Hip Check (New York Blades) (17 page)

24

Michelle felt some
of her anxiety melt away as Esa, who’d been circling the ice like some kind of high-speed dervish, slowed and skated over to the Blades’ bench where she and Nell now sat. It had been weird, having a special pass to get into Met Gar, followed by a security guard escorting them to the ice. Nell loved it; it was all very cloak-and-dagger to her. Michelle thought about Jamie and her father, and what their reaction would be to this “private” skating lesson. Jamie would jeer first and think later, calling Esa a big show-off. Her dad would think it was great that Esa was going to teach Nell to skate.

“Hi, Uncle Esa!”

Nell’s excited voice bounced off the walls of the complex. Perhaps it was because it was empty, but the space felt huge to Michelle, so huge that she couldn’t imagine how it was possible all these seats were filled game after game. The ice, though slightly scored from the afternoon’s activities, reminded Michelle of a smooth white bolt of silk. It was almost soothing.

“Hello, Nell.”

Esa smiled warmly at Nell, extending the look to Michelle as well. “How was your afternoon?” Michelle asked politely.

Esa looked thoughtful. “I think it went well.”

“You think? You mean you’re not one hundred percent sure that you were great? Please don’t tell me you’re learning humility at this late age.”

Esa looked pleasantly mystified by what she’d said, then refocused on Nell. “What did you two do today?”

“We went shopping. We got the thick socks you told us we needed for skating, and Michelle got some new knickers.”

“I see.”

“That’s what we call panties at home,” Nell explained. “Knickers.”

“Yes, I know that,” Esa murmured, slowly training his eyes on Michelle.

Oh, if he thought it was going to be Flirtation Day, he was wrong. Trying to ignore the way her body had responded with tingles when their eyes met, Michelle made her gaze go dead until he was forced to look away.

“So.” Esa climbed over the boards to join Nell and Michelle on the Blades bench. “First, skates.” He pulled two cardboard boxes out from under the bench, handing one to each of them. Michelle looked at him quizzically, her gaze coming back to life. She’d been under the impression they’d be renting skates. Esa smiled enigmatically, gesturing for her to open the box. Inside was a pair of classic white ice skates, the sheen on the blades so high you could see a piece of your reflection.

Nell, who’d received the same skates in her size, held them up by the laces, transfixed as they dangled in front of her eyes. “Look at them. They’re so lovely.”

“They are,” Michelle agreed. She held hers up in front of Esa’s face. “How did you know my shoe size?”

“We all leave our shoes by the door, remember?”

“Right.” She’d hoped there might have been a clandestine element to it. She had an image of him furtively creeping into her room, holding his breath as he slowly turned the knob of her closet door, hoping it didn’t squeak. Sad proof she needed some excitement in her life.

Esa dropped his gloves, clapping his hands twice. “Now, socks on.”

“You’re very bossy,” said Nell.

Michelle looked down at her lap, fighting a laugh. Sometimes, it was bad that kids blurted out the first thing that came to their minds. This wasn’t one of those times.

“Okay, now skates.”

Esa moved to kneel down in front of Nell but she scootched out of range. “I can do it myself,” she insisted.

“They need to be laced up tight or you can hurt your ankle,” he explained.

“I still can do it myself,” said Nell. She wasn’t budging.

Esa looked frustrated. Michelle held her breath; for a split second, it looked like Esa might snap at Nell, but he seemed to get hold of himself. “All right, let me put Michelle’s skates on first so you can see how it’s done.”

Panic crashed through Michelle as Esa knelt before her like some kind of hockey Prince Charming and reached for her left foot. Her eyes shot to the scoreboard, the empty chairs across the arena, anywhere but down at him. Yet she was overwhelmed with a sense of futility. Surely she wasn’t the only one who felt the titanic surge in energy between them as he gently cupped her heel and slowly slid her foot into the skate. How could something so mundane feel so intimate? Michelle finally made herself look down at him, intuition telling her that he was feeling the energy, too, maybe even relishing it. He was lacing up her skates painstakingly slow, almost as if he didn’t want it to end. “How does that feel?” Esa asked, raising his head to look at her when he was finally done. “Nice and tight?”

Michelle’s heart shot up into her throat. “Um . . . yeah.”

“Good.”

She considered him a moment. There was no guile in his ice blue eyes. He was oblivious—to her anxiety, to his double entendre, to all of it. Thank God.

As casually as she could, Michelle plucked up her right skate before Esa could get to it. “I think I can handle this on my own,” she said with a self-confident smile before turning to Nell. “Let your uncle do your skates. He ties them up nice and tight: you won’t have to worry about hurting your ankle.”

“All right.” Nell glumly surrendered her right foot to Esa.

When he was finished lacing Nell up, and had made sure everyone’s skates were tight enough, Esa scooped up two helmets, handing one to his niece and one to Michelle.

“I don’t want to wear this!” Nell protested. “I’ll look like a mong.”

Michelle responded instantly with a sharp, swift glance. “We talked about that, remember?”

Esa looked lost for a moment, but didn’t follow up. Michelle donned her helmet. It felt awkward. It was, however, preferable to getting a concussion.

“Okay, we’re ready.”

The three of them walked out on to the ice. Somewhere in those few seconds before getting laced up and leaving the bench, Nell’s enthusiasm went into hibernation. She took two tiny, choppy steps, then pressed herself up against the boards. Michelle was right there with her, though she was trying to make it look like she just wanted to be with Nell. In reality, she was scared shitless. There was no way this was like remembering to ride a bike.

