Page 112 of Crack the Ice

Mav squeezes my hand. I’m sure thinking I don’t have anything planned for him tomorrow, but he couldn’t be more incorrect. “I’ll have Cecy. We’ll be okay. Thank you for thinking of me, though.”

“Okay,” she says softly. “See you tomorrow then?”

“Yeah, Lils, see you tomorrow, birthday buddy.”

Both Cade and Lily give us hugs before disappearing down the corridor with my brother and Kait, only for me to realize we’re now the only ones here. The hallway feels like it’s gotten ten times longer and fifty degrees hotter all at once.

“You bribed the team to go out the other way, didn’t you?” I ask, leaning into his side as he throws his arm over my shoulder.

He presses his lips to my temple as we move toward the exit. “Am I that obvious?”

“Yeah, you really are. No swag. Zero.”

I let out an undignified squeak when he bends without warning and throws me over the shoulder that doesn’t house the straps of his hockey bag. My stomach drops, flips, and laughter spills from me before I can stop it.

“Come on, future Mrs. Reed, I have some points to collect.”

The kitchen counter is cold against my back, yet somehow the icing is colder. I tense as he draws a line along the inside of my thigh, not even caring that my skin might be stained red tomorrow. All I care about is the cold and the heat that follows it. His tongue lapping up the icing, tracing up the path he laid moments earlier. He moves slow enough that I feel every inch of skin he covers as it pricks with awareness of how close he is to where I need him.

“How many is this, Cecy?” His voice is rough, vibrating against my skin.

I can’t form a coherent thought. A strangled moan is the only sound I can get myself to make at the moment.

A deep, deviously satisfied chuckle rumbles against my center. “Try again, pretty baby. I didn’t catch that.”

My brain has been reduced to mush, completely useless around the second time he made me come undone on this kitchen island. “Mav,” I whine, arching into him. “Please, I can’t take it anymore.”

He laughs again, and then he’s gone. He didn’t go far, that much I’m sure of, but the warmth of him dissipates as the air of the room rushes to take his place all the same.

His shirt is still firmly tied over my eyes. It’s soft and smells like him. It strips away every sensation except sound and touch. The frantic beat of my own heart is the only thing I hear in the silence.

I strain to listen, to figure out where he went or what he’s doing. I get nothing. Is he watching me? Standing back, stroking himself, drinking in the sight of me laid out on the island like a sacrifice? My whole body responds to the image. A slow, helpless ache spreads everywhere at once, and I ache to see him.

“Please, Mav,” I whine again.

Nothing. Did he leave? Play me at my own game? I reach for the shirt around my face, only to freeze when his hand comes down hard on the side of my thigh.

“No touching.”

I gasp as he squeezes what is left of the icing onto my clit and sucks, hard enough that my chest lifts off the counter.

“Oh, my God!” I scream, threading my hands through his hair, simultaneously pulling him into me and trying to push him away.

His teeth scrape against my sensitive flesh, and I detonate, coming harder than I ever have, and this man laps it up like he’s possessed.

“Maybe next time, you’ll think twice about teasing me to the point of insanity. I’m fucking famished, so lay down, be a good girl, and take what I give you.”

My head thrashes against the counter. “Mav, please, I can’t take any more.”

“Yes.” His hands glide up my thighs, then my sides, until they reach his shirt. “You can,” he says as he pushes in, in one glorious thrust.

I’m not sure how long we spend pushing each other to the absolute limit, or how many surfaces around the house we christen, but we somehow make it outside, rolling around in the backyard making out like horny teenagers who can’t get enough of each other. Which, I guess, we can’t. Because we’re here, together like neither of us ever thought we would be.

“I love you,” I whisper. His hand runs up and down my bare torso as he lies behind me.

His lips meet my shoulder, staying still for a beat. “I love you too, baby. Always have, always will.”

I blink against the light threatening to blind me. The sounds of birds chirping flow through my ears, and at first I’m happy. The sound is peaceful, relaxing, that is, until I blink again and the backyard comes into view. Then the memories of last night replay in slow motion. The deep, heavy breath of Mav behind me is the final straw.