Chapter 146

My wolf absolutely howls inside of me, telling me to do ridiculous things as she always does. Kiss him! Jump on top of him, wrap your legs around his waist, he likes that! See if you can get his pants off – he just put them on -

But I shake my head, willfully trying to ignore her, because the sensible part of me knows that Luca is right – that this is not how I want this to happen.

“See?” he says, smirking at me, a little smug as he pulls himself away a little bit, pausing his hand’s work to get my dress up over my hip. “I didn’t think so.”

“Hey!” I snarl, offended – because, I mean, I didn’t make my decision yet!

Yes! My wolf shouts, encouraging me forward. Grab him! Make him kiss us again! Take the stupid dress off! Why did we let Daphne pick such a complicated dress – we should have worn something with snaps -

“What?” Luca says, pausing and coming just an inch closer, teasing me now. “Come on, Ariel –let’s wait until after the match – then I can actually take you to bed, a real bed –“

“Why do you always think you get to tell me what I want?” I ask, frowning up at him, starting to get a little pissed now if I’m being honest. Because I mean, he actually is right. The first time I do this I do want to be in a bed, and relaxed, and not worrying if someone is going to come through the door.

But damn it, why did he know that first?

“Because,” Luca murmurs, stepping close to me again and pressing a kiss to my cheek and then to my neck – a soft, lingering one that makes my eyelids flutter. “You’re my mate – and because I know you Ariel.”

God, the way his mouth moves over my skin – it’s torture, and he knows it. My hands tighten against the skin of his back, my nails digging just slightly into him, and his skin shivers all over.

“I know what you want,” he whispers, raising his head and looking into my eyes again before pressing a soft kiss to my mouth. “And…well, I know what you can handle.” He hesitates here, just for a second. “I’m…more experienced in this than you.”

My mouth drops open now, a little appalled. “Luca!” I gasp, whipping my hand around and smacking him in the chest – not hard, but with a satisfying smack that lets him know that I’m mad. “Are you seriously saying that I – that I can’t handle you!?”

His face breaks into a smile and a little growl rumbles in his chest. “I know you can’t handle me, Ariel,” he murmurs, his voice dipping lower in a way that – god, that makes the heat in me grow more steadily. “Not yet, at least. We need to get your body used to this a little more before we start doing adventurous things like a quickie in a locker room. You’re trying to run before you can walk.”

I huff now, genuinely angry, and shove harder against his chest, fully pissed now. “That is so rude, Luca,” I snarl, lifting my chin up to glare at him. “Just because you’re so slutty that you’ve had more experience than me –“

Luca laughs, genuinely pleased, his eyes crinkling. But he doesn’t step back – steps closer, even, bunching my dress up more, slipping his hand beneath the hem of it and sliding his palm steadily upwards until his hand cups my ass, his palm moving over the lacy edge of my panties.

I gasp again, my eyes going wide, any protests falling dead on my tongue.

“So, this is really what you want? What you can handle?” he murmurs, his eyes shining, tightening his hand a little, squeezing my ass in a way that makes my head fall back, just a little, a puff of desperate breath slipping between my lips. “You won’t let me show you the ropes slowly? Want to just…jump into the deep end?”

“You’re mixing your metaphors,” I growl, my brain fuzzing, talking nonsense because I’m having trouble concentrating with the way his fingers are moving over my underwear, trending inwards, towards…

“It’s too easy,” he murmurs, shaking his head, taunting me. “Honestly, Ariel, you should let me take it slow. You won’t be able to handle it.”

“Wha…what?” I murmur, my eyes half shut as he presses himself closer to me, as I feel his chest press hard against my breasts.

“If you let me touch you, Ariel,” he whispers, “when you’re all worked up like this? I’m going to make you come in about…thirty seconds.”

My eyes fly open, appalled at his arrogance, his gall.

He smiles, greedy, dipping his head closer and taking a sniff of me, like he can smell my anger, like he likes it. “Seriously, gorgeous,” he says with a sigh, even though he doesn’t move his body away, keeps his hand right where it is on my ass, his other still cradling my neck. “We can take our time later, make it right.”

I just narrow my eyes, still pissed. Because I mean – I’ve done stuff by myself before – and never, ever have I finished that fast.

Damn, but he thinks highly of himself in these regards.

“You’re exaggerating to get what you want,” I growl, even though it turns into a gasp when Luca tightens his hand on my neck, holding me still as he lets his other hand inch closer to the center of me. “There’s no way you could ever make me come in thirty seconds.”

Luca turns his head to the side a little, considering. “Probably right about that,” he murmurs, nodding.

I smirk, smug.

“More like…two minutes.”

My jaw drops before I snap it shut, livid. “You arrogant little –“

He laughs, low and pleased, liking me all worked up and feisty like this. “Wanna bet, Princess?” His mouth is so close that I can feel is breath on my lips.

I go still, staring at him, realizing that he’s offering…

Luca’s smile deepens. “If I win,” he says softly, “I get a weekend with you. All to myself. Before we go back to the Academy.”

Yes! My wolf howls, dancing around inside of me, her paws skittering delightedly in my soul. Sweeten the pot! Give him money! Give him your crown – that’s worth something, right? Give him the PALACE!

I loose a shaky breath as Luca’s fingers start to trace circles around edges of my panties, dipping inwards, slow and distracting and maddening and wonderful.

“And if I win?” I whisper.

“Whatever you want,” he murmurs, lowering his mouth to brush against mine. “A blank cheque. Anything.”

He pulls back for a second, looking deep into my eyes, and I consider – just incrementally – that this might be stupid. But god, the way he’s looking at me, the way he smells –

God, fuck, I don’t care – my wolf wins, I give in –

“Fine,” I say, giving a half-hearted little shrug, still trying to play it cool even though I can barely think. “Do your worst, Grant.”

“So, it’s a bet? A weekend, against a blank cheque that you’re absolutely never going to cash?”

“Why wouldn’t I cash it?” I ask, frowning, confused.

“Because you’re never going to win,” he says, laughing a little, grinning at me.

“It’s a bet,” I growl, pissed again, newly determined –

But there’s no time to think on it, because faster than I can wrap my mind around anything new Luca closes the final few inches between us and fastens his mouth to mine like he can’t wait another second.

The kiss absolutely sweeps through me and I forget any determination that I had as Luca parts my lips with his, as his tongue presses against mine, as he licks me and presses me hard back against the lockers. I’m panting already, my heartrate so high I can feel it pounding in my ears.

As Luca lines every inch of his torso up with mine, I can feel that he wants me too – can feel it in the way that he pants into my mouth, in the intensity with which he clings to me, in the hardness of his cock, which is pressed between us, thick and ready. I slide my hand down towards it, wanting to –

“Absolutely not,” he growls, snatching my hand away and pinning it to the locker above my head with the hand that was around my neck a moment ago. “You’re not distracting me with that, Ariel – not when I’m on a time limit.”

But I just moan, and press my body closer to him, grinding my hips forward – wanting him, wanting my mate, wanting to feel his body, every piece of it –

“No,” he murmurs, shaking his head at me. “This is about you.”

And then he moves his hand from my backside, sliding it around towards my stomach. Luca shifts his body to make room, still pinning one of my hands above my head. My other hand smacks flat against the lockers behind me like they’re some sort of anchor to the world as I concentrate on his touch, on the way his hand moves all the way around so that it’s pressed flat against my navel, his fingers pointing down towards the floor.

And then, as I pant, my eyes half shut, my focus on his face, Luca slides his hand lower and slips it into my panties.