With rarely an opportunity to be social this fall, Julia had been looking forward to cutting loose with friends, but with the alternative dangled in front of her now – spending her evening with Mick – she was prepared to blow the whole thing off.
‘But most important, crushed ego,’ he said with a shy smile.
Julia swallowed the hard ball in her throat and set the menu aside. ‘I’ll have what you’re having…and I’ll be there.’
His smile went a mile wide as he reached for his jacket. ‘Good. You have address now, and –’
‘Ah, actually –’ She gestured to the waitress coming towards her. ‘Remember, in French.’
An hour later, Mick handed the waitress two twenties, told her to keep the change and glared at Julia as she slipped on her coat.
‘That was not fair.’
‘I’m not the one who tried to cheat by ordering poutine.’
‘You cheated. You knew there was no French word for nachos.’
‘That was a trick question, and part of the lesson. Sometimes it’s just easier to point to the menu.’
At the entrance she pulled out her transit pass and, like her phone before it, the plastic wallet was snatched away from her.
‘I will drive you.’
‘No, it’s out of your way.’
‘It is too dark too soon now, and too cold to wait on side of the road. I’ll drive you and you will be home in ten minutes.’
She reclaimed her pass. ‘I do it all the time. Really, I –’
She squeaked as his hand clamped over her mouth and Mick eclipsed her.
‘Let me take you home,’ he muttered.
Julia’s heart skipped as she wondered if he knew what a wicked double entendre he had made. Maybe he did, or maybe there was something on her face that beckoned him, because she saw the change come upon him.
There was no mistaking the raw desire that took hold of him. His hand moved to her cheek and he bowed closer.
Her gaze fell to his mouth as he put out his tongue and touched the swelling on his upper lip. Like he had pulled a string, Julia leaned towards the heat of his mouth.
Kiss me, she thought desperately, but couldn’t bring herself to say it.
For the second time that night, she slammed into Mick, not out of the desire she had a threadbare hold on, but shoved forward by the door opening behind her. It drove him back, her with him as his arms clamped around her.
‘Sorry!’ shrieked the foremost member of the clique emerging from the pub.
Julia remained crushed against Mick as five of them and about a mile’s worth of backpacks filed out of the pub. It was enough to bring her back into the real world where sucking the face off her French student was once more neatly filed under the don’t column.
Only this time it hurt worse than ever before, with agonising pressure in her chest and in her abdomen, and an aching throb between her legs.
She could only manage a glance at him as she backed away, not enough to gauge his expression. She tucked her pass back into her bag and tapped the pocket.
‘I suppose I should let you take me home,’ she murmured, but her rendition had none of the impact of his. ‘You know, for your ego.’
‘No,’ he said, and pulled her close once more and away from the door. ‘It is not about my ego.’
Before she could come up with some excuse to break away from him, Mick kissed her.
He used his whole body, wedging her between the concrete wall of the pub and a body just as hard but so warm and inviting. Julia tipped her head back, grasped his sleeves above the forearm and let herself go.
It was easy to forget there was a city around them as his mouth moved against hers, tentative at first and then grew bolder, more insistent, more Mick. He kept her in place but didn’t push her. His kiss wasn’t possessive and he didn’t take but offered. Soft and then hard, hungry and then sated, Mick made a promise with that kiss and Julia understood that it was up to her to take it.
She touched her tongue to his, and followed his as it retreated. Rising on tiptoe, she let her bag fall to her feet and cupped his face as he retreated.
‘Kiss me,’ she whispered. ‘Don’t start something like this and run away from me.’
He groaned and tipped his head back. ‘This was not a good idea.’
All of the electricity in her blood fizzled out and left her smoking. She released her hold on him and sagged against the wall.
‘Probably not,’ she murmured, her throat on fire as the rest of her went cold. ‘I mean, a bit of flirting is one thing, but it’s not very professional of me –’
‘Shush,’ he growled suddenly, just as she was sure she’d start to cry, and tipped her chin up. ‘I mean people are watching in window.’
