Page 78 of The Roommate Remodel

“That was so mean,” I mutter to Brax with a smile as he skates off.

Alex doesn’t hunt me down, thankfully, but that doesn’t mean I’m safe. I wait until her light is off and text Brax when I see her car leave the parking lot.

No reason to risk the Ice Queen’s wrath about our private practice, which Brax has been begging me to schedule. He’s nervous about the opening number and needs help with the choreography, but I also suspect he just wants time alone with me. And finding time for usalonehas felt like an impossible task, since most days, my house looks, sounds, and smells like a men’s college dorm. The TV blares from the living room, smelly hockey gear lines the hall, and it always seems like someone is making food. My kitchen has become as busy as a roadhouse diner.

Which means the only way for us to spend time alone is by sneaking away.

When I arrive at the rink, Brax is waiting at the entrance, leaning against the wall, looking cuter than any hockey player should. His lips curve into a smile when he sees me, and I immediately walk into his arms because I actually can. No one is going to tease us, report us, or call us out for PDA.

“Do you want to practice the opening number first?” I ask, smothered against his chest. I get so few opportunities to hug him like this, I’m going to take full advantage of being wrapped up in his arms like a Brax burrito.

“Let’s go for a spin around the rink,” he murmurs against my hair.

I tilt my head to look up at him. “That’s not on the agenda, and I’m a terrible skater.”

“You don’t trust me to catch you?” He shakes his head. “I would never let you fall.”

“I thought we were here to work,” I remind him.

Something sparks in his gaze. “Work can wait. I thought you always wanted a Hallmark movie skating date? That’s what you told me before.” He arches an eyebrow, waiting for me to remember my confession at Mia’s wedding reception.

He snaps his fingers and music comes on. It’s Taylor Swift’s “This Is Me Trying”—the other thing I admitted to him that night in the closet. While the music soars, the bright florescent lights fade and a slow strobe moves across the ice, suddenly giving the effect of a dance floor with a disco ball.

“How did you do that?” I gasp.

“I have accomplices.” He nods toward the sound booth, where Vale and Dawson wave. “If you haven’t figured it out, we’re not here to practice.” He gives me a sly smile.

“We’re here for a skating lesson?” I ask.

“A couples’ slow skate. I can’t give you the snow you asked for, but at least we have the music. You ever skate before?”

“Only in middle school. And just for the record, no one ever asked me to pair up with them or hold hands.”

Brax frowns. “That’s a shame. They didn’t know what they were missing.”

“Just for the record, I wasn’t exactly a hottie back then. I had frizzy curls that stuck out, shiny braces, and I wore the same T-shirt almost every day until my stepmother finally took me aside and gave me a much-needed girls’ trip to the mall. That’s the one thing she taught me. How to feel pretty both insideandout.”

Brax takes the back of his knuckles and brushes them down my cheek, featherlight. “Now it’s my job to tell you how beautiful you are, insideandout, as much as possible.”

Then he holds his hands out to me. “If you’ll do me the honor, I’d like to be the first guy to skate with you. If you’ll have me?”

I nod, and my chest nearly splits wide open with happiness. After all these years of never being asked, Brax is the perfect partner.

I frown. “But I didn’t bring any skates.”

“Size seven, right?” Sitting on the bench behind him is a pair of white women’s skates and a jersey.

“How did you know?”

“Your sister,” he says.

He picks up the skates and nods toward the bench. “Sit, Princess.”

I give him a look, and he lifts an eyebrow. I know better than to fight him on this. He kneels in front of me and slips off my shoe.

“This really isn’t necessary,” I insist. “I can lace my own skates, Brax.”

“Not like I can,” he says, working his magic, loosening the laces before sliding it on. He does the same with the other foot, then ties each skate, taking care to get it just right.

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