Holding You

  Turning to walk back inside I heard someone coming down the driveway. My quickening heartbeat left me feeling breathless as that familiar ache between my legs began growing. “Colt,” I whispered.

  Pulling up and parking, he jumped out of his truck and gave me that crooked smile of his. My grin was so big I couldn’t contain it. Wetting my lips, I tried to push the naughty thoughts of taking him with my mouth away.

  “Hey,” Colt said as he sauntered up to me.

  “Hey,” I whispered back.

  Stopping right in front of me, I inhaled a deep breath. His cologne swept around my body and instantly had me walking into his arms. “I missed you,” I said into his chest as he wrapped his strong arms around me.

  “Yeah? Well I missed you too, sweetheart. Did y’all have fun?”

  Pulling back I gazed up into his eyes. How in the world did I ever push this man away? Why in the world did I push this man away? “I did. I learned a lot on my practice dick and then I ate it.”

  Colt’s eyes widened in disbelief as he tilted his head and said, “Come again?”

  Giggling, I placed my cheek on Colt’s strong broad chest. I loved his body. He was built, but it had nothing to do with playing football. It was from all of the hard work he would do on the ranch. “Colt?”

  Running his hand over my back softly he asked, “Yeah, sweetheart?”

  “Will you take me home? I want to be wrapped up in your arms.”

  Holding me tighter, he whispered against the top of my head, “Nothing would make me happier.”

  IT FELT LIKE I was wiping the palms of my hands on my pants every few seconds. Lauren was sitting next to me in my truck talking a mile a minute. She was for sure tipsy. I heard all about their cucumber dicks, Maegan eating her dick, Taylor drinking wine and getting a buzz, and how there was a suctioned dildo on the table. That you never want to have more than two Altoids in your mouth before giving a blow job and that if I ever liked a fake vagina she’d kick me in the balls. The last one still had me thrown for a loop.

  Trying not to chuckle at some of Lauren’s innocence, my mind drifted to what I had been doing the last few hours.

  Luke and Will had decided to go out for dinner and meet up with a few guys from high school. I headed on over to Lauren’s house and spent the next few hours transforming her room into what I hoped would result in a romantic evening.

  Candles had been placed all around the room. Rose petals started from the door through the house and up to her room. I had made a playlist of some of Lauren’s favorite songs and had that ready to go.

  Gripping the steering wheel tighter, I started getting nervous and I had no idea why.

  Dropping her head back against the headrest, Lauren started laughing. “Man oh man. I’m just talking your ear off, aren’t I?”

  Reaching for her hand, I brought it up to my mouth as I placed my lips on her soft skin. “Don’t stop. I love hearing you talk.”

  Lifting her eyebrows she asked, “Why?”

  Shrugging my shoulders, I pulled into her driveway and replied, “I love everything about you, Lauren. The way you laugh when something really tickles you. Or how you hum when you brush your teeth. The way you do a little dance when you get excited, or how you skip around without a care in the world. The list is endless.”

  Parking in front of her house, I turned to look at her. Lauren stared at me as I watched her eyes fill with tears.

  Reaching over I placed my hand on the side of her face. “Baby, are you feeling okay?”

  Biting on her lower lip, she nodded her head and quickly wiped a tear that began to fall. “It’s just . . . I mean . . . I love you so much, Colt and I know we’ve only been dating for a month.” Looking away, she wiped another tear. Turning back to me her eyes were on fire. “I don’t think I could survive a day without you now that you’re mine. I need your touch every single morning or something feels off for the rest of the day. It scares me how much I love you, Colt.”

  Moving my hand behind her neck I pulled her to me. Unbuckling her seat belt Lauren leaned closer to me and pressed her lips to mine. “I love you, Lauren. I love you so much.”

  “Colt, please make love to me. I need you.”

  Opening the door to my truck, I unbuckled my seatbelt and hopped out. Lauren crawled over my seat and right into my arms. Giving the door a kick, it shut as I walked up to the front door. Unlocking the door with the key that Scott had given me two years ago for emergencies, I walked us into the house and straight up to Lauren’s room.

