The ice is amazingly clean, not all choppy like it gets after a hockey game at the rink. I skate as fast as I can from one end of the ice to the other. Cam’s next to me for the last ten steps, and when I reach the wall, he stops with me.
“Shit, you’re really good,” he says. “How old were you when you first learned to skate?”
“Probably four or five. My father became coach when I was three, so sometime after that.”
“Did you have lessons?” he says.
“Only from him.”
“Push the blade out to stop,” Coach McMann would say. “Push off to start. Harder, push harder! No, no, no, that’s no good. You’ve got to get more muscles in those legs; you got that problem from your mother. But practice makes perfect, Vannah.”
Around and around the rink we’d go until I could do it without holding his hand.
When Cam lightly touches my hair, I do the unexpected. I reach out to hug him. He hugs me back and holds me tightly against his chest. I inhale his masculine scent and the tender way he holds onto me.
“I like you, Savannah,” he says into my ear. “I like hanging out with you.”
I take a step back. “Me too. Want to skate some more?” I say abruptly.
He studies me for a moment. “Sure,” he says eventually. “Lead the way.”
Cam matches my pace and we go around and around until I’m dizzy. I stumble and start to fall forward, but Cam catches me by the arm.
He reaches out to touch my cheek. “You’re beautiful.”
The words slide right off his tongue with no hesitation and no doubt.
My breath catches in my throat. “I guess we should get some sleep.”
“One picture first,” he insists as he pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and holds it in front of us.
“I don’t think this is going to work. We’ll be super close up.”
But Cam puts his arm around me and holds out the phone, and I break into a smile as he snaps a picture.
* * *
Once we return to our hotel room, I excuse myself for the bathroom where I change into my sweatpants and sweatshirt. Cam’s already in his bed when I come out. I climb into my bed, and after saying a quick good night, he turns out the light.
Somehow I manage to doze off. Until—
Go fuck yourself.
I hear those three words in my dream like they’re real.
For most of my life, they were real.
“No! I’m sorry!”
I sit up straight, breathing heavily.
The room is dark, and it’s a few seconds before I realize exactly where I am and who I’m with.
In a hotel room with Cam.
I try to even out my breathing, but he’s already crossing the room.
“What is it?” He sits down on the edge of my bed. When he puts his hand on my arm, I jump. “Sorry. What happened?”
