Where The Ice Gives Way (Charlotte and Blake) novel Chapter 145

Chapter 145-Best Seat in the House

Charlotte

We make it halfway down the stairs before Blake stops again. His hand tightens around mine, and he turns his head toward the living room. I murmur of a movie, Mara’s quiet laugh, and Gareth saying something I can’t quite catch. Blake looks back at me and puts one finger to his lips to keep from laughing. We move down the rest of the stairs, careful on each step. The house is warm and dim, with soft blue light flickering sc hallway from the television. I can see the back of Gareth’s head over the couch. Mara is tucked against his side with a blanket over her lap. Blak gently toward the kitchen.

We slip through the doorway, and he opens a drawer without making a sound. He takes out two spoons, then closes it so carefully I almost laugh from watching how serious he looks. He catches my face and grins. This feels ridiculous. We cross the kitchen, and I pause for a second when my on the floor. Blake catches my hand before I can wobble, his smile drops into concern, and I lift a brow. He lifts one back, then points toward the a door. Right. The mission. Ice cream. I nod like this is very serious. His mouth twitches, and then he turns the handre slowly, inch by inch, until the opens without a sound.

The garage is colder, and I tuck my toes against the floor as Blake guides me in. A large deep freezer sits against the far wall, with another fridge bes and shelves full of things. Blake lets go of my hand only long enough to lift the freezer lid. Cold air spills out in a white breath, and he looks inside, back at me.

“Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, caramel, or cookies and cream?”

I whisper, “Why are there so many options?”

He looks offended. “It’s Mum’s house.”

I lean closer, peering into the freezer. “How much ice cream does one family need

“It’s for emergencies.”

“This is an emergency?”

He looks at me like the answer is obvious. “You woke up hungry.”

A smile pulls at my mouth as I point to the caramel.

He pulls the tub out, shuts the freezer, then pats the lid. “Up you go. Best seat in the house.”

Before I can argue, he lifts me carefully by the waist and sets me on top of the freezer. A little laugh slips out of me, and I cover my mouth fast, sharing toward the door like Mara might come in and catch us.

Blake’s eyes brighten. “Rebel.”

“I was promised ice cream, not crime.”

He peels the lid off the

He stands betw

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10:35 am P pp.

Chapter 145 Best Seat in the House

The edges and hard in the centre, and Blake digs his spoon into the frozen part with far too much confidence.

“You’re going to bend that,” I whisper.

“It’s a spoon. It has one job.”

“It’s losing.”

He looks down at the spoon, then back at me. “Don’t talk to my equipment like that.”

I can’t help but laugh at him. I press the back of my hand to my mouth, shoulders shaking, and he freezes.

“What?” I whisper.

He shakes his head. “Nothing.”

I narrow my eyes. “Suspicious.”

His smile softens. “I’m just happy,”

Shanti stretches inside me, pleased and lazy. This is what life is supposed to feel like, she says.

I glance up at Blake. He is pretending to fight the middle of the ice cream tub, brows slightly drawn together, mouth tilted in concentration. He looks different when he isn’t hurting. I wonder how many times I saw him like this before. I wonder if I loved this version of him, too. A little ice cream catches on my lip as I pull the spoon away. I lift my hand to wipe it, but Blake’s hand comes up first. This feels like one of those movie moments where the room

goes quiet, and the boy finally kisses the girl. My heart starts beating harder. I don’t remember kissing him, but I want to. So I close my eyes and lean st. 1

feel Blake’s thumb run softly across my lips, and then I feel the whisper of his breath there, too. I lean the rest of the way and revel in the way his lips feet

against mine. The kiss is so gentle it almost hurts.

Shanti purrs inside me, and Lex answers from somewhere in his chest. When he pulls away, his forehead rests lightly against mine and his evey stay closed

“Was that okay?” he whispers.

His face is right there, close and nervous and beautiful, and I smile.

“For a first kiss?”

His eyes open then, and something in them breaks softly.

“Yeah,” he says, voice rough. “For a first kiss.”

“It was perfect.” I breathe out.

He smiles slowly, then his spoon dips to the tub again.

“Good,” he whispers. “Because I was hoping to earn a second.”

I laugh quietly, but I don’t look away as his eyes drop to my mouth, then lift back to muy, king without wards” I nod ng me hp, coleg a rallion buttesities in my stomach. He leans in again, just as softly as before, and I meet high hallway

The second kiss is still soft, but now I’m feeling a little more confident My hand moved on it own therers trusting his row, festing the coun

10:35 am Ppp.

Chapter 145 Best Seat in the House

makes that low-sound again, and it hums against my mouth. I pull bark, breath unsteady as that sound makes my whole body feel alight with pleasur

“Does Lex always make that sound?”

Blake’s eyes flash with his cocky smirk “Around you, yes.”

I feel Shanti preen inside me, and I smile down at the fee cream. “Shanti likes it.”

“Yeah?”

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