Matteo
ICEHAWKS BITCHES
LEWIS
I swear to fucking god….
did anyone think to grab Irving’s keys off him?
O’CONNOR
oh fuck
Ashford, you got them?
ASHFORD
nope, dropping Emmy off. Mitchel was meant to let everyone into Irving’s
MITCHEL
I forgot
he was busy with puck bunnies
JOHNSON
Ashford, you’re the organizer. I say this fuck-up is on you
ASHFORD
shut the fuck up you grumpy bastard
JOHNSON
just pointing out the facts
Ican’t tell if I’m in heaven or hell.
The car bounces over a speed bump, and holding onto Evie does nothing to stop her from also bouncing up and down on my lap. I decide right here and now that I most definitely am in heaven.
Another pothole has Evie bobbing again.
Definitely in fucking heaven.
Dropping my head back on the headrest, I bite the inside of my cheek and squeeze my eyes shut.
No matter what I think about, I can’t get my dick to go down, not while she’s wearing a silky yellow dress and sitting on my lap.
Irving and the music drone into nothing but a distant chatter as the feel of her body consumes my every waking thought.
“Are you okay?”
At Evie’s whisper, I snap my eyes open to find she’s angling herself sideways, leaning more into my chest.
“Yep,” I croak out, shocked to hear how deep my voice is.
Evie arches a brow. “Why do you look like you’re in pain? I know I’m not that heavy.”
“You’re not heavy at all. Light as a feather.”
“Then why the face?”
Because it physically pains me to have you sitting on my lap when I can’t touch you how I want to.
Another pothole has Evie rising and crashing down perfectly in alignment over me, the position answering the question for me.
Leaning forward, I try to maneuver her off because the last thing I want is for her to feel uncomfortable, but to my utter surprise, her hand smacks down on my chest, pushing me back into my seat and stopping me.
I suck in a hiss of air. Her glacial blue eyes are absolutely heated.
A million and one thoughts pass along her features, and trying to calm the sea of them, I gently place my hand on her hip, loving and savoring the way her breath hitches.
Another bump, this one far larger, has her jolting once more.
The driver shouts out his apologies but I don’t care, not as it forces me to grip her hip tighter and gives me an excuse to put my other hand on her thigh. I come into contact with bare skin.
Surprised, I note her floor-length dress is now bunched around her thighs. My dark hand on her creamy skin is an indescribable feeling of ecstasy, and a low grumble escapes from deep within my chest as my fingers flex.
A whimper tumbles from Evie’s lips, and the tent in my pants twitches as I hear the sound I’ve daydreamed of for years.
Then Evie goes and makes me lose my mind.
With hooded lids, Evie takes a steadying breath, slides her hand up to the nape of my neck, and opens her leg just an inch.
My eyes all but roll in the back of my head as I drop my forehead to the nape of her neck and bite her shoulder.
It’s a gentle bite, but I need to do something with my mouth to stop myself from kissing her.
What if I kiss her and she runs again? What if this is just the heat of the moment for her? What if I kiss her and ruin our friendship? What if I lose her?
What if…
What if…
What if…
A thousand and one what-ifs run through my mind until her nails drag through my hair and send my thoughts scattering.
“Dove,” I warn.
Once she goes there, I’ll never be able to back off. I can’t have a taste of her and return to being friends like nothing happened. She’s my drug of choice and I’ll happily become addicted to her.
“Matteo,” she whispers.
Pulling back, I slowly lift my head and force myself to swallow through the dryness in my mouth. She’s staring at me with such warmth it sends my heart racing.
My fingers on her thigh drag back and forth in soothing motions. Despite her body showing that she wants this—wants me—my instincts are screaming at me to go slow.
As if Evie thinks I need encouragement, she rolls her hips.
Lifting my hand to cup her cheek, she nuzzles into my touch, her eyes closing as if in ecstasy as I slide my other one higher on her thigh.
“Dove,” I whisper, not knowing what to say because it all wants to come tumbling out. Everything I’m feeling just wants to pour and pour until I have nothing left.
The wall I spent years building around my heart is crumbling and I don’t know if it’s safe to love her.
