Page 37 of Avalanche (Endless Winter #3)
And then he’s closing the space between us, tightening his hold on my hips as he slants his lips against mine.
I gasp, wrapping my arms around his waist to keep from sliding off the fallen log, my booted feet lifting off the snow, my spread thighs widening to bring him closer, until I can feel his body flush against my own.
“Lily.”
Teeth nip at my lower lip, bruising, and then he’s pulling me against him, cradling my helmeted head with his hands.
His goggles knock against my helmet as he kisses me, the lenses probably scratching.
He doesn’t seem to care, or perhaps he doesn’t notice.
I open for him, melting against him, letting him take control of the kiss, sink his tongue in deep.
Somewhere, in the back of my mind, is the niggling awareness that we both need to get back to work. That this was just supposed to be a short hour run together between lessons.
I peel off my gloves, dropping them carelessly on the log beside me, hoping they don’t slip into the snow beneath, and reach between us.
Liam groans into my mouth when he feels my fingers fumbling at the zipper of his snowboard pants.
I feel his cock buck against the back of my knuckles as I slide down the zipper, then tentatively slip my fingers in, trailing them over the straining fabric of his boxers beneath.
“Fuck. Lily.” He pulls back, shivering, pupils blown wide as he stares at me in silent question, his breaths panting and hot against my ice chilled face. He glances nervously around the empty forest, worrying his lower lip with his teeth. “Are you sure?”
I dip my hand beneath the waistband of his boxers in answer, watching his face as my cool hand wraps around the hot length of him.
His eyes roll back, lashes fluttering against his cheek, a strangled sound catching in his throat. Heat pools low in my belly at that sound, the insistent tugging behind my naval becoming something more demanding, something heavier.
I want him so much. Want to feel him inside me.
I drag my thumb over the head of his cock, swiping at the precum beading there, then toy with the little dipping arrow beneath the head. His lips part on an exhale, his gaze dropping to where my hands are tucked between us, inexpertly teasing him.
“I… I don’t have a condom,” he admits, shooting me a sheepish grin. The look is so unfamiliar on him, it has something squeezing behind my ribs. “I don’t usually carry them with my in my uniform.”
“What?” I tell him with mock surprise. “You mean you don’t normally lead your students into the forest to seduce them?”
He shudders, giving me a horrified look, making a laugh burst out of me. The sound is swallowed up by the trees around us, muted.
“I could go down on you,” I suggest, my mouth watering at the thought of taking him between my lips. “You don’t need a condom for that.”
I wrap my fingers around him, sliding my palm down the length of him and dragging another moan from him. He eyes my mouth hungrily, then swipes the tip of one gloved thumb over my lower lip.
“Ungh,” he agrees. “But what about you?”
I eye the cold damp log behind me dolefully. There is no way I’m taking my pants off in the snow, exposing myself to the freezing cold, getting my thermals wet. It sounds decidedly unappealing, even with the heat of lust clouding my decision-making.
“You can make it up to me,” I tell him decidedly, “when we get home.”
He looks like he’s going to protest, but his lips part on an exhale when I drop to my knees in the snow in front of him and tug his cock free from the confines of his boxers.
“You better be quick,” I tell him, teasingly darting my tongue out to lap at the swollen head. “We only have a few minutes to get to post.”
He narrows his eyes at me, but the effect isn’t quite the same with his flushed cheeks and blown pupils, and those little panting breaths making clouds in the air in front of him.
“It’s fucking cold,” he hisses, a tinge of panic lacing his tone. “My cock’s going to shrivel up if you just leave it out there like that.”
I huff out a laugh, the sound breathless. “Don’t be such a baby.” But then I’m opening up for him, drawing him into the warmth of my parted lips, curling my tongue around him. Because I’m nice like that.
“Oh shit,” he exclaims, his gloved hands flexing at his sides, his eyes going wide. “That’s… fuck your mouth is hot.”
I squint up at him with amusement, drawing him in deeper, till the head of his cock is hitting the back of my throat. I swallow, my eyes fixed on him.
I love seeing him like this. Cool, unaffected Liam. Love watching him lose control. Love knowing that it’s me that’s breaking him down.
