Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

K ira was in way over her head. Buying a farm and opening her own business was one thing. But ice-skating? That was a step too far.

‘I think maybe I’ll just watch,’ she said, wobbling on her rented skates, even though she was still standing on the rubber mats they put around the rink.

‘Are you sure?’ Iris asked, assessing her from under her knit hat. She looked adorable, in her black leggings and oversized sweater. It was red with white snowflakes on it, and Kira wished she’d worn something more festive than her olive-green coat, but she was freezing as usual.

‘I’m sure. I’ll just observe until I get the idea.’

Iris laughed. ‘I still can’t believe you’ve never ice-skated before.’

‘I told you, my family avoided any activities that required freezing temperatures.’

‘Right, I forgot. A whole family afraid of being cold,’ Iris teased.

‘Just be careful out there, Iris. There’s a lot of kids.’

Iris nudged her with a laugh and Kira had to hold onto the half-wall around the rink in order not to tip over. ‘Ha. Ha,’ Iris said. ‘I’m glad you came anyway.’

They’d quickly become friends, or trauma-bonded over providing what felt like the entire Christmas-crazed town with their trees in the course of three days, but either way, Kira was happy to have someone to joke with again.

‘Yeah. Me, too,’ Kira admitted, begrudgingly. Iris had convinced her to come skating at the ice rink after closing up the farm for the night, to celebrate their early success. And while Kira was incredibly pleased with their sales since the grand reopening, she could think of a million other places she’d rather celebrate. But Iris had insisted it was a Christmas-season-in-Dream-Harbor-must-do. So here she was.

Iris glided onto the ice like some kind of winter Olympian, or at least like someone who was unlikely to fall on her ass.

‘I’ll give you a few minutes to work up the courage, but then I’m coming back for you,’ Iris warned as she skated away backwards.

Backwards! Show off.

Kira just waved her off. There was no way she was getting out there on the ice.

Should her feet be hurting already? Even though she hadn’t skated a single step?

She shifted a little as she watched the skaters. The outdoor rink was full of people happily skating like it was the easiest damn thing in the world. People of all ages sped past her, but it was the tiny kids with hockey helmets she was particularly afraid of. She had been teasing Iris about her dislike of children, but these kids looked seriously dangerous. They moved fast and apparently had no fear. She could very clearly imagine one taking her out at the knees.

This was a terrible idea.

She caught a glimpse of Iris across the rink; she had stopped to lean against the partial wall that lined the rink and was chatting with a small group of people.

A small group of people that just so happened to included Bennett Ellis.

He hadn’t taken her up on her offer to walk the dogs at the farm, but now here he was reappearing in her life where she least expected him to. Damn it. The last thing she wanted was for Bennett to see her sliding across the ice on her face. She needed to get out of here, but she didn’t want to bail on Iris, not to mention she could barely walk in these damn skates.

Oh, shit. And now Iris was pointing to her from across the rink and Jeanie was waving and Bennett was skating toward her with complete confidence, like he was born wearing skates and there was nowhere to run.

He was heading straight for the wall she was leaning on like he might crash into it but instead did that hockey stop thing that sprayed ice into the air. It was obnoxious. And hot. And more obnoxious that it was hot.

‘Hey,’ he said, only slightly out of breath, his cheeks rosy from the cold.

‘Hello.’ Was she feeling a little prickly with him for not stopping by the farm in the past few days? Absolutely not. She was just cold and her feet hurt. And she was not looking forward to being embarrassed in front of him again.

His mouth tipped up in the corner. ‘Are you planning on skating?’

‘No. I just came for the ambience.’

‘The ambience?’ Bennett glanced around at the racing children and the tinny music blaring over the loudspeakers.

‘Yep. Just soaking in that Christmas cheer.’

‘Sure.’ His smile grew. ‘Do you want help?’

That question should not have been so loaded. She shouldn’t want to yell at him that she didn’t need his help with anything. She shouldn’t want his help so damn much. No, not his help, just him . Just his proximity made her feel better. And it shouldn’t. She was independent now. Perfectly fine on her own.

‘No, thank you.’

‘Kira…’

‘I don’t need your help.’

‘Just like you didn’t need my help with getting that tree onto the car?’

‘Exactly like that.’

‘Kira.’

‘What?’

‘I’ve been swamped with work. I haven’t had time to drive up to the farm for dog walks.’

It irked her that he knew that was why she was acting so grouchy with him. How dare he be so astute.

