Outside the Box Read online

  “Not yet,” she whispered back.

  “Promise to tell me later?” I pushed.

  She smiled at me, a look of relief crossing her beautiful face. “Yes, I promise.”

  “Well then it sounds like we only have one more problem to tackle tonight,” I said teasingly.

  “And what would that problem be?” she asked.

  “What you’re going to wear to bed because I’m not letting you leave,” I murmured.

  “Not letting me, huh?”

  “Yup. Now that I have you here, you’re staying the night.” She laughed softly. “Am I?”

  I stood up and tossed her onto the bed before I went over to my dresser and pulled out a T-shirt. “You sure are, and this will solve the problem of what to wear, so I guess the only thing left to do now is get ready for bed.”

  ****

  I slept better than I’d ever had before having Aubrey in bed with me. We hadn’t even had sex yet and I was quickly becoming addicted to her. I had never been a huge cuddler, but I didn’t like her moving away from me at all, so I kept her close to me. We slept wrapped up in each other all night. Her head resting on my shoulder. My fingers playing in her hair. Our legs twined together.

  I woke up first and tried to will my morning wood down, but it was impossible with Aubrey curled up in my arms. I wanted nothing more than to roll over and sink into her softness, but I knew she wasn’t ready for that. I didn’t like that she was keeping something from me, but I needed to be patient. It wasn’t just that she was keeping her body from me either. There had been something in her eyes last night that worried me. A problem there that I wanted to fix, but I couldn’t do that if she wasn’t talking to me about it. I guessed that my entire relationship with Aubrey was going to be a lesson in patience. I just hoped I was up to the challenge.

  Aubrey started to stretch slightly next to me as she began to wake up. The feel of her body next to mine just made me harder, so I dropped a kiss onto the top of her head and rolled out of bed.

  “Mmmm, good morning,” I heard her say huskily behind me before she yawned.

  I turned back to look at her cuddled into my bed. “Good morning. You still tired?”

  “Yeah. Sleepy,” she sighed.

  I flashed her a huge grin as I realized that she wasn’t a morning person. She was too damn adorable with her guard down like this. “Go back to sleep. I’m just going to hop into the shower.”

  Aubrey rolled over onto my pillow and curled up against it before closing her eyes again. And just like that, she was back asleep. I look forward to many more mornings like this in my future.

  I turned the shower on much cooler than I normally did in the mornings, but I still left the door cracked open so the mirrors wouldn’t fog up so much. It always drove me crazy. I took my shower faster than usual since I didn’t shave on game nights. Hockey players are more superstitious than most, and it was a habit I couldn’t break after winning a tournament in high school where none of us had shaved.

  I couldn’t hear any noise from the bedroom, so I figured Aubrey was still sleeping and I could use the extra time to relieve some of the pressure her nearness had caused. My boner still hadn’t gone down in the cool shower.

  With the water beating down on my back, I reached down and stroked my shaft. I needed to get off and now, so I squeezed tight as I moved my hand up and down and shut my eyes. Without seeing anything, I could easily imagine that it was Aubrey’s hand on my cock instead of my own. That she was on her knees before me with her blond hair hanging wet against her back, her blue eyes glued to my body as she watched me getting more and more excited.

  I felt my balls tightening against my body as I pictured Aubrey’s smaller hand tightening against my cock as she jerked me off. Her pretty, red nails lightly scraping against my skin, driving me even more crazy. Her gasp as I started to come and sprayed against her bared breasts and chin. My name moaned out as she wiped my come into her skin before she reached up to put a finger in her mouth.

  Fuck, my imagination ran wild while I climaxed in the shower. The image was so vivid that it was practically real. And then my eyes popped open when I realized that I really had heard her gasp and moan my name. My eyes locked with hers through the shower door as I came even harder at the knowledge that she’d been watching me. That she was getting turned on from watching me jack off in the shower. I came so fucking hard and she hadn’t even touched me.

