Page 59 of On Thin Ice

He mumbled something unintelligible before going back to work. He was grunting now, needy noises rumbling from his chest as he fucked my face with raw, desperate thrusts. I could feel the tension building in his legs as his movements grew erratic.

My eyes watered, and everything blurred until we were just sound, heat, and friction, mouths full, bodies in motion.

He tongued my slit the way I liked, and I exploded, spurting into the slick warmth of his mouth with a garbled roar. I barely had enough presence of mind to keep my mouth locked around him as my orgasm rocked through me.

With one final, faltering thrust, Ethan followed me over the edge, a shudder rippling through him while we swallowed each other’s loads.

Ethan rolled away, crumpling onto the rug beside me. My breath came in quick, shallow gasps, while next to me, he draped one arm across his eyes, legs splayed wide in boneless satisfaction.

“Dead,” he muttered. “I’m actually dead. This is what death feels like.”

I let out a laugh, wiped the back of my hand across my mouth, and sat up. “I always knew cum would flow freely in heaven.”

Ethan huffed a groan that sounded suspiciously like laughter, his arm falling from his face down to rest at his side. “You’re a sick fucker.”

“But I’myoursick fucker,” I teased, then froze, realizing what I’d just said. I knew the moment the words left my mouth that I’d gone too far.

The silence that followed stretched awkwardly between us.

Ethan pushed up onto his elbows, his abs flexing, and scanned the floor. He spotted my shirt, grabbed it, and tossed it at me without looking, then stood and gathered his own clothes.

We dressed in silence, our earlier laughter and the ease we’d experienced all afternoon feeling like they’d been boxed up and placed far out of reach.

By the time I dropped back onto the couch, Ethan had already claimed the far end, his expression unreadable. I sank into the cushions, tugged a throw blanket over my lap, and stared at the TV, pretending to care about o-line stats. I chewed my thumbnail, wondering if I should get up and go to my room.

This was weird.

Awkward.

Supremely uncomfortable.

Just when I thought I couldn’t take the silence anymore, Ethan cleared his throat and said, “Come here.”

I turned to look at him, surprised to see he’d lifted his arm, opening up a space beside him for me to settle into like it was the most natural thing in the world to cuddle together after getting each other off.

That was something boyfriends did. People who had feelings for each other.

I didn’t hesitate.

I tucked myself into his side, resting my head on his chest as he pulled the blanket over us.

His fingers found my arm, and he drew lazy circles over my exposed skin.

Neither of us spoke, but his heart was beating steadily—not frantically for once—beneath my cheek, and that felt like enough.

This wasn’t love.

Not yet.

But it felt dangerously close to something like it.

CHAPTER14

BELL

I thought I could keep things casual. Scratch the itch. Burn off the tension. Keep my heart zipped up where he couldn’t reach it.

But I’d done the unthinkable, and I’d fallen for him. Hard. Not just a little crush or some inconvenient feelings. Nope, that would have been easy.

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