Evie’s eyes flutter open.
“Tell me that you want me. Tell me that this is more than just physical for you,” I all but beg.
It needs to be more than physical.
The light inside the car suddenly comes on, illuminating us. The door slides open, the chair in front of us moving as Irving hollers, “Lets celebrate, fuckers!”
For the second time today, I want to throttle Irving and his timing.
Evie swallows thickly before climbing off my lap. Readjusting my jeans so my arousal isn’t obvious, I jump out of the car, trailing behind her and loving the flush along her skin.
I’ve got tunnel vision as we walk toward our apartment building. The only thing I see is her.
Always her.
We stop before the elevator. Irving stumbles inside, his arms wrapped around the women’s shoulders, as the driver comes ambling behind us, carrying the equipment.
Evie moves to step forward, but my hand snaps out, snagging her waist and hauling her back to my front. Her surprised gasp wracks me with shivers.
“We’ll get the next one,” I say gruffly.
I worry Irving will see right through us, but when he lifts red, glassy eyes to mine, all he does is wink and slur, “More room for us.”
The driver heaves out a breath and steps back, the last of the equipment deposited, and the elevator door closes. He doesn’t even say goodbye, just simply spins on his heel and leaves, muttering under his breath about athletes.
I want to make a joke about cleaning the elevator cart before stepping inside next, but I can’t peel my tongue from the roof of my mouth, not when Evie’s back remains against my chest and she’s made no move to change our position.
The tension between us is palpable, setting my nerves on edge, and the ding of the elevator makes us both flinch.
Letting go of my hold on her is painful. Telling myself that I can’t touch her is painful. Watching her walk into the elevator as she avoids my gaze is painful.
It’s all fucking painful.
Every goddamn moment that I can’t have her is fucking painful.
Evie stands against the right side of the cart, pressing the button for the twentieth floor. I lean against the other side, sliding my hands in my pockets, just waiting.
Come on, Dove, look at me.
As if she heard my internal plea, Evie slowly lifts those pearly blue eyes to mine. The moment she does, she sucks in a hiss of air.
“Well?” I grind out.
A flash of that sass I adore so much enters her gaze. “Well what, Valenti?”
“Back to Valenti now, are we?”
“You’re always Valenti to me.”
I scoff. “Okay, I see how it is.”
“How what is?”
Frustration rushes through me so swiftly there’s no stopping the words that pour from my mouth. “You can’t do that to me, Evie. That’s fucking cruel.”
Her eyes widen into saucers. “What the fuck have I done? You told me to sit on your lap!”
“Not fucking grind on it and nearly kiss me! You know how I fucking feel about you. You know. We dance around it, sure, and I was okay with it—” I pause. “Actually, no, I fucking wasn’t, but you’ve never been cruel about it and teased me like this.”
Anger flashes across her features, her neck turning crimson. “I wasn’t teasing you, Valenti. And yes, you made it perfectly clear all those years ago exactly how you feel.”
My brows furrow before recognition hits. “You’re holding me to something I said when I was eighteen?”
She folds her arms across her chest. “Pretty impactful words, hard to forget.”
“You were drunk, Evie.”
“And?”
“And I wasn’t going to take advantage of you! You were sixteen!”
She snaps forward, getting right up in my space, her finger jabbing my chest. “Stop trying to act like a goddamn gentleman. I was all but throwing myself at you!”
“Because you were drunk!”
Her eyes are a swirling pit of flames, the ocean in them doing nothing to quench the fire. “And if I were sober, would you have gone there?” She holds up a hand, not letting me say a word despite her question. “Of course not. You will always choose your friendship with Caleb over me.”
My head rears back as if she had slapped me. “You think that’s why I said no?”
“You told me that’s why!” she screams in my face.
“And you believed me?”
“Believed what? The words from your mouth?”
I bark out a huff of laughter, shaking my head.
She fucking believed me.
“I knew you were gullible sometimes, Dove, but this is just—”
“Don’t finish that sentence,” she snaps.
Taking a step forward, Evie is forced to tip her head back. I slowly lower myself so we’re at eye level, and my voice is as deep as death as I confess, “Every word I said that night was a lie.”