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Check. The skating. Like he could have missed it. Midas barely contained another eye roll. Was the gold medal going to be Alina’s or Ryker’s?
“But…my daughter doesn’t date much. And I think she might be…flattered by your interest.”
Instead of rolling his eyes, Midas narrowed them on Ryker.
“She’s very shy. Reserved. Inexperienced with men.”
Lamb to slaughter.
“But by pretending to be interested, it would be a way for you to get close to her. Just platonically, of course. No real seduction.”
Check. The man did not want Midas fucking Alina. “Platonic is my middle name.”
Ryker backed up a step. “I thought you said it was tact.”
“Whatever.” Then he tossed out a figure for the protection gig. Supposed to be double his usual rate, huh? Go big or go home. He loved that freaking saying. Mostly because he was very big.
Ryker didn’t even blink. He just asked, “When can you start?”
Hell, yes. His gaze slid to the picture window. The setting sun turned the sky a brilliant gold splattered with dark red. “How about first thing in the morning?”
Ryker extended his hand to Midas. “Discretion. Tact.”
Midas gripped the offered hand. “Total control. Don’t worry, I’ve got this.”
Chapter One
Her skates slid across the ice as she picked up speed. Silence surrounded her—silence except for the occasional slice of her blades when she would launch into the air and twist. One turn, two.
She landed. Pushed faster. Faster and faster. She didn’t feel the cold. The moment she stepped onto the ice, the cold always vanished for her. No one else was at the training facility. Her day. Her time. She’d come in long before her coach was even scheduled to arrive, and she’d been skating for hours. The only illumination in the entire building were the lights that shone directly onto the ice. Darkness was everywhere else. Her choice because the only thing that could matter was the ice.
Hadn’t she been told that all her life? The only thing that mattered—
Alina Bellany launched into a quadruple axel. The first rotation had her heart racing. The second had her breath catching. The third had her—
Her body slammed into the ice with bruising force. For a moment, she didn’t move at all. Couldn’t. The breath had been knocked from her.
“Fuck, that looked brutal.”
A man’s voice. Coming from the darkness. A voice that should not have been there.
Her hands pushed down against the white sheet of ice as she levered herself up. Her heart raced fast now, but not from the adrenaline of trying the most difficult ice skating move out there. No, the out-of-control pounding came from fear.
No one else should be here.
Certainly not…
Not the tall, muscled stranger who stood at the edge of the ice. He’d opened the small half-door that would allow him to access the rink. Darkness stretched behind him, but the light over the rink hit the front of his body.
Big. Too big.
He wore a black sweatshirt, but his bulging muscles seemed to strain the clothing. Faded jeans stretched over his powerful thighs. Tennis shoes covered his big feet.
Tennis shoes?
His hair was thick and streaked with bits of dark blond. His face…A close-cropped beard covered the bottom of his face. Made his hard, square jaw look even harder.
“You need help?” Grimacing, he put a tennis shoe onto the ice. “Hope I’m not about to bust my ass.”
