Corbin #2
“Apparently my indefinite leave did have an expiry date,” I shrugged, trying to keep the disappointment from my voice.
“I fly to New York two days after Christmas, stay there for a couple of days and am then home on the thirty-first.” I toyed with the lid of my drink, avoiding her scrutinising gaze.
I needed to maintain any feelings of sadness were about returning to work, rather than leaving whatever this was because if she didn’t feel the same as I did, it would crush me.
It would make things awkward and uncomfortable.
She was quiet for the longest time before her forcefully chirpy voice broke the silence. “Well, that gives us three days to cram in all things Canada. So let’s go!” She was outside and closing the car door before I even had a chance to tell her I didn’t want to leave soon… or maybe ever.
“I loved swimming in the ocean and traipsing the coast of Australia with you, but nothing compares to this.” I said, holding my sticky treat aloft.
“Right?” She grinned, her cheeks rosy from the cold, somehow making her even more beautiful. “Maple taffy is my favourite thing about the snow,” she added, sucking the frozen sweet into her mouth before removing it with an audible pop. She smiled again, those plush lips calling for me.
Ugh, I wanted to kiss her.
Right here in the middle of the ice-rink, surrounded by families and other skaters, I wanted to devour that mouth and taste the sweet goodness on her tongue.
And based on the way her brows were raised accompanied by a mischievous smirk, she could read my mind.
I was blaming the look of my pale blue hoodie which she’d adorably matched with a beanie and gloves, making her the cutest fucking snow bunny I’d ever seen.
Before she came to Australia, I didn’t notice people.
If they weren’t a business associate, or family, there was a strong chance I wouldn’t even talk to them.
I wouldn’t know their names, their likes and dislikes and I definitely wouldn’t know that their top lip raised into a perfect little peak.
That their hazel eyes were a little lighter on an overcast day when the ground and trees were powdered with winter snow.
Or the way they smelt like a drug made just for me and tasted like my kryptonite – all very inconvenient thoughts given our location.
The rink was full, lines of people holding hands, kids with their skating aids fumbling along next to attentive parents trying to do their best to keep them upright. And then there were the couples, gracing the makeshift canal as if each were the only two people on the ice.
And I felt that, because regardless of everything happening, I wished it were only Shelbs and I out here.
Ice skating wasn’t something I’d done since I was a child, but it was clear she did.
Her moves were practised, fluid and far more effortless than my clunky footwork which saw me concentrating as much as possible.
“Might even taste better if I wasn’t so focused on remaining standing,” I grumbled, eliciting a laugh from her.
“You do resemble a baby giraffe, but a very adorable – ooop,” her eyes widened briefly, before she reached for my hand and yanked me forward. My sugared treat went flying, the tips of my skates digging into the ice as I grabbed hold of her hoodie and did my best not to tumble and flip us both.
“Jesus,” I spat, lucky not to be face down at her feet .
Her laughter rang like bells in my ear. “Sorry, but they almost ran into you,” she squeaked, pointing behind me to someone who was long gone.
“I told you I wasn’t the best skater.” There was a definite whine in my tone depicting my embarrassment but Shelbs ignored it.
“And I told you I was scared of the ocean and you forced me into that,” she put her hand on her hip, not sorry at all.
“I recall that day having a much better ending,” I whispered, biting back my smirk when her mouth fell open a little.
We were still skirting around the times when we couldn’t keep our hands off each other, the days that followed as if nothing happened until we were wound so tight with brief touches or unintentional affection and it happened again.
A silent war raging within until we lost our restraint in the best of ways.
With the hospital, Blake returning home and Christmas, we hadn’t had much time just the two of us.
Today was the first time I felt as though I had her all to myself and I wanted to skate away from the crowds and just be us.
Take her in the trees and kiss her until our mouths hurt and we could no longer feel ourselves because of the cold, especially as my departure hovered over us like a storm cloud.
“Can you loosen your grip on my hip?” She asked, skating us over to the side of the ring until I could grab the wall on either side of her instead.
“Sorry,” I winced, knowing my arm was still sore so her hip would also be.
