Page 19 of Ice Block

He quickly blinks. “Very well.”

I stomp to the back of the car and try to lift my suitcase into the trunk, the bag hardly moving an inch off the ground. The driver and Vladi both reach for my bag, but I shake them off. “I got it! Don’t touch my bag.”

Vladi hands the driver a tip and gives him a nod as he headstoward the driver’s seat shaking his head and mumbling something in Spanish. “Do you have to make everything so difficult? Let me help you with your bag. You struggled getting your carry on in the overhead bin, and this other…” he says, his lips twitching as he takes me in with a sensual trace of his gaze, “boat-sized bag you have here is surely much heavier. Let me help you.” He grabs the handle and tries to tug it away from me.

“I can handle it,” I snark through gritted teeth as I pull the bag back toward me.

“It’s heavy and I bench press six times more than this. Let me help.”

“Get your damn handsoffmy bag!” I scream as I rip the bag out of his grip. I smirk and bobble my head as he takes a step back, raising his hands in surrender.Good.I lug the bag into the trunk.Shit, this is heavy.I use every last ounce of my strength to do a sort of heave-toss motion to finally get everything in the car, but the motion throws me off balance and I start to trip backwards, stumbling and—fuck I’m going to bust my ass on this hard concrete.As I free-fall back, getting dangerously close to the ground, I stop.Wait…this should hurt.Concrete hurts like hell when you fall on it. But this is…soft.Vladi caught me.Of course he did.Goddammit he smells good.I suck in a sharp breath, fighting for more. Why is air so hard to find?Melissa Joan Heart, you stay out of this.

“As I said earlier,” his deep voice rumbles into my ear, goosebumps covering every inch of me, “why do you always make things so difficult?”

I try to scramble out of his hold, but I still have no footing, especially not in these adorable, but ridiculously impractical wedge sandals I’m wearing. I lean into him as he helps me stand fully, still cradling me from behind.

“Get in the car,lisichka,” he commands. Turning on my heel, I have no retort. I just get into the car and buckle up for the ride.

My phone pings, and I see a few texts have come through since we landed, a welcome distraction from the current disaster.

Olivia

Did you guys make it in okay?

Maggie

Yep! Heading to the resort now.

Also, interesting choice of words there, Liv.

‘You guys’ implies you knew I would be traveling with, and sitting next to, oh, I don’t know…

VLADI!

Olivia

Oh…lol. Did I forget to mention that?

Maggie

Yeah, Liv. You definitely left that little detail out

Olivia

Remember, it’s my wedding, so you can’t be mad!

I knew she was going to play that card. Damn best friends. I love her and hate her all at the same time.

Olivia

So…have you killed each other yet?

I glance at the jerkwad in question beside me, seeing him also engrossed in his phone with his earbuds in.

Maggie

Not yet

But I may die from annoyance.

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