  “Aubrey,” I groaned. “Holy shit.”

  She stood there in my T-shirt and her panties as I rinsed off and turned the shower off. Her eyes ran up and down my body as I grabbed a towel and dried myself. She hadn’t said a single word and was breathing heavily.

  I wrapped the towel around my waist, stepped closer, and kept going until Aubrey put a hand up to stop me.

  “Luka,” she whimpered as her head dropped onto my naked chest and she trembled against me.

  “You can’t look at me like that if you don’t want me to fuck you right here, right now,” I warned her as I felt my cock begin to harden again.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t even think before I came into the bathroom. I was still in my usual morning fog, and the door was cracked open. Then there you were. Naked. In the shower. Stroking yourself. I just couldn’t look away. Ohmigod, Luka. I’m so sorry for invading your privacy this way.”

  “Aubrey, you absolutely do not need to apologize. I was thinking about you,” I admitted, wanting to ease her embarrassment. “Imagining you were in the shower with me. Just the thought of you was fucking hot, but then seeing you stand there… It was unfuckingbelievably hot.”

  She chuckled a little, relaxing slightly. “I don’t think unfuckingbelievably is a word.”

  “I might have made it up,” I teased. “But only because there wasn’t a word that existed already that could possibly explain how incredibly sexy you are standing here in nothing but my shirt and your panties.”

  “Then it goes double for you. Naked in the shower. Or just standing here in your towel,” she said softly as she peeked up at me beneath her eyelashes.

  “If you’re going to steal my new word, then I might have to take my shirt back,” I half-joked.

  “Well, we can’t have that, can we?” she quipped back, shoving away from me and pushing me gently from the room before closing the door.

  I stood there, dumbfounded by what had just happened for a moment. If just having her eyes on me could make me come like that, I could only imagine how amazing we were going to be in bed together once she was ready to take that step. Knowing what I did now, I just hoped I could show her enough patience so that she felt safe with me.

  I got dressed so that she’d feel more comfortable when she was done in the bathroom. I laid the clothes she’d worn last night on the bed along with a new shirt of mine in case she wanted it and then headed into the kitchen. Jason was already up and making breakfast.

  “Dude, you’re up later than usual,” he said as I grabbed a cup of coffee. “Big night?”

  “Don’t be a douchebag this morning,” I warned him, glancing back at my room.

  “What the fuck? I didn’t even say anything bad,” Jason complained.

  “Aubrey’s here. Just don’t be a dick,” I explained quietly.

  “Fuck, man,” he whispered. “You finally closed the deal?”

  I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him towards me. “Don’t fucking talk about her like she’s just a piece of ass. She’s not like the chicks you bring back here to bang.”

  “I didn’t say she was,” he said in his defense. “And I’m going to guess by how easy it is to piss you off this morning that you still didn’t get in there.”

  I punched him in the stomach before pushing him away. “I warned you not to say shit like that about my girlfriend.”

  “Your girlfriend?” I heard Aubrey say quietly behind me.

  I swiveled around to see her standing at the edge of the kitchen, dressed in her jeans and the s
hirt I’d laid out for her. Her feet were bare, her red-polished toes peeking out from the hem of her jeans.

  “That’s what I said,” I muttered, a little embarrassed that she caught me arguing with Jason about her and worried that she might have heard what he had been saying.

  “We haven’t had that talk yet,” she pointed out.

  I stormed over to Aubrey and pulled her against my chest. “Do you want to date any other guys?” I growled, pissed off at the possibility that she might say yes.

  She shook her head swiftly in response. “Not at all.”

  The shocked look on her face made me feel a little better since it reassured me that she wasn’t even thinking about the possibility.

  “Would you be okay with me seeing any other girls?”

  The shock quickly faded as her face paled. “No. Absolutely not!”

  “Good, because I’m not interested in anyone else but you,” I told her.

  “You better not be,” she argued, still looking a little sick at the idea.

  “Do you want to be my girlfriend?” I asked.