“Can’t believe we got matching tattoos.” Pulling herself up onto the ledge of the canal she smiled proudly and I moved in closer and grabbed her thighs to steady myself when I almost fell again.
“Can’t believe you were going to Evermore me into getting one,” I said with faux anger.
She giggled, “Oh, please. It was practically your idea.”
“You laced me up on maple donuts. That counts as being under the influence,” I protested weakly .
“You are so full of it, Chambers. You wanted it as much as I did. Our mothers definitely didn’t do that on their travels, though, so we’ve detoured a little.”
“I don’t think they did a lot of the things we’ve done,” I commented. She grinned and we fell into a comfortable silence, watching those around us while we caught our breaths and I tried stretching my feet inside the uncomfortable skates.
“What’s your colour?” She asked, taking me by surprise.
“Hmmmm,” I looked up towards the sky, the hues of grey in the clouds. The fresh white snow encasing the trees around the park, the Smokey Topaz shade of her eyes, the Bittersweet Shimmer of her mouth. “If you were a colour what would you be?” I asked rather than answering.
She made a thoughtful noise, biting that lip enticingly, before frankly stating, “ Turquoise .”
I moved in closer, holding onto the side of the rink and framing her with my body while the rest of the park fell away. Warmth spilled from her mouth before dissipating, my thumb grazing her jaw as I took her taffy from her hand.
“Then that’s my colour,” I said, having a taste of her treat. Her eyes followed the movement, watching the way I licked my lips afterwards and I grinned.
Fuck me, she was perfection.
“ You are my colour,” I added before I cupped her face and pressed my mouth to hers like I’d wanted to every second since the last time I tasted her – almost one week ago in another country.
She parted her lips, her hands reaching to grab the lapels of my snow jacket and I tossed the rest of the candy aside, wrapping my arms around her and catching her sharp breath in my mouth.
She tasted like maple candy, cinnamon and everything I’d come to know and love. Everything I never let myself imagine yet everything I always knew .
I buried my hands underneath her beanie entwining my fingers in her hair, trying not to groan when she gripped her thighs tighter around my waist. I was a walking fucking erection around her and I was losing the will to keep fighting my soul deep need to have her every waking hour.
“Have you seen enough snow,” she panted against my mouth and I nodded.
We were about to become indecent for a family friendly place and it was with that thought and a bucket load of restraint that I pulled my mouth away from hers. Grinding my hips into her one last time I brushed my lips across her cheek.
“Enough snow but not enough of you,” I spoke into her neck. “Never enough of you.”
“God, you could make a girl fall in love saying things like that,” she breathed and I pulled back to look at her.
A flicker of disbelief marred her features, her skin suddenly pale as if processing what she’d just said.
Even with the sheer number of layers separating us, somehow, I felt closer to her, deeply bonded in the way only two people who have known each other their whole lives can be.
And whether I stayed another few weeks or left tomorrow, I needed to tell her that I felt the same. That I loved her.
But not here. Not now.
“I need you,” I heaved, my whole body stiff.
“Oh, finally,” she smirked, “But it’s illegal to do that in public, although with your body it could probably be considered community service.”
“You and your public indecency again,” I joked, although part of me did wonder if my little Shelbs enjoyed the idea of some public intimacy. “Blake?” I asked, wondering how weird it would be to kick someone outside of the house when they’d recently had surgery.
“Gone to visit his friend,” she breathed against my lips, her hands gripping my back.
“Thank God.”
We’d barely closed the front door before she pounced. While we drove I basically had to sit on my other hand to keep from starting something else I would be unable to finish and I couldn’t even look at her for fear of reefing up the handbrake and pulling her onto my lap.
Now, in the entryway, I hoisted her up until her legs wrapped around me, our mouths connected in a desirous elixir, and walked her towards the bedroom. The car trip hadn’t been long but I could think of nothing other than tasting and fucking. There would be no making love tonight.
Tonight I needed all of her and in every way.
Back home, I would go months without another person entering my space.
Months without even a thought of seeking release with another, but Shelby consumed me.
Her perfect little body was made for me.
And when we were together, the taste of her or the feel of being inside her was never far from the front of mind.
I made a sound of pained longing, my hands shoving the beanie from the top of her head.