Page 39 of The Pucks We Freeze
“Come here,” he rasped, voice shaking with restraint he clearly didn’t have anymore.
He helped me step out of my leggings, and I climbed onto his lap, straddling him. The long jersey I wore hung low, hiding just enough to make it feel even more reckless. The second I settled there, flush against the hardness straining beneath his sweats, we both groaned. His hands gripped my waist, sliding up beneath the fabric as his mouth found mine again, more desperate this time.
No one else existed. No crowd. No team. No time.
Only this.
Only us.
My hips rolled against him as I reached between us, tugging at the waistband of his joggers. He helped, yanking them down just enough. Then I guided him inside me with a breathless cry, and we both stilled.
Kade’s head dropped to my shoulder, fingers biting into my hips. “You feel like fucking heaven,” he breathed.
I braced my hands against his shoulders and began to move. Slow at first, grinding down in rhythm, like every pass of my body was carving him into me. His lips found my neck, my collarbone, the sensitive part beneath my ear.
“You’re mine,” he murmured between kisses. “Even when you’re gone. You hear me?”
“Yes. Kade, yes, I hear you,” I whispered, rocking harder, chasing the rhythm only we seemed to know.
The penalty box creaked beneath us, echoing soft thuds and breathless gasps. My name fell from his lips in a groan, and I could feel him close, could feel myself close to falling over the edge with him.
Then his fingers slid down between us, finding where we were joined, and with one touch, I shattered.
My cry echoed in the empty arena, breathless and wild, and Kade followed with a broken sound of his own, burying his face in my neck as he spilled inside me.
The silence afterward was deafening.
We stayed tangled together, our bodies still trembling, foreheads pressed and chests heaving.
Finally, Kade kissed me softly. It was slower now, like a promise. “You’ll come back to me, right?”
I brushed his damp curls from his forehead, nodding. “Always.”
And in that quiet moment, tucked away in the penalty box, it didn’t matter what waited beyond the rink.
Because we had this.
And it was everything.
We stayed that way for a while, wrapped around each other on the empty ice, our breath fogging faintly in the cold air, as if time itself had paused around us.
Out there, the world spun with responsibilities, goodbyes, and looming secrets we hadn’t untangled. But inside this glassbox, it was just us. The quiet thump of our hearts beginning to slow. The warmth of Kade’s hands still splayed across my back. The steady rise and fall of his chest beneath my cheek.
I didn’t want to leave.
Eventually, Kade pressed a kiss to my temple, and his voice brushed over me in a whisper. “Come on. I paid the facilities manager to give us some time. We should probably go.”
Neither of us spoke as we slipped through the side door, our steps quiet on the linoleum. The hallway was empty now, the hum of post-game chaos long gone, replaced by the kind of hush that settled deep in your bones. Outside, the air hit cold and sharp, and I shivered as we stepped into the parking lot.
The pavement glistened in patches, slick from the earlier rain and shadows cast by the floodlights overhead. My breath curled into the night.
Kade walked beside me, close enough that our arms brushed. I didn’t miss the way he kept quietly scanning the lot, his jaw set like he was expecting someone to leap from the shadows. But I didn’t press him. I knew his guarded look, the one he wore when something didn’t sit right.
When we reached his truck, he moved ahead and opened the passenger door for me. The gesture was sweet. Classic Kade. Gentle hands, wicked mouth. His eyes were darker now, though. More serious than they’d been on the ice or even in the penalty box.
I smiled anyway, trying to break the tension. “Thank you,” I murmured, adjusting my camera bag onto the seat next to me.
But the second I glanced up, the warmth vanished from his face.
