Free Icing the Puck (New York Empires Book 2) by Isabo Kelly, Stacey Agdern, Kenzie MacLir Page A

and both times had been bad because she’d had to suppress her emotions and reactions to keep from catching the sheets on fire. She didn’t want that with Brody, not when she was so sure they could be good together. Every time he kissed her only confirmed that.
    Until she was more sure of her control, though, she didn’t dare relax. And if she couldn’t relax fully, she’d only disappoint them both.
    He helped her remove her skates, a process which had her entire body tingling. He knelt on one knee on the padded ground in front of the bench where she sat, unlacing her boots, his big fingers working the skate loose with ease. Her breathing sped up. God, having his hands on her legs was like a kind of torture. Having him remove even something as innocuous as footwear felt like a seduction, a promise of what could be. When he looked up at her from his position, his lips lifted in that knowing smile, she felt the look all the way to her core.
    She held her hands in her lap, her grip tight, and concentrated on her breathing so she didn’t start a fire she still didn’t know how to stop. Her leg muscles were aching, her ankles sore from attempting something she’d never done before. The November air was brisk and sharp, the ice rink behind them adding an additional chill. And none of it was a match for the heat in Brody’s eyes.
     
    Brody walked her to her building door after treating her to a scrumptious Indian meal and this time she felt no awkwardness or hesitance before he kissed her. She fell into his arms, hungry for a sense that this could work, that they could share the passion she wanted with him without disaster. She savored his taste, the feel of his strong arms wrapped around her, the hard press of his big body against hers. Her stomach danced with needy anticipation and without meaning to, she ground herself against him, wanting to feel every inch of him.
    The tell-tale twitch in his pants proved he was as affected by their kiss as she was, but it was a warning she forced herself to heed. Reluctantly, she eased back, not out of his arms, but far enough she could look up at him.
    “Thanks for such a wonderful day,” she murmured.
    “It doesn’t have to end.”
    He cupped her cheek in his big hand, his leather glove feeling deliciously erotic against her skin. She swallowed hard. Oh how she wanted to invite him in. But she just didn’t dare yet.
    “I… I need more time,” she said.
    She braced herself for his disappointment, or his arguments. She fully expected him to push the issue because most men had with her in the past. She was prepared with excuses, things she hoped would be reasonable enough he wouldn’t dump her.
    If he did, she knew they weren’t meant to be. A man who couldn’t wait on sex wasn’t worth her time. But it would hurt with this man.
    To her relief, he didn’t do any of the things she dreaded. He just nodded, with that very slight, sexy smile tugging at his lips, and he kissed her again. Her pulse thumped hard at the seductive sweep of his tongue and delicious pressure of his lips against hers. She was panting by the time he straightened away, and afraid she’d throw caution to the wind and invite him up anyway.
    Before she could, he brushed her cheek with one gloved finger then wished her a quiet goodnight.
    She watched him walk away, standing just inside the lobby while she made sure he got a taxi, then she closed the door. Her relief was tempered by a surprising amount of disappointment—not at his respecting her wishes but at her own inability to do what she so desperately wanted to do with him.
    Closing her eyes, she knocked her head gently against the wooden door, then turned up the stairs. She’d never wanted to be normal so badly in her entire life.
     
     

 

Chapter Eleven
     
    Brody watched the swirling crowds of formally dressed party goers as he hunted for Ann and pretended to sip at his flute of Champaign. The exhibition game supporting the Special Olympics