Page 28 of Looks Real Good Now
“No, I’ve skated in the last eight months. Now I wanna skate in circles with my very capable date.” He squeezed his arm around me, and I melted.
“And show off all that hockey speed.”
I felt his muscles tense for a moment before he relaxed again.
“Wanna tell me what made you all tense just then, Muller?” My fingers started drawing patterns on his chest. It was solid under my touch. I wasn’t paying much attention to where my fingers moved, but I felt the stutter of his breath underneath me when I brushed over his nipple. I hoped he would answer my question soon so I could focus on his answer instead of the fact that he had sensitive nipples. A fact that could be a lot of fun to play with.
“It’s nothing,” he mumbled.
“Try again.” I shouldn’t have, but I gently pinched his nipple.
He let out a deep breath that almost sounded like a moan, but he covered it by clearing his throat. “Do you have an opinion on my retirement?”
I lifted my head again, not sure that I’d heard him correctly.
“Should I?” I asked.
“Just say whatever came to your mind when I asked.” His eyes were closed like he was braced for impact. If it were anyone else, I would think my answer through so that I didn’t risk hurting feelings. But this was Liam, who could sense when I was pulling my punches and hated it when I did. So, I said exactly what I thought.
“I don’t really care…No that’s not quite true. I care, but I care in the sense that I care whether you’re happy or not. I don’t think you should still be out there if your heart isn’t in it. I don’t think you should have kept playing because, in theory, you had the years left in your body. I don’t think you owe anybody any more than what you have already given them. And I think it is a tad sad that some people you’ve allowed close to you have made you think that being a hockey person is all you are capable of.”
I don’t know what reaction I expected from him, but it wasn’t for his body to start shaking with laughter.
“I asked because Mom brought it up and obviously, we haven’t really talked about it. But I told her I didn’t think you cared all that much beyond whether I wanted to do it or not. So it’s nice to know that you haven’t made me a liar in that sense.”
It had been coming back to me slowly just how well Liam knew me and how well I knew him. With everything that clickedback into place between us, I felt more and more like myself than I had in years. It was hard to tell if it was because I was back home or if it was because I was around him again. Or if it was a magical combination of both.
“Alright, let’s go skating. Do not judge me for the fact that I might be shit. I’ve not been on skates for a while.”
“I think it might be like riding a bike.”
“Except I haven’t done that for ages either, and this involves blades and ice, which is a recipe for disaster.”
“You’ll be fine. I’ll be there.”
I wanted to give him shit for giving himself so much importance, but it did feel nice to know that he would be there to catch me when I inevitably fell on my ass.
“Is this a cover of Mariah Carey? Why use a cover when she is right there?” I was focusing on the music playing through the ice rink, and the weight of my ring as it spun around my knuckle. It was easier to focus on those things than the fact that Liam was on his knees in front of me. He was only tightening the laces on my skates, but he was doing it with a level of care that drove my mind to other places. And he wason his knees.
I had spent months feeling indifferent to sex, and I thought that I hated feeling that indifference, but it was actually easier to deal with than my current predicament of getting turned on at the drop of a hat. I could only attribute that to Liam. It was quite inconvenient. I was at an ice rink, surrounded by people Isort of knew and who definitely knew my parents.
And I was wet.
All Liam was doing was tying my laces and my body was acting like it had never been touched before. And maybe it hadn’t. Not like this, anyway. Gently. Assuredly. Like I was something worth taking care of.
“Yeah, it’s a cover,” Liam answered quietly, bringing me back into the room and out of fantasy land. He tapped my skate twice.
“You still do that?” I asked.
“Do what?” He looked up at me and the intensity in his eyes while he was on his knees before me made me choke on air.
I cleared my throat and averted my gaze before I answered, “Tap the skates after you’ve finished lacing them up.”
“With everything you know about sports people, and me, you think I stopped tapping skates after I laced them?” He laughed as he confidently rose to his feet, before sitting on the bench next to me and tightening his own skates.
“No, I guess you wouldn’t stop. I just forgot you did that.”
I watched as he quickly and methodically secured his laces, tapping them both when he finished, before standing up again and holding out his hand to me.
