Page 52 of Ice Bet

“That wasn’t so hard now, was it?” He was smug while he grinned and put his hands in his pockets.

I tightened my scarf around my neck like it was going to hide my vulnerability. “What? Jumping over the ledge?”

He shook his head after adjusting his hat. “No. I was referring to you doing what I asked for once.”

My mind went in a completely different direction than he was implying, and my cheeks fired up again.What the hell is wrong with me?I began analyzing my thoughts over the way I kept trying to escape the reality of what Aasher and I were doing alone in the ice rink.

I was well-versed in recognizing my defense mechanisms.

Avoidance was my best talent.

The door opened to the rink, and I stared at Aasher’s back as he blocked the view. My breathing began to pick up, and I took a step back. He peered over his shoulder at me, showcasing his sturdy jaw and furrowed brow.

“Just opening the door bothers you?”

I made a face before turning away.

“Hey, put the claws away. I’m not poking fun at you. I’m just trying to understand so I can help you.”

“What are you?” I snapped. “A therapist?”

I wasn’t angry at him. I was angry at myself.

His lips twitched, and annoyance was ticking like a bomb in my chest. There was a self-proclaimed part of me that wanted to storm past him to get on the ice—just to prove a point. But I wouldn’t.

“Have you always been this sassy? Or is it the fear making you that way?”

“It’s you!”

There was a slip in my confidence around him. I was nervous, but it wasn’t because I thought I wasn’t safe around him. I wasn’t sure if it was because he was one of the only hockey players that wasn’t doing their best to manipulate me into their bed or if it was because, deep down, I knew he wasn’t a bad guy.

“It’s me?”

Aasher crept forward, but I refused to back away. My heart thumped harder with each step he took, and when he was right in front of me, I held my breath. His hand slowly rose, and when it went around the base of my neck and slipped under my scarf, I finally inhaled our shared oxygen. I hated how shaky my breaths were.

“Fuck, Riley.” Aasher’s thumb brushed against the side of my neck, and chills raced to my flesh. “Your pulse isthisfast because of me?”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” I said, panicking that he was right.

His hand stayed on my neck, and before I knew it, I was staring up into his green eyes, getting lost and forgetting where I was. His palm was a salve. I was calmer, but there was still chaos. It just wasn’t the same chaos that I had felt moments ago. This was different.

The rink lights flicked off. I jumped and stepped closer to him. We were surrounded by the dark with nothing but the glow of the red exit sign in the distance. “Sorry,” I murmured, trying to step away.

He tightened his fingers around my neck just enough to keep me in place. “That’s what I was waiting for. Are you ready?”

“For what?” My lazy tone surprised me.

His white teeth looked brighter in the dark when he smiled. “For the first step in getting you ready for tryouts, baby.”

My pulse fired up, and I refused to admit that it was partly because he called me baby. He rubbed the pad of his thumb against my skin, right over my pulse. “Relax.” His warm breath smelled like mint mixed with ice, and I inhaled before letting out a shaky breath. “Now close your eyes and get ready.”

17

AASHER

I wasa confident guy with an ego bigger than the entire ice rink, but I was flying blind with Riley an inch away from me.

The ideas to make her comfortable on the ice were all off the table. If she were any other girl, I could distract her with one brush of my palm against her hip, but she was off-limits,especiallyafter knowing how it felt to kiss her. So instead, I had to work in ways that were going to be infinitely harder.

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