Page 33 of As You Ice It

“Makes sense. So, is Liam the worst skater in his group? You can tell me. Honestly.”

A long pause. Because I’m now at a safe distance, I turn around. But Camden isn’t where I left him. He’s been quietly following. Though he’s not as close as he was, he’s close enough to be a temptation. I swallow and grip the railing a little harder.

Camden runs his fingers through his hair, leaving it mussed. It’s longer than it was when he left, curling over the collar of his shirt and hiding the tops of his ears. Maybe this is one of those hockey things—players letting their hair grow out over the season? I’ll have to ask Liam later.

“I’m working with Liam one-on-one,” Camden says.

“Is that normal?”

He hesitates but only for a moment. “Everyone else is in a group.”

“So, you’re the only guy working with just one kid, then?”

Camden nods. “Most kids his age are a little further along, so he was with all the little kids. It wouldn’t have been very helpful for him.”

Processing this takes more than a few seconds and some serious effort to keep my breathing even when it feels like I’m being crushed inside a trash compactor. Because no guy I’ve ever dated aside from Camden interacted with Liam, I didn’t realize a man being kind and generous with my son was my kryptonite.

But oh, it absolutely is.

“He said you didn’t come into the building because you didn’t want to see me.”

This hurts, even though it’s true. I didn’t think Liam realized why I wouldn’t get out of the car at the Summit. I told him I was using my free time to run errands and joked about having Mommy time. I should have known he was too smart to buy my excuses.

“I’m sorry,” I tell him. “I …”

There are so many words clambering to be said, vying for top spot that they logjam, and I say nothing else.

“I get it,” Camden says quickly, saving me. “I know it’s not easy for me to see you.” Camden scrunches up his face, shifting on his feet. “Not hard to see you as in, you’re hard to look at. You’re not. Hard to look at, that is. Which is the problem.”

I’m smiling by the time he finishes tripping over his words. I probably shouldn’t smile, given the context of our whole conversation, but I like seeing Camden a little ruffled. Especially knowing I’m the reason he’s ruffled. It makes me feel better about being so ruffled myself.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he says, but now he’s smiling. A tiny one, but still.

“Can’t help it. You’re cute when you’re flustered.”

He blows out a breath, looking away as color rises in his cheeks. I’ve never seen Camden blush, and it makes him even more adorable. This is doing absolutely nothing to help curb my enthusiasm for the man.

But I didn’t kiss him when I wanted to, so that feels like a giant win. I can at least allow myself to indulge in this tiny moment of flirting.

“Could this be any more awkward?” he asks.

“Yes,” I answer honestly. “I feel like we’re handling this pretty well, actually.”

“I’d love to hear how this could be worse.”

I tilt my head. “Oh, you want some horror stories about exes?”

“No.” Camden’s answer is quick, his voice and eyes suddenly hard. “I don’t want to hear about your exes, Naomi.”

I don’t want tobeone of your exes. He doesn’t say this, but the words still seem to hang in the air.

Wishful thinking on my part, probably.

“I don’t have a lot of exes,” I tell him, but this doesn’t seem to help. “I mean, I’ve just gone on dates. I haven’t really had relationships, so I don’t mean ex in that sense. Just guys I’ve dated.”

“I don’t want to think about you with any men. Casually. Not casually. Atall.”

Should the deep possessive grit in his voice bother me? Maybe. Considering the fact that he doesn’t have any kind of claim on me. But I really, really like it.

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