JORDAN
Chapter Twelve
I didn’t expect to sleep at all. When I returned to my room and laid down on my bed, I couldn’t slow down my speeding mind.
I couldn’t keep still. The immensity of what we had done and the pleasure of finally — finally!
— getting this chance was enough to make my heart race.
Yet the sweet innocence in his eyes when he did the filthiest things with his mouth was more comforting than I could have imagined.
Something about that duality made me feel safe after making a decision without considering the consequences.
In one night, our worlds had changed so monumentally that it felt like we swapped our personas. He was the careful one and I was the one who acted without thinking. It was the complete opposite of what we were like on the ice or in the team house.
As the initial excitement drained away, tiredness set in. I slept until the sounds of the waking house stirred me. When I got up, I could swear I had been dreaming. I could swear it had involved Asher. But the dream faded before I could catch it and call it back.
Downstairs, I appeared before Asher. Dad was serving breakfast and Eileen was on the back porch with a book in her hands. “Morning,” she greeted me. “You boys are having a late start.”
Long night, I thought. It was a good bargain. It was worth all the sandiness in my eyes and more. It was worth the cost to our souls, too, if you asked me. I was done being the timid, careful creature who refused to live altogether because others might disagree.
“Summer break,” I murmured, my voice groggy.
Dad brought out plates filled with scrambled eggs. “Is Asher coming?”
I shrugged. “Didn’t see him.” I couldn’t think of a reply that matched my normal replies better. Besides, it was almost true.
But Asher showed up in the next heartbeat.
His locks were tousled from sleep and the many incredible things we had done in the night.
His lips were full and beautiful, drawing my attention almost like nothing else existed around us.
And his eyes were tired, but they twinkled nevertheless.
“Morning,” he said in a sleepy voice. He dropped into his chair without looking at me.
In that deliberate avoidance, I felt a connection stronger than anything he could have conveyed by meeting my gaze.
My stepbrother, my accomplice, my lover.
An awkward breakfast was nothing unusual.
Looking around the table at the silence that felt thicker than the butter I was spreading over my toast, I decided we were not too unlike instant mashed potatoes.
We’d been mixed together quickly, and the ingredients were all there, but the results were less than worthy of a finger lick.
I excused myself while Eileen pushed her scrambled eggs around the plate with a fork and Dad drank orange juice from a big glass that hid half of his face.
As I walked away, Asher perked up and lifted his gaze to follow me.
I watched his mind work and questions pop into his eyes.
I was barely at the foot of the stairs before I heard him leave the table.
Back in my room, I held my breath and tried to shake off the awkwardness at breakfast. It’s all the same, I told myself, but I was perpetually aware of the new big thing at the breakfast table.
There was the quietest knock on my door and the knob turned as I looked over my shoulder.
Asher slipped inside and shut the door, then leaned back against it.
He scanned me shamelessly with his eyes, his lower lip clamped between his teeth.
Then, lifting his chin, he said, “Thanks for wearing a T-shirt down there.”
I wanted to laugh now that I realized what torture it must have been for him the countless times I had strolled around in little more than my shorts. Summers were freeing like that and I enjoyed letting my body breathe a little. “Thank you for not being a total awkward freak.”
He shot me a mock-offended look. “Do I look like I might freak out?”
I made a heavy step toward him, forcing him to lift his head if he wanted to keep looking into my eyes. “You’ve been known to have temper tantrums.” A smile trembled in the corners of my mouth as Asher pouted.
“Well,” he huffed, amusement apparent in his voice. “I think we both know you’ll keep me in check.”
I placed my left hand above his hip, feeling his tensing muscles. As we closed the distance between us, I leaned a little down. “I wanna be alone with you.”
“The lake?” Asher asked.
“That’s what I thought,” I said.
“It’s gonna be weird if we go together, huh?” Asher mused as he lifted his head and rose on his toes by a fraction of an inch. His sexy, sinful mouth hovered so close to mine that I could almost taste the sweetness of the orange juice on his lips.
“Might be,” I said. “I’ll wait for you there.”
