Page 6 of Avalanche (Endless Winter #3)

Matty

“Fucking bitch alarm.”

I smile into the darkness at the familiar sound of Eddie’s muttered cursing from the other side of the mattress and tighten my hold on Lily under the covers.

“Have g’day at work,” I mumble, my voice groggy with sleep and muffled against Lily’s hair. I don’t have to open my eyes to know Eddie is glaring at me. I hide my smile against the top of Lily’s head.

“You guys suck,” Eddie whispers. Despite his annoyance, he doesn’t want to wake up Lily.

None of us do. She’d been so exhausted last night she’d fallen asleep at the table after eating dinner.

“I’m going to backline so hard. And then I’m coming straight back into this bed and keeping Lily in here with me all day. ”

“Can’t,” Lily rasps sleepily into her pillow. “Have to train...”

“Like hell you do,” Eddie spits out, no longer bothering to keep his voice down now that Lily is awake. “This is a rest day. Liam said?—”

“Liam’s not the boss of me,” Lily points out petulantly. “Tessa’s training me and she said?—”

“She said to use your judgment. Yeah. I know.” Icy air brushes against my skin as Eddie throws the covers back, climbing out of the bed with a displeased huff. “But since your judgement clearly sucks, we’ve decided you’re having a rest day.”

“Hey,” I rumble, pulling the covers back over me and Lily. “Don’t talk to her like that.” I press a kiss to the top of her head, as if the gesture can ease the sting of Eddie’s harsh words.

He’s right though. She needs to rest. I tighten my arms around her possessively, determined to stop her from leaving the condo—and ideally this bed—by whatever means necessary.

“Just stay here a little longer,” I plead cajolingly. “It’s our first day off together. Antoine and Liam were planning to make pancakes for breakfast, remember?”

Lily gives a non-committal hum, but makes no move to extricate herself from my hold. I bite back a triumphant smile.

“I’m going to go get my stuff,” Eddie announces ominously. “And if I happen to accidentally wake up Liam and tell him to tie you to this bed, I’m not to blame.”

Lily snorts derisively, rolling against me until her back is pressed to my front, her hands settling over my forearms. “Sure. Okay.”

Her fingers trail a path along my skin, sending shivers down my limbs, drawing heat to my skin.

She sighs, wriggling closer to me until our bodies are flush together, her long legs tangling with my own.

The feel of her against me, all sleepy softness and thickly muscled curves, has my cock stiffening, heat rushing down my spine and settling with an ache that throbs in time with my pulse.

No, I’m definitely not letting Lily out of bed today.

Eddie grumbles out some inarticulate complaint before stomping off down the hall to his and Liam’s room. A room he’s rarely slept in since Liam and Antoine started sharing Liam’s bed nearly every night.

“Can’t fucking sleep in there with the noise those two make,” he’d complained once, as if needing an excuse to climb into bed with me and Lily. “All that groaning and slapping and grunting. I mean, great for them. Super. But some of us want to actually sleep.”

But there’s no mistaking the way he plasters himself to Lily every night, practically prying her from my arms while we sleep, occasionally reaching across her to flick at me when he thinks I’m taking up too much of the bed.

If it was just sleep he wanted, he would have accepted Seth’s offer to share his room.

“Morning sunshine.” Eddie’s voice rings out from the other side of the thin wall as light floods the hallway, seeping into the comfortable darkness of Lily’s room.

“ Merde .” Antoine’s muffled curse is followed by a thumping sound—someone falling out of bed, or knocking against a wall.

“Turn off the fucking light, you heathen,” Liam growls. “You know it’s our day off.”

“Can’t, sorry,” Eddie replies cheerfully, not sounding the least bit repentant.

“I have to get my clothes. From my room.” There’s the sound of a suitcase unzipping followed by a faint rustling and Eddie’s off-key humming as he presumably searches for whatever clothes he’s left in his room.

“Oh, and just so you know, Lily is planning on hitting the snow today. You know, getting some good training in on her first day off in eighteen days or whatever. I’m sure you approve of her diligence, as a medal winning Olympian and everything. ”

Liam groans. “You’re kidding me.”

“Nope.” There’s a soft flapping sound followed by the scuffling of feet against carpet, the creaking of floorboards. “So good luck with that.”

