Page 19 of Broken Hearts
“That’s it. Now turn your body at more of an angle.”
This is one of those moments where he could totally put his hands on my hips and show me. He doesn’t, sadly. I shoot again, and this time the puck makes it all the way. It doesn’t go in, my aim is crap, but it slides past the goal line, so that’s something.
I hand his stick back. “Not as therapeutic when it doesn’t go in.”
He lines up, shoots, and the puck sails down into the net and dings against the back pole. There’s a twinkle in his eye as he looks to me. “There’s nothing better than that sound.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“I guess so,” he says slowly.
“What scenario leads a girl to wake you up screaming while naked? Wait, were you naked or was she?”
He chuckles softly, closes his eyes, and shakes his head. “You’ve been thinking about that since we met, haven’t you?”
“Pretty much.”
He sucks that bottom lip behind his teeth again before answering. “We were both naked.”
“Okay, so why does that lead to screaming?” I’m doing a pretty good job of envisioning a naked Rhett. He’s just over six feet by my best guess. He’s filled out but not bulky. I can clearly see the muscles in his arms stretching the fabric of his shirt. My eyes drop to his crotch. Maybe he’s not packing? But would that make me scream? Run away, maybe, but not scream.
He catches me checking him out, and my face heats, but he doesn’t call me on it. “We were naked,” he says slowly, then pauses. “And I fell asleep.”
“Oh.” My eyes widen. “Ohhhh.”
“Yeah.” He takes another shot. This one goes in but doesn’t make that magical sound he mentioned.
“So, then what happened?”
“Then I came here and got yelled at for sleeping again.” He winks and skates toward the net to collect the pucks.
“Oh, come on. That’s all I get? Where are all the details?”
“You know, you’re chatty for someone who wanted to be left alone.”
“I can’t help it. Your retelling of the story really sold me,” I say, sarcasm dripping from my tone.
He stops in front of me and grins, then rests both hands at the top of his stick. “You’re a good skater. You said you have a show coming up. When?”
“You’re changing the subject.”
“Yeah, because it’s humiliating. You have enough dirt on me already.”
“Yes, there’s a competition coming up, but the truth is I just like being on the ice by myself.”
“I get that,” he says.
“Do you meanallthe way naked?”
Shaking his head, his deep laughter echoes in the empty rink. “Naked enough.”
“How does that happen? Logistically.”
“Well, you see,” he starts in a serious tone. “When two people are attracted to one another—”
“I know howthathappens. I want to know how you fell asleep? Do you have some sort of sleeping disorder?”
He’s still laughing and smiling at me in a way that makes my heart rate climb. I skate to the wall and jump to sit, taking long, even breaths. He follows, and I share my water with him. He squirts it into his mouth and hands it back.
