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Liam takes my hand in his and leads me over to the door. He unlocks it, gets to the wall, and freezes. “Shit, no one told me the code for this thing,” he says.
“But aren’t you supposed to be theKing of the Castle?”
“Not funny. Call your dad and ask him for the code before his army comes in, guns blazing, thinking we’re breaking into the joint.”
“Move over.” I enter the alarm code into the wall panel, and the high-pitched beeping stops.
“You knew that was gonna happen and you didn’t warn me,” he says.
“I like watching you squirm.” I laugh. “Also, my dad’sarmywould only shoot you, not me.” I shrug.
“Well, that’s comforting to know.” He entwines his fingers with mine. “Come on.”
When he leads me out to the ice, I realize that all the lights are already on. “What are we doing here?” I ask him.
“Skating.”
“You spent three hours on this same ice already today. Do you really need to skate more?”
“Yes, and I’m not skating alone, Aliyah, because you’re skating with me,” he says.
I back up, letting go of his hand. “No, I’m not,” I say, shaking my head at him.
“Yes, you are. We’re facing fears together, remember?”
“No, what I remember was agreeing to ignore and avoid them at all costs.” No way am I getting on that ice in a pair of skates. Nope, not happening. I’ve gone my whole life without being able to skate. I think I can go the rest of my life just fine without it too.
“Aliyah, you own a stadium. You own a hockey team. You can’t be scared of skating.”
“Correction,my dadowns this place and the team. Not me. I’m good. I’ll just sit here and watch you skate,” I say, planting my butt on one of the chairs.
Liam kneels down in front of me and takes hold of my hands. “Aliyah, do you really think I’d ever let anything happen to you? I need you to trust me. I’ll catch you if it looks like you’re going to fall. I won’t let you fall,” he says.
“It’s not falling I’m afraid of,” I tell him.
“The blades are on your feet. They’re not going to cut you.”
“I’ve seen plenty of people get cut from the blades.” I lift a questioning brow.
“In hockey, yeah, but we’re skating, not playing hockey. And it’s just the two of us here. No one else, babe. Please, just let me show you.”
“Show me what?”
“How fun it is to glide along that ice.” He smiles at me.
It’s that smile that wins me over. “Promise you won’t let me fall?”
“Promise.”
“What ifyoufall?” I ask.
Liam gives me that cocky look of his, the one that says:Do you even know who I am?“Babe, I think I can manage to stay upright on a pair of skates.”
“I’ve seen you fall,” I remind him.
“Again, in hockey, not just skating around the rink. We’ll go slow.”
“Okay. But if I do this, you have to take me to Cal’s Diner afterwards for burgers.”
