“Ugh, Luke, I hate basketball.”

“I know, but please? Brayden bailed on me and I don’t want to waste the tickets or go by myself.”

“Your brother is useless so I have to suffer? Sounds like the same old story of my life.”

“Come on, Gabby. Think of it this way, you’re gonna see a pile of fit men run around and get sweaty for your entertainment. Just pretend you’re at a Magic Mike show or something.”

On her end of the call, Gabby broke out in a grin. Luke was clearly desperate for company at this damn game if he was pulling out Magic Mike references. She decided that her childhood friend had earned it.

“Alright, alright. Pick me up in an hour. I’ll be ready.”

“Yes! Thank you, angel, you’re the best.”

“Don’t you forget it.”

An hour later, Luke was parked in front of her house, honking his horn, as per usual. Gabby muttered as she slipped on her Chuck Taylors, “Yeah, yeah, I’ma comin’.”

She grabbed her bag and was out the door, sprinting down the walkway and into his car. She was in her daily uniform of skinny jeans and Chucks, today topped with an old school Clipper’s t-shirt. When Luke saw it, he laughed.

“I thought you hated basketball.”

“I do, but my brother doesn’t and if you’re going to drag me to this game, I’m at least going to blend in.” She looked at his own ensemble of jeans and a white t-shirt and nodded approvingly. He might just be her friend, but that didn’t stop her from noticing the tight body he’d been rocking since they were in high school.

Luke battled L.A. traffic until they hit the arena and he parked in the structure. They fought through human traffic to find their seats, which were a few rows back from courtside, dead center. Nice. Alright, so maybe Gabby didn’t like basketball, but if she had to be subjected to it, it was a bonus to have good seats.

“I’m gonna grab a burger, you want something?”

Gabby shrugged noncommittally, “Yeah, whatever, you know what I like. You want money?”

“Nope, I got it. Be right back.”

Luke scampered up the stairs in search of food and Gabby pulled out her phone to pass the time as she sat there alone. She felt someone looking at her and looked to her right to see a woman smiling sweetly.

“Hi, you and your boyfriend are so cute together.”

“Oh! God, no, Luke? No, we’re just friends. I’ve known him since…Jesus, like forever. I had a crush his brother for awhile, but that faded a long time ago.”

The woman looked a little too pleased with this information. “You said his name was Luke?”

“Yeah…”

“Thanks. You’re a peach.”

The woman turned away, ending the conversation and Gabby rolled her eyes slightly and returned to her phone. L.A. people are so freaking weird, she thought.

When Luke returned he had half the concession stand with him: a burger for each, fries, nachos, bottled water, and beer. The game started soon after and Gabby was actually more interested in her food than the action.

That being said, Luke had been right. The Clippers were playing the Cavaliers and there was plenty of man candy for her to appreciate. Especially a certain tattooed hottie by the name of J.R. Smith.

As the second period started, Gabby leaned over towards Luke. “Hey, you think you could use your super awesome NHLer powers and get me into the Cavaliers’ locker room?”

Luke grinned and looked at the players on the floor. “Let me guess who you’re eyeing up. Hmm… Knowing you, I’m thinking… Kevin Love.”

Gabby pulled a face. “God, you don’t know me at all, do you?”

“Okay, fine, I know how you like your burgers, but I don’t know what kind of guys you like. You never let me meet them anymore.”

“That’s because you’re always an asshole to them, so I stopped bringing them around.”

“That’s because no one’s ever good enough for our little Gabby.” He pinched her cheek and she slapped his hand away with a scowl on her face. “Alright, let me guess again. Kyrie Erving?”

“Nope.”

“Please don’t say LeBron.”

“Ugh, never.” She pointed at Smith. “J.R. though?” She grunted happily. “I would climb him like a motherfucking tree.”

Luke looked at J.R. and then back at Gabby, then back at J.R. “Seriously? He looks like a walking venereal disease. And his tattoos are terrible.”

“I know, but something about that bad boy with an attitude look just gets me going these days. So you gonna help me out or not?”

“First of all, it’s not like I have some magic card I can just flash to go wherever I want.”

