The Ice-Breaker Ch. 03

He wasn't stopping, wasn't giving her any chance to even draw a breath. Her eyes popped open when he sucked her into his mouth, sending her careening into an orgasm. For a moment, there was a roaring sound in her ears, her blood rushing fast through her veins and then she was crashing, moaning and crying out as he continued to taste her.

She felt him move after a minute - or an hour, she wasn't sure - and turned her head to see him pulling his shirt off over his head. She came back to herself in a rush and grinned when he rolled to his back to push his pants off. Before he could move, she pinned him down, kissing him. His arms came up as he continued to try to kick his pants off. Laughing, she pulled back and helped him, moving down the bed so she could grasp his jeans and boxers.

Now they were both naked and it was Kaitlyn's turn to peruse his hard body with her keen gaze. She touched his face, smiling so sweetly at her, and then slid her hands down the line of his jaw, scratchy with day old stubble. Then she moved on, splaying her fingers as wide as she could as she stroked his broad shoulders and down over his firm pecs. His muscles jumped under her touch and she grinned as she stroked lower, scraping her fingernails over the ridges of his abs.

"Kaitlyn," his voice sounded strained as she reached her final destination.

She ignored the plea in his voice, just as he had with her, and cupped him in her hand. He was hard, more than ready for her, she knew. She circled him with her fingers, glancing into his face in time to see him throw his head back. With a wicked giggle, she lowered her head and took him into her mouth.

"Christ, oh... Kaitlyn!" he growled, one hand lifting to tangle in her hair.

Still she stroked him, sliding her hand up and down as she teased him with her tongue. His fingers flexed against her head, never pulling and part of her realized that he didn't want to hurt her. As warm affection for him flooded her, she released him and crawled up his body to kiss his mouth.

She tried to keep the kiss gentle and slow, wanting to convey with taste and touch what she couldn't articulate out loud. Alex let her lead for a second, his touch on her waist loose and his mouth relaxed. Then she shifted, her thigh brushing against his hard-on and he tensed, that part inside of him that wanted her so badly snapping again.

His hands grasped her waist and lifted her over him as his mouth pressed harder. His tongue was insistent as he plunged inside her mouth, licking her. She moaned, sliding one hand up to bury in his hair. His head came off the pillow to take the kiss deeper and she sagged over him, his lips and tongue sapping her strength. His arms pulled her more insistently, hauling her over him until her thighs were on either side of his.

She felt all his hard length against her lower abdomen then, and she smiled against his lips. He broke the kiss to stare up at her and one of his hands slid between their bodies. He cupped her and she rose above him, arching at his touch.

"God, Kaitlyn," he moaned as she moved, rising and rocking against his hand. "You're... unbelievable."

She laughed breathlessly and braced herself on his chest, unaware that she was pressing her nails into his skin. Dimly she registered his hiss of discomfort but couldn't move her hands. It was all she could do to stay upright as he stroked her. Somehow, she managed to drag one hand down his torso and around his rigid length. His fingers froze against her and they both moaned in unison, identical sounds of desire and need filling the room.

"I need you, Alex," Kaitlyn said, her voice raspy.

He nodded weakly, his eyes focused on her. She lifted herself onto her knees and slid his cock between her lips. He gripped her waist and Kaitlyn could feel him trembling with the force of not pushing his body up and into hers. She smiled, her heart expanding a little bit more with the knowledge of the care he took with her. Even now, with his body ready and hard, he still held back, letting her lead.

So she did, easing herself down and taking every inch in a languorous move that had his fingers digging deep into her flesh. Dimly, Kaitlyn thought he might leave finger-sized bruises but it was very hard to care with him pulsing deep inside of her. No other man had ever filled her like this and ignited her from within. For a long moment, she didn't move, and neither did he. She just settled against him, her hands fluttering over his torso until they came to rest against his shoulders.

At her touch, a strangled sound escaped Alex and he pulled her hips down as he pushed up. The movement jarred her and she gasped out a breath, her eyes locking on his face. He wasn't smiling, his eyes were too dark to read and his forehead was wrinkled in a fierce scowl. Kaitlyn shuddered at his expression and again when he pulled out a little bit. Then he thrust in again and she sighed, arching like a bow over him.

