“So you see him. You agree he’s real. And you don’t think I’m crazy?”
“Well, we’re all a little crazy,” she says with a chuckle, putting an arm behind me on the hot tub’s ledge, her brown eyes meeting mine. “But yes. I believe you.”
Snapping her attention to Jax, she waves him toward one of the empty seats opposite us. When he sinks down into the water, I still, half expecting him to melt or freak out by the heat. Instead, the temperature just lessens in intensity, as if he’scooling it, but not enough to bother Lark. Leaning back in her seat, she gestures at him with her hand. “Now, tell me all about yourself, Jax. Jojo’s given me a quick rundown, but I want to know what your intentions are for my bestie.”
When our time’sup in the hot tub, we head back to our respective ice domes to change into fresh clothes. Jax follows, sitting on the edge of the bed while I peel off my wet swimsuit. I pull a towel from my bag, and he grabs my wrist as I walk past. “Let me.”
“Okay.” He guides me between his knees, his face level with my breasts. He pats down my body gently, covering my skin with kisses until I’m completely dry.
I put on my thermals, navy blue with snowflakes swirling across them.
“If I didn’t know any better, Tempest, I’d think you picked these out with me in mind.”
“Maybe I did.”
“Then maybe I look forward to stripping them off of you later before I have you sit on my face.”
For someone so chilly, how did it just get so hot in here?
I swallow hard, pushing down the vision in my mind. The one I really want to make happen. But we promised Lark we wouldn’t miss stargazing. While she isn’t telling Delilah about Jax or what I told her, the idea of not keeping it a secret and having him there with me makes me smile.
Jax presses a soft kiss to the nape of my neck, then hands me the rest of my clothes, jacket, and beanie. If he wasn’t blue,didn’t just stroll in through the ice wall, or transform into a giant wolf, this would almost feel normal. “How come you can touch me and move the things around us now so easily? You didn’t seem to be able to before.”
“Your belief solidifies me,” he says, stroking my cheek with the back of his hand.
I take his hand and fold his arm around me, wriggling my ass against him. He growls. “You do that again and we won’t make it out to meet your friends.”
“Fine,” I whine, giving him one last playful swish of my hips, “but I expect you to ravage me thoroughly afterward.”
With a snap of his fingers he’s dressed in full cold-weather gear, like the cold somehow affects him. A dark jacket and matching jeans with a peek of a light-blue shirt. He smiles, and I swear it always manages to make me melt. “Oh, I’m counting down the minutes.”
So am I.
I spend the next hour and a half listening to Gail talk about the stars while thinking only of the harbinger at my back. I can feel his presence the entire time, and I wonder how close he was before I could see him; how often I didn’t realize he was right there, waiting for me to believe. Waiting for me to find him too.
We say goodnight to everyone and head back to my ice dome. Each crunch of snow beneath my feet makes my nerves bubble closer and closer to the surface. Barely inside, my hands find Jax, stripping away his jacket, shirt, pants, and briefs. They all disappear before they hit the floor.
I crash my mouth to his, and we’re a tangle of teeth and lips and tongues. Skimming the hem of my shirt, he peels it over my head before unclasping my bra and palming my breasts in his hands. I moan against his mouth. Gripping my waistband, I pull my bottoms down, stepping out of them before pushing Jax back onto the bed.
I climb up his strong body, admiring every dip, curve, line, and feathered frost mark. He gives me a firm smack to the back of my thigh. “Get up here, Tempest, I’ve been craving your taste.”
I turn, moving backward. Lowering my hips, I hover just above his face.
“Lower.”
“I-I’ve never done this. I don’t want to suffocate you.”
“Not possible.” He chuckles. “Though I’d gladly let you.”
He gives me a tug down to his lips and I yelp. His tongue feels like it’s everywhere as he licks, and laps, and spears into me.
It’s incredible.
“Oh god, Jax.” I quake above him and watch his body come to life, cock hardening with each messy stroke, and I grab his chest to steady myself. His mate mark stares back at me, and I give into the instinct to touch it, grazing the pads of my fingers over each silvery ridge. He groans beneath me, his cock lengthening under my gaze. Pearly streaks slip from the slit on its head.
I lick my lips.
Then lean forward, thumbing the silver ball. More precum weeps out. It’d be a shame to waste it…
