“I won’t let you fall,” he insisted.

I jerked my head around to see that he was watching me watch the couple. “I’ve heard that one before,” I said, lacing up my second skate.

He tapped his chin, already having put his skates on. “I don’t recall ever promising that you wouldn’t fall snowboarding. The very nature of learning that sport involves spending a good amount of time on your butt.”

“Well, I think it was heavily implied that I wouldn’t get hurt.”

“Oh yeah, the big wrist injury.” Oliver’s eyebrow raised in exaggerated skepticism. “How’s that feeling? Will you ever be the same?”

“It’s still sore,” I insisted, but the smile I couldn’t keep from spreading across my lips implied that I was completely full of shit.

“Okay. Sure.” Oliver winked at me. He did that a lot. I would normally find the gesture severely sleazy. But with Oliver, it somehow made me feel special. I swear each time he directed one at me, a new swarm of butterflies was released in my stomach.

“Let’s do this.” He reached for my hands, and I stood shakily on the skates. Walking in them was unnatural. The blade sliced into the padded black mats that lined the path to the rink. Oliver steadied me the whole way. When we got to the entrance of the rink, he let go of my hand to lightly grip my waist.

“Alright, easy does it. No falling on my watch.”

“No promises,” I said, although my eyes were glued to the ice. I was determined to prove to Oliver that I wasn’t completely hopeless at everything I attempted. If only he could see me in my element, back at my old job. The way I could command a room with ease. Though now that I thought about it, he probably wouldn’t have been impressed in the slightest by my slideshow presentations.

“Now, start walking but drag your foot a little. So back and forth. Don’t worry about gliding, keep the motions choppy at first.”

“Whoa.” My body jerked forward and then back as I took my first steps.

“I’ve got you,” Oliver said, tightening his grip on me.

I found my balance and continued moving forward. Once I got over the initial weirdness of the feeling, I managed to move a few feet forward. I had roller-skated eons ago, back in elementary school. It wasn’t like this was too terribly different from that. I could do this. Especially if Oliver kept his hands on me.

Oliver swung around with ease so that he was in front of me, and reached out to take both of my hands, helping me keep my balance as I gracelessly took a few strides forward.

“Did you play hockey or something?” I asked as he skated backward.

“Nope,” he said, watching my feet to make sure I was getting the hang of this and not tangling them up in each other.

“Then why are you so good at this?” I asked.