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Rose tried to skate ahead of me. She laughed softly when I sped up to catch her hand again.

“Get back here,” I rasped.

The tone of my voice made her gasp. Heat flashed in her eyes. I very seriously considered kissing her senseless.

I was ready for the mask to come off. Rose might be too.

Lifting our joined hands, I spun her beneath my arm. Or tried to. For a split second, the physics equation was perfect. Rose twirled beneath the lights. Her coat billowed around her body. The blades of her skates whispered over the ice. Those striking eyes snapped to mine. I moved to pull her into my arms, ready to slide the ski mask off my head.

But her skate caught mine.

Rose grabbed me. A squeal gasped from her lips.

I grabbed her, mentally cursing the equation as my legs gave out. The world tipped on its side. Physics betrayed us.

We hit the ice with a hard thump. Pain radiated through my ass cheek. I let out a groan. We were sprawled over the frozen surface, me on my back, Rose on her stomach.

Neither of us moved.

Her tight breathing equaled mine. “You okay?”

“Not really,” I wheezed.

Whoever thought skating was a good idea needed to have their head examined. It was by far the worst date I’d arranged for us. And that included the burnt sugar, grandma yelling incident.

“This is your fault,” Rose muttered, pushing onto her hands. The stocking cap was gone. Her nut-brown hair fluttered about her face. She looked downright decadent.

I gripped her around the waist and tugged her to me. “My fault?”

“Yes! What possessed you to spin the decrepit old mother?”

“Rosetta,” I breathed, brushing her hair back. “Stop that.”

She blinked down at me. Doubt shifted through her gaze.

“You are not old.” I slid my hands up her body. “You are not decrepit.”

“My back ached when I got out of bed this morning—”

My lips crashed into hers. In one smooth move, I’d tugged the mask up to my nose so that I could kiss her.

I needed her mouth.

Kissing her calmed the beast raging inside me. Rose was sunlight. She was warmth. She was my home.

Her mouth softened. A ragged moan clawed up my chest, and I deepened the kiss. Everything else faded away. I slid my tongue against hers. I pulled her closer, pressing her tight. There were too many layers between us. I wanted her tangled around me.

This woman consumed me.

A laugh burst out of me, fogging white into the frozen air between us.

“What’s so freaking funny?” she grumped. “I’m not a bad kisser!”

“I’m falling in love with you, Rosetta,” I gasped. The moment I said it out loud, it was suddenly hard to breathe.

Shifting her weight, she caught the tip of her mitten between her teeth and pulled it off. The tips of her fingers reached hesitantly for my face.

Her touch was fire against my jaw. Rose traced the lines of my face, brushing over my bottom lip.