Breaking Elle (33 page)

“I can’t trust myself with you,” she whispers, folding her graceful hands in her lap

“What do you mean?” I say, tracing the line of her jaw. I lift her face to mine and absolutely fucking melt when she looks at me. “I won’t hurt you. I won’t let anyone else hurt you, I promise.”

“Be patient with me. I can’t even explain what I’m feeling right now. I do know one thing though; this isn’t a rebound for me.” She doesn’t break my gaze, her gorgeous eyes overflowing with passion mixed with apprehension.

“I don’t care what I am to you. You rebound all you need to, and I’ll
catch you.” I breathe, completely drawn to this girl. She’s owned me from the first time I laid eyes on her. “No matter what, we both get a chance, a second chance at something.”

“I don’t want to go too fast.” She breathes, looking out over the ocean as her hair whispers across her flawless skin. “I don’t want to hurt again, but I don’t want to make the mistake of walking away from something that feels perfect to me,
right now.”

“We are more alike than you know. We can do this together.”

“I’m sorry to be like this.” She shakes her head dismissively and turns to look at me.

“No, I want to be here for you.” I crave her so badly, every pore in my body wants to save her, but I’m not going to do anything until she’s ready. I’m not in a rush anymore. I’ve found ‘the one’ and I’ll do whatever it takes to give her everything. “Come here.” I whisper. My heart breaks for her as she crawls up, and I cocoon
her
in my protective arms, not wanting anyone or anything to hurt her.

The waves crashing against the shore echo the smooth and steady sound of her breathing. Her body nestled languidly next to mine is simply a dream come true. The sun burns over the horizon, spreading across the sky like spilled honey. Looking across the white sand, I see that we’re alone; we have the world to ourselves. She presses her body even closer to mine, resting her arm across my shoulder as her lips faintly caress the tattoo on my chest. Her touch is like warm water washing over me. How could it be any better than this?

She turns effortlessly, wraps her legs around my waist, and laces her arms around my neck as she brushes her lips over mine. I don’t question what she’s doing because we both know we’ve wanted this to happen since the moment we met. I seize her hungry lips, dying to kiss her, and she opens up for me, moaning softly when my tongue enters her mouth. Her taste is intoxicating, an addiction with no cure. I need more of her. She lets out a soft exhale, kissing me deeply as she gently tugs at my hair. Pushing against me, she makes a noise deep in her throat that drives me insane. I’m finally going to do more than kiss her. This isn’t a damn dream or fantasy anymore. This is my reality.

I run my hands down her back and she shudders. Gazing at her amazing perfection, I press my body against hers. My hand glides down to her collarbone, then to her breast, stealing a shudder from her and she gently bites my lip. She slowly presses her hips into mine, gazing at me with such longing that I stop breathing as she moves over me suggestively. She brushes her hand over my cheek and smiles. Her breathing quickens with every kiss, every movement we share. The damn anticipation is agonizing. She pulls away and whispers in my ear, “I’m yours... now.”

“Is this what you want?” I ask, hoping the answer is yes.
Hell, I need her answer to be yes.
My lips curl in a smile as they brush over hers. I want her more than air. I want to feel her body under my touch every second of the day.

“Is this what
you
want?” She mocks, biting her lower lip. Her hands travel up my chest and around my back, pulling me closer to her. My body wants her in the worst way, but this isn’t how I pictured it with her. She deserves better than this. I want the first time to mean something for both of us. I pull my mouth away from her, probably the single most difficult thing I’ve done in all my life.

“Doll, you’re beautiful.” I smile over her mouth. “You’re probably gonna hate me for this, but I’m gonna have to break our deal again,” I whisper, reluctantly pulling away from her lips, noticing the lust in her eyes; I ache for her even more, wanting to take back my words.

“You’re being so mean to me.” She pouts and drops her hands from my chest. Why?” She coyly tilts her head to the side, her long brown hair gently caressing my chest.

“It’s so damn hard saying no to you. Twice.” I cringe. “But you deserve better than sex on a public beach.” I raise my head and look around. “I want everything to be right and not rushed. I promise it will be worth the wait for both of us.”

She scrunches her face, leans up, and pecks me on the lips. “How much longer do I have to wait?” She implores, sweeping her finger over my lip.

Begging—not good for my raging hard on. “Not long. I promise,” I answer, leaning in to kiss her.
Damn, I promise. Cross my heart, hope to die.

“Okay.” She smiles, sweetly over my mouth.

“You’re amazing.” I kiss her softly, swallowing the emotion in my throat. Pulling back, I gaze into her hazel eyes, feeling such a powerful emotion for this girl. For the first time, I’m scared of what’s happening. She’s filling the void in my life that I’ve needed filled for so long. I’d never thought I’d be here, never thought I’d find her.

“Hey, you want to play some ball?” Tyler asks as I’m throwing my clothes in my backpack. Shaking my head, I stare at Tyler for a minute, trying to register what he just said. My mind is always gravitating to Elle, and the way that she affects me. Tommy would be laughing his ass off if he saw me like this.

“Sure, why not,” I reply reluctantly. “Just give me a minute to change and I’ll meet you out on the court.” I want to swing by and see Elle in the office. I know I shouldn’t because she’s too damn distracting, but hell if I can stay away from my doll. I don’t want to risk either one of us losing our jobs because of inappropriate behavior, unless she wants too. It happened once, but I can’t be too greedy.

“Cool. Bring your ‘A’ game, my friend.” He grabs a towel and his backpack, throwing it over his shoulder.

“All I got is ‘A’ game.” I chuckle. Wrapping my knee in a bandage, I’m thinking a little game of one-on-one won’t hurt and maybe the exercise will help with my knee.

“Good, I like some tough competition. See you out there.” He says, turning to leave.

