Page 145 of Off The Ice

“Do it again,” he said, breath warm against my face.

That was all it took for us to collide once more.

Chapter Forty-Nine

Liam

Cassie. Cassie. Cassie.

My hands were still tangled in her hair like she’d disappear if I loosened my grip even for a second. Half of me was convinced I’d wake up and find this wasn’t real at all—just something my mind had invented to cope with wanting her so badly.

Her lips moved urgently against mine, clutching the fabric of my shirt like she was feeling the same way. Like, maybe she was scared of losing me, too.

“Cassie,” I groaned, trying to pull her impossibly closer.

She tasted like summer air and strawberries and fucking sunshine, and I could not get enough of her. And she was mine.

For this moment at least.

The thought made my brain short-circuit becausefuck,I’d do anything in the world to ensure we could keep doing this for the rest of my life.

“Wait, wait,” I said, pulling back slightly, even though it caused me physical pain to break the best kiss I’d had in my life.

“Do you want to stop?” she asked, looking up at me with fluttering eyes.

No.In fact, I very much wanted to do the exact opposite ofstopping.

“We need to talk about this,” I said as she stilled in front of me. “I just want you to know where I stand before we keep going,” I said, struggling to string words together when she was staring at me with flushed cheeks, wide eyes, and swollen lips that I’d just claimed as my own seconds ago.

But she needed to know this couldn’t be a hookup for me or some type of passing fling. If we were really, truly going to go through with this, there’d be no going back.

“Right,” she said, nodding frantically. “I’m so sorry. We should talk. Definitely.”

“Jesus, Cass. You don’t have to be sorry,” I emphasized.

How could I even begin to explain to her that this was what I wanted all along, and now that we were here at this point, I needed to do everything I could to ensure we got to where we needed to be?

“Shit,” I said, looking over at the clock. “I have to go.” We had a home game tonight and I was already going to be late for the 4:30 time slot Coach wanted us to arrive at.

One thing was for certain, I wasn’t going to screw this up with a half-assed conversation. I’d never been good with words, or feelings for that matter, but she deserved for me to lay it all out bare. No questions, no guessing. I needed to tell her flat-out what I wanted from us.

“Right, you should go,” she said, backing away as if to give me space that I didn’t want.

“Will you come tonight?” I begged, attempting to reach out to her. “We can talk after the game.”

“Yeah,” she said, but she seemed so far away all of a sudden. “We’ll talk later.”

Maybe it was because I’d just had her exactly where I wanted her, and now I had to leave. It was unbearable.

“Okay.” I nodded, every part of me in overdrive from the turn the night had taken.

I was sure she was feeling a similar type of way, probably needing time to process what had just happened. Butshehad kissedme, erasing any lingering doubts I’d had about the two of us.

We were going to do this. We were going to make it work. I knew we would. I could feel it.

“I’ll see you tonight,” I told her, fighting the urge to kiss her one more time before I left, but I knew if I did that, I’d never get out of this apartment tonight.

“Bye,” she said and I wanted to stop and just lay everything bare right then and there.

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