Page 86 of Winter’s Teeth

But he wasn’t ready. For whatever reason, Fox had something holding him back, and that was okay. This was all still so new, and we had a lot left to do before we could rest. For all I knew, our feelings could change once we figured out what type of people we were when we weren’t in mortal danger.

Though I found that hard to believe, as I was pretty into him before my sister went missing, as infuriating as he was.

He searched my eyes, finding nothing but the truth in them, and relaxed somewhat into my touch. Closing his eyelids, he blew out a slow breath.

I smiled, feeling deliriously happy that he wanted me back and trusted me enough to lose himself for a moment. At least, I thought that was what he felt right now. I thought we managed to carve out a minute of peace, wrapped up in each other’s warm embrace.

Then his eyes snapped open, and the peace was gone. A raging wildfire burned where I’d seen smoke and smoldering embers a moment before.

“Fo—”

“Fuck it. I need more,” he rasped, gravelly and hoarse just before his hand dove under my snow pants to take up residence between my legs.

I gasped, grabbing onto his shoulders, head arching back. Every inch of me was sensitive down there, and the whole length of his hand pressed against me.

“Fox!”

A scream of frustration lodged in my throat, and before he could stroke me again, I shoved my hand between us, finding the hard length that had been against my thigh. I palmed him liberally, digging the heel of my palm into his base, then dragging all the way up to the tip. My fingers teased and prodded through his pants, but that first touch was all it took to undo him.

The wind howled through the trees, whipping up stray needles and drifts of loose snow, but in our little bubble beneath the thick pine boughs, all I felt was Fox’s heat through his sweatshirt.

“Too...many...layers...” I gasped between suffocating kisses while his fingers worked to get beneath my pants. There were thermal leggings to get past, too. And then only one layer would remain between our skin.

He growled in frustration, either at me or the situation, I wasn’t sure. “Keep the layers. I... I can work... With this.”

He lost his breath with every stroke of my hand against the bulge in his pants. Such power went straight to my head, leaving me drunk with the knowledge that I could reduce Fox to breathy, sputtered rasps with a single, well-placed hand.

My power trip didn’t last long though. As soon as his fingers maneuvered under the elastic bands of all three remaining layers of clothes, they plunged deep, down to the hottest part of my flesh between my thighs, then up into the folds slick with need for him.

I cried out the very moment a finger pushed in. Chilled from the air, his fingertip was like ice inside me, but it was a perfect compliment to the fiery heat everywhere else.

That same cold air probably turned the tips of my ears, nose, and cheeks bright red, but it was impossible to experience a chill with Fox covering my body and his kisses scorching me to my very center.

Our hands grew frantic, the pace becoming fast and sloppy. His hips bucked into my palm, and I could barely hold on when he thrust a second finger into me. I was moments away from combusting. Maybe I would light on fire, and my clothes would disintegrate. Or maybe he would end this torture and let me have him—

The coil snapped. I arched, lips parted for a silent scream.

He came undone a heartbeat after me, growling and grunting as he rutted against my hand.

It was ecstasy. Plain and simple. Something so perfect and rare carved out of a dark time. Stolen, coveted, and precious.

Nothing else was okay in my life right now, but this? Him?

I was never going to forget this moment with Fox.

Chapter 35

We couldn’t stop throwing bashful glances at each other while we prepped to go down the mountain.

When my fingers slipped with the buckles of my ski boots for the seventh time, Fox knelt in front of me, taking over. I stared at the top of his head, then without hesitating, I ran my fingers through his hair with a blissful sigh.

He lifted his gaze, a peculiar look on his face, crossed between awe and confusion. I didn’t have to pinpoint the look to know I felt the exact same. Like we couldn’t believe this thing blooming between us in the dead of winter.

Fox patted the side of my ski boot. “Your ankle gonna hold up?”

“It’ll have to.” Climbing to my feet, I blew out a resolved breath, letting go of any doubts in the cloud of white that fogged the air as it left my lips. “I’m ready.”

Teetering on the edge of the mountain, it didn’t feel any better knowing what to expect this time. If anything, I was doubly terrified when my skis tipped over the edge and gravity took hold. That first weightless moment before momentum picked up, I stared out at the dark horizon dotted with glittering stars above the expanse of endless woods. Everly was somewhere in there, under the same stars, waiting for me to get to her.