When we finally break apart, she rests her forehead against mine. “I love you Annika. The strongest woman I’ve ever known.”
Her breath hitches and her lips tremble until she says, “I didn’t say it before Parker because I didn’t want to burden you… with me. But I love you. I think I’ve loved you from the first day I saw you in Physiology class.”
“Let’s not go overboard. You hated me. But I won you over with my…”
“Dimples. Your dimples Parker.”
“I don’t think that’s what it was,” I joke as I pick her up and swing her around, putting her on my back. She wraps her arms around my neck and legs around my waist as we skate around the oval. I’m all smiles as she kisses my cheek a few times.
She whispers in my ear, “Does this mean I can go to Margarita night tomorrow?”
I stop by the boards and let her slide down my back before I spin to face her.
“It means I’m making you French toast in the morning.”
Her lips curve. “And then Margarita night?”
THIRTY-SIX
ANNIKA
The ice reflects soft blue light beneath our skates and Parker’s hands are warm on my waist with no echoes or distractions. Just the low hum of the cooling system and a quiet stretch of ice beneath our feet. For the first time in what feels like forever, there’s no need to run or hide. It’s only us standing in the space committing to each other.
He walks over to the door and clicks the deadbolt, and lowers the lights.
“What’re you doing? Did you rent it out?” I ask, glancing over my shoulder.
Parker leans casually against the boards but the heat in his eyes is anything but casual.
“Figured we deserved one place where no one’s watching our every move.”
My heart squeezes. “You’re full of surprises tonight.”
“I need you to know how much I missed you this past week. I want to be together, not for a hot minute but for a cool lifetime,” he jokes.
I glance up at him, and his eyes have already settled on mine. His look, focused, steady, and intense sends a ripple through me like the ripples at the lake on his family farm.
It’s not desire, it’s something softer.
He sets his phone on the board and grabs my hand. “Skate with me.” The music starts, a love song. Then two.
“Is this your idea of a grand gesture?”
“Yeah.”
We hold hands while we glide around the ice, unhurried. He stops to kiss me several times. I love being on the ice with Parker and sharing the ice with the man I love. For a moment, everything else fades away.
No past.
No pressure.
No expectations.
Just the rhythm of our blades cutting clean lines into the ice.
Parker stays close. Not showing off. Not pushing.
“You can try to impress me,” I say after a slow circle.
