Five Firemen Carried Me Out, and Not One Will Put Me Down novel · Chapter 18 of 24
Chapter 18: Ice
Tibo's ice shack sat a quarter mile out on Lake Memphremagog, a plywood box on skids with a stovepipe and a tin roof, and the propane heater already roared inside it when we came through the door.
Gilles had driven us out over the ice in his truck with the headlights off.
Tibo had held my hand in the cab the whole way, and his palm was wet.
"Sit anywhere," Tibo said, and gave a short laugh at himself.
There was a plank bench along the back wall under a pile of sleeping bags, two round holes in the floor with lids on them, a lantern on a hook and nothing else.
The ice creaked and ticked underneath us.
I stood in the middle of the floor in my borrowed green dress, and the heater put red on everything.
"I get her first," Tibo said.
He said it to Gilles, not to me.
"You said that already," Gilles said.
He sat down on the bench with his back against the wall and his coat open.
"Go on, son.
"She's all yours.
"I'll sit here."
"You'll sit there and tell me what I'm doing wrong," Tibo said.
"Probably."
I laughed.
"Tibo," I said.
"Come here."
He crossed the two steps of the shack in one stride.
He took my face between his hands and kissed me, deep and clumsy and sweet, and I felt how much he wanted to get it right.
I put my hands on his chest.
"You lead," I said.
"Me?"
"You.
"I'll tell you if I want something else."
He drew a breath.
He found the zipper at my back and slid it down, and the dress fell off my shoulders to the floor.
I stood in front of him in nothing but wool socks.
His eyes went over me slowly.
"I've seen you," he said.
"I know.
"I just keep not believing it."
He picked me up.
He did it under the arms, easy, and set me down on the pile of sleeping bags on the bench.
Then he knelt on the plank floor and put his curly head between my knees.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of Five Firemen Carried Me Out, and Not One Will Put Me Down are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
← Chapter 17 · All chapters · Chapter 19 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend