Page 17 of The Sweetest Risk

I reluctantly let her hands go, skating backwards and widening the gap between us. Brooke loses her balance and falls right on her ass.

“Ow, geez what the heck Lawson?” Brooke basically growls at me. I feel like I am getting scolded…and that makes me smile even more. To the point where I let out a laugh.

“Will you help me up, please?” Brooke says. “Instead of standing there laughing like an asshole who just witnessed his best friend’s sister make a complete fool of herself?”

“I don’t think Miss Beckett should be saying words like asshole,” I whisper in her ear as I grab her hand and elbow and lift her up.

“Well maybe someone, who knows I don’t know how to skate, shouldn’t let me fall,” she says through her teeth.

“I didn’t let you fall. You fell all on your own. But look, you got back up. You survived the thing you were most afraid of.” She finally looks intently in my eyes. She actually looks like she is letting me in, even if just for a moment. She clutches my forearms, her eyes scanning my body. Her cheeks are getting pinker and I want to file it away into my core memories, because they aren’t an angry shade of pink. It’s almost like she is blushing.

Before I know it, my back hits the sideboards and we aren’t skating anymore. Yet, Brooke’s fingers are still digging into my forearms. Her face has definitely softened since she first stepped into the rink. Her eyes divert from mine for a split second and make their way down to my own lips.

“Thank you,” she says softly.

“Hold on, I don’t think I heard you correctly. Did you just thank me, Cupcake?”

“Yes, I did. And now I instantly regret it based on that stupid smug look on your face.”

“No, no, you can’t take it back.” I am smiling so hard right now that my cheeks are hurting. “What exactly are you thanking me for?”

“Having me face what I am most afraid of.”

Behind me, I sense there are people skating toward us and fast. Dean must be showboating with another one of our teammates and it got a little out of control. “Guys, watch it!”

I grab Brooke’s arms and whip her around. I pin her against the sideboards.

A second later, the idiots do run into me; my body presses into Brooke. Since I am not wearing my usual gear, I can feel everything about Brooke’s body through her many layers of clothes. I swallow hard as I concentrate on calming my dick down so that Brooke doesn’t realize how turned on I am with her body up against mine for the first time ever in our lives. That’s when I notice how red Brooke is getting and I process where we are in the rink. I have pinned Brooke against the sideboard of the penalty box. And then I remember the text she sent me about having a sex dream where I was fucking her in said penalty box. My mind starts wandering with thoughts about what I was doing to her in that dream and my dick is just getting harder. I am never going to see the penalty box the same again. Now, anytime I see one, Brooke’s flushed face will come to mind.

Brooke looks back at what she is pinned up against. I smile as she turns redder. She is full of embarrassment and I can’t help but smile. She looks fucking adorable.

She buries her face in her hands. “Oh my God, that was so scary. I need to get off the ice…now.” She peers through her hands at me.“Why are you looking at me like that, Hot Shot?”

“This particular spot reminds me of something.”

She registers what I am referring to and bats her eyes wildly–do I make her nervous? “Well, stop. You are looking at me like…”

“Like what, Cupcake?” I lean a little closer. I am intrigued about the next words to come out of her mouth.

“Sorry guys, just got carried away with Jagielski. The kids bet on who would win a race.”

Dammit.Is there a way to make someone magically disappear?

Dean props his arm up against the sideboard and glues his eyes on Brooke, then looks at me. “Am I interrupting something?”

Yeah asshole, you are.“No, just teaching Beckett here how to ice skate.”

“Oh really? And you trusted this guy to teach you?” He nods in my direction.Dick.“Why didn’t you ask me, Brooke? I am a much smoother skater than Lawson.”Yeah, he wishes.

Brooke clears her throat and tucks some hair behind her ear, “Um, I don’t know. These lessons were kind of last-minute and…unexpected. I think time’s up anyway. I need to wrangle up the kids to go back to school.” She shoots me a look that makes my insides fucking melt. I crave more time with her. “Can you move your arm out of the way, Hot Shot?”

I forgot that my arm is blocking her way out of this bubble we created for ourselves. I reluctantly move my arm. Brooke holds onto the sideboards for dear life and slowly makes her way to the entrance to the rink.

“What game are you playing, Lawson?”

I pretend ignorance. “I have no idea what you mean, man.” I start picking up the orange cones we use for drills.

“I mean, why the fuck are you giving Brooke ice skating lessons? I thought you hated her.”

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