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“Just alittle,” he qualified, with another twitch of his mouth. “Try to relax and havefun with it. You’re in good shape and you’re coordinated. You’ll do just fineif you relax a little.”

She’d neverdare to admit it, but a lot of Lori’s tension was caused by something otherthan the new skill she was trying to learn. Being with Ander now made her feelkind of jittery. Tense and confused. Part of it had to do with the knowledge ofhis identity.

And the rest ofit was caused by intense feelings Lori was too afraid to explore too deeply.

To cover hernerves, she glared up at him. “If you dare tell me I need to breathe ...”

Ander let out abrief burst of laughter, and Lori felt a little wave of delight at havingamused him that way. It was always like this for her now, swinging from oneemotional extreme to another.

But then Andergave her a thoughtful look. “Actually, that might not be a bad idea.” Before Loricould do more than huff, he continued, “Think about breathing the way you didthe first few times we were together.”

She stared athim suspiciously.

“Just do it,”he said with an ironic smile. “Trust me.”

As incongruousas it sounded, shedidtrust him. So, with a last roll of her eyes, shebegan to breathe slowly and evenly.

After a minute,Ander nudged her forward. “Let’s go. And move your legs with your breathing.”

It soundedabsolutely ridiculous, and it really shouldn’t have worked.

But it did.

Ander had tohelp her coordinate her motion at first, but Lori soon got the hang of it.Breathe and slide. Breathe and slide.

She made ithalfway around the rink before she started to wobble. And then she didn’t evenfall. After a while, she could make it around the entire rink by herself. Andsoon she could actually enjoy it.

They skated fora little more than an hour, but then the rink started getting more crowded. Itwas a Friday night and this was apparently a favorite spot for high schooldates. Lori could feel her cheeks were bright red from effort and activity, andher legs were getting a little tired.

So when Andersuggested just one more circle around the rink before they left, she was infull agreement.

She wasdelighted with herself when she made it the whole way without even a wobble.She clung to Ander’s hand and decided she understood why she’d always dreamedice-skating would be such a fun and romantic activity.

Lori wasbrimming over with victory at her accomplishment and with giddy excitement asthey finally came to a stop and stepped off the ice.

She took offher skates, grinning to herself and thinking how much fun she would have hadskating with her best friend and crush from high school. She kind of felt likea teenager again right now, so she could only imagine how she would have feltback then.

“Have fun?” Anderasked, straightening up after he slid on his shoes. His face was relaxed andshe could have sworn he was having a good time too. Surely he wasn’t justpretending for her benefit.

Lori stood upand beamed up into his face. “Yes.”

He looked soadorable in his dusky purple shirt, with slightly flushed cheeks and soft eyesand mouth that she wanted to hug him.

Then shecouldn’t think of a reason not to.

Without lettingherself question the action, she wrapped her arms around him, pressed her bodyagainst his, and squeezed him tightly. “It was wonderful! Thank you for takingme.”

She felt Anderstiffen in her arms for just a moment, before he relaxed and hugged her back.

She supposedshe must have surprised him. It should be pretty obvious that hugging one’sgigolo out of purejoie de vivrewasn’t a normal activity.

But he returnedher embrace soon enough and warmly enough to keep her from getting tooself-conscious. He smelled wonderful and Lori breathed him in as she squeezedhim.

When she pulledback, she caught a flicker in his eyes of a feeling she couldn’t quite name.Her mouth parted in surprise as she gazed up at him, trying to catch a glimpseof it again.

His mouthquirked up with a familiar, dry humor. “Someone really should have taken youice-skating before now.”

Lori snorted.“Yeah. Tell me about it. But they wouldn’t have been such a good teacher asyou.” She slanted him a quizzical look. “Do you have to be good at everything?”

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