Chapter 34
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
ADDISON
I hadn’t seen Chase in a couple of days, and I was beginning to wonder if something was wrong.
He’d been uncharacteristically quiet following the night we’d had at the resort’s rink.
I knew he’d gone to see his parents, and he’d been in touch with the scouting department about Nolan, so he’d been busy.
But that had never kept him away before.
Was this what I had to look forward to the closer we got to April and his impending move back to Vancouver?
Levi and I had just run some errands, grabbing supplies for the resort’s booth at the winter festival this weekend, and I was on my way back to the inn after dropping him at his place.
I’d sent Chase a text asking what his plans were tonight and if he wanted to hang out, but I hadn’t received a response yet.
Even though I’d driven the road past the rink a number of times since Chase and the team had cleared it out, it was still jarring to see it back to at least part of its original glory.
Dead trees and bushes no longer took over the path, and the rink was clear.
The buildings still needed a tremendous amount of work, and the Zamboni shack needed to be torn down completely—
I did a double take, my train of thought skidding to a halt at the sight of Chase’s truck parked in front of the shack.
With a quick glance in my rearview mirror, I altered my course and pulled in next to him.
I had no idea why the hell his truck was parked here when he wasn’t out on the ice, but I was definitely going to investigate.
After trudging my way through the snow toward the shack, I opened the door and stopped short at the sight that greeted me.
A toolbox sat open on the floor, tools scattered around it.
The hood of the Zamboni was propped open.
And in the middle of it all stood Chase.
Despite the cold temperature, sweat dampened his skin even though he wore only a white T-shirt, streaked with dirt and clinging to his broad chest, and a pair of jeans that had seen better days.
At the sound of the door shutting behind me, he snapped his head in my direction, his gaze sweeping over me from head to toe. “Addie. What are you doing here?”
I lifted my brows and pointedly looked at the tools spread out around him. “What are you doing here?”
The tips of his ears turned pink, and he cupped a hand on the back of his neck, darting his gaze to the side.
“I wanted to see if I could get this thing running again. You’ll need one in working order if you want to make the pickup game an annual thing.
” He cleared his throat. “Or want to make the rink more permanent.”
My heart tripped over itself, my feelings a maelstrom of contradictions swirling inside me.
Gratitude that he’d taken it upon himself to do this for us, especially when I wasn’t even aware this was something he knew how to do.
And then there was the regret over the fact that if we did make this an annual thing, he wouldn’t be here to witness it.
I’d grown so used to him being in Starlight Cove over these past couple months that I could no longer see my life without him in it.
Didn’t want to. I knew it was a fruitless hope, but I’d been dreaming up scenarios where we could make this work.
Wishing that Vancouver wasn’t on the other side of the continent.
That he wasn’t playing professional hockey, or that I wasn’t in charge of the resort.
Wishing that we, somehow, had different lives entirely.
Lives that would allow us to finally be together.
But we didn’t. That wasn’t our reality. We only had the short time he was here before everything would change again.
And as disheartened as that made me, I promised myself I wasn’t going to dwell on it.
I was going to soak up the time he had here.
Revel in our connection while I could. And not waste a single second of it.
So, without thought, I strode up to him, wrapped my arms around his neck, and tugged his face down to mine.
I crashed my mouth against his, slipping my tongue between his lips, his moan mixing with my own.
If Chase had been caught off guard, he didn’t show it.
The tool he’d had in his hand clattered to the floor as he wrapped his arms around me, hauling me up against his body, my feet dangling off the floor.
“Missed me that much, huh?” he asked against my mouth, one of his hands gripping a palmful of my ass and grinding me against his hard cock.
I made a noise of agreement as I slipped my hand beneath the hem of his T-shirt, running my fingers along the sweat-dampened skin of his abdomen, before fumbling with the fly of his jeans.
Chase hissed out of breath when I reached in and wrapped my fingers around his cock, squeezing the thick length before swiping my thumb over the tip. “Jesus. You need me right now, baby girl?”
More than anything, but that said too much. Opened up my chest in a way I wasn’t quite ready for. So instead, I whispered a simple, “Yes,” against his lips.
With a groan, he spun us around and climbed onto the Zamboni before settling me on the bench seat.
He braced himself above me, his eyes heavy with desire as he swept his gaze over me.
It didn’t matter that I was covered head to toe, winter gear adding so many more layers than we were used to in this scenario, because he looked at me like I was naked.
He looked at me like I was the most gorgeous woman he’d ever seen.
He eyed my outfit, my winter coat zipped up to my chin and leggings covering my legs, snow boots on my feet, and frowned. “You’re going to be cold.”
I breathed out a laugh and shook my head. “I promise I’m anything but cold. I don’t care what you have to do or how you have to make it happen, but I want you to fuck me. Right here. Right now.”
He froze for a beat. Two. Three. Before suddenly, he was in motion, flipping me over onto my hands and knees and tugging my leggings and panties down before I could blink. Then his mouth was there, licking me from behind, his satisfied groan reverberating against my pussy.
“Oh God,” I breathed, hanging my head between my shoulders and closing my eyes on a moan.
“You’re fucking soaked, baby girl. What got you this worked up?”
I couldn’t exactly tell him that finding him repairing the Zamboni for the resort, combined with the unfulfilled dream I had about him staying here, about a life we could have together, had done that, so I went with a half-truth instead.
“I don’t know what else you expected when I walked in and found you looking like that. ”
He chuckled against my pussy, bringing his hand around to rub his fingers over my clit. “That was a perfectly formed sentence, firefly. Which means I have some work to do.”
Before I could ask him what he meant, he dove face first into me from behind, relentless in his pursuit of my pleasure.
I didn’t even realize I was climbing my way toward an orgasm before suddenly it crashed over me, my arms no longer able to hold me up.
I collapsed onto the seat, my cheek and chest flat against the bench as I moaned, rocking my hips and coming on his tongue.
He groaned against me. “That’s my girl. Can’t wait to feel that again.
Can’t wait to have you squeezing my cock.
” He shifted behind me, fumbling with his jeans until I felt the warm press of his skin against mine.
And then he was leaning over me, his chest covering my back as he swiped his cock through my slit before sinking inside me on a slow, steady thrust. “Oh fuck, there it is. Needed this. Needed you, baby.”
Chase slipped a hand between my thighs, rubbing my clit in tight circles as he thrust in and out of me at a pace designed to get us both off. As much as I wanted this to last forever, as much as I wanted to freeze time and stay right here with him, my body was primed, my pussy craving release.
“Fuck, I can feel you. You’re close, aren’t you, baby?
My little pussy was desperate for it, wasn’t she?
” He brushed his lower lip against the shell of my ear, his teeth scraping my earlobe.
“Do it, then. Come on your cock and give me what’s mine.
” He flicked my clit harder, faster, and that was all it took before I was flying again.
I didn’t bother to hold in my scream since we were in the middle of nowhere without a soul around.
Though, I wasn’t sure I’d have been able to hold it in even if there were.
I was tired of the secrets. Tired of hiding the fact that we were together.
Tired of hiding that I loved this man. More than I’d ever loved another soul.
More than I ever would.
And as Chase sank his teeth into the juncture where my neck met my shoulder, pushing his cock deep and letting out a low groan as he spilled himself inside me, I knew that was never going to change. No matter where he went. No matter where I was.
My heart was inextricably linked to Chase Lockhart. I was inextricably linked to him. And no amount of time or distance would ever change that.