Dreaming of the Wolf (Heart of the Wolf #8)(24)

“I need to drop by the art gallery and sign some consent forms. And it’s past time for lunch. If you’ve had enough fun and are ready to go. I’m afraid watching you skate is getting harder and harder for me.” He cast her a wickedly salacious grin.

She chuckled, wanting to check out his package, but… what the heck. She glanced down at his crotch, saw the rigid bulge in his stonewashed jeans, and was ready to ease his discomfiture anyway that she could.

“All right.” She gave the women a smile that said, “He’s mine, so hands off,” and then skated slowly to the exit with him so that he could keep up with her. “You were gathering quite a fan club.”

“I was the only male on the ice, and I looked a bit needy,” he explained.

“You looked anything but that. I think the idea of you getting tangled up with one of them was more what they had in mind.”

He laughed. “I wasn’t interested in getting tangled up with anyone else, believe me.”

When they reached the sitting area, she helped him off with his skates first. His hands reached up to cup her face as she crouched in front of him. “You’re lovely, Alicia. A free spirit, unpretentious, charming.”

Her face warming, she smiled a little shyly, not used to any man complimenting her like that. She hoped he didn’t feel obligated to say such things to her. She didn’t expect them, and she was a little suspicious of his motives for doing so.

“You’re not used to anyone complimenting you, are you?” he asked, tilting her face up to look at him. His eyes challenged her to respond, but she couldn’t. “Are you?” he asked again.

She gave a small exhalation of breath and said, “No. Once when I was in high school, some guy said he liked the way I smelled. I had spritzed on one of my mother’s perfumes before I left for school that morning. Anyway, he asked me out to have pizza, and on the way over to the pizza place, he pulled into a park and said how much he wanted me. How beautiful I was. That was right before he copped a feel and was suddenly all over me, tugging at my blouse with his other hand under my skirt. I demanded he take me home before I screamed rape.”

Jake’s expression hardened. “The guy was lucky I wasn’t around.”

She smiled at Jake. “I’m afraid a lot more would have gone on at the park if I’d been with you instead. You’re sort of… addictive and hard to say no to.”

He pulled her to the seat and switched places and removed her skates. “I would have meant everything I said, if it had been me with you in the car.” He looked up at her. “I just hope you’re not wearing a ton of bruises after all the falls that I caused.” His hand caressed her calves over her tan skate tights.

His caress was gentle but oh so provocative. She shook her head. “A couple, but they’ll soon fade to nothing.”

He helped her from her seat, then escorted her outside, his fingers interlocked with hers as if they were a boyfriend and girlfriend on a date. She liked the sensation and would have wanted more if only her mother hadn’t gotten mixed up with Mario and his thugs. Alicia was destined to play the scenario with the mobsters out to the end, no matter what.

Jake unlocked the truck doors with the push of a button. “I have to admit, seeing you do some of those spins, jumps, and landings, and thinking of the figure skaters who dance together made me wish I could glide across the ice with you in my arms, like ballroom dancing only, to my way of thinking, a hell of a lot sexier.”

“Hmm,” she said, climbing into his truck. “That’s because the women’s tiny little skate skirts, or the form-figure skating dresses that barely cover anything, are so revealing. And then tights or tan panty hose look pretty—”

“Sexy.” He reached over from the driver’s side and stroked her thigh. “Good thing no other men were there watching you perform. I would have had to fight them off.”

She laughed. “My ex-husbands thought my skating was boring. After watching me the first time, neither of them would bother. They were into ice hockey—guys beating up guys on the ice.”

“They were crazy. I’d much rather watch you dancing solo as eloquently as you do or be the one making the moves with you on the ice.”

She gave him an appreciative smile as he started the engine. Where had Jake been when she could have used him years earlier in her life? Her life was way too messed up now.

She peered out the window on the drive back to her hotel from the skating rink. She kept watching for any sign of a black Mercedes, but she didn’t see either one of them. With the way Jake was glancing up at his rearview mirror or out his windows, she thought he was watching for anyone following them, too.

“Lunch next after I sign the papers at the gallery, all right?” he asked.

“Sure. I’ll just change while you’re gone.” She looked over at him to see him glancing down at her short skirt and nearly bare legs, and she had the sneaking suspicion he wanted to do something else first. “Don’t tell me you need to work up an appetite first.”

He chuckled, and the sound was deep and dark and aroused. But he shook his head and ran his hand over her thigh with a gently caressing touch. She got the distinct impression it wouldn’t take much for him to change his mind.

When they arrived at her hotel, Jake escorted her to her room, his hand in hers, but he seemed to be in a real hurry. As if he was afraid he’d stay and forget his business, he smiled broadly and framed her head with his hands against the outer wall beside her door instead of entering the room. “If I don’t run over to the gallery now, I’m likely to get awfully distracted and wait too late, and then they’ll be closed.”