Page 23 of Milo
“We’ll always have our phones. I’ve invited them here, but it’s the holiday season.” He chuckles. “I picked such a weird time to do this whole moving thing, but I always have weird timing. Part of my charm.” He takes my hand in his and kisses my knuckles, making me swoon. He flicks a glance my way. “Ready to go skating?”
“Yes!” I unbuckle and slide out of the truck so fast he’s laughing behind me. “You gotta keep up. I’m a slippery one.”
He snags my hand, and it’s so tiny in his. So warm. So perfect. I give him a squeeze. We’re in and have skates quickly. I keep staring at the center of the rink because there’s a cloth down in the middle and a decorated Christmas tree in its center. The lights twinkle, giving the ice a slight hint of color. Christmas music plays in the background. It’s not too loud or too soft.
I tie my skates, making sure they fit right before I stand. There aren’t many people here, which I’m glad for. While I’m a Little, I’m not exactly fond of small children. There are a few teens and some couples.
“It’s like old times,” I say as I wait for Clay to finish tying his skates. My cheeks and nose are colder than they were outside, but I don’t care. “I never got any good at anything other than skating forward, but I gotreallygood at that. And getting up when I fall.”
“I haven’t been on the ice for about a year, so we’ll see how this ends up.”
“Sounds good to me!” I grab his hand and almost face plant when I start walking towards the rink.
“Slow, sweetheart.”
“I’m trying.” I take a ridiculously tiny step and another. Clay is so patient as we creep closer and closer to the ice. I let him go so he can step on to the ice first. He’s so graceful. He nods for me to join him, his hands out as if to catch me. I trust him.
Stepping onto the ice, I feel more stable than on the carpeted area. Clay takes my hand and my elbow, guiding me to his side. He’s so natural on the ice it’s like we’re still on stable ground and not each wearing knife shoes. I give a little push harder than I meant and tetter on my skates. I try not to flail. I want to be good for Clay, but I yelp and almost slide to my bottom. But he catches me and pulls me into his chest.
His heart beats so hard I can feel it beneath my palms. “Thank you.” I wrap my arms around him. The others must think we’re strange, just standing here holding each other, but I don’t care.
“You know, falling is one of the first things new skaters learn so they can figure out how to get back up.”
“I remember.” I grin and pull away from him. My arms are out as if I’m trying to walk across a balance beam, but it helps. “I used the milk crates a lot.” I nodded to the one in the corner.
Clay’s so easy on the ice, he skates backwards in front of me to keep facing me as we chat. “I bruised my tailbone the first time I was on the ice. Hurt like a bitch for a while.”
“I can imagine.” I rub my butt for emphasis.
He takes both of my hands and we skate together. I’m not afraid of falling. Not afraid of getting lost in the growing crowd. Clay will keep me close. He does some fancy footwork and I almost fall watching.
“Sorry, sweetheart.” He’s so close now. It’s like we’re poised to dance, even though I certainly can’t dance on ice. This big, muscular, sexy man is so at home on the ice.
“Why did you stop skating?”
“My ex,” he whispers. “I let him get into my head long before we ended it. For whatever reason, I let him talk me out of going to the rink every weekend because he hated skating and wanted to spend time with me. But every time I stayed home, he ended up having a meeting or went out with friends instead, or any number of things than ended up not including me.”
“I’m sorry that happened.”
Clay tips my chin up. “It’s in the past. I’m here with you and having a fucking blast.” His gaze falls to my mouth.
I lick my lips as he leans in, but my left foot darts out and I slip to the ice.
Clay’s eyes go wide, but I laugh and lay back, spreading my arms and legs as if I’m making a snow angel. “Sorry.” My backside gets cold and I probably have a wet spot on my shirt.
Clay chuckles as he holds out his hand. “Sorry, I may have been distracted by your lips.”
“It’s okay. We can try again on dry land. My sea legs aren’t stable enough for kisses.”
He snorts as he hauls me back up. He brushes his hands over my shoulders and skates around me. “Are you okay? You went down pretty hard.”
“I’m fine.” I swat at my bottom and tug up my waistband. Probably should have worn a belt.
We skate without further incident until the lights flash for the ten minute warning. My shoulders drop because I’m having way too much fun to want to stop now. Clay leads me back to the carpeted area and helps me out of my skates.
“Chin up, sweetheart. We’ll be back.”
I hope so. I take his hand, following him back to return the skates. We grab our shoes from the locker.
