Page 57 of Daring the Defender

“Reid? You up? We’re headed to the gym in ten.”

My brother’s voice wakes me up with a jolt. I don’t need a reminder that I’m still in Reid’s room, warm in his bed. I fell asleep here last night, with the plan to leave before daylight.

From the way the sun glares through the window, it’s clear that didn’t happen.

Why? Reid’s bed, compared to the musty old couch in the cold porch is so toasty and cozy.Reidis toasty and cozy, his body spooned into mine all night. Except now my brother is the one waking us up and there’s nowhere to hide.

“Yo, Reid!”

The door rattles, and I panic, rolling over and shimmying under the blankets. I pinch him in the side as I vanish and he finally moves.

“Oof.” His body spasms from the pinch, hips thrusting toward my face.

Holy Morning Erection.

I barely hear the creak of the door opening over my hammering heart and the distraction of Reid’s impressive cock. He put on a clean pair of boxer briefs before bed, but the thin cotton does nothing to hide the tent pole between his legs from threatening to work its way out.

“Sorry, man,” I hear Reid say, voice muffled from the blanket. “I stayed up too late last night.”

“Working on a new project?” Axel asks, “Or did you scare yourself with one of your murder shows?”

Reid’s fingers find my face under the blanket and graze my cheek. “New project.”

“I should’ve known.” Axel laughs. “You always get hyper focused when you start something new.”

“Yeah, it’s in the early stage, but it definitely has my interest.” His fingers find my lips and he rubs his thumb across the flesh. Feeling bold, I dart my tongue out and lick the curve of his thumb. “Meet you down there in ten?”

“Yep.”

Even after I hear the door click shut, I don’t move, frozen in place. Finally, the covers raise and Reid peers down at me. My eyes land on his mouth. His lips. Histongue. Oh my god. His tongue. That licked and sucked and?—

It’s like the fog clears and everything I let him do to me, everything I did to him comes rushing back. Who was that person? And what was she thinking? That orgasms are great, that’s what. But with a little daylight and sleep, I see that last night was last night. Today I’m Axel’s naive little sister. Whatever Reid and I did last night was an experiment. A lesson for me, and like Axel unwittingly suggested, a project for Reid.

“Good morning,” he says, voice low.

“Hi.” I ease my way out from under the cover, to the edge of the bed.Awayfrom him and whisper, “You go ahead and get dressed, and I’ll just hide out until everyone leaves. If he looks for me in my room, you can tell him–”

His hand snaps around my wrist and he drags me back to the bed, and against his hard body.

“You’re freaking out.”

“I’m not freaking out.” It’s a lie. I’mtotallyfreaking out.

“GG, stop.”

I swallow and look at him. Not his face. Straight ahead, which unfortunately is at his abdomen, the ladder of defined muscles, taunting me. Then the hard lines of his chest.

“I know last night was big for you. It was big for me too.”

That forces my eyes to meet his. “It was?”

He nods. “I’m not used to people putting their trust in me–at least not off the ice.” His fingers slide under my hair, curlingbehind my neck. “But you trusted me to show you a part of yourself you shouldn’t be ashamed of.” His thumb strokes a lazy pass along my throat. “A part that is incredibly hot and powerful.”

“What do you mean, powerful?”

“You had me on my fucking knees, GG, and my tongue in your pussy.” The corner of his mouth curves up in a grin. “There’s nothing more powerful than that.”

I’m crossingcampus when my phone vibrates in my pocket. I make a valid attempt to answer it, I really do, but I’m bundled up in a sweater and a too big pair of gloves Axel loaned me and I can’t actually get my fingers around it and by the time I manage to wedge my hands around the case, the vibrating stops.

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