AllFreeNovel
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“I know. I don’t think it’s sprained or anything though. Just a minor twist. I’m fine, really.” The words fall out of me in a breathless rush. If I reassure him that I’m okay, maybe he won’t drop me.
Figuratively, of course. Not literally.
“It’s a bit swollen,” he says, still prodding gently. His fingers are so warm that even though it hurts, I don’t want him to stop. “It needs ice.”
“I can just—“
“Don’t argue.” His words are quiet, but firm. Then he looks up at me, my foot still cradled in his hands. “Let me look after you.” His eyes meet mine, and a wave of heat washes over me.
There are so many ways I would let Alex look after me.
“Okay.” It’s a lame answer, but I have no other words right now. I’m too caught up in the tension whirling between us.
He opens a small fridge in the corner and retrieves an ice pack, wraps it in a cloth and then carefully lays it over my ankle. I inhale sharply at the cold. He holds the pack in place, my foot in his lap.
“I’m sorry,” I say after a moment.
He frowns, his eyebrows knitting together in a way that somehow only makes him hotter. “For?”
“Getting hurt like a week in and letting you down.”
His hand skims up to my calf and I have to fight back a whimper. He touches me for hours during practice, and while that turns me on, this is different. This is intimate. Sweet and caring. He’s not touching me because it’s part of our routine. The foolish part of me hopes he’s touching me simply because he wants to.
“Cate,” he says, and then clears his throat because his voice came out all jagged. His thumb traces a circle on the back of my calf and my clit is throbbing in time with my ankle. “Injuries happen. It’s part of the sport. This is minor, and it’s not your fault.” He looks up, those gorgeous brown eyes warm and sincere. “Did Danny make you feel like the crash was your fault?”
“I…” I open and close my mouth. “He never said those words. But things between us changed after that, even though I apologized, and I knew the partnership was over.”
“He should’ve been the one apologizing to you,” Alex says with a little growl that twists my stomach in knots. Good knots. He shakes his head, as though trying to shrug off his growliness. “Are you worried I’d change my mind about us if you got hurt?”
I bite my lip and tilt my head in a wordless maybe.
He lets out a low chuckle and shakes his head again, making that lock of hair fall across his forehead. “Not a chance. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” He adjusts the ice pack on my ankle, which is starting to feel a little better.
The rest of me, though…hard nipples, aching pussy, butterflies in my stomach…well, the rest of me is a bit of a mess.
“Why me?” I blurt out. Gah, I sound so insecure and needy. But I need to know.
“Why you?” He arches that eyebrow again and I’ve never in my life been so turned on by an eyebrow.
“Yeah. I know you think I’m a good skater, but I’m far from the best. You could’ve had your pick of anyone.”
He takes the ice from my ankle, and then retrieves a Tensor bandage from a drawer. Slowly, he unravels it and starts winding it tight around my ankle.
“I asked you to come for a trial skate because I watched you skate and I wanted you,” he says simply, as though his words aren’t tilting my world on its axis. “Then when we skated together, we found a rhythm easily and we clicked. That doesn’t always happen.” He finishes wrapping my ankle and stands from the stool, his hands bracketing my hips on the bench. “It’s new, but this has a lot of potential.”
“You watched me and you wanted me,” I whisper, and he shifts closer, his body heat washing over me.
He nods. “Yeah.”
“For…skating.” My heart is a hummingbird in my chest as his gaze drops to my mouth.
“Yeah. Skating.”
I nod shakily. “Okay. Well. That’s good. That you want me. For skating.”
He smells so good. I want that scent all over me. I want him to mark me with it, so that everyone knows I’m his.
Because it’s true. Even though I’ve only known him for a week, there’s already a part of me that belongs to him.
