She met his eyes for a brief instant. “Sex.”

Luke laughed. “I’m pretty sure every guy learns about sex while in middle school. Who I actually learned it from, I don’t know. That was a long time ago.”

She sighed. “No, not sex in general.”

She rolled onto her back, further away from him, so he reached over and pulled her toward him, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Where did you learn how to have sex like that?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Practice, I guess.”

She traced lines across his chest. “No, it’s more than that.” She paused and raised her head to look at him. “I can’t believe you’re going to make me say it.”

Now, he was really confused. “Lise, I have no idea what you mean, so I’m sorry, but, yes, you’re going to have to say it.”

She placed her head back on his shoulder. “Where did you learn to fuck like that? To make me come like that?”

Luke chuckled. “Oh. Well…the answer’s still the same for the most part. Practice. And paying attention to a woman’s body.” He cupped the back of her neck and drew her head away from him, so he could look into her eyes. “Why? Was it good for you?” He already knew it by the huge climax she’d had, but he didn’t want to sound cocky and say it out loud.

She smiled. “Very.” She looked at her hand. “Can you believe I’ve never had an orgasm like that before?”

He wrinkled his brow.

She looked at him, noting his expression, and explained, “A vaginal orgasm. It’s always been a clitoral orgasm for me.” She rolled her eyes. “And, sometimes, not even that.”

“What?”

“What do you mean by, what?”

“How could you not come? You’re so…responsive.”

Luke was mystified how anyone could not get this female off. She was like dynamite in his arms.

“Yeah, well, it’s definitely happened.”

He snorted. “Losers.”

“Hey,” she protested.

“Them, not you.”

“But I dated them.”

“Well then, maybe you were a loser, too.”

She reached over and pinched him on the side.

“Ouch. That hurt.”

“You deserved it.” She laughed.

He held up the hand that wasn’t around her, giving her an exaggerated shrug. “If the shoe fits.”

She extended her arm again, and Luke rolled off the bed.

“No pinching.”

She sat up on her knees, her beautiful breasts swaying and her blonde hair falling around her shoulders. She looked at him with a knowing smile. “Fine. No blow jobs for you. Not from me anyway.”

Luke laughed and headed to the bathroom. He turned when he reached the door. Elise didn’t look happy that he was mocking her threat.

“Babe, you can’t stay away from this dick. You said so yourself.” He pivoted and entered the bathroom.

“I did not!” Elise shouted. Two seconds later, she said, “Oh, crap, I did.” She growled, “Damn alcohol.”

Luke chuckled to himself at her revelation while he used the facilities.

“We’d probably better go.” Elise raised her voice, so he could hear her. “It’s going to be dark soon, and we want to be back before the fireworks show starts.”

He exited the bathroom to find Elise pulling on her shorts. He moved toward her, still naked, and pulled her close. “I don’t want you to put your clothes on.”

She placed her hands on his bare chest and rubbed. “Me either. But we have to get back.”

Rather than argue, he kissed her.

She only hesitated for a second before she kissed him back. He had her right where he wanted her. He kissed his way down her neck and tilted her back over his arm, so he could kiss her breasts. How had he missed these before? He sucked a nipple in his mouth, and a moan escaped out of the back of Elise’s throat.

He released her and said, “I’m sorry I didn’t give these the attention they deserved earlier.” He then moved on to the other breast and gave it the same consideration as the first.

“Oh, Luke, that feels so good,” she told him, panting out the words.

“Does this mean, you’ll take your shorts off?”

She made a cry of distress. “No, we can’t.”

He released her nipple with a pop and set her on her feet.

“What—why’d you stop?”

“If Luke can’t have fun, then Elise can’t have fun.”

Elise’s expression changed from confusion to conniving. “In that case…” She wrapped her whole hand around his cock and pumped him in her fist as she leaned in and gently sucked on his neck.

She pulled away and smiled at him.

He put his forehead on hers. “Baby, you play dirty.”

She laughed but released him down below. Then, she stood up on her tiptoes and brushed her lips across his. “Now, go get dressed before people start asking questions.”

He reluctantly did what she’d asked. Even though he wanted to stay there, naked, with her all night, he knew their friends would start to wonder why they were both gone.

Luke grabbed some clothes from his closet and dresser and put them on while Elise looked over her appearance in the mirror. Then, they headed out.

