19. Juniper

Juniper

The smell of the fresh ice hit me instantly. I was excited. Ice skating was actually something I liked, and I was good at.

“I can help you skate,” Ellery said as he laced up his hockey skates. “I’m pretty good.”

I almost told him I didn’t need help, but thought it would be nice to surprise him. “Sounds good,” I said.

I stared down at my laces. Though I did like ice skating, I hated lacing up my shoes.

“Here,” he kneeled in front of me and took my foot into his lap, keeping the guard on so as to not hurt his leg.

“Oh I can—”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said as he began tying the skates.

I watched as his deft hands laced them up. His curly black hair was perfectly styled, as always. Seeing him on his knees for me made me think about the other times he was on his knees for me in the past week. He looked pretty dashing today. He had on a black peacoat with jeans and a red scarf that covered the bottom half of his face. I was certain he could make anything look good, but damn did he have taste.

When he looked up, those bright blue eyes held mine captive. “Switch.”

I passed him my other foot and he laced those up too. When he was done, his hand moved up my calf slightly in a caress that had my face heating, but then dropped it, remembering where we were.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Yeah.” I stood, forgetting the guards were still on and almost slipped. Ellery caught me, his hand going to my hip and the other to my arm.

“You have to take the blade covers off,” he said. “They stick into the soft ground.”

“Are you mansplaining walking to me?” I asked.

“It seemed you might need someone to,” he said jokingly.

I pushed him and he stumbled a bit, laughing. “Let’s go.”

We headed out to the rink. We got here early so it was fairly quiet.

“Let’s race!” A voice said from behind me, and Samuel came barreling through the entrance and ran out to the ice, running in a lap before hockey stopping and spraying ice all over.

“Always such a show off,” Rachel said as she skated out onto the rink gracefully.

Today she had on a pink puffer jacket, ear muffs, and matching mittens. Her hair was in two space buns on the side of her head.

“Here,” Ellery stepped onto the ice and held out his hand. “I can help you stay up.”

I held onto his hand and stepped onto the ice. Though I hadn’t been skating since last year, I’d been going to the local rink since I was a kid. While I couldn’t do fancy turns or anything, I could go and stop easily, and skate backwards.

He started explaining the steps of skating to me and I followed along, pretending I was listening intently.

“Like this?” I asked, pushing off one foot and sending myself forward.

“Exactly,” he said. “And you just want to make sure you’re not leaning too far forward. Like the opposite of skiing.”

“Got it.” I started pushing off slowly at first.

“You’re really good,” Ellery said encouragingly.

“Thanks,” I said. I skated a bit faster, finding my feet after a year of being off and moving comfortably.

I crossed my feet over as I took the turns, drifting easily around. I assumed Ellery was still behind me, but as I rounded the rink I realized he was stopped a few feet from where we started, arms crossed.

I approached him and did a quick T stop a few feet in front of him.

“You know how to skate don’t you?”

I gave a guilty smile. “I might have been a few times.”

He laughed. “Well why didn’t you just say that?”

“You assumed I didn’t, and I wanted to impress you.”

“Consider me impressed,” he said. “You probably skate better than me.”

“Probably.”

He bumped me slightly. “Don’t start.”

“Oh, I’ll start,” I said.

He pulled me closer and landed a quick, casual kiss on my lips. It was the first time we’d kissed in public, and I wasn’t expecting it.

“Fine, race, first one around twice wins. Go!” He sped off while I was still processing.

“Hey, don’t cheat,” I called, racing after him.

“It’s not cheating if I’m better,” he said.

He was pretty fast, but he didn’t take the turns as quickly as I did, and he didn’t have the control to stay as close to the inside of the ring as possible, so I was able to catch up and beat him with seconds to spare.

“You cheated,” he said as we got to the end, both a bit out of breath.

“How did I cheat?” I asked. “You’re the one who took off so quickly.”

He pulled me close, so I was pressed against him. “Your butt looked so good, I couldn’t help but get behind you.”

His words were quiet so no one could hear, but they made me blush regardless.

