The water cascaded on my shoulders. Luke lathered the green tea body wash on my back. I leaned into him, feeling the warmth of his skin and the slickness of the water between us. His hands coasted up to my nipples, pinching and twisting them with dabs of bubbles.

“Feels good,” I moaned. I hope he hadn’t set a timer. We were already way past his ten-minute curfew.

I knew he couldn’t stay. And his intentions were good. He was trying to spare me the fall out I didn’t want before we had a winning plan in place. For that I loved him. My eyes sparked and my belly flipped. Was I thinking this was love? Was it?

Had I actually fallen in love with Luke Canton? The edge of him was sharper than any blade I had been near. The man had sliced under my skin, freeing me. Yet, I wanted more. I knew that. He knew it. We had risked everything to be together. Did that define love? Was he in love with me too? My consuming crush had re-ordered everything in my life. Nothing could stop me from needing the rush he gave me. Needing the place he created where I could soar. He was my love song.

I didn’t care if the song was blurry or rough. That it wasn’t like everyone else’s song. This was the one we wrote together.

I spun to face him.

“What?” he asked.

“I-I was just thinking.” I wanted to tell him. To confess how he had inexplicably changed my life.

New lyrics popped in my head. The words that would tell the world he was mine. I thought about jumping out of the shower and jotting them down in my journal, but Luke leaned down to kiss me. The song could wait.

“I’ve got to get going.” He reached around me to turn off the water.

“Wait.” I stopped him.

I eyed him as I sank to my knees. The water soaked my hair and slid down my back. The steam billowed around me. We both liked our showers hot.

His stare became hungry and dark. I was nose-level to his rod of a shaft. I’d dreamed about this moment. Fantasized about giving him this kind of satisfaction. How he would look at me when I took him in my mouth. How he would sound. How his body would react to my control. I was going to give him the best blow job of his life. At least I was going to try to.

His hand reached for the back of my head. My lips parted. He let me take a second to taste the tip of saltiness, swirling it in my mouth. But it was only a second before his need for me, took over. He thrust between my lips with sudden intensity and I sucked hard against his cock, tilting my head to take him all in at once.

In and out, his silky skin slid creating delicious friction. My hands pressed and tugged at his balls, forcing him to growl and hiss. He jerked violently forward and I smiled. His hips rocked with forceful rhythm.

“Fuck, Alexa. Fuck.”

His fingers laced through my hair, pressing himself deep in my throat when I felt him clench and convulse in my mouth. I tried not to gag as the cum filled my throat and made its way to my stomach. I sucked again.

He pulled out as his back slammed against the wall.

“Oh shit. Shit.” He huffed, trying to catch his breath.

I licked my lips. “Was that ok?”

“I’m not staying any longer.” He eyed me seriously.

I pressed my cheek to his chest. I could hear his heart firing rapidly.

“I know. I just wanted you to have something to remember.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I think I’ll fucking remember.”

* * *

Helena sat next to me on the fluffy hotel bed. We had ordered an entire tray of room service desserts. We were both exhausted from our shopping excursion. Half of the silver trays had been picked through.

As promised, we had posted pictures and videos as we made our way through DC. I posed with fans and signed a few autographs. I’d managed to find a few things I thought Luke would like too. Helena bought them for me, explaining to the cashiers that her brothers loved sunglasses and vintage T-shirts.

My boots rested in the corner of the closet. I didn’t think I would ever look at them the same way again after I had seen them bounce over Luke’s bulging shoulders. I hadn’t decided, but his shoulders might be my favorite part of his body. They were strong and wide. I loved running my fingers over them, feeling the contact of his rigid muscles underneath my touch. I sighed.

“What is it?” Helena stabbed the double espresso chocolate cake with a fork.

I smiled. “Nothing.”

“You have it so, so bad.”

“I do. I really do. And I’m not sorry.”

“You shouldn’t be. I’m glad you’re doing something for yourself.”

I opened another lid and attacked a raspberry torte. “I run a multi-million-dollar company. I have a new athletic line that I’m getting ready to launch. My footwear brand is doing almost twice the numbers that were projected. I’ve been nominated for every possible CYA category I could.” I took a bite. “If I can do all that. I can be with Luke.”

I don’t know when I had traveled so far into the shadows that I had forgotten who I was. It took determination and unrelenting drive to make it to the top. I was the girl who had worked her ass off to get there. Jake had somehow pushed me out of the way of my own success. I had to own that. I let him do that to me. I stepped to the side while he started to take possession of what were my victories. That wasn’t going to happen anymore.

“Hell yeah, you can.” Helena grinned.

We both jumped when my phone buzzed.

“Is it Jake or Luke?” she asked.

My lovesick grin gave it away.

“Ok, I’m going back to my room so you can talk to him, but I’m taking the rest of this cake.” She plucked the platter from the cart and walked out.

I touched the video button to see Luke’s face.

“Hey.”

“Hey, gorgeous.”

“How did it go at the hospital?” I asked.

His room looked simple. It wasn’t nearly as elegant as the suite I had reserved.

“Took one of the other guys with me. Kids seemed to like it.”

“You did?” I didn’t mean to sound as stunned as I was.

“Yeah. Rookie guy named James. Thought it would be good for him too.”

“Wow. Now you are recruiting and mentoring. I like it.”

“Hey, don’t get carried away. I’m going to have to go close down a bar tonight to right the scales here. People are going to get the wrong idea about me.”

I twisted my lips together. These were the moments when I saw him lower the shield that barricaded him from the rest of the world. It made me melt.

“Don’t do that,” I warned playfully. “And Charlie? What did she say?”

He scratched the back of his head and leaned back on the bed. I wanted to be with him so badly. I wanted to fall asleep and wake up in his arms. We were in the same city, but separated because of my choices.

“Yeah, she’s pissed. Madder than a fucking hornet, actually.”

I giggled. “Sorry, not funny.”

“I did what I said I would do. I made the kids smile,” he grumbled.

“And you loved it. Admit it.”

He scowled. “I’ll admit it when we’re alone.”

“Alone?”

He nodded. “Next time you’re on your knees I’ll gladly admit it.”

I turned completely red. I could see it on the tiny screen inset on the video call. “Luke!”

“Give me another blow job like that and I’ll admit anything you want.” He winked.

I wanted to pretend I was embarrassed, but I wasn’t. I was doing a double cartwheel in my head. I had given Luke exactly what I wanted to give him and he loved it. My skills were improving. My boldness was growing. My sexuality was blossoming like an out-of-control wildflower.

“Gladly,” I agreed in an instant.

“Damn it, Alexa. You’re killing me. Think anyone would notice if I showed up at the Deluxe twice in one day?”

“Depends on what time you’re planning on leaving.” God, there was nothing I wanted more.

He shook his head. “I wish I could. It’s too big of a risk.”

“You’re right,” I answered quietly.

“Get some sleep,” he ordered. “I’ve got an early day with press and pre-game. I can’t stay up all night talking to pretty girls.”

“All right. Good night, Luke.”

“Night.”

I reluctantly hung up and stared at the TV. I had flipped to Sports Now to listen to the speculation about the game tomorrow. I wanted to learn as much as I could about the AFA and what was the single most important thing in Luke’s world.

I turned up the volume when I saw Luke’s face appear on the screen. They showed scenes of his appearance at the hospital today. Instead of talking about the showdown with the Sharks, the only thing the anchors wanted to discuss was the new Luke Canton.

I grinned, settling into a stack of pillows. I could listen to them talk about this version of Luke all night. I don’t know when I fell asleep, but the last thing I saw was Luke sitting next to a little boy. And I couldn’t help but think of what an amazing dad he was going to be one day.