‘Why would I care about that? I’ve been busy, too.’ She sniffed.

‘Kira.’ He held out his hand to her and she tried her damnedest to ignore it. ‘Kira, let me help you.’

‘I’m perfectly happy watching.’

‘You’d rather stand there, wobbling on those skates and freezing your butt off than let me help you?’

He had a point. She was freezing, and flailing around for her life as she made her way around the rink would probably work up a sweat. Iris and Jeanie waved to her from across the rink, beckoning her to join them.

Iris thought she was cool for leaving her life behind and starting the farm. She couldn’t let her new friend, her only friend, down.

Ugh.

She took Bennett’s hand. It was comforting and warm and her fingers immediately started to defrost.

‘Okay, we’re just going to take it slow,’ he said, soothingly, like he was talking to a spooked horse, which may have been how Kira looked as she stepped through the opening in the wall and onto the ice.

One skate, two skates. There. She was on. She kept her death grip on Bennett’s hand and he smiled at her.

‘Now we have to move.’

Kira frowned. ‘Are you sure? I kinda feel like this is good enough for my first time.’

‘Kira…’ he coaxed. ‘Come on. One foot in front of the other.’

She glared at him, but slowly slid one skate forward. Unfortunately, the other one did not follow and she nearly did a full split before Bennett hauled her back upright.

She clung to the front of his sweater.

‘I got you.’

‘No. Nope. I almost fell.’

‘But you didn’t.’

‘But I almost did.’

He had an arm wrapped around her back now, holding her steady as a rush of child skaters moved past them, his strong body protecting her from tiny people with hockey helmets and no concept of personal space.

‘I got you,’ he said again but this time his lips brushed the sensitive shell of her ear. A shiver ran the entire length of her body. She pulled away just enough to see his eyes darken and his perfect lips tip up in the corner. Uh-oh. Skating was even more dangerous than she thought.

‘Let’s try again,’ he said, taking her hand in his. ‘Push with one foot and then glide. Push and glide.’

‘Push and glide. Right. Piece of cake.’ Staring at her skates was a good excuse not to look at Bennett’s lips, so that was what she did. Push and glide. Push and glide. There. She was doing it. Well, sort of. Her pushes were very small and her glides were pretty choppy and they were making incredibly slow progress around the rink, but she was upright.

She forgot to keep her eyes on her feet and glanced at Bennett. Damn it, this man was just made for outdoor excursions. He looked rosy and healthy and the stars twinkling behind his head just added to the whole dizzying effect of him.

‘Ta-da,’ she whispered and his smile grew.

‘Very good.’ He dipped his head closer to hers so she could hear him over the music. ‘You continue to impress me, Kira.’

Her sarcastic response died on her tongue as he ran his thumb over the soft skin of her wrist beneath her coat. Suddenly she was very aware of her hand in his, of his long fingers woven through hers. If she had any confidence in her ability not to get grievously injured, she would have let go. But instead, she had no choice but to let Bennett’s body and words warm her.

‘Look at you!’ Iris cheered as she skated by, spun on her skates and turned to face Kira. ‘You’re a natural.’

Kira cleared her throat, emerging from the trance of Bennett’s proximity. ‘That is definitely not true. But if I stay off my ass, I’ll consider it a success.’

Iris smiled at Bennett as she leisurely skated backwards, somehow avoiding other skaters and the wall. ‘I’m sure Bennett will keep track of your ass.’

Bennett choked on nothing, a startled cough escaping his lips.

Iris laughed. ‘To keep it off the ground, I mean.’

‘Keep what off the ground?’ Jeanie asked, skating up beside them.

‘Me,’ Kira said, out of the corner of her eye catching the blush that had worked its way up Bennett’s cheeks.

Jeanie smiled. ‘I’m sure he will.’ She skated off with Iris, the two of them giggling and Kira started to wonder if there was something in the water in this town.

‘Those two are weird,’ she said.

‘Very.’

‘I will obviously keep track of my own ass.’

‘Obviously.’

She snuck another glance, and saw he was looking at her like he had other ideas in mind. Again, his thumb was tracing circles over her wrist, and she wondered if he knew he was doing it. If he was driving her crazy on purpose.

How had she ever thought he was wholesome when he was looking at her like that ? Like he was thinking about her ass. Like he wanted her. Which was insane considering she was currently wearing the world’s bulkiest parka and was creeping around the rink like an elderly turtle.

