“You barely weigh more than a feather.”
She rolls her eyes.“Not that.How did you get up from the ice so easily? You made it look like you were just standing up from a chair, not standing on razor-thin blades on slick ice!”
“It’s called practice, Millie.”
“This can’t be that hard.”
“Says the girl who just fell on her ass and took me out with her.”
“With all that practice, you should be ready for anything. Not my fault you weren’t prepared for flailing limbs.”
“Are you saying it’s my dick’s fault?”
That has her lips slamming shut and her eyes widening. I wink at her and watch in amusement as she tries to sneak a peek at my crotch. This girl doesn’t need to sneak anything—she can look all she wants.
She sputters,“What does your dick have to do with this?”
“He got in the way of your flailing limb, obviously. So it’s his fault.Duh.”
She loses it. She throws her head back, and the sexiest horse-laugh bubbles up her throat. I have to work to keep said dick in control as I continue to watch with complete fascination.
Damn, she’s pretty.
“What do you say—want to learn how to skate and stay off your ass?”
“Why, I thought you’d never ask,”she playfully giggles as she throws her hand out toward me, and I catch it like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
Chapter Ten
Millie
My legs feel like Jello or marshmallows, I can’t decide. I keep going back and forth between the two descriptions and neither feels quite right.
“Why are you walking like that?” Rowan asks as we head towards the exit of the hockey rink. We’ve spent the better part of two hours on the ice. Something I know I’m going to pay for tomorrow because my feet hurt and my calves feel like they’re on fire. I don’t even want to think about my ass right now after that fall. All of which is probably contributing to my very noticeable limp.
“Like what?” I play dumb. I’m not about to admit to the amount of discomfort I’m already in.
“Like you’ve been riding a horse for hours,” he deadpans. I didn’t think I could be any more embarrassed after literallykneeing the man in his balls, but I was wrong.Oh, so wrong.This might be worse.
I try to straighten out my gait but it’s no use, everything feels funny or just plain hurts. “That was a lot of fun but more of a workout than I was prepared for.”
His head whips over to look at me, “Damn, I’m sorry, Millie. I wasn’t thinking. We should have called it quits an hour ago.”
I smile because his concern is genuine. “Don’t be, like I said I had fun. Totally worth it.”
He still seems bothered by my admission. “Next time I’m setting an alarm. Hour tops. I forgot how uncomfortable and painful it can be when you’re just starting. That’s on me. I think I have some ibuprofen in the car if you want some?”
I shake my head, my pulse spiking slightly. “It’s okay. I think I’ll live.” I smile, hoping he lets it go. I have to be really careful about the medication I take because of my heart. I try really hard to not take something unless I absolutely have to. I can deal with some pain and soreness. This doesn’t feel bad enough to give in, at least not yet. In the morning it may be a different story.
He tilts his head and asks, “You sure? Usually works great for me.” Rowan doesn’t know about my heart. It’s such a weird thing to me because do I talk about it? Or not? It’s not like I can go,oh hey, I know this is probably weird and definitely random but I had a heart transplant six months ago.
Anyone who knows me or my parents already knows my health struggles. I’ve never really had to explain it to a stranger, outside of a medical professional. I figure, if it comes up, it comes up but if it doesn’t that’s okay too. It’s not like he needs to know, anyhow.
An image of me lying on my back completely bare with Rowan hovering over me suddenly pops into my mind.
The image has my core tingling with excitement until I picture Rowan leaning up on his haunches, my body now on full displayfor him. The scar that runs from the bottom of my throat all the way down to the middle of my chest is jagged in some places, thick in others because it’s still healing. The tingling in my core suddenly turns into panic.
I know it’s crazy to say but I’ve never pictured myself with a guy before. Being intimate with someone just hasn’t been on my radar for a number of different reasons. For years it was as simple as my body couldn’t handle the physical aspect, then once that was fixed, I had another problem.My scar.It’s ugly and so prominent there’s no way to hide it.
