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Dakota looked at her. “This was your idea?”
Leah nodded. “Principal Myers sent out an email looking for ways to thank the sawmill and everyone who helped on the build. I sketched out this idea and she picked it.”
“Of course she did. It’s wonderful.” He kissed her cheek. “You’re wonderful.”
“I may have been properly inspired by someone who is also wonderful and often smells like the forest.” She leaned closer to inhale his scent then nudged his hip with her own.
“Come see my tree, Dakota,” Luke said as he took Dakota’s hand and tugged him toward the wall.
Krista came to stand beside her. “Hey.”
“Have I thanked you for going to New Zealand with me?” Leah asked.
“Only every day since October.” Krista hugged Leah.
The two of them had become close since that trip and between Krista and Heidi, Leah had made the best friends she’d ever had. Girls’ nights were a blast even if the nightlife in Maplehaven was… tame compared to New York City.
“I still feel as if I haven’t thanked you enough,” Leah said.
“All the drinks you’ve bought me when we go out suggest you have, Leah. You’re going to turn me into a drunk.”
“I’m going to keep buying you drinks until you decide—”
Krista held up a hand. “I know, I know. Until I decide to give love a try for myself.” A big sigh flushed out of her friend. “I had love, Leah. And Elijah could still be out there.”
But Krista’s gaze did wander to where Noah stood with Dakota and Luke until another parent got her talking about a PTA event.
Leah decided something had to be done about Krista and Noah. She just didn’t know what.
Yet.
Dakota sauntered back over to her, a smile on his lips that suggested naughty things that couldn’t be done in an elementary school hallway. “Do we really have to go to the skating rink after this?” His voice was gravelly with need. A need Leah felt as well.
“How else am I going to show you my phenomenal figure skating skills?” She grabbed the sides of his winter coat and pulled him closer. “I promise to show you other skills later on. When we’re alone.” She reached up on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear. “When we’re naked.” She thoroughly enjoyed the way his body shuddered against hers.
“To the skating rink, everyone!” On Dakota’s loud command, everyone started making their way out of the school and across the street to the town’s skating rink.
“It pays to be the town Golden Boy, doesn’t it?” Leah snuggled into his side as he put his arm around her shoulders and steered her outside.
“Does that make you the town Golden Girl?” he asked. “If so, you’re totally Dorothy.”
“Hey!” She jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow. “She’s the boring one.”
Dakota shook his head. “No, she’s the smart one, and in case I haven’t said it before, intelligence is a huge turn on for me. Huge.”
“You want me to speak in geometry to you right now, don’t you?”
“Good God, yes.”
“When our bodiesintersecttonight, I’m going to find the rightangle, and thedegreeof your pleasure will take you to a whole otherplane.”
“I’m sweating.” He swiped his hand across his forehead.
“Me too. Skate fast.”
On the rink, Dakota proved to be a skilled skater, but of course he’d played hockey growing up, and wasn’t he good at everything physical anyway?
Umm… yes.
