Chapter 15 - Karter #2
His eyes locked onto me, tracking my movements like I was an opponent with the puck. I tried to pivot and escape, but he caught me around the waist with a tight grip, his momentum hauling us both off balance until we went tumbling down to the hard ice.
We landed in a tangle of limbs and breathless laughter. I stared up at the dark sky while Aleksey rolled onto his back right next to me, our shoulders bumping as we caught our breath. The freezing air stung my lungs, but the cold surface was surprisingly comfortable.
Looking up at the sky, I took in the scattering of stars you could never see back on campus. The quiet made this place feel cut off from our normal lives. And it got me thinking about Aleksey’s future, and where he might actually be playing next year.
I turned my head to look at his profile. “So, how was the meeting with the Chicago scout?”
His chest rose and fell with a long breath before his dark eyes met mine. “We had coffee.”
I propped myself up on one elbow. “And?”
“He laid out an entry-level contract.” His voice went flat as the easygoing mood evaporated. He shifted a bit, crossing his thick arms tight over his chest and pulling his shoulder a few inches away from mine.
“Aleksey, that’s huge.” I propped myself up on one elbow, studying his face.
He kept his eyes fixed on the sky. “He even mentioned a development roster spot, too.”
“You’re going to get it. I know you are.”
Aleksey hummed, his broad shoulders lifting in a dismissive shrug. “We’ll see.”
I let the hockey talk drop. I knew he wouldn’t let himself believe it until he actually signed a piece of paper. Instead, I nudged his skate with my own. “How was the midterm?”
“Not terrible,” Aleksey admitted. He let his head fall back against the ice, his posture relaxing a bit.
“See?” I smiled. I traced a loose circle on the frozen surface with my finger. “I told you those extra late-night tutoring sessions would pay off.”
Aleksey rolled his head to the side. He watched my hand move against the ice before lifting his gaze to mine. A slow, knowing smirk broke across his face. “That’s because we actually studied for two straight hours last night.”
I tilted my head and kept my expression mild. “Yup, we did. You took excellent notes.”
He propped himself up on one elbow to mirror my position. The shift closed the gap between us until our jackets brushed together. His eyes dropped to my mouth. “Right. And then I pinned you to your desk and put my hands down your pants.”
A sudden, hot rush of blood pooled low in my gut. I caught my lower lip between my teeth, my breathing hitching at the memory. “Exactly,” I said. I let my voice drop a fraction as I leaned in closer. “Highly educational.”
I watched him in the yellow light of the lantern. The exhausted, wound-up guy I lived next door to was gone. Out here, he actually looked relaxed. Talking about what came next felt weirdly normal when we weren’t whispering in my cramped room or holding our breath.
A sudden gust of wind cut across the ice. I hunched my shoulders and shivered. Aleksey didn’t even hesitate. He just reached out, wrapped an arm around me, and hauled me flush against his side.
“We need to get warm,” Aleksey muttered. His breath hit my ear, sending a shiver down my neck that had nothing to do with the cold.
We stood up, our blades scraping the ice, but he didn’t drop his arm.
Instead, he kept it anchored tight around my waist the whole way back to the shoreline.
Back on campus, we couldn’t even stand next to each other without calculating the distance.
Yet, out here, his grip felt possessive, and I leaned into it, hooked on the feeling.
As we hobbled over the packed snow, my heart started hammering against my ribs. The car door was right there. Getting in meant driving back to the dorm, back to keeping quiet and stopping before things went too far.
But then I looked at the trunk, thinking about the shower prep I did before driving out here, and my throat went tight.
I caught Aleksey’s jacket sleeve and pulled him toward the back of the SUV, where I popped the liftgate. The sudden flash of surprise on his face sent a jolt of adrenaline straight to my gut.
Without a word, we both kicked off our skates and climbed into the spacious back cabin. I scrambled forward to the driver’s seat, hit the brake, and pushed the ignition button. The engine rumbled to life, and I cranked the climate control, waiting as the icy air blasting from the vents turned hot.
By the time I crawled back to the folded-down leather seats, the dark windows were already beginning to fog up.
We were sealed off from the outside world.
Aleksey sat back against the side panel, watching me closely.
Swallowing hard, my mouth suddenly went dry as I straddled his thick thighs and settled right into his lap.
My hands pressed flat against his chest, catching the quick thud of his heartbeat through his shirt.
