He moves around, testing his feet on the ice. It doesn’t take him long to get the hang of it and move like he owns the ice. He skates toward me, and I have the urge to take off and let him chase me. But I want to be next to him, so I wait. His arm comes around my waist for just a moment, before I spin out of his grip and glide away.
“These are so stiff,” he comments, looking down at the skates.
“They’re supposed to be.” I bite my lip as I look up at him, noting how bright his eyes are. Seeing him on the ice in regular clothes, with his hair brushing over his forehead, and his lips on full display… it does something to me. “Wanna race?”
“Race?” He chuckles. “You think you can beat me?”
“I know I can,” I say.
“Okay. Let’s do it.”
He comes to stand beside me. We get into a readying position, hand on the board, skates on an imaginary start line.
“On three,” I say, giving him a little nudge with my elbow. “And no cheating.”
“If anyone is going to cheat, it’s you.”
“Yeah, you’re totally right.”
He laughs again, and I face forward, ready to show him just how fast I can be.
“Ready? One… two… three!” I push off, skating my hardest to reach the other end but he’s already two strides ahead of me. Holy crap! I push harder, skating like my life depends on it, but he beats me fair and square.
There’s a proud grin on his face when he turns to face me.
“Wow,” I admit. “I honestly didn’t expect that.”
“A little too cocky for your own good,” he says playfully. “We’re trained to move fast on take-off, and to rush across the ice.”
“Yeah… good point.”
I look around the arena. “Okay, let’s go around the curve then. Bet I’ll beat you then.”
He shrugs. “If you want to lose again…”
I shove him and he laughs. I point a finger at him. “I will not lose twice and youbetternot let me win.”
He holds his hands up, palms out. “I would never.”
There are no tracks on the ice, but I don’t think it mattersthatmuch. We can guess where the beginning and ending would be. I stand on the inside, a little behind him to make up for the distance. When we go, he gets ahead of me again but on the curve, I move ahead of him. He’s right behind me, maybe a few inches. I skate harder, gaining more around the curve, which gives me enough space to win.
“Did you let me win?” I ask, putting my hands on my hips.
He shakes his head. “Definitely not. I’m not used to moving around the boards like that.”
“That’s because you’re too busy slamming people into them.”
His eyes get heated, and I think about him slamming me into them… but then I get a better idea.
“Let’s try something…” I take his hand and guide him to the center of the ice. “You ever seenDirty Dancing?”
Chapter Seventeen
Roman
“Of course,” I answer. “Who hasn’t?”
Nico grins slyly as he skates backwards, moving a good distance from me.
