Ice Cold

17

Wren Ridley

This was different. The feeling of another body laying next to mine, his warmth, his breath brushing against the skin of my neck, the anticipation of him waking up and realizing that he was sleeping against me.

I had been awake for at least an hour, unmoving while Landon slept with his face buried in my neck and his body turned toward mine. Part of me thought I should get out of bed as best I could without waking up, but the other part of me, the part that won, wanted to be here in this position when he woke. I wanted to see what he would do knowing he had pressed himself against me in the night.

It was only a little while later when Landon stirred, groaning in my ear as he fought himself waking up. When he finally opened his eyes and came to his senses, I felt his breath stop for a moment. He sat up and put his head in his hands.

"What the fuck..." he said, his voice groggy and raspy from sleep.

"Good morning to you too," I said, sitting up against the headboard.

"Be quiet," he grumbled, rubbing his hands down his face.

"Why so grumpy?" I asked, grinning at the back of his head. "Did you like sleeping with me and now you don't know what to do with yourself?"

Landon turned to glare at me, but made no move to get out of bed.

"Don't say it like that," he said.

"What? That you liked sleeping with me?"

"I didn't sleep with you," he said, his jaw tense. "You know how that sounds."

"And who is around to hear how it sounds?"

Landon shook his head at me, moving backward to lean against the headboard. His eyes moved up my body, lingering on my bare chest, before meeting the smirk on my face.

"You can look," I told him.

He rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest.

Landon was being calmer than I had anticipated. I had expected him to freak out, start yelling at me, maybe hit me. What I didn't expect was for him to sit in bed with me like this was something we did all the time. Like we were some couple that just woke up after a night together. How this wasn't too much for him, I didn't know, but it was too much for me.

I got out of bed, climbing over his legs. I didn't bother getting dressed as I started toward the door. Landon followed behind me. He stood close to me like he hoped my body would hide his. I knew the muscular hockey player behind me wouldn't go unnoticed, but I let him believe it would work for him.

When we got down the stairs, I heard my mother and father in the kitchen. I stopped at the bottom of the stairs, Landon still standing on the last step, and thought about what to do.

There was a chance my parents wouldn't recognize Landon. They had only really seen him when he played against Fox's team in high school, but that didn't mean they would recognize him if they saw him face to face. However, they knew him by name. They knew that he had fought with Fox before. And was Landon a common enough name that they wouldn't make the connection? Or could I get away without introducing him?

I took too long to think everything through, so the decision was practically made for me. There was a knock on the door and both my parents came out of the kitchen to go toward the front door.

"Wren!" Mom called out with a wide smile, holding her arms out to pull me to her. Dad glanced over as he got the door, revealing Dan and Mindy on the other side.

Oh this was just fucking perfect.

I could feel Landon tense behind me, his chest pressed up against my back. Mom pulled away, her eyes drifting to Landon behind me.