Trivial Pursuits (Chicago On Ice Book 2) (12 page)

I smile as my mom leads us to the kitchen and opens the door to the basement. She turns on the light, and we follow her down the creaky steps. When we hit the ground floor, Mom begins to lead us to her pantry room, but Landon stops.

“Is this your studio?” Landon asks, moving over to my workstation.

“Yes. Very inspiring surroundings, being next to the washer and dryer,” I say dryly.

Landon is studying my space, taking in the rows of plastic shelving units with see-through drawers holding all my beads, to my shipping station where I have boxes, envelopes, tape, labels, and a scale.

He moves further down, to my “office” space, where I have mail trays, trade magazines, and a computer.

“That’s for the office part of the job,” I say, explaining. “I take my pictures of jewelry here, do my social media for my line, and manage my budget, all that kind of stuff.”

“I never thought about all these components of your business,” Landon says, shifting his blue eyes to me. “You’re incredibly organized in addition to being talented.”

“I want to be successful,” I say honestly. “It’s been a slow start, and I have a long road to go, but I feel like I can do this.”

“I have no doubt about that, Livy,” Landon says. “You’ll make a living doing this.”

My mom clears her throat, and we both turn to her.

“Livy, I’ll let you show Landon the pantry,” she says, smiling knowingly at me.

And that smile tells me she likes him already.

“No, wait,” Landon says, stepping toward her. “I should get a selfie with you in your couponing pantry. I aspire to this, you know.”

My mom blushes, and I die a bit inside from Landon’s sweetness.

“Okay,” Mom says.

We follow her into her large, walk-in pantry, filled with multiple quantities of everything a human could ever want. Well, at least what my parents want.

Landon is wide-eyed as he takes in the bulk products and five-gallon size canisters of peanut butter.

“Wow,” he says, “Nana wasn’t exaggerating.”

“Nope,” I say, laughing.

“Yes, this is my thing,” my mom admits, tucking a lock of her platinum hair behind her ear. “I love getting deals. And I’m able to donate a lot of this to the church food pantry, so it’s great.”

“Awesome,” Landon says. Then he zeros in on something and steps closer.

“Zingers!” he says excitedly, grabbing a box.

“Do you like those?” my mom asks, laughing. “That is the
one
junk food Livy will eat.”

Landon shoots me a private smile. “Really?”

I blush, and his smile broadens.

“Let me take a pic. I’m known as the selfie king of the Buffaloes,” Landon explains. “Get in here with me, Mrs. Adams. And Livy, you’re going to hold the Zingers.”

Mom laughs and gets on one side of Landon, with me on the other. Landon fishes his phone out of his pocket and expertly holds it up to capture my mom’s expansive condiment collection in the background.

“Ready? One, two, three,” Landon says. Then he snaps a pic. “Let’s see how we did.”

Landon shows us the image capture on his iPhone, and once again my heart melts. Here we are, with superstar Landy Holder, snapping a selfie in my mom’s prized pantry.

Except he’s not superstar Landy Holder of the Chicago Buffaloes anymore.

He’s Landon.

“Oh, Livy, get a copy of that and send it to me,” Mom says excitedly. Then she turns to Landon. “Can I put that up on my Connectivity page?”

“Sure,” Landon says easily.

“Thank you,” Mom says. “Well, I’ve got to get back upstairs and finish the grocery list so I can shop. You two have fun today.”

“We will,” I say happily.

“It was nice meeting you, Mrs. Adams,” Landon says. “And I’ll be disappointed if you only fill one cart today.”

Mom laughs and shakes her head. Then she heads back upstairs, leaving us alone.

“You’re a good sport,” I say, smiling up at him.

“There’s no good sport about this,” Landon says, reaching for me and drawing me to him. “I’m fascinated by bulk ketchup deals. And you,” he says, dropping a kiss on my lips.

Happiness fills me the second his lips meet mine. It’s a gentle, simple kiss, and Landon lifts his head and brushes his fingertips against my cheekbone.

“So are you ready?” he asks.

