The Striker (Gods of the Game Book 1)

The second Asher’s lips touched mine, I was lost.

Every argument for why I should push him away, every piece of logic that’d kept us at arm’s length for the past two months crumbled like a sandcastle beneath a tidal wave.

We stumbled into my flat, our hands tearing at each other’s clothes, our mouths hot and desperate with want.

It was nothing like our first kiss.

Our first kiss had been an exploration, a dip into the world of what if. What if we gave into our attraction? What if we said fuck it and did what we wanted, consequences be damned?

This kiss…this kiss was an explosion. Every guardrail I’d constructed, every promise I’d made to myself, incinerated with one touch.

I heard the dim thud of my door slamming shut, but it was so far outside my realm of focus that it might as well have occurred galaxies away.

Asher’s hands burned a path down my back to the curve of my ass, and another gasp escaped when he lifted me with the ease of someone picking up a rag doll.

Electric shivers rippled down my spine, and I instinctively wrapped my arms and legs around him as he carried me to my room without breaking our kiss.

My flat had one bedroom and the door was open, so he didn’t have to guess where to go. Every step added to the need building between my legs; by the time we passed through the doorway, I was nothing more than a bundle of anticipatory pleasure strung together with lust.

Asher pulled his mouth away from mine. I let out an involuntary whimper of protest, which elicited a soft chuckle as he laid me on the bed with exquisite, agonizing care.

“Don’t worry, darling.” The words feathered over my skin like tiny caresses. “We haven’t even started yet.”

My entire body tightened at the dark promise in his voice. I watched, blood thrumming, as he shed his trousers and boxer briefs.

We’d lost my dress and his shirt somewhere between the living room and bedroom. I was clad in my black lace bra and thong set—the one I always wore for first dates—and Asher was…well, he was naked.

The most glorious, mouthwatering type of naked a girl could dream of.

If I hadn’t been lying down, my knees might’ve buckled from the sheer visual pleasure standing before me.

Broad shoulders. Tapered waist. Abs like chiseled marble. And those thighs. They looked like they could crush a freaking watermelon.

My belly fluttered with a fresh wave of need.

I’d never admit it, but I’d always thought footballers had the best physique out of any athletes. Slim yet muscular, light yet powerful.

Asher proved all my theories right.

My eyes tracked a light dusting of hair—down, down, past the ridges of his abs all the way to his arousal.

The air evaporated from my lungs. My God. Even his cock was beautiful. Long and thick, perfectly proportioned to his body, its tip already leaking pre-cum.

Another soft laugh interrupted my greedy perusal.

“Close your mouth, sweetheart,” Asher drawled. “There’s plenty of time for that later.”

A flush worked its way from my face to my toes at the insinuation. However, my embarrassment faded when he approached me, his eyes dark with a mixture of heat, amusement, and something else that slotted between my rib cage like a key into a lock.

It wasn’t my first time having sex, but the lead-up had never felt like this—like I was teetering on the precipice of something that could upend my entire world if I let it.

And I wanted to let it. That was the scariest part.

I’d tried so hard to prevent myself from getting to this point. Every time I gave in over the past two months, I immediately pulled back, but one side had to win the tug-of-war between my heart and mind.

Right now, the heart was leading bigtime.

The mattress dipped beneath Asher’s weight. He hadn’t touched me yet, but the warmth of his body curled around me in sensual tendrils as he dragged his gaze up my legs, over my stomach, and to my face.

I instinctively tensed. Self-consciousness coiled around me in a defensive shield, but unlike previous hookups, he didn’t stop to gawk at the surgery scars on my hip and stomach or struggle to hide a flash of revulsion.

When his eyes met mine, they were filled with nothing except pure, appreciation-fueled desire, and it was that, more than anything else, that ended the war inside me.

Heart: one. Mind: zero.

No one had ever looked at me like that, like they could see past all my shields and pretenses to the imperfections I fought to hide. Like those imperfections didn’t matter, and not only did they not matter, but they were a reason for appreciation instead of an obstacle.

It was the first time anyone had seen me for me.

Emotion tangled in my throat as Asher’s lips brushed mine before he trailed a series of slow, excruciatingly gentle kisses down my throat and chest. He unclasped my bra with deft fingers along the way, and I bit back a moan when he turned his attention to my breasts.

Every inch of skin flamed like it was fire and he was oxygen. The heat spread, slowly at first, then gathering speed as he reached the aching center between my thighs.

My mind was so muddled, I didn’t know when or how he’d slipped my underwear off, but I had enough faculties left to ask the question that’d plagued me since he showed up at my door.

“Why did you come back?” The words slipped out somewhere between nerves and anticipation.

I had an inkling, but I wanted to hear him say it. I needed to know that if we opened Pandora’s box, we would brave the consequences together.

Asher paused, his breath soft against my parted thighs. The moonlight carved valleys and shadows across his face, but when he looked up, I saw the answer before he said it.

“I came back for you.”