‘Oh.’ Still, his explanation did nothing to make her feel better.
Mick cocked his head and peered at her. ‘Was it bad kissing?’
‘What? Oh, God, no. Not at all.’ Julia felt taken apart and put back together all wrong. She smiled up at him, though she could feel in her cheeks that it was a terrible and unconvincing smile. She let it go with a sigh. ‘It was a wonderful kiss. I was sorry it ended.’
Mick smiled and lowered his face to hers. ‘It was a good kiss, and there should be another.’
He captured her hands, his grip warmer than it should have been on such a brisk October evening.
‘Let me take you home,’ he said again, and this time there was no double entendre. The ferocious tone and expression told her that he wanted her in his bed that night.
And she wanted it. She wanted it so bad she could taste it. He still had her locked into his body, his thigh pressing just slightly between her thighs. She could think of nothing better than to be laid out before him, swollen and wet and exposed, inviting more than just a kiss.
Though she doubted it would take him long to get her hot and wanting again, the frost of what she had taken as rejection was not so easily banished.
Holding back a groan of regret, Julia shook her head.
‘I don’t want to rush into something,’ she said, aching with every word. ‘Don’t get me wrong, I would love to rush into something with you all night long, but I don’t want things to get complicated.’
Mick frowned. ‘What is complicated?’
‘It means there are a lot of things to –’
‘I know what “complicated” is,’ he said impatiently, then softened as apology splashed on his face. ‘I know what the word means, but I do not understand what is complicated about this. I have felt like this since the first lesson, and I think you have too.’
Julia nodded. ‘I have, all the time, and that’s why I need you to take me home, to my home. I’m so attracted to you I feel kind of crazy all the time, and I don’t want to get so caught up in the good kind of crazy that it turns into the bad kind of crazy.’
She had spoken so quickly and he looked so puzzled that she wondered if he had caught any of that.
Mick shook his head. ‘I think I understand, but at the same time you make no sense.’
Julia couldn’t help her laugh, and thankfully Mick joined in. He rested his forehead against hers and squeezed her fingers.
‘We will go slow. Tonight will count as first date. Next date is Saturday at my party?’
Relaxing against him, Julia grinned back at him. ‘It’s a date, but don’t think you’re going to get some sort of discount on your lessons just because you’re such a good kisser.’
Mick grunted. ‘You see through plan. I am as bad at scheming as I am at jokes.’
He cut off her giggles with another kiss, this one soft and slow and almost enough to make her rethink that horrible plot of going home alone.
Mick finally stepped back, but he didn’t let go of her hand. He collected her bag and slung it over his shoulder. As they strolled hand in hand towards his place, Mick gave her a gentle bump. ‘What did you think of photo shoot?’
She narrowed her eyes at him. ‘Have you been waiting all
through dinner to ask me that?’
‘Yes.’ He let go of her hand and hauled her against him. ‘So?’
‘So, I think there are going to be a lot of empty newspaper boxes all around the city next week, and a lot of women filling the seats at your next game.’
He said nothing, and when Julia looked up at him she found him blushing.
It made her laugh and she leaned deeper into his warmth. ‘There, I had better hear nothing more about your crushed ego.’
His laughter was warm and deep as he cuddled her close. ‘After the kissing, there is nothing wrong with my ego.’
Chapter Three
‘I really should have gone with something a little more…’
‘Slutty?’ Kris’s grin was made all the more ghoulish by her overall bloody costume of a zombie prom queen.
Julia glared and bunched the pale-blue train at her hip. ‘Mobile. Can I get some help here?’
‘No, you can’t. I’ve got gunk all over me and if I smear fake blood on your ice-queen costume you’ll start yelling in that pitch only whales can hear.’ Kris did a twirl, then curtsied. ‘See, slutty gives you all kinds of room, even if your hoo-ha is out. Fancy gets you looking like you’re about to take a header on the pavement.’
‘I’ll be fine once I get inside,’ Julia said through her teeth, though the brightly lit entrance to the house seemed miles away rather than just down the street from where the cab had dropped them off.