I stare up at him, this gorgeous hockey player who just kissed me so sweetly. The one who was so interested in my family, the one who, despite his fears, is willing to take a tentative step with me.

And I know I’m ready to see where this will go.

Not only on this Sunday afternoon, but beyond, too.

“I am,” I say, linking my hand with his.

And as he takes me back upstairs, I can’t wait to see what he has in store for me for our first date today.

Chapter 15

TriviaPlayOrPass!

The first aquarium was opened in 1853 in what city? A) London B) Paris C) Chicago D) Rome

“Landon, this is the coolest date,” I say excitedly, watching in awe as a huge shark swims past us. I turn and gaze up at him. “What made you think of this?”

We’re at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, taking in all the wonders of the ocean together in one of America’s best aquariums. We’ve held hands. Peered at fish and read all about them. Taken tons of pictures, and Landon still stopped and took pics with fans, too.

Landon keeps his eyes fixed out at the Wild Reef Exhibit, where the sharks and rays are swimming around us. There are fish in practically every color of the rainbow, and the iridescent coral is absolutely stunning. In fact, I have a whole palette of colors from this exhibit coming together in my head for a reef-inspired jewelry line for my inspired by nature collection. I’ve taken tons of pictures of the coral, and after we watch the sharks I want to go into the aquarium’s Coral Lab, where they actually grow all the coral for the exhibits.

“I thought it would be fun to do this with someone,” Landon says, breaking through my thoughts. “Look at that one,” he says, shifting gears as a shark with a saw-like nose swims past us. “That is crazy.”

He gazes down at me. “I’ve gone here alone before. It’s a nice spot to put your place in the world in perspective.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, curious.

Landon shifts his attention back to a stingray who moves past our spot in front of the glass.

“That the world is incredibly huge. I’m a small fraction of it,” he says. “There’s a whole life going on down below that we aren’t a part of, you know?” Then he pauses and turns back to me. “Too deep?” he asks, cocking an eyebrow.

My heart flutters. “Not at all. But maybe I’ll take a selfie to commemorate your deep thought of the day.”

Landon laughs. We both turn around, and I hold up my phone to take the pic, but Landon stops me.

“Here, I’ll take it for you, I’m the expert,” he declares. “And let’s wait for a cool shark to get in the background.”

“I giggle. “What if one doesn’t come by?”

“Then it’s a good excuse for me to hold you close while we wait for one to swim past,” Landon says, slipping his arm around my waist.

Heat sears through me the second his fingertips dance around the curve in my waist, gently stroking it as we stand in front of the glass.

I really hope the sharks get my mental signal to stay far away from this side of the tank.

“There’s one!” Landon says excitedly.

I blink. Damn sharks.

“Okay, one, two, three,” he says, snapping a few pics. We stop to look at them, and we’re smiling while a bonnethead shark swims over our heads.

“We got it,” Landon says as I show him the pics.

“We did,” I say, smiling. “You can cross that item off your bucket list now.”

“Along with a real first date,” he says, staring at me.

Ooooooooooooooooh!

Before I can reply, Landon clears his throat. “Come on, let’s move so someone else can take a turn.”

We leave to give someone else a chance to see the exhibit, and I spot a little girl, no more than five, standing alone in the exhibit area. Her eyes are glossy and wide, and she’s looking all around. I see nothing but fear etched on her face.

“Hold on,” I say, releasing Landon’s hand. I quickly move over to the child as the crowd moves around her.

I drop down on my knee so I’m eye level.

“Are you lost, sweetie?” I ask in a calm voice.

Her lower lip trembles. “I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.”

“That’s good. You’re right. But I can tell you need help right now. And I’ll do that without moving you or touching you. We’ll stay right here, okay?”

By this point, Landon bends down so he’s with us.

“This is Landon,” I say gently. “I’m Livy. I’m going to send Landon to find your Mommy or Daddy.”

The little girl bursts into tears. “I w-w-w-ant my mommy!”

“I’ll find her for you,” Landon says gently. “It’s going to be okay. She’s here, sweetheart. And I bet she’s looking for you.”

