Fake Skating(87)

“Alec?” I said, pushing open the door, my stomach fluttery as my pulse pounded.

“Right here,” he said, and if I’d instantly fainted, it wouldn’t have been an overreaction.

There. He. Was.

I could see this time, my eyes absent of tears, and I suddenly wondered if this was a mistake. Because Alec looked wayout of my league of knowledge at the moment.

He looked somehow dangerous.

He was bare-chested, and this time in perfect focus. He had pecs and abs and biceps—holy shit those biceps. I swallowed and was grateful that he had on sweatpants this time, because I felt like I would have turned and run out of the locker room like a schoolgirl if he’d been wearing boxer briefs again.

I would have spontaneously combusted or melted into a puddle on the floor.

The music that was playing somewhere in the locker room wasn’t helping my calm, though.

Sweat, lose your breath

Any way you move, I’m into it



“I feel like this is a stupid dumb terrible idea,” I said, walking toward him.

“Oh, honey,” he said, his eyes wild with mischief, “most superstitions are.”

I stopped in front of him, not too close but close enough. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he agreed, and I could tell he wasn’t paying attention to our words. His dark eyes were on mine, and it felt like we were both simmering, like water getting ready to boil.

“Okay.” I cleared my throat. “So what exactly are we doing here specifically?”

“By ‘specifically,’ are you trying to differentiate what the goal is from the fact that we are inappropriately close in a locker room when I’m not fully dressed?”

“Yes, that is exactly what I’m looking for; thank you for the clarification,” I said around a laugh.

“The way I recall it,” he said, “I hugged you, you hugged me back, and then our chains got connected and I had to pull them apart.”

“That is how I recall it too,” I said, but my voice was almost a whisper.

“Then let’s do this,” he said.

Even though I knew it was coming, I somehow felt shocked when he wrapped his big arms around me. Butterflies went wild in my stomach and adrenaline pumped through my body as I slid my hands over his skin and hugged him back, like I’d touched a live wire or something.

I closed my eyes and let the smell of him into my senses, trying to be cool about the feel of his big arms wrapped around me.

But when I pulled back, our chains didn’t get tangled.

“Come on,” he said, grinning down at me in that way that made his eyes squint. “I guess we need to try again.”

“This is ridiculous,” I laughed. “Are you sure this isn’t a ploy?”

“What are you saying, Collins?” he said, his deep voice making the flirt sound dirty. “That you think I like your hands all over my chest? Do you think I like canoodling with you in the locker room?”

“I actually think it’s possible, yes,” I said, wondering why it was so hard to speak.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t hate if it took ten tries,” he said. “Come here and let’s get these chains to lock up.”

He pulled me close again, this time wrapping his arms around my waist so tightly that I almost felt crushed against him in the very best way. He lifted me a little and I felt like I couldn’t breathe, and when we pulled back, our necklaces were tangled together.

I felt his grin but couldn’t actually see it because his face was down by my neck.

“Success,” he murmured, and I felt him untangling us.

I closed my eyes as his breath raised goose bumps on my skin.

“I think I kissed your neck last time, didn’t I?” he said, so, so quietly.

“Um,” I breathed, unable to form words.

“I’m pretty sure I did,” he said, and his mouth was so close to my neck I could feel the vibration of his voice. “And we don’t want to mess with the superstition.”

“Well, if that’s what you remember happening,” I managed, fully aware that we both knew that had never happened, “we definitely don’t want to mess with the…”

I trailed off when his lips touched my skin. There must’ve been a framework of nerve endings in that very spot, because every cell in my body sparked and sizzled at the feel of his mouth on my skin.

“And if I recall,” he said, his teeth dragging over the side of my neck, “I might have nibbled a little bit too.”

My eyes closed of their own accord and my head fell back. How the hell does Alec know how to make me feel this way?

“Yeah, you definitely maybe did that,” I said, and my toes curled in my shoes when he laughed a very dirty laugh against my throat.

“You like that, Collins?” he very nearly growled against my skin.

“Not sure, maybe go again,” I said on a breath, and then I gritted my teeth when he did.

Dear Lord, I thought as my hands were suddenly on the back of his head and he was doing the most incredible things to my neck with his mouth. Somewhere in my brain an alarm bell was ringing because this was a terrible idea, but it was silenced by the way his body was pressing mine against the lockers.

“We should probably stop,” I said, sliding my fingers into his thick hair, definitely not stopping anything.