‘And once you get inside you’ll have to spend the night like a big blue sausage holding your train. Plus, what are you going to do when you need to pee? If you can’t find me to help you unzip, you’ll be screwed.’
‘What do you expect me to do about it now?’
‘Strip down and steal someone’s bunny ears,’ Kris said, and slowed to wait for Julia to catch up. Once they were shoulder to shoulder, she gave Julia a gentle shove. ‘Or find Mick as quickly as possible and get him to strip you down.’
Julia couldn’t muster a combative remark, not when she had been imagining the exact same scenario since their kiss. Aside from a couple of emails between them, Mick had given her space. Too much space, she worried now.
What kind of idiot just walks away from a kiss like that? she asked herself time and time again – while shampooing her hair, waiting for the bus, even zoning out completely during a meeting with a student. She’d gone home to her vibrator, only to toss it aside with disgust. It seemed ridiculous to get off with a piece of plastic and a small motor when she had flesh and blood and heat and strength to get her off.
Rather than some sort of calm, now that she knew where she stood with Mick, she’d unleashed a new brand of crazy.
Kris tittered, but said nothing as they continued their trek. There appeared to be more than one party going on with the festivities spilling out on to the lawn. Julia was given another reason to rethink her costume as she was subjected to a musical medley from one group of movie monsters smoking cigarettes on the sidewalk.
As they reached Mick’s house, Julia grabbed Kris’s wrist and pulled her back. ‘Tell me honestly: how stupid do I look? I mean, this would have gone over with a scream at Dean’s party, but now it just feels over the top.’
‘Are you looking for an excuse to leave?’
‘No,’ Julia said, but a small voice in her head peeped out a yes. She was dying to see Mick again, but she wasn’t sure this party was the best setting. There would be too many people and too much going on. Even just standing out on the sidewalk, she felt lost.
Kris placed a hand on her hip. ‘How do you think he’ll feel if you don’t show up?’
That stopped Julia’s insecurities in their tracks. She looked at the entrance of the house, framed with flashing pumpkin-shaped lights, and her stomach flopped. She knew how he’d feel. First, she shoots him down for a night of bed-shaking sex, and then she bails on his party.
‘Exactly,’ Kris said. ‘Now, time to practise your ice-queen wiggle and strut on in there.’
Julia sucked in as deep a breath as the svelte gown would let her. Her strut was perfect, but once inside the party her spirits fell.
‘Well, shit,’ she said as Kris came up behind her.
There were four other ice queens, all of them slutty.
Kris made a disgusted sound. ‘Really? Clear stripper heels? A queen does not wear clear stripper heels, even if her dress does almost show her landing strip. That’s princess shit. Thank God you’re a blonde. Look at those bad wigs.’
‘Yeah, my natural hair colour will really make a difference when I trip and fall flat on my face.’
‘Do you see him?’
Julia shook her head. ‘Maybe I should pick a spot and wait for him to walk by and notice me.’
‘The hell you are.’ Kris took charge of the train and wrapped it around Julia’s forearm. ‘There. Go find your giant stick-wielding ice king. I’m going to find my zombie soulmate for the night.’
Before Julia could claw her back, Kris took her tiara and gore deeper into the party.
Julia enjoyed a good party as much as the next girl, but when the only person she knew was the man she’d spent the last few weeks imagining naked, it raised the level of awkward from yellow to a reddish orange.
The fact that he could have been anyone in a mask made things much more painful. She felt like a fool peering into the face of every figure without breasts that crossed her path.
She honed in on someone with a similar body type, dressed as a masked superhero, who smiled as he approached her, but her spirits fell as he peeled up his mask and she saw freckles.
‘Hey, princess,’ he said and gave her an approving look from head to toe. ‘Can I get you a drink?’
‘Actually, I’m looking for Mick,’ she replied.
His smile faded. ‘Of course you are. Who isn’t? I gotta get me a sexy accent if I want to get the girls to flock to me, don’t I? Kitchen. Follow the trail of fishnets and frills.’
