I really should have told him and put a stop to whatever this was, but when I opened my mouth to do just that, I couldn’t get the words out.
“What’s the look for?” Mateo questioned.
“You’re a good guy, aren’t you?”
“You say it like it’s a bad thing,” he joked.
“It’s not.” I shook my head. “Just new.”
I’d only ever known assholes. Finding a good guy in this day and age was like finding a needle in a haystack, so when you stumbled across one, it was a shock.
“Sounds like you’ve been hanging out with the wrong guys,” he stated.
“Hmm,” I hummed, not arguing with that.
We lapsed into silence as we skated. Mateo’s arm grazed mine as we moved. I was hyperaware of him beside me. It was hard to ignore his big frame and the space he took up.
“Did you come here to practice a routine?” Mateo asked after a few minutes.
“My coach told me—well, more like demanded—that I needed to take the weekend off, but I had to get on the ice.” It sounded stupid saying it out loud.
“Hard to stay away, huh?” He didn’t say it in a judgmental way. Out of everyone, he would be the one to understand the visceral need that came with being an athlete.
“Yeah, it is. I have a competition coming up, so I’ve spent most of my time here.”
“Is it a big one?” Mateo asked, his eyes once again on me as I skated backward in front of him.
“Kind of. It’s regionals, which is basically the first one of the season to scout out the other competitors.”
“Ah, kind of like preseason for football.”
I nodded. “Pretty much. We test out the routine and see what needs to be fixed, added, or taken out.”
“It’s impressive you can do that.”
I don’t know why the compliment startled me. I’d gotten plenty of them on my skating from Marcy, judges, fans of the sport, but the way he said it and meant it felt different. Hell, he never even saw me skate and knew absolutely nothing about me, and yet, here he was, saying it with such certainty.
“Uh, thanks.”
Needing a moment to get my head straight, I turned back around and pushed off the ice with a bit more force, propelling me farther away. I felt his eyes on my back as I skated. Oddly, I was self-conscious with his attention on me. It was a new feeling, one that never claimed me on the ice.
“So,” Mateo said as I came back around beside him, “do you have any other plans for the day?”
I thought of tonight's dinner with Erin and the others, fighting a grimace. “Um.”
“If you’re free, want to grab a bite to eat?”
I came to a stop, Mateo following suit. “Are you asking me out?”
“It’s just food.” Mateo shrugged. “Unless you want it to be a date, then you’d need to ask me out officially.”
The teasing smirk on his face had me rolling my eyes, but my own lips twitched.
“I’m not asking you out.”
“Not yet, you aren’t.”
“If you’re trying to get me to go eat with you, you’re doing a piss job at it.” I crossed my arms.
