Page 77 of Break the Ice
“Don’t fucking cry.” He bites out each word as though every syllable is excruciating. “Not for me. I’m not worth it.”
Garbage, I growl inwardly, shaking my head.
As I open my mouth to protest, his hand slips from my jaw to my throat while he pins me to my door and grinds my hand into the wood above my head with the force of his grip.
The way he’s touching me sends chills down my spine. The kind thatsteal my breath and close the air. The kind that stretch time and fade the world to insignificance.
When his mouth closes on mine, existence goes up in flames. His lips are harsh and demanding as they roll with mine. I forget the basic, elementary rules and protocol of keeping myself alive.
Elijah is the only need that pounds and aches through me as the hand at my side twists in the hem of his shirt, pulling it higher until his hot skin gives me another purchase to hold on to him, to hold more of him. My fingers claw into him while his tongue spears into my mouth, and he blesses me with a guttural groan that vibrates through me, all the way to my core.
The only air in my lungs is his. The only sensation on my skin is his. The only pounding in my chest is his.
I am his.
Andthis.Thisis desperation. Wanting more. Needing more. With every lick that caresses my tongue. Every moan that he drinks from me.
Tightening his grip on my throat, Elijah sucks my lip into his mouth. As my legs are about to give, he dips his body to catch me before hitching me up against the door with his hips.
Sweet Jesus.Every rock-hard edge of him cuts into me when my groin presses to his. The hem of my dress rides higher with the friction of our bodies as we grind with the urgency to feel more even though there isn’t a part of him I don’t already feel.
His skin, his heartbeat, his need… all culminating in endless, unrelenting desperation.
With a luxuriating bite, he pulls at my lip until it pops from between his teeth. Wordlessly, he touches his forehead to mine while the hand at my throat caresses up to my jaw.
Our breaths are ragged and broken when he rakes his thumb across my gaping mouth. Releasing my hand, he holds my face in both of his while he peels himself from me.
His lips are red and swollen with a shy smile as he rasps, “Goodnight, Finley-James.”
One last, chaste kiss to my forehead and he’s backing away to his room. Taking in the frantic, breathless mess he’s created.
CHAPTER 22
ELIJAH
Finley’s wrong.
That’s all I keep telling myself as I sit and stand from my bed. Pacing the length of my room while I discard my clothes. I can’t stop thinking about her words.
Jayden loves you.
He wants you. With everything. More than anything.
But we’re just friends. Jayden’s my best friend. And yes, I care about him. I love how happy he is. How he makes me feel. Forget myself…
That’s all.
If it was more, I wouldn’t still be aching after kissing Finley. My body wouldn’t still be burning and throbbing and…
Fuck.
I want her.
I want nothing more than to go back out there and… and throw her door open and kiss her again. Touch her and feel her and give her what she wants. What she needs. Take what I want. What I need.
What I’ve always needed. Her.
My feet carry me to the door and before I can think better of it, I yank it open and stride to her room.
