Before I can spring my plans on her, she needs to talk to her parents. Before she can do that, she needs cheering up. If she can walk into her parents’ house with a smile on her face, maybe it will help her dad see her situation in a different light. He’ll see it’s more important that she’s happy than it is that she has the job he wanted her to have.
“This is such a bad idea,” Aimee says teetering on her skates as she takes to the ice.
I skate around her. Skating backwards, I take her hands and squeeze. “I’ve got you.”
The snow stopped falling before dawn, and several of my employees found their way to work even though I told them not to chance it. One of them was my groundskeeper. He had the ice cleared and prepped by the time the first of our guests finished breakfast. That’s when I let my day manager take over the front desk so I could get a couple of hours’ sleep. I had no idea I’d find Aimee passed out on my couch next to a bottle of whiskey.
It was both the cutest and saddest thing I’d seen in a long time. All I wanted to do was to fix all of her problems. I settled for making her more comfortable.
Admittedly, it was difficult to cover her back up after taking her clothes off. We’d taken each other’s virginity not long after we started dating back in high school, so seeing her in her panties and bra wasn’t anything new… I take that back. Her body has changed as much as mine has in the last decade. She has a lot more curves and a few tattoos in discreet places. There are, in fact, a lot of new things to learn about my Aimee.
If I have my way, we’ll have all the time in the world to learn everything about each other that we’ve missed.
“Whoa,” I say catching Aimee under her arms before she slips and lands on her ass. She was doing so much better.
“Seriously, Killian. The last thing I need is a trip to the ER.” Aimee wrinkles her brow and looks at me with wide eyes, full of worry.
“How about some hot cocoa?” I ask, leading her off the ice.
“Yes. That sounds much better.”
We sit on a bench beside the rink watching the other guests circle the ice. Some fall. Some skate like old pros. But I notice that all of them make Aimee smile.
“Admit it. You’re having fun,” I say.
“With you? Always.” A soft blush fills her already pink cheeks, kissed by the cold.
And now all I can’t think about is how much I would love to make those soft cheeks of hers red with my kisses.
“Killian?” Aimee whispers as my lips draw closer to hers.
“I won’t lie, Aimz. I want to kiss the hell out of you right now.” It’s a good thing I’m wearing so many layers. Without them, she and all my guests would see I want more than a kiss.
“Then why don’t you?”
My lips have only grazed hers when she jumps at the sound of her phone ringing.
“Sorry,” she says taking the phone out of her coat pocket to answer it.
“Hi, Mom,” Aimee says.
Her mom’s voice is muffled and hard to hear over the wind and the crowd enjoying their time on the ice. I’m supposed to sit still and quiet while she talks to her mom but just that soft brush of her lips was enough to drive me crazy. Crave so much more of her. I sweep her hair away from her neck and place light kisses on her soft skin.
Aimee’s face contorts as she presses her lips together, trying not to react to me while listening to her mom.
“I don’t know. I’ll have to check the road conditions,” she says, and that makes me pause. Aimee pouts when I lean back.
Is she trying to get out of Christmas Eve dinner? That’s not good. I understand she’s worried about having to face her parents but she shouldn’t miss out on Christmas with them because of it.
Wondering if she’d feel better not having to face them alone, I whisper, “Ask if you can bring a guest.”
“Um… Hold on a sec, Mom.” Aimee mutes her phone. “What?”
“Ask your mom if it’s okay if I come.”
“You want to spend Christmas Eve with us?”
“My parents are on a boat in the tropics. So, my brothers didn’t bother coming home. I’d love to spend Christmas with you and your parents.” I want to tell her I’m ready to spend all of our Christmas’s together but we’re not there yet. One thing at a time. I won’t force her to shoulder more than one big life event right now.