Asher didn’t shy away from showing me just how needy he was. He thrust his hips forward, his crotch pressed hard against mine and swung gently left and right. “Okay,” he whispered. “I have stuff to do anyway.” A spark of mischief lit in his eyes.
I teased him by feathering my lips over his, almost tickling before I kissed him so deeply that he couldn’t mistake this for anything other than a promise of infinite pleasure when he met me at the lake.
After Asher let himself out of my room, a sense of longing combined with a feeling of purpose moved me to action.
I made a round of the house, filling my backpack with all the things we might need.
Towels, my little handbag with supplies, snacks, a bottle of wine from Dad’s cellar, and some sunscreen.
I headed out quickly, leaving some bickering between Dad and Eileen behind me.
It smelled sour to me, but I had other things to worry about.
Everything I did had to be considered against my usual behavior.
To risk sounding like a total asshole, Eileen and Dad having something to fight about was a good way to fly under the radar.
I dropped my backpack on the pier and spread out a towel in a sunny spot.
By the time Asher reached the lake, I was baking in the sun, my nearly naked body was heated, and a layer of sweat made my skin shiny.
His light footsteps on the pier made me open my eyes and the pleased expression on his face was worth the brightness of daylight burning my pupils.
He had a smaller backpack hanging from his shoulders, red straps cutting into his smooth, tanned skin. He wore his yellow shorts and a pair of flip-flops. And that was it.
“You’ve no idea how many times I watched you here,” he whispered as he lowered himself to sit down.
He folded his legs under his peachy ass and rested his elbows on his knees.
His fingers twined together and supported his chin.
“For years, Jordan.” There was some playful accusation in his tone.
“I was stealing glances for years and didn’t have a clue. ”
“You must feel really silly now,” I pointed out. “All you ever had to do was ask.”
“Or get tackled down in the grass, get a hard-on, and be tortured for days before finally breaking,” he said casually, shrugging like it was nothing.
I offered him a hand, but he intentionally misread the gesture. He let the backpack slide down his arms, grabbed my hand, and jumped to his feet. He pulled me up with him, then dragged me a couple of feet to the edge of the pier.
I stood my ground, showing off my strength, when Asher stumbled and couldn’t tip me over. He yanked me once again, but it did nothing to push me off balance. One side of my mouth cocked into a smirk and I raised my eyebrows lazily. “What are you doing?”
Flustered and frustrated, Asher frowned. “I was going to throw you into the water, but you’re not budging.”
“Are you sure about that?” I asked.
He pretended to consider it seriously. “I’m pretty sure I’d get a laugh out of it.”
I narrowed my eyes threateningly, but laughter welled in me against my best attempt to keep cool. I bent forward and swept Asher off his feet, lifting him in my arms as he yelped and laughed in shock.
My muscles burned with the effort. He was muscled even if he was much shorter, so he was heavy, especially when he flailed and struggled.
He protested through laughter, begging me to stop, to reconsider, to talk about it, to let him take a breath first. But I only laughed harder and hurtled us both over the edge of the pier and into the lukewarm water of the lake.
Asher screamed on impact, but my body got hit the hardest as I twisted at the last moment so he would sink above me rather than under me. I was a superior swimmer. I always have been.
We splashed and dived deep into the lake.
I opened my eyes as soon as I could make my eyelids peel open.
Bright white light pierced the blue-green body of water.
I sank faster than Asher, whose limbs flailed and propelled him to the surface.
I watched his muscles tensing, his limbs working, his hair moving with weightlessness in the water.
Bubbles of air drifted from his partially closed mouth.
I grabbed his ankle when he managed to get his head above the water.
Even this deep in the water, I could hear him yelp in shock.
Then, as he twisted around, I released him and resurfaced, taking a deep breath of air and loving the obscenities he had to spare for me.
“…asshole, we could have drowned. I was only kidding.”
I splashed him with water once and watched his inherent fury war with humor. Playfulness prevailed and Asher splashed back.
“You wanna play? You wanna play like that? Let’s play, then,” he threatened as he fought back.