Love to Hate You: An Enemies-to-Lovers New Adult College Sports Romance
Love to Hate You: Chapter 23

I wake well-rested, as if I’ve slept a full twenty-four hours. It’s like my mind clicked off and I stopped worrying about my future, my mom, and everything else that eats away at me in the dark. I can’t remember the last time I woke feeling this energized. The urge to throw off the sheets, grab some athletic shorts, and go for a five-mile run hums through my blood.

I stretch, ready to attack the day.

Mid-flex, I realize that I’m not alone. A warm body is curled next to me. Just as my cock stirs with interest, it hits me like a ton of bricks who I ended up in bed with last night.

Daisy.

After years of pent up need, I finally had a taste of her sweet pussy. And then she returned the favor with the best damn blow job of my life.

Fuuuuuck.

What the hell did I do?

No, seriously.

What the hell did I just do?

I drag a hand over my face. The last wisps of sleepiness disappear and I’m wide awake. I swear under my breath.

Quietly.

The last thing I want is to wake her. Not yet, anyway. Not until I figure out how I’m going to extract myself from the situation. I can’t believe I allowed this to happen. I’ve always held myself to a certain standard where Daisy is concerned. A line I refused to cross no matter how tempted. Last night, I didn’t just nudge my toe over the line, I fucking demolished it.

Line?

What line? There’s no fucking line.

Not anymore.

Did I say fuck already?

Yeah, well…it bears repeating.

Fuck!

My gaze drops to Daisy. One of her arms is thrown over my body and a leg is tangled with mine. Her breasts are smashed against my side and the heat of her pussy burns my thigh. Normally, I can’t stand all this cuddling bullshit. I tend to need a little space after knocking boots. Both physically and emotionally. I’m looking for release, not entanglements. And I’m always upfront about that.

Sure, you can stay the night. I’m not going to kick your ass out immediately. Contrary to what Daisy thinks, I’m not that much of a prick. Plus, I’m never against a second round. Sometimes a third, if it’s particularly good and we have enough condoms on hand. But I have zero interest in pretending that screwing is anything more than that.

But this…

Already it feels different. Instead of feeling panicky, I want to pull her closer. More than that, I like it.

I like the feel of her body next to mine.

I like the way she fits against me.

Kind of like we were made for one another.

That being said, it can’t happen again.

Not ever.

Thank fuck we stopped short of having sex. Although, what we did last night was bad enough.

No. That’s not right. It was fucking amazing, but still, it can’t happen again.

Because I realize this is the last time I’ll hold her in my arms, I enjoy the warm weight of her body pressed against mine. The steady rise and fall of her chest with the deep, even breaths she takes soothes me. She’s like a drug. One I’ll never get enough of.

It doesn’t matter if she understands my rationale for pushing her away. I’m doing what’s best for both of us. Hell, if I’m lucky, she’ll wake up and be horrified about what transpired and realize it’s a mistake that can’t be repeated.

If that thought brings me a little pang of sadness, I push it away.

The next twenty minutes are both heaven and hell on earth because I keep vacillating.

Do I want more of this?

Hell, yeah.

Is there a way to make it work?

No.

It’s almost a blessing when Daisy stirs, stretching against me. The semi I’ve been rocking turns into a full-fledged boner. She’s fucking hot and I’ve wanted her since day one. My dick wants inside that sweet unicorn pussy. But that’s not about to happen.

It.

Can.

Not.

Happen.

Her eyelids flutter open and her eyes pierce mine, slicing right to the heart of me. I know I’m in deep shit when her lips curve into a sexy smile and my breath gets clogged in my throat. Her hair is a tumbled mess draped across my chest. The urge to wrap the thick length around my hand pounds through me.

But I don’t.

Are you goddamn crazy?

I can’t touch her any more than I have.

Noah’s face materializes in my mind. I wince and think about how pissed he’d be if he found out that I’d touched her. Guilt floods through my body, nearly drowning me. Noah and I have been tight since football camp before freshman year. If I have an inner circle, he’s it. The rest of these guys, yeah, I like them. We’re all good. But I would never disclose any personal info to them.

The fact that I put my hands all over his cousin doesn’t sit well with me. Daisy has always been off-limits. Noah doesn’t want his friends looking in her direction. He trusts me implicitly. And I broke that trust.

Then there are his parents, Craig and Marnie. It’s doubtful they’d be happy about us being together. Especially knowing what they do about my family, which is everything. They’d want to protect their niece against someone like me. Someone who has a propensity for violence.

There’s no denying that it runs in my blood.

Who could blame them for wanting to keep their niece safe?

Daisy deserves the best in life and that’s not me. It will never be me.