One of Alex's hands left her waist, sliding up her side until his thumb caressed the underside of her breast. She lifted her hand and closed it over his, drawing his hand in until he was cupping the entire globe. Sighing in satisfaction, she rocked her hips and grinned wickedly at the sound it drew forth from Alex. His other hand went around her waist to press against the small of her back. His strength was too great to fight and she sagged over him, her chest brushing against his.

Moving his hand and lifting his head, he drew her erect nipple into his mouth, sucking hard. Kaitlyn moved her hips again, riding him and falling into a delicious rhythm as he met her movements with his own. She sank around him and rose to his touch, rocking up and down as his body moved with hers. His teeth grazed the sensitive flesh around her nipple and she whimpered, cupping the back of his head with her hand.

She wanted more of this, of what he was doing to her, even as they were in the midst of doing it. She wanted to always have him around, ready to take her, to claim her with love bites and dark bruises on her skin.

"Alex..." she hissed out his name as he released her nipple with an audible sucking noise.

At the sound of his name falling from her lips, he wrapped both his arms around her, twisting their bodies until she was tucked underneath him. In the space of a breath, she was blinking up at him instead of rocking over him. With a wild look in his eyes, he grasped her thighs and pulled her legs up. Groaning, Kaitlyn pushed her head back into her pillow and clutched his shoulders as he began to pump into her.

The angle took him so deep and he ground against her, making her see stars with each deep thrust. She was breathing hard, her fingers opening and closing on his shoulders until there was that single moment of stillness. Then she was sliding down the other side, coming apart as he thrust into her, making her come hard. She squeezed her eyes shut, moaning and making weak, inarticulate sounds. All the while, he kept moving, plunging himself deep into her.

"Alex!" she cried, her voice rough.

Grunting, Alex reared up over her, pushing deep and pushing hard as he came. He growled, something that sounded like her name, and pressed his face to the crook of her neck as he pumped into her a few more times. Eventually, he released her legs and she let them fall to the bed with a sigh.

Alex lifted his head and trailed kissed up the side of her neck until their lips met again. Kaitlyn opened to his questing tongue and smiled when he pulled away.

"You..." he started to speak and stopped, shaking his head feebly.

Giggling, Kaitlyn pulled him close, hugging his body to hers. She didn't mind the sweat that clung to their skin and between them, making their bodies stick together as they moved. "I know," she agreed.

She wasn't entirely sure what she was agreeing to. This was all so crazy. Her thoughts twisted and jumped between memories of their meeting - two weeks ago! - and her conversation with Julia. She cared deeply for Alex and knew he was at least very interested in her. That thought made her smile. It was an inadequate description of how he felt. She didn't need to ask to know that he was as amazed by what was happening between them as she was.

"I know," she murmured again and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

***

Alex watched Kaitlyn sleep. He watched her chest rise and fall with each breath and listened to the soft snore that left her lips. A smile crossed his face and he brushed an errant strand of hair from her forehead. She stirred a moment, rolling away and showing him the bare curve of her shoulder. His breath caught as the sheet slipped low, revealing more of her sloped back to him. Pushing the air from his lungs, he traced the dip of her spine with one finger before settling close behind her, his chest warming against her back.

It had been a crazy couple of weeks and every time he acknowledged the actual number of days that had passed since he'd met Kaitlyn, it didn't seem right. This closeness, the intimacy they shared was unlike anything he'd ever known and he told himself that it should feel odd to feel this way after only a few days. It just didn't feel weird. It felt right. Maybe that should scare him but it didn't.

"What have you done to me, gorgeous?" he murmured, and pressed a soft kiss to her shoulder.

She didn't stir. One thing he'd learned was how deeply she slept. It was unreal. No matter how he touched her, rocked her shoulder, poked her ticklish ribs, she rarely stirred. She woke when she woke and that was all there was to it. Just one more thing he loved about her.

Love... The word rolled through his mind and he blinked into the darkness surrounding them. Not yet, he thought and chewed on his bottom lip. Just about.

With a sigh, he settled against his woman and closed his eyes, deciding to revisit his worries about what would happen when their holiday ended. Was their chemistry together going to carry over to days and even weeks of separation when his hockey season continued? Would she go back to overworking herself and being unable to stay awake when he got home after games?

