“Mm-hmm.”
“I’m gonna blow you right out of the water as soon as I catch my balance.”
“I won’t hold my breath,” Cal states.
Jerk. I shoot him a dirty look and tug my arm free, nearly tipping over with the momentum. He doesn’t stop me this time. I think he’d let me fall on my ass and smirk down at me afterward, but he’d probably still offer me a hand to pull me back up.
I don’t fall, but I don’t move, either. It occurs to me that I wasn’t paying attention when the volunteer told us how to push off, but I’d rather freeze to death where I stand than ask Cal.
Gesturing to the blue whales on the ice for young skaters to ride on, or little kids to push so they have something to balance on to keep them from falling face first on the ice, Cal asks, “Should we rent you one of those?”
I cock my head to convey are you done now? and let him know I’m not impressed with his ribbing. He merely smirks and crosses his arms over his muscular chest.
It can’t be that tricky. All these people are managing. Let’s see…
I try to use my weight to move forward, but that doesn’t work. I try pushing one skate forward and just gliding gracefully across the ice, but that’s a massive fail, too.
Seeing that I don’t know how to move, Cal says, “Want help?”
“Nope, I’m gonna figure it out on my own.”
He rolls his eyes. “While I’m still young? Should I ask someone to bring me a walker for when we have to get off the ice?”
I shoot him a narrowed look, then I play with the positioning of my feet. They feel so heavy with the skates on, so unstable with my weight balanced precariously on the blades. My feet keep tipping this way and that, so I bend my knees a little and make a concerted effort to balance my weight in the middle. Once I’m steady, I use the toe of my right foot to push myself forward, and then the blade glides across the ice.
“I did it!”
Cal easily skates back out of my way so I don’t bump into him. “And before my AARP discount kicked in—good job.”
Despite his teasing, his voice is warm with approval and it fills me up. I finally manage to glide across the ice—with less grace than I imagined, but I still do it.
I’m doing okay until one of the kids with their cheating little whales flies out in front of me. I don’t want to crash into him, but I don’t know how to stop, either, so I panic and try to turn.
I lose my balance and my feet fly out from under me. I flinch and brace for the impact of hitting the ice, but instead a pair of strong arms grab me, pulling me back against a strong, hard chest.
Cal’s voice is reassuring, his hold firm. “I’ve got you.”
My heart contracts and my tummy rocks as he holds me against his body. I tell myself I should pull away and try to start skating again, but despite the fun I was having only a moment ago, his embrace is so reminiscent of the way he held me last night, memories flash to mind of his hand on my breast, his lips on the curve of my shoulder, his nearly naked body pressed against my flesh.
I shake my head, centering on the noisy ice rink and trying to bring my focus back to the present.
There’s no point thinking about that. It’ll only make me sad.
Cal finally releases me, but he keeps his arms out like he doesn’t trust my balance and he wants to be prepared in case he needs to catch me again.
“I’m good now,” I tell him, a little mellower than a moment ago.
He frowns, his gaze raking over my body to make sure I’m not harmed somewhere he hasn’t noticed. “Are you okay?”
Forcing a smile, I nod. “Yeah. I’m fine. Let’s move over here by the edge so I don’t die.”
We move to the edge of the ice rink so I can exercise a little more caution, holding on as I make my way around the perimeter. Cal skates beside me, not needing to hold onto anything. He doesn’t rub it in, but he’s significantly better at this than I am.
I finally gain enough confidence to move away from the wall, but when Cal skates in front of me and turns around, drifting backwards and offering me his hands to hold onto, I can’t bring myself to turn him down. I’m wearing my gloves, but he doesn’t have any on. Even with the cashmere keeping us from skin to skin contact, when he takes my hands in his, my heart flutters.
I look up at him and find him watching me, an enigmatic twinkle in his blue-gray eyes. God, he’s so handsome. My heart aches just looking at him, knowing he can’t be mine.
Senior year is going to suck. I don’t know how I’ll make it so many more months in his classroom.