She skated past me, close enough that I could have reached out and touched her. She smiled just for me.
It was just a little smug.
That warm feeling in my chest intensified, spreading through me like heat.
This is just attraction.Physical attraction. She’s turning you on. That’s all this is.
But I knew, even as I thought it, that I was lying to myself.
This was more than lust. This was something bigger and far more dangerous. It was something I’d spent my entire adult life convinced didn’t actually exist.
I pushed off, catching up to her with less grace but enough speed to get her attention. I was a hockey player. We didn’t try to be graceful. We were fast and moved with purpose.
“Show off,” I said when I pulled alongside her.
“Says the man who plays hockey.” She matched my pace easily, making it look effortless. “Don’t tell me you can’t keep up with a girl from Wyoming.”
“I’m reevaluating my assumptions about Wyoming.”
“You should. We might be a small state, but we know how to skate.” She did a little jump that somehow became a half rotation, then stuck the landing perfectly. “Winter is a lifestyle where I’m from, not just a season. We’re on the ice from November to March. Sometimes April if we’re unlucky.”
“And here I thought I was decent at this because I can skate backward and occasionally hit a puck into a goal.”
“Oh, you can skate backward?” She raised an eyebrow, challenging. “Let’s see it.”
I demonstrated, feeling slightly ridiculous because my backward skating was utilitarian at best. It was functional for hockey but not particularly elegant. Ina watched with barely concealed amusement.
“That’s not bad.” She skated circles around me, literally, while I moved backward. “You skate like you’re about to check someone into the boards. Very aggressive.”
“I am a tough guy who plays a tough sport.”
“You’re a softie who pretends to be tough.” She stopped circling and fell back into pace beside me. “I used to date guys like you all the time back home.”
That got my attention. “Guys like me? There are no guys like me.”
“Well, no. But the ‘big softie hiding under an icy mask of indifference’ thing? The tough guy act?” She gave me a playful nudge. “Yeah, I’ve been through a few of those.”
I nudged her back, gentler than she’d nudged me, and she laughed.
“I’ve never really hung out with a girl like you before,” I admitted.
“What kind of girl am I?”
“Nice. Too nice for someone like me.”
“Nice isn’t bad, Dane.” She said it seriously, the teasing edge dropping from her voice. “And you’re nicer than you want people to think you are.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I just kept skating. The snow was coming down harder now. I noticed the rink was emptying out. The few other skaters who’d been there when we arrived had gradually disappeared, until it was just us and the falling snow and the soft glow of the lights strung around the rink’s perimeter.
“I know you’re my Secret Cupid,” I said, the words coming out before I could stop them.
Ina’s rhythm faltered for just a second before she recovered. “Lucas told you?”
“No. I guess you can say I’m a little smarter than the average bear. I figured it out on my own. The gifts were too perfect. Too specific. How did you know what I’d find funny? What I would like?”
She shrugged, but I could see the faint blush on her already-cold-reddened cheeks. “It’s my job as your assistant. I should know these things. I should probably know what size boxers you wear and how hot you like your showers too.”
“That’s bordering on real relationship territory.”
