37. Emerson

Thirty-four thousand dollars. Holy shit. Between the three paintings up for auction, Gianna had made thirty-four thousand dollars tonight.

I was so fucking proud of her.

Sitting next to her, feeling the excitement and nerves bubble off her, might have been the single best experience of my life. She glowed all night long, pressing her teeth into her lip as the bids went higher and higher. When the auctioneer banged the gavel, she beamed brighter than I'd ever seen.

My heart ached in the best way as I watched those big brown eyes shut for one second while she collected herself.

It had been the best night.

And yet, I'd been trapped on the outside. As desperate as I was to pull her into my arms, kiss her, tell her how proud I was of her, I was forced to keep my distance.

I couldn't act like she was mine. And even now, as I waited while she said goodbye to my teammates, I had to pretend I was just her ride home. Just the temporary roommate.

"Big night for her." I yanked my gaze from Gianna when her dad suddenly appeared next to me.

I cleared my throat and straightened the cuffs of my jacket. "Yeah."

"Chris is pulling the car around." Pop rolled his eyes. "Both my kids will baby me forever."

"Because they love you," I said honestly.

"Not sure I really want to live down the hall from Mr. Overprotective." He frowned.

Chris and Avery had just signed a lease for a two-bedroom apartment on the same floor as Avery's. They were moving all their things four doors down, and as soon as Pop left rehab, Chris planned to move him into Avery's place so they would be close.

"Avery will keep him in check."

Pop nodded and then blew out a breath. "I'm going to overstep, but she's my girl, so I have to."

I turned to him, confusion whirling inside me as I worked to process his statement.

His brown eye cut into me, sharper than I usually saw from the laid-back man. "I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday. I can see there is something going on between you and my daughter." He sighed. "So I'm asking, what's your plan there?"

My heart hiccupped. That was the question I asked myself every day. The one I had no good answer for.

I shrugged. "She's got a life in New York." Like a magnet pulling me in, Gi caught my attention, and there was no way I could look away as she hugged her friends. "And God knows where I'll be next year."

"Won't that always be the case for you? The unknown of professional sports?"

I nodded.

"You've liked her for a long time."

I could lie to a lot of people, but not to her father. "Years." I swallowed.

"And you're worried about how Chris would feel."

A dip of my chin. Of course I was. Thank fuck Chris paid so little attention to anything that didn't involve Avery. It had made it relatively easy to hide my feelings for Gianna all these years. But when he figured it out, he'd lose his shit.

"Well, when the dumbass freaks out"—Pop patted my shoulder—"tell him I approve."

My heart lurched, and my breath escaped me. The shock that hit me was enough to finally pull me away from watching Gi.

He lifted his chin in his daughter's direction. "See that smile?"

I did. I drank in that expression as often as I could. Gi wasn't quick to offer it, and she didn't laugh a whole lot, so when she did, I damn well noticed. Because when she smiled at me, my day got better.

"I've seen that smile a lot more often lately. And you're a lot of the reason. So as long as you make my girl happy, then we're good." With a pat to my shoulder, he sighed. "You're a good man, and you have a huge heart, Emerson. And the way you look at her." He shook his head. "Damn. I don't see how my son hasn't noticed. But when he does?" Turning to face me, he held out a hand. "Remember, tell him you have my blessing."

My throat felt thick, and I swallowed hard as I slipped my hand in his. "Thanks."

"Pop, you coming?" Chris called from the door.

They flagged Avery down and headed out. Not long after, I found myself headed home too, with the scent of orange blossoms filing the air.

"You have a good night?" I reached across the armrest and set my hand on her thigh, finally able to touch her.

"The best." She smiled.

"Good."

We made our way up into the apartment, but Gi seemed anxious. Not really nervous, but somehow on edge. Multiple times, she reached for her hair to twirl it, and she shifted constantly, which was normally my thing, not hers. It felt vaguely familiar, but I wasn't sure when she'd been this kind of twitchy.

"You okay?" I asked when my apartment door shut behind us.

She nodded. "I just… have something for you. Or something I think you'll like."

In a flash, it came back, her in the kitchen, shifting on her feet, in my jersey. Unsure of how I'd feel about it. She had no reason to be nervous then or now.

I reached out and pulled her tight against me, the black fabric of her dress scratching against my navy suit. She needed to feel my affection, as well as hear it. "Anything that involves you, I know I like."

