Icebound (Boundless Players, #1)

by Meredith Trapp

icebound…

Title mention

She lurches back, stumbling off the counter. I try to catch her, but it feels like I got off that roller coaster Cruz made me try when we had that team bonding weekend at Disney World. That

I love any mention of my favorite place!

He grunts. “You don’t need to be embarrassed about any of that. They’re the assholes.” “Don’t call my sister an asshole,” I snap. His brows soar to his hairline. “That’s a strong reaction. You’re really defending her after what just happened?” “Of course.” I puff a foggy breath. “She’s my sister. Only I’m allowed to call her an asshole, and believe me, I do. Hourly.” While I want to kill Gwen, if anyone else tried to hurt her, they’d end up with their eyes gouged from their sockets. Not really, but even when I hate her, I’d still go to war for my sister because she’s my sister.

100%

Gwen knows this because she knows me, but sometimes, I wish she would stop doing nice things, so I could hate her in peace.

icebound.”

Title mention

“It’s really fine.” I shrug, giving him my real smile. “It was a long time ago. The only thing I remember is that every night, no matter how sick she was, Charlie would always come in and flutter her eyelashes against my cheek to say goodnight, but that stopped when she died.”

I’m not going to think about that because then I’m going to have to think about why I dug through my closet until I found my old, favorite sweatshirt to give to her, even though I did laundry yesterday.

I brush my lashes against her warm cheek like she said her sister used to do. This is the closest I’ll let myself come to kissing her.

“Goodnight, beautiful,” I whisper, stroking her hair. She shifts a little, but her eyes stay closed. “Don’t have sweet dreams. Have wild ones.”

“Thank fuck,” he moans, squeezing my hips. “Alright, here’s how this is gonna go. I know you don’t like surprises, so I’m telling you right now what I want. First, I want to bend you over this desk and slap your fine ass for wearing another man’s jersey. Next, I want to lick your pussy until your voice is hoarse from screaming my name, and then, I want to shove my cock so deep inside you that you’re all I feel.”

“I’ve thought about this piercing so much, I could probably cross-stitch your tits from imagination.” “Let’s be honest, no, you couldn’t.” “Yeah, you’re right,” he says before drawing the moisture around my sensitive skin with the rough pad of his thumb. “There’s no recreating you.”

“Yeah, I just fucked you against a door, so if you’re going to wear someone’s jersey, it’ll be mine.”

“You might be a mess, but you’re my mess. Here, let me help.”

She nibbles her thumbnail, rocking on her heels. “Did you buy out the extra seats around us at the hockey game so I'd have space?” My back stiffens, and I debate lying because I don’t want her to feel like an inconvenience, but I’m tired of lying to her, and myself. “Yeah, but no one was using them anyway. Why?” “Nothing, just... Thank you. No one’s ever done something like that for me before. It means a lot.” That pisses me off for no reason. She deserves more. “The person you end up with should do things like that for you, Nina. That was the bare minimum.”

“Maybe for you.” Her lips twitch into a smile. “Well, thanks for being my blueprint.”

I’m acting jealous, greedy, and possessive over a girl who’s not even mine, but these emotions make me feel like I’m hers.

There’s still so much I don’t know about her, and I want to be able to ace a class on Philomena Alstyne.

“You want to make a pillow fort with me?” “I’d build you a pillow castle.”

“Stop, Nina.” He hooks a finger under my chin and coaxes my head up with his knuckle. “I’m not doing this with you. She doesn’t have a star tattoo on her right shoulder, or a Texas-shaped birthmark, or gold glasses, or freckles I can’t stop staring at, alright? Stop asking me about other women I could date when I’ve got you in my arms. You’re the only one I’m thinking about.”

If I were a stronger man, I'd call this off, but I'm weak when it comes to her. We only have two months, so I want to spend them together. I cradle her cheeks in my hands. “You want to fuck? I'll fuck you good. You want to eat? I'll take you out. You want to stay up all night talking? I'll listen to every word. I'll do whatever you want as long as I get to be yours until you get on that plane.”

Love is made with little moments, and we have enough to build a castle.

“Goodbye, Rhode,” she whispers against my lips. “In another life, I think you would’ve been my forever.”

I thought love would be this big moment, but it stacked up from all these little things.