Chapter 141: Asher
The party’s getting louder. Someone’s turned up the musk, and empty four bottles are starting to pile up on the coffee table. A co football teams are playing some sort of dap gone that’s left both their furrant red and wallen Zoe’s standing on the couch.
vaguely like a striptease bet without the comdination. Tyler’s clapping and cheering her on, sloshing his beer rattyaline, edenly may pest being the
1 glance down at Penny beside me, bei legs tucked under het, small hands wrapped around the cup of water I made her take parties. Sher’s locking of ranyone with a furrowed brow, lips parted in mild cohesion. Like she’s never seen people act like this
1 catch hiri eye, and she blinks up at me, those wide green eyes lecking onin mine, the leans a little closer, mine a quiet hum under
Agent Ghost, the teases, “în… I guess dead body, technically.“
I smirk, raving an eyebrow.
“Would you be mad if 1 said I want to go back to the cabin?”
I chockle, the sound low, just for her. “Not at all. I’m about five minutes away from strangling someone.”
Her smile brightens, a tiny, lived sigh slipping past her lips. “Okay. Let’s po”
She stands, brushing off her leggings and adjusting her hoodie. I stand too, grabbing my Ticket from the back of the chair. She glances over at Tyler, dearly trying to catch his eye, but he’s now in the middle of what looks like a very intense arm–wrestling match with one of the soccer playmi.
hesitates, and I see the flicker of disappointment in her eyes before she looks back at me. “Ready?”
“Yeah.”
We head for the door, grabbing our boots and jackets. The cold air outside is sharp, biting at my exposed skin as I push the door open for her the steps. through, pulling her hood up and tightening the strings around her chin
We make it about thy feet down the path before I notice the crunch under my boots feels different. I pause, frowning down at the glistening, en path The snow from the day must’ve melted just enough under the sun to turn this whole stretch into a slick, glassy death trap now that the temperature’s dropped again
1 just about to tell her to be careful when her foot slips. Her arms fat, both feet kicking up from under her.
I react on instinct, one arm snapping around her waist, the other grabbing her forearm, yanking her close before she can hit the ground. She gasps, hands clinging to my jacket, her nose inches from my thenat
She lets out a breathless, nervous laugh. “Can you tell I’ve never been ice skating?
I huff a small laugh, still holding her. She’s trembling slightly, either from the cold or the near faceplant she just narrowly avoided. I can feel her breath against my throat, warm and a little shaky.
“Alright, I mutter, bending down onto one Ince. “Get on.”
“What?” she squeaks, her fingers still gripping my jacket.
“On my back,” I repeat, tilting my head back to meet her eyes. “Come on.”
“No way.
I’m too heavy, and you might slip too, and-
“Penny.”
e firm tone of my voic
voice, I don’f break ye contact, just til my head a little more, giving her a look that says don’t test me,
She blinks at the firm t
She hesitates for another second, then hults a tiny breath and clambers onto my back, her legs wrapping around my hips, her as slipping around my shoulders. She’s so small, I barely feel her weight.
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Chapter 141: Asher
Once I stand, her chest is pressed against my back, her breath warni on my neck. She clings a bit tighter m I adpat my grip under her thighs, my kendi
whole body stiffens for a second, and I feel fer fece press into the side of my neck. wrapping around her covered skin just over the hem of her leggings. Her
“Comfortable?” I murmur, starting to walk again, my boots
nots crunching st the ice covered path.
“Um… y yeah,” she stammers, fingers tightening in the fabric of my jacket.
“Good.” I can’t help the small smirk that tugs at my lips.
We walk in silence for a while, the only sounds the distant laughter from the lodge and the sharp ene of ice beneath my boots. Iadrest my amp on her legs, feeling the smooth, toned muscle there, her thighs Besing instinctively when I shift my hold.
She
lets out a tiny, shaky breath near my eat, and I feel my
chest tighten, my pulse kicking up a notch.
1 keep walking, one step at a time, feeling her heart beating fast against my back, her breath warm and uneven against my neck. I want to say something. crack a joke to break the tension, but I can’t.
Because the truth is, I like the way she’s clinging to me. I like the feel of her legs wrapped around my hips, the way her arms tighten around my shoulders every time I take a step over a particularly slick patch of ice.
I shouldn’t. But I doc
Finally, the cabin comes into view, its small windows gloxing warm against the dark, snow–covered trees, I adjust my grip again, gerlening against her thighs, and I feel her whole body shiver.
I don’t put her down until I’m at the cabin door, leaning forward so she can slide off my back. She stumbles a little when her feet hit the ground, her hand grabbing at my shoulder to steady herself
“Thanks,” she whispers, voice breathless, eyes wide, cheeks pink.
I meet her gaze
for a long second, my heart
hammering, my hands still tingling from the feel of her skin.
I clear my throat. “No problem, princess.”
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