Chapter 12 #2
A rosy pink hue colors her cheeks, but the jury’s still out if it’s a blush or a physical manifestation of her anger. When I meet her gaze, there’s a heat in her eyes that still doesn’t explain whether she’s feeling the chemistry or seething.
I pull Mallory out of the dip, setting her back on her feet. She doesn’t immediately step away from me, so I’m taking that as a good sign.
“You good?”
She squeezes my jacket, so I take that as a yes.
“The sparks are flying between you. I see why your recent movie was such a hit, Griffin.” Antonio wiggles his eyebrows before thumbing through the photos on his camera. “I was going to take you to another location, but you lovebirds made my job easy.”
“Really? You don’t need any more?” I ask, wanting an excuse to keep Mallory in my arms longer.
“Nope, I got everything I need.” He smiles.
“Great.” Mallory all but jumps out of my arms. “You’re the best, Antonio.”
“Yeah, the best ever,” I mutter under my breath.
“What was that?” she asks.
“I was just agreeing with you.” If I were hooked up to a lie detector, let’s just say there would be a massive spike right now.
Antonio walks over and shakes my hand. “Thanks for trusting me to take your photos.” He moves to Mallory, taking one of her hands and bowing before her. “Make sure he treats you like the princess you are.”
“I will, Antonio. Thank you.”
We wave goodbye to him, and Mallory sighs. “He was right about two things.”
When she doesn’t finish her thought, I run a hand along my scruff. “Care to elaborate?”
“I plan to be a royal pain for you to deal with over the next few months.”
Laughter slips out of my mouth, uncontainable. “Thanks for the heads up.”
She shrugs. “I’m nothing but honest.”
Yet another trait I love about her.
“And the second thing?”
She folds her arms across her chest. “You’re a great actor.”
It almost sounds as if she means it, but I detect an underlying bitterness there.
There’s something she’s not telling me—something more than the fact that I lost her number.
I need to find a way to figure out what it is without scaring her away.
For now, all I can do is keep reminding her who I really am.
“You flatter me.” I smile before gesturing toward the heart of Old Louisville. “Ready for me to kick your butt out on the rink?”
“I didn’t know it was a competition.” Mallory smirks. “But if it is, I’m definitely winning.”
She’s right. Because I would let her win a hundred times over just to see a satisfied smile on her lips. To see her happy.
Once we reach the ice rink, the attendant gets us our skates. I take both sets from him, making a mental note of Mallory’s shoe size, and carry them to the bench area.
“Thanks.” Mallory accepts her skates from me and slides out of her boots.
After I get laced up, I glance over at her. She looks adorable with her black earmuffs and gloves paired with her pink plaid coat.
“What has made you happy the last three years?” I ask.
Her eyes dart up from her skates to meet mine. They hold both shock and fire in their depths. “Why do you even care?”
I try to ignore the sting from her words and push forward. “My highlights have all been public knowledge, but I want to hear how you’ve been.”
She moves her attention back to lacing her skates.
Great, now she’s ignoring me.
I look out at the rink, wondering where I went wrong to get this icy front from her.
“The past three years have been great,” Mallory finally responds.
I turn to face her, not wanting to miss a single word.
“I graduated from college, moved in with my three best friends, and started my first teaching job.” She stands up, looking ready for the ice.
“I feel like you’re living every girl’s dream, getting to have your best friends as roommates.”
“Sure am.” Mallory places her gloved hands on her hips. “Did we come here to talk or skate?”
There’s still time to break down her walls, I remind myself.
I gesture toward the rink, trying to be a gentleman and let her go first.
“No, after you.”
I should’ve expected that response. She always has to challenge me.
Cautiously, I step onto the ice and instantly feel like a baby who’s learning how to walk. I’m sure this is getting me major brownie points with Mallory. Super attractive to have my arms flailing around when I should be making sure she feels safe and comfortable.
Looks like I’m zero-for-one on my date planning scale.
I grimace. “I promise that I wasn’t this bad before.”
Mallory leans her arms on the railing of the rink. “Let me guess. Last time you were on the ice, you were a kid pushing a traffic cone, and you thought your skills had improved over time enough to impress me.”
“No.”
Yes.
But I’m not telling her that.
Mallory steps onto the ice. I’m about to say that this was a terrible idea and suggest we get out of here when she starts skating backward while talking to me at the same time, like some expert-level multitasker.
“You beautiful little liar.”
“What are you talking about?” She plays the nonchalant game well.
“You said you haven’t been skating since you were a kid.” I gesture to the rink around us. “But you look like an ice princess out here.”
“I was good back in the day.” She does another spin, stopping with a toe pick to the ice. “Guess I’ve still got it.”
