But she let it go and turned back to keep shoveling.
A few minutes later, he called out, “Are you standing on the pond?”
She turned her head, pulling her cap back over her ears against the wind. “Yep.” His winter coat gave his shoulders even more breadth, made his hips look lean in his faded jeans. Her heart gave a dangerous tug just looking at him, and she forced herself to turn away.
“And you’re shoveling the pond?” he asked in a tone of disbelief.
“I need to see how bumpy it is. If it’s smooth, the kids can use it to skate, like I used to.”
“You mean the Chess Club Steph and Tyler no longer belong to?”
She listened to his boots crunch through the snow as he approached. “They can bring their friends. It doesn’t have to be formal. And I’m almost done.”
The patch of ice glittered beneath the rising moon. The world was painted in shades of gray, the moon reflecting off the snow.
“I can remember coming here once with my dad,” he said, “and I saw you skating.”
She looked at him again, wondering if those memories with his dad were always bad ones, but his expression wasn’t mournful.
“I took some skating lessons when I was a kid,” she admitted. “Then I realized I was never going to be graceful enough.”
“I’ve seen you on a horse. You’re pretty graceful.” He dropped his voice. “And you move—” He caught himself and glanced over his shoulder toward the house.
“We’re far enough away,” she said, smiling, the heat he invoked with his words warming her.
“So how’s the ice?” he asked.
“Pretty good.”
“Do you still have skates?”
“I do, but you can’t tell me you want to skate.”
“I don’t, but I’d like to watch you. I’ll finish shoveling while you go get what you need.”
He approached her and took the shovel, and they stared at each other, the white puffs of their breath mingling.
“Is this a date?” she asked, disbelieving. “Because you know, I’m not dating anyone at the moment, so my social calendar is free.”
“What happened to the ‘babe’ guy?”
She grinned. “I had to turn him down. I can’t juggle two men.”
“Did you want to date him or other guys?” he asked.
She leaned into him and put her arms around his waist. “No.”
He cupped her face in his gloved hands. “Good.”
She swallowed, afraid to say she was feeling more for him than simple lust. “If I can’t date other people, you can’t either,” she finally teased. “When I saw you with those women at Tony’s Tavern, I almost started pulling hair.”
He laughed. “That would have been something to see. Now go get your skates.”
Her skates were in the mudroom behind the kitchen, and she ran there and back, feeling giddy. The men were gone, and her mom was supposed to be taking a nap until Brooke came in to help make dinner, so she had a little time to spend with Adam. She kept cautioning herself that nothing had changed between them except exclusivity, but wasn’t that a good sign?
He’d finished shoveling the snow off the ice, and except for a weed or two frozen upright, the surface of the pond was pretty clear. He’d even found a blanket and set it on a log so she could sit down. She slipped on her skates and started lacing them up.
“Isn’t hot chocolate the usual skating refreshment?” he asked, stamping his feet against the cold.
“Did you want me to risk waking my mom?”
“No.”
“Maybe I should have found a short skating skirt while I was at it.”
“Believe me, your jeans hug you in all the right places.”
His voice had that husky quality she associated with his lovemaking, and it made her shiver with pleasure to hear it now. With intent focus, he watched her take her first long glide across the ice. It was a little bumpy, but manageable, and she made a tight turn at the end to face him again.
“Impressive.”
He studied her from beneath the brim of his cowboy hat, his face conflicting shadows in the moonlight. She could see the cut of his square jaw, the darkness that was the cleft in the center of his chin, the blade of his nose, just the glitter of his eyes.
She felt—so different from herself, foolish and feminine and even giddy with the way he focused on her, the way he wanted her. Their affair had flamed and lasted, and if anything, had burned even hotter the longer they were together. She wanted him more now than she had that first night, and it suddenly scared her. What if she was falling in love with him?
And then he was coming toward her, sliding carefully along the ice in his boots, and she laughed and eluded him. He didn’t fall, just changed direction, then pushed himself into a long slide.