“Hey?” I look up from bandaging my knee. I haven’t heard any gossip about what happened at the club with Elle and Cane, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t talking. Tyler kind of knows what’s up with Elle and me but it gets tricky because Cane and I were friends, and he saw us together on the fourth of July

“Yeah, what’s up?” He says, spinning around to look at me.

“What’s the deal with Cane?”

He laughs. “The douche fucked up twice and broke Elle’s heart, plain and simple.” He smirks, shaking his head. “Twice, man. That’s stupid.” His eyes are hard, and I know what that look is about. I saw how he acted the other night when Elle and I were together. He’s in bodyguard mode. “I haven’t talked to that idiot since that night. No need to after what he did to Elle.”

“Listen, man. You don’t have to worry about that with me. I won’t hurt her.” I counter wanting to make it clear to him that I’m not out to break her heart.

“I don’t know you that well, so all I can go on is what you tell me.” He frowns, rubbing his neck. I can tell he’s not enjoying the conversation or the idea that Elle is with me. “And Elle, well, she makes her own decisions. So...” He shrugs his shoulder and raises an eyebrow. “Weren’t you friends with Cane before all this shit?”

“We were, but I didn’t see Elle coming. It just happened.” I look down and lace up my sneakers. That’s a lie. I knew from that first night at the park, but nobody needs to know any more than what I tell them. He nods his head and doesn’t say another word about it because he knows exactly what I’m talking about.

The hot weather hasn’t let up. Even after five o’clock, the temperature is hovering in the nineties with no breeze. I head out to the court where Tyler’s shooting, and as luck would have it, Cane and Jace are playing one-on-one on another court. I’m sure he’s not in the mood to chat with me anytime soon. He only has himself to blame for what happened, and Jace just leaves a bad taste in my mouth altogether. I drop my bag on the court, pull off my t-shirt, and gesture to Tyler to throw me the ball as the sun beats down on the court.

“You ready to suffer defeat, my friend?” Tyler chuckles as he heaves the ball to me.

“Hmm... Dude, don’t sleep.” I laugh. Tyler steps to the foul line and I pass him the ball playing suffocating defense on him, but he dribbles around me. I spin as he takes it to the basket, bumping him hard as he throws the ball up and makes it in.

“That’s your ‘A’ game?” He laughs, dribbling the ball back up the foul line, swiping sweat off his forehead with his arm.

“Dude, just getting warmed up here.” He passes to me again, and I notice Cane walking up with a ball tucked under his arm and a hard, focused frown on his face. I’m thinking things are going to get heated real quickly. Tyler follows my gaze and smirks when he sees who it is. He straightens up, prepared to do battle with the guy who broke Elle’s heart.

“You guys want to play some two-on-two?” Cane glances at Tyler, and I see there’s no love lost there. I stay quiet, looking over at Tyler, leaving the decision up to him. It doesn’t matter to me either way. I acknowledge Jace with a nod. I’m just trying to figure out in my head the best way to keep Tyler and Cane separated on the court, because Cane has already man-upped on Tyler.
This is gonna get ugly.

Tyler cuts around Cane, spins to the basket while Cane slams into his body. Tyler smirks and heads to the basket and lays it in. Jace covers me hard, but all the action is happening between Cane and Tyler. It’s really hard to give a shit about playing any defense.

“That’s all you got?” Tyler laughs mockingly as he retrieves the ball and dribbles to the foul line a couple feet away from where Cane’s positioned with his hands on his knees, just waiting to take the pass.

“I’m just taking it easy on you since you’re game is a little rusty,” He replies wryly, catching the ball that Tyler heaves in his chest for the next play. “You should stick to your fucking baseball.” He mocks, wiping the sweat from his brow with his arm.

“Fuck you. Let’s fucking play. I’m gonna wipe your ass on this court.” Tyler chuckles as he bounces the ball to Cane who then fakes him out to the basket and goes untouched for a layup.

There’s a lot of pushing and shoving through the whole game, but it really escalates when Cane mans-up on me.

“Hey, cowboy,” he says sarcastically, his hands on his hips as he catches his breath. “Didn’t take you long, did it?” I wipe the sweat off my forehead and focus on him, ignoring his comment for the moment. He fucked up and he has no right to come pushing up on me like this. Heaving the ball into his chest harder than necessary, he bounces it back to me once. I dribble towards the basket, and he pushes me hard, elbowing me in the ribs and slapping the ball from my hands as I go up to make the shot.

“Long for what?” I huff. I know what’s up. Shit, I’d be one pissed motherfucker if my friend made a move on my girl, but that’s not the way it went down. He made his bed; he needs to lie in it. No man in his right mind would not want to be with her. He just needs to deal with his mistake.

“Don’t play dumb.” He takes a step to me. Looks like the game is over as Tyler and Jace are in position if anything gets out of hand. This is obviously between him and me now.

“You wanted her from that first day, the night you took her to that damn park. You had your eye on her all along, man. Didn’t you?”

What do I do? Tell him. Does it matter? It’s all out in the open now. Jace has probably told him everything. If I wanted her then or any other moment, we would still end up here at some point. He just gave me the opening I needed.

“Don’t blame anyone but yourself for fucking up with her.” I explain. All I am doing is stating the obvious but he isn’t having it. It happens so fast, I don’t expect this coming from him. His fist flies around and connects with my jaw. The blow has me staggering backwards. I taste the blood on my lip, and I wipe it away with the back of my hand. Recovering rapidly, I glare at him as the sweat is pouring off my skin and stinging my eyes. I lunge at him, tackle him to the court, and land a punch to his face. He grunts, rolls over, and gets to his feet. I pop back up. Panting in fervor, he comes after me a second time. Jace holds him back, Cane’s veins popping out of his neck and his face twitching with rage.