Simple. Honest. Raw.

Then he dove in and drove every other thought out of my mind.

There was no time to reflect on his answer or the way it made my heart fold in on itself. There was only the silkiness of his tongue, and the pleasure pouring through my veins, and the sharp, undiluted need to be as close to him as possible.

If I thought Asher was thorough with his kisses, it was nothing compared to the way he gave oral.

He left no inch of flesh unattended, no piece of want unfulfilled as he ate me out like I was his last meal. When I craved more pressure, he added it; when I wished for more attention on a certain spot, he moved there. It was like he had a crystal-clear look inside my mind, and my defenses were no match for his targeted onslaught.

“Please,” I gasped. I grasped his hair, desperate for any hold that would keep me from slipping too far too fast. “I can’t…I…oh fuck.”

He dragged his teeth across my clit, and only the steel grip of his hands on my hips kept me from shooting off the bed.

Electricity shot through me, causing tears to pool at the corners of my eyes. My words devolved into unintelligible moans as Asher soothed me with gentler laps of his tongue.

“Fuck, sweetheart, you’re so wet.” He groaned, the sound rumbling through me like a match to gasoline.

I was still shivering from the aftereffects when he sucked my already swollen clit into his mouth, and the world splintered again.

I cried out, my back arching up again. But no matter how hard I bucked or how many times I instinctively tried to scoot away, he dragged me back, his mouth and tongue and teeth working in tandem as he continued his brutal, delicious assault against my senses.

My mind was fracturing, its hold on reality slipping with every lick and suck. I was so soaked, I almost didn’t notice when he pushed two fingers inside me. They slid in with little resistance, but when he curled them just so, pressing against my most sensitive spot, my orgasm tore through me with blinding ferocity.

Another sharp cry clawed up my throat, but it was drowned out by pleasure so intense it seemed to unravel straight from my core. Wave after wave rushed through me, stealing the breath from my lungs and filling my vision with bursts of light.

I dimly heard the rustle of clothes and the rip of foil. Fireworks were still exploding behind my eyes when Asher tucked a pillow under my hips and pressed the tip of his cock against my pussy. The orgasm had wrung me out, but that didn’t stop a whimper from escaping.

As good as the oral had been, I needed more. I needed something to fill the empty ache inside me.

Asher’s lips grazed my ear. “Hold on tight.”

My anticipation pulled tight into a painful knot, but I didn’t get a chance to respond before he pushed inside me with a smooth thrust.

This time, my gasp only made it out halfway. It cut off into a half-moan, half-squeal that would’ve embarrassed the hell out of me had I had enough presence of mind to be embarrassed.

Since I didn’t, I could only cling to him for dear life as he settled into a hard, relentless rhythm, my nails digging into his shoulders, my hips rising to meet his. The headboard slammed against the wall every thrust, and the sound of flesh slapping flesh mingled with our harsh breaths and cries.

I was sure I’d get a nasty note about the noise from my neighbor tomorrow, but I was so lost in the moment that I didn’t care.

My condition meant sex could be difficult and painful if I wasn’t in the right position or my partner didn’t know what they were doing. However, the wine from dinner and my orgasm had loosened my limbs, and Asher managed to hit my sweet spot every single time.

Our bodies moved in sync like they were made for each other. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt this connected to someone during sex, and it had less to do with the physicality of the act than it did with the emotions behind it.

For once, I didn’t feel the need to perform. I could simply bask in the sensations, and the result was so overwhelming that part of me was afraid I’d never be the same after this.

Asher captured my mouth in a kiss. “God, you feel good,” he murmured. “Your pussy takes my cock so fucking well, sweetheart. I could fuck you all day and night and you would still be wet and ready for me, wouldn’t you?”

Heat pulsated in my core at the image he painted. “Yes,” I panted. My nails sank deeper into his skin. “Please.”

He groaned again. Tension corded the muscles of his neck and shoulders. His hands dug into my hips, and I could tell he was on the verge of breaking.

That knowledge, combined with the taste of myself on his tongue and the deep strokes of his cock, set me off for the second time that night.

This time, my orgasm was less like a wave and more like a tsunami. It started in the pit of my stomach and slammed through the rest of my body with such force, my toes literally curled.

A scream ripped from my throat. My body bowed from the intensity as Asher increased his speed, and I felt his cock throb inside me before he came with a guttural cry.

He collapsed next to me, and we lay there during the come down, our bodies flushed with sweat, our chests heaving for oxygen as I tried to recover from what was hands down the best sex of my life.

“Your neighbor is going to hate us,” he said after what could’ve been a minute or an hour.

I’d lost sense of time. I was still floating on a high, my limbs weightless with exhaustion, but a laugh bubbled from my chest, nonetheless. “I thought the same thing earlier.”

Asher turned his head to look at me. “You were thinking of your neighbor while we were having sex?”

My laugh intensified at the insulted look on his face. “Only for a moment. I didn’t think she’d appreciate the headboard slamming.” I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. “Don’t worry. I was focused on you the majority of the time.”

