Page 85 of Overtime
“What—”
I don’t finish the sentence, because next thing I know, I feel his arm slide below my knees and I’m flying. I yelp and grab him tighter, burying my face against his neck. But the clean spice of his skin gives me even more vertigo.
And then we’re crashing into the icy water.
Aran himself pulls me to the surface. We both gasp as we come up for air, and now there’s hair in my mouth.
“I’m going to kill you,” I announce while spluttering.
Aran laughs. The nerve.
I try to push hair away from my face, but it’s stuck like glue. He shifts his grip to release my legs, and I dip underwater a bit more. If it weren’t for my arm around his neck, I would sink.
With his free hand, Aran brushes my hair back more effectively than I can, clearing my view of him. Drops of water trickle down his face. One of them catches on his eyelashes. His eyes are on my lips, and I’m cured, because all of a sudden, I’m not shy anymore.
“Aran,” I rasp out.
“Hmm?”
“If you don’t kiss me right now, I’m really going to kill you.”
He smiles. “Who’s the murderess now?”
But he also doesn’t bother with playing any more games. Circling my waist with both arms, he lifts me up until I have no choice but to wrap my legs around him. And as gravity takes me, I let my lips crash against his.
Aran opens his mouth, and I groan, pleased I’m getting exactly what I wanted. Yesterday, he was in control. He was the only one who knew what to do. Today, I’m a little bolder.
Suddenly, I’m encased in ice again because we’re underwater. But I don’t let go of him. Even if I can’t breathe, I’m not breaking this kiss. I gasp a little when he pulls us back up. I don’t care that my hair is a curtain covering both of us, tickling in places and pulling in others. I care more that one of his hands is on my butt. That the other one is sneaking under the band of my bra.
Aran bites my lower lip softly, opening his eyes just a bit. His face is obscured by my hair, but it doesn’t seem to matter. It could be storming with lightning bolts striking the water, and it wouldn’t matter.
“I died and went to heaven, didn’t I?” he murmurs against my lips.
“Stop talking and kiss me again.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
But instead of kissing my mouth, he dips his head down and kisses right under my chin. Then lower. The kisses turn into nibbles, and then he runs his tongue along the base of my throat.
I clutch at his head, gasping. “Aran.”
“Yes?”
“I meant my mouth.”
“Mouth, yes.” He grumbles, pulling my hips lower against him until our faces are at level again. The smirk on his face makes me want to scream. “Sorry, I got a bit sidetracked there.”
Annoyed, amused, and a concoction of other feelings sloshing in my belly, I bite his shoulder. Too late, I remember his words from earlier.
“Strawberry,” he says, voice low and choked up. “I wasn’t planning for this tutoring session to end horizontal, but it will if you keep biting me.”
Lifting my head, I whisper in his ear. “How were you planning for it to go?”
Slowly, he turns until our noses touch. “Just like this. Exactly like this.” And kisses me again.
CHAPTER 25
ARAN