She pulled back slowly, looking up at me with a small smile that felt a lot bigger in my chest than on her face. She released all but my hand and guided me toward the area of our living room that had become her studio.

"So." She released me and reached for a brown box. "Not long ago, you mentioned painting yourself blue." She lifted the flaps of the brown box and pulled out a pack of paint.

Body paint.

Edible body paint.

A thrill raced up my spine, the tingles of a good adrenaline rush. This was one hundred times better than any stolen base. I tossed my coat off my shoulders, then yanked my shirt over my head, popping a button or two as I went. The idea of her brush on my skin had my body going from zero to sixty in half a second.

"What are you doing?" Gi asked.

"Getting naked." My pants were next. In my rush, I tried to slip out of my shoes at the same time. My pants caught on my ankles, and I teetered, almost falling over.

Gi grabbed my arm, laughing as she stopped me from ending up on my ass. "I love that you can always make me laugh." She leaned up and pressed her lips to mine.

That L-word that had slipped out of her mouth echoed around oddly in my chest. I wasn't sure why. I normally wanted to know all the things she liked, so it felt weird that it put me on edge.

She pulled back, her smile settling the nerves in my system.

"I like making you happy. And the idea of being your canvas makes me tingle."

She rolled her eyes. "Then sit down." She nodded toward the stool where she normally sat to paint.

More carefully this time, I shucked my shoes, then my pants, and when I was down to my boxer briefs, I dropped onto my assigned seat and waited.

She pulled out a new palette and brushes and set herself up to work. Blue mixed with a purple to create a dark shade of navy, and then blue and green to make a teal-ish blue. It was something I'd seen her do plenty of times before, yet at this moment, I was riveted. Dying to know what the colors would create. Dying to be the focus of her creativity, of her passion.

I'd watched her paint many times over the last almost two months. But from the outside. From across the room or over her shoulder. I'd never gotten to view what I was about to see.

She moved toward me, her attention focused on my chest, and my mouth went dry. All the blood in my body surged to my cock as she dropped to her knees between my legs. I was practically naked while she was still fully clothed. It was the opposite of how our nights usually went. Normally, it was her body I was worshipping. But the way her eyes took in every inch of me made me feel like I was being worshipped. I swallowed down the intense thrill that gave me. But my heart pounded as she looked up from under her long lashes.

"It might be cold." She warned, lifting her brush.

The first stroke against my pec was icy, but it didn't feel cold. It like a branding. Fire ripped across my chest, like each brush of color was marking more than my skin. Every experience with Gi was unlike anything I'd known. Her touch always turned me on, and right now, my cock was beating against the seam of my boxers, trying to reach for her.

But this intensity that was more than physical hung over each moment. I should have known it would be this way, because a haircut with her had felt life-alternating. And yet I felt hypnotized watching her paint my chest. Experiencing the creative spark in her eye from this side was thrilling. Her free hand came to rest on my thigh, and my muscles clenched in response. Her breasts barely brushed my cock. Once. Then again. My blood raged. I was desperate to touch her. To feel her body against mine. But I locked myself in place.

I balled my hands into fist to keep myself from reaching out. I wanted to see what she'd paint. But once the wall started to form, with waves along the edge. I couldn't stop myself.

I titled her face to mine. "The breakwater."

The corner of her mouth kicked up, but she looked back at my chest. "If there was a moment between us that I wanted marked in time, it would be that one, because that night I learned what it felt like to be enchanting to someone. To have a man not be able to look away from me, but want my words just as much as my body."

Her statement easily spilled from her lips, but it cracked at my soul.

"Gi, I'm forever enchanted by you—" My whispered confession was cut short when a large, cold drop of paint hit my stomach.

"Oops." She looked up to my eyes as she leaned closer. The breath hissed between my teeth as she licked lightly against me, taking the glob of paint away. "Hmm," she murmured against my skin. "I'm not sure the end of the rocks is right." She trailed her lips up my abs, less than a breath from my skin.

My thighs spread on their own as her breasts moved closer. My body thrummed a beat along with the pounding in my ears.

"This needs to go." Her tongue flattened against my left pec, right beside my nipple. A groan rose from deep in my chest, and the second she made contact with my nipple, my hips thrust up.

"Gi," I moaned.

Slowly, she moved back down toward the elastic of my boxers. My cock jumped, pressing into her tits. Big teasing eyes danced as she glanced up at me before pressing a kiss to my tip. Even through the thin material, it was too much.

