“It’s an ice sculpture place with a bar. I thought it was a kind of neat irony to go to an ice place on a tropical island.”
“Isn’t that gonna be cold in these clothes?” Wade asked, looking down to his cargo shorts and flip flops. His legs were just starting to tan to a golden color that matched his arms. At first, it had been like looking at two different people, and he wasn’t the only one. With no time to spare between planning and traveling, we all looked like friendly versions of our favorite ghost. It would have been even worse if we hadn’t just come straight out of the summer months.
My skin had only had a month to bleach itself white.
“They give us all coats and gloves while we’re in there.”
“That’s good,” he muttered, seemingly lost for the conversation for which he was desperately searching. I knew how he felt, so much between us left unfinished and unsettled, the two of us not having spoken privately since he’d last been inside me.
Like, literally.
Talk about awkward.
“Yo, Mamalicious!” Haley called, interrupting . . . not much of anything. Self-conscious silence at most. In fact, it was kind of helpful. “How are we getting to this place?”
“We need to take a taxi to downtown Charlotte Amalie,” I instructed, walking pointedly in the necessary direction.
Haley pointed to each of us while she counted, asking, “Do we need more than one?” when she finished.
I opened my mouth to answer but a zealous Danny beat me to it, squeezing her playfully on the hips, wagging his eyebrows, and stating, “Nah. We’ll sit on laps. I’ve got dibs on your ass on mine.”
And then, while Haley was lost in a fit of delighted laughter, he winked.
Not at her.
Not at me.
And certainly not at Hunter, who was still looking anywhere but at us.
It was Wade in the crosshairs of his scope, and my eyes narrowed in suspicion.
Neither one gave me time to analyze, Danny flagging down a cab almost immediately and loading everyone in. It filled up quickly, and before I knew it, the only place to sit was on Wade’s welcoming lap.
His eyes were soft, but what they weren’t was the least bit surprised.
Not wanting to slow anything down, I didn’t fight it. I probably wouldn’t have anyway, but my brain definitely wanted the chance to overthink it. Consider every other possibility and tick them off one by one as inconveniently unavailable. Then, and only then, would I have resigned myself to fate. The timing just made me skip a few steps.
Tight quarters made the hard muscles of his thighs feel even less pliable under mine, and without the convenience of free spaces, his hands rested squarely on my thighs.
However, that didn’t explain the feel of his soothing rub, the tips of eight fingers rubbing softly into my freshly lotioned skin. Even breaths ruffled the baby hairs at the back of my neck and instigated a shiver that I had absolutely no chance of hiding. With the amount of shaking and shivering I did at his beckoning, I’d be able to advertise it as a weight-loss plan in no time.
At the feel of my tremor, his busy fingers stilled in an instant, tensing slightly and whitening the skin around them.
My hand gripped the handle above me even tighter while the other squeezed the headrest behind the lush brown hair of Hunter’s head. Somehow, Danny managed to take up two entire spots of the backseat, making it impossible for Haley nor I to squeeze ourselves in the middle.
Apparently, he was working in Wade’s corner. I hadn’t expected any different, but the fact that he was working to throw us together rather than keep us apart hinted at something positive despite my early morning escape episode the previous morning.
Wade hadn’t mentioned it once, which I appreciated.
But as I was prone to overthinking, as many women are, I’d started to analyze the fact that he hadn’t sought me out since then.
So, overall, his being in cahoots with Danny soothed me in a way I hadn’t known I’d needed.
And for the first time in almost two days, I relaxed.
Muscle tension faded and ebbed, washing into the man below me and out of the grip above my head. Firm muscle felt like memory foam as his body accommodated me, acclimating to my body structure and sucking it into its own. Bumps in the road only forced me closer, supporting my decision with body joining jolts. If I wanted to stay away, I was going to have to work extra hard for it.
At that moment, exhausted, I finally gave up the pretense.
I stopped pretending that we needed to hide our back and forth from the kids, since we obviously weren’t doing a good job anyway, and started worrying about seeing if I could actually make something substantial between us work.
There was pressure on the possibility, both from outside and within, but if I didn’t let myself explore it without boundaries, I knew I’d regret it for more time than I was comfortable with.
Like, the rest of my natural born life.
That kind of thing.
Sure, I was at the point where I only had twenty-five or thirty years left if I was lucky, but the idea of hating myself for all of those didn’t seem appealing.
I hadn’t planned on this at all.
Years I’d been planning—searching—for something worth risking myself for. And now, I’d finally found it.
By accident.
Something about no expectations made me feel free enough to be myself. I wasn’t afraid to bumble or do the wrong thing or say something I couldn’t take back. I wasn’t afraid that I wasn’t pleasing him. And if I was, it wasn’t enough to stop me.
In fact, the real me was a whole lot less accommodating than the version of me I’d been for all of my previous dating years. And weirdly, weirdo Wade apparently found my arguing and stubbornness attractive. Go figure.
