Chapter Eight
T he month was up. Finally. After two excruciating days at work, Sierra expected Connor to call all day, but so far he hadn’t. Since neither one of them was on call, she didn’t see him at work that day, either. Frankly, she felt ignored, which annoyed her. Waiting for his call annoyed her too. Maybe he wasn’t as anxious for her to ‘give him a chance’ as he’d implied. She almost called him but decided it was his move. But she couldn’t stop worrying about it.
What am I going to do if he doesn’t call? Call him?
No? Yes?
Don’t think about it.
He finally called later that evening. “Are you free tomorrow?” he asked when she answered. “I know you’re not working but do you have other plans?”
“No. What did you have in mind?” It irritated the hell out of her that her first reaction to his call was an overwhelming relief.
“I’ll pick you up around one. Dress warmly. Layers. No dresses.”
“You’re not going to tell me what we’re doing?”
“It’s a surprise. I’ll tell you tomorrow. Bye.” And he hung up.
She sat there staring at the phone. Dress warmly probably meant they were doing some outdoor activity. Which made sense since he’d said no dresses. She didn’t think it was skiing since they would have discussed whether she had ever skied and if she had, what equipment did she have. The answer to that was clothes and nothing else. She’d been skiing several times, but living in Texas she hadn’t gone often enough to have her own skis and boots. Besides, she wasn’t all that good. But maybe since she lived in snow country now, she’d be able to ski more often and get better.
So no skiing. Hiking? Possibly. Snowshoeing? Another possibility. She’d heard there was ice-skating at Miracle Lake—somewhere out in the woods in the middle of nowhere. Which might be fun except she’d never been before. Aggravating man! Why hadn’t he just told her what they were doing?
The following day, she took him at his word and put on a thin T-shirt, a heavier shirt, and a sweater. She texted him and asked if she should put on long underwear beneath her jeans. His answer was totally unsatisfactory.
“Maybe.”
She compromised and took them with her. She got out two pair of gloves, one lightweight and the other heavy-duty. She found her ski cap and put that in with the other extras. I should have just worn ski clothes. It would have been more comfortable. Then she decided to hell with it, stripped, and put on her ski clothes. By the time she’d done that she was sweaty and irritated as hell. This had better be fun.
When he showed up he took one look at her and grinned.
“What?”
“We’re not going skiing.”
“I didn’t think we were since you never asked me if I could ski. But you said dress warmly so here I am.”
“You look good.” His gaze traveled over her. “Really good.”
She wore tight black ski pants with a warm sweater. “Do I need my parka too?”
“Bring it.”
“Okay, where are we going?” she asked once in his truck.
“It’s a surprise.”
She wanted to pinch him. She didn’t, of course. “What are we doing, Connor?”
He turned to look at her after he pulled up to a clearing in the woods about ten minutes out of town. “Having our first date.”
He got out, and she did too, not waiting for him to open her door. She knew he did that, had done it for her before. Southern men weren’t the only ones to open doors for people. He got something out of the back seat, which she saw was a pair of ice skates. “We’re going ice-skating?”
He grabbed her hand to pull her along with him. “Yes, do you know how?”
“I’ve never been. Obviously you have.”
“I played hockey as a kid. Still do once in a while. Don’t worry, I’ll help you.”
“I imagine you’ve taught lots of women to skate,” she said dryly.
“One or two,” he said with a smile.
They rented skates for her at the shack beside the pond. Sierra looked at the sign reading Miracle Lake , and asked, “Where’s the lake?”
“You’re looking at it.”
She looked at the small, frozen body of water. “It’s a pond.” A large pond, but a pond nonetheless.
“To us it’s a lake.”
*
Sierra didn’t seem too sure about ice-skating but Connor really had taught a few people in the past. Plus, he knew she kept in shape—after all, he’d run with her. She looked fit, that was for sure. Besides that, she seemed athletic so he wasn’t worried about her.
This was all part of his master plan to show her that they could date and have a relationship outside of sex. And when the sex happened, which he hoped like hell it would, it would be great. Of course, he thought it would be great whenever it happened. Immediately would be good. But he didn’t want this to be like nearly all his previous relationships, if you could call them that.
