Chapter Thirty-Two #2
A slow smile appears on her gorgeous face, and my heart thunders at the sight of it, right before it drops to my ass when she demands, “Grab some skates. If you’re going to follow me here, you can show me what you’ve got on the ice.”
Everything in me stills, because that is the worst idea I’ve ever heard.
I’m shaking my head before she’s even finished her sentence, a flat-out refusal on my tongue, when the devil pouts.
Her full lip juts out, and those pretty pale-blue irises fill with a puppy-dog pleading that actually works on me, because I fold faster than she did when we first met her.
Groaning, I rub my hand over my beard and confess, “Snow or icy things don’t agree with me.”
As if that excites her, Maddie’s smile grows and she teases, “You’re going to have to prove it, I’m afraid. It’s a new rule I’ve implemented just today. Those who creep must pay the price on the ice.”
I stare at her for a long moment before I sigh, because there’s no way I’m getting out of it. And if the look on her face is anything to go by, I’m screwed, and not in the fun way.
This is going to be my very own version of hell.
Fuck my life.
Without further prompting, Maddie skates to the opening in the barrier and hops out as though she’s not flouncing around on blades, heading directly toward the wall of skates. She calls over her shoulder, “What size are you?”
Reluctantly, I answer. “Twelve.”
She pauses, turns to look over her shoulder, and I damn near fucking blush when the little shit looks at my boot-covered feet, to my crotch, and then down to my boots again, before looking away with a bite of her lower lip. Pretty sure I hear her whisper, “Twelve. Damn.”
Nothing should shock me anymore when it comes to Madison Fowler, but I’ll be damned if I don’t stand there frozen, watching her with my mouth parted and amusement flaring in my chest.
I’m still not put together when she returns holding a pair of skates, holding them out for me to take with a cheeky smile and a pink stain on her cheeks. “Here. Try these.”
I take them, shut my eyes, and sigh before trudging to the bench Maddie gestures to, slowly swapping my boots for the skates that will actually kill me today.
Maddie waits at the opening to the rink, watching me like she’s both excited and amused, but little does she know I’m about to give her the fucking ick with the shit I’m about to show her.
There’s nothing more embarrassing than showing the girl I’m obsessed with my painful lack of ability when it comes to all things cold and slippery.
To prove my point, I wobble like a newborn deer the moment I’m upright, and my hands dart out as though there’s anything nearby that could save me before I hit the deck.
As soon as I’m stable again, I peer over at Maddie from under my lashes, and I want to sling myself into the nearest river when I find her covering her mouth with one hand while the other clutches at her waist, the laughter I know she’s bottling showing in the shake of her shoulders.
“This isn’t funny,” I grumble, even as my lips twitch, her amusement growing infectious.
“Speak for yourself, Wobbles. I’m finding it incredibly funny,” she teases, snickering when I take three steps forward before my knees almost give out on me.
And honestly, I can’t even be mad, because I’m sure watching a six-foot-five muscular and tatted guy trying to walk in skates is something most would find funny.
Hell, I’d find it funny if it were anyone but me.
With only the sound of her chuckles, I make it to where she’s standing, trembling like a fucking leaf and dying on the inside. Because if walking on a stable surface was that bad, my first step on the ice is going to be nothing short of disaster.
And Maddie absolutely knows it, because the blue-haired menace is fighting her giddiness with her whole life. I can see how much she’s enjoying it, though. Her blue eyes are glittering, so fucking pretty that it’s the only damned thing pushing me forward.
“Come on, big guy. I’ll be your crutch. If you go down, I’ll go down with you,” she snickers, the offer genuine but the delivery leaving much to be desired.
I give her a dirty look, one she outright laughs at, but then she hops onto the ice like the professional she is and holds out her dainty hands toward me.
I eye them like she just grew them out of her body before looking back at her.
“You think you’re going to be able to stop me from landing on my ass? ”
Straight away, Maddie shakes her head. “Oh, hell no. Which is why I told you I’d go down with you.”
This fucking woman.
