Page 50 of Last Round

Just as I assumed, he mounts the board perfectly. “Okay, now turn so you’re standing sideways.” He’s not as graceful but regains his balance. “There you go, big guy.”

“Holy shit.” Killian’s smile is bright as he clumsily rolls around on the board. “This is awesome. How do I turn?”

“All you need to do is lean, shift your weight. My trucks are loose enough that it’ll follow your lead.”

“I don’t know what any of that means. But here we go.” His eyes widen as he leans a little too hard. He’s about to face-plant but centers himself like a pro. He circles back around to me and dismounts.

“You did it.” I give him a high-five, and he crashes his mouth to mine. This time, he deepens the kiss. Following his lead, I wrap my arms around his neck. He grabs my ass as I hug him with my legs. Just like our make-out session the other night, the world drops away.

“Thank you,” he whispers.

“I should be the one thanking you. This is incredible.”

“While you’re one sexy teacher, I want to watch you now.”

“Hmm… Okay.” I smile. “But I’m going to get you at the park one of these days to continue our lessons, Mr. Murphy.”

“Sounds like a date.” Killian kisses me again before setting me down.

For the next magical forty-five minutes, he watches as I roll around the empty halls. Without a proper setup, and in order to be respectful of the property, I avoid grinding on any of their benches and fountain. Which leaves me with a few tricks. Honestly, I haven’t skated since before I left, so I’m rusty. Now that I’ve felt the thrill of being on it again, I’m going to get my ass to the park as soon as possible.

As I return from doing a final full-lap solo around the first floor of the mall, Killian stands with a white paper bag in his hand.

“What’s that?” I ask.

“Dinner.” He lifts it into my line of sight and I read the front. Auntie Anne’s.

“Seriously?” I nearly squeal, kick off my board, and rush to snatch a pretzel and a cup of cheese. I waste no time taking a bite. “It’s warm.”

“They’re fresh.”

“How did you get a fresh pretzel in a closed mall?”

“A man needs his secrets.”

“Well, Mystery Man, what’s next?”

“You sure you don’t want me to come over? Keep you company? I’ll even let you be the big spoon?” Bex teases. Trying her hardest to cheer me up.

I swap the phone to the other shoulder. “I’m fine. Just a little disappointed.”

As soon as he left, I called her right away—as promised—and gave her all the dirty details. Well, not exactlydirty,since the most amazing date I’ve ever had simplyended.Not that it concluded poorly. Killian was a total gentleman, walked me up the porch, kissed me goodnight, made sure I was inside with the door locked before leaving.

“I gave him every signal to come in. Even asked him to. But he wouldn’t. He kept mumbling something about if he did, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself. Newsflash: I DIDN’T WANT HIM TOO!”

Bex laughs. “Admit it… his self-control is impressive.”

“Yeah, my throbbing lady bits beg to differ.”

“Come on, celebrate. It’s every girl’s dream to lockdown a total playboy like him.”

“I don’t want tolock him down.” I shut the door to the fridge.

I’ve been aimlessly staring throughout our entire conversation, looking for something to eat. Hoping a meal would magically appear within its emptiness. Alas, all that remains is a half-eaten brick of questionable cheese and an orange. I admit I’m probably doing this more out of stress than hunger. After the mall, we went out for dinner, and I ate until I couldn’t breathe. No, this is me searching for something that I can’t find, because what I want isn’t food. It’shim.

“When are you going out again?”

“We didn’t set an exact date. But with work, I’m going to see him all week. Plus, Luke’s big fight is this weekend, so I know we’re going to be busy. It just sucks, because before you know it, Sean’s going to be back and the moment he finds out, he’s going to flip. Force Killian to end this before it even gets started.”

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