Lunar Crest University (Forbidden Fruit)

Chapter Seventeen

FINLEY

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14TH, 2023

L uca’s hands rest on my thighs, and his fingers squeeze them as he leans forward to smash his lips onto mine. The flutter between my legs ripples in a syncopated rhythm with the beat of my heart. I see stars behind my eyelids as I struggle to keep up with his movements, and surely, it’s because there’s no oxygen making its way to my brain. It’s like I forgot how to breathe. His lips steal every bit of air I have left in my lungs as he kisses me fervently.

His palms are warm, even through the fabric of my yoga pants, as they slide up my legs and find my hips. I jump from the feathery touch of his fingertips against my waistline, and I can’t help but wrap my arms around his neck to pull him in further. There is no space between us, but it’s still not close enough. My hands knot in his hair, and a low groan vibrates in his throat.

The sound lights a fire in my belly. I’ve never been with a vocal man before, but even if I had, nothing could compare to the deep noise that rumbles through him as I roll my hips on his lap. His fingers dig into my skin, gripping my waist as he bites at my bottom lip with a growl. The sharp nip of his teeth pulls a raspy moan from my mouth, but it’s quickly muffled as he kisses me again. His hands wrap around me, shoving into the waistband of my pants before grabbing handfuls of my ass. I gasp as he pulls me against him once more, and my pussy clenches from the friction.

“Fuck,” he pants, and his breath fans across my neck.

As I feel him growing hard underneath me, I picture him peeling my clothes off, touching me where I ache, kissing parts of my body that have never been kissed, and then, the realization dawns on me.

I didn’t shave.

My legs are prickly, and his hands are in my pants. This insanely gorgeous man is mere inches from my hairy legs, and my confidence shatters into tiny little pieces.

“Wait,” I squeak, and I feel like such an idiot at how small my voice seems.

Luca immediately pulls back, his brow furrowing deeply as his dark eyes search mine. Removing his hands from my pants, they find my sides as he holds me cautiously, like he’s scared I’ll break. His mouth parts as his chest rises and falls shakily.

“What is it, Finley?” he whispers. “Did I do something?”

My heart skips at how concerned he sounds.

“ No .” I caress his cheekbones with my thumbs. “It’s not you. I just…I forgot to shave.”

The words fumble from my lips as I hang my head a bit, but my hands stay cupping his cheeks. My body instinctively wants to shrivel up from the humiliation that lashes at every part of me. It’s almost blinding as my mind wanders to anxious places, but his hands, grasping my wrists, snap me out of it.

“Look at me.”

And I do. Lifting my head, I give him a sheepish smile.

“Talk to me.” Luca tugs my hands from his face as he places them against his chest. His heart thumps steadily.

A weak laugh escapes me. “This is embarrassing. I don’t know. I didn’t think guys liked stuff like that, and I don’t want to gross you out. I guess I was too busy trying to decide on what to cook us for dinner, and it slipped my mind.”

“I thought you didn’t cook for me?” His lips twitch.

I shove him playfully as I scoff. “ Luca . I’m being serious. It’s humiliating enough for me as it is.”

He pulls my hands up until they’re around his neck, making me lean forward as his lips connect with my collarbone. I sigh softly at the sensation, my eyes fluttering as he pecks me once. Twice. A third time.

“ Princesa .”

I hum.

“I’m a grown man.” His teeth nip at my skin. “I don’t give a fuck about hair.”

“You don’t?” I rasp.

His “ no ” is muffled as he presses his lips to my neck before peering at me through thick lashes. “But if you do, then that’s okay too.”

This can never actually go anywhere, I know that. Wherever this goes, it’s destined to fail. I know that. But I’m lost in his thoughtfulness and husky voice, his dark eyes that soften just for me. It makes me forget how I met him and how I should be wary of the circumstances of it all. They disappear when he’s looking up at me with eyes swirling with dancing flames that I want nothing more than to bask in.

What’s the harm in pretending? No matter how small the time may be with him, I want it.

“If I say I don’t care either, hypothetically ,” I insist with a finger to his chest, “what happens next?”

He blinks languidly up at me before his eyes flicker to my mouth. “You sit on my face so I can have my dessert. Hypothetically.”

I hum, but it falters.

He echoes the sound playfully, and his lips pull at the corners. I can feel my cheeks warming from the way he teases me, but I don’t have time to hide them with the backs of my hands before he throws me over on the couch cushion with ease, like I weigh as much as a feather. He doesn’t even appear fazed at all. Instead, he crawls on top of me and steals my breath with another kiss.

“I’m going to pull down your pants.”

“Please,” I whine.

Luca peppers kisses down my neck. “I don’t think I caught that.”

His hands slide beneath my shirt, and my stomach twitches as his touch tickles me. The dampness in my panties is humiliating. They’re practically soaked as he hooks his fingers into my waistband. I can hardly breathe as he licks the base of my throat slowly.

“ Luca .” The tiny growl in my voice surprises me. “Please, pull them down. Touch me.”