“I wanted to see sharks,” she sniffles. “Mommy said to wait but I didn’t. Now I’m l-lost!”

She begins crying harder now. I open my purse and fish out a tissue, handing it to her. I instinctively know not to touch this little girl, but instead I try to convey gentleness with my voice and expressions.

“I promise we will find your mommy,” I say, nodding.

“Sweetie, can you point which direction you came from?” Landon asks. “Or can you tell me what the last fish you saw were?”

She lifts her tiny hand to the right. “That way.”

“Great,” Landon says, smiling encouragingly at her. “That was a
big
help. And you’re being really brave, do you know that? I got lost once when I was a little boy, and it was scary. I wasn’t nearly as brave as you.”

My heart melts as I watch how sweet Landon is with this child. He’s instinctively knows what to say to her, to try and make her feel better.

And I know he took a little bit more of my heart in this moment.

“Did you find your mommy?” she asks, sniffling.

“It was my aunt, but yes, I found her,” Landon explains, smiling encouragingly at her. “And now I’m going to help find yours. You stay here with Livy, sweetheart, and I’ll be right back.”

Landon turns to me. “I’ll go find someone with the aquarium,” he says.

“Okay.” I turn back to the little girl. “What is your name, honey?”

She furrows her brow and scowls at me.

I retreat from that question. “That’s okay, you don’t have to tell me, but you can tell the person who works here with a name tag so they can help you? Will you do that?”

The little girls nods.

“Good girl.”

A few minutes pass, and then I see a frazzled-looking woman pushing a stroller coming straight at us, one with twins in it, with Landon beside her.

“Is that your mommy?” I say, pointing to the woman who has a relieved expression on her face as soon as she spots the little girl.

The little girl takes off. “Mommy!” she screams.

The woman stops pushing the stroller and scoops up the girl. “Cassidy! Mommy is so glad to see you!”

Landon returns to my side. “I found the panicked mother not far down the way.”

“Oh Cassidy, you scared me,” the woman says, kissing her daughter. She turns to me and Landon. “I can’t thank you enough for what you did. Landon told me you spotted she was lost right away.”

“I’m happy we could help her,” I say.

“This is Livy,” Landon explains.

“Sophie,” the woman says, nodding at me. “And thank you for staying with her. Thank you so, so much. Cassidy, can you tell these nice people ‘Thank you?’”

Cassidy stares at us while clinging to her mother. “Thank you,” she says softly.

“You’re welcome, sweetheart,” Landon says, smiling at her.

We say goodbye and begin heading toward the next exhibit. Landon wraps his hand around mine again, and a warm feeling surges through me from that simple gesture.

“You were great back there,” Landon says as we walk.

“Oh, other people would have stopped to help her,” I say truthfully. “I happened to see it first.”

“No, that’s not what I mean,” he says. “You were so calm with her. Reassuring and gentle.”

I glance up at him, surprised. “You noticed that?”

Landon stops and draws me over to the side, next to the reef exhibit glass. “Yeah. I notice a lot of different things about you, Livy.”

I feel my breath catch in my throat as Landon links both his hands through mine and draws them up to his chest. A school of fish swim by, their color a blur against the glass as they move.

“What’s different about me, Landon?” I ask.

Landon holds my hands against his heart, and I can feel it beating through the soft fabric of his flannel shirt, one with shades of green and navy running through it and looks so beautiful against his olive skin.

“You make me want to go deeper,” he admits, his eyes never leaving mine. He pauses before continuing. “I . . . I’ve never wanted that before. Until now.”

His words resonate through me, telling me my instincts about him have been right all along. Joy fills me as I see the sincere expression in his gorgeous blue eyes.

And as I feel his heart beat against my palm, I know I’m touching his heart.

Just like he has touched mine.

“I’m coming back here with my HP tablet to sketch this week,” I say excitedly as I walk with Landon down the steps of the aquarium. “I’m so inspired! I’m going to do glass bead necklaces with the colors of those corals in the reef exhibit. I know a girl at the guild who does amazing hand-blown glass beads, so I’ll source those from her. And I want to design some silver and leather bracelets that are strong and sleek-like the sharks.”