You’d think those ugly thoughts would be enough to douse the flames growing inside me.

They’re not.

“Morning,” she murmurs huskily.

If my dick weren’t already stiff from her naked form pressed against me, her sultry tone would do the trick. I’m rock hard and there’s not a damn thing that can be done about it.

Well, there is…

But that’s not happening.

I clear my throat. “Morning.” There’s no point in prolonging the inevitable.

“How’d you sleep?” she asks and stretches against me like a satisfied cat.

I stifle a groan and she grins.

“Good.” I’m not going to share just how well I slept with her in my arms. “You?”

Sure, I’m hoping for—maybe expecting—a cocktail of guilt and regret, but that’s not what I get.

“I slept well, thank you very much.” A sexy glint enters her eyes. I don’t realize that her fingers have detoured to my groin until they’re wrapped around my cock. “Although this was on my mind quite a bit.”

My throat goes dry as I tamp down my rising arousal. Everything that needs to be voiced empties from my head. I arch as she strokes my dick, pumping her hand up and down the rigid length.

How embarrassing would it be to come all over myself from a simple hand job? I can’t remember the last time that happened. Freshman year of high school maybe?

“Did I happen to mention last night,” she says conversationally as if we’re discussing the weather, “that I love your shaved balls?”

“Ahhhh…”

Hell yeah, she mentioned it.

At least a dozen times.

The fact that a clean close shave is usually a crowd pleaser is exactly why I keep it like this.

But the fact that Daisy likes it…

Fuck.

She loosens her grip and her fingers trail down to the base of my cock to play with my sac. As much as I enjoy her stroking my dick, I love this as well. It feels amazing.

In a different way.

It’s more relaxing.

Sexy relaxing.

Not I-want-to-fall-asleep relaxing.

There’s a difference.

A voice inside my head keeps asking what the hell I’m doing. But it’s so distant that I can barely make out the words over the blood rushing through my system. Clearly this kind of foreplay will only lead to one place and that’s with my cock filling her pussy. That image is enough to make me blow my load. I need to think about something else. I need to think about Noah and how pissed off he would be.

Yeah…that’s not enough to deflate the monster erection I’m rocking thanks to Daisy’s talented fingers.

So, I bring out the big guns.

Craig and Marnie.

But that’s not enough either.

“Do you have a condom?” she asks, wrapping a hand around my dick.

This girl…

It’s a little disconcerting that she knows precisely what will drive me to the brink of insanity. But without a condom, we can’t have sex. No glove, no love, baby. That’s the golden rule.

Her grip tightens until she has me in a chokehold and pumps my dick faster.

Fuck me that feels amazing.

Perspiration beads my forehead. I’m trying to hold back but it’s not working.

“Carter? Do you have a condom?” she asks.

Christ.

If she would stop fondling me for one damn minute, I might be able to harness enough brain power to think straight, but she doesn’t give me a moment of relief.

“Yeah.”

And just like that, I fold like a cheap house of cards. I wish I could say that I was disappointed in myself but all I can think about is the way she’s stroking my cock, and how close to blowing my wad I am, and how much I want to be inside her pussy when that happens.

The last thought does me in.

“Bedside drawer,” I ground out.

Daisy rolls to the side and pulls out a condom from the stash. I like to be prepared. Kind of like a Boy Scout. Using one hand and her teeth—which is hot as hell—she tears open the package and yanks back the sheet to straddle my thighs.

She’s all about taking control and I can’t say that it’s not a turn on.

What the hell am I saying?

Everything this girl does is a turn on.

Almost worshipfully, she strokes her fingers up and down my erection.

“God, you’re huge,” she whispers.

That kind of talk certainly isn’t going to help deflate this motherfucker. If anything, I grow even harder. Almost as if my cock is preening from her praise. A long growl leaves my lips as she continues caressing my length.

I need to say something.

What kind of douche has sex with a girl and then tells her afterward that it can’t happen again?

I can’t do that to Daisy. No matter how much I want in that unicorn pussy. I’ve been a prick in the past, but I’m not a douche.

There’s a difference.

Sleeping with her and then pulling the plug will only inflict more pain.

I squeeze my eyes closed and suck in a deep breath. I need to wrangle my emotions back under control. No one has ever made me lose my cool. No one forces me to feel something I don’t want to. Thanks to my father, I learned at an early age how to manage unwanted emotions. And that’s by shutting them down and burying them so deep that they never see the light of day again.

But Daisy has blown all my coping strategies to hell. And I don’t like it. Not one damn bit. I’ve seen what losing control can do. It’s dangerous. You crack open the door a tiny bit and suddenly every monster you’ve ever kept locked away escapes.

