Page 30 of Wild Promise

A laugh escaped me as I startled, my feet slipping out from under me. But he caught me effortlessly, rocking with me to the beat and turning my stumble into part of our rhythm. I dropped my hands to cover his, and we slid around the ice in a seductive slow dance.

When he started singing along under his breath, the sound wrapped around me like heat. The lyrics were a little suggestive, but coming from him, they became something hypnotic. His chest vibrated against my back. His breath brushed my neck.

My pulse kicked hard.

And when the lyrics turned to love, and he sang them without hesitation, something inside me tipped dangerously off balance. A crack ran through the wall I’d spent the last year building, and for one terrifying, exhilarating second, I didn’t want to fix it.

I was in trouble.

Really big, very bad trouble.

Eventually the song ended, blending seamlessly into the next, and we continued moving around the rink in a slow, steady glide, my blood still pumping hard.

“You’re really good at this,” he murmured, his voice low and close enough to undo me.

“Thank you. You’re not too bad yourself.”

“Wow, I think that was almost a compliment.” He laughed.

Twisting in his arms, I looked back at him over my shoulder. “Don’t let it go to your head.”

“Too late.”

I grinned. “It’s not even the first one I’ve given you…I seem to remember sending you a text along the lines of, you are the best.”

“Ah, so now the truth comes out. You do remember that conversation.”

“Nope.” I winked, the corners of my mouth tugging even wider. “Don’t remember a thing.”

His laugh broke free again, and while he was distracted, I spun out of his hold and pushed harder against the ice. I picked up speed until it felt like I was flying. My hair whipped around me, the wind rushed in my ears, and my heart raced with exhilaration.

It was like a game of chase. The same sort of game we’d been playing all week. Him in pursuit, and me escaping. Only now, I wanted to be caught.

Feeling brave, I used my momentum to test a spin. Then another and another. I was spinning and floating and feeling like nothing could hold me back.

For one perfect, breathless minute, I was untouchable.

Light and happy.

Happy.

When was the last time I could say that?

Then my skate caught awkwardly beneath me, and pain exploded through my tailbone as I hit the ice flat on my ass. Tears sprang instantly to my eyes, but I laughed instead, even while the ache radiated through me. Because if I stopped laughing the irony might break me.

This was exactly how it felt to fall for Zane too-good-to-be-true Alexander.

Briefly exhilarating.

Followed by inevitable doom.

Chapter Ten

Zane

Melina moved around the rink with ease and grace, right until the moment she smacked down hard on the ice.

Her poor, perfect ass was going to hurt like hell after a landing like that. Yet in the back of my dirty mind, all I could think was how much I’d like to kiss it better.