Page 43 of No Rhyme or Roughing
His giant shirtless form looked ridiculous doing this in the living room, but it would work on skates.
“Good. Now, arms. They’re important. They need to make clean lines. Bend sharply at the elbow and then sort of… swoop them like this.” I showed him.
He did it. Sort of.
I tried not to laugh. Really, I did. But it was damn hard, and I lost that battle. My entire body shook with it.
“Hey, no laughing at the rookie.” He reached for my arm, and I bounded away from him, leaping with one leg bent and my foot brushing halfway up my thigh. Then I landed, one foot to the next.
He stared at me. “What the hell was that?”
“Ummm…”
“Teach it to me.”
“No.”
“Why not?” He planted both hands on his hips.
My gaze scanned him from head to toe. “You have a ways to go before we get to leaps.”
“I did a leap! On the ice. Didn’t you see it?”
“Yeah, that was… kind of a leap?”
He stepped toward me, his voice dropping. “Are you trying to tell me I suck?”
“No.” I backed away, rounding the couch to put it between us. “Okay, maybe.”
“Unfair.”
“What’s unfair is you making us watch that travesty.” I clapped a hand over my mouth to stop more from coming out.
“It was a travesty now? Come on! I’m trying to save a team here. I tell you my biggest secret… that I may have enjoyed it… and all you do is make fun of me.”
He walked around the arm of the couch, advancing on me. I couldn’t move as I watched him prowl like a hunter, a hunter whose prey wanted him just as much. He stopped in front of me, putting a hand on the back of the couch on either side of me, caging me in. “Your turn,” he said.
“W-what?”
“Tell me your secret, Sydney.”
God, I wanted him. I could feel the heat wafting off his skin, see the way his eyes darkened. There were so many things I could tell him that no one else knew about me, yet only one thing came to mind.
“Tell me,” he whispered. “You can trust me, Syd.”
That was my undoing, those words.You can trust me.Because I did trust him.
“I’ve never…” I blew out a breath, embarrassment warming my face. “I’ve had sex, Ryder. With a few people.”
His brow furrowed. “Is that supposed to be some big secret? I’m not really your brother. I assumed you’ve?—”
“No, you haven’t assumed this. Like I said, I’ve had sex. Plenty of times. But during, I’ve never… you know… orgasmed.”
A very rough curse escaped him, and he jumped away from me like I’d just admitted I had leprosy.
“Ryder?” This was the thing I couldn’t admit out loud, not to anyone. But I’d told him.
“I…” He coughed, facing away from me. “Give me a minute, Syd.” His back rose with a deep breath, and I waited. Who didn’t orgasm during sex? Maybe I was as big of a freak as my sisters liked to claim.
