Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Kristoffer
As I watched Emily lace her skates by herself at the picnic tables, I felt a pang of empathy, but also admiration.
It couldn’t have been easy being here with all these loving couples after what happened.
Yeah, I hadn’t forgotten what I’d heard in the hallway before the show.
I also knew the story more fully now since David had vented to me one night a few days later.
“I’m worried about her, bro. She’s this amazing person who doesn’t realize it, so she settles for losers. I want her to have what Charlotte and I have but it’s not going to happen if she keeps going after men that take, rather than take care.”
Emily was bundled up in a toque, scarf, and mittens, and even though I was having thoughts of peeling her out of every layer, I was also admiring her bravery.
She was surrounded by her family and friends all coupled up, and her siblings seemed to tease her mercilessly but also fuss over her.
But she carried on without so much as a sniffle or a snipe.
It reminded me of how she’d fearlessly gotten into the wheelbarrow position, fully exposing herself to me despite her shyness. This woman went head-on into things. And I loved that about her. I loved so much about her.
I huffed a laugh suddenly at her frustrated growl. Skating up to the edge of the lake where she sat, I sprayed ice stopping in front of her. She looked up, a plume of breath billowing out of her mouth.
“Need some help with those?” I asked, admiring her red button nose and bright cheeks.
“Are you making an observation about my incompetence or are you offering to help?”
“Offering to help.”
“Then, yes, please. I can’t seem to get them tight enough.”
“Might be easier without the mittens,” I pointed out, making her frown down at her hands.
“Are you aware of how cold it is out here, or is your brain frozen from living here?”
“Maybe you’re dragging your heels because you haven’t skated in a very long time,” I accused. Her eyes narrowed slightly confirming my hypothesis.
Then she scanned the glassy frozen lake and sighed. “How is it you know everything?”
“Your brother has a big mouth.”
She laughed and I knelt in front of her to tug her laces tight.
“It’s so beautiful.”
I looked up at her face and saw the awe in it, and I knew she was talking about the way the lake was so clear you could see the sky and the mountains in it.
“I bet it feels like you’re flying out there.”
“I’ve lived here for years, and I’ve never heard anyone describe it like that, but you’re right.
That’s exactly what it feels like.” I tugged tighter on the laces of the white skate and tied them up in a neat bow before switching to the other one.
“It’s pretty scratched-up now, but in the morning, before anyone’s been out here, it’s a revelation. ”
She was silent for a moment and when I looked up, I saw her thoughtfully watching the couples skate around. A few of them hand in hand, some just shoulder to shoulder. Even Charlotte’s mother and father were out there, joined at the elbow.
“Think they’re all happy?”
“I hope so.”
She glanced at me. “Me too. We should all be so lucky in relationships.” She rolled her eyes. “Sorry. I’m feeling cynical despite all this beauty.”
I held out my hand for her to take. “Come on. Let’s see if flying gets you out of your funk.”
She smiled. “I’m not ready to fly. I’ll settle for staying upright.”
Out on the ice, I turned around to skate backward, offering her my other hand as well. She took it and we skated around the others slowly, getting her used to the feel of gliding on the blades. As we came up on the bride and groom, Emily let go of my hands.
“Look at you,” David said, and grinned. “How long’s it been?”
“I think it was the field trip in the sixth grade,” she said with a self-depreciating laugh.
“No, what about that guy you liked in your first year of high school?” He paused, looking skyward as if attempting to recall the name. “Larry or something? I can’t remember, but he played hockey, and you wanted him to notice you, so you—”
Madeline and Blake skated up to join us. “It was Lucas Vanderline. The captain of the hockey team.” She gave a mocking teen-girl sigh.
“Do not remind me!” Emily said, pointing a finger at her older sister. But the movement had her wobbling on her skates, so I grabbed her arm to steady her. She shook me off instantly, shooting me a look I couldn’t decipher.
“She fell and landed on her backpack, breaking that bottle of Britney Spears Fantasy perfume she begged you to get her for Christmas,” Madeline said to David, her breath puffing out as she chuckled.
“Right!” David added and winked at Little Red, who in return, scowled.
“And you refused to buy me another backpack, so I stank like I bathed in it for the entire year. It also made the whole ice rink smell for a week, so the entire hockey team was angry with me.”
“Aw, poor Memmy,” both Madeline and David said in unison and then burst out laughing.
