Heat it Up: Off the Ice - Book One (18 page)

He picks up the stack of cards forgotten on the table and shuffles them, not at all affected by the fact that I’m sitting next to him topless. Which I’ll admit, if nothing else, is an arrow straight through my fragile ego.

“Nothing’s wrong, Soph. It’s just you’re my friend.” He continues shuffling the cards, his attention on them and not me and my breasts. “I don’t want to fuck that up.”

“Why do you think you’ll fuck that up?”

“If we have sex, it will only complicate things.”

I think on this for a moment, then remove the cards from his hands and straddle him. I place the cards next to us on the couch. “It doesn’t need to complicate anything. We’ve got a month left together here. If we become…” Become what? Not boyfriend and girlfriend. Not with only a month left here. A fling? “…Friends with benefits. It won’t be complicated at all. This only has to last while we’re in Finland.”

There will be no strings attached, no hearts at risk of being broken. It will only be about having fun. And fun is exactly what the doctor prescribed for the new and improved me.

Something deep inside me cheers on this sudden burst of confidence. A month ago, I never would have considered doing something like this.

“You sure about this?” he asks, his gaze taking in everything about my face. My eyes. My lips. My desire.

“Positive.”
Please say yes
.

He doesn’t say anything, but there’s no missing the want in his eyes. He needs this as much as I do.

Instead of saying it with words, he shows me. His hands cup my breasts, and his thumbs draw dizzying circles around the hard nipples. He lightly pinches one. The nerves between my legs go berserk with need. “Oh God,” I groan.

Then his mouth crashes against mine. His kisses become frantic, filled with the same need coursing through my body. His hands—large, strong, warm—caress and explore my exposed skin. Every part of me he touches begs for more. I beg for more.

His thickness, straining in his shorts, presses against my super-charged center. I moan against his mouth, the sound barely heard over my pounding heart and the distant rumble of thunder.

He pulls away. “If you’re sure about this…” he says, giving me one last chance to change my mind about what we’ll be after this.

“I am. Do you have any condoms? I—I have some in my bag.” Because that doesn’t make it look like I was planning to have sex with him this weekend, even though we were staying here with five other people.

His lips curl into a sexy, one-sided smile. “Didn’t think I could resist your magnetic attraction for long, huh?”

Heat rises in my cheeks. Not the look I was going for. He’s used to confident, experienced women. I’m not exactly the poster girl for that.

“There’s nothing about you, Sofia, I can resist. You had me the first day in the sauna, when you blasted me with the water.” He threads his fingers through my hair and pulls me to him. His lips gently kiss me, setting free a crate of butterflies in my stomach. I want this moment to be perfect, but what is that exactly? Hot sex? Knowing all the positions and being adventurous? Or pouring everything you have inside you and hoping it’s enough?

Even though I don’t want to leave his embrace for even a second, the condoms are in the bedroom and I can’t exactly levitate them over here. I scoot off his lap and offer him my hand. He takes it and I pull him off the couch, then lead him into the bedroom as I mentally go through the steps of how to put the condom on him.

I retrieve several foil packages from my bag and with shaky fingers, place the condoms on the night table. Kyle places the hurricane lamp next to them.

Okay, now what?

Kyle answers that for me. He comes up behind me and wraps his arm around my waist. His mouth blazes a trail of hot, wet kisses along my shoulder, and with his free hand, he nudges my hair back, exposing the skin on my neck.

The kisses continue along my neck to the shell of my ear and he nips it between his teeth. My panties grow damp.

As his tongue tastes and explores the outside of my ear and my jaw, his fingers do some walking…to the waistband of my sleep shorts. They slip beyond the elastic waistband and travel south, teasing my skin with their light touch.

They continue over my satin underwear, the ones Maija had recommended that I get, until Kyle reaches the throbbing part between my legs that has been cheering him on, remembering what happened last time he touched me here. Begging for an encore.

Kyle groans loud against my neck, sending an erotic hum through me. My body jerks back, pressing my butt against his hard length. Unable to help myself, I wiggle against him, tormenting him like he’s tormenting me. His answering moan makes me grin.

He removes his hand from my shorts. The throb between my legs pouts and cries no fair. But it changes its mind when Kyle shifts focus and slowly peels my shorts and panties down my legs. If he coaches half as well as he’s seducing me, his players are bound to become great hockey players once day.

