Page 26 of Ice Contact

But after three losing rounds of skeeball, I’m ready to find a game I can beat her at. Scoping out the games around us, I pull her in close, trapping her in my arms. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. You win. How are you so good at skeeball anyway?”

“What can I say? I guess I’m just good at handling balls.”

My eyes pop fully open and my pants feel tight as fuck at her words.Did my sweet siren just make joke about handling balls? God, I cannotwaitto get this girl in bed.I try to compose myself, try to keep from losing control at the thought of what she could do to my balls, but her eyes spark as she lays the challenge down at my feet with a simple lift of her brow.Fuck. Focus, Hayes.

“Enjoy it now, Miss Skeeball, because when we hit the dance gameyou’re horrible at,you’re going to regret this little gloating session,” I say as I watch the blood drain out of her face at the mention of DDR, grabbing her hand and dragging her across the bar.

As we step up to the platform, I put the tokens in and gesture for her to play. “Ladies first.”

She hesitantly steps onto the game, looking back at me with fear in her eyes. “There’s room for two players up here, you know.”

“Ohno. I’m watching every single minute of this performance. We’ll see who has the higher score at the end.”

With that, she faces the game and hits start. She looks so timid up there; I almost feel bad for her.Almost.Until the music begins, and I realize I’ve been played.Again.

Olivia is stomping so fast on those light-up squares on the game platform that she seems to be floating above them. I shake my head with a smirk. She is the most adorable, flirty little brat up there dancing on that machine. And now, she is in so much trouble.

She hits the final pose, not even breathing hard. “Your turn, Hayes,” she says with a mischievous smirk on her face. “You think you can top that?”

I flash her my best cartoon villain smile. “No.” Glancing around once more, I quickly grab her hand and walk her toward the dark hallway leading to the restrooms. I spin around as I press her up against the wall. “You think you can get away with playing me like that, Olivia? That was some long con you pulled back there.”

“What can I say? I have mad skills,” she says like the brat I have been longing for my entire life. She’s trying to get a rise out of me.And oh, is she gettingexactlywhat she asked for.

I press my body closer, crowding her against the wall and placing one of my legs between hers as I lean in to kiss those supple lips. This isn’t like the playful goodnight kiss on her porch. This a fierce claiming.Olivia is mine, and it’s damn time she learned.She presses back against me, grinding against my leg as she lets out another one of those goddamn moans I’ve been playing on repeat for a week. I pull back from her lips and kiss her neck as she quietly moans again. I press her harder into the wall, desperate to get a little relief of my own.So much for calming down…fuck,this girl does something to me, I swear.

“Fuck, Olivia, that moan of yours is going to unravel me. And,” I say between playful kisses along her pulse point, “if Ididn’t know better, it seems like you’rewantinga punishment from this bet we made.”

She gasps as she struggles to find her words. “I didn’t say…I’m not…,” she gasps with a shaky, yet excited voice. I interrupt her words again, unable to resist, pressing my lips against hers. She wraps her hands around the back of my head, pulling me deeper as her nails give me shivers.

A forced cough disrupts our moment. “Excuse me,” an unfamiliar voice says. Olivia and I quickly pull apart, and there’s a gentleman standing in the hallway trying to get past us to use the restroom.

Embarrassed, we move to opposite sides of the hall to let the man pass, and Olivia says, “Sorry about that,” as he enters the men’s room. She slowly turns back to look at me, sheer mortification at being caught swirling in her eyes, but I’m not focused on that.

I’m focused on the one little word that just slipped out of her gorgeous mouth.

I step toward her, a feral grin on my face. “What did you say, Olivia?”

She immediately puts her hand over her mouth, and I hear a muffled ‘oh shit’ behind her fingers.

“Oh, you’re going to get it now,” I taunt as I start to tickle her and she squeals. I laugh at her antics, but don’t know what possessed me to tickle her…I think I simply had a hunch she might be ticklish.

I was right. Wonder what else I’m right about.

“But we reallywerein his way,” she whines as she playfully squirms to get away. “Weshouldapologize for something like that,right?!”

I hum, my hands stilling around her waist. “Good point. Your penalty challenge is under review. I’ll let you know the results later today,” I say to her with a sneaky grin. “Now, let’s get out ofhere before that guy leaves the bathroom and catches us again. I’ll go grab some more tokens and find a game I can actually beat you at.”

She smiles at me and laughs, bringing a smile to my own lips.I love her laugh.I lovemakingher laugh. I love the way she makes me laugh too. I’m beginning to think I love a lot more about this redhead than I should in such a short amount of time. She may be teetering on the edge of the penalty box right now, but I am the one who is in big trouble.

21

olivia

“Are you up for a bit of a drive?” I ask as I put the last of our destinations into Hayes’ GPS. “It’s about thirty minutes, but I promise it’ll be worth it.”

“Well, if youpromiseit will be worth it, I suppose I can’t pass this up. Let’s do it.”

I should be a tangled mess of emotions right now based on what’s happened in the last few weeks. But hanging out with Hayes and getting to know other pieces of this sweet, sexy man, has been the best treatment for my not-so-broken heart. This is honestly better than sitting on the couch eating ice cream straight out of the container with Maggie while binge-watching some sappy show and ugly crying.

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