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Indy opened her mouth to speak, but the words didn’t come. She was all turned around and messed up and the steam was so thick and the water was so hot and he was so close she could almost touch him, almost taste him, almost take him, take him into her, deep into her, into that place that seemed to ache for him now, ask for him now, beg for him now.
Her mouth hung open but the words stalled in her throat, her breath stalled in her breast, her heart stalled in her chest. There was some part of her that yearned to do what he wanted, say what he wanted,bewhat he wanted.
But there was another part of her that couldn’t.
Wouldn’t.
Didn’t.
Indy wasn’t sure which part was which. All she knew was that she wanted to submit but didn’t want to give in, wanted to be taken but didn’t want to admit it, wanted to be owned but was too afraid to say it, to own it, tobeit.
Then she saw something in Ice’s eyes.
A flash of darkness.
A glint of danger.
And then a glimmer of recognition.
Like maybe he saw it in her, saw both the yes and the no, the willingness and the hesitation, the desire and the doubt.
Like maybe he understood that she wasn’t all the way there yet, wasn’t all the way home yet, wasn’t all the way his yet.
Like maybe he understood that he’d have to lead her past that final threshold, carry her to that dark destination, make her all the way his, take her all the way home.
“I’m very close to the line here,” came Ice’s hot whisper through the storm-clouds and the thunder-rain. “Maybe I’ve even crossed it. I’m so fucking turned around, so damn messed up, so far out of my mind I can’t even read my own thoughts.” He swallowed thickly, took a half-step closer, his fists clenched by his sides now, that cool half-grin replaced by a tight-lipped expression of trembling restraint, a man barely holding on to his sanity, barely holding off the animal, barely holding back the jungle. “But at the same time I’m so deep inside my body that there’s no doubt, Indy. No doubt that there’s no line at all between us, that we’ve crossed something together, crossed everything together, crossed it forever.” He took a slow breath, exhaled heavily, gazed deep and long into her eyes. “Hell, I can’t believe I’m admitting this out loud, but if fate is real then this is what it looks like, if destiny is real then this is what it feels like.” He blinked twice, something resembling panic flashing in his burning eyes. “And if love is real, then maybe this is how it happens.”
Indy almost swooned in the steam, almost melted in the mist, almost collapsed in the clouds. She wasn’t sure what she’d heard, wasn’t certain what he’d said, had no idea what he meant.
But she knew for damn sure what she felt.
Saw loud and clear whathefelt.
And how hard it had been for Ice to express it.
A part of her longed to respond, to say those three words that she heard echo in her head, felt thrum in her heart, saw scrawled on the steamed-up mirror behind his back, heard gurgling up from the drain beneath her toes.
“This is how it happens . . .” she repeated dumbly. “Is . . . that what’s happening, Ice? Is that what I’m feeling? Is that what I’m thinking?”
A half-smile cracked the corners of Ice’s mouth. A half-shrug followed. “Well, I wouldn’t presume to tell you what you’re thinking.”
Indy flashed a little smile. “Really? You were just fine with presuming exactly that when you busted in here with all your weapons drawn.”
That half-smile stayed on his face. “Did I read it wrong?” he whispered wickedly.
Indy shook her head gently, the blush burning behind her cheeks. “No,” she whispered, blinking away some wetness that wasn’t from the shower. “You didn’t read it wrong, Ice. You read it right. You readmeright.” She blinked again, cast a quick glance down at his brandished weapon bobbing between them, then looked back up into his shining eyes, a hint of playful defiance flashing in hers. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to be begging anytime soon. It’s not that easy.”
“Sure it is.” Ice grinned. “You just go down on your knees and sayplease.”
Indy choked out a laugh. “OK, maybe you did read it wrong after all. No way am I doing any of that.”
Ice’s grin didn’t waver. In fact it seemed to get bigger, with a hint of triumph tickling the corners. “Any of what, exactly?”
Indy gulped as Ice’s cock bobbed between them. This time she could tell Ice had intentionally flexed. She took a breath, exhaled as the embarrassment burned down her neck. “Any of . . .that,” she said, shooting a furtive glance downwards and then hurriedly looking up again. “I mean . . . you know what I mean.”
Ice sighed loudly, shrugged heavily, then placed his hands on his hips, glanced shamelessly down at his cock for a long moment before looking up again. “Idoknow what you mean,” he said with wide-eyed earnestness. Then he suddenly narrowed those eyes to wicked slits, tightened his lips to a devious smile. “I also know you’re lying.”
“You do not. I am not.”