Page 24

I felt like I was floating a little bit.

I wasn’t sure if it was the post-event high or the post-kiss high, but I giggled as I spun around.

Preston watched me with one of his soft smiles.

I loved that look on his face. It made me feel taken care of, and a different sort of warm feeling flooded me now.

“I like seeing you proud of yourself,” he said. His hands were in his pockets, his stance casual. “It’s a great look on you.”

“Yeah. It just hit me how great tonight was.” I smiled, laughing as I threw my arms up in the air. “The event will be talked about for years. ”

“It’s a legacy now. You started this new tradition. No one else. Just you.”

My eyes prickled, this time purely from joy. “Thank you. You helped… so much.” My throat tightened as emotion seeped out of me. The moisture pooled, and tears now fell down my face. “What is happening?”

“You have post-event hangover, baby.” He jogged up the stairs, closing the distance between us. “Your adrenaline and stress and exhaustion are all trying to come out of you. It’ll probably be messy. You’re gonna snot and cry, and it’s gonna be awful.”

“Stop it. No it won’t.” I whined as more tears came. “Shit, I can’t… stop.”

He gripped my shoulders and lowered his head so we were eye to eye. “Pull your shit together, Jordan. We’re changing, walking back in a blizzard to our house, then you can fall apart with me. Deal? No more crying because I don’t want your tears to freeze. That would suck.”

“It would suck.” My lip trembled, and I sucked in a deep breath. “Okay, pulling it together now. Clothes, then walk.”

We grabbed our bags from the makeshift coat area, and Preston suggested the first aid area for us to change. It was closed off but large enough for both of us. He went to the other side, giving me a little privacy, but when I tried undoing the zipper of my dress, I couldn’t reach it.

“Uh, hey, Charming?”

“Hm?”

“Can you help me with the zipper?”

His movements stopped, and soft footsteps approached my side of the room. He wore sweats and a long thermal shirt, looking cozy and comfortable, but his eyes were on fucking fire. “Turn around for me.”

I did, my breath in my throat. He blew on his hands first before placing one on my shoulder, the other carefully pinching the zipper. He slid it down, the dress falling away from me and causing goose bumps to explode down my body.

“You’re fucking gorgeous, J.”

I shivered. His voice was gravelly and so sexy. “Th-thank you.”

“Seeing you like this? All trusting and soft and beautiful? It’s taking a lot of willpower to not touch you. Please make note of how respectful I’m being right now, okay? Because when we get back, all bets are off.”

“That sounds… perfect.”

Speaking like this while I faced the wall was better.

Safer. Despite the fact I wanted to give this a shot, I still needed to protect myself from falling completely for him.

Because the signs were there. It’d be so easy to forget all the walls I’d carefully built my entire life for Preston.

If I did that, when this ended… I’d be nothing.

I’d be the girl who cried missing her parents, her family, her ex…

I couldn’t let these feelings overtake me.

I wanted to try this with him but keep him at a distance.

There had to be a way to do it. Some middle ground.

With another shaky breath, I quickly stepped out of the dress, bending over to grab my sweats and three long shirts.

“Goddamn, Jordan. What the fuck are you wearing?”

“Oh, this?” I turned my head, winking at him over my shoulder, winking at him. “I wanted to feel and look good, and these gave me confidence.”

Preston stared at my ass, slack-jawed with wide eyes. I wore a lacy, cutout G-string with garters. It made me feel powerful, which I wanted tonight. And seeing his reaction like this?

Worth it.

“Fucking hell.” He scrubbed his face, laughing. “Keep those on later. Please. I beg you. ”

“I plan to.”

See, this was easy. I could flirt. Tease. Yeah. I could totally do this. I lingered, bending over slowly and turning around so he saw me braless, but then I quickly got dressed. I could tease here, but we were at the rink, and we’d never jeopardize each other here.

Ten minutes later, we were bundled head to toe with scarves and fifteen layers. The wind chill was negative twenty, the wind whipping at us, and it was basically pure ice the entire walk. But we made it home safely.

Preston led the way, reaching out and steadying me a few times. But we didn’t talk. It was too cold to open our mouths.

It took fourteen minutes to get back to the house. When I saw it in the distance, I almost wept with joy because I was fucking freezing. Every part of me was cold, and I wanted to curl up beside Preston for the next twenty-four hours.

“Almost there, baby.” Preston picked up his pace, dragging me along with him. And once we got to the door, he burst through it and pulled me against him in a hug. “We made it. You did it. We made it. Holy shit.”

I didn’t get to respond before I sensed someone else in the hallway with us. I lifted my head from Preston’s chest and found his motherfucking date staring at us. Why the hell was she here?