Page 205 of Break the Ice
“Oh…” Jayden hums, licking his lower lip, amused. “That kind of movie.”
Am I missing something? “What kind?”
“The birds and bees every other scene kind,” he says, smug on purpose.
“The birds and the… What are you talking about?”
“Oh my God, Elijah, don’t make me say it.” She is mortified, which only makes me want to keep her talking. “I haven’t read The Picture of Dorian Gray, so I don’t know how true to the book the movie was.”
“Say what, sweet girl? What am I missing?”
Jayden side-eyes me—checking if I’m really as clueless as I’m pretending to be. The dimple under the freckle by his cheek appears when he realizes I’m playing along.
“Come on, Lucky, you gotta tell him now,” he coaxes.
“No, you can,” she huffs, but her eyes have that soft, bashful light that turns my heartbeat uneven.
“I would, except I didn’t watch the movie, and I haven’t read Oscar Wilde. I don’t really know what happens… what it’s about…”
It’s a lie—he’s got half a library in his place—but hearing him tease her makes my mouth pull into a smile that I don’t fight.
“Ugh… you’re being annoying.”
“Is he?” I ask, keeping my tone straight.
“Exactly, am I?” Jayden nudges my knee with his. He’s enjoying himself; so am I. “He’s only asking about the movie.”
“Elijah Benjamin Sylkes, you know exactly what the birds and the bees means,” Finley scolds, lips pushed into a pout that sets my mouth burning. I want to lean into the camera and taste the red off her.
“Doesn’t look like he does,” Jayden titters, low and rough.
The sound travels through me, wakes up everything. My stomach doesn’t flip; it lifts. Heat thins the space between us on this couch; hisbare knee brushes mine and I can feel the outline of him like a heat signature even after he moves.
“Fine,” she growls—at the same moment my inhale stutters. “There was sex. Lots of sex. Every two seconds they were getting it on… everywhere they went… with every other person participating or watching, and…”
“Did you like it?” The question leaps out of me, so fast Jayden turns his head. It isn’t cool or calculated—it’s need.
“Umm…” She eases Samson off, stands, and wanders to the kitchen for water that she drains in one breath. I already know the answer. I saw it in her last night—the way abandon looks on her, holy and wild. Spellbinding.
“Answer the question, Fin,” Jayden coaxes, softer now.
We shift without speaking—he slides off the vanity, and I follow; we carry the call to the sitting area. The room is low-lit, the music channel humming in the background, a hush settling over the space like we’ve stepped inside the outline of a secret.
“Come on, baby, answer us.”
God, the way his “baby” unspools across “us”—it splits something tender in my ribs.
“Did it… turn you on?” My voice isn’t as easy as his; it scrapes a little. Feels honest.
Silence braids with the rasp of her breathing. The air tightens my skin; Jayden’s hand flexes on his thigh and my chest locks around the same pulse.
“I guess,” she whispers. “Yes.”
“Did it make you think about us?” She nods, eyes glossy, mouth parted. “And do you want—” he glances at me, letting me choose the words “—more?”
Her answer is another nod, shaky and certain at once. I shift my weight on my palms; Jayden opens his hand and closes it again like he’s holding something back. His shorts pull tight over the line of him; I look away before it undoes me.
“What do you need, sweet girl?” I ask.