We stayed for hours at the Shedd, exploring all the exhibits. We loved the beluga whales and dolphins. We saw otters and jellyfish and penguins. We goofed around and took tons of pictures. But my favorite moments were when Landon would wrap his arms around me, drawing me into him, and lean down to murmur in my ear.

And Landon had as much fun as I did. He was the one who insisted we had to see the dolphin show, for the full experience. Landon was laughing and taking lots of pics, and it made me feel so good. That Landon, who on the surface seems like he’d be utterly bored on a date like this, loved it.

“So your head is
swimming
with ideas?” Landon quips, interrupting my thoughts.

I groan, and he laughs. “That’s terrible!”

“You love it.”

“I do not,” I say. But as soon as I see the playful smile on his face, I giggle.

“Your laugh tells me otherwise,” Landon says, stopping me on the bottom step to the Shedd.

I gaze up at him. It’s freezing out, but I feel nothing but warm inside.

The wind comes off the lake, a harsh, freezing gust, and I put my gloved hand on my floppy hat to keep it from flying away. I giggle again.

“I’m about to lose my hat,” I say, laughing.

“We can’t have that,” Landon says. “It’s cute on you.”

Then he dips his head underneath the brim of my hat and drops a kiss on my lips. “
You’re
cute,” he murmurs against my mouth. “Very, very cute.”

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I like this. I really like this.

“Mmmm,” I murmur against his lips.

“I agree,” Landon says, leaning back in and easing my mouth open with a gentle kiss.

My hands instinctively move up to his chest again, against his cashmere and wool pea coat. Landon breaks the kiss and gazes down at me, his expression tender.

“I’m not ready for our date to end,” he says softly.

Happiness radiates through me. “Me neither.”

“We could hang out at my place for a while,” Landon suggests. “Warm up with some coffee. Extend the date to dinner. Order in some food, watch TV.”

“Why, Mr. Holder, this sounds like a very traditional date night,” I say, grinning at him.

“Is that good?” Landon asks. “You know I’m inexperienced at this dating thing.”

It’s all I can do not to tell him how adorable he is at this moment.

“It’s perfect,” I say truthfully. But then I lift an eyebrow at him. “You’ll have to get my
TriviaPlayOrPass!
question right before I’ll say yes, though.”

Landon’s eyes sparkle at me. “Man, you’re tough.”

“Aren’t I?”

We begin walking toward his car. “Fine. Go.”

“
TriviaPlayOrPass!
” I say. “The first aquarium opened in what city in 1853? London, Paris, Chicago, or Rome?”

Landon stops and stares at me. “You
had
to have looked that up. You didn’t know we were going to the aquarium until we got here.”

I smile wickedly at him. “I did look it up.”

He laughs loudly as we resume walking. “I’m not answering. That’s completely unfair.”

“Unfair or making good use of my time while you were shooting videos of beluga whales?”

Landon shakes his head. “You challenge me, you know that, right?”

Butterflies shift in my stomach. I realize this is important to him. That I don’t agree with everything he says. I’m not falling all over him because he’s Landy Holder, star defenseman. I’m not jumping into bed with him. I push him out of his comfort zone.

Or is it that I’m pushing him into a new comfort zone, and that is being with me?

I immediately shake the thought from my head. I can’t entertain that thought, it’s too early.

And it’s way too dangerous for my heart.

“I do like to challenge you,” I say truthfully. “So think carefully. The continuation of this date hinges on your answer.”

We reach Landon’s car, and he pauses with me outside the passenger side door.

“I can’t have this date end,” Landon says sexily, cupping my face with his gloved hands. “So I’d better guess right.”

A shiver shoots down my spine, and it has nothing to do with the frigid Chicago temperature.

“So what do you think the answer is?” I ask.

“London.”

I smile broadly at him. “You are correct!”

“Yeah?” Landon asks, laughing. “I
totally
guessed.”