“Thanks,” he said dryly. “You really know how to stroke a guy’s ego.”

But a glitter of amusement lit his eyes, and I couldn’t hold back a grin of my own.

After-sex conversations were often so awkward, but I could lie here and talk to him all night.

“I’m not going to make a dirty joke,” I said. “You set it up too easily for me.”

“Exactly. I love dirty jokes.” Asher shifted onto his side, and I sucked in a surprised breath at what I felt against my leg. “Among other things.”

“How are you hard again already?” I demanded, even as a tingle of renewed lust shot through me. “You just came!”

Laughter vibrated through the room. “Stamina. It comes with the territory.” His voice softened into smoke. “Now be a good girl and suck my cock clean.”

It was like he’d flipped a switch with those ten words.

The levity instantly vanished, replaced by thick, heady tension. A flame ignited in my core as his earlier words surged up in my consciousness.

Close your mouth, sweetheart. There’s plenty of time for that later.

Oxygen thinned, and I swallowed at the thought of taking him in my mouth. He wasn’t fully hard yet, but he was still intimidating enough that my thighs clenched.

Nevertheless, I didn’t take my eyes off his as I rose onto my knees and straddled him. I hadn’t gotten to where I was in life without a boatload of determination and a certain taste for challenges.

Asher’s expression didn’t change as I grasped him with both hands and stroked him to full length, but his breathing visibly quickened when I rubbed my thumb across the pre-cum gathered at his tip. He was still slick from our previous activities, but I used the pre-cum as additional lube.

I twisted and squeezed, pumping him with long, firm strokes until his hips bucked and he let out a strangled noise.

The thrill of pulling that reaction from him pooled between my thighs. The squelch of my hands sliding over his cock, the way he fisted the sheets in an attempt to maintain control, the sheer heat and size of him…

“Enough teasing.” Asher’s steely voice halted my movements. “Suck my cock, Scarlett.”

Oh God.

My clit throbbed at the harsh command, and I didn’t bother protesting. Not when I was dying to taste him as much as he’d tasted me earlier.

My breaths left me in little pants as I eagerly swirled my tongue around his cock head. I whimpered with need at the taste, and my body buzzed to life at the sound of his groans. I kept my hands wrapped around him as I bobbed my head up and down and alternated between licking and sucking.

I smiled with satisfaction when his hands finally tangled in my hair. I worked him deeper down my throat, but I eventually hit a point where my gag reflex kicked in.

Fresh tears sprung to my eyes, and drool leaked from the corners of my mouth as I choked on half his length.

Asher’s grip loosened, giving me an out, but I paused only long enough to catch my breath before I dove in again.

Like I said, determination and challenges. I thrived on both.

“Fuck, that’s it.” Asher tightened his hold again when I sucked harder. I didn’t manage to take all of him, but he filled my throat so completely that my moan came out as a needy hum. “You drive me so fucking wild,” he groaned. “And you don’t even know it.”

My muffled response got lost beneath a loud curse and grunt when his orgasm hit. His hips slammed up, and I choked again as bursts of cum hit the back of my throat.

My vision blurred, but I swallowed hungrily, trying to keep up as he came and came until he finally sagged, and I let his cock slip from my lips.

I pushed myself up and wiped my mouth, another smile flickering to life at Asher’s expression of postcoital bliss.

“You look pleased with yourself,” he said, an answering smile in his voice.

“So do you.” I arched an eyebrow at his groin and earned myself a full-throated belly laugh.

We cleaned ourselves up, sliding from lust to comfort with an ease that made my chest glow. When we finished, I curled up next to him, utterly exhausted but satiated in a way I hadn’t been for a long, long time.

A companionable silence filled the room. Drowsiness tugged at my eyelids, but I didn’t want to sleep. Not yet.

Asher pressed a kiss on my forehead. “How are you feeling?” he murmured. “You need anything?”

My chest clenched. It was a casual question, but it was the casualness that made it so intimate. He wasn’t trying to care; he simply did.

I’d been too wound up to appreciate it at the time, but I suddenly remembered how he’d placed the pillow beneath me earlier. It’d gotten shoved to the side during my ministrations, but it helped with the pain that sometimes accompanied sex.

Even in the throes of desire, he’d been thoughtful enough to think of my comfort.

My chest squeezed harder.

“No,” I said honestly. “I feel great.”

I might not in the morning. I hadn’t had sex in ages, so who knew how my body would react later. But that was a problem for another day.

I also had enough wits left to understand there was no turning back after tonight. A kiss was one thing; sex was another, especially the kind of sex we’d just had.

We’d discarded our inhibitions, and we’d have to face the consequences tomorrow.

But right now, as Asher curled his arm around my shoulders and I tucked my head against his chest, I found it hard to care.

Tomorrow would always be there.

Tonight, it was just us, and I was going to enjoy every second of it while it lasted.