“You killed my manhood,” I say, the edges of the pain slowly dulling.
Her eyes widen in alarm. “I’m so sorry,” she says, before bursting out into a fit of laughter.
“It’s not funny,” I grunt. But at this moment, I couldn’t care less. I’m holding London, she’s laughing, all is right in the world. Maybe not for my future as a parent, but for now it's all good.
“I’m sorry, it’s not.” She shakes her head. “But you mentioned making mistakes and I uh—”
I lift a hand to her cheek and her words die off. “Care to make another mistake?” I whisper, our faces inches apart. My thumb brushes her bottom lip.
“I… uh…” Her eyelids seem to be struggling to stay open.
“I think I won the race,” I murmur, tracing another slow stroke along her bottom lip.
“Did you?” She blinks rapidly, her eyes darting between my lips and eyes.
“And I think you know what I want.” My breath mingles with hers against the icy chill. The sounds of laughter and jingle bells fade away until there’s only her.
“Excuse me. You guys are being reckless on the ice and you need to leave.”
And that person apparently.
London clears her throat and gently pushes off of me. I stand, then hold a hand out to her.
“I’m sorry,” I address the woman. “It was my fault. I thought I could beat her, but I should have known not to challenge a beautiful woman like that.”
London looks between us.
“You still need to leave,” the woman says, unimpressed.
“We are,” London says, already skating away from me with the speed of someone embarrassed.
I catch up to her near the hot chocolate truck. I purchase one for both of us before approaching her.
“I’m sorry,” I say, extending the peace offering.
She leans against the half wall, holding the cocoa near her face. “No, it was my idea. I can’t believe I got us kicked out.”
“Well you did it, you made a mistake.”
“That I did.” She shakes her head, the twinkling lights around the rink dancing in her eyes.
“So about my win…”
She turns. “But did you really win? Because technically you slammed me into the wall first.”
“But I was in line with the Santa first because I was coming in from an angle,” I say, using my hands to demonstrate my knowledge of physics and uh…angles? It’s limited, okay?
She sips the hot chocolate. “Fine. What do you want?”
“A date with you. Tomorrow.”
She chews her bottom lip. “Sean I—” Her phone dings and she pulls it out. Her eyes lose some of their glow when she sees who it’s from and she puts it away with a resolute frown.
“Fine. One date. But I’m not kissing you.”
One win at a time.
Chapter 15
