Page 60 of Ice Bet

I mumbled, “Not what you were saying last night.”

Her gasp was as loud as my chuckle, but when she slipped beside me, I quit laughing altogether. I used my honed reflexes and caught her before she fell. I cursed when her ass landed right on my dick. My book flew to the ice, as if it were making room for her on my lap instead of it.

“Good thing you’re wearing that padlock,” I whispered, trying to make a joke. But it wasn't funny. All it took was one touch, and I was a goner. I wanted to kiss her again.

Shit.

I shoved her gently and ended up sliding her several feet away on her butt.

She swallowed slowly and breathed out of her nose. “What are we even doing?”

“Taking another baby step.” I pulled out two more books from my backpack and rested them in between us, horizontally. Riley furrowed her brow before pushing her dark hair behind her ear. I caught the shine of the little hoops she wore and wondered why the change in earrings.Trying to look nice?

“And the books between us…?”

I flipped open my notebook and pulled off the cap of my highlighter with my teeth. I kept it there, paying her no attention as I mumbled, “A barrier.”

Her lively laugh echoed around the rink. “Are you kidding me?”

Our eyes met, and her gaping mouth was more of a smile. “When was the last time you laughed while in the rink?”

The apples of her cheeks turned pink.I thought so.

I raised an eyebrow. “You have a paper due in your marketing management class, so get to writing. We know how you like to formulate plans. Come up with one to keep your chosen marketing campaign on track.”

“How the hell do you kno—”

I held up the book closest to her.

An idea sparked when it blocked her face for a second.

I started to stack my books on top of each other. “Your class is right before mine. I see you walking with Sutton every Wednesday. I also saw Sully and Jasper walking with you two. What did they want? To get you drunk at the next frat party to help their chances at winning their bet?”

I continued to stack my books, blocking her altogether.

“You are such a stalker.”

“And you're a tease.”

The books between us came clambering down to the ice. One slid to my foot, and the other slid to hers. I reached forward to grab it at the same time she did and grabbed her hand instead.

Tingles raced up my arm at the touch, just like they did last night with my hand between her legs.

“Yep.” I pulled the book out of her grasp and began stacking them again. “A total, fucking tease. Ask anyone on the team. They’ll agree.”

“I’mpurposefullyteasing them, though. Of course they’d agree.”

“After I put those skates on your feet and get your ass back on track for tryouts, you won’t be teasing anyone.”

I heard her bratty tone through our wall of books but ignored whatever she had to say.

“For the next several days, we’re going to do our homework on the ice, eat dinner on the ice, and hell, maybe even sleep on the ice. You’re going to get comfortable with it again before we put our skates on. Got it?”

“Yes,Dad.I’ve got it.”

“And one more thing.” I leaned back and caught her soft gaze. “Stop fucking calling me dad.”

Riley rolled her pretty eyes and sucked in her lips to avoid smiling. She put her hand to her forehead and saluted me before going back to her paper.

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