Page 46 of Melt the Ice

“At least until you tell me you’re not.” Then his lips are on mine. Slow and warm, melting me from the inside out. My hands travel up his chest, wrapping around his neck as I dig my nails into the thickness of his shoulders. At the same time, I trap his bottom lip between my teeth.

“Mine,” I whisper. His eyes fly open, filled with heat and desire. The swirl of it is intoxicating. So intoxicating that I close my eyes, releasing his lip and pulling him closer to me. I’m half a second from telling him to go park somewhere else when a slow clap sounds from behind him.

“Hand it over,” Abby says with a victorious smirk as she holds her hands out to either side of her. Both Hannah and Reed grumble as they place money in her open palms. Lucas doesn’t miss a beat. He brings his forehead to mine, laughing before he wraps his arms around my hips, pressing me flush against him, slowly letting me slide down the front of him.

His excitement presses into my stomach as my feet hit the ground, “Be a good girl and turn around, but don’t move unless you want them to see what you do to me.” A smirk pulls at my lips before I turn and walk toward Hannah, looking over my shoulder just in time to see his jaw drop before he lets the sweatshirt he had in his hands hang in front of him.

“Never said I wanted to be a good girl,” I throw him a wink before I thread my arm through Hannah and Abby’s as we walk inside the arena. The guy's laughter follows us inside, and I may put a little extra pep in my step as we go, showing him just how not good I am.

“Yeah, I like you,” Hannah says, looking back over her shoulder. “You’re good for him.”

I feel the heat crawl up my neck. “He’s good for me, too.” The second we push through a set of double doors, I’m smacked with cold, the kind of cold that hurts your bones and makes your nose run. “Holy crap, I wasn’t expecting it to be this freezing. They play in this?!” The girls laugh as they walk toward the group that I’m learning is their core. Sammy sends me a sheepish smile before turning to listen to what Hannah’s saying.

I feel Lucas before I hear him, “Cold?” He asks as he steps in behind me, his arms wrap around my waist, fingers locking together in front of me.

I nod, letting myself lean into the warmth of him.

“Brought this for you.” In a blink, he’s in front of me with a giant light gray Hawks sweatshirt that looks identical to the one he’s wearing.

“Is this yours, or do you think I’m one of those girls who likes to curl up in oversized sweatshirts? Because if so, you’d be correct.”

He doesn’t respond, just turns the sweatshirt around, letting me see the “Monroe” and the number twenty-six stitched into the back. A claiming, a very public one. “How utterly caveman of you, Lucas Monroe.” I purr as I take it from him and pull it over my head. I’m immediately surrounded by the scent of him, manly, fresh like the ocean with a hint of citrus.

“This was a horrible idea,” he mutters, shifting his weight in front of me, before turning and walking away. I watch his retreating back, a smile sitting firm on my face, only growing bigger when I realize how light I feel. All worries of falling or making a fool of myself are long gone, because I know he’s got me. On the ice or in everyday life, I’ve got a hell of a man on my side.

He comes back with two pairs of skates, neither of which looks like the rentals other people have on. “Whose are those?”

He pats the bench, kneeling in front of me once I’m sitting. He slowly starts to untie my shoes, slipping them off before pulling a long sock over the ankle sock I already had on. “I was hoping you’d let me take you skating more than once. I bought them when you told me Lily invited you. I just had the blades sharpened.”

“You weren’t mad that she asked me? Kinda seemed like you were.”

He stops and cups his hands over my knees, “No, I love that she likes you. It just felt like I was losing someone else. I know I’m not, but my brain isn’t a very fun place to be right now.”

“I’d never try to take any of your friends, Goldie. I want us to build together, not apart.” Even as I say that, the text from my father burns a hole in my pocket. I should say something, anything, but when is the time to say, “Hey, I think my dad had something to do with your mom dying, but I couldn’t do anything about it?”

“I know.” His hands squeeze the tops of my thighs before he moves back to my skates.

I watch, entranced with the movements of his hands as he laces up my skates, tightening them in all the right places, giving me some sense of stability in my ankle. Once he’s done with the first, he does the same to the second, and only when he’s finished do I realize the number of people staring. “Why are they staring?” I lean in closer to him and whisper.

He looks over his shoulder, smiling before he turns and sits next to me to put his own skates on. “I’ve never brought a woman here. Most of the people here this early are wives, girlfriends, or family of my teammates or the staff.”

I swallow hard, “And have you been with any of them?” The question tumbles from me, I blink rapidly, embarrassed that I’d just asked him such an intimate question.

He takes it in stride, sliding his hand across my jaw until his fingers disappear into the hair behind my ear. “No,” he breathes against my lips before he presses a soft kiss to them. I’m honestly surprised someone hasn’t come along and swept him off his feet. Surely I’m not that special. “Stop overthinking it, just be here. With me.”

The second he pulls away, I jump at the weight that plops in my lap. “Do you know how to skate, Auntie Lettie?” The most genuine smile splits my face, and tears burn the backs of my eyes when they land on the little girl in front of me. She was so sad the last time I saw her, and I don’t think I’ve seen her since. I want to ask Lucas if she knows about his mom, but I’m pretty sure I already know that answer. She doesn’t need to know. Not tonight, at least.

I tap my finger against my lip a few times, “I don’t. I’ve never been on ice before.”

She twists, her little hands framing my face, eyes wider than a raccoon caught in the trash. “Are you for real?!” She looks at Lucas and slowly shakes her head. “Can you believe this lady?” Her dramatic sigh gives my mother’s favorite soap opera actors a run for their money. “What are we gonna do with you, Auntie Lettie?...” She admonishes.

I fake a pout, “Think maybe you and Uncle Lucas could teach me?” I look up at her through my lashes just in time to see her turn into sunshine reincarnated. She jumps off my lap, clapping rapidly, then she’s off.

But before she takes more than three steps, she throws on the brakes, turning back around, and shouting, “I gotta go get my skates, can you tie them for me, Uncle Lucas?”

“Course, Lily Pad.” He smiles, eyes following her until she stops next to a little boy who looks almost identical to her.

“That her brother?” I ask.