Page 128 of Icebound

He leans back, resting his head on my pillow, breathing heavily like we just spent the past hour with our mouths fused together and not two seconds.

I run my hands up his corded arms, nerves twisting in my stomach. “Why did you stop? Is everything okay?”

His Adam’s apple bobs, slow and steady, like everything I love most about him. “I’m fine, I’m just…” He inhales deeply, muttering a curse. “I’m nervous. That’s all.”

That makes me want to kiss him for the rest of my life. I place my hand over his rapid heartbeat that matches my own rhythm. “That’s okay. Me too.”

I suck in a breath, and he takes the opportunity to slide his tongue along the seam of my bottom lip, diving into the kiss, but it’s not deep enough. I need it to be endless. And that’s exactly how Rhode kisses me, like this moment is endless.

He’s not rushed or hurried. No, he traces a tortuously slow path over my lips, and I can already tell this kiss will linger for long after it’s over. I weave my fingers into the silky threads of his hair, and a throaty moan ripples through his chest.

That sound triggers matching explosions in our bodies, setting something feral loose inside us. The tenderness evaporates, leaving nothing but an all-consuming need.

“What are you doing to me?” he growls against my mouth. “And whatever it is, don’t ever stop.”

Rhode sucks my tongue, stopping me from answering. I straddle his hips, grinding against the delicious hardness of him. All of our kisses seem more wild than the last. Our teeth knock together. Tongues explore every inch. It’s the first time I’ve ever loved spiraling out of control.

Rhode’s the only thing anchoring me to this world.

There seems to be a sea of thoughts in those deep blue eyes, but we don’t talk. I slide down his briefs and take him in my hands, sliding my finger over his slick head.

His hips jerk at my touch, and his voice shakes almost as much as his body. “I’ve missed you. I’ve missed us.”

His legs tremble, so I swirl my thumb over his wet tip before lining him up with my center. “I need you. Now. Please. I’ll be careful.”

“You don’t have to beg for me. I’ll give you whatever you want.”

He dives back into our kiss the same moment I sink down onto him. He fills me in one powerful thrust until he’s completely buried inside me.

I expect the frantic urgency to translate to our bodies, but it doesn’t. Rhode slows his movements to a languid rhythm. The wet slide of him, combined with the groaning headboard, makes obscene sounds in my quiet bedroom, but I love the noises we make together.

I love everything about this moment—except how I can’t stop thinking the word love.

Rhode's hand finds my ankle. He lifts my leg, hitching it up higher. The angle allows him to go deeper than anyone’s ventured. I whimper when the base of him nudges my center, creating an exquisite friction that’s addicting.

His thrusts turn from slow and steady to primal and feral. “How does my cock feel inside you. Does it feel like nothing? Does this...” He thrusts up hard. “Feel like nothing to you?”

I try to answer, but the only thing that comes out of my mouth is a breathless moan.

Rhode grips my throat, gently squeezing as he strokes the column of my neck. “I need you to answer me because I’m telling you right now, I’ll never get enough of you.” He loosens his hold. “Now, look at me and say it.”

Panting, I meet his eyes. “This isn’t nothing.”

He stops moving inside me, but I’m still on top, riding him. “Now, what is this, love?”

Love.

He called me love. That stops me.

My eyes begin to burn, so I tangle my fingers in his hair, wrenching open my heart for him to see every feeling I’ve tried to bury. “This is everything. You’re everything to me because you somehow became my best friend, and I don’t want to say goodbye to you.”

I kiss him before he has a chance to respond because I’m too scared to hear whatever words come out of his mouth. With a groan, he kisses me with more fervor than before.

Our lips tumble into a dance, swaying and breaking apart and coming together. His tongue slides into my mouth at the same time he moves deeper into my body. I get lost in the feeling of his lips and never want to be found.

Never want to know the ending. But that’s the thing about kisses—they always do.

End, that is.