Page 252 of Cross the Line
“Do you want to go back?”
His grip on my face holds me as fiercely as his hand clamped over mine on his hip. He considers, then shakes his head. “The idea of people knowing it’s me makes me anxious...”
My knees buckle. The apology claws up my throat. “I’m so fucking sorry, Eli.”
“Don’t be, I’m not. You were right... Taylor... Fin... You were all right. He deserves to suffer the consequences of what he did to me... to Salem.”
“Too damn right he does.” My scoff tugs his mouth wider. My fingers dig into his hips, and he edges closer.
“My anxiety today is nothing compared to every time I’ve had to share the ice with Presley. Every time we crossed paths, I was paralyzed by fear.”
“That prick isn’t going near you again,” I grind out.
“No, he’s not. Because he’ll be in jail, and today is the first time where I’ve actually believed it’s going to happen.” Eli’s face brightens with his deep exhale. “Today’s game is like any other game. I get to go out there and play the Wolves without looking over my shoulder. Without holding back.”
How it should have always been, I think, as I drape my arm around his shoulder and pull him all the way into me. My lips press to the flat between his brows with a playful peck at the same time as he pokes my sides.
Fuck!
“Don’t fucking start that shit,” I choke out between breathless,uncontrollable guffaws when I grip his jaw with one hand and pull out of his hold.
“What’re you going to do about it?” Eli smarts back.
There isn’t a single part of me that isn’t screaming to press him up against the white-painted bricks behind him. As such, my hand tightens while it inches down his throat.
Every sinew coils around my bones when Eli licks his lips. A silent, irresistible come-hither that my body quickly answers to with every back step he takes into a darkened emergency exit alcove.
My lips come down on his with a growl straight from the bottom of my gut. Where all my emotions and feelings have been knotted all damn day. The instant Eli’s tongue spears past my lips, every bit of tension heats, melting into uncontrollable need. It sears through my veins with a blinding force that’s got my lungs screaming for air.
“Jayden… Baby…” Eli pushes his thumb between our lips when I refuse to break our kiss.
As I inch back, nipping at his thumb, he teases my tickle spot again, and I melt into him in a fit of stupid giggles.
“Fuck you… asshole…” The words sputter between my laughter and through the heated snorts that dry out my lungs, spasming through me with every jolt of my body into his.
“Maybe later. I might consider it,” Eli’s quick to retort.
“You will, huh?”
“Score me a goal, and we’ll see…” He boops my nose with that fucking delicious grin tugging at the corners of his mouth with the cock of his brow.
When he gives me the devilish smile, I’d do anything for him. When he gives me the smilewiththe promise of more ofhim. I’d give my last breath for it.
“One goal?” Straightening up, I grip his hand, lacing our fingers together before I tug him back in the direction of the main corridor.
“Hmm, you’re right…”
“I’m always right,” the remark rolls off my tongue, spurred on by the haptic buzz of his hand swinging mine in time with our steps.
“Yeah… Yeah…We should totally make it two goals.”
“You got it, Sweetheart.”
Eli’s laughing as he pulls me to a stop. His stare finds mine, dark and deep, swallowing me up so that all the air leaves my lungs.
“Thank you.” Eli smiles.
“Aww, Babe, you don’t have to thank me.”
