Resist Me

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Lincoln

I swear to god, Kai was an angel. All I had to do was text him saying that I wanted to pop in and he told me he’d place a key under the mat since he’d be in class and Sen was at work. Willow was hit or miss and I was pretty sure she’d been spending some nights with Rick. West didn’t have classes on Fridays, so I was positive he’d still be sleeping.

Balancing the two coffees and a box of donuts wasn’t easy while I crouched to pick up the key, but I managed it. Once I was inside, I deposited everything on the counter and took a breath.

I didn’t have anxiety, but I was prone to getting anxious about some things more than others, which was why I’d woken up so early to come here. Some crazy fool with an attitude problem had me overthinking last night all because I was worried he’d feel abandoned. Logical? Maybe not, but I was past questioning it.

I opened his door and stopped just inside the room. As usual, he was sleeping on his stomach and the blankets were only covering one side of his body. His foot was mostly off the bed, which was psychopath behavior. With his soft snores and the way his face was squished against the pillow, he was downright adorable .

Carefully, I crawled in beside him. I kissed his neck, then moved to his ear, pressing my lips behind it. He let out a little moan and turned his face away from me. Moving my hand underneath the blanket, I trailed my fingers down his abs. He really didn’t have any right being this fit when he ate the way he did. I wasn’t complaining, though. I loved his body.

When I traced his pelvic bone, he sucked in a breath and whirled around. I caught his wrist in the air, already expecting violence.

“Christ,” he grumbled. “I thought you were an intruder trying to take advantage of me.”

“Definitely the latter.”

Still holding onto his wrist, I rolled him onto his back and pinned it to the bed. When he tried to kiss me, I leaned away. He growled and dropped his head to the pillow.

“Why so impatient, West?”

“You’re a donut.”

I forced myself not to laugh. “Oh, yeah? What’s your favorite kind?”

He licked his lips before he used his free hand to stroke my cock through my jeans. “The cream-filled ones.”

Leaning down, I grazed my teeth along his earlobe. “In that case, I know how to make you very happy.”

“Mm. You sure know how to wake a guy up.” When I released him and got to my feet, he sat up and glared at me. “What is this?”

“A wake up call, obviously. No sex until after breakfast.”

He stuck his lip out in a pout. “Is there wiggle room in that rule?”

“Nope.”

“But look at this face.”

“Yes, you’re beautiful, but so was Lucifer. Get your ass up.”

With a frustrated sound, he flung the blanket off and stood. My eyes fell to the front of his basketball shorts and I had to mentally reinforce my own rule. His sly smile almost made me cave. He really was beautiful and it was worse that he knew how to leverage it.

“What if I just refuse?” he asked, leaning back against the wall. The way his back was slightly arched drew attention to his tall, lean physique. He flexed his abs and bit down on his lower lip.

I faked a yawn and turned around to head into the kitchen. There was a disgruntled sound behind me. I grabbed his coffee and held it out to him, which seemed to cheer him up immediately. When his eyes landed on the box, I swear I heard his stomach growl.

“Don’t let the others see those,” he said.

“Why not?”

“Because they’re allergic.”

“They’re not, but these aren’t for them. I got a baker’s dozen so you can have a dozen and I can have one.”

“Are you real? Like, seriously. Am I in a coma or something and in twenty years, I’ll wake up only to realize that I’m alone with no family, friends, or dudes to buy me donuts?”

“That’s depressing and no, this is very real.”

When he pinched my arm hard, I shoved him backward. “What the hell, man?”

He shrugged. “Had to make sure.”

“You’re supposed to pinch yourself to wake up, not me.”

I grabbed the box of donuts and brought it over to the couch. Setting it on the coffee table, I flipped the lid and grabbed an apple fritter. The thing was twice the size of my hand. It was my favorite treat to get from the bakery I went to downtown.

West ate a maple bar in two bites. I was pretty sure he’d unhinged his jaw like a snake. Did he chew or just inhale it? He picked up another, then flicked a sprinkle at my face.

“Gross,” I said.

“Don’t tell me you don’t like sprinkles.”

“No. They’re like edible aglets. They taste like plastic.”

He laughed as he took a bite. After he finished his third donut, he looked at me and raised a brow. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing. What are you doing?”

He nodded toward the hand I had on his leg. I curled my fingers in when I realized that I’d been moving them like I was playing.

“Muscle memory,” I said.

“What was it?”

“ Elysium At Midnight . It’s the one my mom composed. I decided to play it for my audition.”

He smiled and threaded his fingers with mine. “It’s gonna be the best thing they’ve ever heard. Can I come?”

