AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Midas had vanished.
The ice waited.
She turned from her coach. Made her way back to the ice. Her skates slid forward, slowly at first but then faster and faster. Silence settled around her. Silence and the occasional slice of her blades.
No, she didn’t feel the cold. She was on the ice again. She didn’t feel the cold when she—
Maybe all I ever feel is cold. Maybe I feel it so much that I don’t know when I’m freezing.
Maybe…maybe she only noticed when she wasn’t cold.
When warmth touched her.
When…Midas touched her.
She launched into the air. One rotation. Two rotations. Three. Four—
She slammed onto the ice. So hard that her whole body quaked.
Her breath shuddered out.
“Up!” Dimitri thundered.
Alina got back to her feet and started skating again.
***
If Alina fell one more time, Midas was walking on that damn ice and carrying her off himself. And that prick coach? Barking instructions left and right. Talk about an asshole. His voice grated with every order that he threw at Alina. And the possessive way he talked about her? The way he ordered her?
A growl built in Midas’s throat. He’d checked every inch of the facility. Hadn’t found any sign that someone else had been there. He had no clue why the lights had gone off, but he damn well didn’t like the situation.
Ryker had given him the barest of details on her case the night before. Someone had been sending threatening emails. Letters. There had been some threats made on social media. Her father had made sure those threats hadn’t actually been read by Alina. None of the threats had been traced back to the perpetrator—or perpetrators. But with the Olympic competition season heating up, Ryker had wanted to make sure a guard was close to Alina.
Her undercover protector.
So, here he was. Watching her skate. Feeling a strange rage snake through him each time that dick of a coach ordered her to complete a different maneuver. Alina had been skating for hours. She needed a break. Sweat gleamed on her face, shining a little on her forehead and her curving cheekbones. Her hair still remained pulled back in its tight bun, though a few tendrils had escaped to dance around her face. Classical music played from the speakers as she streaked across the ice, and when she began to spin—over and over—her delicate body became a wild blur that was really damn impressive to see.
She kept spinning and spinning. He could not take his eyes off her and then—
The music stopped.
So did she. With her back arched, her chest heaving, and her hands in the air.
Perfect.
He clapped.
Her head whipped toward him. Surprise flashed in her eyes. Amazing eyes. Dark and deep eyes. A quick smile curved her lips. No dimples from Alina. But she didn’t need dimples. That smile of hers was absolutely gorgeous.
“You will not be here tomorrow,” Dimitri informed him. His Russian accent grated hard in the words. No “W” sounds there. Just a hard “V.”
“Oh, I absolutely will be here.” Midas turned his head and looked down at the much smaller man. I can break you with barely a thought, asshole. “I’ll be here tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that. Pretty much as long as I’m needed, I’ll be here.”
“You are not needed.”
“Um, well, see, her father—you remember him, right? The man who pays you? Who built this lovely facility? He hired me. He wants me to keep an eye on things. Ryker wants me to ensure that the building is secure for Alina and the other skaters. Be assured, I take my job very seriously.” He did. A charge had never been hurt during his watch.
“You can watch from a distance,” Dimitri bit out. “You will not distract Alina.” He whirled toward her as she skated to join them. “Adequate performance. Add an extra hour for tomorrow. You’ll need it.” Then he marched away.