  “Yes,” she whispered. “Definitely yes.”

  “Well then, there you go. We’ve had the talk now,” I said smugly before I started kissing her.

  “I think I’ll eat this in my room,” Jason mumbled as he grabbed his breakfast and left us alone.

  By the time we came back up for air, the plates he’d left out for us were starting to get cold so I put them in the microwave for a minute. Although he acted like an ass sometimes, Jason really was a good guy and a great friend.

  I got Aubrey settled at the counter and poured her a cup of coffee. I added some milk since we didn’t have the creamer she liked and a little sugar before putting it in front of her. After grabbing the plates, I set them down and sat next to her. She stared down at her coffee and looked back up at me with a weird expression on her face.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You know how I like my coffee,” she said.

  “Yeah. I know lots of things about you,” I admitted. “We’ve been spending a lot of time together.”

  “I think you’re going to make a very good boyfriend,” she replied.

  “Why? Because I know how you like your coffee? I know how Jason takes his too, but I am definitely not his boyfriend.”

  “I’ve just never had a guy fix my coffee exactly the way I like it before,” she said. “It’s nice.”

  “Does that mean I earned bonus points?”

  She giggled at my question. “Sure. We could put it that way.”

  “Good. Then I’d like to use them now. Stay here with me today until I have to head over to the rink and then come to the game tonight. I promise to be on my best behavior,” I requested, wanting more of her time. I wanted to keep her all to myself. It might make me a greedy bastard, but I just didn’t care.

  “I’ve never been to a hockey game before,” she replied.

  I tried to give her my best puppy-dog eyes. “Then you have to come. It’s the best sport ever. I’ve been playing it since I was four years old. You’ll love it, I promise.”

  “I don’t have a ticket,” she worried.

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ll make sure there’s one waiting for you at the door when you get there.”

  “Okay, deal,” she agreed.

  “Besides, as my girlfriend, isn’t it your duty to come cheer me on at games now?” I asked.

  “Don’t push it, Luka. Or you might lose those bonus points,” she said as she punched me lightly in the shoulder while laughing.

  “Eh, I’m sure I can score enough today to keep me afloat,” I replied. “Maybe I’ll even let you pick out a movie to watch this afternoon.”

  “You better or you’ll end up with negative points instead because I’m always stuck watching action flicks,” she warned.

  “Why is that?”

  “Because Lexi has the same taste in movies as all my brothers, so I’m usually out-voted whenever we go see one,” she complained.

  “Well, since you’ve promised to be my girlfriend, spend the day with me and come to my game tonight. Then I guess the least I can do is let you have your pick,” I offered.

  Aubrey rubbed her hands together with excitement. “Even if it’s a chick flick?”

  “Even then,” I sighed. “My little sister makes me watch girlie movies sometimes too, so I’ve learned how to suffer through.”

  “Well, then I guess we have a plan for our day,” she said.

  chapter 7

  aubrey

  Luka had to go to the rink early because it was a game day, so I decided to stop by Lexi’s apartment before heading back to the dorm to get ready. I sent her a quick text before I walked next door.

  “Geesh! Don’t get your panties in a twist,” Lexi huffed at me as she opened the door after I’d banged on it.

  “You’re so slow,” I complained.

  “Give a girl more than a minute’s heads-up before you come knocking and maybe then I’ll answer faster,” she quipped back at me.

  “Yeah well, I’d have to be wearing panties in order to get them in a twist,” I said with a smirk on my face.

  Lexi yanked my arm and pulled me into the apartment. “What the hell happened last night? Last I knew, you were on your way over here to talk to me about Luka and then I get a mysterious text saying you weren’t going to make it over. And now you show up without any panties on?”

  “About that,” I started. “I did make it to the building at least. In fact, I made it all the way up to your floor. Only then I got a surprise.”

  “A surprise that left you going commando the next day?” Lexi asked, apparently impatient for me to get on to the good parts of the story.

