Project Produce(59)

A jolt of awareness zipped through me, and I whipped my head around. A little old man with big owl eyes stood frozen, directly in our path.

Dylan cursed, then grabbed me, doing some spin-off thingy I’d seen the football players back in high school do, missing the old man by a mere inch. Watching a football player do a spin-off on cleats was a whole lot different than participating in one with a padless Detective wearing hockey skates. There was no way around it. We were going to fall. Dylan turned his back to the ice and pulled me on top of him, landing hard on his back.

The breath whooshed from his lungs, but I felt fine. I couldn’t believe he’d done that. I was almost as big as he was, yet he made sure I wouldn’t get hurt. I melted inside, until I noticed he’d started to turn blue. As I scrambled off him, he gasped for breath, a nice pink returning to his stubbled cheeks.

When he breathed normally again, he said, “I think I’ve died and gone to...” his voice trailed off as he stared into my eyes, looking dazed.

I yanked off my mittens and cradled his face, searching his eyes with concern. “Dylan?”

“...heaven,” he finished, still staring into my eyes, looking floored.

“Tell me you’re okay,” I whispered, my lips a breath away from his. “Please be okay.”

“I am now,” he responded, then reached up and pulled my head down until my lips connected with his.

The same spark shot through me that had happened the last time he kissed me, and I had a feeling it always would. When I didn’t pull away, he deepened the kiss, angling his head to the side and slipping his fingers into my hair. His lips moved slowly over mine, and his tongue swept every angle inside my mouth, as though he was dying of thirst and I was the sweetest nectar. The need and urgency I felt stunned me to my very core.

“Hey, get a room,” someone yelled.

“You two kids all right?” the old man asked.

I jerked, then pulled away and stared at Dylan in total confusion and disbelief over everything I’d felt in that kiss. I couldn’t be feeling this way about a guy like him. And he couldn’t be feeling everything that kiss said he was feeling. I’d been hurt too many times to believe any guy could feel that way about me.

Note to self: Get out now!

“Is he breathing, miss? Do I need to call an ambulance?”

I shook my head, trying to clear it, then sat back, feeling overcome.

Dylan rolled to his knees, then took my hand and pulled us both to our feet. He kept my hand in his own. “I’m fine. She was just giving me mouth-to-mouth,” he said when it was apparent I couldn’t speak.

I think I was in shock. I couldn’t do this. I pulled my hand out of his and turned away to face the man. “We’re fine. I hope you’re okay.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me. I’ve been around for a long time, and I don’t plan to meet my maker on a silly old pair of skates. You kids take care.”

“You, too.” I zigged and zagged my way to the bench where I’d left my shiny Snow Flurries, not once looking over my shoulder. I finally found the nerve to peek up at Dylan. He looked like he was fuming over the distance I’d purposely put between us. I couldn’t help it. It was just too much to take in right now, and I had no idea how to handle it.

He stormed over, coming to a stop by spraying the ice directly in front of me. I looked down and continued to unlace my skates.

“Don’t you think we should talk about what happened out there?” he asked.

“Nothing happened out there. We got swept up in the moment, that’s all. It’s not like we haven’t kissed before.”

Dropping down beside me, he hesitated, his jaw muscles popping. He didn’t speak until he finished changing into his boots, then he stood and grabbed our skates, leading the way to Big Betty.

He turned to face me. “We’ve kissed before, yes, but don’t you think it was different this time?”

“You were hurt. I was concerned. I’m telling you, it was only the moment. Let’s just forget about it, okay, buddy?” I walked past him and slid into the passenger side of his car, praying I could do just that.

“Unbelievable,” he said loudly from outside. “Fine, if that’s the way you want to play it. But I’m telling you, it was a hell of a lot more than the moment, and you damn well know it, buddy,” he added as he slipped into the driver’s side of his car.

Revving the engine, he tore away from the curb and took me home in silence. But that didn’t stop my brain from screaming, Run, hide, don’t look back! I blinked. Oh, my God. How had this happened? I tried not to hyperventilate, scared to death that I’d just landed myself in a relationship, and I had no idea how to handle it. We were supposed to be friends, that was all. That was not a friendly kiss, or even a lustful kiss, that was a I’m-falling-head-over-heels-for-you kiss. Why did he have to go and change the stakes on me?