Seeing the eagerness pour out of her, I decide to get it over and done with quickly. The sooner I show her how clumsy I am on the ice, the quicker we can move on. She can laugh her pretty little head off and I can swear off ever doing anything ice- or snow-related for the rest of my life.
With that little pep talk, I reach for her hands before taking a cautious step onto the ice. When that foot doesn’t instantly slip from right under me, I place the other on the ice, only to freeze like the floor beneath me. I literally can’t move, and I mutter under my breath, “Kill me now.”
Maddie laughs again before she says, “It’s fine. Just trust me, okay?”
I peer up at her again, ending my death glare with the ice I’m already sure is plotting my end, and mutter, “Easier said than done when I’m as stable as a wet electrical socket. This is the worst.”
“Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time, handsome,” she jokes, and I almost decide it’s worth it to hear the adorable vixen call me handsome in the same breath she’s teasing me with. “I’ve got you, though. I’ll do the moving, you just slide along for the ride. Okay?”
Slowly, I nod. I’m not ready, not even close, but fuck it. I’m already here, so I might as well get it over with, right?
“Okay, let’s go,” she declares, right before she starts skating backward, almost mockingly but not so much that I feel offended.
In fact, it gives me a little more strength to put my faith in her.
I already know she’s a menace on the ice, but seeing how easy it is for her to swish her skates along the ice like she was born to do it helps ease the anxiety rushing through me.
Hell, it even helps slow my heart rate, even though her hands in mine are doing their own number on my hammering pulse.
Sure enough, Maddie drags me straight to the middle of the rink, doing all the work and seeming to enjoy every second of it, grinning the entire time. I’m just fighting to stay upright, keeping my skates pointed forward to make both of our lives easier.
By the time we’re in the middle of the rink, I’ve grown a false sense of confidence, especially with Maddie holding on to me. Because when she starts turning us in a circle, I go with the flow with a little more abandon than I had when I first got onto the ice.
It’s the biggest mistake I’ve made in my life.
Because with the next turn Maddie does, I turn with her and my left skate takes on most of my weight, and that skate suddenly loses all function.
I’m airborne the next moment, tumbling like a freshly cut-down tree, and my hands tighten in complete reflex, forcing Maddie down with me, even if she didn’t want to.
In seconds that feel like slow-mo minutes, I fall and fall until my back collides with the chilly floor below, water instantly forming in my shirt as my body temperature melts the ice a little.
A split second later, Maddie falls right on top of me with a girly squeak, her breath escaping her with a harsh puff of air that joins mine the moment she lands on top of me.
We both fall silent for a long moment, right before we both break out into peals of laughter, the ice under me just a blip on my radar when I hear the beautiful sound that comes out of her.
“Well, that was funnier than I thought it would be. And hey, you cushioned my fall to perfection,” she chuckles, pointing out just how perfectly I caught her.
But by doing so, she inadvertently points out that she’s sprawled across me, her entire front plastered against mine in ways that turn painfully distracting.
The warmth of her body seeps into mine, a crazy contrast to the cold lining my back and legs, and her breath tickles my cheek as she peers down at me with those pale orbs I could get lost in for hours.
Her chest is cushioned against mine, her hands pressed into the ice on either side of my head, while one of her legs ends up tucked between both of mine.
This position leaves literally nothing to the imagination, and my mind goes absolutely feral when a switch is flipped inside me and my heart starts beating in tandem with my rapidly skittering pulse.
The feel of her on top of me is like nothing I’ve felt before, and my body reacts before I can get a handle on it, my cock instantly hardening against her thigh.
I know she feels it, too, because Maddie’s entire body freezes while her eyes take on a sexy look that tells me she’s not entirely unaffected either. And if that wasn’t an indication, it’s the pretty pink glow that fills her cheeks that tells me she’s just as hot and bothered.
And I’ll be damned if that isn’t the last thing to snap all of my restraint, my hands moving on their own as one sinks into the hair at the nape of Maddie’s neck, while the other grips on to her waist like I’m scared she’ll scramble away.
I feel like a fucking king when she doesn’t. So, knowing the condition Rayne gave her, I do the only thing I can and ask, “You had enough time to think about everything?”