Out on the Ice (Out in College 5)

“Nothing. You’re an interesting combination of a hard-ass thug and a nice guy. It’s kinda sweet.”

“You’re calling me a sweet thug?” I asked with a laugh. “Do you want your ass kicked?”

Sky grinned and motioned for me to take a swing. “Do it. Hit me with your best shot. Just not in the face.”

He danced toward me and jabbed my bicep, then hopped out of reach and did it again.

“What are you doing?”

I reached for his hand just as he grabbed my wrists and backed me against my Prius. There wasn’t much room to maneuver in the confined space between my car and the Suburban next to it, and he was too quick anyway. Sky stepped between my legs, so close I could smell the sun on his skin and feel his dick and—oh, my God.

I sucked in a breath and swallowed around the Sahara in my mouth. His gaze flitted from my lips to my eyes. It was like that day in the classroom. The heat, the energy, the sizzling sense of awareness. Only this time we were in public. Sort of. No one could see us. We were sheltered by a wall on one side and an SUV on the other, but I could hear traffic and laughter in the distance. I should have pushed him away. I knew he’d back off. I had free will and plenty of muscle. I could have turned this around in a flash. But I wanted to see what he’d do next.

He didn’t do anything.

Sky let go of my wrists and stepped away. And fuck, that was worse.

I bit my bottom lip and did my best to get my heart rate under control. But my pulse was racing, my head was spinning, and there was only one way to make everything stop. I grabbed a fistful of Sky’s T-shirt, yanked him to my chest, and crashed my mouth over his.

Okay, let me explain something here…I’d never kissed a guy or been kissed by a guy in my life. Ever. I’d thought about it a couple of times, but I never let the idea become anything more than a passing curiosity, ’cause kissing another man was gay, and I wasn’t gay.

But I must have been kind of gay, because I liked this. A lot.

I liked the contrast of his stubbled jaw and soft lips. I liked the sexy sound he made when he licked the seam of my mouth and pushed his tongue between my lips. I didn’t like Diet Coke, but I didn’t mind the taste of it on him. And fuck, he smelled good too. Like some kind of woodsy cologne and expensive soap. And it got even better when he tilted his hips slightly so his erection pressed against mine.

I didn’t want him to stop. There was a “rightness” in the slide of his tongue, the roll of his hips, and the feel of his hands on my waist. It didn’t make sense, but I swore something inside me shifted and settled, and nothing about this seemed wrong. I wanted more. I didn’t know how to ask for it, so I let him lead, grateful when he angled his head and deepened the connection.

Sky sucked my bottom lip, then licked it, slipping his hand under my T-shirt and flattening it on my lower back as our tongues twisted in a growing frenzy. I lost track of time. Maybe a minute passed. Maybe twenty. I was locked into the moment in a way I only ever experienced when I was on the ice. I lost myself in the push and pull of unfamiliar sensation. His cock was so damn hard. Or was that me?

I lowered my hand to adjust myself and accidentally grabbed Sky’s junk instead. Well, okay…it wasn’t an accident. He rocked forward and I didn’t pull away. We were in the middle of a major lip-lock, so it was a perfectly logical progression. But I freaked. I let go and pushed his chest. Hard.

He stumbled back a step, raising his hands in self-defense as I swiped my forearm across my mouth and panted like I’d just run a marathon.

“I’m not…I don’t want…” I whispered.

Sky nodded slowly. “Shh. It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay. You kissed me.” I heaved a sigh and stared at a couple of crows squawking on a telephone wire above us.

“No, you kissed me,” he corrected. When I didn’t reply, he looked up at the birds, then stepped closer. “Hey, don’t freak out. It’s just us here.”

I met his gaze and let out a ragged rush of air. “I don’t want to do that again.”

“Okay. We won’t. We’ll pretend it didn’t happen.”

“Okay.”

Sky pursed his lips thoughtfully before inclining his head. “I’ll see you Monday.”

I watched him walk away, then opened the car door and sank into the driver’s seat. I turned the engine on, glanced in the rearview mirror, and curled my fingers around the gearshift. My right hand shook so bad, I couldn’t get it to move. I left it in park and sucked in a deep breath. And another. A rap song blared through the speakers. Something slightly obscene that I recognized from team parties where we’d stand around a beer keg cradling red Solo cups and making idle conversation with adoring hockey groupies. You know, girls who showed up to every game and treated us like fuckin’ rock stars. If it had been any other normal day, I would have sung along to a line or two, changed the station, and been on my way.