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So when he saw her out there skating on the pond late one afternoon, it took him longer than it should have to process what he was looking at.
A bird, skimming over the water. No, ice.
A person.
Julie.
She moved in elegant figure eights, fast across the middle with her hands tucked behind her and her legs scissoring out, then slower as she leaned in and took each turn in a broad, graceful swoop.
He had his coat on before he’d made any kind of conscious decision, and by the time he got around to second-guessing himself, he was halfway down to the pond, and there wasn’t any point.
She spotted him as she rounded a turn and came to a neat stop directly in front of him, smiling across the six-foot gap between them.
Not smiling—beaming. At him.
“You want to skate?” she asked. “I’ve got a bunch of pairs in the house. I was pulling them out for the Christmas guests, and I couldn’t resist.”
“No, thanks.” Carson shoved his hands in his pockets. It was cold, and she had on only a heavy white sweater and leggings, plus a scarf and a hat. Not enough layers to keep warm unless she kept moving.
“Is it safe?” he asked. “Did you test it?”
“I was careful to look it all over before I got on, and Norm Baker gave it the thumbs-up last time he was over. He volunteered to be my ice certifier when I moved in.”
Norm did a lot of ice fishing. If he said it was safe, Carson was inclined to trust his judgment.
Which left him no reason to be here, talking to her. No reason whatsoever to have rushed out of the house like a fool at the sight of Julie on the pond.
No reason except he wanted to be around her.
“All right. Carry on.”
“Wait,” she called as he turned to go. “You want some cocoa later? I always have cocoa after I skate.”
Carson faced her but kept walking backward. “I’m not really a big cocoa guy.”
“I put a lot of peppermint schnapps in it.”
“That sounds better.”
“We could get a pizza, maybe. Watch a movie upstairs. Elf is on tonight.”
Her cheeks were bright pink. She wore a blue scarf that made her eyes look unreal. She wanted to watch a movie with him.
His smile felt too big. Goofy. “Are you sure we should? Is that what ‘old acquaintances’ do in a situation like this?”
She fidgeted on her skates, sliding them forward and backward, cutting thin lines in the ice. “Maybe it’s what old acquaintances do when they’re starting to be friends.”
“Just so they know where to draw the line.”
She glanced at him, more tentative than he was used to seeing her. “They know. I mean, they have a lot of practice, right?”
He had years of practice not touching her. It made no difference. Right now, he could think of ten different ways to get her naked in the guise of warming her up.
“They do.”
“So we should be fine
.”
