On Ice

OI Chapter 19

The ride to Portland is fairly short, despite the fact that it is after three o’clock on a Friday. Traffic isn’t as snarled up as it will be later in the drive home window and Kale manoeuvres around the jams with ease. Being on a motorcycle he’s easily able to squeeze through openings that would be insane for even a compact car; I only had to close my eyes once. Long before I’m ready, Kale navigates us through the massive jumble that is the parking lot at Portland Arena and I’m forced to give up my hold around his waist. I stumble a little as I dismount the bike, but soon enough I’m offering up my helmet and waiting breathlessly for him to say something.

He’s still straddling the bike, his helmet cradled on his lap and his hands resting on his thighs when he lifts his head and his teal eyes bore into mine. His gaze is intense and I find myself flushing and my eyes dropping to study the pavement at my feet. I want to squirm, the itchy sensation at the back of my neck as the hair stands, while he studies me. Finally, he clicks his tongue at me and I lift my gaze. One of his large hands moves from his thigh to rake through his hair and he glances away for a split second before the intense teal orbs are focused back on me.

“How was your day,” he finally asks.

I cock my head to the side, the question wasn’t what I’d expected him to say and I find myself at a loss of words momentarily. He grins at me and I’m certain I’m grinning goofily at him when I answer, “Pretty uneventful.”

His mouth twists and his eyes narrow, before he growls softly, “Oh really? What was that kid? Was that part of your “pretty uneventful” day?”

The velvety rumble of Kale’s voice makes the pit of my stomach feel squishy. My face flushes and the silence grows long as I remain silent, not sure how to answer. I guess he’s mad at me after all. I sigh. I don’t know what to say. It wasn’t like good looking guys approach me and ask me on dates often. In fact, before today, it’d never happened to me before. But that sounds bad and I don’t want to say that to Kale. It’s bad enough that I’d hoped he’d be the first to ask me and to have Dylan come out of no where and demolish that hope, well frankly it sucked. I shrug and return my attention to my feet.

Kale’s attack is unexpected, the helmet that I’d been clutching hit’s the ground and rocks back and forth as he pins me to the car behind me. I jerk my head up in time to see the predatory expression on Kale’s face before his mouth zeros in on mine and he kisses me roughly. His hands fist in my hair and hold my head in place as his lips and tongue pillage my mouth. He backs off a little and nips my lower lip sharply before pulling his mouth away enough to rumble, “Tell him to piss off, I don’t share.”

His lips are so close I feel them move against mine as he speaks, the sensation sets a needy throb to life low in my belly. My eyes have slid closed and I’m lost in the way he makes me feel when he gently tugs on my hair and whispers against one corner of my mouth, “Do you hear me Calla?” Before I can even respond, he’s kissing me again and it’s softer this time, sweeter and slower, every motion seducing me all over again until I’ve completely forgotten where we are, what we were talking about and quite possibly my own name. His fingers flex, tugging at my hair again, before releasing it and threading through the tendrils to my back. The pads of his fingers roam down the length of it before curling down and around my bottom, where they begin to knead for a teasing moment before moving away.

Kale releases me almost as suddenly as he attacked and I remain wilted against the side of the car at my back, my legs feeling like pudding as Kale pushes an arm length away and grins down at me with a satisfied smirk. My eyelids blink heavily and my brain slowly chugs to life, trying to reboot and begin processing what just happened. I’m panting and I’m fairly certain that my mouth is hanging open while my chest strains to take in enough oxygen for me to catch my breath. My fingers are still securely curled around the bottom of Kale’s leather jacket and as I realized that I sheepishly released my hold. You ought to be careful what you wish for! One corner of my mouth twitched as some of my former good mood returned. If that wasn’t a claiming, I don’t know what is! Stupid, you need to learn to be patient; all good things come to those who are patient.