Once my shorts and panties are around my ankles, I kick them to the side and turn around. I’m naked. He’s not. I plan to level the playing field. With clumsy fingers, I unfasten his shorts and slide them and his boxer briefs down his legs. There’s nothing seductive in my movements. Kyle doesn’t seem to care. He peers down at me, his eyes dark in the dim light of the hurricane lamp.

A sudden shyness overcomes me at seeing him naked, with his cock standing at attention. It’s not like I’ve never seen a naked guy before, but right now it feels like my first time.

Before I can do anything else, Kyle’s arms are around me again and he’s kissing me. The shyness and nervousness melt away at the touch of his lips against mine.

He walks me backward to the bed and the next thing I know, I’m laying back on it with Kyle leaning over me. He traces his lips against my jaw, tasting me with his tongue. His thumb strokes my cheek then his hand drifts to my shoulder and slides to my chest. It stills over my rapidly beating heart. “You’re so beautiful, Sofia. So, so beautiful.” His voice is both husky and filled with warmth.

I spread my fingers over his heart, and relish its equally rapid beat against my hand. I’m affecting him the same way he’s affecting me. That thought gives me a confidence I haven’t felt since Ian’s cruel words. Even before that. Kyle makes me feel like the woman I’ve wanted to be.

Kyle’s fingers slide away from my heart and dip to an aching nipple that pleads for him to touch it again. Echoing what he did earlier, his thumb circles it, the circle growing smaller with each rotation. He pinches it again, and once more the nerves between my legs go berserk. I groan. Every cell in my body screams for more. My teeth gently sink into his shoulder, something I’ve never done before, but with Kyle it feels so right. So good.

“Fuck, babe,” Kyle groans, and I’m more turned on than I ever thought I would be at his words. “That feels so fucking good.” He kisses me once more. “I want to taste you again, Sofia. I’ve been wanting to taste you again since the first time.”

I nod, unable to talk. I want that, too. I want everything.

Craving to touch every part of him, I wrap my fingers around his warm length. Kyle sucks in a sharp breath but doesn’t say anything. He lets me continue to stroke his velvety hardness.

His fingers engulf my wrist, stilling my movements. “You need to stop now,” he husks, “before I lose control. I’m not ready for that yet.” I love that I have this effect on him.

He doesn’t give me a chance to miss the contact. His hands brush against my inner thighs and spread them apart. He plants kisses along my skin until he gets to the throb between my legs. His tongue swirls around the swollen flesh and I gasp. Then he sucks on it and my gasp becomes a moan.

He slides a finger between my folds. “You’re so fucking wet for me.”

God, I never thought someone talking dirty to me could be such a turn on. I almost come right there.

His finger pushes inside and presses against me, setting off a new round of fireworks in my nerves. I grab hold of the sheet with both hands, afraid if I don’t, I might explode.

Another finger joins the first and I’m beginning to think holding onto the sheet won’t be enough.

“Babe, I want you to let go. I want you to come against my mouth.”

I grip the sheet tighter. “No, I want you inside me.”

He laughs against me and I swear I’m dying from the feel of it against the throbbing. “Don’t worry. I’m not missing out on it this time. But I’m perfectly happy giving you multiple orgasms.”

He sucks on the ache again and I can’t hold back even if I wanted to. I scream, “Oh, God, Kyle,” as I let myself go. Never. Ever. Did it feel this way with Ian.

The thought is barely out of my mind before Kyle kisses me, deeply. My tongue greets his and I explore his mouth as much as he explores mine. And my tongue isn’t the only one doing its own exploration. My hand reunites with his hard length, and from the erotic sounds he makes when I touch him, it won’t be much longer before he’ll hopefully experience what I just did.

Still kissing him, I grope around the nightstand with one hand, blindly searching for the foil packages. Once I find one, I stop kissing him and I push myself up to sit. He lies back on the bed, watching me with hooded eyes.

I’ve never put on a condom before, but I’ve watched Ian do it. I rip open the package, careful not to damage the condom. Then with shaky hands, I slip the rubber onto his tip and begin unrolling it along his length. Sensing my nervousness, Kyle covers my hand with his and helps me guide it down.

