She’s giving Otto his bath when it’s time to leave. I come up behind her and wrap my hands around her shoulders, my front meeting her back before I drop a kiss at her cheek and give Otto a belly tickle that makes him squawk and both of us laugh.
Then it’s time to go.
The game is intense. But after being down in the first two periods, we come back in the third and take the win when Rux scores in overtime. The guys decide to grab some dinner, but I’ve waited long enough. I’m walking to my car when I get the first text.
Nora: Do you think last night was a mistake?
I’ve spent hours on the ice today, but it’s walking through a covered parking structure that I nearly wipe out, tripping over my own feet.
Me: Never.
I throw my gear in the back and get in the driver’s seat.
There’s another text.
Don’t look.
I grip the wheel at ten and two, feeling like I’m about to lose control even though the engine is off.
Nora: What would you do if I came to your room again tonight?
Nora
He hasn’t replied.
I can’t believe I sent that text.
And at the same time, I can’t believe I managed to hold off from asking for as long as I did. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him, about what we did, since this morning when he asked me what I wanted.
All day, I’ve been thinking about it. Thinking about how right it felt. About whether there was a chance we could—
The front door bursts open, and I suck a breath as Axel stalks inside, his blazing eyes locking on me. “You trying to kill me, Nora?”
“What? Are you okay?”
This isn’t right. It’s not how Axel Erikson looks coming home from a game. The neat lines of his post-shower gelled hair are broken, the length of it falling in different directions, his usually loosened tie is yanked sideways, and the top button of his shirt is hanging by a thread, the one below missing completely.
He drops his gear on the floor, kicking the door closed behind him. His nostrils flare wide. His chest rising and falling with each heavy breath. And the apartment around us shrinks with every step he takes toward me.
The air crackles as he rounds the couch.
“You want to know what I would do if you came to my room again tonight?”
He’s like a man possessed.
And the sight of him like this, barely clinging to control, has liquid heat simmering in my belly.
“I think… I do,” I say, my words barely a breath, but enough.
“Then, I’ll show you.” In the next blink, he ducks, catching me over his shoulder.
“Axel!”
His arm bands around the backs of my thighs, then we move through the apartment. He’s cutting around furniture and corners the way he cut around the opposing team on the ice. Effortlessly and efficiently. With purpose.
In his room, he tosses me back on the bed.
“You can tell me to stop, Nora.” He yanks his tie off. Grabs the back of that dress shirt and pulls it over his head. “Any time. You say the word, and I stop.”
I nod, licking my suddenly dry lips. This man’s body is beautiful. A work of art.
“Okay.” I scooch to the edge of the bed, reaching for his belt with trembling fingers. “But don’t stop.”
I fumble the buckle, then his hands are on mine. Warm. Steady. Stilling. “Hey.”
I look up, getting caught in his eyes. “What?” I whisper.
“What do you want?”
I know what he’s asking. What we were talking about this morning.
I trust him with my body, I can trust him with the truth.
“I want to feel like I did last night. Like I’m free. Alive.” I draw a shaky breath. “Like I’m not stuck in this eternal holding pattern, waiting and waiting for my life to finally start.” Hoping it happens before something else pulls me back to a place I can’t escape from. “I want you. I know I’m leaving, and neither of us is in any place to start something real or lasting. But we could have now. Tonight.”
His hands move to my hair. Something in his expression changes. “We could have longer than that.”
I nod. “We could have until Paris.”
I say it, somehow needing it to be on my terms. To be the one making the rules, dictating where the emotional lines are drawn.
“Until Paris.” There’s a furrow between his brows, but then he leans down and kisses me like we’re sealing some kind of deal. And when he pulls back, the only thing in his eyes is heat. “That’s not much time.”
I raise a brow, but I like that he feels that way. “It’s months.”
“Exactly.” He leans over me, pressing me back until I’m lying on the bed. “Not even close to long enough for everything I want to do to you.”
Axel
Holy hell, the way Nora is looking up at me has me wanting to take more than her body. More than the scanty couple months on offer. That look is about trust and desire and a vulnerability she doesn’t share easily. It makes me want to be worthy.
It makes me want to give her things I don’t have to give anymore, promises I can’t make.
But there’s one thing she wants that I know I can deliver on.
“You want me to make you feel alive?” I slide my hand from her chest over the softness of her belly, curving my fingers into the waist of her leggings and giving them a little tug.
She lifts her hips, eyes wide as she nods.
“Yes.”
I pull the stretchy fabric free of her legs and go back for her panties. Pink bikinis, cotton with a damp spot that has me on the brink of blowing my load just from seeing it. I brush my thumb over the evidence, feeling the heat of her sweet pussy beneath.
“You wet for me already?” That fucking blush burns over her face. Damn. “You’re making me so hot. Making my mouth water for the taste of you.”
Her throat moves up and down, her legs trying to close around my knee. I remember this from high school. Nervous. Shy. Inexperienced.
Not on my watch. I want to make her forget about everything but how fucking good my mouth feels on her.
“Nora, look at me.” When her eyes meet mine, I smile at her. “I’m aching for the taste of you coming on my tongue.”
She sucks a short breath but doesn’t tell me no. When her panties are off, I move back between her legs, positioning them over my shoulders. And she’s right there, pretty and pink and glistening like the greatest temptation ever laid out before me.
I lick my lips, starving for her, but I drag my eyes to hers. See the moment she registers the hunger on my face and it reflects on her own.
She nods and I sink into her sweetness. Kissing her folds, rubbing my lips over her sensitive slicked flesh. Licking and sucking. Tasting. And then, once I’ve earned the catch of her breath and her fingers knotting in my hair… devouring.
She gasps my name and begs me for more.
Like that.
Right there.
Don’t stop.
Please.
Each whimpering cry drives me on, pushing me closer to the edge. Each spasm and clench of her pussy makes me mindless for the taste of her release.
“Axel, I’m going to—”