“Come on, Georgie, I’ll help you.”
“I need more help than you can provide.”
“Five minutes. In five minutes you’ll be skating like a pro.”
“No, thanks.”
“You can’t just sit here, Georgie.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’ll get bored.” Then he shrugged and said, “And because Lexie will worry about you.”
“Lexie won’t worry about me.”
“Sure she will. She told me she didn’t want you to sit here all by yourself.”
He was lying. Like any six-year-old, Lexie was basically self-centered and took her mother for granted. “After five minutes you’ll leave and let me hold down the bench?” she asked, compromising so he’d leave her alone.
“I promise, and I promise that I won’t let you fall either.”
Georgeanne sighed with resignation, placing one hand in his palm and the other on the stone wall. “I’m not very athletic,” she warned him as she carefully stood.
“Well, your other talents make up for it.”
She was about to ask him what he meant, but he moved behind her and placed his strong hands on her hips.
“Outside of a good pair of skates,” he said close to her left ear, “the most important thing is balance.”
Georgeanne felt his breath on the side of her neck and became so flustered her skin tingled. “Where do I put my hands?” she asked.
He took so long to answer she didn’t think he was going to. Then just when she opened her mouth to repeat her question, he said, “Wherever you want.”
She balled her fingers into fists and held them down at her sides.
“You need to relax,” he said as they slowly rolled down the Prom. “You’re like a totem pole on wheels.”
“I can’t help it.” Her back collided with his chest, and his hands tightened on her hips.
“Sure you can. First off, you need to bend your knees a little bit and balance your weight over your feet. Then push out with your right foot.”
“Isn’t the five minutes up yet?”
“No.”
“I’ll fall.”
“I won’t let you fall.”
Georgeanne took one quick glance down the Promenade, spotted Lexie a short distance away, then looked down at her skates. “Are you sure?” she asked one last time.
“Of course. I do this for a living. Remember?”
“Okay.” Carefully she bent her knees slightly.
“Good. Now give a little push,” he instructed, but when she did, her feet began to slide out from under her. John wrapped one forearm around her middle and his other hand grabbed her and kept her from falling. She found herself pressed tightly against his chest, her breath frozen in her lungs. She wondered if he knew what he’d grabbed.
There wasn’t a doubt that John knew. If he’d been blind, he would have known he’d grabbed one of Georgeanne’s big, soft breasts. In a split second his battered control shattered completely. Up until now, he’d done reasonably well at governing his body’s reaction to her. Now, for the first time since he’d seen her standing on his deck yesterday morning, his control completely deserted him.