Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 119680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
She does as I ask. “What are you doing?”
“Teaching you something new.” I guide her through the motions, adjusting her position so our bodies are close, one leg bracketing hers to help support her as I move us in a circle that tightens until we’re in a slow spin.
“Pairs skating is intimate,” she murmurs.
“It’s mostly technical, and physically strenuous.” I pull her tight against me. “But this is intentionally intimate.” I drop my head and brush my lips over her cheek. “When I’m on the ice with Adele, I’m focused on the technical aspects, but when I’m on the ice with you, it’s all about getting closer.”
She tips her chin up, eyes searching mine. “Now would be a great time to kiss me. FYI.”
I drop my mouth to hers and part my lips. Our tongues meet and tangle, our slow spin losing momentum until we stop altogether.
Eventually she breaks the kiss, but one hand stays curved around the back of my neck. “You make it easy to forget myself.”
“Good. That was the plan.”
Her fingers drift along the collar of my T-shirt. “I should probably hit the shower and go back to the hospital.”
I finger the end of her braid. “Do you want help?”
She arches a brow. “Help?”
“In the shower. I give a mean scalp massage. But no pressure.”
She’s quiet for a few seconds, possibly contemplating.
“It doesn’t have to lead to anything, Snowflake. I’d love to take care of you the way you take care of everyone else, whatever that looks like for you.”
She bites her knuckle. “Okay. Yeah. I’d like that.”
I smile and take her hand. “Come on, then.”
We bring our backpacks with us into the locker room and leave our skates under the bench. I nab a few fresh towels from the linen closet and follow Winter past the communal showers to the private ones with plastic curtain dividers. I set the towels on the bench outside the stall and turn on the water, then pull my shirt over my head as Winter does the same. She looks over my chest and shakes her head. “God, you’re beautiful. One day I want you to tell me the story behind all your art.”
“It’s how I memorialize the people and events that mean the most to me.”
“Makes sense.” She pulls her sports bra over her head, careful to avoid her chin. She hooks her fingers into her leggings and huffs a laugh. “Why am I nervous?”
“You don’t have to get naked-naked. It’s whatever you feel comfortable with.” I keep my eyes on hers.
“I’m boxy,” she mumbles.
“Says who?” I arch a brow. “I’ve already seen you in a bathing suit, so I’m hella familiar with your curves. You’re strong and athletic, and you’re damn well gorgeous, Winter. Everything about you is.”
Her bottom lip slides through her teeth. “Can we drop trou at the same time?”
“Absolutely.” I cock my head and wiggle my eyebrows, hoping to keep the mood light. “Pants only, or pants and panties?”
She laughs. “Pants and panties.”
“On three?”
She nods. “On three.”
I tuck my thumbs into the waistband of my joggers and count down. On three, we both slide our pants and underwear over our thighs and step out of them, hanging them on the hooks outside the shower stall. I pull back the curtain and step under the spray. Winter follows, pulling the curtain closed behind her.
When she turns to face me, her mouth drops open. “Holy fuckballs.” Her gaze jumps from my eyes to my erection. “That’s… Wow. That had to hurt.”
“Probably less than you think. A Prince Albert piercing is surprisingly low on the pain scale.”
“Well, that’s a seriously unexpected surprise.”
I hold out my hand and she takes it, letting me pull us under the spray. “How’s the temperature?”
“Fine.” She catches my arched brow. “I mean good.” Her eyes drop again. “Statistically speaking, you’re already way above average. You didn’t need to bling out your dick to make it more enticing.”
I laugh. “It makes sex better.”
“Does it now?”
“Mm.” I nod.
“For you or your partner?”
“Both.”
When she reaches out, I catch her hand. “How about you let me take care of you right now?”
“But you’re hard.”
“I’ll calm down eventually.” I spin her so her back is to my chest and pull the tie free on the end of her braid, separating the strands until her hair hangs in a curtain down her back, almost grazing the dimples above her luscious, very bitable ass. I squirt a generous amount of shampoo into my palm—the stuff at the arena smells nice—and run it through her hair before I massage it into her scalp.
“Oh my God, you weren’t kidding about the scalp massage.” She tips her head back, groaning as I knead tense muscles.
“When I was in high school, I took cosmetology.”
“Because it was mostly girls?”
“Basically, yeah.”
Winter laughs. “Figures.”
“I learned some great skills though, this being one.”