Page 57 of Broken Ice
“Oh,veryhandsome?” He bit Beau’s ear, making him yelp.
“Oh my God, I’m beingmauled.” Beau snickered.
Emilio made a chomping noise, nibbling on Beau, getting him to squirm and shriek.
The fight devolved into butterfly kisses, both of them trying to cover the other in fluttering touches as they grinned.
Beau could feel something inside him swelling, growing bigger and warmer and lighter, glowing so brightly it lit up the world around him.
CHAPTER NINE
Pavel cornered Beau after practice. “Can I talk to you a sec?”
Beau took one look at Pavel’s face and knew exactly what this was going to be about.
“Wait—you know?” Beau blurted when they found an isolated corner to talk in.
Pavel winced. “Yeah, Beau. Even if I hadn’t, yesterday would have clued me in.”
“Who else knows?” Beau was trying not to panic, but the situation was quickly spinning out of control.
“You’re lucky our teammates are as observant as a pile of bricks. I mean, Don has probably figured it out too. Haven’tyoutold anyone? The medics, at least?”
Beau squirmed. “They know I’m spending my heats withsomeone. Just…not who.”
Pavel squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Okay. Well. About yesterday.”
“I know. I fucked up. I shouldn’t have asked him to do that. I swear I’m never doing it again,” Beau assured.
The relief was stark on Pavel’s face. “Oh, thank God. I thought this conversation was going to be a nightmare. Like, I don’t want to dictate what you do during your heats—”
“I know.”
“But Emilio was…I mean, I’ve never seen him like that. I’ve never seenanyonelike that.”
Guilt was a sharp and painful thing. “I’m sorry. Really—I’ve apologised to him, told him it’s not gonna happen again. And it’s not.”
Pavel nodded. “Okay. That’s good.”
Beau bit the inside of his cheek. “He was really bad, huh?”
“Yeah. He was.…Just be careful with him, okay? You’re not the only one with something at stake here.”
“I know,” Beau said, even though he hadn’t been conscious of that before the previous night.
He was going to do better, though. He could promise that much.
***
Beau gasped obnoxiously. “And you don’t have anything planned?”
He had no idea how he hadn’t known Emilio’s birthday was the following week—during a homestead, no less. Pavel was regarding him like his shocked reaction wasn’t warranted, but this should be a bigger deal than people were making it out to be.
“Why would I have something planned?” Pavel asked slowly.
“Uh, aren’t you his best friend?” Beau pointed out.
“Do you plan your friends’ birthdays?” Pavel drawled.