But he was. That heat was back in Bennett’s eyes and Kira was getting dangerously close to stoking the flames. Would it be so bad to give in to that look? To see what this good guy had to offer?

He was still looking at her when the pee-wee hockey player nailed them from behind and they both went crashing to the ice.

* * *

‘Shit, shit, shit.’ Bennett hit the ice hard, his legs tangled up with Kira’s. She let out a scared little squeal as they went down that would probably haunt his dreams forever.

‘You okay?’ he asked, quickly sitting up. He looked down at where Kira was sprawled on the ice. ‘Can you get up?’

Kira winced. ‘If you mean, am I too injured to get up, the answer is no. If you’re asking if I am physically capable of getting up, the answer is also no.’

He huffed a laugh, relieved that she was okay enough to crack jokes.

‘Here.’ He took her by the arm and eased her up to a seat. The kid that crashed into them had already skated off, unscathed by the collision.

‘A hit and run,’ Kira said with a scowl. ‘I don’t even know which one it was. They all look the same with those helmets.’

‘What would you do if you knew who did it? Seek retribution?’

‘Something like that. Get their mom to yell at them at the very least.’

Bennett shook his head with a laugh. ‘All right, let’s get up before we get run over.’ He managed to get himself back on his feet but Kira was slipping and sliding all over the place, her flailing threatening to knock them both over again.

‘Maybe I should just crawl,’ she said with a groan as she fell back on her butt.

‘You’re not crawling.’ He leaned down, put his hands on her waist and hoisted her up to a stand. Her eyes went wide when he then scooped her into his arms.

‘What the hell are you doing?’

‘I’m carrying you.’

‘No way.’

‘You going to skate back?’ He raised an eyebrow in challenge and Kira glanced across the rink. They’d made it halfway and it had taken a hell of a long time to get here.

Kira frowned but relented. ‘I will allow it.’

He laughed and started to head toward the exit. And it was fine, totally just a friend helping a friend, until Kira leaned her head against his chest and sighed . Sighed like she liked being there. His fingers tightened on her thighs. First her hand in his, then all this talk about her ass, and now this? Kira in his arms, her silky hair tickling along his throat, her scent washing over him? And all he could think about was the soft skin of her wrist and how he’d wanted to replace his thumb with his tongue, how he’d wanted to explore a lot more than her wrist.

What the hell was he doing? He’d resolved to stay away from her, to tamp down his ‘rescuer’ instincts, and he’d ended up with Kira in a bridal hold as he escorted her off the ice. He was obviously failing epically.

‘Uh, the ice-skating lifeguard is blowing his whistle at us,’ Kira said, distracting him from his thoughts.

‘Ice-skating lifeguard?’ Bennett looked in the direction Kira was pointing. ‘Oh, the high-schooler with a whistle and a safety vest? I’m not worried about him.’

‘He’s yelling that you have to put me down,’ she said with a smile in her voice.

‘I’ll put you down when we get there.’

‘Uh-oh, Bennett, I thought you were a rule follower,’ she teased as they approached the exit. ‘A good boy.’

He slowed down, ignoring the way she’d purred those last words, and stepped carefully off the ice. He lowered Kira to the ground and tried desperately to ignore the way her body pressed against the entire length of his as he did. She didn’t pull away, just looked up at him with a mischievous grin.

There were so many rules he wanted to break when it came to Kira, mostly the ones he had made for himself. He wanted to take her home, he wanted to take her to bed, he wanted to dive headfirst into this thing with her that made no sense and would land him exactly where he always landed, alone and confused about what he’d done wrong this time.

But the answer was clear: he kept doing the same thing over and over again. Falling for women that he had no future with. His home wasn’t here. His life wasn’t here. He’d already been down this road before, and he couldn’t do it again.

Kira was not the one for him.

And he needed to remember that, even as she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

‘Thanks for rescuing me,’ she said, her voice light and teasing in his ear. ‘I hope it was good for you.’

He bit down on a groan. This woman was going to kill him. She was so close; her delicious lips were right there . A slight turn of his head and his mouth would be on hers. It took all his strength to pull away.

Kira raised an eyebrow, a playful smirk on her face and damn, did he want to play with her. But it just wasn’t meant to be.

‘Real good,’ he said, and Kira’s smile grew. ‘But I have to get going.’

Her face fell. ‘Oh.’

‘See you around, Kira.’

‘Right. See you around, Bennett.’