FALLING FOR THE ICE KING

Chapter 21

Vivienne's POV

Damien insisted on paying for lunch and the entrance fee. I feel like he paid way more than the advertised price, though, because the lady behind the counter went a bit swoony. She gasped at the amount and fawned all over him, saying how generous he was, and gave Jack some extra buttons and badges.

We’ve been inside the museum for a couple of hours and I still can’t get enough of it. It has all things Earth and nature—pretty much every continent and region are represented.

I can’t help but think of how much Alice would love it here. She was always so eager to learn and loved trying new things. One minute she wanted to be a doctor, the next week she was going to become a scientist and save the planet. I smile as we carry on with our tour. We’ve visited basically every continent’s section in the museum, and they’re all amazing.

The Evolution, Dinosaurs, Fossils, and Reptiles zones were incredible, too. Jack animatedly explains what he learned on his school trip, as well as on the other four times he’s been here since then. I find out that Damien has already brought him here once, his mother twice, and also Scott and his grandparents. We help him with the more difficult names and words as he opts to read all the information out loud for us and gives us the low down on the inhabitants’ nightly escapades.

Now we’re standing in the Planetarium. Even though everything is amazing to look at, I’m distracted by Damien’s presence. The lights dance across his handsome face, his smile easy and relaxed. He doesn’t stray too far away from me, we’ve chatted about the things we’re seeing, sometimes his body will brush against mine.

At one point, he briefly took my hand when Jack had run a little bit too far ahead. His hand was huge and warm, rough to touch but soft in his grip. I have honestly never met anybody as commanding before.

“Are you having a good time, Vivi?” Damien asks in a hushed voice.

There is nothing s****l in his question, he’s merely observing museum etiquette, but his warm breath against my ear and the tone of his voice sends a zip of electricity up my spine. My breath hitches and I feel myself overcome with goosebumps.

What’s wrong with me?

All he wants to know is if I’m enjoying the afternoon. I turn to face him, not realizing we are so close. The corner of Damien’s mouth tips and I need to tilt my neck back to look at him. He’s turned his cap backwards and I have to blink a few times. It looked cute when it was the normal way, but it looks sexy like this.

“How tall are you?” I blurt and he chuckles.

“Six-four. We’re a tall family. Except my mom, she’s little like you,” he says, reaching out and tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

“Yeah, but you drink AND eat your vegetables, Damien,” Jack adds as he rejoins us and Damien picks him up.

“I do, kiddo, it’s what helped me grow tall.”

That and I bet he works out like a machine. My eyes drift to his biceps that are wrapped around his nephew, the fabric of his grey T-shirt straining against the toned, hard muscle. I have to mentally shake my head.

This is so the opposite of how I thought my first week would be here. This is definitely jumping into my new life with both feet.

I feel empowered though, here at this moment. A really shitty thing happened to me, that I never thought I would ever recover from, but I’m here, alive, and it took everything I had in me to get to this point.

I’m nowhere near healed, but will I ever truly be? I’ll carry this with me forever and I’ll have good days and bad days, but today? Today is definitely a good day.

We finally hit the gift shop and if I thought Jack was at his excitement capacity, I was wrong. Damien sets him down on his feet and bends so he’s eye-level as he flips his cap back around.

“What are the rules?” he asks his little mini-me.

“The rules are: I can look and touch but I can’t decide until I’ve been around the whole shop, annnnd I can choose only one thing to buy.”

Damien nods and ruffles his hair with a “good boy.” Then Jack makes a beeline for the dinosaur section.

“Are you going to get a souvenir?” Damien asks.

I chuckle and repeat Jack’s rules back to him. He throws his head back and laughs, saying that I can have whatever I want. I watch him retreating back until my eyes catch on the display over by the far wall.

I head over and find lots of beautifully crafted pieces of Native American carvings and jewelry, but what I’m really interested in is the dreamcatchers. They come in different colors and sizes, and a white and grey one catches my eye.

I close my eyes at how perfect this is. Just as I go to lift it off the hook, I hear a crash and a cry. I spin around and see Jack on the floor having tripped over a display. Damien is bending down checking on him, while a shop assistant collects up all the items that have fallen. I approach and help her with a few that scattered closer to me.

Jack is slowly calming down, probably feeling more shocked than anything, and Damien scoops him up.

“Thank you,” he says to the lady as she tells him not to worry. “Can I please pay for any damages?”

She tells him there were none and she’ll look at pushing the display farther away from the soft toy collection. Damien whispers into Jack’s ear and he nods. He then picks up a stuffed dinosaur and takes it to the counter.

I wink at Jack, garnering a small smile. I offer him a sip of the water bottle I’ve been holding for him as I take him to wait just outside of the shop entrance.

Damien soon joins us and we make our way into the sun, Jack slowly returning to his usual self. I’m surprised when he reaches up and slips his little clammy hand in mine.

“I think I just found my new favorite place to visit, Jack. Shall we celebrate this monumental occasion with some ice cream?”

He nods and jumps excitedly. We make our way over to a kiosk just on the opposite side of the street and all choose our ice cream. Jack goes for chocolate, I go for berry swirl, and Damien has a giant cone of salted caramel. I attempt to pay again, but my efforts are rebuffed.

“Your money is no good here, Vivi.”

“I’ll find a way to repay you.”

“I hope you will,” he replies with a tiny smirk.

I try to ignore the heat I feel spread across my cheeks. I meant I’d give Theo some cash, but when he smiles and takes a big lick of ice cream, my brain short circuits.

We stroll a little way through the park, enjoying our treats and the sunny weather. Another person stops Damien to congratulate him on his win the other night and then we circle back to where the car is parked and all climb in.

Jack falls asleep instantly, holding tightly to his new dinosaur, as Damien drives us carefully back to the apartment. I have to stop myself from staring at his arms—one hand on the steering wheel, the other elbow resting against his window. I’m glad for the air conditioning that wisps around the car. I can smell his aftershave—that, and laundry detergent. So fresh and so masculine.

It’s sexy.

Everything about him is sexy.