I’m trembling with need as he yanks my pants down my hips, sinking his teeth into my thigh as he tugs them down my legs and tosses them on the floor. Blood rushes in my veins like fire, and my skin buzzes with electricity, like I’m coming alive for the first time in my life. The sting of his bite makes my heart pump harder, and I can’t stop the moan from fumbling through my lips.

“You like that, huh?” he murmurs, nipping toward my inner thigh and making me squirm underneath him. His large hands pry my legs open, and I’m a whimpering mess.

It’s like I’ve never been touched before.

“ Yes .”

He gently bites further down my leg until he’s hovering just above my panties. I can feel my heart stutter as I look down to meet his brown eyes that gaze up at me in a way I know I’ll never recover from. His eyebrow raises tauntingly, like he’s waiting for me to say something.

“Yes?” he asks, and the word lingers as he drags it out.

“Yes,” I whisper shakily. “ Sir .”

The smile that spreads along his lips is devastating. “Good girl, Finley. Now, I need you to do me a favor.”

My knees wobble next to his head, and I wonder if it’s so painstakingly obvious that neither my body nor my mind can function properly around him. I’m like a moth to a flame, a puppet on his strings that has no choice but to move with every tug and pull.

So, I say, “Anything.”

“Choose a safe word,” Luca orders, but his voice is delicate as he speaks. “Any word you want. Something you can say if you’ve reached your limit. If you want me to stop.”

“A safe word?”

I’ve never used one of those with anyone. All the guys I had ever been with were…vanilla. Vanilla and selfish, to say the least. If I ever wanted an orgasm, I had to give it to myself.

He nods, and his chin grazes my clit through the fabric of my panties. It prompts a shiver to roll down my spine, and my legs attempt to squeeze together, but his hands hold them firmly.

“I’ve never used a safe word before,” I admit softly.

“It’s a hard stop.” His thumbs caress my skin as he grasps my thighs. “It means we will stop immediately. I want you to feel comfortable with me. I want you to trust I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to.”

I push up on my elbows as I frown down at him. “Is this because of…”

Rosco. I know it is.

Luca clenches his jaw, and for the first time, his eyes avert mine. He leans into my leg, pressing his scruffy cheek into my skin as he grips me harder. My chest feels heavy as I watch him, and suddenly, I’m sitting up and cradling his head in my arms.

“Luca,” I murmur into his ear. “I trust you. I don’t need a safe word to feel comfortable with you. I just… am .”

I feel him sigh.

“But if a safe word would make you feel comfortable—” I pause, resting my cheek on his curly head of hair. “Then I choose maroon.”

The color of my cheeks after he speaks in that low tone. The red hue that dances along with his fingertips as they trace my skin. The blood that flows hot in my veins whenever I’m around him. The color of that one tie he wears once a week. The flags I pretend I don’t see. The leaves that scatter the ground from the red maple tree outside of my apartment. My life is a series of maroon-colored moments.

Lifting his head, his eyes search mine, and I watch the solace pool in his irises.

“Sit on my face, amor ?”

I rub my thumbs along his cheekbones. “Only because you asked nicely.”

A cocky grin stretches along his lips as he grabs my hips and lifts me in one, quick movement, smacking his palm against my ass as he chuckles. “ Vamanos, baby. I’m a starved man.”

My skin flushes at the name. I know he probably didn’t mean it in the way my heart hopes as it desperately tries to thump out of my chest, but I push the thought away as I throw my leg over him.

“Starved?” My hands rest on his shoulders for leverage. “We just had pizza.”

His eyes narrow. “That’s not what I mean, and you know it.”

Cupping my ass, he effortlessly hoists me further up. A laugh bubbles through my lips as he places me just above his face until I’m trapping his head with my thighs. I’d normally be more self-conscious about this position, considering I could suffocate him with ease, but he holds me up with steady hands. He rests against the couch cushion as he gazes up at me, and I swear he’s even more beautiful from this angle. It’s empowering to look down on a man between your legs.

My mouth opens to tease him again, but as his fingers hook under my panties to slide them to the side, the words get stuck in my throat.

“Hold them here. Just like this,” he instructs, tugging the fabric against my leg. I don’t hesitate to take over, and he rests his hands on top of my thighs as he inches me closer to his face. He must sense my hesitation because he winks up at me. “ Muy buena, Princesa. When I say sit on my face, I mean sit on it. Come on.”

Biting down on my lip, I ease myself down until his nose grazes my clit, and I shudder from the sensation. My stomach flips as I writhe slightly, but I don’t have time to recover before he pulls me fully onto his parted mouth. His lips connect with my pussy like he’s been dying for it. A low groan rumbles deep in the back of his throat as his tongue flicks out to lick a long stripe between my folds.

I’m a puddle, practically collapsing in his hold as he flattens his tongue against me. As if that wasn’t enough to send me into cardiac arrest, his large nose rubs the sensitive bundle of nerves with every lap and suckle of his mouth. My free hand finds his hair, tangling my fingers in it as I moan.

