I look at him—really look at him.At the intensity in his eyes, the set of his jaw, the way he’s watching me like I’m the only thing that matters in the world.“No,” I say softly.“I trust you.”
Then I kiss him.
It’s meant to be brief, a simple press of lips to seal my decision.But the moment our mouths meet, something shifts.His hand tightens on my hip, and I feel the rumble of a growl in his chest.
“Olivia,” he warns, his voice dropping to that dark register that makes my thighs clench.
I smile against his mouth, kissing him deeper, letting my tongue sweep against his.“What?”
“You’re playing with fire.”
“Maybe I like the burn.”
He growls—actually growls—and flips me onto my back in one smooth motion.I laugh, the sound breathless and surprised, because I’d known exactly what would happen.I’d wanted to break his self-restraint, to push him past that careful control.
“You think this is funny?”he murmurs, settling between my thighs, his mouth finding my neck.
“I think,” I gasp as his teeth graze my pulse point, “that you’re very predictable.”
His laugh is dark, dangerous.“Predictable.We’ll see about that.”
His mouth moves lower, kissing and nipping its way down my body.When he reaches my hip, he pauses, looking up at me with eyes gone dark with intent.
“Alexander—”
“You broke my self-restraint,” he says, his voice silk and sin.“Now you get to deal with the consequences.”His gaze flicks to the pillow on the floor, then back to me, wicked and knowing.“And there’s no pillow to muffle your screams now.Better use your hand, darling, or your parents will hear.”
Then his mouth is on me, and I arch off the bed with a cry that I have to immediately smother with my palm.His hands grip my thighs, holding them open, and his tongue does absolutely devastating things that make coherent thought impossible.
“Alexander,” I whimper against my hand, my other hand fisting in the bed sheet beside me.
He hums against me, the vibration making me gasp.His fingers join his mouth, and I’m lost, drowning in sensation, in the skilled, relentless way he takes me apart.
When I come, it’s with his name muffled against my palm and stars behind my eyes.
He doesn’t stop.Just gentles his touch, drawing out my orgasm until I’m trembling and oversensitive.Then he moves up my body, kissing every inch of skin he can reach, until his mouth finds mine in a kiss that tastes like me and him and us.
“I could live like this,” I whisper against his lips, my body still shaking with aftershocks.
His arms tighten around me.“Good.”
And as I drift toward sleep an hour later, with his heart beating steady beneath my ear, I don't fight the contentment that settles over me like a blanket.
* * *
The next coupleof days pass in a blur of happiness I didn’t know I was capable of feeling.
Alexander and I are inseparable.We take Sophie ice skating in the rink on the edge of town, where he holds my hand the entire time.He wasn’t lying when he said he’s never skated before.But he catches on pretty quickly.We build a snowman in the backyard with Sophie, and somehow it turns into a full-scale snowball fight that Alexander loses spectacularly—My sister has a wicked arm.
Yesterday morning, I woke up to find Alexander outside with Dad, shoveling the driveway.Both of them were laughing about something, their breath misting in the cold air, and I’d stood at the window with my coffee, watching them.Not analyzing it.Not questioning it.Just...watching, letting the warmth in my chest settle there without trying to make it mean something or prove it was temporary.
I’m happy.Beyond happy.And for once, I’m not fighting it.
However, as the first day of the Winter Wonderland Festival approaches, I notice something else: Alexander and Sophie are being very secretive.They disappear into whispered conversations that stop the moment I walk into a room.They exchange meaningful glances across the dinner table.
Last night, I’d come across them in the living room with notebooks and Sophie’s laptop spread across the coffee table, and the second I appeared, Sophie had casually closed the laptop and Alexander had given me an innocent smile that didn’t fool me for a second.
“What are you two plotting?”I’d asked.
