#upper hand

Niall grips and tugs the sheets loose, giving himself enough room to slide out of Teyana and roll over onto his back to lie at her side. Teyana whines at the loss of contact, following, fingers curling around his bicep and pulling herself close until she can press a series of kisses to the center of his chest.

“Tey,” Niall laughs, his hands coming up to thread fingers in her hair, smoothing it back out of her face. It’s a tender warning that Teyana ignores, but when Teyana’s hand presses to his upper thigh and begins to slide inward, he cries out, “Hey—hey! Easy, yeah? Can you gimme a—fuck—I’m not ready to be riled up again just yet.”

He’s taken hold of her face now, pulls her up until their eyes meet. She takes in the pained expression on his face: the hard set of his jaw; his brows furrowed; his mouth half open. She can feel the way his chest is rising and falling at an uneven rhythm as he still struggles to catch his breath.

As his eyes soften, Teyana sighs, nods, and when Niall pulls his hands away, she lets her chin drop to rest in the middle of his chest.

“Sorry,” she mumbles.

“Sorry? For what?” Niall reaches a hand towards her face again, brushing away a few wayward curls that have fallen into her face, and she’s grateful; damned things, trying to obscure her view of his pretty blue eyes. “For wanting me? No, no. Love it. Love that. Love this. Never, ever, ever apologize. I just…need a minute, before we can…you know. Can’t turn it on like that, like you.”

Somewhat offended, Teyana’s brows furrow now. “I cannot just turn it on like—”

“Faster than me,” Niall interjects, and when she continues to give him the same look, he thumbs at her pouted lip. “Oi, fuck, Teyana, don’t give me that look. Didn’t mean anything by it. Just meant I need a little more time than you do to prepare for another round, and I…I want another round, when I can…y’know, give you the best of me.”

Teyana softens a bit at his words, feels the tension in her shoulders dissipate. Pursing her lips, she kisses the pad of his thumb, and Niall smiles at her.

In moments, Niall’s hands find her waist and pull her up until they’re aligned, and he kisses her, long and slow. One hand that he has on her waist slides inward, fingers gliding up the length of her spine to rest between her shoulder blades, and Niall sighs into their kiss, making her sigh, too.

Teyana pulls back after a while, letting Niall sweetly kiss her chin, and the smile that curls her lips could practically split her face in half. Her eyelids flutter closed, and she tries to catalog this moment in her mind, one of thousands she’s been collecting since the day she and Niall met. The feeling of his hands on her body, his lips on her face, the thunderous beating of her heart in her chest. And then, a faint rumble in her belly.

“One hell of a girl, you,” Niall breathes, pressing another tender kiss to her chin, then the corner of her mouth, and then Teyana turns her face until their mouths meet, a subdued smile on her face now even as her lips brush against his. She playfully tugs his bottom lip between her teeth, making Niall chuckle before he pulls himself free and presses a series of short kisses to her mouth.

“Love you,” he sighs.

“Yeah?” Teyana asks, a craving settling in as her stomach rumbles softly again. “How much?”

Niall pulls back, craning his neck as he stares at her quizzically, but he takes the bait. “All right, Cruz. What’s your wager?”

“Grilled cheese,” Teyana says, smiling when Niall’s expression shifts to one of confusion. “You said you needed a break before round two, and I’m suddenly starving, so get your beautiful but unbelievably pale ass in the kitchen and make one for me.”

Niall laughs, loud and almost comical. “Come for me and my pale ass, have ya?” There is still some laughter remaining in his voice as he adds, “Didn’t seem to have a problem with me ass when your hands were on it earlier, but…”

“Grilled cheese,” Teyana redirects him. “Please.”

Niall sighs, and Teyana’s lips curl into a satisfied smile when she can see in his eyes that she’s won him over, and rather easily, in fact.

“Havarti or cheddar?” he asks.

“Surprise me,” she replies. She laughs when Niall rolls his eyes as he slowly slides from beneath her, leaving her alone to spread out in all the available space of their queen-sized mattress. She curls her arms around Niall’s pillow instead and turns her head to look up at him over her shoulder.

At the edge of the bed, Niall stands with his eyes on her, one hand pressed to his abdomen while the other reaches up to shake fingers through his already messy hair. He leans over, chuckling, and presses a kiss to her forehead before turning to exit their bedroom.

“Got me a negotiator for a girlfriend,” he mumbles as he goes.

Teyana collapses against the mattress, erupting into a triumphant fit of giggles. The room grows quiet in his absence as her laughter subsides, and she smiles to herself as she gives the pillow still in her grasp a tight squeeze, thinking of Niall’s fit form and how good she plans to wreck him again after she’s quelled the rumbling in her stomach.

“You comin’?”

Teyana’s eyes widen and she quickly sits up, surprised to find Niall still standing in the doorway, back turned to her, looking over his shoulder. The vantage point she has gives her a perfect view of that pale ass of his, along with the definition of his back, and when her eyes travel up to his face, she finds his mouth painted in a smirk.

“Do you need me?” Teyana asks, clutching the bedding to her chest.

There’s a sparkle in Niall’s eyes and his smirk grows a bit more lopsided as he says, “Could use a distraction while I’m waiting for the proper time to flip.”

Seeing through his ploy, Teyana rolls her eyes before leaning over the side of the bed, fingers fumbling for Niall’s discarded clothes. She tosses his boxer briefs in his direction and he catches them with ease and bends over to tug them on, but he freezes as she sits up and lets the sheets drop, his t-shirt wadded in her hand as she purposefully stretches her arms above her head.

She watches the Adam’s apple in Niall’s throat bob as he swallows hard, his ocean eyes sweeping from her face down the length of her torso. With one foot tangled in his underwear and his focus no longer on the task, he loses his balance and promptly trips himself up, nearly face-planting in the doorway. He cries out as he makes a quick recovery, then curses softly as she obstructs his view, pulling his t-shirt over her head.

Teyana grins as she pulls the covers back and slides out of the bed to join a now very flustered Niall in the doorway. He meets her eyes with a hardened stare but she rises on her toes to press a kiss to his lips to pacify him, and he melts with ease.

As he links his fingers with hers and tugs her towards the kitchen, Teyana smiles, her thumb stroking against the back of his hand.