Page 64 of Hold On Me

I can’t stifle my laughter, and she grins at the sound of it. Yep, I definitely like that sass. A lot.

“I don’t even know who Westley is.”

She gasps and shakes her head in disgust whilst I chuckle.

“Oh, one more thing.” She slips her bag over her shoulder and waits for me to finish. “When I said I was yours and you’re mine, I meant it. I don’t share, Little One.”

Nerves flitter in my stomach as she smirks and slowly walks back to me. She doesn’t stop in front of me, though. She strides out of the bedroom and heads toward the main door as I follow blindly. She bends down to put her trainers on and snatches her coat from the hook. Once she’s secured the last button on her coat, she pops a knitted hat on her head.

Standing a couple of inches away from her, still waiting for her response, she pops up onto her toes, grips my shoulders and whispers into my ear, “I don’t share either. I can be just as possessive, Ben, when it comes tomyman.”

A shiver trails over my body as she plants a smacking kiss on my cheek. She laughs and heads straight out the door, whilst I’m left to fight my erection and the urge to spank her arse before we go anywhere. She’s bloody perfect.

34

PENELOPE

“You’ve really never done this before?” A shiver of electricity sails through my body as he reaches out to touch my hand to steady me.

“No, I’ve never done this before. But how hard can it be?” The air of arrogance is so strong I can almost smell it, but I won’t call him out on it now. I’m choosing to wait until he’s made an absolute ass of himself first.

“Okay. Well this is your rodeo, boss. Show me what you got.”

He stands tall in his rented ice skates, the blades making him well over a foot taller than me in mine, and gingerly walks to the opening to the rink. My heart almost burst when I realised where he was taking me. Ice skating at Rockefeller Center, just like in the movies I watched as a kid.

The Christmas tree is all lit up in gold twinkling lights that look like someone took a handful of stars from the sky and placed them on the branches. There’s snow on the ground, a chill in the air, and the happy squeals of people enjoying themselves. It’s exactly how I pictured it. Except I’m standing here with the most handsome man I’ve ever seen who less than an hour ago claimed me as his. It doesn’t feel real, and I’m still waiting for the bubble to burst, but right now I’m soaking in as much as I can.

“Are you coming or what?” His voice filters through my thoughts and I nod and smile as I walk toward him, considerably steadier on my blades than he was on his. Years of playing hockey with the Bradys and being covered in bruises is finally paying off.

“Let’s go, Mr. McSnooty.”

Grabbing his hand before he can protest, I glide confidently onto the ice and turn to face him. The look of panic on his face is priceless, as is the quick kicks of his legs before he tumbles to the ice, landing on his butt and bringing me down on top of him.

“No fair. You can’t drag someone down with you. First rule of skating… you have to fall on your own.”

“Nope. I don’t agree with that rule. Elias Rules of Business apply here. It’s everyone for themselves, and play dirty if you need to. If I’m going down, I’m bringing you with me.”

He pops a kiss on my nose, and even though I’m outraged at his total lack of consideration for my rules, I still smile. I untangle myself from him, and once I’m stable and on my feet, I help him back to his.

“How are you so good at this?”

Taking both his hands in mine, I slowly guide him further onto the ice. He doesn’t move his feet, just lets me pull him along.

“I didn’t just play baseball with the Bradys. Any sport those boys played, I did too. Hockey was a favourite of mine and Jamesons. The skating element was easy for us. Jenson and Jaxson were always too worried about injuring their legs, so we didn’t play all that much, but we had a lot of fun when we did.”

Skating backward, I offer a small smile and check over my shoulder to make sure we aren’t in danger of knocking into anyone else.

“I should know not to underestimate you by now, but I still find myself doing it.” His smile is genuine, the affection in his eyes honest, but the worrisome side of my brain still activates.

It won’t last. He looks at everyone like that. Once he’s owned you in the bedroom, he’ll get bored and move on. You don’t really believe you can hold onto him forever, do you? He’s used to models and socialites, not dowdy school teachers with whore moms.

I brush the thoughts aside and take a deep breath, trying to stay in the here and now and not focus on what could or might happen. All I know is I’m falling for this man quicker than I anticipated, and I’m terrified I won’t make it out of this intact.

“I’ve never seen a skating rink in Syracuse. Where did you guys used to play hockey?”

I quickly snap my attention back to him and ignore the slight frown on his face.

“They tore it down years ago. It used to be where Wegmans is. Jameson and I were sad to see it go, but the other two didn’t care. By then they were so ingrained into their football—both kinds—that we stopped playing most other sports. We always had time for basketball, though. We played the Brady version of ‘Horse’ a lot. And Pops and my dad would help me hone my pitching whenever I wanted, so it was all good. I haven’t skated for so long now, but apparently it’s like riding a bike. You don’t forget.”

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