“I can’t believe him.” Lily rolls in my arms, turning to face me, her hazel eyes dark in the dim light. “Did you hear that?”

“Hmm.” My hand traces the shape of her bare shoulders, trailing down her side before settling on her hip.

My thumb finds the bare skin between the waistband of her sleeping shorts and her tank top.

I find myself swiping lazy circles there, reveling in the way she tenses and shivers beneath that light touch. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

It’s only half a lie. It’s impossible to ignore Eddie, especially in our small condo, but it’s equally impossible to focus on anything else when Lily is in bed with me.

I’m vaguely aware of the sound of Eddie clanging dishes loudly in the kitchen, but it’s nothing compared to the gentle hitch of Lily’s breath when my fingers tug at the waistband of her shorts.

Or the softness of her skin when I brush my lips against hers in silent question.

“Matty...”

The way she says my name, I know she’s going to follow it up with some excuse.

Some reason why she has to get up. If I was a less selfish guy, I’d listen to her excuse.

But my cock is hard and straining against my boxers.

And now that I know what it feels like to be inside her, I find that I really can’t think about anything else.

“Baby,” I say in answer. My voice is a low rasp, throaty and raw.

I crash my lips against hers, hungrily, inexpertly, but with enough force to have the breath whooshing out of her, any protest swallowed up by teeth and tongue.

Her lips are dry from sleep but I find myself groaning against them, my tongue chasing hers, my pulse thundering at the wet pull of her mouth as she sucks on my tongue and the way it reminds me of… other things.

It’s a moment’s work to roll her onto her back, settle myself between her thighs, pin her beneath me. She’s strong—there’s no mistaking the strength of those legs wrapping around my hips—but I’m bigger. Heavier. Heavy enough that I have to take care to hold my weight off her.

“Matty,” she gasps, when I finally pull back to let her breathe.

This time it’s a plea, a demand. I smile against the underside of her jaw before trailing hungry kisses down the column of her throat. I love the taste of her, the way I can feel her pulse beneath my lips, the sweet feminine scent that seems to envelope her.

“I… I want to taste you,” I whisper, my cheeks burning at the boldness of my admission.

It’s something I’ve thought about ever since that first time Lily wrapped her slender hand around my cock and made me come.

When I’d been left sated, with my entire world turned upside-down.

With the reality of my own inexperience staring me in the face, and Liam’s dark laughter skating down my spine.

I’ll teach you , he had said. The thought of it—of him looming over me, pressing my face down between her thighs—it’s echoed around my brain for weeks now.

Lily stares up at me, her lips parted, pupils blown. “Oh.” There’s a flicker of something in her gaze, a tremble as she draws in a sharp inhale. “You mean… you want to go down on me?” Her voice rises in pitch on the last few words as her eyes dart between my own, searching.

I nod, mouth watering at the thought of it. I’ve tasted her on my fingers once, a secret taste in the midst of our lovemaking. I’d felt guilty after, as if I’d stolen something without permission, like Adam tasting the forbidden fruit.

I’ve craved more of it ever since.

Her lower lip catches in her teeth as she squirms beneath me, her eyes dropping to my chest. “I haven’t shaved down there,” she admits. “Or waxed, or anything. There’ll be hair…”

She trails off as I stare down at her, bewildered by her response. Of course I know she has hair down there. I’ve swept my fingers through its downy softness as I parted slick, swollen lips. Felt the brush of it against the base of my cock when I’ve been buried deep inside her.

“I don’t mind the hair,” I tell her honestly, my brow furrowing with confusion. Should I be concerned about it?

I’ve got hair too, probably more than Liam and Antoine do, actually.

Not that I’ve spent lots of time looking at their cocks.

Just that one time on the couch. And that other time, when we were all in bed together.

It was weeks ago, and the memory is a hazy fog of lust and sweat and naked bodies, but I’m pretty sure I’ve got more hair down there than they do.

Did Lily hate it?

A jolt of panic rushes through me and I try to tamp it down. It didn’t seem like she hated it, not when she was swallowing my cock until it nudged the back of her throat. Her cheeks had been flushed and damp with tears but she’d seemed like she’d enjoyed it.

“Do you not like hair?” I ask.