  It was hard trying to walk, carry Lauren, and climb the stairs all at once. Her sweet little whimpers and moans had my pants feeling too small. Stopping outside her bedroom, I slowly slid her down my body until her feet hit the ground. Cupping the sides of her face, I looked into her beautiful baby-blue eyes. “Lauren, you have and will always be, my forever love.”

  Closing her eyes, I watched a tear roll down her cheek. Slowly opening her eyes she smiled. “Colt, you have and will always be my forever love.” My heart slammed against my chest. I knew Lauren knew how special those words were to me and for her to repeat them back to me meant more than anything.

  “I’m going to make love to you all night, Lauren.”

  Nodding her head, she sucked in her lower lip. “Um . . . I do want to try out some things I learned tonight though.”

  Letting out a moan, I reached behind her and placed my hand on the doorknob. “Give me two minutes, baby.”

  Looking at me with a confused expression, Lauren furrowed her eyebrows. “What?”

  Holding up my fingers and making the sign for two, I repeated, “Two minutes.”

  Scooting around her, I slipped into the room. Grabbing the lighter, I quickly began lighting all the candles. Walking over to the small ice chest, I pulled out the container full of chocolate-covered strawberries. Reaching down, I felt the pouch in my pocket. Taking a look around I smiled. It was perfect.

  There was a knock on the door and I quickly walked over to the door. “Turn around and close your eyes, Lauren.”

  “O-okay.”

  Slowly opening the door, I smiled when I saw Lauren standing with her back to the door. Walking around to the front of her, I brought her to me and kissed her. Her arms immediately went around my neck as I walked her into her room. I wasn’t sure how long we stood in the middle of her room, completely lost in our kiss.

  Pulling back some, I smiled at her. Lauren smiled and looked around. Her hands dropped from around my neck and went to her mouth. “Oh . . . my . . . Colt.” Spinning around, she took everything in. She wasn’t expecting this and by the look on her face, she was beyond happy.

  “When did you do this?” Lauren asked as she walked up and ran her hands over the baby-blue lingerie I had laid out on the bed. Picking it up, she looked over her shoulder at me. “Did you buy this?”

  Nodding, I smiled. “While you were at your . . . study group. I came over and set everything up. And yes, I bought that for you.”

  Clutching it to her chest, she walked up to me. “It’s beautiful.”

  “Do I get to see it on you?” I asked as I pushed a long curl from her face.

  The air in the room instantly changed as Lauren gazed up at me with nothing but desire in her eyes. “Do I get to see you naked?”

  Letting out a soft chuckle, I said, “I bet you will as soon as I see you dressed in this.”

  Narrowing her eye at me she said, “Mmm . . . playing hardball, huh? Okay, give me a second to change.”

  Spinning on her heels, Lauren walked into her bathroom. Glancing back, she gave me a wink and a sexy smile then closed the door.

  Placing my hands on my face, I ran them up and down and tried to calm my beating heart. What in the hell is wrong with me? I feel like it’s our first time.

  Looking around the room, everything looked perfect. Was it perfect though? Was it romantic enough? Shit.

  Sitting down on the end of the bed, I let out a frustrated moan. What if I was moving to f
ast? We’d only been dating for one month exactly. Maybe I should I wait? The last thing I wanted to do was scare Lauren away. My heart was pounding against my chest as my head and heart duked it out. My heart eventually won.

  The door to the bathroom opened and I jumped up. Lauren was standing there with her hand up high on the doorjamb as she gave me the sexiest smile I’d ever seen.

  Barely being able to even speak a word, I whispered, “Wow.”

  Lauren licked her lips and looked down at the one-piece teddy. The blue brought out her eyes so much they looked as if they were lighting up the whole room. I could see her hard nipples through the lace material and my dick throbbed in my pants.

  “How does it look?”

  “Better on you than the girl at the store.”

  Lauren’s face dropped and I started laughing. Holding up my hands I said, “Sorry! Shit! I’m nervous as hell and I was trying to make a joke.”

  Giving me a dirty look, Lauren walked closer to me but stopped just short of my reach. “That was a very bad joke, Mr. Mathews.”