His eyelids flutter shut, dark lashes resting against pale skin that’s made even paler by the dappled light filtering through the pines.
His lower lip catches in his teeth, his fluttering pulse visible above the collar of his instructor’s uniform as he tilts his head back.
I let my hands wander beneath his jacket, finding the warmth beneath, dipping them beneath his waistband, untucking his thermals until I can feel the smooth skin of his hips, his stomach, his sides.
His skin pebbles beneath my touch, muscles rippling beneath silk, trembling. His gloved hands settle on my shoulders, holding me to him as he shamelessly chases his pleasure.
“That’s it,” he urges when I hollow my cheeks, increase the pace. “Oh my god. Yes. Just like that.”
Above us, a faint wind dances in the swaying tops of the pines, making them chatter like wood chimes, bringing a flurry of sparkling snow down around us—light, airy flakes that dance and swirl around us like glitter in a snow globe.
I feel them catching on my eyelashes, feel their icy brush across my cheeks.
I can taste Liam now, the salty-sweet flavor of him against the teasing drag of my tongue.
“I’m going to come,” he tells me, his voice as raspy as the branches creaking above us. “Fuck. Lily…”
I stare up at him in silent answer, my fingertips pressing into the bare skin of his back as I pull him against me, draw him in deep. He stares back at me, his eyes glazed and wide, lips parted, his hand a vice on my shoulders.
And then he’s coming, pulsing hot and sweet against the back of my tongue.
I swallow him down frantically, hunger hot in my belly, throbbing painfully between my thighs.
If I had enough time, I would be tempted to slip my hand down and get myself off.
I could. I’m so wound up, I’m sure it would only take a few minutes…
“Lily,” Liam gasps, a ragged panting sound. “Lily.”
Those grey eyes are fixed on my face, a look of unmistakable awe painted over his flushed cheeks. He goes still within me, barely breathing as the last surges of pleasure arc through him. And then he’s pulling me up, holding me to him, his head tucked over my shoulder, his body trembling.
I’m stunned by the sudden burst of affection, by the strength of his hold.
“Lily,” he whispers, and the way he says my name, it’s like he doesn’t quite believe I’m here. Like a man in a dream. “Fuck, you’re amazing. You know that, right?”
I make some unintelligible sound, something between a laugh and a protest, unsure of what to say.
“You are. You have to know that. I… I’m so fucking in love with you.”
My heart stutters, a painful lurch behind my ribs that has me catching my breath. Hearing those words, it’s like the answer to a refrain sung and left hanging, like the last stanza of a poem. Like a puzzle piece slotting into place.
I pull back, blinking up at him, desperate to see his face.
“You are?”
It’s a stupid question, probably. Tessa would say it was, at least. Because of course he loves me. They all do, I’m sure of it.
He gives me a sheepish grin, dropping his gaze and his hold on me as he peels off his gloves, then reaches down to tuck himself back in his pants, readjust his uniform.
“I love you, Lily Dean.” His hands find mine, covering them protectively from the cold as his grey eyes meet my own.
“I should have told you before, when…” he clears his throat.
“I was scared. It was… I hadn’t said it to Antoine yet.
I still haven’t, actually.” He worries his lower lip with his teeth.
“I want to. I’m going to.” He gives a decisive nod, then gives me a beseeching look.
“I’ve never told anyone that before,” he admits.
“I’ve never been in love—never really cared about anyone the way I care about you.
And then to fall in love with two people at the same time… ”
He shakes his head, his gaze dropping to our clasped hands. To the snow between us, trodden by our feet, the imprints of my knees still visible.
“Sometimes I feel like I’m going insane. Like I’m going to burst from all this feeling,” he admits ruefully.
I bite back a smile. “I know what you mean.”
His gaze flicks up to mine and he gives a small huff of amusement. “Fuck. You do, don’t you?” His eyes flit between mine, searching. “Are you really in love with all of them? With me too? How do you cope with that much…” he pauses, wrinkling his nose, “feeling?”
A laugh bursts out of me and I surge towards him, planting a kiss on his lips. They’re cold from standing too long in these shady pines.
“I guess I’ve got a lot of love to give,” I tell him, and it feels so right to reclaim those words. To make them my own.