Happy Reading and Happy Thanksgiving!

Lydia

Watching Landon teach a little girl how to play hockey was the most attractive thing I've ever seen in my entire life, and I've been around for 29 years. He was so patient and kind as he taught her to hold the hockey stick. The look on the little girls face when she hit the puck was the cutest thing ever.

I hadn't told him I was dropping by and I was glad I didn't give him a heads up. I liked sitting there watching him interact with the kids. Seeing him do something he enjoyed. I was seeing another side to him and I found myself liking this side. Landon comes off as an asshole, which he can be, but with these kids he was far from it.

I thought seeing him with kids a few weeks ago was sweet but this was next level. My ovaries can't handle it. The little girl looked at Landon like he was the coolest thing on the planet. Landon may have been busy with the little girl but I could see how all the kids adored coming here. I could see it in their faces as they skated around and talked animately with their parents when they left.

Aside from the kids loving it here, there seemed to be a lot of moms here to drop off and pick up their kids. I didn't fail to notice the lingering glances they all did towards Landon. The way they watched his every movement.

I didn't necessarily blame them for coming to gawk at Landon. He looked good out there on the ice. Joggers that clung to his muscular legs. A tight pullover sweatshirt that made his arms look fantastic. He was drool worthy. So of course the hockey moms came by every time there's class/practice.

Was I jealous sitting there watching them all bat their eyelashes at him? Can't say I enjoyed that but at the same time they weren't the ones he was fucking. I don't see them being bent over the couch and made to come over and over again. It made me a bit smug knowing that.

"Want to help?" Landon brought me out of my thoughts. He was standing at the entrance of the rink.

"You want me to willingly come out on the ice?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"I can teach you to skate." He shrugged.

"You wanna teach me?" I pointed to myself. "You once said I was hopeless on the ice."

"That's still true." The smirk on his face made me want to smack him. "But I think I can help you stay upright if you want."

While a part of me wanted to say no, the idea of Landon taking the time to teach me had me saying the exact opposite.

"Okay."

"Okay?" I gave him a nod hoping I don't regret this. "Lets get you some skates."

Landon towered over me in general but with skates he was even taller. I was low-key jealous at how easily he walked in his skates. Why must everyone in the Boone family be so freaking talented in sports. Would be nice if one of them sucked at something.

"Emily what are you still doing here?" Landon said the moment we got up to the skate rental counter. The familiar teenager stood there looking between the two of us. She was the same girl I saw last time I was here.

"I was just about to leave." The look Landon gave her was one I've seen him use countless times on Mateo.

"You didn't need to stay this whole time. It's Friday go out with your friends." The way he scolded her let me know the two of them were close.

"Yes dad." She rolled her eyes but she was smiling. She looked over at me curiously, eyes darting back to Landon.

"I'm Lydia." I introduced myself feeling like I needed to say something.

"Hi, I'm Emily. This one's favorite worker." Emily gestured to Landon.

"She won't be if she doesn't get out of here."

"Don't worry he's actually a teddy bear." I decided right there I liked this girl. It's clear she adored Landon and loved giving him shit. "Need some skates?"

"Size 7." Landon answered before I could. I glanced in his direction in surprise. He knew my shoe size? Ignoring my curious looks Landon grabbed the skates from Emily. "Thanks. Now get going. I'll see you Monday."

"I'm going." Coming around the counter she gave me a smile. "Nice meeting you Lydia. Feel free to give this one shit for me."

"Oh I will." I mirrored her grin. Oh yeah I liked this girl. Beside me Landon sighed which just made me smile that much harder.

"See ya boss." With that Emily left, leaving Landon and I.

"You two shouldn't be left alone." Landon grabbed the pair of skates from the counter. With a hand on my lower back he guided me back to the benches. I went to grab the skates only for him to shake his head.

I've seen Landon on his knees in front of me, just a few days ago actually, but him squatting down in front of me with a pair of skates did things to my stomach.

"Foot up." He instructed, tapping the inside of my knee. I've seen the other guys do this for Josie and Tasha and never thought much of it but holy shit. There is something so sexy and sweet about Landon balancing on his skates while sliding a pair on my feet.

All I wanted to do was run my fingers through his hair and tug his face up to mine.

"I can lace up my own skates." I said, trying to distract myself from the feelings that were growing in my chest.

"First step is making sure your skates are on right. Tight but not too tight you can't feel your toes." Landon said as he slid my other foot into a skate. His fingers skillfully laced them up within seconds. "How does that feel?"

All I could do was wiggle my toes and nod. Words left me as he glanced up at me from under his lashes. It was like being sucker punched in the stomach by how handsome he is. Those gorgeous eyes leaning more towards blue today thanks to what he was wearing.

"Lets get you on the ice."

Holding out his hands I gently placed mine in them. I liked how his hand dwarfed mine as he helped me off the bench. I wobbled as I took a step forward. Last time I did this I clung to Sydni the entire walk to the ice. This time was no different as I gripped Landon's arm.

"You can walk in high heels but you can't walk in skates?" Landon teased.

"High heels at least have a flat bottom!"

"Suck in your core for balance. A lot of balance has to do with your core so as long as you tighten it your balance will be better." He advised.

Coming up to the edge of the rink Landon came to a stop. "You ready?"

"Maybe I should stick to the bench." I was definitely second guessing this.

"Don't be a baby." He easily stepped onto the ice before turning around to face me, hands extended. "I've got you."

"Promise you won't let me fall?"

"Never."

With a sigh I placed my hand in his and stepped onto the ice.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

"You are the worlds biggest asshole."

"That wasn't my fault."

"Wasn't mine! I did as you told!"

"You did the opposite of what I said."

"Did not!" I glared up at the man who should be teaching me to skate but is doing the exact opposite. "Help me off the ice you big loaf."

