Page 55 of Back On Ice

“Hey, now, not in front of the children,” Tom chides, his footsteps getting closer.

Carter pulls away, his hands still on my face as he gives me a cheeky grin and kisses my nose. “Sorry, children.” His wink makes insides do funny things, and then he turns back towards Tom and Jordan.

“‘The children’ didn’t see anything,” Jordan pipes up, walking past us to head to the locker room.

Tom and Carter bark a laugh, and my face warms in embarrassment as I swat Carter on the arm.

“No kissing me in front of them anymore.” It's becoming harder and harder to rein in my feelings for Carter. I’m having to remind myself that we’re just having fun, and it’ll do me no good to catch feelings again and be heartbroken when he inevitably leaves at the start of hockey season.

I pointedly ignore the niggling in the back of my mind that’s essentially screaming,Who are you kidding? You already have feelings!

Nope. No feelings. Just nostalgia and amazing orgasms.

Carter leans in close to my ear, whispering. “Then maybe you shouldn’t tempt me by looking so fucking kissable. It makes it hard to keep my mouth off you.” His words send heat straight to my core, especially at the image of his mouth onotherparts of my body. I resist the urge to swat him again.

Luckily, Tom doesn’t seem to realize what Carter just said to his little sister, and moves to put his equipment bag on the team bench. We trade places on the ice and I sit with Carter in the bleachers as we watch Tom coach his team. His hand is warm and comforting as it holds mine, keeping me warm in the cold air of the rink.

Jordan is probably pushing himself the hardest, followed closely by Bodhi and Theo. They glide across the ice doing passing drills, their eyes are hard and focused.

When they switch to a scrimmage, it’s almost mesmerizing watching the three of them work together. It’s like theyanticipate each other's moves. The other team has possession of the puck, and Jordan uses his body to block a shot, allowing Theo to fly by and take possession, skating towards the opposing goal. Jordan catches up and protects Theo as he skates towards the goal by keeping himself as a barrier between him and the defense. Theo moves to take the shot, and thanks to a quick deflection by Bodhi, the puck soars into the net.

I take a video for my mom, who wishes she could attend every practice, but the arthritis in her hands gets too aggravated from the cold temperatures of the rink.

Me: Look at Jordy go!

Mom: He’s amazing!

Watching them play brings me back to my memory from earlier, and I speak before I can think better of it.

“Hey, Carter?” I ask suddenly, turning my head towards him.

“What is it, Soph?” he murmurs before pressing a kiss into my hair.

“Do you remember… the day before our first kiss? How we were racing in this rink…”

“And I grabbed you and we fell onto the ice together?” He finishes my sentence so quickly a shocked giggle escapes me. “Yes, yes, I do. Why do you ask?”

I don’t know why, but the fact he remembers that day just as well as I do makes something warm unfurl in my chest. “When we landed, and you were on top of me, were you…?”

I have no idea why I’m asking him this. What if his answer is no? I’ll just feel stupid. It changes nothing now, and there’s no point in me knowing. Quickly losing my nerve, I shake my head and face the ice rink again. “Nevermind, it doesn’t matter.”

A finger under my chin lifts my head back in his direction as he looks at me intensely. “If you were just about to ask if I had thought about kissing you, the answer is yes. Many, many timesthat day, and it wasn’t the first time either. It was just the first time I thought you might have wanted to kiss me back.”

My heart thrills, which is ridiculous. We’ve slept together just about every day for the last week and a half, and somehow, this little admission has my heart pounding harder than it has since he showed up back in Ivy Glen.

“I’ve told you before that my feelings started for you back in middle school.” I whisper, this conversation seeming suddenly too intimate for the bleachers at a public ice rink.

“I didn’t know back then though,” he says, his eyes searching my face. “And you… I had thought you saw me as just a friend. But no matter who else wanted to date me, on some level, it was always you, Soph. Even then, you were it for me. Please don’t doubt that.”

Even then? Does that mean… that now…

His lips are almost touching mine again when Tom’s whistle sounds, making us jump apart like we’re teenagers who almost got caught making out by the teacher. The irony of it being Tom again, like it was that day, almost makes me laugh.

“Tom!” Carter stands and approaches the ice as Jordan’s team heads back to the locker room. “I’m taking Sophie out. You good here?”

I’m so glad he said something because after that conversation we just had… I’m wanting some alone time with him too.

Tom looks over at us with a glint in his eye. “Yeah, I’m good. I got the boys for the sleepover tonight so I’ll have plenty of help cleaning up.”

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