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“I want to make sure no one is waiting in there.”
Her mouth opened. No words emerged. How was she supposed to respond to that? Finally, she managed, “Who would be waiting?”
His head turned, and he glanced back at her house. Her dark house. “I have this thing…I believe in seeing my date safely to her door.”
“Fine. Walk me to the door.” She exited the car. Made sure to haul her bag with her. Midas followed right at her heels. For someone so big, he could certainly move fast.
At her door, she fumbled with her bag and took out her key. But she didn’t put the key in the lock. Not yet. “Job done,” she assured him. “I am safely at my door. You do not need to come inside.”
“I fucked up.”
She slanted him a glance from beneath her lashes.
“I don’t know how I’m supposed to react to you.” His hands were loose at his sides, his voice oddly hesitant. “I don’t usually get involved with people I work with. In fact, I have a rule about that very thing.”
Alina wet her lips. “We don’t really work together. More like I visit the place you work at.” A clarification.
He shook his head. “Why the hell would you even want to be involved with someone like me? Shouldn’t you be dating some movie star or tech billionaire or something?”
The question floored her. “Why would I be doing that?”
“You should be with someone who moves in your circles.”
A laugh sputtered from her. “My circles? Ice skating circles? There aren’t a lot of movie stars in them. Or tech billionaires. There are demanding coaches. Competitors who will slit your throat in order to take you out of the game.”
He surged toward her. “What?”
“Figure of speech. Let’s just say they are really cutthroat. It’s the nature of the beast.”
He didn’t look reassured as he stood beneath the light on her porch. His gaze traced over her face. No, definitely not reassured. But…
Hungry?
Had that been longing that just flashed on his face?
Tension snaked through her. “Why did you agree to go out with me?” She’d been the one to ask for the date. Had he been able to tell that her knees were practically knocking together as she’d dared to ask him to dinner?
“You’re beautiful. Gorgeous. And no matter how many times you fell in practice, you always got up.”
Her lashes fluttered.
“You’re a fighter, aren’t you, Alina?”
“If you want to win gold, you have to be. No one hands you an Olympic medal just for showing up.”
He smiled at her. Her breath caught because that smile of his sure did pack a powerful punch. One that she seemed to feel throughout her entire body. And, almost against her will, she felt herself leaning toward him.
His hand came up, and his fingers curled under her chin. “You’ll regret being with me.”
Maybe. “I’d rather regret doing something than regret not taking the chance and missing something great.”
His eyes narrowed. “I’m not the man you want.”
“Really? Huh. So strange. Because I think you’re the only one I need.” Her tongue swiped over her lower lip. “But you can’t run hot and cold on me. No stepping back just because you get scared.”
His head lowered toward her. “I don’t get scared. Not of anything.”
No? “Then you didn’t back away on the dance floor because you were scared?”