Shoving the thoughts aside, he counted sheep until sleep took over.

***

Their time together passed so swiftly that Kaitlyn almost forgot about her first shift back at the bookstore until it was the next day.

"I wish we had more time," she confessed to Alex as she dressed on Thursday morning.

Alex watched her, his eyes following the movements of her arms as she covered her body. He shouldn't, but he knew he could indulge in her again. They'd taken an unbelievable amount of time to rise that morning. He didn't have practice and had managed to wake her up. They'd followed up their time in bed with a shower together before ending up back in bed. It was a wonder he'd ever let her get up at all.

"We have all the time in the world, gorgeous," Alex replied, tearing his eyes away from her chest to smile into her eyes.

She raised her eyebrows at him and smirked. "Right. All the time in the world," she repeated. "In between my work and your games and road trips..." she let her voice trail off, giving voice to both their concerns at last. She sat down on the edge of the bed as she reached for her jeans.

Moving quickly, Alex slid behind her and hugged her back against his chest. He kissed the side of her neck and grinned when she shivered at his touch. "OK, it won't be the same kind of time we've had so far, but it's still time."

Kaitlyn twisted her head to look at him and Alex clenched his jaw at the worry he saw in her emerald eyes. "I don't know how it'll be to be away from you," she confessed, pink touching the curves of her cheeks.

"It'll be hard," he said and laughed at her eye roll. "That's not what I meant, dirty woman. I just mean, it'll be different and we'll have to talk on the phone a lot more. We'll figure it out."

"Will we?" she asked and pulled out of his arms to stand up. She pulled her jeans over her hips and turned to face him as she fastened the button in the front. "I don't want it to become a chore."

"A chore?" he echoed and frowned. He sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. "You think us being together would become a chore?"

She bit her lip and shook her head. "That's not what I meant."

"Then what?" Alex wanted to sound playful but he wasn't sure he kept all the hurt out of his voice. He knew she was trying to be honest and open but it bothered him that she would even think that about them.

"I just... our worlds are so different," she said and smiled shyly at him. "You travel all over the place and I work different shifts at the store all the time. It's going to be difficult for us to see each other in the future."

Alex lifted his eyebrows. "Are you breaking up with me?"

"No!"

Her immediate and emphatic reaction soothed him somewhat but he still felt a little surprised by her words.

"Alex, I want to keep seeing you and I want to figure out a way to make this work," she went on. She moved to stand between his legs and placed her hands on his shoulders. "We have to be realistic. I can't take days off work every time you come back to Calgary and you can't skip practices or games to be with me on my days off."

"Don't you make the schedule at the bookstore?" Alex asked, holding onto her waist loosely.

"Yes."
"Then can't you work the schedule so that we have some evenings or days together?" he suggested, unprepared for the flash of anger in her eyes.

She stepped out of his arms and turned around. "I can't always have the schedule do what I want," she said in a tense voice. "I have employees that need days off and other supervisors that can't always work when I need them to. It's not as simple as matching my schedule to yours."

"Kaitlyn, don't be mad," he said and stood up. He walked to his closet to grab some clothes and gave her a conciliatory smile as he passed her. "It was just a suggestion."

"Would you change your schedule if you could, just so you could be with me?" she asked, annoyance still evident in her tone.

Walking back into the bedroom, Alex took in her pose; arms crossed over her chest and chin jutted out stubbornly. He'd never seen her this way and maybe it should have annoyed him. Instead, he found his body reacting to the glint in her eyes just like it did when she stripped for him. "In a heartbeat," he answered, meaning it. Then he grinned crookedly at her, both of them knowing he had as little control over his schedule as the next guy.

Kaitlyn softened at his words, the hardness leaving her face and she sighed. Alex pulled his clothes on while he waited for her to respond.

"I don't know what to do with you, Alex," she murmured, making him laugh.

He gathered her into his arms and gave her a firm squeeze, bending low to drop a kiss on the top of her head. "You can answer the phone when I call," he replied. "Especially when I'm out of town. You can agree to see me on your nights off, as long as they match up, and you can try to believe me when I say that I'm not going to let you go."

