“Your argument may be factually correct, but also makes no sense.” Wagging a finger, I step closer to her, getting a whiff of gardenia and lilies, which I know ain't me. “By calling a shared ride, using an app, you are taking a risk because how do you know whose car you’re getting into? You could, I don’t know…hop into the wrong car by mistake?”
I know my point is made by the flush of pink spreading across her cheeks.
“Whatever.” She holds up her box in the air and starts backing away. “I need to drop this off and go. Do you need my security services any longer?”
“No, but I’d love to know what you’ve got in that box.”
“Croissants.” A shy smile flits across her lips.
“You’re a baker?”
“I just happen to make a croissant that the locals would kill for, or so I’ve been told,” she says with a giggle. “I’m doing it to help pay the bills while I get my catering business off the ground.”
I reach toward the box, but she moves her body so it’s out of reach. “Sorry, but you’ll have to pay for one at the concession stand like everyone else.”
“Fine.” I sit down and start taking off my skates. “I’ll do that.”
“Good. Well, you do what you need and I’ll go back to work. See you around, December,” she says over her shoulder as she heads over to the stand.
Once my skates are off, I make my way to the locker room to change, coming back out a few minutes later only to find someone’s waiting for me at the locker room door.
“Hey, there,” Mandy says, placing a hand on my arm to stop me. “You know, I was serious. About the lessons.”
A nervous heat flows through me. It’s one thing when a single fan does this to you, but now that I know she’s married with kids and both her husband and son are here, I just feel icky.
“Sorry, I don’t do lessons,” I say, pushing past her. Glancing around, my eyes land on Riley, who is still standing at the counter talking to one of the guys who works here. I still have my iPhone clutched in my hand to call her dad for a ride, but judging the predatory way I’m being stalked, I need to get out of here now.
“I’ll make it worth your while,” Mandy says, her voice lower. “They’d be for my son and for me, too.”
We’re getting closer to the stand, and I can’t move fast enough. It feels like time is standing still and not in a good way. I want to get far away from this and fast.
“Sorry, Mandy, I can’t. I need to…Riley!” I call out as I jog toward Riley, who turns at what I assume is the sound of her name. I throw my hand in the air and wave as I get closer.
I’m going to the sidebar here to let you know I’m a very smooth man when I’m on the ice. I can skate like nobody’s business, like a fish to water. Me and my skates. Graceful. But today, me and walking? We’re failing to communicate.
Something happens as I get closer to Riley. My feet stop talking with my brain, or vice versa. All I know is that they suddenly trip up, and in a classic case of Murphy’s Law, I’m about to bite it.
I’m a big guy, so I know if I go down, it’s going to hurt. But if I go down and take someone out with me, I could also hurt them. All of this races through my mind as I find myself blindly reaching out, swiping and accidentally grabbing Riley. She’s now been pulled into my tornado and is along for the ride whether she likes it or not.
In one swift and smooth—if I do say so myself—move, I manage to deftly turn myself around in midair as I’m falling to the ground so I can place myself squarely between her and the concrete floor.
One giant thud later, and we’re a tangled mess of limbs. I can’t see anything, but I feel her weight on top of my body, and her hair is in my mouth. She smells like flowers and lime, with a hint of happiness and sunshine. I can feel the warmth of her body against mine and it feels like a soft blanket on a cold day. Perfection.
Is it weird I want to savor this moment for just a hot second before it ends?
As she rolls over, her eyes wide, Riley shakes her head. “If you needed to get my attention, you could have just said my name, Twinkletoes.”
“I do have a favor I wanted to ask.”
Eyes full of laughter find mine. “More security?”
“Can I get a ride?”
SIX
Riley
Being in the same room as Jake December can be one thing, especially now that I’ve seen him, his tattoos, and his ridiculously delicious muscles in all of the best places wrapped like a Christmas present in a fluffy towel—
