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“I’m a gentleman, aren’t I?”
“I suppose time will tell.” Right now, I was sincerely hoping that he was not too much of a gentleman. We were only having the one date, so we might as well make it a good one, right? I stopped the train of thought, because there was no way I was going to get through the ice skating, let alone the hot cocoa, if I let my mind wander to what happened after that.
16
MACK
Chase was watching me,a smile playing around the corners of her lips. Those perfect fucking lips. They were stained red, the same shade as a ripe cherry, making me want to bite and suck. I wanted to swallow the noises she’d make. Wanted to feel her breath on me. The fact I had not kissed her yet was a show of some serious restraint on my behalf.
“What are you doing?” she asked, now all out grinning and my heart gave an unsteady thump. “Earth to Mack? Are you coming?”
I coughed. Not coming, but definitely talking down a situation.
Her eyes narrowed like she suspected the direction of my thoughts. “You do know how to skate, right?”
“Of course,” I said with a scoff, like I wasn’t lying through my teeth.
“Then get your ass over here.”
Why the hell did I think this was a good idea? I’d had visions of Chase holding onto me as we wobbled around the rink. The two of us tumbling, her falling on top of me, her nose brushing mine. And now I was thinking about kissing her again. It was basically a movie playing on a loop in my head.
What I hadn’t considered was that Chase would know what she was doing. Judging by the way she laced up her skates and walked with even, balanced strides toward the ice, it wasn’t going to be Chase who needed holding up.
She stepped out onto the ice and pushed off, wobbling a little before she found her feet. It looked easy when she was doing it, gliding smoothly before turning on a dime and coming back to the rink’s edge. Her smile was wide and eyes bright. She knew what she was doing, and I was about to look like a complete idiot.
I shuffled towards the edge, Chase’s eyes following my movement. She held out a hand as I took a tentative step onto the ice and immediately felt my weight shift unsteadily. My feet splayed underneath me as I tried and failed to get my balance. I lunged for the wall.
“You can’t skate,” she said. It was no longer a question. “Why would you suggest coming skating on our date if you can’t actually do it?”
“I’m fine.” It couldn’t be that hard. With one hand anchored to the wall I tried to make my feet move forward. And ended up on my ass. I managed to contain my yelp at the cold biting through my jeans.
She slapped a hand over her mouth, only just covering the laugh. “Oh my god. You are terrible. Like, worse than me bowling.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.” She’d barely managed to hit ten pins during almost two games. There was no way I was that bad. She was now attempting to skate backward a little. Of course she was.
“How are you so bad at this?” she asked.
“I’m not that bad,” I said, pulling myself back up only to wobble again. It would get easier, it had to get easier, didn’t it?
“You’re like a baby giraffe.”
I did not appreciate the comparison, no matter how accurate it might be. “Thank you for that confidence boost.”
“Sorry, I’m sorry.” She came to my side, the picture of grace and balance. “I just–you have good balance. I’ve seen it. You surf. You skateboard.”
“That’s true, but neither of those things require me to have knives strapped to my feet.”
She smiled, with the slightest slice of pity. “Fair point. You want me to give you some pointers?”
“My own private lesson?” It might have sounded seductive… had I not once again landed on my ass after attempting to move an inch away from the wall.
“You could certainly use it.”
For the next forty minutes, Chase walked me through the basics of skating. She was so good I just found myself watching her glide around. She could turn and spin and skate backwards with deceiving ease. By the end of my private lesson I was at least fifty percent better than when I started. Although, granted, the bar had been extremely low to begin with.
“Is it time for cocoa?” I asked as we completed a slow lap of the rink. Chase would skate ahead then double back and circle me.
“Yes! With the giant marshmallows?”
