Crack In The Ice - Chapter 12: Chapter 12

It takes me a minute to know where I am.
The soft expensive bed sheets and the large beige curtains keeping the sunlight out throw me off for a moment. Before I remember where I came to last night. I roll onto my back and turn my head to the side, expecting to find Liam sleeping next to me. He's not there.
There's a single second of silent doubt.
Slowly, my mind registers the sound of the shower running just before it turns off.
When he comes out of the bathroom, light floods in and I cover my face with my hands. I hear the curtains and rub my eyes, preparing them to the morning light.
"Good morning," Liam says.
I look at him through half-open eyes. His hair is wet, dripping water on his naked shoulders and lean torso. A towel wraps around him, low on his waist, just begging to fall off. He looks...
"Morning," I hear myself mumble.
He walks toward me, a question in his deep blue eyes. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah. I didn't see you when I woke up, so I just..." I don't finish that thought. I don't think I even know where that thought was going.
"I went for my morning run," Liam says, smiling. "You slept right through my three alarms. Figured I'd worn you down pretty good last night."
I snort. "You could've woken me up. We could've gone for a run together." Despite my words, I stretch my arms over my head lazily.
"I wanted to let you rest," he says.
Smoothly, like it's not even worth noting, he pulls the towel off his waist and rubs his hair with it. I bite my lip, eyes moving down of their own accord.
"I'm up now," my mouth speaks without my consent.
Liam stops toweling his hair to give me a smirk. "Are you?" He muses, sitting on the bed next to me, his ass right next to my thigh.
He knows exactly what he's doing.
"When are you leaving again?" He asks.
"Sunday."
He frowns. "That's two days away."
I nod.
"You got plans before that?"
"Owen leaves tomorrow morning, back to Boston. I'm having dinner at his parents' place with the Millers. To say goodbye."
"That's today?"
I nod. "Tomorrow, I told my brother I'd have dinner with him and Scarlet." I can't tell if my voice sounds different when I say that.
"Your brother's girlfriend?"
"I guess."
Liam tilts his head. "You don't like her."
I shrug. "Don't really know her."
"She works at The Lodge."
I roll my eyes. "I know that much."
"Your brother's been seeing her for a while. They've been open about it at work since last Christmas. That's when they filed those relationship form thingies with HR, for managers and employees."
I look up at the ceiling. "See, that, I didn't know."
Liam leans over, his face appearing in my line of sight. I let him hold my gaze. He smiles, and kisses my cheek, then my temple, then my nose.
I laugh. "What was that?"
"Can I see you before you leave?" He asks softly, keeping his face hovering barely more than inch over mine.
"Tomorrow at lunch I'm free."
He sighs. "Helga asked me and Chloe to have lunch with her to talk about the Olympic plan. Practice after that."
"I'm taking Owen to the airport with Dean in the morning," I say.
"Before you leave on Sunday?"
I sigh, biting down on my lip. "Got a really early flight."
"Meet you even earlier at the lake?" He tries. "I can take my morning run there."
"Okay."
His expression smooths with hope. It twists something inside me that I'm not ready to acknowledge.
"Yeah?" He says.
I nod.
His smile is right there in front of me. The morning light reflects in his eyes, making them seem lighter than they usually are. I like the darker blue more. The near-black of our most intimate moments. The ones only we know about.
I gulp, biting my lip. "I'm still here right now."
Liam licks his lips and bends down to kiss me.
We're both naked, him over the sheets, me underneath them. He's freshly scrubbed and clean from his shower. I'm still swimming in the hazy fog that settles over my brain after our long nights taking each other apart.
Without thinking it through, my legs open in invitation. The sheets ride down my hips and I let them, not caring how exposed I am around him. Liam climbs between my legs, kicking the sheets fully off me while he kisses down my neck. His mouth latches near my collar bone possessively and my mind only registers that'll leave a mark when it's too late.
Teeth graze over my chest to focus in on one nipple. I never thought I'd be into that until Liam tried it. Now, I dream about it.
A moan escapes my mout without much resistance. I don't worry about the noise because it's just us, and I've learned by now the rooms over The Lodge have great sound isolation. My hips move instinctively, rolling upward, trying to make contact.
Liam's hand trails down my side, warm and reassuring, curling firmly around my hip to steady me. I groan in frustration, feeling him smile against my upper abdomen as he keeps taking his sweet time. I don't rush him, though. I never do. As frustrating as it may get, I don't like rushing him. Something about knowing I'm at his mercy - my body and my pleasure subject to his whims - makes me warm inside.