“That’s a pretty bad excuse,” I said lightly.

“But it’s true.” He pressed into me, kissing me again. This time deeper. It wasn’t the full on make out we had in our hotel room, but it was just as sweet.

A scraping sound cut through our little bubble and I felt the cool splash of ice chips.

We turned to see Samuel standing there in hockey stop form. “Less kissing, more skating. Isn’t that what you said to Rachel and I last year, El?”

He turned and gave his brother a scowl. “You’ll pay for that,” he said.

“If you can catch me.” Samuel took off and Ellery followed right after him.

“They’re going to be boys at heart forever,” Clarice said as she came up next to me.

“I think so too,” I said with a laugh.

She and I skated together for a while, Rachel joining us after Samuel left her to race around with Ellery. Arthur and Tiffany came onto the ice at some point as well, skating together slowly and staying against the wall. Tiffany wore a black jacket today that was fairly baggy, but looked intentionally that way. Her bright pink hat matched Arthur’s gloves. Her hair was styled around her face perfectly, and she looked less ill today. They really were cute together.

Once everyone got tired, we went to the rink lobby to have hot chocolate and cookies. Though we only had a few days left of vacation, I felt like I was going to miss it. It had been one of the best I’d ever had, and that had a lot to do with Ellery.

He sat next to me, and even though I wasn’t draped over him like Rachel was on Samuel, he kept his hand set on my thigh. His fingers tapped as they always did, but the steady rhythm against me kept me balanced.

“Ellery,” a feminine voice behind us said.

We turned and were met with a pretty brunette in a baby blue jacket, and white leggings that were very see-through. “How are you?”

Her eyes didn’t turn to me, or anyone else in the group. Just Ellery.

“Fine,” he said, looking a bit confused at why she was talking to him.

She seemed to take the hint. “It’s Kim. Remember we hung out a few winters ago.”

The way she said ‘hung out’ had my blood running a bit cold.

“Oh, sure,” he said. “How are you?”

“Fine, I was hoping to catch you at Rodgers.”

“We probably won’t go this trip,” he said. “But I hope you have a great time.”

“Well, why don’t you come tonight?” she asked. “It was so fun last time.”

“I don’t think we can. I have plans with June.”

At my name, she acknowledged me. I could tell she was sizing me up. As much as every fiber in my being told me to glance away, I held firm, not giving her the satisfaction.

“I see. Well, if you have time, a bunch of us will be there tonight. Maybe more than one of us could have fun.”

“I won’t, but thanks.” He went back to his drink, all but dismissing her.

As he turned her gaze soured and got even meaner when she looked at me. But she turned and left, heading back where she came.

“Cold, El,” Samuel said, looking as if he wished he had a bowl of popcorn.

He cocked his head in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I mean she thought she could rekindle old times and you barely recognized her.”

My teeth clenched. Rachel bumped Samuel, telling him to stop, probably on my behalf. But it didn’t matter.

“I’m going to throw my cup away,” I said, standing quickly and making my way to the garbage. When I threw it away, I kept walking a bit until I got around the wall of the rink where the locker rooms were.

This was ridiculous. I was jealous of my fake boyfriend. And even if I was developing feelings for him, he shouldn’t have to justify his past to me. Under the circumstances we met in, it would make sense that this was something he did.

I just couldn’t help comparing myself to every one of those women. I wasn’t normally down on myself, I was happy with my appearance. But I didn’t look like that. And if that was his normal type, how would I ever measure up?

“Hey,” Ellery said, coming around the corner. “Are you okay?”

I pulled together a comfortable smile. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

He shrugged. “I probably wouldn’t be happy if some guy came and talked to you like that.”

“You wouldn’t?”

He shook his head. “With how impulsive I am, I probably would have hit him.”

I knocked his shoulder. “You wouldn’t have.”

Ellery got closer to me now, pressing me towards the wall and putting his hands on either side of my head.

“I would have.” His eyes told me he was serious. “You’re my girl. My pretty moon. And I don’t want to see other guys hanging around you.”

