Page 100 of Wildest Dreams

Then he curses under his breath as my legs begin sliding apart into another deep split.

He kicks my boots back into place, huffing angrily.

“Damn it, Aisling. How the fuck are you so flexible?”

“I didn’t hear you complaining about that four years ago,” I mumble, my breath hitching in my throat as he presses his stubbled cheek against my pink one.

“We were alone in your bedroom, not on the ice with your brother,” he rumbles. “I’m trying to not get turned on right now, Ash. And watching your legs slide open isn’t helping with that.”

Feeling a warm lick of mischief in my belly I deliberately let my skate slip sideways again and Tanner lets out a low growling sound, shoving it back into place.

He stands to his full height, removing the warm press of his cheek from mine, and I let out a sad whimper as I look up at him over my shoulder, earning me another gentle squeeze around the throat. He checks behind us when he hears his guys hollering because one of Connell’s teammates must have finally got the puck in the net, and then he turns back to me, swiping a quick kiss against my temple as he murmurs, “You gonna let me teach you now or what?”

I try to push away the icy fear in my chest as I finally nod up at him.

He nods at me in turn, caressing his hands back down my body until he’s holding my hips again.

“Might be easier if you try and squat a little,” he says, leaning over me so that he can see my wobbly knees.

He reaches down with his hands so that he can gently push them equidistant apart.

“Now engage your core, hold the position, and then start rollin’.”

I swallow nervously as I glance down at my legs.

“I don’t know what that means,” I whisper, “when you say, ‘engage your core’. Isn’t that, like, a sex thing?” I ask breathlessly.

“Your belly,” he says, flattening a palm against my lower abdomen.

I gasp at the contact and he curses under his breath.

“Stop gettin’ all horny,” he murmurs warningly, “we’re trying to keep this a secret, remember?”

I reach my arm across my body so that I can swat at his giant bicep.

“If you don’t want me to be all horny then stop touching me like that,” I whisper.

I feel him smirk against my temple before hunching lower so that he can suck my neck. His free hand smothers over my mouth before I can moan and then he’s pulling back with a quiet laugh as my knees finally thump against the board at the opposite end of the rink.

I press my hands against the board to steady myself, and I blink up at our reflections in surprise.

I just skated a whole length.

The look on his handsome face is cocky and content.

“See?” he murmurs. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Shakily I lift my skates so that I can slowly turn to face him, my movements wobbly and nervous although he lets me grip his jersey for support. He casually wraps one of his forearms around my back, skating gracefully backwards so that I’m not pressed up against the board.

I look up at him with wide searching eyes.

“You distracted me,” I whisper, hands clenching his shirt tightly as he smiles down at me.

“You needed to take your mind off the ice so that your blades could feel their way. Let your body do the work without your mind feeding it any fears.”

He lifts the hand that isn’t resting protectively against my lower back to lightly caress my jaw.

“You’re skating even now, see?”

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