The air rushed out of his mouth, and he let out a grunt as his butt met the ground, but he held me tight, so I didn’t hit the hard ice.
“Oh my gosh, Hunter!”
“You okay?”
I held his gaze. Worry streamed through his bright eyes as he scanned my face. Lying on his big body, I didn’t feel the cold air or the hard ice. Heck, the people buzzing around us barely registered. Instead, the flushed cheeks and red lips of this solid guy beneath me were all that held my attention.
“Lina,” he whispered as he pulled me toward him, closer to those delicious lips.
Yes, I had to kiss them, or I might burn up. I closed my eyes and leaned toward him anticipating his rainstorm scent.
Soft lips met mine. They were cold, but once they touched me, they warmed, steaming me up pretty good, too. Suddenly my thick winter jacket was too much.
“You sure you’re okay?” Hunter asked, his nose touching mine.
“Good.” I could hardly talk. “Sorry I jumped on you.”
“Hey, I enjoyed it. Next time you might want to do it without the skates on, though. I’ll be better able to hold onto you.” He glanced at my mouth. “And I really want to hold you right now.”
And I really wanted to be held. But this wasn’t the place.
I rolled off him and sat on the ice for a few seconds as I got my bearings. We both eventually made it to our feet, and with Hunter slipping and sliding, we skated the loop a couple of times before we pulled off to sit by the snack bar.
“You doing okay with crowd?” he asked.
I nodded, smiling as I watched everyone. “It’s been so long since I’ve been able to people-watch. I forgot how fun they are.”
“Some not-so-fun people ruined that for you for a long time.”
I captured his gaze and held it for a long time, wanting so much to tell him everything. My chest ached because my heart was pounding so hard with desire to tell him, to share that part of me with him. That was a big step, though.
The progress I’d made these past few months…it was huge. Jenna had mentioned that the years of therapy and going through the grief process and basically all the healing I was doing was finally clicking into place. It wouldn’t be overnight, I knew that, but each step I was taking forward was bigger and bigger.
I knew things could go south again, I wasn’t naïve enough to think I’d never struggle again, but this freedom I felt was amazing.
I was close to being ready to tell Hunter more about what’d happened to me…But maybe not right now.
“You’re doing great, and you look beautiful.” He reached over and tugged one of my braids that hung from my beanie.
“I feel so…normal.”
He wrapped his big arm around me. “Good. Because you are. I, on the other hand, am not feeling so normal around all these skaters. It’s much harder than it looks.”
I laughed. I kind of figured he’d be able to master anything. He was so big and strong. Kind of like my superman, but he was normal, too.Normal.
With my head propped comfortably on his big bicep, I tilted toward him, and he smiled. “I think I’ll pick what our next adventure will be, deal?”
“Ultimate fighting event?”
His body stiffened around me. “No.”
“You used to fight, but you don’t like to watch anymore?”
“No. That’s…my past.”
“I’d like to hear about it.”
“Some other time.” He went to move his arm from around me. “Ready to go?”