Esa skated a small figure eight in front of them. “Who wants to learn first?” he asked with a big grin.

Michelle glared at him. “I already told you: I know how to skate.”

“Oh, right. I forgot. Then that leaves you, Nell.” Esa took his terrified-looking niece by the hands. “Keep your ankles and knees nice and locked. I’m just going to pull you around, very slowly.”

“Okay.”

Michelle watched as Esa began to slowly pull Nell around the ice. She looked terrified at first, but after a few turns she started to relax, and even smile. Esa was nodding with encouragement. Since he was preoccupied with Nell, Michelle figured now was the perfect time to give herself a refresher course in skating.

The technique was simple. In fact, she could still hear her brother’s voice in her head: push off with one foot, glide. Push off with the other foot, glide. Repeat. And that’s it.

Michelle dropped her hand from where she’d been steadying herself against the wall, and as gingerly as she could, she pushed off against the ice with the blade on her right foot, which suddenly felt wobbly, but she didn’t fall. She repeated the process with the left. Then right. Then left. She started to smile. So what if her strides were kid-sized? She was skating.

Until she wasn’t, sitting on her butt on the ice like a big mortified baby as Esa, holding Nell’s hand, skated over to her.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m
fine
,” Michelle said tersely, slowly getting up. “Just a little rusty.”

Esa offered his hand to help her up, looking amused. “Just a little?”

Michelle glowered at him. “You’d better not start making fun of me.”

“Or what?”

“You two just go and skate,” Michelle insisted. “I’ll catch up.”

“Really?”

“Just watch me.”

“Can the three of us skate together?” Nell asked, looking back and forth between Esa and Michelle. “After I learn?”

“Well . . .” There was a hint of the mischievous in Esa’s voice as he flicked a long, damp lock of hair off his forehead like some beautiful black stallion. “You’ll have to ask Michelle. She’s the one who’s rusty.”

“Of course the three of us can skate,” said Michelle. “Like I said, you just skate with your uncle and I’ll catch up to you in a bit, and then we’ll all skate around together a few times. Okay?”

* * *

“Michelle, look at
me!”

Michelle smiled weakly and waved to Nell as the little girl whizzed back and forth across the blue line. She had the Saari blood, all right: it had taken her all of ten minutes to get the hang of skating. Esa had hopped back on the Blades bench and was chugging Gatorade. Michelle was on all fours trying to get up gracefully from the ice. For the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why the hell she kept falling, unless it was the universe’s way of punishing her for her hubris. Two steps forward, one step back; or, in her case, five glides forward, one tumble to the ice. The first time it happened she saw Esa instinctually move to help her, but she gave him such a dirty look he just laughed and carried on with Nell. The thing was, it kept happening, and he kept laughing, and that pissed her off.

She’d just gotten herself upright (Christ, she was going to be a mess of pain tomorrow) when Esa hopped off the bench and skated over to her.

“Why don’t you let me help you? I can fix this in five minutes.”

“I’ll bet.”

Esa folded his arms across his chest. “Are you enjoying falling?”

Michelle could feel her cheeks turning red, that awful heat spreading across her face that she couldn’t control. She hated it.

“You’ve been lucky so far: you haven’t gone sprawling and knocked any teeth out. That would make a very exciting end to the day, I must confess.”

“You’re a jerk,” Michelle muttered.

“I’m a jerk?” Esa chortled. “You have a pro hockey player at your disposal to help you skate and you insist on falling down, just to prove—what?”

“I’m not trying to prove anything.”

“Then stop trying to knock your own teeth out and let me help you.”

Michelle knew he was right, which was why she glowered at him again.

“You’re taking uneven strides, so you have no rhythm. You’re taking a long stride with your right leg, then a small stride with your left leg. Also, you’re pushing very hard with your right skate, and you’re digging the front of it into the ice. That’s why you’re falling.”

“Anything else?” Michelle asked dryly. He had to be thinking she was a total moron.

“It’s the unevenness you have to work on. You seem to drag the left foot a slight bit . . . like . . . um . . .” He looked around the arena, snapping his finger. “What’s his name . . .”

“Igor?” Michelle supplied coldly.

Esa brightened. “Yes, that’s who I was thinking of.”

“Thanks. You’re bolstering my confidence by leaps and bounds here, Esa.”

“I’m sorry.” He tilted his head in Nell’s direction. “You have no choice but to do it for her. You promised her the three of us would skate together.”

“I know what I said. You don’t need to remind me.”

“Then let’s do it.”

Esa came behind her, gently placing his hands around Michelle’s waist. His hands felt huge gathered there, her skin suddenly warming.

“I don’t see why you have to—”

Esa huffed in exasperation. “Because I’m going to
guide
you. You’re going to skate in time with me, do you see? And then, when I think you’ve got it, I’ll let you go and you’ll skate on your own. And if you’re fine on your own, then we can skate with Nell. Make sense?”

“Yes.” Michelle contemplated apologizing for looking like a fusspot, but decided to just let it go.

“Good. Let’s start.”

Determined to keep mortification at bay, Michelle started slow. Push . . . glide. Push . . . glide. She was concentrating hard on making sure her strides were the same length, and that she wasn’t gouging the ice with her skate. “Good,” Esa murmured, his voice encouraging and low. Whenever Michelle glanced up at him for confirmation that she was doing all right, she received an encouraging smile that was so sexy it made her want to fly down the ice to get away from him.