I take a deep breath and smile, letting the tension in my shoulders ease and holding up my glass. “Well, here’s to you, Quarterback.”
He taps his flute against mine and cocks his head.
“I have to say, though…” I look around. “This is not very touristy at all. Aside from being at Rockefeller Center, I don’t think your average NYC tourist gets a private lounge room with—”
I turn around to see Matt holding up two pairs of ice skates and smiling widely.
“Oh,” I say, meeting his gaze as a laugh bubbles in my chest. “Now I see.”
“That’s right.” He nods slowly. “We’re going ice skating.”
I hold my palm to my forehead and shake my head, giggling at Matt, the smoking-hot all-star quarterback who wants to go ice skating with me. “But…why?”
“Because.” He sits on the cushy sofa next to me and starts taking off his shoes to put on the skates. “When I was little, I loved Christmas movies. My grandma was a Hallmark fanatic and always had piles of them taped on VHS. So I would rail through them whenever I was bored or not playing sports.”
I draw back and raise my brows in surprise, laughing a little.
“It’s fine, my masculinity is secure.” He juts his chin. “No, but seriously, we didn’t always have a lot to watch. Cable was expensive, and a DVD player wasn’t really in the cards until I was a teenager. So, Christmas movies.”
“I hope you know I’m going straight to ESPN with this beautiful golden nugget of Matt McKenzie trivia.”
He looks up from lacing his skates and glares at me. “Anyway, the goofy lovebirds in those movies always went to New York at Christmastime and always went ice skating at Rockefeller Center. And I used to tell Grandma that one day I was going to be in the big city and I was going to ice-skate with a beautiful girl. Cheesy as hell, I know.”
The emotion in my chest quickly transforms from lighthearted humor to a squeezing adoration. “That’s insanely cute.”
“Couldn’t pass up my chance, could I? Now lace up, skater. I wanna see some moves.”
I give an easy laugh and slip off my bootees, pulling the skates on and smiling like a schoolgirl with a massive crush as I stare down at my feet.
My brain races back to the fact that I have to tell Matt about Noah knowing the truth…and I will. I swear. But right now, the whole world is twinkling like those damn trees, and all I want to do is enjoy being a silly tourist with Matt.
We laugh as we clumsily hobble to the entrance of the skating rink, barely able to walk on the covered blades of the skates, our hands naturally intertwined.
“Oh God,” I say on a laugh as we step onto the ice, and my feet slip and slide underneath me.
“Don’t worry, I won’t be much better.” Matt holds his arm steady next to me so I can cling to it so I won’t fall. “Baby steps.”
I hold his strong arm with both hands as we glide along the ice, every second feeling easier and more stable than the one before.
“Look at you. You’re a natural.” He nudges me gently as we pick up our speed a bit.
“I’m all right, but I think you’re the real surprise here.” I smile and look up at him, his chiseled face framed in a backdrop of skyscrapers. “How the hell are you so good at this?”
“You’d be shocked if you knew the amount of balance work that goes into football agility training. Some guys even take ballet classes.”
“You’re screwing with me.”
“I’m serious. Look it up.”
I tilt my head back and hold Matt tight, sliding along the ice easily and smoothly now, the chilly air making me feel alive.
Laughter and conversation and chemistry flow between us like a river, and the bustling city is lit up around us. It feels like we’re the only people in it, like this whole night was created just for this moment.
“Thank you for doing this.” I look at Matt and smile, wobbling a bit on a quick turn.
He steadies me. “Of course. Thank you for making my childhood Hallmark dreams come true.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone, clicking on the camera app. “Here. Selfie for Grandma.”
I laugh and smile at the phone, and he snaps the picture.
“That’s a keeper.” Matt nods approvingly and slides the phone back into his jeans pocket. “So…after the game, you said you had