“ Fuck , Luca.”

This only encourages him more. The stinging friction of his mustache has my head in the clouds as he devours me like I’m his last meal. Bucking my hips in syncopated rhythm with his tongue, I can already feel the building pressure deep in my core.

My panties rub my skin raw from how hard I’m tugging them against my thigh, but I don’t care. All I can think about is his lips sucking my clit as he gazes up at me unwaveringly. It’s like he’s soaking in every reaction—his eyes flicker toward every twitch of my features, and his fingers tighten at every pant that leaves my mouth.

“Don’t stop,” I plea breathlessly. “I’m so close.”

Strands of hair fall from my bun into my face as I gape down at him, rolling my hips to meet the swipe of his tongue in frantic movements. The tightening of the coil within me squeezes, and I chase the high as I sloppily ride his face. His nose is the perfect size, made just for me. My jerky hip motions against him as I fist his hair are a silent claim.

He groans and the vibrations are all it takes for the wave to swell and crash over me, enveloping my entire body in warmth and electric currents as an orgasm rips through me. I’m contracting around his tongue as I collapse in his hands, and weak moans bubble through my lips like a prayer.

“Shit, baby,” Luca rasps below me. “We made such a mess, didn’t we?”

I peer down at him as he pulls me from his shoulders, and I realize he’s glistening with… me . Sliding down his torso, I land in his lap as my cheeks flush. His mustache is soaked but curves upward as he grins proudly at me.

“I’m sorry–”

He shushes me, leaning forward to press his lips to mine. The sweet flavor explodes across my mouth as his tongue slides inside, and the heat pools in my belly. I have never tasted myself before, nor have I ever had the thought, but it turns me on to think about where his lips just were, to taste the evidence of him making me feel good.

“Don’t do that,” he says. “Don’t apologize. This was always the goal, Finley. I wasn’t going to stop until you came all over my face.”

My face falls in my hands as I groan.

“Hey. Hey .” His voice grows serious as he pulls at my wrists. “I like it messy, Princesa . There’s no need to be embarrassed.”

I give him a timid smile. “No?”

“Nope. It’s kind of an ego boost, you know?”

With a teasing snort, I shove his chest. “ Stop. ”

The laugh that rumbles through him is enough to make my stomach flutter. “I’m serious. And stop hiding your face from me, yeah? Eres bonita .”

He’s more lighthearted than I’ve ever seen him, and I’m afraid it has planted the seeds in my heart. They’ll sprout, spread inside my veins as quickly as the blood that pumps through them, and be impossible to get rid of. You can yank them out over and over again, but pieces will always be left behind, tiny fragmented roots that will forever be a part of me.

“What does that mean?” I whisper, chewing at the inside of my lip. “You always speak Spanish, but I don’t know what any of it means. I’d like to learn.”

Luca stills, and only his ragged breaths can be heard as his eyebrows pull together. Solace pools in his dark eyes. I wish I could read his mind.

“It means that you’re pretty.”

His words bring warmth to my cheeks, or maybe it’s been there the entire time—a permanent pink stain dusting my pale cheekbones. I never thought of my fair skin as a disadvantage until now. The slightest blush probably beams like a flashing red signal every time he speaks to me.

“You know, you’re kind of a softie.” Falling over on the couch cushion, I cheekily adjust my panties as I prop my feet in his lap. “Who would have thought that the grumpy alley guy who is a secret gunslinger has a heart?”

His hands find the arch of my foot as he massages it with his thumb. “All villains have a heart, Finley. No one is born evil.”

“You think you’re a villain?”

He cocks his head at me. “I’m certainly not a hero.”

It’s quiet for a moment as he rubs my feet, and I watch as he avoids my gaze by glancing up at the picture of me and my dad hanging on the wall. He blinks steadily as he stares at the photo, studying it even though his mind is far away.

“An anti-hero.”

This grabs his attention.

“Your approach may not be socially acceptable, but it doesn’t make you bad. It doesn’t make you a villain .” I sit up, shrugging as I lick my lips. “You’ve helped me. Over and over again. You’re always helping me. Maybe it’s not conventional, but it’s not villainous. So–an anti-hero.”

Lifting my head to look at him, I see him staring at me like I’ve just spilled the solutions to all of life’s mysteries. His chest rises and falls with each uneven breath, and his fingers wrap around my ankle with ease, as if he’s scared to let go. His gaze sends electricity down my spine, and the goosebumps aren’t far behind as they explode across every bit of my exposed skin.

I’m not sure if I’m making it up because I have a hard time deciphering anything anymore—but I swear I see the roots sprouting in the depths of his dark brown eyes. Although there is no sunlight in the dim light of my apartment, his irises swirl with golden flecks. Warm, rich, and soft. The void that usually rests in them dissipates as the pools of reprieve take its place.

As we hold each other's eyes, I wonder if the seeds are in his heart too.