For a long moment, she said nothing. Alex felt her draw in a deep, shaky breath and let it out, her body trembling slightly. He held her against him until she moved her head, tipping it back to look up at him. She was smiling and his heart stopped when he saw the unshed tears in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," she answered and wrapped her arms around him. "Nothing at all."

Eventually they parted, Alex still worried about the tears he'd seen. She sniffled and smiled, but kept the tears from spilling out and so he left it alone. He hadn't thought that she was that worried about them returning to the real world, so to speak.

Well, he thought as he walked her downstairs. I'll just have to do my best to convince her that I meant what I said.

They kissed good-bye at the door and he watched her walk away, already formulating a plan in his mind. He'd do everything in his power to make her understand what she meant to him. No matter how much it scared either of them, he couldn't let something like this get away from them.

***

Saying good-bye to Alex before he left on his first road trip following the Olympic break was harder than Kaitlyn thought it would be. They went out in the evening for an early dinner, since he was leaving early in the morning, and then Alex drove her home. He came inside for a little bit but they decided not to spend the whole night together.

"It'll just make it worse if you're naked when I wake up," Alex joked but Kaitlyn could tell from his expression that he meant it. "I won't want to leave without saying good-bye the proper way."

Kaitlyn laughed and held him close, cuddling with him on her couch as they watched TV. He held her, rubbed her back and kissed her face. It didn't take long before they were horizontal and Alex was unbuttoning her top. Laughing at the swift craziness of it, Kaitlyn reached for the fastening of his pants and they were hot and sweaty before they knew it. Later, both of them still half-dressed, Kaitlyn reclined on top of Alex and ran her fingers over his arm.

"I'll call you every day," he assured her, giving her a firm squeeze.

"I believe you," she replied. "I'll give you my work number, too."

They fell silent then, touching each other and breathing slow and easy. It was strange but Kaitlyn supposed it was because they'd spent so much time together for the first two weeks, that made them feel like they were being parted for good. They didn't argue about the future anymore but Kaitlyn couldn't shake the awful negative feeling that they wouldn't last.

"Stop it," Alex growled into her ear, breaking her away from her thoughts.

"Stop what?" she asked and lifted her head to look into his face.

He was scowling at her but there was a light in his eyes that told Kaitlyn he wasn't truly upset. "Thinking about what'll go wrong," he replied. "Nothing will happen. I'll be away for four days and then we'll see each other again."

Kaitlyn nodded, believing that he was convinced of that.

"I'll sure miss you, gorgeous," he added in a low voice that reverberated through her body.

She shivered and drew herself up to kiss him on the lips. "What, for four days?" she teased. "You said you'd talk to me on the phone every day. What's there to miss?"

With a grin, he touched her cheek and kissed her noisily. "That's my girl."

She laughed and pushed off of him. They straightened their clothes and Kaitlyn walked him to the door. He bent low and put his arm around her waist to give her a kiss good-bye.

"Don't get too dramatic on me, gorgeous," he told her. "I'm coming back to you, whether you like it or not."

Kaitlyn, never one to enjoy taking orders, couldn't help but melt at his words. Some of her doubts were eased by the conviction in his tone and she nodded. "All right."

"Good." He kissed her again and then was gone.

***

"I can't believe you're skipping work to watch the game," Joel said in a hushed tone to Kaitlyn. As he spoke, he kept looking towards the lounge entrance, like her boss was going walk through any minute.

She laughed at his antics and patted his hand comfortingly. "I'm not skipping," she told him. "I'm just taking an extended lunch." It was Sunday afternoon and the hockey game was being shown in Joel's bar. It had been two nights since she'd last seen Alex, and they'd spoken on the phone three times, but Kaitlyn felt almost giddy at the prospect of seeing him on TV.

Joel shook his head and asked if she wanted a drink. Rolling her eyes, she reminded him that she was on a break and wouldn't be drinking. "I'll take a Coke," she added and he walked away to get it for her.

The lounge was quiet, even though the game was being shown. It was a Sunday afternoon and most people were at home because of the recent downturn in the weather. Kaitlyn had no choice, having to cover two shifts for the day since one of her people had called in sick. She hadn't hesitated to accept when one of her shift supervisors offered to cover for her so she could have lunch.