I swallowed, my heart pounding. “Like the ski instructor?”

“Like instructor Ken,” he confirmed.

“He didn’t look like Ken,” I said.

“The only thing he was missing was the box.”

I giggled. He did kind of look like Ken. But I didn’t want Ken. I wanted Ellery.

Pushing slightly off the wall I leaned in and brought my lips to his. Ellery’s hands fell to my body, going to my hips and pulling me closer. He tasted of chocolate and mint from his toothpaste this morning.

“We should go back,” I said when he pulled away.

“I need a minute,” he said.

I was about to ask what he meant when I felt his hard length pressed to my hip. “I see that.” I ran my hand over it.

“You’re not helping,” he said.

I leaned in close. “Would you like me to?”

I turned to look at him and his gaze heated. One minute I was standing there, the next I was being dragged through the door of the locker room next to us. Because this place was fancy, just like everywhere else we’d been, the locker rooms were individual, so there was no one inside.

He clicked the lock closed then was on me. His hands were in my hair, his lips were on mine. It was quick and hectic, but intense.

He took my jacket off, leaving me in my sweater. I unbuckled his belt and pulled his pants down, unsheathing his cock.

Dropping to my knees I took him in my mouth to the back of my throat.

“Shit,” he groaned. His hand fell to my head, guiding me how he wanted, and I was happy to let him.

He fucked into my mouth, chasing his pleasure. I ran my tongue up under his shaft, along the vein running through the bottom.

“I’m not going to last long,” he said.

I doubled my efforts, curious to see how quickly he would come. I hallowed out my cheeks, sucking a bit, and he had to hold arm over his mouth to dull his moans.

A few pumps later and he held me down, coming down my throat. I swallowed around him, and swore it made him come more. I couldn’t breathe and tears sprang to my eyes.

Before it could get too uncomfortable, he pulled out and I took deep breaths.

I thought we were done, but he was still hard. He lifted me and pushed me up against the marble table, so I was face down against it. It was cool on my cheek, and the slight chill seeped through my sweater.

He yanked my leggings down, pulled my panties aside, and plunged right into me, sheathing himself fully in one go.

I pressed my mouth into my arms, trying to keep quiet. He gave no warm up, no teasing, just fucked me hard and fast. His body slammed into mine, the sound of my ass against his pelvis ringing through the room.

He pulled me by my hair, raising my head so I was looking directly into the mirror in front of us. I saw myself first. How flushed I was. How wide my eyes were. Then I glanced at him. Ellery was in full control. His hand held my head still, his hand squeezed to my hip. His gaze meeting mine.

It made everything feel so intimate and raw. I watched—and felt as he pulled out and pushed back in, that same slow, hard pace. I was mesmerized by the motions. Being able to see and feel everything so clearly made everything feel that much more intense.

“We need to be quiet,” I managed. I couldn’t hold myself up and block the sound.

“So you better keep it down or someone’s going to hear.”

God this man.

He kept going, fucking me within an inch of my life. His fingers circled my clit as I felt him fall out of rhythm and knew he was nearing the edge.

I’d been so close this entire time, teetering towards my orgasm. After a few circles, I tightened around him and gripped him hard.

“Fuck,” he let out as he pressed fully into me and came, filling me. I could feel the warmth of him, and couldn’t say I hated it.

Ellery kissed the side of my neck before pulling out. “Let me clean us up.”

I clenched, trying to hold it in while he got a towel. A warm cloth touched me as he cleaned me up and we set ourselves to rights.

Ellery peaked his head out and once he was confident no one had spotted us we stepped out together.

“It’s nice that they’re individual, huh?” Samuel asked, leaning against the wall around the corner, scaring the shit out of me.

“Knock it off,” Ellery said.

“Don’t worry, Rachel and I know all the good spots if you ever need alone time. The third floor office is never used for it’s true purpose.”

My cheeks were a blaze, but Ellery was laughing.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Anyway, I’m here because we’re planning to go back. You guys want to go?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”