Tripping (Iced #2) - Kristine Allen Page 0,23

caught me each time because I simply couldn’t stay upright. Twice I managed to trip over my own skates.

On the last attempt, I nearly got it, but I started to get ahead of myself and panicked. True to his word, he caught me. Pressed up against him, I stared into his eyes. His tongue ran along his bottom lip, and I so wanted to taste it.

Except he hadn’t said a thing about our interrupted make-out session, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he regretted it. We’d agreed to be friends, and we’d crossed a line last night. Yet, he still wanted to take me skating. So either he was trying to scare me off or he was trying to win me over. Either way, this wasn’t it.

A wry grin lifted his lips. “This was a bad idea, wasn’t it?”

“I tried to tell you that,” I replied apologetically. The crushed look on his face nearly broke my heart. It told me that he’d truly thought I would enjoy this, and I hated that I was such a klutz.

“Let’s go. I’ll buy you dinner to make up for this. Maybe I’ll even splurge for the biggest dessert too.” He gave me a lopsided grin, and I couldn’t help but be affected by it. Dang near swooning, I nodded.

He led me toward the door in the side of the rink. He let go of my hands to release the latch. Forgetting I was on ice—wearing skates—I reached for him to apologize for my inability to walk and chew gum at the same time. It caused me to lose my balance, and I windmilled my arms as my feet went out from under me.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.

Shock on his face, Cameron spun and reached for me. Except thanks to my graceful attempt to right myself, he couldn’t get a hold on me. Despite his earlier instructions on what to do if I fell, I went down hard, and my head whacked the ice.

That was the last thing I remembered about that experience.

“Break The Cycle”—Motionless In White

“I cannot believe you didn’t put a helmet on her,” Sydney scolded. Alex stood behind her with his brows raised at me as if he was thinking the same thing.

I groaned and dropped my head into my hands. “I know,” I moaned.

“She’s probably never going to speak to you again, dude.” Alex wasn’t helping one bit.

Victor, Alex’s big-ass Savannah cat and our unofficial mascot, plopped between my feet. He looked up at me where I sat resting my elbows on my knees, and I swear he was judging me too.

Dropping my hands, I raised my eyes imploringly to my friends. “What do I do?”

“Jesus, man, pull yourself together. Who knew that you’d fall for some chick and turn into this? I think I liked you better when you were a playboy.” Alex chuckled. Sydney elbowed him, and he wrapped his arms around her with a grin. Hands splayed lovingly over her growing pregnancy belly; he didn’t have a bit of remorse in his expression.

After shooting a glare over her shoulder at Alex, Sydney gave me a sympathetic look. “She’s okay, though—that’s the most important thing.”

“Yeah, with one hell of a headache and a handful of staples on the back of her head. What the hell was I thinking?” When she’d fallen and gone unconscious, I’d been transported back to a time I had tried for nearly ten years to forget.

“Come on! Don’t be a chicken.” Blonde hair blowing from under the bright pink beanie, Cassidy laughed. She skated around the small drifts of snow as I shook my head at her.

“The ice isn’t thick enough,” I argued. “Come back.”

“It’s fine. Does it look like it’s too thin?” She skated in a circle over the rough ice of the lake, ending in a loose spin.

“No, it doesn’t look like it, but it’s too early. It’s probably barely four inches here by the shore and bound to be thinner farther out. Quit messing around and get back over here,” I called. She had called me to tell me to meet her there, but I’d had no idea she’d intended on skating.

“You’re such a downer,” she said with a tinkling laugh, cheeks rosy from the cold. “Please? You leave for your away games tomorrow. Just skate with me this once before you have to go,” she coaxed, and I was tempted. She was a siren, and she’d had me wrapped around her slender pinkie since we were fifteen.