Page 156 of Arctic Titans of Northwood U: Volume 3

“You’re staying over,” he said.

With Silas away for the night and the toy safely inside me, I couldn’t find an excuse. I just knew that my heart leaped with joy that Seth wanted me even now. “Is that what you want?” I asked.

Seth shot me a naughty smirk. “You paid for dinner. I owe you.”

I laughed and shook my head. “You say the most terrible things.”

“What does it feel like?” he asked.

It feels like I won’t ever be able to sleep alone in an empty bed. It feels like I won’t be able to eat or read or play hockey unless you’re there. It feels like I’m starving for your attention and adoration, and it’s the only nectar that I want. But I knew what he was asking, so I kissed him gently, one closed eye after the other, and whispered, “It feels right.”

His hand moved down my arm, slipped onto my hip, then dragged lazily over my ass. “You big bottom.”

I pinched his nipple for that.

“We should run away together,” I said.

Seth snorted and rolled onto his back, his right hand resting on his chest. I lifted my head onto my right fist, elbow planted into the mattress. My left hand touched his abdomen, muscle trembling once upon contact. “Run away together, he says.” His gaze flicked to my eyes. “Are you always this dramatic?”

“I was the unofficial prom queen of my class,” I said.

“I can see you in a tiara,” he said. He looked at me like a movie psycho. “And only a tiara.”

I laughed and rolled onto my back, flinching at the strange sensation of the toy still inside me. It cut my breath, but it made me feel so comfortable and at home in Seth’s bed. When the hell had this happened?

“Did you see how everyone looked at you when we entered the restaurant?” Seth asked.

“Did they?” I hadn’t been paying attention. “We make a cute couple. If only you weren’t so into murdering me.”

“It’s the least I can do for you,” Seth said. “This is a blood feud, my friend. You told everyone that my kin pissed his pants in your bed.”

I snort-laughed and shook my head. “That blew up beyond my intentions.”

“It’s the way of rumors,” he mused. “I am Seth Kane. You slandered my brother. Prepare to moan.”

“Did you just…?”

“Shut up,” he said, turning to me and burying his face in the crook of my neck, laughing at a horrible impression.

“Yours are worse than mine,” I howled.

Seth only laughed harder. I loved his silly side. I loved how he rolled his eyes when I did weird voices or dusted off some archaic words. I loved how he gave up on fighting it and did weird accents or intentionally mispronounced words. It was a low form of humor, right next to tripping and falling, yet it entertained us endlessly.

I looked at him as he rolled onto his back again, naked and beautiful and still smiling to himself. Yeah, I was in love. I was so deep in it that there was no point pretending. It would only make me look silly, like the “This is fine” meme.

Had I felt like this last year in the summer grass in the shade of an apple tree? Had the scent of ripe apples made my heart race? Had their thump against the ground when they fell? Had I rested my hand in the middle of Seth’s torso and felt his heartbeat under my palm, thinking how precious it was?

I wouldn’t have forgotten it, would I?

Nobody would forget this deep, profound fear attached to something wonderful. Loving was a miserable business. It had happened to me before, though nowhere near as clearly as now. Six years ago, when we were clueless teenagers with heads full of dreams and a conviction and arrogance of the young, I had fallen in love with him. I had fallen in love with his quiet strength and the stubborn choice to stick with me despite all that had gone down between his brother and me.

It had been a strange, debilitating feeling. It had left me sad for days on end, the sadness lifting only when Seth was around and crashing onto me as soon as he was away. It wasn’t beautiful. It wasn’t sweet. It was devastating, yet it paled in comparison to what this felt like now.

I didn’t think I would survive it. Not in any way I wanted to know, at least. Sure, my body would go on, but I wouldn’t be myself when this was over.

So don’t let it be over, a voice said. It was a simple solution. We just had to keep going. And keep going we did.

Chapter Ten