Page 41 of The Naughty Or Nice Clause

“Then we should get moving before you turn back into the Grinch.”

He glared at her while she secured the ice skates to her feet.

“I need more coffee if I’m going to do this,” he muttered, taking her mug and drinking what was left. It was a small gesture, but the intimacy of his lips touching where hers had only made her jealous of the mug.

“Help yourself,” she snarked, before he began securing his own boots.

“Stay away from the centre,” Mason warned, skating out onto the frozen lake.

Lyla shook her head in amazement as she witnessed how at ease he was. She guessed it had been years since he’d last skated, and yet there was no hesitation in his movements. He came back towards her as she stepped off the snowy bank. The ice was rougher than she was used to, but she was determined not to struggle.

“It tends to be quite thin, and I don’t plan on saving your life twice in two days,” he warned, skating circles around her.

“Do you have to be the best at everything you do?” she muttered to herself.

“Do you want me to lead you?” he asked sincerely, and she slapped away his hands.

“I know how to skate!” she snapped, taking long strides, loving the sensation of the ice scraping beneath her blades. The joy of it made her lose focus, and when she was about to catch up to him, her boot clipped a rough piece of ice. She landed painfully on her knees, and her hands grazed the ice. To her horror, a crack sounded as she landed.

Mason, skating towards her, couldn’t contain his laughter.

“How can youlaugh?I heard a crack!” She couldn’t hide the terror in her voice. “You saidnotto skate in the centre.”

“Don’t worry, it won’t crack. I wanted to see your reaction.” He offered her a hand, which she gratefully took as the ice melted into her trousers. “The lake is frozen year-round,” he added while she wiped her sore palms on her jeans. He offered his hands again, and she skated away a little, trying to hide the flush of embarrassment on her cheeks.

“I don’t need you to lead me. I can skate fine.” She attempted to shoot ahead, but a ridge in the ice caught her blade and she nearly went down for a second time.

“Rough ice isn’t the same as a rink,” Mason explained, taking her hand as he skated up beside her.

“The bruises on my knees are telling me the same.” His fingers wove in between hers, and she let him guide her round the ice.

“If you told me a week ago that I’d be putting bruises on your knees, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

“Ha-ha. How easily you take joy in my misery.”

He winked, picking up the pace, and she kept up, reassured by his grasp.

“I don’t know why you left all this – this place, your family – to be alone in the city,” she said. He stared out at the lake without responding, though his pace slowed a little. “Do you even enjoy being away?” she pressed. She had seen him smile more in the past few days than in the year they had worked together.

“It’s easy not to appreciate what you have. You think this is everything, but I wanted to see the world, to see more,” he admitted.A vague answer.

“What made you leave? Because, seeing you with your family, there had to be some kind of tipping point…”

Mason released her. She took advantage of the silence to spin until she was too dizzy to continue. When she glanced at him again, the ease was gone from his eyes.

“Why do you want to know?” he asked, stopping in the middle of the lake.

“It’s something you would tell your fiancée?” she joked, trying to lighten the mood.

“Then it’s a good thing you aren’t really my fiancée,” he said, blowing into his hands.

“What’s the point in being mysterious? I already know who you are – you’re a freaking Klaus! A real-life Santa Claus, who grew up in a magical village! But you won’t tell me why you left. I don’t believe it was because you wanted to see the world.”

He slid backwards, and she watched his skate catch on a pebble. Lyla reached out to catch him before he landed in the snow bank, but he was too heavy; instead, he took her with him. He held her tight in his arms as a puff of snow enveloped them and they landed in the pillowy snow.

“Serves you right for being so smug,” she said, pressing her hand against his chest so she could get herself back upright.

“You distracted me with your prying,” he argued.

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