The rest of the ride was silent, the group of us too enthralled by the narrow streets and elegantly arching doorways and windows to say anything. Each shop varied slightly from the last, but the architecture was fairly consistent. Two story buildings left a view of the ruggedly hilly background, but the curvature of the windows and doors on the bottom story made you want to look nowhere but inside. People, locals and tourists alike, milled and marched, swirling in and out of the shops, each other, and the streets.
Bright colored doors mirrored the color of shallow Caribbean water, and as we passed street after street of adventure I couldn’t help but wish we were going to get to experience the majesty of St. Thomas for more than one day.
Wade, sensing my unrest, made a promise neither one of us could have dreamed he would keep. “We’ll come back.”
Once we arrived at Magic Ice and went inside, they distributed our coats and pointed us in the direction of the bar. A crowd entered along with us, the timing of the large bulkhead door opening and closing timed in carefully placed groups.
Thrust quickly into sub-zero temperatures, not one of us turned down the free rum shot the staff offered, the burn of it as it slid down my throat warming my already shivering body. The flavor was of our choosing, but the meaning was the same. This was their specialty, their pride. And I took great interest in experiencing something so meaningful.
Apparently, when I’d planned this, I’d failed to remember one important thing.
I liked to be warm. In the sun on the beach. Wrapped in a blanket by the fire. It didn’t really matter. I just needed a nice, cozy, and welcoming environment.
This was anything but that.
It was beautiful though, otherworldly in its abstract nature, the lighting of blues and pinks shining through the perfectly carved ice and arcing into an ambiance in the cold air.
The mist of my breath puffed out in a cloud in front of me, and I wrapped my arms around my body a little tighter.
Not waiting for the rest of the group, Wade dragged me away with a tip of his head in Danny’s direction. My body molded to the front of his, sinking back into his body heat automatically.
Warm hands worked the length
of my arms up and down, forcing an increase in circulation and consequently heating the blood. Freezing, my body purred for it, curling and contorting into his hands and begging them to rub me not just on my arms, but all over.
Ice sculpted coral attracted a small crowd up ahead, but as I focused on it, I was yanked to the side as Wade pulled me into a miniature ice castle, glowing a soft orange inside. Electric candles colored the ice perfectly giving the illusion that each structure was made of dyed water.
Wade pulled me carefully around the one interior wall and pressed me up against it, the protection of my jacket the only thing keeping me from punching him in the throat. I appreciated the idea, but the ice at my back put a chill on much more than my skin.
One look at my face had him spinning us around and settling his back against the wall, the weight of my body falling between his legs at his beckoning.
He felt good and warm and right, and the heat in his eyes worked on warming me from the inside out.
“Alli.”
I waited, thinking he would either say more or do something about it physically but nothing happened.
Instead, he studied my face, the lines of my cheeks and jaw all the way down to the collar of my coat. I wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but I was giving him all I had to give.
Me. Honest and open and confused as all hell.
“We’ve gotta get our acts together you and I.”
Surprised at his frankness, my eyes widened.
“Am I right?” he asked sincerely, raising one eyebrow into a perfect frame for his eye. The curve formed an arrow, directing my attention straight to the heart of it, deep into his pupil, and ultimately, the tunnel it provided into his spirit.
All I could do was nod numbly, whether it was from the shock or cold, I couldn’t tell you.
Staring at each other, it wasn’t long before the fur of his parka-cape like coat had me internally laughing, the juxtaposition of it against his serious, pleading, masculine face one for the record books. The glow of the orange light tinged his skin too, and the combination had him looking like the version of Wade you might find on Jersey Shore.
A smile curved the corner of my lips, but it was moments away from an all out laugh. I knew he wouldn’t understand why I was doing it, and I feared he’d take it the wrong way.
Thankfully, with one swift move that pulled my body tighter to his and forced our lips to meet in the middle he had all thoughts of humor fleeing.
He tasted like the rum, so I licked at it, hoping I could use the traces I found in his mouth to warm me even more.
Steel bands that posed for arms closed tightly around me, squashing the full extent of my bust into the lack of his.
I tilted my head to the side, allowing him to go deeper and basked in the thrill of making out in a public place for the very first time in my life. Always the do-gooder, I’d feared the spontaneous, carefully weighing my options when it came to not only affection, but everything.
I’d like to say that I displayed abandon with Nick, but I hadn’t. I’d shooed him away or made promises for later when he’d tried to be wild and young like we were. Once he was gone, I’d wished constantly that I’d given in, that I’d lived all of those moments to their fullest.
Of course, wishing it didn’t do me any good.
And after that, everyone I’d been with had been the uptight one. I’d just gone along with it.
Wade broke the kiss but left his lips on mine, breathing in my air and attempting to warm me with his.
When that failed, another tremor like chill running the length of my body and back again, he’d had enough.
“Okay, you’re still cold. I think that’s enough ice for one day.”
“But we’ve barely seen any of it,” I argued, even though I too wanted to leave.
“Do you want to stay?” he asked seriously, clearly considering my answer gospel.
“Not particularly.”
“Then let’s get out of here.”