I skate over and wrap my arms around her middle, more for the sake of not wanting to fall on my face than wanting to be close to her—though that’s a valid reason, too. “I’d say you’ve more than got it.”
Mallory untangles herself from my hold. “There are no cameras around. You don’t have to do that.”
“Rule number one of being a celebrity.” I gently take her hand. “There are almost always cameras around when you’re in public. Whether you see them or not.”
She scoffs. “There are rules to being a celebrity?”
I shake my head. “Just generally understood rules of thumb so stars don’t ruin their career by being careless in public.”
“Sounds more like common sense if you ask me.”
“You’re the one who just said there were no cameras around.” I tuck one of her curls behind her ear.
Her eyes narrow. “Touché.”
“Is Mallory Porter admitting she makes mistakes?” I gasp, my tone playful.
“It’s not often, so don’t get used to it.”
“Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me.
” I smile. When she doesn’t say anything else, I let go of her and carefully maneuver my way over to the rink wall one little waddle-shimmy at a time.
I grab hold of the railing and turn to shoot her an encouraging grin.
“Show me what you can do, Ice Princess.”
This brings a hint of a smile to her lips. “Gladly.”
I watch her glide across the ice, making each movement look effortless.
She does a series of small midair jumps and ends with a spin so quick that I don’t know how she stays on her feet once she comes to a stop.
“Did you ever think about going pro? Like the Olympics or something?” I ask when she nears me.
Mallory stops with the sides of her skates, spraying me with a dusting of ice while looking pleased with herself. I brush off my coat, secretly happy she’s showing me some kind of emotion.
“I considered it, but we would’ve had to leave Kentucky to live near a state-of-the-art Olympic training ice arena.” She shrugs. “I never would have asked that of my family. I’m sure they would’ve done it, but they’re not my only family here.”
“Your friends,” I say with understanding.
She nods. “I couldn’t leave them. I always wanted to help kids, so studying to be a teacher became my new passion.”
I lean my elbow on the railing, attempting to look casual rather than like I’m gripping it like it’s my lifeline. “What about teaching little kids ice skating lessons on the side?”
She purses her lips. “I’ve never thought about that.”
“You’re already an amazing teacher. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be hard to combine two things you love.”
“We’ll see.” Mallory surprises me by offering a gloved hand my way. “Come on, Reynolds. Let’s get you out on the ice.”
I grip the railing, not wanting to embarrass myself in front of her. “I’m fine here watching you.”
She raises a brow. “Aren’t you the one who said there are always cameras around?”
“You’re going to use my own words against me?”
“Maybe I just want to see you fall on your face.”
“Fine, you’re asking for it.” I wrap my fingers around her glove, close my eyes, and push off the wall.
“Bend your knees to help you balance, and start with small movements.”
My left arm goes flailing as I try to regain my balance.
“You look like a flightless bird.”
“If I’m a bird, you’re a bird,” I tease, finally gaining my balance as we move at a snail’s pace around the rink.
“Is that supposed to be a play on the quote from The Notebook?”
“I’m in the film industry, beautiful. My life is a series of movie quotes.”
“Good to know.” Mallory gestures to our skates. “Look, you’re doing it. Apparently, you just needed a distraction.”
“Or maybe I needed a good teacher.”
She blushes under my praise. I smile down at her but quickly realize my mistake. Looking at her made my body angle slightly, causing my skate to collide with hers. We both fall to the ice, and I pull Mallory into my arms instinctively, trying to take the brunt of the fall.
I hit the ice and immediately feel shooting pain in my back and tailbone. Mallory falls on top of me with a whoosh that knocks the breath right out of me.
“Are you okay?” I ask through rasped breaths.
“Yeah, are you?”
She blows out a puff of air. Our breaths meld together into a small cloud between us in the cold. I’m jealous of the air leaving my lungs that gets to mingle with hers when all I get is forced touches.
“You hit the ice pretty hard.” Mallory looks more amused than concerned, but at least it’s something.
I wrap my arms tighter around her as she lies on top of me, and I become extremely aware of everywhere her body is pressed to mine. It’s like something out of a dream, except if this were really a dream, we’d be kissing right now.
She can probably smell my cinnamon gum—the flavor I’ve chewed since I learned the snickerdoodle hot chocolate was her favorite, so my breath could smell like her favorite flavor if I ever found her again. I wonder if the scent makes her think about kissing me, too.
I gaze into her brown eyes and suddenly feel breathless for an entirely different reason. “I’ve never been better.”
Even though my tailbone—and my ego—might be a little bruised, I’ll never pass up a single second of holding Mallory Porter in my arms.