Page 203 of Iced Up Love: Part Two
For a second, I feel it. That shift. That tension in him. Like he might meet me there. Like he might give me what I’m asking for. But when his mouth meets mine, it’s not what I need.
It’s gentle.
Controlled.
A soft press of his lips against mine that doesn’t deepen, doesn’t take, doesn’t claim.
I try to pull him closer, my grip tightening in his shirt, leaning into him, asking without words.
He doesn’t follow. He pulls back. Just enough to break it.
“I’ll see you later,” he murmurs.
And then he’s gone. The door closes behind him. And the quiet that follows feels… wrong.
Like something just slipped through my fingers. I don’t get time to sit in it. Jackson is already moving toward me.
“Hey, sweetheart.”
His voice is softer than usual, but there’s something tight underneath it, something restless, something that feels like it’s been building for too long.
His hand comes up to my face immediately, his thumb brushing over my cheek, grounding, checking, like he needs to feel that I’m real.
“I missed you.”
I lean into him without thinking.
“I missed you too.”
He exhales like that matters more than anything else, like that settles something in him, before his mouth presses to my temple, my cheek, the corner of my lips.
Soft. Careful. Measured. And I feel it again. That distance. Zach steps in beside him.
His hand slides along my jaw, tilting my face back so I have to look at him.
“Hey, baby.”
And then he kisses me. And it’s different.
Still controlled, still aware, but there’s something underneath it, something that presses into me instead of hovering above me, something that makes my breath catch as I lean into him without thinking, my fingers curling into his shirt as I chase it.
Because I need it. Because I’ve been missing it. He feels it. I know he does. The way I respond. The way I don’t hold back from him. The way I lean into it like I’ve been waiting for it.
He lingers just long enough for it to matter before he pulls back, his thumb brushing gently over my lip.
“I’m gonna shower,” he murmurs.
His gaze flicks briefly to Jackson, then back to me.
“Go easy on him.”
My throat tightens.
I nod.
His thumb traces my lip once more before he steps away, leaving me alone with Jackson.
The air shifts.
