I had no idea why he would feel vulnerable. It wasn’thisdignity and pride atstake.
He knew how toskate.
And he knew how not to land on hisbutt.
“Okay, Cool Stuff. Show me how it’sdone.”
My years of dance didnotprepare me for walking in figure skates. That thin blade under the boots? Designed purely to make the unskilled look far from graceful. It also made for a wobblywalk.
But that was nothing compared to stepping down from the rubber mat onto the slippery ice. My legs instantly tensed and I held up my arms for balance…or at least to attempt tobalance.
“You’re doing great,” Josh said from the rink entrance. I was still blocking the way, keeping him from joining me on theice.
Purely accidental—in case you were wondering. I just didn’t know how to moveforward.
I grabbed the low wall and pulled myself away from the entrance. Josh effortlessly stepped onto the ice, then skated forward a few meters to demonstrate what I was supposed to do…if my legs chose tocooperate.
“Okay, I think I got it.”Ornot.
Taking great care not to fall on my arse, I slowly let go of thewall.
So far sogood.
Josh reached for my hand, which I gladly gave him. If I was going down, so washe.
With my muscles tense like an overly wound elastic band, I pushed my foot against the ice like he had shown me. Surprisingly, not only did Inotfall on my backside, I actually moved forward. Could you believeit?
I attempted it again—and was rewarded with the sameresult.
“I’mskating!”
Josh grinned at me. “Yes, youare.”
He kept hold of my hand while I continued skating, my legs shaky. I was positive if anyone else witnessed this, they’d be laughing their arsesoff.
But I didn’tcare.
I. Was. Freaking.Skating.
We skated around the rink, our progress super-slow. But by the time we had completed a lap, my legs weren’t quite as shaky and my muscles were no longer as stiff asbefore.
“You enjoying this?” Joshasked.
“Yes.” I flashed him a quick smile. “This was the best surprise ever.” Other than the one that ended up beingLily.
The music ended and “The Way You Look Tonight” began to play. Josh sang the lyrics as we continued skating around the ice, with him still holding myhand.
When he got to the line “Keep that breathless charm,” he stopped skating and turned to face me. “Holly, I never expected to ever fall in love but I did—with you. And even though together we made a beautiful little girl, I would still feel the same way about you even if she hadn’t been conceived. I would have still fallen in love with you. I would have still wanted to spend my life with you—and onlyyou.”
My eyes misted at his words. The words I had longed for him to say all this time.But…
“Did Kelsey tell you to say that?” I asked, voice hushed and strained withemotion.
“No. She made me figure it out myself. But I should have told you all of that from the beginning. While I might not have said those words back then, it was certainly how I felt. I was just too much of a dumbass to realize you didn’t know that was how I felt. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to figure thatout.”
He put his hand in his hoodie pocket and got down on one knee. No, I didn’t start sobbing like most girls would have. I had my big-girl panties on. My incredibly sexy, black lace, big-girlpanties.
“Holly Whittaker, will you spend the rest of your life growing old with me? Will you marry me?” He removed his hand from the pocket along with a small blackbox.