My mouth opened, then I closed it as I thought about it. “You wanna come to my audition? ”

“Yeah. I’m gonna bring a bag of tomatoes in case it’s trash.” His smile faltered. “I don’t have to go. It’s probably personal and it’s super important to you-”

I put a finger to his lips. “I’d love for you to go. I was just surprised. Nobody I’ve dated has really shown an interest because, apparently, piano is boring.”

He stuck his tongue out and licked the length of my finger, making me pull it back. “That’s dumb. Even if I was bored, I’d still go. Then, I’d tell you how boring it was and show up early for the next one.”

Well, I’ll be damned. West said something heartfelt. According to my Galaxy watch, my pulse jumped, not that I needed it to tell me.

“Hey, West.”

“Hm?”

“Will you let me call you mine?”

He brought his coffee to his lips so quickly, he nearly gave himself a lobotomy with the straw. He side-eyed me and I leaned on the armrest, watching him internally freak out.

“West,” I prompted when it had been an awkward amount of time.

Turning fully to face me, he lifted his feet onto the couch and leaned his arms on his knees. I moved closer, matching his position. His toes were tapping the way they did when he was nervous or deep in thought.

“Explain what you mean by that,” he said.

“Okay. For one, I want to go to the team dinner with you and not hide what we are to each other.”

“And what’s that?”

“That’s what we’re talking about right now.”

“We can just keep it like this. Casual and no labels.”

Putting my hands over his, I shook my head. “I don’t do casual. Not long-term. Unless you want to put an expiration date on this… But I don’t want to do that. I like you- more than I ever expected to. This is something I want to pursue with you.” He continued to keep his eyes on our hands. “Baby, look at me.”

Suddenly, he pulled away from me and got to his feet. “I’m gonna shower, then I have homework to do.”

God damnit. I should’ve bought him another dozen donuts so he’d go into a food coma and be unable to escape .

“West, sit your ass down and talk to me. I’m not letting you run anymore.”

His hands clenched at his sides before he backpedaled and dropped onto the couch. “Fine, but not because you told me to. I just want to finish these donuts.”

“Fair.”

After he grabbed one, I moved my arm to the back of the couch and ran my fingers through his hair.

“I freaked you out.”

“No,” he garbled around a bite.

“Just be straight with me.”

He snorted a laugh. “Straight.”

I offered him a mildly amused smile. “Instead of freaking out, you can say no or that you need more time. This isn’t an ultimatum.”

“Hm. Let me run it back. You want to go to the dinner and show everyone that we lick each other’s bodies and stuff. You want to call me ‘baby’ and claim me or something. I assume you want to be exclusive. So, if I add all those things together, you’re asking me to be your…” He swallowed and started looking around.

“Boyfriend,” I filled in for him.

“Right, yeah. That. Uh… You’re gonna laugh at me, but I’ve never actually dated anyone.”

Willow had told me as much, but I didn’t want to say that right now. He’d already been upset that she revealed their past to me.

“So, what you’re saying,” I drawled, “is that you were waiting for the right person, also known as Lincoln.” He rolled his eyes, but his lips twitched. “We don’t have to do this but if it’s just because you’re nervous, I’m gonna be honest and tell you that’s a stupid reason. Let me ask you this: Do you like me?”

“Yeah,” he muttered.

“Do you want to keep seeing me?”

“I guess.”

“Then…” I gripped his hair and tilted his face so that I could kiss him. “Be…” His lips parted, opening him up to me in more than one way. “Mine.”

“How do I know if it’s right?”

“You don’t, really. If it feels important and you can see a future, you sort of just take a leap of faith. And being scared to do that is okay. I’ve been terrified since I saw you sleeping on that bench and I realized that I was worried about you.”

When he met my eyes, his nostrils flared. I pulled him against me again, desperate to keep him from shutting down. He groaned into my mouth before he turned to his knees and latched onto my throat. I let him push me onto my back. His grip tightened as his tongue stroked mine. He dipped down and shifted his hand so that he could lick all the way up the column of my throat. As he continued like that across my neck, I gripped his shoulder blades. When he braced his hand on the arm of the couch behind me, his back muscles flexed under my touch.

He was breathing heavier when he looked down at me. “We can try your stupid boyfriend thing.”

“So, you’re my stupid boyfriend?”

“Unfortunately. I’m not dressing up for the dinner, though.”

I hummed thoughtfully while I ran my fingers down his spine. He shivered and dropped to his elbows, then laid on my chest. I held him to me by the back of his head, unable to resist breathing in his scent when he was so close and showing affection.

It didn’t matter how much I liked him. He was wearing something nice to the dinner.