  Lacing her arms around my neck, my eyes traveled all over her body. “Very bad,” I mumbled.

  Lauren gave me a seductive look. “Do you know what today is?”

  Walking up to her, I placed my hands on her hips and pulled her to me. Making sure I pressed my hard dick into her stomach. Lauren closed her eyes as she dropped her mouth open slightly and let out a deep breath. “Today marks one month since we’ve been together.”

  Lauren’s eyes danced with happiness as a beautiful little crooked smile moved across her face. “You totally just redeemed yourself from the bad joke.”

  Tossing my head back, I laughed.

  Lauren’s hands moved to my jeans as she quickly began to unbutton them and tried to push them down. “Colt, I can’t take it any longer. I need to feel you.”

  Grabbing her hands, I smiled. “I have something else to give you first before we go there.”

  Lifting her eyebrows, she asked, “What?”

  Dropping my one hand, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the small velvet bag. Lauren looked down at it and smiled. “Colt,” she whispered as I dropped her other hand and opened up the bag.

  Before I took the ring out, I looked into Lauren’s eyes. “I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about me giving you this since we just started dating, but I want everyone to know you’re mine, Lauren.”

  Her eyes widened as she wore a shocked expression on her face. Opening the bag I took the ring out and held it up for her.

  Her mouth fell open and she let out a small chuckle. “The ring I wanted.”

  Almost three years ago we had all been in Austin shopping and Lauren had pointed to a belt buckle ring that she wanted. When we all walked out of the store and headed to lunch, I doubled-back and bought it for her.

  Swallowing hard, I said, “I bought it that day. The day you looked at it in James Avery.”

  Placing her hands over her mouth, Lauren slowly shook her head. “You’ve had it this whole time?”

  Letting out a gruff laugh, I said, “Yeah, I know it was stupid but—”

  Lauren’s eyes gleamed as she threw herself into my body and kissed me. Wrapping my arms around her, I deepened the kiss until we were completely lost in it . . . again.

  Lauren barely pulled back as she talked against my lips. “You’ll never know how special you make me feel, Colt Mathews. I’ve never felt so loved and desired in my entire life.”

  Breaking our contact, I took a step back and reached for Lauren’s hand and slipped the ring onto her left ring finger. “I’m yours forever, Lauren. No matter what, I’ll never leave your side.”

  “Forever,” Lauren whispered.

  Reaching out, Lauren pushed my pants down as I pulled them off of my feet and tossed them to the side. “I know you want to try what you learned tonight, but right now, sweetheart, I just want to hold you.”

  Placing her hand on my chest, Lauren’s face beamed with happiness. “That sounds perfect.”

  Pulling my T-shirt off my chest and throwing it onto the floor, I reached and picked Lauren up. Carrying her over to her bed, I pulled back the covers and gently set her down. Crawling over her, I slid in next to her and pulled her body up against mine. “I love you, Colt.”

  Kissing the back of her head, I pulled her closer. “I love you more, Lauren.”

  Everything in this moment felt perfect. It felt right.

  “Never stop holding me, Colt.”

  “Never,” I whispered.

  FOOTBALL PRACTICE IN the spring was closed to the public, but players’ girlfriends were allowed to attend the practices, as long as they were not a distraction. Glancing over to the stands, I saw Lauren with her nose buried in a book. She had a huge test she had been studying for.

  Lining up, I got ready for the play. Roger seemed to have moved on since he found out how serious Lauren and I were. We’d been dating over two months and I couldn’t believe how amazing things still were between us.

  Roger called hike and I took off running. Roger threw and I jumped and caught the ball and took off down the field. Making the touchdown, everyone ran up and gave me a high five.

  Coach nodded his approval and told the team to huddle up.

  “Great practice. This was our last spring practice. We have a scrimmage this weekend and I expect a repeat of what I saw on the field today.”

  Everyone hooted and hollered. “Now go shower up and get out of here.”

