you’re making up these drinks.”
He mockingly scoffed as though offended. “I would never! Google it, honey.”
“Okay, Mr. Cocktail.” She snickered.
“Mr. Cocktail?” He raised a brow and smirked. His arousal pressed against her abdomen through their towels.
“I’ll show you a co”
She slapped a hand over his mouth to silence him and they both burst out laughing.
“I think we’d better get dressed or we’ll never leave my apartment.”
“I’ll go change at my place. Meet you outside the hall in half an hour?”
“Sounds good.” She stood on tiptoe and brushed her lips over his before she pushed him out of her bathroom and closed the door.
When she heard him chuckling on the other side, she leaned back against the closed door and sighed with a silly smile painted on her face. She liked Matthew way too much. What if he broke her heart?
Please don’t let this be a mistake…
6
Dropping the Gloves
An hour later Matthew walked with Aubree toward Millennium Park. They meandered through the beautiful snowy pathways on their way to the skating rink that was built into the center of the park during the winter. At the moment, a hundred people were out on the ice skating slowly in graceful circles.
“You ever skate here?” he asked.
“No.” Aubree blushed as she looked from him to the rink. “I don’t actually know how.”
“Then I’ll teach you.” Matthew led her toward an indoor stand that rented skates.
“Oh, I don’t know…” She hedged.
“What’s the worst that could happen?” Matthew played with her hands, lacing his fingers through hers.
She brushed her hair back from her face. “Well… I could fall on my butt and everyone would laugh?”
Matthew pulled her close, sliding his hands into the back pockets of her jeans as he held her against him and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Then I fall with you and we laugh at ourselves. No big deal.”
He could see the fear in her eyes, the fear that she couldn’t plan or control this, but she needed to learn that life sometimes went off course and a person couldn’t plan for everything.
“Okay.” She still looked uncertain, but he kissed her and led her over to the stand where he paid for two pairs of skates. His were large and black; hers were dainty and snow white. They sat down on one of the bench areas by the rink’s edge and changed out of their shoes. After leaving their shoes secured in a little locker, they made the awkward march on the skate blades together toward the ice. He told her that he’d played ice hockey in his youth, so he could help her stay steady and teach her how to skate.
He stepped backward onto the ice and held out his hands like he wanted to coach a newborn foal into walking at his grandfather’s ranch.
“Come on, Aubree. You can do this.” He waited as she placed her gloved hands in his.
“Keep your body weight balanced over your leading foot. Think like a penguin, okay?”
“A penguin?” She stared down at the ice beneath her skates with adorable skepticism.
“Yes, those little fellas in the tuxedos.” He teased her and she looked up at him, smiling but still nervous. “They shuffle and keep their weight balanced, their center of gravity over their sturdiest weight-bearing foot at a time. Humans slip on the ice because we are used to putting our weight on the foot stretching way out ahead or behind us. So be a penguin, love.”
He held her hands as she shuffled away from the safety of the rink’s walls. He continued to skate backward, using his body’s momentum to pull her along with him. The moment she got more confident, he could see the tension release from her body as her face relaxed. Her pursed lips softened as she breathed deeply and small clouds puffed out in the cold air. Snowflakes began drifting down here and there, growing thicker and thicker until people around them started laughing and pausing to catch the thick flurries on the mittens.
Aubree focused on her skating and Matthew kept her hands in his as she grew bolder and bolder.
“That’s it. See? You’re a natural.”
Her lips were moving slightly as though she were talking. When he realized she was saying “be a penguin” over and over under her breath, he burst out laughing.
“Shut up!” She laughed too and almost stumbled. He immediately caught her, steadying them both. She tensed in his arms, but he rubbed her back to calm her again.
“You fall, I fall.” He reminded