“And that would have been?” she drawled.
I cleared my throat. “A month ago.”
Harlyn threw her head back, laughter spilling from her perfect lips. She stumbled slightly and dug her nails into my arm. She sobered quickly and directed her eyes back to the rink. “I think that was karma in action.”
“You might be right about that, baby,” I chuckled.
“So you grew up in a town just like Leeds Square?”
I nodded. “Although, I think Rockton might have been a bit smaller. We didn’t even have our own grocery store. We had to drive ten minutes to get food, or even go to a restaurant.”
“Your bar didn’t serve greasy burgers and stale popcorn?” She wrinkled her nose. “Although, if that was all they had, I wouldn’t have blamed you for not wanting to eat there.”
“They weren’t really keen on a group of teenagers hanging out in the bar.”
“Oh, duh,” she laughed. “I can see why they wouldn’t like that. I don’t know if I could have survived in a place like this growing up. We had over one thousand people alone in my graduating class, and the population was twenty times that.”
I looked over at her. “City girl, huh?”
“You could definitely say that. Although now, having been in Leeds Square for a couple of weeks, I can see the charm of a small town. A slower pace is nice now. I’m sure at sixteen, I would have died of boredom, though.”
We managed to make it a few more times around the rink before the first slow song started pouring out of the speakers throughout the rink.
“If you ask anyone else in this rink to skate, I’ll be forever scarred,” Harlyn laughed.
“I don’t think anyone else would want to skate with me, even if I asked them.”
She nodded to the three girls sitting on the bench who each had their nose buried in their phones. “I bet they would love to have a Remy sandwich.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Baby, they’re like fifteen.”
“Okay, so ten years ago, you would have been into the Remy sandwich too.” She slightly stumbled and clutched my arm. “Was that karma again?” she asked shakily.
“No, I think that was just your lack of balance,” I chuckled.
We glided to the half wall, and she leaned heavily against it. “I just decided you are not allowed to plan our dates anymore. I think you’re out to kill me,” she panted.
I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms over my chest. “Oh, come on, baby. You were a little shaky out of the gate, but you were doing a hell of a lot better on that last pass.” Sort of. So, Harlyn wasn’t exactly athletic, not a big deal.
“I get to pick what we do next,” she giggled. “Something that doesn’t involve me possibly breaking my ass.”
“Drinks and dinner were what I had planned next.”
She nodded and held out her hand to me. “Get these damn skates off of me and ply me with booze.”
*
Chapter 13
Harlyn
“That was two.”
“That was four, baby.”
I squinted at the empty glass in front of me. “I could have sworn that was two.”
Remy chuckled. “Four. Definitely four.”
I looked up at him. “I’m trying to wipe out the memory of falling flat on my ass. I blame four margaritas on you.” I pointed my finger at him and tried to hold my hand steady. Not only had I bruised my ego when my feet had gone out from underneath me, my tailbone was hurting like a son of a gun. The tequila was helping to numb both.
“I tried to catch you, but you dropped like a ton of bricks.”
I hummed under my breath. “Just the thing every girl likes to hear on the first date. You dropped like a ton of bricks.” The tequila also mellowed me out to where I was only mildly annoyed I was compared to a truck-load of bricks. “You did have a quick reaction time to get me up.”
He tipped his glass of water toward me. “Took a whole hell of a lot to not laugh right away, baby, but I managed not to.”
I bowed my head. “And I thank you for not laughing ‘til after I was upright.” I gingerly shifted my weight and knew I was going to be limping tomorrow. “I am totally serious about picking our next date. My butt needs to recover from this one.”
He raised an eyebrow and smirked. “You might want to think about what you just said.”
I rolled my eyes and waved my hand at him. “Get your gutter out of the mind.”
He tilted his head. “Um, I think you mean get my mind out of the gutter, baby.”
I snagged the straw in my empty glass and tried to sip up every last drop. “That too,” I mumbled.
“You ready to get going, baby?”
I gave the glass one last slurp and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. I had already embarrassed the hell out of myself in front of Remy, and now, I was about to stand up after drinking four margaritas. He was about to see me fall on my ass again. “Onwards.”
As soon as I swung a leg around and the stool swiveled, Remy shot off his stool and was standing at my side. “Let’s prevent you hurting your ass even more. I don’t want to be blamed for fully breaking you.”
I reached up and patted his cheek. “Hmm, we are so going to kiss later.” My filter was apparently in the bottom of my fourth margarita.
He leaned in close, his lips a breath away from mine. “Do we have to wait for later?”
I gulped and slightly shook my head. “I guess not.”
His eyes were locked with mine, and he licked his lips.
Sweet heaven above. I was in a tequila fog, but I knew this was going to be damn good.
His hand trailed up my arm, over my shoulder, and he delved his fingers into my hair. He closed the gap between us, his soft lips pressing against mine.
I instantly leaned into him and clumsily grabbed onto his arm.
It was a sweet, delicate kiss. His tongue brushed against my lips, and I whimpered as his other hand rested on my hip and pulled me closer. This kiss was perfect, but it made me ache for more.
He pulled away and looked down at me. “I think it’s time to take you home, baby.”
Uh, what? I mean, I was okay with going home, but only if it meant Remy was planning on staying. Otherwise, I’d rather just stay right here and keep kissing Remy.
He took his wallet out of his pocket, threw a twenty on the table, and tugged my hand. He pulled me through the restaurant and out the door to his car. He opened the door, brushed a kiss to my temple, and deposited me in the car. My head was swimming from the alcohol and the sweet kiss.
He slid into the seat next to me, started the car, shifted the car into drive, and threaded his fingers through mine.
I leaned my head back on the headrest and sighed. “Did I make too big of a fool of myself tonight?”
Remy backed out of the parking spot and glanced over at me. “Nah, baby.”
“Hmm, I’m sure I’m your first date to fall on her ass and get drunk within the span of an hour.”
“It was definitely a unique first date.”
I closed my eyes and sighed. “I was a unique first date that dropped like a ton of bricks.” I pumped my fist in the air. “Go me!”