And then I do something I’ve never done before…I lower myself onto him and let his width fill me. I rock back and forth, and Holy of everything hot does it ever feel good.

With his eyes open, watching me, Kyle grabs my hips and helps me find the rhythm that will push us both over the edge. It doesn’t take long before I tighten around him and call out his name, the intensity of the climax as powerful as the last time.

Kyle comes seconds later.

I sag to the bed, boneless and drained, knowing I’ll never been able to settle for less again.

Sofia rests her head on my chest, our breaths still ragged. My hand draws lazy circles on her back. “You’re amazing,” I tell her. And I mean it. I hadn’t pegged Sofia to be a fan of dirty talk. But she became more alive when I did that, like there was a neutron star buried deep, waiting to become a supernova.

“I am?” Her surprise fades to sadness. She glances toward the window, her mind anywhere but in this moment, her mind anywhere but with me.

I brush my fingers against her face. “What’s wrong?”

Sofia looks back at me, the sadness still there. Instead of saying anything, she chews on her lip like she always does when she’s uncertain. Gone is the girl who finds joy in even the smallest things.

“It’s okay,” I say. “You can tell me. Whatever it is we can deal with it together.”

She nods and I snuggle her closer.

“I told you my boyfriend cheated on me.” The sadness leaks into her voice and tears me apart. “He said he cheated on me because I was a lousy lay. He’d been bored of having sex with me, but didn’t know how to breakup with me without hurting me, so he slept around on me instead.”

“You’re far from boring. Not even in the same galaxy as boring.” I kiss her shoulder. “Can I ask you a question?”

She nods, not thoroughly convinced at my words. I’m not sure she’ll be willing to answer my question, but I want what we have between us to be something more, something real. And for that to happen we need to be honest with each other.

“Did you ever climax with him?”

Blushing and without hesitation, she shakes her head.

“Did you just climax for me?”

She nods.

“In my apartment, did you climax then too?” I know she did, but I want her to see the difference between what we have and what she had with him. I want to make sure she doesn’t have any doubts about how good we are together.

“Yes,” she whispers and I brush my lips against hers.

“That proves he wasn’t the right guy for you.” I kiss her again, except now it’s possessive, erasing all memory of the asshole and replacing each one with memories of how great we are together.

Our kisses become intense, and soon we’re ready to fuck again. And this time, with Sofia knowing that everything she’d been told in the past was a lie, the sex is more mind-blowing than before.

• • •

I wake up to the sound of rain hammering against the roof and the windows. I don’t open my eyes. I just lay listening to the noise, until I realize the rain isn’t all I hear. Sofia’s soft breaths cause an equally soft smile to sneak on my face.

I open my eyes to find Sofia watching me in the dim light. Although she’s still covered with the bedding, she hasn’t put her clothes on yet. Good, now I won’t have to waste time removing them again.

“Mornin’,” I say, voice low and husky with sleep.

She smiles back at me. The smile is shy, a little nervous, but I can’t figure out what she has to be nervous about.

“Looks like we won’t be going home yet.” I nod toward the window behind her.

She laughs. “I guess you’ll just have to teach me how to play poker.”

I nibble on her ear. She moans which gets my dick excited at the prospect of what’s coming next. “Only if I let you out of this bed. Maybe we can practice some more…” I don’t finish the sentence with words. I finish it with my hand tracing along the silky skin from her hip to her waist.

Her eyes darken and she runs the tip of her tongue along her lip, her suggestion about playing poker long forgotten. “Practice is good. I could use lots of practice.”

Before she had realized her ex-boyfriend had been way off base about how amazing she is in bed, she might’ve been serious when she said that. But this time, the unmistakable teasing to her tone makes me secretly hope it will storm for the rest of the week, just so that we’re stuck on this island. If it weren’t for my coaching job and her chance to work in the physical therapy clinic this week, I’d find an excuse for us to stay here.

Her hand shifts under the sheet and cups my ass, her thumb brushing against my skin. I moan into her mouth, then move away and explore her jaw with my lips and tongue. She tastes like heaven. Every part of her tastes like heaven. I keep traveling along her skin to her neck. She runs her fingernails lightly down my back and I hum in satisfaction against her. Forget a week. I wouldn’t mind being stuck on this island for the rest of my stay in Finland.