Page 87 of Melt the Ice

Their mixed rumbling laughter makes me wonder how I never noticed it before. Their mannerisms are so similar, I guess I just chalked it up to them spending so much time together. Not to mention, I’d known Lucas for a year before Miller showed up. But now that I know, it’s impossible not to notice.

“Where are we going?” I ask Hannah when she loops her arm through mine.

A devious smile crosses her face, “Remember when I told you Monroe could do a mean Cotton Eyed Joe?”

“What’s a Cotton Eyed Joe?” Rory asks from my other side.

“Did you say Cotton Eyed Joe?!” Lucas and Wilder say at the same time.

Hannah’s eyebrows dance across her face. Lucas takes off running before launching himself in the air, clicking his heels while he punches the air. Tate groans next to us, “Not again…”

“Come on, Tater Tot! It’ll be fun,” Hannah sings as she winks at her brother-in-law.

“Highly doubt it,” he grumbles as he slides into his car with his wife and parents.

“I’ll text you the address!” Hannah calls as we keep walking to my truck, which is parked next to Lucas’s brand new, black lifted jeep, complete with matte black sparrows placed along the sides.

He bends down, pressing a quick kiss on my lips. “You going to dance with me, Lettie Girl?”

My eyes bounce between his heated ones. The desire swirling in them has me biting softly on my lip. Nodding, I push up on my toes and kiss his chin. “See you there.”

Lord Almighty. I’m a fan of Lucas in full hockey gear, but I’m feral for the rearview of him in a pair of Wranglers. Where he found those pants and boots between the time we left the arena and the time we got to this little bar, I will never know. But I am not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“You’re drooling, Baby,” he murmurs as he puts his thumb on my chin, tilting my face toward his. I smile against his lips, unwilling to deny the fact that I was doing just that. “Dance with me?” he says between soft, short kisses.

I nod, and he pulls me to the dance floor just in time for the opening beat of Neon Moon to come on. He pulls me close, palm firm on the small of my back, as we move through the dance. The world slows as we sway to the beat. The chatter fades until all I can hear is the music and the rhythmic clack of our boots against the worn wood of the dance floor.

He pulls me closer before spinning me, then pulling me back into his chest with his hand settled on my hip. His breath brushes against my ear as he leans in, whispering the words to the song, soft and a little off-key, but it makes me smile anyway. My heart aches in that full kind of way that it’s always longed for. The kind that says this is it, Scarlett. You’re home.

We continue through the moves, stomp after glide, turn, and a spin, never missing a beat like we’d done this together all our lives. When the last note fades, the world filters back in, and we turn to our friends, every one of them is smiling. Hannah, Abby, and Jackson are all crying, and then there’s Rory, clapping at the other end.

“That was so hot!” she yells through cupped hands. Lucas bows while my cheeks heat, but then he’s grabbing Hannah and Abby by the hands, spinning them around the floor before I can blink.

While they do that, Jackson and I try to teach Rory the eight-count dance to Cotton Eyed Joe, because there’s no chance that song won’t come on at some point tonight. She trips over herself in the most adorable way, but eventually gets it just in time for the song to come on, causing everyone in the place to rush the dance floor.

By the time the song ends, we’re all laughing. “This was fun,” I say as I lean against Lucas’s chest. His arms wrap around my waist, his chin resting against the top of my head. “Thanks for bringing us out, Hannah.”

“Any time!”

“Can I take my woman home now?” he whispers in my ear, his breath sending goosebumps across my skin.

“Only if you make me grilled cheese.” I smile up at him.

He kisses my cheek, “Whatever you want is yours, Lettie Girl.”

I hum, before we say goodbye and head for his Jeep. Jackson drove us earlier, and I saw him slip out the door minutes before the song ended. I’ll have to check on him tomorrow. “I love you,” I say as I plant a kiss on his cheek before he closes my door.

“I love you, too. You and me forever, Lettie Girl.”

You and me forever, Goldie.

38

lucas

“And how does that make you feel?” Dr. Williams asks as he sits on the other side of his desk. I look over at Miller, Jackson, Dad. Whatever name fits the version of him I’m willing to accept today. My chest does that tight, buzzing thing it used to do when I was a kid and didn’t have a name for anxiety.

Honestly, I’m terrified of losing him again just when I finally let myself believe he’s real. The kid in me keeps waiting for someone to pull the rug out and tell me this was a sick joke. The man in me knows better. The man in me knows I survived it once. And I’m so damn tired of surviving, I want to live on purpose. Out loud, without apology, like I should have been this whole time.