Page 83 of A Million Times, Yes

As I bobbed, my eyes were locked with hers.

And as I reared back, slowly releasing her, I read every thought that came through her gaze.

The shock.

The longing.

The desire.

I had her back.

“Jordan ...” she whispered. Her words stopped, but her mouth continued to hang open.

“To answer your question, I’d much rather have you than a cupcake.” I kept my voice down even though Ben and Emily were talking, Ben too occupied to hear me.

“I don’t even know how to reply to that.” She placed both hands in her lap.

“You don’t have to say a word. I know you enjoyed it.”

She let out a small laugh, shaking her head. “You do realize you’re the most relentless man I’ve ever met, right?”

“I’ll never stop, Maya. When I want something, I go after it—and I want you.”

“Yes, I know. Bettie told me you two have that in common.”

I reached into her lap, putting my hand over hers. When she didn’t move it away, when her gaze didn’t grow into one that concerned me, I pulled the same hand toward me and kissed the backs of her knuckles. My eyes closed for just a second as I realized what this meant and how fucking fast my heart was beating. When they opened again, I said, “It’s time to get on the ice.” I glanced at my nephew. “Hey, buddy, are you almost done?”

“Is he done?” Emily giggled. “The only thing he hasn’t inhaled is the napkin.”

“I really love cupcakes.” Ben smiled, his teeth covered in frosting.

“Ya think?” Emily dipped a new napkin into her water glass and began to really clean his face. “You even got it in your hair.”

“Dad always says he’s going to hose me off after I eat ’cause I’m so messy.” Ben held his hands up. There wasn’t an inch on either that wasn’t smeared with either cake or frosting.

“We don’t have time for hosing or dunking you in a bathtub, so let’s get you cleaned up as good as we can, buddy, and then we’re going to hit the ice.” I wet my napkin and got to work on his other side, collecting the chunks of frosting that hadn’t miraculously fallen onto his shirt and scrubbing off the ones that had.

When Ben was as clean as we were going to get him, I brought everyone into the hallway and hit the button for the elevator. While they waited for it to open, I rushed back into the suite, dropping a $2,000 tip on the table for the kitchen team to split, and then joined everyone back in the elevator.

“It’s been about a hundred years since I’ve skated.” Emily rested her hand on top of Ben’s head. “So I can’t promise I’m going to look pretty out there.”

“You’re not a hundred years old, silly.” Ben put his hands on his hips.

“When you see me on the ice, you’re going to think otherwise.” Emily laughed. “Will you teach me? And make sure I don’t fall? I’m going to need all the help, Ben.”

“Yep! I’ll teach you like Uncle J taught me. Easy-peasy.”

“I haven’t been skating in just as long,” Maya admitted to me.

“Doesn’t matter.” I pushed a chunk of hair off her cheek, keeping my hand there.

I couldn’t stop touching her.

I couldn’t stop thinking about how badly I wanted to pull her into my arms.

I couldn’t stop staring at her lips, forcing myself not to kiss them just yet.

“It will when my butt basically lives on the ice,” she said.