Candy for Christmas: Hockey Player vs Ice Skater by Novalee Swan Read Free Book Online

Candy. What if I hadn’t been
here?”
    She was silent.
    “You do know how to
check the ice, don’t you?”
    Of course she knew how
to check ice, for fucks sake.
    “Well?” he prompted
when she didn’t respond.
    Then again, he did
have to haul her out. “Look at the colour. Check for cracks and how
they’re shaped.”
    “What did the weather
do this week?”
    “We had snowfall,” she
admitted reluctantly. Snow acted as an insulator, allowing the ice
to warm up and get thinner.
    “There was no snow on
the pond when I got home yesterday.”
    “I cleared it that
morning.” She paused. “But, it was on there for a couple of
days.”
    “Fucking hell,” Nolan
cursed. “You know better, goddamit. What if I hadn’t been here?” he
asked again, hands clenching on her shoulders. He abruptly released
her.
    Candy stared after
Nolan as he walked back towards the lights he’d been untangling.
Then he turned around as if he couldn’t contain his next words any
longer. “Stay off the fucking ice unless I’m home.”
    She gaped, then picked
up a corn of cob and flung it at him.
    He snatched it out of
the air. “So you’re a thrower. Guess I can expect more of this
during our continued association?”
    She left that alone.
Instead, she said, “I’ll stay off the ice if you stay off it.”
    “I’ve owned this house
for a decade and have never fallen through. When you can say the
same, you can skate without me.”
    “I was angry today and
did something stupid. I learned my lesson. It won’t happen
again.”
    He just folded his
arms across his chest.
    “You can’t expect me
to just wait until you’re home. You’re hardly ever here,
Nolan.”
    “That’s going to
change.”
    “What does that
mean?”
    “Exactly what it
sounded like.”
    “I don’t understand.
Why?”
    “Because things are
different now. They changed last night.”
    She’d been unsure
whether he wanted what had happened to go beyond this interlude.
“So… you…” She cleared her throat. “You and me… This is a
thing?”
    “Yeah. It’s a
thing.”
    She nodded, but her
lips twisted. “You go away a lot. You’re a hockey player. There are
girls…”
    “There aren’t any
girls.”
    She looked into his
hickory gaze.
    “Not since you moved
next door.”
    Suddenly she wasn’t
angry anymore. The question of ice time was not closed, but she
decided to table it. “I’m guessing, for a guy like you, that’s a
while to go without.”
    Nolan shrugged.
    She couldn’t decide
whether she hated or adored that habit and had an uneasy feeling
this would be far from the last time she had that thought. “It’s
been a while for me too.”
    “I could tell.”
    She wrapped her arm
around her waist. “I guess I was out of practice.”
    He jerked as if he was
going to come to her, but stopped himself. “No, I just meant…you
were tight. If was fucking hot.”
    “I… I have to…
dinner,” she gestured behind her in the direction of the bench.
    Nolan nodded, but his
gaze was still on her as if all he needed was the slightest
provocation and he’d pounce. She was very tempted to give it to
him, but she was feeling a little off balance. She needed a minute
to regroup.
    While she finished
preparing dinner, Nolan finished the lights. He came over to help
just as she slid the roasting pan in the oven. “You timed that
deliberately,” she said.
    He turned her gently,
careful of her ankle. Then he leaned down to nuzzle the space under
her ear. “Timing is important,” he whispered, then picked her up.
“For example, it’s time right now…” he carried her into the living
room then, to her utter surprise, tossed her on the sofa, “…to
decorate the tree.”
    She burst out laughing
but couldn’t entirely ignore the need he’d spiked. Together they
sat on the couch and opened the boxes of ornaments. Inspected the
coloured baubles she’d bought.
    “So I guess you’re not
one of these two-tone decorators,” he said, looking at