Nothing has ever felt remotely like that with anyone else. Sometimes, after we go our different ways and I don't see him for weeks, those feelings of total submission scare me. But here, in the moment, I revel in it.
The sound of someone trying to open a locked door, followed by aggressive knocking, sends a chill down my spine. I freeze, pulling Liam off me. He looks confused, until he seems to notice the knocking.
"Liam, are you in there?"
His eyes widen.
I know that voice too. MacKenzie.
"Shit," Liam whispers.
"What is she doing here?" I mouth.
"The fuck should I know?"
"Liam! I can hear you in there," she yells from the other side of the door. "I'm leaving."
"Shit," he hisses.
"You told me you'd drive me to the airport. Say goodbye and whatnot?"
"Fuck, fuck. Fuckity fuck." Liam gets off the bed.
I stand after him awkwardly, fumbling for my underwear. Liam hands me a pair of boxer briefs absently.
"This one's yours," I whisper-yell.
"I'll be out in a second," Liam's voice is loud enough for MacKenzie to hear.
"I need to use your bathroom," she says.
I glare at him, shaking my head.
Liam bites his lips in apologetic panic. "I'm not dressed," he cries.
"Dude, are you kidding me," she says. "I've seen you butt-naked before and I'm about to go number one in this hallway."
Liam gestures franctically for me to put on the underwear and get under the bed.
"No," I mouth, deadpan.
He puts his palms together, begging. I drop his underwear, crawling under the bed. The upside of living in a hotel room is that someone comes in to clean it every day.
Liam puts the towel around his waist again and pulls the sheets on the bed to arrange them in a way that covers me hiding underneath. I hear the door open.
"Finally," MacKenzie huffs. "Out of the way, bitch."
There are rushed steps and then the sound of the bathroom door closing. How the fuck did this morning take such a ridiculous turn?
"I thought your flight was at eleven-thirty," Liam says.
"You are aware of the two-hour drive to the airport and the time it takes to get through security, boarding passes, documentation, yada-yada... Yes?"
"Did we agree on seven-thirty?"
"Actually, you told me last weekend you'd pick me up at seven." There's a pause. "I took the initiative and assumed you forgot."
"Sorry."
"It's fine."
The sound of a toilet flush makes me press my face into my closed fist. I can hear the tap running next and then the door opens.
"Why are you still not dressed?"
"Sorry. I just, uh..."
"Should I have asked Chloe to drive me instead?" MacKenzie asks.
"Definitely. But it's fine, I'll get dressed in no time."
There's a beat of silence.
"Well?" She says.
"Could you wait for me downstairs?"
"What's so new you're embarrassed I'll see now? Grew a second penis in the past four years?"
"Pretty please," Liam insists. "With a cherry on top?"
"Fine," she huffs. "Weirdo. I'll be downstairs. And you better be five minutes."
When the door finally opens and shuts again, I wait for Liam to lift the sheets to crawl out from underneath the bed.
"Seriously?" I hiss, still whispering.
"It could've been worse," he says. "I could've pushed you into a closet for the oldest visual metaphor in history."
I glare at him.
"Just let me get dressed and meet Mack downstairs, and then you can leave. I'll leave you my key and you can lock the door on your way out."
"What should I do with your key after, genius?"
He shrugs. "Leave it with someone downstairs."
I scoff.
Liam gives me a deadpan look. "Do you have a better idea?"
Yes. But I'm nearly five years late for that one.
Liam gets dressed hastily and leaves the room, pointing me to the key on the bedside table. I put on my clothes, waiting for him to text me that he's left with Mack before going outside, hoping Hannah's the one on shift and that she's just as spacey during morning shifts as she used to be.
It's not Hannah.
"Uhm, hey, Paige." I step up to The Lodge's counter. "Is Han around?"
"No, sorry. It's her day off." The pale blonde tells me. "Need anything?"
I curse inwardly. "Can I leave this key with you? It's Liam's."
She looks at me wordlessly.
"He dropped it on the parking lot on his way out," I rush out.
Paige looks at the key in my hand, then at the doorway to the restaurant area. Is she deliberating whether I came through the rooms access or from the outside? Should I say something? Or would overexplaining be even more suspicious?
She takes the key. "Sure."