Holding his gaze, I knew there was no room for confusion.
“I don’t want to just mess around tonight,” I told him, keeping my voice steady. “I want you to actually fuck me.”
His hands gripped my hips hard. His entire body went still. “Are you sure?”
Heat crept up my neck. Admitting this out loud felt entirely different from thinking it in my quiet dorm room. I shifted on his lap and tried to appear more confident than I felt.
“I really want this,” I admitted, my voice losing some of its steady confidence. “To the point where I actually went online to figure it out.”
Aleksey’s hands tightened on my hips. “Online?”
“Yeah.” I let out a slightly awkward laugh. “Turns out there are a lot of forums on how to bottom for the first time. I went down a rabbit hole. Even prepped before I drove out here.”
His thick brow furrowed as he searched my face. The silence stretched just long enough to make my stomach twist.
“You actually studied for this?” Aleksey eventually said, his voice dropping into a rough murmur.
“Told you I take my homework seriously.”
The corner of his mouth twitched up. He let go of my hip, bringing his large, calloused hand up to cup my jaw. His thumb brushed over my cheekbone, unusually gentle for a guy who spent his life smashing people into boards.
Aleksey pulled me down for a slow, deep kiss. There was no rushing, just a warm, lingering slide of his lips against mine that made the knot of anxiety in my chest dissolve.
When he pulled back, his breathing was noticeably heavier. “I want all of you,” he said, his gaze dropping to my mouth.
My hands slid from his chest to his shoulders. “Then take it.”
He grabbed the hem of my shirt and yanked it over my head.
We helped each other out of our clothes, pulling at coats and hoodies until they hit the floor of the car.
The slow intimacy dissolved into a messy, urgent rush.
Pants got kicked away. Socks were lost somewhere in the dark cabin.
And even though the heater blasted warm air over my bare skin, a sharp prickle of anticipation ran down my spine, anyway.
Grabbing my waist, he pushed me back against the leather.
I landed flat on my back, staring up at him.
Aleksey moved to kneel between my legs, his broad shoulders blocking the faint glow from the dashboard.
His dark eyes raked over me, taking in every inch.
My breath quickened, my dick hardened against my stomach, and my thighs spread open for him.
He didn’t do anything right away. His hands rested on my knees, thumbs pressing in. “I’ve never sucked you off before,” he said, his voice low. He looked me in the eye, as if he was checking if I was okay with it.
I swallowed, propping myself up on my elbows to watch him. “Yeah. You haven’t.”
“Do you want me to?” he asked. Blunt, no games.
I nodded. “Yeah. I do.”
He gave a small grunt, like that settled it. His gaze dropped to my dick, hard and leaking at the tip. And then one of his calloused hands slid up my inner thigh, slow and intentional, his skin scraping against mine.
He reached my balls and cupped them in his palm, his fingers wrapping around the skin. He rolled them gently at first, massaging the weight of them between his thumb and fingers.
I sucked in a breath, my hips twitching up without my meaning to. He kept at it, squeezing to pull a low groan from me, then tugged downward just enough to stretch the skin and make me gasp.
“You like that?” he muttered, not looking up, his focus locked on what his hand was doing.
“Keep going,” I said, my voice coming out shaky.
He did. He slid his thumb lower, pressing it into the skin between my balls and my ass. The tight strip right there in the middle. He stroked back and forth in firm lines, rubbing that spot hard enough to make everything in me clench.
The pressure built fast, making my dick throb harder, the head of my cock flushing darker as blood rushed in. I shifted my hips, spreading my legs wider to give him more room.
After a minute, he shifted his weight forward on his knees, leaning down closer until his face was inches from my groin. His breath hit my skin, hot and steady, making the hairs on my thighs stand up.
He wrapped his other hand around the base of my dick, gripping it firmly and angling it upward toward his mouth. Then he lowered his head, his lips parting as his mouth hovered right over the head for a second, his breath teasing the slit.
He took me in slowly.
I watched it happen as my cock slipped past his lips. The head disappeared first into the wet heat of his mouth. Then, inch-by-inch, he took in the rest of my shaft as he slid down.
A low, slick sound filled the car, a wet suck and slide as his lips sealed around me and his tongue pressed flat against the underside.
He paused when he had about half of me in, his cheeks hollowing as he sucked lightly, then pulled back with that same wet noise, his lips dragging up the length of my cock before he pushed forward again, taking me deeper this time, down to the base.