It was the damnedest thing. He, Connor McFarland, had finally fallen, and fallen hard for a woman. He hadn’t even been tempted to have a more permanent relationship since he left Afghanistan. But it seemed like the longer he knew Sierra the more he wanted her. He owed it to both of them to find out if his feelings were real or simply infatuation because he was making their one night together to have been more than it was.
Besides, he wasn’t at all sure of Sierra’s feelings. He knew there was sexual attraction on both sides, but he wasn’t at all sure Sierra was up for a more serious relationship. She’d told him in Las Vegas that she still had feelings for her scumbucket ex-husband. He doubted that had changed. Not in just a few months. Still, it could happen.
“Ready?” he asked after she laced up her skates.
“I’m not sure I can even stand up on these.”
“Sure you can. I’ve seen you wear those skinny, sky-high heels. This isn’t much different.”
She snorted but allowed him to help her up.
“You don’t have weak ankles, do you?”
“No.”
“Good.” He gave her some pointers and held on to her while she walked a little on the ground by the lake. Then he led her out to the ice and held on again while she got the feel of standing on the ice in her skates.
She took to it quicker than he’d thought she would. After half an hour she was able to skate with him, slowly. Another fifteen minutes and he decided she needed a break. “Let’s go get some hot chocolate.”
“Not yet.”
“It’s supposed to be fun. I haven’t seen you smile yet.”
She glanced at him. “It is fun. But I have to concentrate to learn.”
“Okay, a little longer and then we’re taking a break.”
“Let go of me. I can do it on my own.”
She had to try sometime. He released her. She took a few wobbly steps, then one glide, two glides—and fell flat on her ass.
“That’s good.”
“Ha-ha.”
“I mean it.” He reached out a hand to help her up. “Learning to skate is hard.”
“You don’t have any problems.”
“I’ve also been skating a long time.”
“Let me try again. By myself.”
She was determined so he shrugged and let go of her. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. One moment he was standing beside her watching her try to skate and the next he’d landed flat on his back with Sierra sprawled on top of him.
“Oops. Sorry.” Her eyes sparkled and she was clearly having a hard time holding back her laughter.
She lost the battle and they both started laughing. “You just did something my brothers have a hard time doing,” he said when he could speak.
“What’s that?”
She still sprawled on top of him. He decided he didn’t mind getting taken down if it meant he got to hold her like this. “You took me out.”
“All I did was grab for you.”
“I wasn’t expecting it. It’s kind of humiliating having a woman half my size take me down.”
“Poor baby.”
Her mouth was close. Those lush lips were smiling. He could feel her warm breath fanning his face. He wanted to kiss her. Wanted to slide his hands over her satiny soft skin. Wanted to feel her breasts in his hands, feel the way her nipples pebbled when she got turned on. But he couldn’t do any of that. He was trying to go slow and this wasn’t helping.
He got up and helped her up again. Then he led her off the ice to a bench and left her to get them drinks. When he returned she was massaging her thighs. She took the hot chocolate from him and sipped. “How long have you been skating?”
“Since I was three.”
“Good Lord, that’s young.”
“My brothers were already skating, and I pitched a fit until my mom gave in. Also, my dad was on my side. Besides, Liam isn’t much older than me and he was skating. I guess he figured they might as well let me. Logan and Liam laughed their asses off. I mean, I was three and fell down a lot. By the time I was five I could skate them both into the ground. What?” he asked when he realized she was staring at him.
“I’m trying to imagine you as a three-year-old. I bet you were adorable.”
“According to my mother I was the epitome of ‘it’s a good thing he’s cute because otherwise I’d kill him.’”
She laughed. “More so than your brothers?”
He shrugged. “According to them, anyway.” He stood and reached for her hand. “Are you ready to skate some more?”
“I don’t like to fall down.”
“No one does.”
“It was better when I fell on top of you.”
He chuckled. “Don’t count on that again. I’m prepared now. Besides, you’ll get better with practice.”
Not much to his surprise, she did.