“Yeah, poor me. They called me Britney all through high school for that.” She growled and one leg slid back and she pitched forward.
I caught her and pulled her against me. David’s brows went up slightly.
“You’re lucky you didn’t break your tailbone or your neck,” Madeline said.
“Oh, the last thing I felt was lucky, and my ass was black and blue for a month.”
“You just need some practice,” Madeline said. “Kristoffer, the Norse god here, was probably born with skates on so he’ll probably have you up and running on your own in a few minutes.”
Charlotte started to drag David away. “Leave them alone, David.”
“Thanks for watching out for my sister. She can be a disaster,” he said, turning to me as they skated off. If I wasn’t mistaken, there was something odd in his expression. Perhaps he thought I was one of those losers not good enough for his sister.
I nodded at him, but then my mind was filled with cute images of a teenaged Emily and more dangerous ones of her very adult body, naked, splayed out on my bed.
The next time they rounded on us, David said, “I’ve got a surprise for you, Em.”
Charlotte smiled at her soon-to-be husband. “You do? You didn’t tell me.” She glanced at Emily. “Your brother is such a sweetheart.”
“A surprise? It’s not my wedding. You and Charlotte are supposed to get all the surprises this week.”
“It’ll be here tomorrow morning,” he said and twirled Charlotte, who was the only other girl on the ice wearing figure skates like Emily. And she must have taken lessons because she did some fancy backward glide on one leg, spun, and took off, my best friend chasing after her.
Emily stumbled again as she watched them, and I chuckled.
“Okay, Little Red, let’s not have a repeat of high school here. Your ass is too adorable to be all bruised up again.” I winked. “Red and hot is fine but bruises won’t do,” I whispered.
She narrowed her eyes on me. “Shh, my brother is right there! And so is my sister. And while the little OTK action was fine at the bachelorette, they’d freak out if they knew what happened afterward. Didn’t you see the look on David’s face when you caught me?”
I raised my hands in surrender. “Actually, I didn’t notice anything. Are you sure you’re not seeing things? And did you just shush your Daddy?” I don’t know why I kept flirting with her when I had definitely noticed David reacting.
Her face instantly went red, and she licked her lips. Little Red hadn’t forgotten our hot night together.
“You’re incorrigible,” she spat and took off on her skates. Within thirty seconds she was splayed out, belly first, on the ice. I raced to catch up, but David got there first, closely followed by Madeline. I knew without a doubt, despite all their teasing, Emily Miller was loved and protected.
“I’m fine!” she hollered when her siblings wouldn’t stop fussing. That’s when I saw the holes in the knees of her jeans and the blood blooming there.
“I got her. Go on. I need to check on some things at the chalet anyway. I’ll take her to the infirmary for some bandages.” I waved off the onlookers and wrapped my arm around little red’s waist. “Let’s get you off this ice before we have to roll you down the aisle in a wheelchair.”
She groaned. “I guess that’s what I get for being sassy.”
“I can think of a better way to keep the sass at bay. A well-spanked bottom and enough orgasms to turn the sarcasm center of your brain to mush.”
“Yeah, yeah. You only say that because you don’t understand what my brother and sister will do to you if they find out what we did and that you want to do it again. They’d hate the idea of me having a hot fling.”
“What if I don’t want it to be a fling?” I asked, helping her off the ice.
Her eyes slid to the side to look at me. She didn’t believe me.
“What? Am I too old for you?”
“No, I like older men,” she whispered. “And our night together was spectacular, but David will lose his everloving mind if he finds out. And he’s not even the dangerous one.” We both looked at Madeline.
“Can you walk?” I asked, motioning for her to sit on the bench so I could remove her skates. She nodded but then hissed when she bent her knees, so I pulled out my cell and called for a car anyway.
Unlacing her skates, I tossed them to the side so I could put her boots on before she tried to do it herself.
“You’re really taking this Daddy thing too seriously now, Kristoffer. Not that I don’t enjoy a little attention from a hot playboy.”
My eyes shot to hers, my cock instantly awake. Why was it that her referring to me as Daddy did such things to me? Sure, I liked playing Daddy in the bedroom, and she wasn’t the only woman I’d done that with, but outside of sex, it was never a thing. I swallowed. Until now.
“Daddying you is a whole new kind of pleasure,” I said, and I meant it because I wanted to take care of her inside of the bedroom and out.
She blinked at me, her expression so intense I almost fell back on my ass.