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”Well,” I shrug. ”You know what they say…”
”What do they say?” Ella-Ashley asks, genuinely confused until it dawns on her. She grows so flustered that I feel bad for the innuendo and she doesn’t know where to look. Eventually, she pierces her eyes into mine in an attempt to hide her embarrassment.
It doesn’t work.
Clearing my throat, I murmur, ”Never mind.” I try to think of something to shift the subject. ”So, you like ice-skating?”
”I think it looks like so much fun.” A faint knot forms between her brows. ”Not that I know what to do with them. But you just put them on and sort of glide, right?”
”You’ve never done it before?” I say and she shakes her head. Throwing a glance at my watch, I murmur, ”I could teach you if you want?”
”You would do that?” she gasps. ”Are you sure? Aren’t you busy? Don’t think you have to just to be nice…”
”Court finished a little earlier and I have an extra long lunch-hour,” I grin, ”Think I’ll be able to squeeze you in.”
Truth is court didn’t actually finish earlier, and I don’t have an extra long lunch hour. In fact, my lunch hour’s nearly over but I’ll come up with an excuse. I don’t want to miss out on this opportunity, or see Ella-Ashley’s excited face turn tense from disappointment.
We walk side by side to the park where we met, and I contemplate putting my arm around her but decide not to. She’d be uncomfortable under the weight and I’m not sure she’d appreciate it either. Every time I ”accidentally” nudge against her, she twitches then bores her eyes into mine with a deer-in the headlights look.
It was obvious from the moment we met. Ioverwhelmher. Inwardly, I sigh but I walk behind her as we go down the staircase and the sight of her butt-cheeks straining against her coat, soothes the blow.
The ice-rink isn’t full for once, probably because it’s in the middle of the day. Ella-Ashley sits down on a bench nearby a tree and begins tugging at her boots. I take a step back, watching her and I relish a little in her struggle.
It makes her lookcute. She’s wearing wool socks underneath and suddenly I find wool socks incredibly sexy. It would be even better if that was all she had on.
Fumbling with the skates, she lets out a breath when I go down on my haunches. ”Let me,” I murmur, strapping her up and she’s holding her knees together so hard I’d had to use real strength to pry them open with my fingers.
I tie two perfect bows and when I look up at her, she watches me with a dazed expression. Her chin is buried in her scarf and I don’t think the color on her cheeks is just from the cold.
”How’s that feel?” I ask, rising and she nods. I hold a palm out to help her out to the rink and she’s not wearing mittens, her fingertips reddish and so I clutch them to heat them up.
We step out on the ice, and Ella-Ashley creeps along. The other skaters give her cocky looks, twisting and twirling around as if to spite her. I clench my jaw to not bark at them to knock it off with the tricks. I don’t want them to ruin her confidence.
”Don’t look at them,” I whisper. ”Just focus on remaining upright and don’t stab your skates into the ice.”
”They’re so much better at this than me,” Ella-Ashley breathes.
”No, they’re not. They suck. You can do this.”
”I’ll try.” She clutches my hands, trying not to look down and my eyes go to her lower lip. Her mouth is big and generous, giving her an earthy appearance. There’s something rustic about her and I want to take her home, put her in front of my fireplace and roast chestnuts.
My hands clench around hers a bit more. ”You’re doing good,” I murmur. ”Making me proud of you.”
We test out bigger circles and I ask if she wants me to let her go, so that she can try on her own. But she shakes her head.
”I want you to keep holding onto me.”
The words go straight into my chest and I hiss in a breath between my teeth. ”You need me?”
”You know I do,” she whispers.
*****
Ella Ashley
More than he can imagine.
We stare into each others eyes and I feel so conflicted. Half of me is in summer and the other one is in winter. A part of me is enjoying this to the fullest and the other fears that this is fleeting.
