Page 31 of Wild Promise

Tucking the inappropriately timed thought away, I raced to her from the other side of the rink. Before I could get there, the couple closest to her stopped. The woman bent down to offer a hand, and by the time I made it to her side, Melina was already back on her feet.

“Hey.” I reached for her arm, pulling her in for a hug and detaching her from the concerned woman. “Are you okay?”

She nodded, tears tracking down her cheeks, and something in me cracked. She was hurt, and no matter how I looked at it, I was at least partly to blame.

I knew I was pushing all her boundaries—fuck, some of my own too—and I should’ve backed the hell off. But the longer I was near her and the more she let her guard down, the more I wanted in. The more I needed in.

Still, I had no business putting my hands on her, singing love songs to her, or treating our one date like it was the start of something more. Especially since I couldn’t give her more.

No matter how much I might want to try.

I could never give her the kind of commitment she deserved. Because what would that even look like? Inviting her into the Alexander family shit show? Introducing her to my father—the man who ran a pharmaceutical empire with one hand and something dark and bloodstained with the other? The man whose name alone could put a target on anyone close to him? How could I ever explain that the trust fund sitting in my bank account was probably funded by things I couldn’t stomach thinking about?

She was out here fighting tooth and nail for a promotion, putting payments on credit cards, and I was sitting on more money than I could ever honestly earn or deserve. Too guilty to spend it, too cowardly to give it back.

And didn’t that just make me the biggest kind of asshole ever?

The sound of her cries muffled against my chest, and her body shook in my arms. I gave the couple a brisk nod as they skated off again, and I clutched Melina tighter.

“Please.” She struggled against me. “I need air.”

Reluctantly, I loosened my hold and peered down into her tearstained face, searching for the right thing to say.

But she wasn’t crying. She was laughing.

Hell, she was practically in hysterics.

“What the hell?” I laughed along with her.

“Was that epic or what?” Her voice was strained, but her smile didn’t fade.

Fuck, this woman was even stronger than I’d given her credit for.

“Epic? You call that epic?” I teased. “That tiny little fall was nothing. I split my head wide open on this ice once. Knocked myself unconscious. Still have the scar to prove it.” I brought her hand to the back of my head, guiding her fingers to the spot where the faint edge of a scar could still be felt.

Her laughter faded as she ran her hand through my hair, her fingers trailing over the line of the old wound, and I wanted to lean into her touch like a dog getting its ears scratched.

“I guess it shouldn’t surprise me.” She smirked, her cheeks rosy and tears beginning to dry. “Who were you trying to impress, and how drunk were you?”

“Well, I was only about six, so not too drunk I don’t think. Guess I’ve always been a bit of a show-off, though.”

“Six?” Her brow pinched with concern, and suddenly our intimate conversation felt like being under a magnifying glass. “How did it happen?”

“I don’t really remember.” The lie came out smoothly, but the memory didn’t stay buried as easily. A frozen pond. No one watching. Uncle Glenn finding me facedown on the ice with blood pooling around my head. Mom hadn’t been around that week. Or the week before. And my father had never really been around at all.

I shoved it down and put my hand on her back, guiding her off the ice. “Come on, my gutsy little firecracker. I think this part of the tour is over.”

I helped her out of her skates, noticing her discomfort as she shifted on the bench, but her pain got lost in another fit of giggles when I teased her about her epic landing. After drying her eyes, she followed me to the back of the skate shack and waited off to the side as I thanked Jasper for helping me out. He was a cool kid.

“I had a few more stops in mind for our tour,” I told her as we sauntered away from the rink, the cold seeping into me. “But now I’m wondering if it’s such a good idea. Maybe we should call it a night?”

She stopped, our linked hands pulling taut, and I turned to find her glaring at me. “What?”

“Are you bored with me already?” The fire I’d come to expect from her flared bright.

With my hand holding tightly to hers, I stepped into her space, not letting her pull back. Her jaw hardened, her lips formed a tight line, and her eyes held firm to mine. Deadly serious.

“I’m so fucking far from bored you don’t even know. I told you I want you, and I thought I was doing a decent job of showing you how much. But maybe you need more?” I cupped the side of her face, my fingers tracing over her silken skin.