Page 24 of My Pucking Life

With her hand in mine, steadying her as we skate through the quiet of the forest with the lights around us, I watch her take in every sight, sound, and feeling. I think I may have gotten some things wrong early in our relationship. I thought that the depths of how we feel, how she feels, have to do with her human upbringing, but I'm also beginning to question that. While I know humans do interpret things differently than most wolves, I don't think there are even many humans who feel things on the same level that she does. Even before her powers began, I could just tell.

Leera feels things differently than anyone I've ever met. She absorbs every moment to the absolute fullest that she can. Every slight detail, every single sound, every feeling she gets from the sights and sounds. As if she can read my mind, she closes her eyes and ever so slightly tips her head back, taking it all in: the sounds of our skates on the ice below us with the creaking sounds of the forest around us, the way the air rushes past her face as she moves through the cool winter air, the feel of my rougher hand holding her perfectly soft one. She's taking it all in, feeling everything all at once.

In that moment, with her glowing like an angel ornament, I vow to fill her senses with all the most wonderful experiences for the rest of our existence. I know her parents left large shoes to be filled with all the adventures they were able to take her on, but I'll make sure she keeps experiencing things that bring her the level of peace she's enveloped in right here, in this moment.

She cracks open her eye closest to me and smiles. “Do you have to stare at me like that? I can feel your eyes watching me.”

“Always,” I promise.

19

My wolf is as happy as I am. I can feel her happiness wiggling beneath my skin like a living, breathing thing. Just underneath that overwhelming happiness, buried deep in my heart, is a seed of terror that someday I will wake up and this will all truly have been a dream. Werewolves and lost princesses and secret twin brothers. Don't forget the kidnapping, bad guys, and secret sister. I'm riding a very thin precipice of a double-edged sword.

I shake the thoughts away and enjoy the now. Even if I do wake up someday to find it's all been in my head, what a wild adventure it has been.

I slowly reopen my eyes, and it's all still there. A path of ice winding through the forest, almost glowing a soft silver-blue. Twinkle lights strung as far as the eye can see. It has even started to snow again, and soft flurries are slowly drifting around us. The most amazing man in the world—well, I guess worlds—is looking at me like I hung the moon in the sky all by myself.

Tears full of so much love and emotion well in my eyes. “Roman, this is so amazing. I love you so much,” I choke out as I slow him to a stop and turn to face him, reaching for him.

He lowers himself to meet me in a kiss that buries my previously dug-up worries back where they belong. This is real. I've never experienced anything more real in all my life. The way he kisses me reminds me that I'm alive. I can barely remember what life was like without him in it, and it's something I refuse to ever find out again.

He pulls away all too soon. “Let's get you to the end of the path; I have another surprise,” he says, like it's no big deal at all. If I were a cartoon character right now, my jaw would be on the ice below us because this is certifiably insane.

“Roman! This is already so much. You know you don't have to do these things for me, right? I'm not going anywhere. Being spoiled isn't why I stay,” I emphasize, hoping that's not why he does all the most amazing things. Do I love being treated like a…well, princess, by the man I love with my entire being? Yes. Would I still love him just as much without all of this? Absolutely.

He begins to skate again, pulling my hand and bringing me with him. “I know. You've made that clear. However. If you could see the smile on your face or feel the love that you project when you see the things I do for you, you'd understand why I do it. Seeing youthathappy brings me a level of happiness I’ve never experienced in my entire existence.”

Well, how the fuck am I supposed to argue with that?

“Okay,” I breathe because seriously, what am I supposed to say to that?

He chuckles, and his breath plumes out in front of him in the cold air. I'm glad he gave me the clothes he did because even I'm starting to feel the chill of the quickly approaching winter seeping into my skin.

In a maneuver far more graceful than I could ever manage in skates, Roman swings in front of me, skating backwards again. I immediately know he's up to something judging by the massive smile stretching across his face. “Close your eyes,” he whispers, holding out both hands for me to accept as my eyelids follow his instruction without any direction from my brain.Traitors.“Keep your feet still and gently bend your knees so I can pull you just a little further.” And, again, my body answers his call without any instruction or approval from myself. I just smile and wait.

He starts moving and gently pulls my body across the ice. It's a strange sensation; for your body to be moving without you being involved in the movement. After just a couple minutes of my being lost in thought while he takes us what I assume is the final distance of his ice path, he slows us to another stop. “Don't open your eyes yet,” he whispers to me, and I can still hear the giant smile in his voice. I hear crunching as he steps away from me. Then the sound of him fiddling with something. Maybe flipping a switch of some kind. The anticipation is humming through my body so strongly that I'm nearly shaking.

All of a sudden, it's quiet. Very quiet with only the very low crackle of what might be a fire.Where did Roman go?I think, but allow myself to focus, using my wolf's stronger senses instead of allowing panic or anxiety to take hold. The first thing I notice is that I do, in fact, smell fire, so I'm proud of identifying the crackle sound. I slightly turn my head to the other side, listening and inhaling through my nose. I still don't hear anything, but the smell of cherries and leather, of my mate, is stronger over here. Willing my heart to calm so I can hear over the sound of it beating in my chest, I hold my breath and listen. I still don't hear him when his warmth reaches my back. “Looking for something?” he quietly growls into my neck, goosebumps trailing across my skin, desperate for his touch.

“I'm trying to wait patiently and failing miserably.” I half-laugh.

Still behind me, he wraps his arms around me and says, “Let's go ahead and take a few steps and get you off the ice for this part.”

Once we're settled in to what’s apparently the perfect place, he says, “Okay, give me one more minute. I want to see your reaction.” He bolts from behind me, taking his warmth with him. After a moment of him crunching in the earth, he says, “Open them,” so softly that I almost miss it.

My eyelids lift, and the scene in front of me takes my breath away. I wish I was exaggerating, but I gasped so hard I choked on my spit, and it sent me into a coughing fit.Real romantic, Leera.

“Shit,” I hear Roman bark as he rushes to me. I have one hand on my knee and one held out in front of me trying to convey that I'm fine, but since we can't communicate telepathically yet, and I can't seem to cough the spittle from my windpipe, he thinks he did something wrong. “Are you okay? It's all right if you don't like it.”

I lift my body back up as the coughing finally slows to a stop and look at him with tears streaming down my face now. I'm not sure if they're more from the coughing, the amazing surprise, or my embarrassment, but all three are definitely part of it. “I'm okay,” I'm finally able to squeak. “Gasped…spit…wrong pipe,” I say in between a few straggling coughs.

He barks a short laugh and tries to disguise it as his own cough, likely feeling the embarrassment growing heavier and heavier around me.

“I…” I begin testing my ability to speak again, “I think I'm okay now.”

Roman approaches me until he's standing so close that I have to crane my neck to look him in the eyes. Before he can even ask, I reassure him, “This…” I shake my head, willing my emotions to let me speak, “This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Tell me this was here before. Tell me you didn't do all of this for me.”

His smile returns, and he shakes his head. “This is what I was doing yesterday. Me and the guys. I didn't do it all on my own. Are you sure you like it?”

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