"Please, Mariposa. I need your lips around me," I begged.

She pulled me out, and my cock sprang toward her like he knew exactly where he belonged.

As she wrapped her soft hands around me, a deep groan escaped my lips. And when she touched her tongue to my tip, I almost fell out of the chair.

When her lips circled me, I fisted her hair at the back of her head and guided her to take me deep. The stroke of her mouth on my cock made me feel cherished, worshipped. My chest tightened. Every part of my being wanted to thrust forward and own her, encourage her to work me over until I couldn't see straight, until every part of me belonged to her. But I couldn't do that.

I tightened my hold on her hair and pulled her back. She released me with a pop, her eyes wide. Fuck. Seeing her on her knees with desire flooding her gaze was just too much.

"Get the layers off." I unhooked the material behind her neck that held the dress up. "I need you naked and under me."

Without moving to help me, she smirked.

"So get the dress and the elastic trap under it off."

With one brow cocked, she scrutinized me, humor dancing in her eyes.

"Mariposa, I know every inch of your body, so you can be damn sure I know when you've wrapped my favorite curves in cellophane."

She laughed. "Em, it's not cellophane" But she let the dress fall around her waist as she leaned forward to lick my chest again.

I shivered, loving the feeling, but I needed to do it for her. "Gi," I growled.

"Okay. Okay." She pulled back, giving me an incredible view of her bouncing tits as she shimmied out of the bodysuit.

Once it hit the floor, I stood and swiped my fingers through the blue paint on the palette. The thrill of seeing her shiver as I traced her collarbone with a finger, then dipped between her full breasts, was worth putting my own needs on hold. Goose bumps broke out under the layer of blue coating her skin, and her nipples hardened, jumping out to me. I pressed my thumb into the yellow paint, then lifted both hands to her tits. A moan slipped between her lips as I pinched hard. I worked her over until her breasts were coated in yellow and blue, and she was begging for me to fuck her.

Then I licked her clean. The sweet tart of the paint mixed with the saltiness of her skin was like a drug. I licked over her ribs and stomach, moving lower. But before I could continue farther, she dropped to her knees next to me and pulled me down to the floor with her.

"I need you inside me. I need it so bad," she whispered.

Fuck. There was no way I could deny her. She lay back, chest heaving, and wrapped her legs around my hips.

Inch by inch, I sank into her, and she pulsed around me as I moved.

"Gi," I whispered. My chest pressed against hers, my blue paint mixing with her yellow. Pieces of us blended together, mixing into something new. Combining to become one, something that could never be separated again. That thought gripped tight at my chest, pulling me under, this feeling that was so much more than the heat that was coursing through me.

I rocked deep, relishing our connection, drinking in the way pleasure flashed in her eyes every time I was fully inside her. Hitting that spot that made her moan gave me this indescribable pleasure. Not in my dick; in my chest. As I locked eyes with her, it bloomed and throbbed, and then it cracked. Because I never wanted to let her go. I never wanted another moment without her.

"Em. I'm so close." Her moan vibrated through me. Her lids started to drift closed.

"Don't," I demanded. "Look at me. Give me this moment."

Her eyes were molten when they met mine. Emotions warred in them as her pussy quivered around my cock. I swirled my hips and rocked my pelvis against her, then thrust hard.

"Em," she cried, pulsing around me. She dug her nails into my shoulders as she came on my dick.

As I came inside her, my heart exploded and my entire soul burst with an intense emotion I didn't want to name. I wanted to give her everything. Everything she wanted, everything she needed. Everything she deserved. But I couldn't. Not without her having to sacrifice for me.

As she came back down, her pulsing slowing, she took a breath, and her eyes softened.

"Em, I l?—"

I placed my hand over her mouth and shook my head. "Don't say it, Gi."

The way she shook off my hand and blinked hard, fighting the moisture pooling in her eyes, squeezed my chest like a vise.

"Once you say it…" My voice cracked. Once those words left her lips, I'd never walk away. And that meant dragging her with me to wherever I ended up. It meant leaving her while I traveled with the team. It meant leaving her alone and lonely. The idea of hurting her like that? It was like a knife to the chest. I cleared my throat. "Please don't say it."

She met my gaze, her eyes still glassy but full of understanding. Slowly, she nodded and then she pressed her lips to mine. She didn't say a single word, but she didn't have to. I felt them in the press of our lips, in the warmth of her body against mine, and in the openness in her eyes when she pulled back.

She felt the same way.