“Really? You play for the goddamn L.A. Kings, you should have a key to the city.”

“Not yet, angel. Keep dreaming. Second of all, if you had your eye on someone remotely respectable and good looking I would have at least tried. But J.R. is way too dirty. You deserve better.”

“You are not a true friend, Luke, I want you to know that.”

“Yeah, well, you’ll thank me when you get to live the rest of your life without contracting syphilis from guy.”

They shared a laugh and went back to watching the game. Before the fourth period was supposed to start Gabby was more bored than ever and tired of checking her Instagram incessantly. She watched the scoreboard instead, laughing as the little kids flipped out when they got projected on the big screen.

Then, it was time for the kiss cam and she smiled. She always liked this one, seeing cute couples engaging in sanctioned PDA for their amusement. Luke was watching the Clippers’ bench when Gabby saw their two faces on the screen.

“Oh, Christ!” She buried her head in her hands.

Luke started, “What -” Then he looked up and laughed.

His name flashed on the screen now as well, “The Clippers welcome Luke Schenn from the L.A. Kings!” Gabby didn’t see it, because she was still hiding from her and Luke’s faces surrounded by a cheesy cut-out heart on the screen.

Luke just said, “Oh, wow, how nice of them.”

Gabby looked over at him. “I can’t believe I used to like this bullshit. Is it still on us?”

He looked up and laughed. “Uh, yeah.” He waved and then made a slashing motion on his neck. The camera didn’t move. “Um, I don’t think they’re going to take us off there until we kiss.”

“What!? Kiss the girl next to you, then. I’m not doing it.”

Luke looked over and the woman who had said they made a cute couple was smiling expectantly. He turned back towards Gabby. “No, thanks. Just come on. It won’t hurt. I won’t even slip you any tongue.”

Gabby looked up and was mortified to see her face that large. She just wanted this to be over and was willing to do whatever it took to make that happen. “Ugh, fine.”

She grabbed his shirt and hauled him closer, pressing her closed lips against his as the people around them and all over the arena started to cheer. Luke was at first taken aback by how forceful she was, but that was quickly overridden by the feel of her mouth.

It was nice, sensual. Gabby had beautiful lips, full and well-moisturized, which he knew was purposeful because she was always applying some chapstick or lipgloss or another. But he could tell she was also nervous, because of the crowd, the attention, or maybe him? Either way, there was a slight tremor in her chaste kiss that shot through his body and right between his thighs.

She still held his shirt and now he cupped her jaw with both hands. When she gasped and tried to pull away, he pulled her closer and suddenly he was licking between her lips. There was nothing about this made sense, but he felt willed to do it. And he wasn’t in the mood or the right frame of mind to fight the urge.

Gabby’s hands went flat against his chest as if to push him away, but instead she just drove them lower until they reached under his arms and then griped his muscular back. Then, she was extending her tongue to meet his and enter the warmth of his mouth.

He groaned, or maybe he moaned, either way, the sound come from his mouth and was muffled by hers slotted over the top of it. She shifted closer and delved back inside with her tongue, stroking and licking with more energy now and he returned it, using his hands to tilt her head and get a better angle.

The noise of the crowd died down and with their eyes closed, both of them forgot where they were, lost to everything, but that kiss. A kiss that was either ten years in the making or a terrible mistake.

As if they both realized who the hell their mouths were on at the same time, they both pulled back. Gabby stared at him with her mouth hanging open, her plump lips even more swollen now and cherry red. Luke managed to close his mouth, but his breaths came out his nose hot and heavy.

She spoke first. “Luke…”

He said the first thing that came to mind.“I’m so sorry.”

“You’re…sorry?”

Oh, God, he thought, that was the wrong thing to say. Before he could fix it. Gabby stood. He did so as well.

“I have to go.”

“Where?”

Gabby grabbed her bag, shaking her head. “I don’t know…I don’t know anything, apparently, but I know I need to go.”

“Wait!” Luke was shouting at her back as she went running up the stairs. When he made it to the lobby, she was nowhere in sight. He pulled out his phone and called her, but she didn’t pick up. Of course she didn’t, he thought.