"You seem pretty comfortable down there." Landon had the nerve to smirk.

"Landon Boone if you don't help me off this ice right now you will never receive another blowjob from me." And I meant it. My ass was frozen and I'm pretty sure I was going to have a huge bruise. 

"Wow those are fighting words blondie." But Landon reached down and hauled me up off the ice. I gripped his forearms so hard my knuckles turned white.

"What happened to not letting me fall?" I sent him a glare.

"I'm trying to teach you."

"By letting me fall on my ass every two seconds?"

"Teaches you that if you fall you have to get back up." The look on his face was enough to make me want to throttle him.

"I hate you so much right now." With a shake of my head I dropped my hands. I need to get away from him right now or I actually will throttle him. Teaching my ass.

With a scowl I pushed off the ice and skated around him. Wasn't until I was a few feet away from him did I notice that I was actually skating. I was full on skating.

"LANDON!" I wasn't sure I could stop without crashing so I kept on skating. "I'm doing it!" I yelled. Holy shit I was actually skating. I wasn't tripping over my own feet like I usually do either.

I skated around the corner all the while beaming like a little kid. Landon came into my line of sight as I kept going.

"Landon look!"

"I'm looking." I could hear the smile in his voice as he watched me skate.

"I'm totally skating!" I didn't care that I was yelling. Me staying upright on the ice was a miracle.

Going around the next corner of the rink I came to the straight away, Landon in front of me. He stood there smiling at me as I came towards him.

"I'm a pro!"

"Hell yeah you are."

As I got closer I felt a bit of panic hit since I had no clue how to stop. I typically 'stop' by either falling on my ass or slamming into the boards.

"Use the toe pick." Landon said as I got closer.

"Uhh...." My first mistake was looking down. By time I looked back up I was directly in front of Landon. "Ahh!"

Like a complete idiot I closed my eyes and braced myself for impact, fully expecting to hit Landon and fall back on the ice. But the feel of two big hands grabbing my waist and lifting me off the ground had me snapping my eyes back open.

Landon twirled me in a circle, stopping all my momentum, before coming to a stop. I know my eyes were wide as he gently placed my feet back on the ice but kept his grip on my waist. My front was pressed tightly against his as the two of us stared at one another.

"You don't listen to directions do you."

"I skated."

"And tried to take me out with you."

"But I skated." A grin slowly grow on my face. Didn't matter that I almost mowed Landon over, I skated like an actual skater for the first time.

"Told you that you could skate." Landon's lip quirked up.

I couldn't help myself as I grabbed the sides of his faced brought my lips to his.

* * * * * * * * * * *

I was basically on cloud nine right now. I managed to skate instead of hold onto the side boards the whole time. Sure I almost fell getting off the ice but I was taking the win. After I kissed Landon I skated around the rink three more times while he finished cleaning up all the cones and stuff from hockey practice.

Now the two of us were sitting at one of the tables in front of Rick's food truck waiting for our food. It still took me a bit off guard that the two of us were sitting here getting dinner together. A couple of weeks ago I didn't even want to be in the same room as him.

Now here we are actually enjoying each others company. I've seen Landon more times this week than my actual friends.

"Did that company message you again?" Landon asked across from me. The other night when I came over, the two of us found ourselves laying in Landon's bed talking. We didn't get too deep but I let it slip about the magazine company that wants to partner with me.

"I think they finally got the hint. Many emails later though." I shook my head at that. It took another long phone call with my advisor and another few emails to tell them I wasn't interested.

"They apparently don't like being told no."

"They sound like a shitty company to work with anyways." I stifled my grin at the way he said it. It was sweet how he remembered when it was just a random conversation we had after having sex.

"Here ya go kiddos." Rick came over right then, hands filled with food. When Landon and I showed up together I didn't miss the way he looked at the two of us, a small smile on his face.

"Thank you Rick." I sent him a wide smile, mouth watering.

"My pleasure as always." He sent me a grin of his own. "I gave you some extra onion rings as a thank you for including the truck in the magazine again."

Ever since Josie found Rick's food truck we've featured him multiple times in the magazine, most of which was done somewhat selfishly. His food was too good to not have people know about it. Over the last few months the food truck has gotten even busier than when I first starting coming.

"Of course. Just don't forget about me when you get busier."

"Never." Squeezing my shoulder he gave Landon and I another smile before leaving us to eat.

I felt Landon's eyes on me as I stuffed a fry in my mouth.

"What?" He was looking at me with a different expression on his face. Almost like he was seeing me for the first time.

"Nothing." He said with a shake of his head. As I grabbed my burger I missed the way his face softened as he looked at me. 

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Happy Thanksgiving! Well a day early :D I wanted to update today since tomorrow is a holiday here in the U.S. So if you guys are home with family or friends and bored you at least have something to read. 

I adore this chapter. Landon teaching Lydia to skate is too sweet. Of course I had to had a skating chapter cause the other two have one! I'm telling you right now though Lydia and Landon are becoming one of my favorites. Just you wait to see what I have planned for them coming up. 

I want to thank you guys from the bottom of my heart for your love. Everyday I'm blown away by how sweet and kind you are all to me. I'm just a small town girl who's boring and spends her days writing and reading, so you guys supporting me means the world. I really can't thank you enough. 

I am announcing something really really exciting in a few weeks! I will post it on Instagram first than here but make sure you follow me over on there to see it first. Plus I love messaging and replying to comments, so feel free to reach out! <3 <3

Love you guys so much!

As always VOTE, COMMENT, tell your friends! Lets get this book to 100k reads soon!

<3 <3 

-Ken

P.S I just finished Iron Flame (second book to Fourth Wing) and gosh I have the WORST book hangover. It was sooooo freaking good. I'm obsessed.