feelin’ better.”
The big bad cop’s expression softened. “Thanks.”
“Also glad your man came around,” Luke said, pushing his luck a little further.
Her eyes narrowed.
“And now I’m getting out while the getting’s good.” With a wink, he’d taken off, heading next to the small store located in the skating rink in the next town over.
Sawyer joined him for the ride, laughing all the way there—and back. Luke ignored him, figuring he’d have some chuckles of his own when the other man found his woman.
Now, Luke turned back to
his
female and watched her lacing up the skates.
“They fit!” she exclaimed, her excitement like that of his niece’s on Christmas.
“But they’re new, so you’ll probably end up with blisters,” he warned her. “We’ll take it easy.” He stood and held out a hand, which she readily grabbed.
A few minutes later, they were on the ice. He wished he could say she was a natural. She wasn’t. But what she lacked in skill, she more than made up for in both enthusiasm and a willingness to keep getting back up—no matter how many spills she took. And unfortunately for her, she took plenty. Her ass was going to be sore tomorrow, which meant he’d have to give her some TLC today.
No big chore.
On what felt to Luke like her hundredth tumble, he caught her before her butt hit the ice. “And we’re all finished for today,” he said.
“I can go more,” she said through chattering teeth.
He wrapped his arm around her waist and steered themtoward the edge of the rink. “If you won’t admit to freezing your ass off, I will. I’m cold and I need your body heat to warm me up.”
Her eyes darkened, but she didn’t give up that easily. “One more circle around the rink.”
At that moment, Luke cursed her father for instilling that need to prove herself in his daughter. “No. You’re freezing and your butt cheeks hurt like hell, but I’ll bet you’ve never given up on anything in your life. If I don’t call it a day, we’ll be out here while you try to prove something to me you don’t have to prove. This was supposed to be fun, remember?”
She blushed. “I…yeah, I remember. And I did have fun!” From the sparkle in her eyes, he couldn’t help but believe her.
“Me, too. Now just a short drive away, we have a cabin all to ourselves where the heat’s pumping and the bed’s warm. So you tell me, do you want to keep on bruising your pretty behind, or let me ease those aches and pains in a way that I promise you’ll like?” His own blood pumped faster at the notion. He raised an eyebrow and waited for her to decide.
“Well, when you put it that way…” She grasped his hand. “Last one to the truck is a rotten egg.” She took off, but Luke wasn’t about to let her fall again, so he grabbed her around the waist and carried her off the ice, listening to her shrieks of
put me down
the entire way.
* * *
A lexa had a blast on the ice. Sure, she sucked at skating. Who knew that it wasn’t like riding a bike, easy to pick up again? Not that her father encouraged that either—
Concussions are dangerous, Alexa
. But Luke never lost patience, he just held out a hand, helped her back onto her feet, and off they went again, him holding her tight in his strong arms until she was ready to try going solo again. She inevitably fell onto her butt again.
By the end, her feet hurt like hell, she probably had those blisters he’d mentioned, and the cold was setting in, and he’d still had to drag her off the ice. “Luke?” she asked, as he drove them from the rink to the cabin.
“Yeah?”
“I loved every minute,” she said, wanting him to know exactly what kind of gift he’d given her.
“Yeah?” A smile pulled at his lips.
“Absolutely.”
He parked in front of the cabin and cut the engine, got out, and met her on the passenger side, opening her door.
Before she could hop out, he braced a hand on the roof over her head. “You know you
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