Page 58 of Wilder

When her day ended at the rink, Lexi headed for home, for once feeling like she’d actually had a decent day. Thoughit looked very different from how she’d imagined her future, it hadn’t been the worst thing ever.

She rushed home from the resort, hoping to be able to change before heading out. A shower would have been nice, but she didn’t have the time. Moving quickly, she swapped out her skating clothes for a pair of fitted jeans and a loose sweatshirt.

If this had been a date, she might have spent a little more time on her appearance. But since they’d agreed there was no dating, she just smoothed her hair into a ponytail and made sure her makeup wasn’t smeared.

By eight-thirty, she was ready for Wilder, reminding herself as she waited that there was nothing but friendship between them.

A guy and a girl could just be friends, right?

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“How did the rest of your day go?” Wilder asked as he drove to the small café they’d decided to go to instead of the ice cream parlor. The café was open late, which wasn’t usual for places in Serenity that weren’t bars.

“It went fine. The kids that came to the rink were kind of spoiled, though. But nothing I couldn’t handle.”

“Spoiled kids are my least favorite people to work with,” Wilder said. “I can deal with them in passing, but trying to get them to understand that we do things a certain way for safety’s sake and not just to be bossy can sometimes be stressful.”

“Have you ever had someone get injured?”

“Pretty much every season we have at least one person who ends up with a broken bone. It’s always a risk when you have people on the slopes for the first time.”

“I’d be afraid that would be me.”

Wilder glanced over at Lexi. “You’ve never skied?”

“Nope. I couldn’t risk getting injured,” she said. “I still don’t have any real desire to try.”

“I’m wounded,” Wilder said, pressing his hand to his chest.

“I’m afraid I would be too,” Lexi said, humor edging her words.

“Haha.”

“I rarely did anything that might result in an injury that would keep me off the ice.”

“But what about injuries while you were skating?” Wilder asked. “Didn’t you have any of those?”

“Oh sure, but I’ve never had anything like a broken leg or arm. Mainly I had sprains or torn muscles. I did fracture my wrist once during practice when I fell on a throw jump we were trying to learn.”

“I’ve broken my leg once and my arm twice over the years of skiing.”

“And that’s why I’m going to stay off the slopes. I still need to be able to skate for my job, so I’m not going to risk getting hurt.”

“Ah, that’s too bad.”

“Why?”

“I thought I might be able to convince you to come skiing with me.”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

When they reached the café, Wilder found a parking spot not too far from the door. A cold wind greeted them as they got out of the car and headed for the front door.

As they stepped inside the building, Wilder glanced around. He grinned when he spotted Lee and Rori seated at a table set against the exposed brick wall opposite the entrance.

Rori spotted him and waved, making Lee look in their direction. Lee motioned for him to come over, and by the time they got there, Lee had shifted to sit beside Rori instead of across from her.

“Join us,” Rori said.

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