Page 26 of The Fire Beneath the Frost

Petyr’s fingers shifted slightly, his thumb brushing once—once—against the inside of my thigh.

I choked on a breath.

I didn’t even know what I wanted from him.

Only that I wanted more.

Petyr leaned in again, and for a second, I thought he might whisper something else that would send me straight into cardiac arrest.But instead, he chuckled and said, “I’ve got to piss.Don’t fall in love with anyone while I’m away.”

Then he was gone.

Just like that.Standing, grinning, and slipping up the aisle like nothing had happened—like he hadn’t just lit my entire nervous system on fire with the simple weight of his hand.

I sat there, rigid.Absolutely fucking rigid in every sense of the word.

As soon as he was out of sight, I shifted in my seat, yanked my coat down low, and pressed the heel of my palm hard against the front of my trousers.It was desperate.Clumsy.Pointless.

The pressure didn’t help.

If anything, it made it worse.

I stifled a groan.

This wasn’t normal.I wasn’t normal.

What would he think if he knew?If he came back and saw the state I was in?If he realized my cock had been hard for the last hour and a half because of him—his breath, his voice, his touch?

He’d think I was sick.

Not just perverted, but deranged.A mental case.A degenerate.

He could report me.

Jesus, what if he told Vera?

Wasn’t she some kind of minor official?She carried that clipboard around like it gave her power.Hell, maybe it did.Maybe she wrote reports.Names.People like me—people who couldn’t seem to follow the rules even when they tried.

One word from Petyr and I could disappear.Just like that.Labeled.Locked away.Or worse.

But he wasn’t cruel.

Was he?

I didn’t know.

My heart pounded like a hammer in my chest as I stared blankly at the screen.Something funny must’ve happened—an entire row of people burst into laughter.I didn’t hear a single word.I didn’t see a single frame.The only thing I noticed was when Petyr came back and sat down beside me, his leg resuming its position right against mine like it had never left.

I flinched, but I didn’t move away.Maybe if I didn’t move, this beautiful, confusing dream would hold me for just a little longer.

The movie played on, but I wasn’t in the theater anymore.

I was stuck in my body.

And it was betraying me.

Then, suddenly, the lights came up.People began to stir.Coats rustled.Bags were lifted.The soundtrack faded into that weird hush of a film reel’s end.

It was over.

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