I agreed with a nod, clasping his hand in mine. He pushed my body gently back and picked himself up off of the wall, before taking off at a fast walk.
The length of his long legs challenged me though, instigating a near run before he noticed—unbelievably—and slowed down.
Sometimes I couldn’t believe how perceptive he was, but then I would remember that that was his job. For nearly his entire adult life, he’d been trained to notice things about people. Idiosyncrasies and signs. Nervous ticks and tells.
I wondered what else he had noticed about me.
The woman at the exit opened the heavy door as we approached, letting us out and keeping the cold air in all at once.
The heat hit me like a wave, soaking through my coat, clothes, and skin so quickly it almost hurt. Everything tingled and taunted as feeling returned to my limbs, and the only thing I could think was that it hurt so good.
We stripped out of our coats with ease, returning them at the designated desk and making our way towards the front door.
Wade had his phone close to his face typing out a message when he came up beside me.
I laughed at the proximity, drawing his attention, and he just shrugged through a laugh. “I can’t see the damn thing.”
I smiled again, pushing my hair behind my ear.
“I was just sending Danny a message letting him know we’d meet them outside.”
Alli and I will meet you outside.
Yeah. We saw you making out. Haley laughed. Hunter scowled. Good luck.
Fuck.
Well, I was sure I was never going to hear the end of that.
A smile tugged at my lips, and the tip of my tongue licked at the lingering taste of Alli. Good thing it had been worth it.
Tucking the phone in my pocket, I put on my most nondescript face and ushered her out the front door.
“After you.”
I’d known shortly after her lips started to match the color of her eyes that she wasn’t going to last in the land of ice. Trying to warm them with my own had been a fun adventure, but overall, ineffective.
Staring at the hand on her back, I pushed her forward, not noticing fast enough that she was putting pressure back on me.
“Wade—”
Out she went, me tumbling out after her into one of the strongest downpours of my life.
Fat, sheet-like drops splattered and splashed on every inch of available bodily surface area at once, bringing a burn to my freshly warmed skin and a shock to my system.
Instantly, we were soaked.
I gulped for air but came up with water.
My reaction time wasn’t fast enough to compensate meaning any effort to rush back inside would have been in vain.
We’d only left the outdoors to head inside thirty very short minutes ago and the sun had shone from every peak and valley. I almost couldn’t believe how quickly it had changed.
Allison looked shocked, the lines of her face gasping for breath under a loud waterfall of rain, and the weight of her clothes had to have doubled. Her hair pulled down on her scalp, sticking to her face and throat and covering what I had no doubts was a now completely see-through tank top.
Not being in the habit of listening to rap music, I was surprised when my brain edited a classic song into my own rendition.
I like big tits, and I cannot lie.
She looked to me for guidance, but my answering laugh distinctly lacked wisdom. If she only knew the things I was thinking. I could probably say goodbye to walking comfortably for a while.
Danny had suggested that I take her dancing in the rain, but a real romantic would have waited for less monsoon-like conditions.
Maybe light rain.
A nice sprinkle, perhaps.
“Umm,” I muttered, at a loss for what to do. The complexities of thinking outside of my box were vast, but the most implicitly unavoidable was the time delay. It took me much longer to figure out what to do than it normally would. At home, when I wasn’t looking for romantic ideas, I
would have said getting out of the rain would be a good idea no matter what the soakage level. But this wasn’t home, and I was looking to be romantic.
Both were extremely out of the ordinary.
It wasn’t ideal, but, internally shrugging, I rolled with it. “May I have this dance?”
“Dance?” she yelled over the rush of water. Hearing one another over the noise of the deluge was no easy feat. “Now?”
“Why not?” I shrugged. “I don’t think there’s any going back from being this wet.”
“There’s no music,” she pointed out.
Unfortunately, there was in my head and it sounded distinctly like Sir Mix-A-Lot. Dancing music, but not the kind she had in mind.
Again, I didn’t think that was something I should mention.
“We’ll improvise,” I promised, pulling her wet body into my arms. The wet suction of our clothes sticking together was noticeable immediately. But with the effort it was making to keep her body plastered to mine, I wasn’t calling it a bad thing.
“What are we listening to?” she asked into my throat, playing along as she tucked in her face.
“What’s your favorite song?”
“Like, ever?”
“Ever,” I confirmed, resting my lips on the top of her head and leading us in a basic sway. People looked on from their spots safely indoors, but I quickly closed them out.
This moment was about me and her and possibilities.
Delicate eyelids fluttered with the unexpected weight of rain water on their lashes as she tilted her head back to look me in the eye. I was in the more advantageous of positions, all of the water that hit my head sluicing off onto hers, but she didn’t cower or change her position for anything.
At the same moment, I decided I’d do anything to keep it.
I’d been the one to ask the question, but she searched my eyes as though I’d also have the answer. The longing and trust in her wise face renewed my vigor to make this good for her.
When I accomplished that, it would automatically be good for me.
“This question is like asking me for my favorite book. Nearly impossible.”
Accidental Alpha Page 17
