Cade: Fire And Ice: A Second Chance Hockey Romance by Jessica Lake, Alana Hart Page B

back in North Falls. It seemed impossible.
    At five minutes to ten, there was a knock on the door. I actually thought I'd imagined it and stayed where I was on the sofa until it happened again. Then I got up and looked through the peephole. It was Cade. He looked exactly the same, maybe a bit bigger, more muscular than he had been at eighteen, and with a much shorter haircut, but it was definitely him. His face looked anxious and I had to lean against a table as my head swam with the surreal feeling of five years seemingly wiped away in an instant.
    "Ellie?"
    Cade was speaking through the door, trying to keep his voice down. I panicked, not wanting him to wake the sleeping children but not in any way prepared to handle looking him in the eye, either. What was he going to think of me? What did he want? Did I trust any part of myself around him?
    "Ellie? Is that you? Your mom told me you were here."
    So he'd gone to the old trailer. I was surprised my mom had told him where I was. She'd probably been too drunk to notice who she was talking to.
    I put one sweaty hand on the doorknob and opened it. Then I just stood there awkwardly for a few seconds, clueless as to what to do.
    It's scary how fast a person can slip into old habits, old emotions. I felt myself, my body, recognizing that it was Cade standing in front of me and everything just clicked back into place as if it was five years ago and he was there to pick me up on the way to an Ice Kings game.
    "Cade," I breathed, stepping towards him and pulling his head down to my shoulder without even thinking about it. It was always like that between us. I reacted to Cade instinctively, without thought. That's how it had been that night in the car when he took my virginity and it was how it was then, as he stood on my doorstep with his head buried in my hair.
    "Cade. Oh my God."
    I stroked the back of his neck and the feeling of his warm skin, so smooth and real, woke something up inside me that had been dormant for a long time. When I turned my head towards him and pressed my lips against his neck, murmuring his name, it was almost as if I was watching myself from the outside. How was this happening? How was Cade Parker back in my arms after five years of nothing? And why was I holding him and kissing him after the way he left?
    None of those questions mattered. As soon as he felt me kiss him he lifted his head up and found my mouth with his, pushing me up against the wall just inside the front door and running his hands over my body with what felt almost like desperation.
    "Ellie." Cade's voice was full of emotion. "Oh my God, Ellie. I missed you so much. I missed you so much ."
    I should have questioned him. I should have asked him why he never made any attempts to contact me if he missed me so much. I should have asked why all those photos of him with various women were all over the internet if it was me he wanted. But I didn't ask him any of those things. I couldn't. Something was in control of us but it wasn't me. I don't even think it was Cade. It was whatever force grew out of our sudden proximity, and I didn't stand a chance of resisting it. His hands on my body, the scent of his skin, the sound of his heavy breaths - I couldn't do anything but respond the way I did.
    We stumbled our way into the trailer, tearing our clothes off as we made our way to the couch, both of us completely out of our minds with blind need. When he pulled me down onto his lap and I felt him between my legs he let out a low groan.
    "Ellie. I need to be inside you."
    "Cade, I know, I-"
    My voice dissolved into a needy little sigh as he cupped one of my breasts in his hand and leaned down to suck the stiff nipple into his mouth. My back arched sharply towards him as the sensation of his tongue flicking over my nipple seared its way right down between my legs. When he flipped me easily onto my back and pulled my panties off I lay there, looking up at him, knowing what was coming and breathless with how