He called her again, no answer. For lack of anything else to do, he went back to his car on the off chance that was where she would go. When he got off the elevator in the parking structure, there she was, leaning against the passenger side door, staring at the ground. She didn’t see him until he was a few feet in front of him.

She gave him a pained smile. “I need a ride home, Luke.”

He stepped in front of her now. “Are we okay?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t we be?”

“Gabby…that kiss -”

“Was a mistake. I agree.”

“That’s not what I was going to say.”

Her eyes went wide, her voice got low. “It wasn’t?”

“No. It was…amazing.”

Gabby nodded and looked at the ground. She said to her feet, “Then why did you apologize?”

He took another step forward until they were toe-to-toe and she looked up at him with those pretty blue eyes of hers. “I take it back. I’m not sorry, Gabby. Are you?”

She couldn’t look directly into the pale green eyes of her friend, her oldest friend, the boy she had known since before she first had the urge to kiss anyone. She looked at his cheekbones instead and tried to make sense of what was happening in her brain. She always thought he had a nice body, but that was it. Her thing had always been his brother Brayden, everyone knew that, even though they had never hooked up. Now she felt like she was having feelings for the wrong Schenn, when really there was no right or wrong. There was just that kiss.

She whispered back, “No, I’m not sorry.”

“Good.” And then he pushed her against the car and kissed her again. This was more immediately intense than the last and Gabby’s knees actually felt weak. Jesus, I’m living a cliche, she thought. It was so good, she didn’t even give it another thought.

She did open her thighs to hook one leg on his hip and draw him closer. Luke make a sound like he was in pain and then grinded his hips against hers, letting her feel how the kiss had affected him as he continued to apply the second to her lips.

He pushed harder, to make up for his mistaken apology or to convince her to come home with him, or both, or more, he didn’t know. When her head banged against the car, she broke from his gasping.

“Take me home, Luke.”

“Home or -”

“Wherever you want, so long as you fuck me when we get there.”

He smiled the boyish grin of his and kissed her once more. “Get in.”

How anyone in L.A. ever makes it home to fuck was totally beyond Gabby. They sat in traffic, Luke looking over at her, Gabby looking over at him, both of them keeping their hands to themselves because they both knew if they started touching, they wouldn’t stop. Neither of them said anything, which was good because Gabby thought he could easily talk her out of this and she didn’t want him to do that.

They went to his house, only because it was closer. Before the door was even closed he was kissing her again, pushing her towards his bedroom and ripping her clothes off as they went. By the time they hit his bed, she was down to just her pair of jeans that he quickly pulled down, along with her cheeky panties. He was already down to his boxers and Gabby was grasping his cock over the thin fabric when they landed in bed.

He rolled on top, pressing his hips against her open thighs and kissing down her neck. He said, “Tell me how long you’ve wanted this.”

Gabby told him, “Honestly, thought never cross my mind until you kissed me. Fuck, you’re good with your mouth.”

He abandoned her neck and kissed her mouth again, showing off the skill that got them here. In the midst of it, she stopped him. “Tell me how long you’ve wanted me.”

“Since the fourth quarter, angel. Trust me, no one is more surprised by this than me.”

Gabby found that hard to believe. The force and quickness of her lust was so shocking it had her dizzy, but all she wanted was more, more, more.

She leaned up to press a line of fiery kisses down his throat. “Fuck me, Luke. Please, God, I need you.”

“Ugh, fuck, Gabby. I need something else first.”

“What -”

He pushed her shoulders back down against the bed and then went back to kissing her skin, letting his tongue dance down her torso until he reached her mound. Realization hit Gabby hard and fast and she thrust her hips up against his chin.

“Yes, Luke, Jesus.”

All she could feel was his hot breath hovering over her cunt as he said, “Alright, truthfully, I thought about doing this a few times.”

Her head shot up. “When? Why?”

He stroked her thighs as he licked his lips and met her eyes. “New Year’s Eve two years ago, you left a pair of panties at my place after you went home with…”

“Micah.”