  “Yup,” I said. “When I got off the elevator, he was in the hallway.”

  “That sounds like a really good surprise to me,” she said.

  “For both of us,” I agreed. “Luka thought I’d relented and was here to see him, and before I knew it, he’d dragged me to his bedroom.”

  Lexi’s jaw dropped open. “Damn, that’s hot.”

  “Hot enough that it wasn’t easy to say no again last night,” I admitted. “And even hotter this morning when I walked in on him in the shower. Ohmigod, melt-my-panties-off-my-body hot.”

  “So why keep saying no?”

  This was the question that had been rolling around my head this morning.

  “It’s hard to explain. At first, part of it was that I wanted to make sure Luka didn’t think I was a slut. Since he’d heard that I dated around a lot, I felt like it was important that I not just fall into bed with him right away,” I told her. “Especially because I didn’t do that with most of the guys I dated before either. Regardless of what the word on campus might be.”

  Lexi rolled her eyes at that. “You know guys like to exaggerate.”

  “And it never really mattered to me before. But with Luka”—I paused to gather my thoughts—“everything is different. Somehow, it’s all just more. Does that make any sense?”

  Lexi had a dreamy look on her face when she answered. “Oh yes. I definitely get the idea of knowing that a guy means more even before you’ve slept with him.”

  “I was also a little worried because it’s been a while since I’ve slept with anyone, and part of the reason I’ve kept my bed empty is because of how things turned out last time. I never wanted to feel the way I did seeing a guy I’d slept with, who I might be stuck with forever as my baby daddy, out with another girl while I was thinking about taking a pregnancy test,” I confessed.

  “And you wouldn’t have to worry about that with Luka because you’ve made a commitment to him,” she reminded me.

  “And that’s part of why I think I’m ready,” I admitted, both to her and myself. “We’ve been dating for a little while now. The chemistry between us is undeniable. I know I’m not just a rebound for him after the mess with his ex. We had the talk about being exclusive this morning, and the sound of him calling me his
girlfriend sent chills down my spine in a good way. And I really, really want to sleep with him.”

  “Sounds to me like you’ve made up your mind,” Lexi said.

  “Yeah, did I mention how much I want him?” I asked. “God, I could just lick him like my own personal lollipop all night long.”

  Lexi had just taken a sip of pop, which she spewed out of her mouth at my oversharing. “Jesus, Aubrey. Give a girl a warning before you shock the hell out of her.”

  “Sorry,” I offered.

  “So not sorry,” she mumbled under her breath as she cleaned up the mess.

  “How is it that, when you decided to sleep with Drake the first time, I offered you brilliant advice, but when I decide to sleep with Luka, you give me a hard time?”

  “Has hell finally frozen over?” she wondered aloud. “Is Aubrey Silver coming to little old me for advice about her sex life?”

  “Oh, shut it,” I grumbled. “It’s not that crazy when you think about the fact that you’ve been getting it regularly from Drake for the last year while I’ve been on an extended dry spell.”

  “Hell yes, she’s been getting it regular from me,” Drake muttered as he strolled into the kitchen.

  “Well shit, this wasn’t a conversation I planned to have with you around,” I grumbled.

  “That’s okay,” Drake said as he pulled Lexi close and nuzzled her neck. “Just pretend like I’m not here.”

  “You aren’t exactly easy to ignore,” Lexi sighed.

  “Well, then skip the conversation, let Aubrey go do whatever she needs to get done today, and come back to bed so I can make sure you get it from me again,” Drake said slyly and bit down on her neck with a growl.

  Lexi stepped away from him and swatted at his shoulder. “Down, boy.”

  “And this is why I didn’t move in with you guys,” I said, laughing at their antics.

  “Ah, but just think—you probably would have gotten to know Luka much better before now if you had and your dry spell would already be over,” Drake pointed out.

  “Shut up, Drake,” Lexi growled at him as I blushed. “You’re totally embarrassing Aubrey.”