That thought does what Noah and his parents were unable to accomplish. When I open my eyes again, all the lust and desire that had been churning through my system dissolves.

Daisy sits astride my thighs with her gaze trained on my dick.

My now softened dick.

At least thoughts of my father are good for something.

Her brows beetle together as she stares at my junk.

I blow out a breath and keep all the emotion from my voice. “This can’t happen, Daisy.”

My heartbeat slows. The blood roaring through my veins and more obviously, to my cock, dissipates. Finally…finally I have some semblance of control back. There’s still time to turn this around.

“What we did last night, it shouldn’t have happened. We both know it.” Because I’m the asshole in this situation, I give her an easy out. “You were drinking, and I took advantage of you.”

Daisy rears back as if I’ve slapped her upside the head. Any sleepy sexiness that had been clouding her eyes disappears.

“Took advantage of me?” she repeats. “Are you out of your mind?”

“Not at all.” I clear my throat. “I shouldn’t have allowed the situation to get so out of hand.”

Daisy nods like she’s about to agree, which is my first clue that this conversation is about to go sideways.

“Ohhhh,” she says with wide eyes and arched brows. “So, you allowed that to happen?”

“Ummm…” I’ve never claimed to be an aficionado when it comes to the fairer sex, but this sounds suspiciously like a trap. “No?”

She narrows her eyes and I congratulate myself on being correct. If there’s a silver lining to be found, it’s that my instincts are still keen. Just not keen enough to avoid sampling Daisy’s pussy in the first place.

“What we did was consensual.” She glares. “I wanted it.”

How do I combat that kind of honesty?

I can’t. So, I switch to plan B.

“Noah would be pissed if he knew,” I say.

Daisy shrugs. “I’m sure he would be, but my sex life is none of Noah’s business. Just like his is none of mine.” She tilts her head to the side. “See how that works?”

This girl is not helping the situation.

I moisten my lips and try again. “He doesn’t want you hooking up with his friends. And he sure as hell wouldn’t want you with me.”

“It doesn’t matter what Noah wants,” she bites out. “It only matters what you and I want.”

Shit. This isn’t going the way I anticipated.

Even though it’s not true, I say, “I don’t want this, Daisy.”

Hurt flashes across her face. As much as I want to stuff the lie back in my mouth, I can’t. This is the way it needs to be. In the silence of the room, her choppy breaths fill my ears like the roar of the ocean.

“We live together. Us fucking would only complicate matters,” I admit. “I don’t want that, do you?”

“Wow. Okay.” She releases a breath. “I wasn’t expecting you to say that.” She pauses and adds, “Not after last night.”

“We both drank too much,” I cut in. “Things got a little carried away.”

Her lips flatten into a thin line and her eyes harden. “That’s not true and you know it.” I open my mouth and she holds up a hand to shut me down. “I’m not going to let you twist what happened into something it wasn’t,” she snaps. “If you’re having regrets, then just admit it.”

“I’m having regrets.” I hold my breath, half-prepared to be junk punched, but it doesn’t happen. Instead she trails her fingers over my nuts.

In my experience, most girls don’t take rejection well.

Is she waiting for me to lower my guard and then attack like a ninja?

Although I’m lying here naked with my package on display. I’m not sure how much lower my guard can get. I’m tense as hell waiting for her reaction. But all she does is caress my sensitive flesh and play with my balls before stroking her way up my shaft. Which, damn it to hell, grows harder by the second.

Apparently, my dick has abandoned the plan.

“Daisy,” I groan.

Her eyes lift to mine. “Yes?”

“What are you doing?”

She fists my erection with one hand while using the other to play with my sac. By this point, the mission has been completely aborted. It’s full throttle ahead.

“You’re a smart guy, Carter,” she whispers. “I really thought it would be obvious.”

“We can’t do this,” I mutter in protest. Not that it’s doing me any good.

“Don’t you like that?”

Her oh-so-talented fingers are relentless.

“Fuck, yeah. You do that any longer,” I admit, “and I’m going to come all over the place.”

Her hand is still wrapped around my thick length when she leans down and places a kiss against the tip. I squeeze my eyes tight. If she gives me another blow job, I’m done for. My eyes fly open as all the warmth surrounding me disappears and Daisy hops naked off the bed. My brows snap together in confusion.

A devilish smile curves her lips as she gives me a little wave. “Thanks for last night, Carter.”

And then she’s gone, slipping out the door.

I drop my head to the pillow and stare up at the ceiling before blowing out a breath. My dick is rock hard and throbbing. Apparently, it won’t be getting any of that sweet unicorn pussy after all.

Which is for the best.

Yeah…that’s fucking horseshit and my dick damn well knows it.