“Yeah…” His palms threatened to light her skin ablaze, but he kept stroking. “I found them in the morning. They were still damp, Gabs. That was the first time I thought about what you would taste like.”

Her heart was pounding, her breath panting. “And the second?”

“Christmas last year, when I fell asleep in your lap while we were watching movies. I knew you were turned on because I could smell it. You smell so good, angel.”

His nose was lost in her folds and his tongue probed between them as well. As he breathed her, Gabby breathed out and it was a strangled, harsh sound.

He licked once, twice, several more times in rapid succession and then his lips found her clit, sucking gently.

“Luke!”

“Mmm, louder.”

Her voice was happy to oblige him. “Oh, God! Yes! Luke!”

He groaned, laved at her wetness. He massaged her clit with his lips until she whimpered and then he sat up, demanding, “Tell me what turned you on that night.”

“You…you, Luke. Your head in my lap. I wanted…this. For you to taste me. Please do it again.”

He grinned and it was such a nasty look she nearly came just from that. “I’m glad we’re both liars, Gabby.”

He returned his mouth to her, working every fold and curve of her pussy until she was going wild on the bed. He finished her off by sucking at her clit until she came with a shout, his name was the next thing she screamed.

He climbed off the bed, shoving down his boxers and then he planked over her again, letting her come back to reality after the orgasm as his cock rested on her stomach. She pulled him back down for another kiss as she laced her fingers together behind his neck.

Finally she looked up, eyes hazy, and said, “I am a liar, I thought about it in passing over the years. I never really wanted you until you kissed me. It was…”

“Yeah, electric. I should have kissed you years ago.”

Gabby shook her head. “I wouldn’t have let you. But now I am. Kiss me. Fuck me, Luke.”

He did both, pressing their lips together and thrusting between her thighs until he was buried deep. She broke away from him to moan loudly and he loved it.

“I should have known you were a screamer, Gabs. Fucking gorgeous.”

He kissed her neck and started to thrust. Gabby kept on screaming for him, she couldn’t help it. She was a loud girl in life, a louder one in bed. She took everything he gave and met him each time. They shared a smile and he kissed each cheek before claiming her mouth.

That only lasted so long, because he kept fucking her and she kept needing to scream for him.

“Fuck, goddamn you’re good! Luke…fucking great. Oh, yes, Luke!”

“You’re so easy to please, angel. I’ve only just begun.” He pulled out and she whined at the loss of him. “Roll onto your stomach.”

She did so and he pressed his body against the back of her and he felt massive now that she couldn’t see him. When he pressed back inside, she lifted her hips and spread wider to feel more of him.

Her shouts were now muffled by the sheets, but still just as loud. She felt her face flush as her gasping breaths were pushed back at her. Luke was flat against her when he went back to work, his hips circling and thrusting perfectly and making her feel every last inch of him. His hot mouth came down on her shoulders and she thrust up in response.

“Luke! Holy shit.”

His mouth came down on her ear now, licking and biting her lobe. “Come for me, Gabby. You’re so wet, I want you to cover me with it.”

“Oh my God! Luke! You nasty little shit, I fucking love it.”

He giggled and went back to kissing her shoulder, rocking his hips at a quick pace as he felt her begin to tighten and release around his cock. He sped up even more until she spit out another curse and flipped her head back to shout his name again as she came. He fell soon after, releasing inside her and then rolling off her immediately after.

He stroked her sweaty back and she rested a cheek on her arm as she turned to look at him. “Okay, just so you know, when I thought of you, you never did that.”

“Did what?”

“Make me come so hard I can’t think.”

Luke laughed and Gabby managed a still breathless chuckle. “Oh, ye of little faith, my friend. Give me five minutes and I’ll do it again.”

Her eyes went wide and he wanted to kiss her so badly because she just looked adorable. “Five minutes? Damn, you’re good.”

“Thank you. So, you like kiss cams again?”

“Oh, yeah, fucking love ‘em, but I don’t need the camera to want to kiss you now.”

She inched closer, closed the distance and tasted the sweetness of his mouth again.

Notes