Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 98134 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98134 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
“Okay,” she says shakily. “That’s very specific and very hot.”
I kiss up her neck and find her lips. She squirms beneath me, kissing me hard and fast. She wraps her legs around me, urging me inside her. I don’t drag this out. I know she’s just as near the edge of losing her mind as I am, and both of us need this.
I plunge into her and she’s everything I want and more. I close my eyes tight, squeezing hard fistfulls of the sheets as I drive into her again and again, the sounds of her moans mixing with my hard breaths and moans of my own. I’ve never been the vocal type, but apparently Andi’s body draws it out of me.
“Oh, God,” she gasps. She pulls me to her tight, arms wrapping around my back and fingers digging into my skin. “So good,” she breathes.
“Fuck,” I hiss between my teeth.
My body goes rigid with my release and in one final, prolonged moment, I feel the intensity of everything we’ve been building like it’s right in front of me–like I can reach out and grab it. It’s more than just physical. I’ve known that since the start, even if I don’t like admitting it.
I collapse beside her, both of us panting and covered in a sheen of sweat. The silence that follows seems to be thick with the unspoken. I turn toward her and see her eyes are closed and her chest is rising and falling with each breath.
“You alright?” I ask.
Her eyes open slowly–almost sleepily. Her smile spreads slowly, showing me her straight teeth. “I think…” she says. “I think maybe we need to do some more experiments.”
I chuckle, confused. “Experiments?”
“Yeah. I’m still not sure if I’m the one who was wet, or if now it’s your… thing. I think maybe we need to keep messing around until we’re sure.”
I pull her toward me, cupping her face and kissing her pink lips. As much as I’m enjoying this, I can’t shake the feeling that we’re using our bodies to ignore some deeper conversation we still need to have–some step we’re trying to skip over. It feels like we’re just rolling around a bundle of cords and tangling them more and more every time we do this. We’re ignoring the complex webbed mess behind us and charging forward–blindly.
But when her hands drift below my waist and she grips me, none of that seems important anymore.
35
ANDI
Jesse and the guys all left early in the morning for a team meeting and then a match in a nearby city. Jesse said he didn’t have to go and offered to stay to spend the day with me, but I didn’t want him to feel like he had to miss it for me. It was nice, though, because it made me feel like maybe we already patched over whatever that weird little cold spell was between us. That’s progress, right? We already had our first fight and got over it. Go us!
I told Caroline I’d help her prep the harbor for the Frostival Finale that’s in just a couple days. On Christmas Eve, we’re going to have the frozen over harbor skating rink lit up like some kind of winter wonderland. There will be decorations, lights, food, drinks, music, and even a few fun games and contests. Once night rolls around, we’ll have the couples skate and dance on the ice. And the best part? She agreed to my idea to use some of the leftover budget to hire a fireworks crew. We’re going to have the fireworks go off during the couples dance, which is going to be amazingly romantic.
Caroline is humming Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree while she supervises a pole being screwed into the ice.
“I love that song,” I say.
“Really?”
“It reminds me of Home Alone. We always watched that movie every Christmas because Jake is obsessed with it. I’m pretty sure he still watches it.”
“That’s cute. Speaking of cute…” she does a silly little smile and tilts her head toward the handyman from town who has been helping us out this morning. He brought a small collection of power tools to help us drill the holes into the ice and secure the poles we’ll be stringing lights and other decorations from. He’s also putting together a small stage for the DJ booth.
I cover my mouth and my smile. The older man’s butt crack has been aggressively on display all morning. I lower my voice. “Can you imagine being an unsuspecting snowflake? Just drifting down in your beautiful little life until you realize where you’re about to land…”
“Adam’s butt crack,” Caroline finishes, stifling her laughs.
“Welp,” Adam says a few minutes later. He dusts off his hands and looks at his work. “I’m gonna run by the shop and grab some two by fours and I’ll be back in a split.”