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“Adequate, my ass,” Midas informed her. Loudly. He wanted the dick to hear him. “That was amazing. Never seen anyone skate like you. You are phenomenal.”
Her head dipped forward as a faint pink tinted her cheeks. “Thank you.”
His hand lifted and curled under her chin. He tilted her face up because he wanted to look into those incredible eyes of hers again.
Wow. Slow your roll, man. You’re playing the role of interested suitor. This is not the real deal. He had one big rule that he usually told his charges…Don’t go falling for me. Yeah, probably a BS warning that they didn’t need but he gave the warning because he never, ever allowed emotional ties. Those ties would always get in the way of a job.
“Adequate is actually a really big compliment from Dimitri,” she murmured. “You should hear what he says when he isn’t impressed.”
“No, I don’t think I should hear that.” It would just piss him off, and Midas already didn’t like the jerk. His thumb slid over her lower lip.
Her breath caught.
What the fuck am I doing? The caressing movement of his thumb had been instinctive. She had gorgeous lips. Full. Bow-shaped. Kissable.
And he needed to back the hell off. She was the reserved one. The shy one. The one her own father had said didn’t have a lot of experience with men. If he came on too strong, she’d bolt.
He dropped his hand and stepped back.
She made her way to the bench and began to remove her skates.
Damn but she was small. He looked at his hands. Freaking bear claws. He towered over her. The woman was built along ballerina-like lines. Was that a figure skater thing? Did they have to be small in order to do all that crazy shit in the air? Kinda like a gymnast or something? Wait, he did remember reading that she’d competed in gymnastics for a time, before she’d switched fully to figure skating.
“Did you figure out why the lights went off?” She laced up her tennis shoes. She’d been skating in a pair of what looked like black yoga pants and a form-fitting black top. A top that stretched over her small but round breasts. And, yes, dammit, his gaze had dipped to those breasts a time or two.
Or ten.
He cleared his throat. Her pants weren’t yoga pants. He was sure there was some sort of special skating name for them. Midas just had zero clue what that name might be. As he watched, Alina shouldered into a white, puffy coat and zipped it up.
Then she rose to stand in front of him.
“Shit,” he exclaimed. “You’re even smaller than I thought.”
A shake of her head. “I’m the same size. Just not standing on blades any longer.” She lifted her hand and pulled her hair free of the bun. The silky mass tumbled over her shoulders as a long sigh slipped from her. “Oh, so much better.”
He swallowed.
“So, did you figure out why the lights went off?” Alina asked again.
“Got a crew investigating the electrical panel right now. Lead maintenance fellow thinks it could have been a short.” One possibility, certainly. But there were a few things about the situation that bothered him.
One…the door to the facility had been unlocked when he arrived.
Two…the lights had all come on easily enough when Dimitri had flipped the switches. And, of course, when Midas had questioned him, Dimitri hadn’t been able to say if the lights over the rink had been turned off before he started flipping things. The Russian coach had no idea what he’d turned on and what he hadn’t.
Three…I don’t like her training alone. “You should have someone with you when you train in the mornings.”
Her mouth kicked into a half-smile. An oddly sexy one. “It’s my alone time. My time to glide across the ice without Dimitri growling at me.”
Yeah, he could get wanting to be away from the prick, but… “I’ll be here in the mornings before you arrive from now on.”
Her brows climbed. “The last head of security didn’t arrive that early.”
“Then he wasn’t doing the job right. I’ll be here with you. There won’t be any other instances of you skating alone in the dark.” The idea of saying he was the new head of security at the rink? Totally his. Midas liked to keep his truth and his lies as close as possible. Ryker had needed someone, and Midas was the most qualified. He’d watch over the facility and take extra care to watch Alina.
Alina nibbled on her lower lip.
“Got a problem?” he queried. He was sure she was gonna tell him that she wanted her “alone time” in the morning for skating, and that was just gonna be too damn bad because he was there to protect her. He’d get the job done, no matter what. He would—