  Walking toward the locker room, I turned to find Lauren. She was talking to a girl I’d never seen before. She must have sensed me watching her because she looked up and smiled at me. Smiling, I gave her a wave and then held up both hands telling her to give me ten minutes.

  Nodding her head, she blew me a kiss. Laughing, I turned and headed into the locker room. After taking a quick shower I got dressed and was about to head out to meet up with Lauren.

  “Good catch, Mathews,” Roger said as he walked over to me with a towel still wrapped around his waist.

  “Thanks. Good throw.”

  Roger smirked. “Now that everything seems to be settled between us, friends?” Roger stuck his hand out for me to shake it. Grabbing his hand tightly, we shook. I didn’t trust the look in his eyes. Lauren had told me about Marie stopping to talk to her and how Roger had been digging for information and using Marie to gather it all up. What a dick.

  “Friends it is.”

  Turning, I headed to the door. “Oh hey, Mathews, one more thing.”

  Glancing back at him I asked, “What’s up?”

  “Stay focused in the game.”

  Pulling my head back and giving him a confused look, I said, “I always am.”

  Pushing the door open I headed out of the locker room area and up to Lauren.

  That was three times now someone had told me to stay focused. Was I not focusing? I hadn’t dropped a single ball, I made every play. What in the hell was wrong with everyone?

  Running my hand over my short hair, I dreaded this fall. For some reason coach did not like me having a girlfriend. I was going to have to learn to balance both and I didn’t think I would have a problem doing that. Lauren knew how much I loved football and she would never get in the way of that. Ever.

  I just wasn’t sure how much I loved football.

  GRACE AND I were walking out of the library laughing when Grace smacked right into a guy. “Oh shit! I’m so sorry.” Grace said as she bent over to pick up her books. I couldn’t help but notice how the guy was staring at Grace. She was, of course, oblivious to it.

  My heart broke for Grace. As much as she tried to brush off the fact that Noah had pretty much dropped off the face of the Earth, we all knew it killed her. Noah had been texting Grace and she would text back but her fear of committing to anyone stood in the way. Then when he didn’t tell her he was getting married and he kept texting her, that just reaffirmed to Grace that men sucked. She stopped texting him back, yet she wouldn’t date anyone. It wa
s as if her heart had been given to Noah, even though she denied it, and she wasn’t sure what to do about it. Then, Noah just stopped texting.

  Handing Grace her last book the guy flashed a smile at Grace. “Grace Johnson, right?”

  Grace stared at the hottie standing in front of us. His light-brown hair was a mess, clearly he just got done running, and his emerald eyes had Grace’s eyes pinned in on him. “Um . . . do we know each other?” Grace asked as she tilted her head.

  Laughing, he said, “Yeah, Hunter. I’m in your psychology class.”

  Recognition moved across Grace’s face as she pointed to him and said, “Oh yeah. Well, so sorry for running into you like that.”

  Seeing he was losing the moment he ran his hand through his hair and asked Grace out. “Hey, you wouldn’t want to go grab dinner and a movie would you?”

  Grace never missed a beat. She kept her smile sincere as she turned the poor guy down. “Awe, thanks for the invite, but I’m going to have to pass. I’ll see you in class though.”

  Hunter’s smile faded some as he nodded his head. “Right. Okay sure. See ya in class.”

  Grace walked off and I fell into step next to her. The hot breeze made me wish like hell I had worn shorts today and not jeans. May in Texas could be a hit or miss as far as the weather went. It could be sixty-two one day, and eighty-two the next. It just so happened yesterday was sixty-two and today felt like ninety-nine.

  “Grace, why didn’t you take him up on his offer?” I asked.

  Rolling her eyes as she glanced over at me she laughed. “Lauren, school’s out for summer in a few days and I’ll be heading home for the summer. Why would I want to go out on a date? If he wanted to ask me out, he should have done it like three months ago.”

  Frowning, I nodded my head. She did have a point there. I never did understand why guys waited so long to make their move. Glancing down at my ring Colt had given me, I smiled. Even Colt, buying this ring so many years ago and hanging on to it as long as he did. My heart felt as if it skipped a beat whenever I thought about Colt being in love with me for so long.