Page 87 of Arctic Titans of Northwood U: Volume 3

“And?” A whisper, if even that.

“And I…came. Hard.”

Andrei’s eyes closed, and he swayed a little closer to me, his leg moving deeper between mine, his chest pressing against mine, and his hands moving to the sides of my waist. “That’s…”

I prepared myself to hear the scolding I deserved.

“…incredibly hot,” Andrei said. “I never did that. Never dared. But fuck, I had opportunities, and it crossed my mind.”

“You don’t need to ask for permission,” I said.

“Oh, I think we can come up with better things to do,” Andrei said, then went silent. He looked at me from beneath a frown. “Are you into that? Or am I rushing ahead?”

“I…don’t know,” I said. “I’ve never done it. Except in my head. And I think I’m into that. Probably.”

He bit his tongue, then lifted his chin. “I don’t care either way, Griff. And I realize that I am rushing ahead. You know how risky this is.”

“I know. If anyone finds out…”

“For us, Griff,” Andrei said, his fingers curling with tension as he held on to me. “If it goes south, we’re screwed. All the years we’ve known each other, ruined. All the stuff we still want to do, gone.”

“It doesn’t have to be like that,” I said, panic kicking in. I’d only just kissed him once. I couldn’t stop.

His eyes were wide and glowing with his inner light. “What I’m saying is, if we’re gonna do this, let’s do it right.”

I nodded with vigor. “Yes. Right.”

He looked at me.

I figured it was still my turn to speak. My head shook in confusion. “How do we…do that?”

He laughed in that sweet, short way of his. “Maybe you should just kiss me again.”

Oh, I thought, relief bringing me to him in a single, wonderful heartbeat. My mouth pressed against his, the kiss searing us both all the way down to our hearts. I kissed him like I’d never kissed anybody else. I didn’t know where the difference lay, but I knew it felt that way. It felt right. It felt like this was exactly where my mouth needed to be and who I needed to kiss.

I silenced the welling questions and just pressed on, parting my lips in Andrei’s rhythm and kissing him deeper and hungrier as the moments passed us by. We stood there, frozen in time, in an instant so glorious and wonderful that I didn’t need to know the end of this story. I could have stopped it right there and then, stopped it all, and I would have been content.

It didn’t matter what lay ahead. It didn’t matter the road we’d covered to get here. Only this kiss meant something, and only Andrei in my arms.

He was like heat and delight folded into one, squirming in my arms to get closer, to kiss me better, to touch me more. I wrapped myself around him like he was some small and fragile thing instead of an ice devil nearly the size of me. But I’d known him long before he had become a ruthless athlete.

My Andrei. Right here, pressed against me, sliding a little higher, revealing he was just as hard as I was, struggling not to moan out loud. He kissed me again, his nose resting just next to mine, his lips moving softly, savoring every sensation.

When he pulled back, it was just enough to speak, and his forehead pressed against mine. “Are you sure we’re not making a mistake?”

“If I say yes, will you keep kissing me?”

He chuckled. “Griff, if you didn’t understand this already, I don’t think I’ll be able to explain it.”

“Go on,” I said, hands feeling the sides of his ribcage.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to stop kissing you either way,” he said, pulling his head back and looking into my eyes. “Even if I wanted to.”

And that was all I needed to hear.

Chapter Fourteen

ANDREI