Page 40 of Melting the Ice

Then he was striding down the hallway, his athletic shorts stretching across his glorious ass with every step.

I spun on my heel, opened the freezer door, and stuck my head in it to cool down.

My phone beeped, reminding me that I had dogs to walk and needed to change into something warmer. I pulled open the bedroom door and was greeted by Micah, his back to me, clad only in his boxer briefs.

Freaking.

Hell.

In a handbasket.

I practically swallowed my tongue and tried not to drool. His ass was a thing of glory. It was like a fucking perfect bubble that I could definitely bounce a quarter off of.

Then his ass was spinning away from me, and he held his shorts in front of him as he faced me.

“Josie. What the hell?” he exclaimed, his cheeks pink.

“Sorry! Shit, sorry. I thought you were already in the shower, and I have to change to go walk dogs,” I replied, unable to take my eyes off his ass. And then his abs as he turned to face me.

So many abs.

“Well, I’m not,” he bit out.

My gaze darted up to his face. “Wait. Were you going to strip down in here and walk to the bathroom naked?”

What had possessed me to ask that?

He raked his hand through his hair in frustration and the shorts he’d been holding slipped from his grip. I should not look, but my eyes moved down before I could tell them to stop.

He was hard.

Impressively hard.

Not that I didn’t know he was decently packing after waking up in bed with him, but this was the first time I had seen the evidence. Well, not specifically, since his boxers were still on. Unfortunately.

I tamped down a giggle at how hot and awkward I suddenly felt.

He leaned over and grabbed his fallen shorts, holding them over his tented boxers way too quickly. Those fast hockey player reflexes were annoying.

“Get out,” he growled.

He really shouldn’t growl at me if he wanted me to walk out of here and not kiss him.

“Josie.” The veins in his forearms popped as he clutched the fabric in front of him.

Fucking hell. Arm porn for days.

“Yes, yes. Sorry. I’m going, I’m going.” I shut the door behind me and leaned against the wall, trying not to laugh while I caught my breath. Holy crap, he’d just gotten hotter with age, and he’d already been scorching when we’d had our only kiss four years ago. I licked my lips. I definitely wanted to kiss that man again, even though it would most likely end in disaster.

I walked back into the kitchen to gather some dog treats, and by the time I was done, I heard the bathroom door shut. Popping back into the bedroom, I quickly changed, pulling on a few extra layers since it was still freezing out and two of today’s clients didn’t live in this building.

I yelled goodbye to Micah as I walked back past the bathroom door, grabbed my stuff, and shut the front door behind me. A walk in the brisk cold was undoubtedly a good thing for me right now because I was still on fire.

Chapter 9

MICAH

Another puzzle piece slid into its perfectly snug spot, and I smiled down at my progress. I was making headway, but I still kept getting distracted by a certain hurricane. It was game day, so I was in the middle of my pregame routine. We were nine days past her walking in on me, which had followed with me coming in my hand in the shower after I heard her leave the condo and then an awkward but delicious dinner later that night. Dom’s words had rattled around in my head while I tried to make small talk.

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