As they got closer to Sean and Rachel’s, he asked, “Do you want us to separate, or do you not care if we show up together?”

“I’m going to tell them I went to apologize to you, so there’s no need to hide that we’re together. But how about we walk around the front of the house? That seems less conspicuous for some reason.”

He shrugged. “Sure. Whatever you want.”

They had a few blocks to go, and they were taking their time.

He was surprised when Elise asked him about sports, “So, I saw you playing football earlier, of course. I thought hockey was your thing?”

He shrugged again. “I like all sports actually. Hockey is just the one I was the best at.”

“I remember. You got a scholarship to U of M, right?”

He nodded. “I did. Do you like hockey?”

“Well…I have a confession to make.”

He stopped in his tracks. “You don’t like hockey?” he asked incredulously. “I’m sorry, but I can no longer have sex with you.”

Elise laughed. “No, it’s not like that. I guess you could say, I don’t like it”—he gasped mockingly—“but I don’t dislike it either. The thing is, I really don’t get it.”

They began to walk again.

“You don’t get it?”

“Until high school, I did most of my growing up in South Dakota. I don’t think I knew one person who played hockey. We moved to Minnesota, and here, everybody and their fricking dog plays hockey. My coworker has a hockey rink in her backyard for her kids. My other coworker has a son and daughter who are each captains of their college teams. And the thing I really don’t get is that it’s ridiculously expensive, yet everybody plays. I know hockey is big in New England, but I still think Minnesota is up there right after Canada.”

“Hmm, I guess I never knew there was such a difference from one state to the next.”

“Me either. Hockey, snowmobiles, and boats—that’s my description of Minnesota.”

Luke laughed. “That’s about accurate.” He hip-checked her. “So, does that mean you never saw me play?”

She smiled coyly at him. “Well, now, I never said that.”

Luke wanted to throw his arm around her and pull her close, but they were almost to Sean and Rachel’s, so he settled for a smack on her butt. “Tease,” he told her.

Only a few people were hanging out in the front yard. Most of them didn’t pay any attention to Elise and him as they walked toward the back of the house. They made it to the garage when Elise muttered something about being starving and thirsty. He discovered he could use some water himself. He hadn’t realized how parched sex had made him.

“There you are,” Luke heard a male voice say behind them.

He and Elise turned around.

“Where have you two been?” Rachel asked with Sean standing beside her.

Sean looked at Luke. “Barbie wanted to tell you good-bye, but nobody could find you anywhere.”

Luke ignored the Barbie jab. “I told you, I went home to change. I also had to take a shower because I was all sticky.”

Rachel looked at Elise, raising her eyebrows. “And what happened to you?”

“I felt bad about what had happened, so I followed Luke home to apologize.”

Sean and Rachel suspiciously looked at them.

“Did you now?” Rachel said.

“It’s true, Rachel. She came and apologized,” Luke defended Elise.

“See? Thank you,” Elise said before taking a big drink out of her water bottle.

“But then we had crazy monkey sex before I finally had to make her leave to come back here.”

Elise spit her water all over the ground. “Oh my God, Luke,” she said, wiping her chin.

Man, I love giving her shit.

Sean and Rachel laughed, thinking he was joking, but the best part was that he was pretty much telling the truth.

“Well, come out back when you’re done rummaging for food,” Rachel said.

After Rachel and Sean left, Elise whacked him in the stomach.

“Oomph.”

She tried to shoot him a stern look, but she was laughing. “I cannot believe you just said that. You’re so immature at times.”

“Sometimes, the best thing to do is tell the truth. I knew they wouldn’t believe me and that they’d think it was funny.”

“Well, it wasn’t.”

“Then, why are you laughing?”

She stuck her tongue out at him.

“Now, who’s being immature?”

She shook her head and laughed. “You are so lucky that you’re cute.”

He wiggled his eyebrows. “So, you think I’m cute?”

She leaned toward him and dragged his earlobe between her teeth before whispering in his ear, “I think you’re fucking hot, and I can’t wait to fuck your brains out later.”

He risked putting an arm around her and pulling her closer. “Do you promise?” he whispered back.

She bit her bottom lip and nodded, promising him everything with her fuck-me eyes.

He pulled her close again and put his cheek against hers. “I’m going to hold you to it.”

He let her go. Then, he grabbed a beer out of the cooler and headed outside.

It was going to be a long night.