Chapter 23
lukas
Turns out, snow pants were really good at hiding the fact that I’d been rock hard for hours. I leaned against the tiled wall of the shower and gripped my cock in my hands. I was too damn sensitive.
I groaned.
Aimee was going to fucking kill me at this rate. I started pumping slowly, trying to make it last, trying to imagine it was her touching me.
I hadn’t lied to her. Her being a virgin hadn’t changed anything or altered my feelings about her, but it did make me alter my plans.
I couldn’t just dive right in like I’d wanted to—like I had the feeling she’d love.
The first time couldn’t be rough and heated fucking.
I needed to worship her first, and only when she was ready.
I gripped the head of my cock and rotated my wrist, and I bit back a curse. I pumped hard and fast, imagining Aimee on her knees with her big eyes staring up at me
Oh, fuck.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I came hard. Ignoring the ache had been beyond difficult all day, and I kept making it worse. Stealing kisses, making comments about plans, just falling for her more and more.
I was fucked.
She was right to be a little wary, I could see it in her face when she didn’t think anyone was paying attention. More than once today she’d been lost in her own thoughts. I couldn’t blame her.
In all the years I’d carted Zara around to follow the great Aimee Bryant, anyone would look at me and wonder if I was a creep, or if Aimee was moving too fast. I’d already crossed so many lines with her and we needed to have a talk, set rules, lines, boundaries.
As much as I wanted to throw her into my bed and fulfill my promises, she would have to be the one to set the rules, we’d go at her pace.
But getting to know the real her today? How we’d been at the same school, I knew her brother, but never really put two and two together—maybe our paths would have crossed sooner.
But she’d told Oriont that she didn’t want to be known as his little sister on campus, and Orion hadn’t advertised their connection.
Had we met back then? Maybe things would be different.
I pressed my forehead harder against the wall and let the hot water run down my back. The way she’d been embarrassed about being a virgin, the flush that had risen to her neck and cheeks, the way she didn’t want to look at me, wanted me to ignore it.
Someone had made her feel like shit about it.
They’d probably given her loads of crap and had made some terrible remarks.
I could only imagine who, and it made me even more mad on her behalf.
And I wondered why. For what? On-ice chemistry?
It couldn’t have just been for the Olympics right?
There is no way he could have conned her and everyone for that long?
I pushed myself away from the wall and raised my face towards the shower head. I could see her goofy grin as she told me she was a pro, that she’d beat me to the bottom. I’d nearly let her, but I loved how she pushed out her lower lip into a pout and crossed her arms over her chest.
In those moments before I snuck ahead of her and beat her to the bottom—she shone when she was happy, and it was such a drastic change from the girl I saw the first day at the Lodge.
I’d seen parts of her when she’d been out on the ice with Zara, but I’d quickly crushed those rays of light.
Like an idiot, I was lucky she wanted to even be near me.
The days following had been terrible, and the way she’d just shut down outside.
But today, sitting across from her, watching her wiggle in her seat as she enjoyed her food, the way her eyes would go a bit cross-eyed and wide as I moved in to swipe the whipped cream off her nose.
The way they heated as I licked and sucked, and fuck.
Blood rushed back to my cock. This time I closed my eyes, leaned back against the tile and worked it fast and rough. I felt the building release as hot tingles shot down my spine before I groaned, my whole body shaking with the aftershocks.
I let out a shaky breath and quickly finished my shower. I’d told Zara we’d get dinner, and it had to be almost time.
“So…” She hedged.
I looked at my little sister, who was grinning like a conniving little gremlin. Zara had come bounding into my room as I was pulling a shirt on. I rubbed my towel over my hair, roughly drying it.
“So what?” I asked.
“You’re no fun,” she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.
I grinned. “I don’t know what you’re referring to.”
“Did you take her to the place? Did she love it? Did you make sure she got the hot chocolate?”
I looked down at Zara who was staring at me and practically bouncing.
“Yes. Yes. And yes.”
“Good,” she said with a nod. “If you break her heart, I’m going to hurt you.”
I dropped the towel in the bathroom and we headed out to go eat. The door clicked shut behind us as we made our way to the elevator.
“You do know that I’m your brother, right? Your loyalty should be to me.”
“Yeah, well Aimee’s old coach Brennan agreed to take me on as a student. So, my loyalty can be bought. As it turns out, it was bought.”
I stopped walking and pulled Zara into a swinging hug. She squealed, but her arms wrapped around my neck.
“You little shit, when were you going to tell me?” I asked.
She laughed and hugged me tighter. I flexed my arms and held her close. She rarely let me hug her anymore, so I took what I could when she let me. She would always be my little sister, but these days she was too cool for me, or I was too much of a loser for her. It depended on how she was feeling.
“I was going to tell you at dinner! I thought Mom and Dad would have called you.”
“I noticed they called while I was in the shower, but I was going to call after we ate, since I was already running late. I’m so happy for you, bean,” I said, squeezing her one more time before letting her down.
“Yeah Mom and Dad are going to come back for a few months while everything gets set up.”
The elevator doors opened, and I listened to my sister rave about Aimee, about Brennan—about all of it. Talking a mile a minute, barely taking a breath. I was thrilled she had a chance to finally pursue skating for real.
When we got to the lobby, the doors opened to a voice calling for my sister.
“Zara!”
Aimee’s voice came barreling down the hall ahead of her, and just the sound had me half hard.
I so was fucking screwed. Her hair was loose around her shoulders, still slightly damp from her shower.
I could smell the vanilla wafting off of her and I wanted to bury my face in the spot where her shoulder and neck met—her hair surrounding me.
I wanted to wrap myself around her and never leave.
She looked ecstatic and the moment she got within reach of my sister, she squealed and hugged her.
“Brennan just told me!” Aimee said.
“Thank you! For everything,” Zara said.
“I’m so happy for you. You’re going to love Brennan. He’s the best. He won’t give up on you.”
I wasn’t sure if Zara could pick up the notes of sadness in Aimee’s voice, but I could. I knew that more than just the part of her that Asher had occupied died that day. There was a wistful note to it, and I wondered if Aimee would ever get back on the ice.
“Are you going to have dinner with us?” Zara asked.
Aimee looked up and met my gaze and gave me this tentative smile that had me melting. I didn’t know I could melt, but sometimes she looked at me and I just…would melt.
“I was actually on my way to meet up with my family, but you’re welcome to join us,” she said.
Now it was Zara’s turn to look at me—eyes wide, lashes fluttering, her small hands clasped in front of her chest. I put my hand on her head and sighed.
She squealed and spun back around to Aimee, grabbing her hand and pulling her along.
I followed behind the two of them, and decided I really wouldn’t mind if the rest of my life looked like this—trailing after my little sister and the girl that had been occupying my thoughts for so long.