Page 51 of The Sweetest Surrender

Chapter Fifteen

When the attendant returned, it was with the manager who carried their skates in hand. She was a rather tall woman almost meeting Jordan’s height of six foot three inches. Curly black and silver strands coursed through her mane, and her face was flushed from the cool outdoor weather.

“Mr. Rose, thank you and your companion for joining us today here at Maggie’s Daley Park.” The woman glanced between the two. “Am I to assume you guys are a couple?”

The city of Chicago was infamous for trying to find out who was dating in the Rose family. While they tried to live their lives like anyone else, it was impossible because of their popularity. Jordan slipped an arm underneath Selena’s and branded her to his side.

“No need to assume,” he said, “this is Selena, my girlfriend.”

The woman’s mouth opened, and she clapped with glee. Selena blushed even harder. Although they’d made that clear last night at Velvet Café, Selena had yet to hear him say those words out loud. It spun her where she stood and sizzled her blood. Just then, Jordan leaned into her for a kiss on the forehead when Selena turned her face up to meet his lips head-on.

“Mmmm,” Jordan’s dark voice grooved. He pulled away then gave Selena a warning glare. “Don’t get me started, girl.”

Selena chuckled and turned back to the smiling manager with a wave.

“Hi, how are you this afternoon?”

“Doing better now that we have celebrities in our midst.”

Selena pressed her lips tightly. She was hardly a celebrity. But with Jordan at her side, she’d just unintentionally become one.

“Here are your skates. Lockers are located over there,” the manager pointed.

“Thank you,” Selena and Jordan chimed simultaneously.

Jordan’s arms fell from her waist, and he clutched her hand, mingling their fingers. They strolled hand in hand to the lockers and removed their shoes and strapped on their blades.

“I didn’t know you could ice skate,” Selena said.

“Growing up, Norma aided us in trying out different things. She nor my father wanted us to grow up with the mindset that we could only do this or that because of our heritage or because we were black men. While we were mostly interested in sports and girls—”

“Of course,” Selena added, and Jordan chuckled.

“They would take us out to try other things. Ice skating was one of them.” Jordan laughed when he thought of some of his favorite times. Hand in hand, he and Selena stepped onto the ice and Jordan made sure she had her balance before he continued.

“I will never forget the look on Jonas’ face. He was so outraged. The only thing he wanted to do was go to the park and find some girls to talk to. Skating is for wimps he used to say.”

Selena grinned. “I can see Jonas saying something like that.”

Jordan nodded. “Jacob was the happiest. He fell so many times, spinning on his butt and sliding on his knees.”

“Jacob’s next to the youngest of your brothers, right?”

“Yeah. Then Josiah.”

“I’m sure Josiah had fun, too, then.”

Jordan nodded. “He did, but he would act like he was as mad as Jonas since he wanted to be so much like his big brother.”

Selena nodded again with a smile. “I guess most little brothers want to be like their big brothers.”

“Yeah, we all did in our own way. Jonas was our hero. We all took a back seat so to speak while trying to imitate his steps in life.” Jordan rubbed his chin with one hand. “He inspired us to be the best person we could, ya know. And even though we all had an eye out for women, he taught us self-discipline, and made sure we knew to respect them at all times. We listened to Jonas and took his words to heart.”

“Does he know how big of an influence he had on you guys’ upbringing?”

“I think so. We’ve told him as much. I know I have.”

With a quick shift, Jordan twirled Selena, pulling her into his embrace just as a skater shot past her.

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