Page 26 of Ice Block

My eyes roll back, not wanting to acknowledge that maybe it’s not hate.Maybeit’s something else. “All right, enough words of wisdom for the night. You two get some sleep, and I’ll see you on the beach in the morning.”

“Get some rest Maggie.” I kiss them both on the cheek, feeling better about being trapped on an island withhimif these two are around. “And don’t let that big wolf hog the bed!” Johnny shouts as I walk away.

“Mind your business, Johnny. Bartending therapy hours are over!”

Walking out to the beach to watch the water crash along the shoreline, this long as hell day plays on repeat in my mind. I’m so damn stubborn, but…What if everyone is right?What if I gave him another chance? What if he’s open to a relationship now? My heart sinks, the remnants of that night still floating around in my veins like shards of glass.One wrong move and I’ll bleed out.Being around him all day, and now rooming with him all week? My stomach twists caught in a damn war between being hopeful and protecting myself. I’m not sure my heart can take another blow.

Besides, I have other things to focus on.I can’t afford any distractions.Things could really take off with my side business, turning it into a full-time gig. Or it could all blow up in my face.Just like things with Vladi.With my job, at least I can just pick myself up and be back where I am now and work for people like Bill and have no creative control. It would suck, but I could survive. But with Vladi? Glancing back at the crowd of people, I find the man almost immediately.How does he tower over literally everyone else?I shake my head kicking a foot in the sand. I don’t think Melissa Joan Heart would be able to recover from that.

18

vladi

Walking back into our room after dinner, I immediately start sweating. This place feels like a damn sauna. Silently storming to the thermostat, I pray it didn’t break while we were at dinner.How is it set to seventy degrees?I growl. Fuck that shit. I punch it down to sixty-five. I swear I turned it down before I left. If this thermostat has another glitch, I’m calling the front desk. But right now, I’m tired as hell. It’s been a long ass day and I need my nightly routine and some time away from…people. I quickly change out of my dinner clothes and climb into bed, picking up my book to read a few chapters to calm my mind before sleep.

I’m pulled out of my chapter by the lock on the door clicking. My heart skips as Maggie walks in, that damn dress taunting me, and I’m glad I’m under the covers and can hide my growing erection with my book. She gazes at me, a glimmer of heat in her eyes, her mouth open trying to find the words to speak.

I relax a hand behind my head flashing her a smug smile. “Something the matter, Magdalina?”

“How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that?”she snaps as her eyes burn with fire, but it’s not anger this time. It’s something else. “What the hell are you doing?”

I tilt my head, clearly not understanding what she’s asking me. “I’m reading in bed.” I lift my book as high as I dare, still fighting the beast beneath the sheets. “Is that a problem? We agreed to share the bed, yes?”

“Yes, but…what are you wearing? Are you …are you fuckingnakedunder the covers?”

And now my erection is worse.

I clear my throat, peering over my glasses. “Do you think about me being naked often?”

She scoffs and rolls her eyes. “What the hell is on your face?”

I furrow my brows, closing my book and giving her my full attention. “My reading glasses?”

“Fuck,” she murmurs under her breath as she stomps toward her suitcase.

“What’s wrong with my glasses?”

She tears apart her suitcase, I can only assume looking for her sleeping attire. This is why I unpack my suitcase in a hotel. I can easily find things without cluttering up the entire room. Case in point, the clothes scattered all over the floor around her bags. Normally, I would be bothered by the mess, but I’m enjoying the fact that she is clearly flustered.

“Nothing! Nothing is wrong. It’s just…” she groans, “never mind. Can you just read without your glasses, please?”

Holy shit. She’s turned on by my glasses.A wicked smile spreads across my face.

“Can I read without my glasses? Sure, Maggie. Would you like me to breathe underwater with my lack of gills too? I wear myreadingglasses because I can’treadwithout them,” I says as she finally turns to look my way. “Are my glasses bothering you?”

“NO,” she snaps, stomping her foot as she says it. “They are not bothering me. I’m just…I’m going to go change in the bathroom.”

My smile quickly morphs into a full-on smirk as she traipses off to the bathroom, swaying her hips back and forth as she goes.Goddamn. Even in that loose dress, her ass is gorgeous. I try to focus back on my book, reading the same sentence as I wait for Maggie to come to bed.Shit.I fist myself through the covers. How the hell am I going to behave myself, not to mention actually sleep, with her in bed so close to me?

Finally, she emerges from the bathroom, and I glance up to see her in an extremely tight tank top, and very short shorts.Fucking hell.I look back to my book, pressing the spine against my crotch and making sure my glasses are on full display. Before dinner, she meticulously arranged a wall of pillows down the center of the bed, and I feel the mattress shift as she climbs in on her side.

“Magdalina…”

“I just told you not to call me that,” her voice trails off as some of her fight fades.

“I must not have heard that. I would put in my hearing aids, but now that I know you find my reading glasses sexy, I’m afraid that you would break down this pillow wall and climb me like a tree if I had a hearing device.”

I hear a faint chuckle across the feather barrier, my chest tight at the sound. Her voice suddenly more soft. “I do not find your glasses sexy.”

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