‘Thanks. Oh, and I’m a queen, not a princess.’
The masked avenger wasn’t kidding. As she stepped into the kitchen, Julia found Mick. She also found five of his admirers. They surrounded him, lashes fluttering and cleavage bursting. The one on his right stroked his forearm, and the one on the left stood on her toes to whisper in his ear.
‘Oh, hell,’ she muttered, her spirits sinking. Was she just the latest inductee to his harem?
Like wing-woman extraordinaire, Kris appeared at her side. ‘Tara and Marilyn texted. Change of plans. They’re on their way. Their party was a bust so they’re headed over here. Is that him?’
‘Yup.’
‘How can you tell?’
‘I’d recognise that backside anywhere.’ She swivelled around. ‘I think he’s a man whore.’
‘Then go make him your man whore.’ Julia raised her brows, and Kris crossed her arms over her chest. ‘You’re his tutor. You don’t think he’s been having some absolutely filthy thoughts about that? Like he has never imagined you in fishnets, ordering him to bend over while slapping a ruler against your palm.’
Julia held a hand up. ‘OK, I’m going, not because of that inspirational speech but to avoid hearing another one.’
She turned back towards Mick, and to her horror realised that the harem was growing. Now there were six of them.
‘You have got to be kidding me,’ she grumbled.
‘Oh, wait!’ Kris bolted in front of her and pulled the long braid over one shoulder. ‘There. Now you’re a take-no-prisoners bitch of an ice queen ready to crush her enemies under her very fashionable blue sequinned platform pumps.’
‘That didn’t actually happen in the movie, you know.’
‘I’ve never seen it, but I like my version. Go!’
Julia strutted across the kitchen, and it physically pained her to take in that memorable backside. She didn’t know what he was supposed to be in his combat boots and black tank-top, but she was grateful for that tank-top. Those guns on display made her palms itch with w
anting to get her hands on him.
As that wave of lust subsided she stopped directly behind Mick and tapped him on the shoulder.
He twisted around, and Julia’s jaw dropped. From behind she would have guessed soldier, but his entire face had been painted into a skeleton mask.
In spite of the grotesque visage, his relief was clear and his smile broke through.
‘You are here,’ he said, and in turning to face her he shrugged off his admirers. He took a step back, nearly knocking one of them over, and cast his gaze from her head to her sparkling feet. ‘You are a movie star?’
‘Ice queen,’ she corrected him, returning his smile. ‘You know, like in the movie.’
‘Ah,’ he said, painted brow furrowing, and after a moment she saw recognition. ‘Ah. With the snowman.’
‘Exactly.’ She couldn’t help the fizzy laughter that came out, and gestured at his face. ‘You look terrifying. Did you paint that yourself?’
‘Yes, I made big mess in bathroom.’
Like magnets, his entourage recovered from his slight and crushed closer to him. Julia looked from one to the other and found herself the target of enough green-eyed venom to take down an elephant. She’d never seen such a thing outside a night-time soap opera, and the only thing she could think of doing in the face of it was smiling back.
‘Hi, I’m Julia.’
‘Uh huh’ was the only reply from a genie.
Seemingly unaffected by the poison radiating around him, Mick merely grinned at her. ‘Did you bring crazy-haired woman with you?’
‘Yeah, and I’ve got a few more friends on their way. Thanks for inviting them.’
‘My new friends on Facebook. Everyone is my friend but you.’ He turned to the Queen of Hearts on his left. ‘Excuse me, my ice queen does not have a drink in her hand. I must get her one.’
The Queen of Hearts asserted her claim upon him and offered a cherry-red pout. ‘But you were in the middle of telling us about the time you broke two fingers in first period and kept playing. You can’t leave us hanging.’
Mick laughed, and Julia thought she detected a touch of annoyance. She could relate. She wanted to steal him from the clutches of his groupies and find a quiet corner to keep him all to herself.
Fire & Ice Page 4
