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She went inside, and he waited until she closed the door.
He pivoted on his heel and decided to take a long walk in the cold, determined to cool down his raging erection before he went inside for the night.
TEN
AMBER WAS NUMBER SIX IN HER GROUP, WHICH MEANT she would skate last. It also meant she did a lot of stretching, pacing and mental warm-ups. But it also gave her a chance to check out the short program of some of her competitors.
Gretchen Bader of Germany was fourth and skating now. She'd come in third at the World competition and Amber knew never to underestimate Gretchen. She was extremely strong in jumps and she could sneak up on you in a competition and kick your ass. From the looks of her short program, her jumps were just as strong as ever, which meant that Amber would need to be flawless.
Next up in the group was Hua Ping of China. Hua had a lovely grace to her skating. She wasn't as strong on the jumps, but even in the short program Amber was mesmerized by the beauty of her movements. The judges would be, too.
While she watched Hua, she put her skates on since she would be up next. There were no judges present. She wouldn't skate in the short program for a few days. But just practicing sent a thrill into her nerve endings. It meant they were nearing the reality of competition. And once competition started, she'd be on her game and ready to win.
But for now, Hua had finished her short program practice, so it was Amber's turn. She listened to Yegor's instructions, then took the ice.
There were already people in the audience. The place wasn't as full as it would be when competition started, but the arena was half-filled with people.
Her mother wasn't there yet, thankfully. Mom had the dance studio, and while Amber was her child, the studio was her other baby. She wouldn't leave it until she had to, which meant she'd fly up here just in time for Amber to compete.
Amber did a few warm-up laps around the ice, then took her starting position. When the music started up, she flowed through the routine, getting a feel for doing the short program on unfamiliar ice.
Everything felt good. Her skates slid across the ice just fine, her compulsory jumps went off without a hitch, and she sank into the music perfectly. She tuned out the cheers of the smaller crowd with no issue. Then again, she'd always been able to adjust to crowd noise. Her music was all she heard when she was out there.
She slid to a stop and paused for a few seconds after her routine ended, satisfied that everything had gone well. Then she skated off.
"You looked good out there," Yegor said. "Jumps looked fine."
"How do you feel?" Valeria asked. "Any muscle tightness?"
"No. But that was a short program. We'll see how I feel after I practice the long program tomorrow."
She never liked taking such long breaks in between working her programs. Typically, she skated every day, but between the flights and the delay in getting on the ice, it had been several days. Now that she'd be allowed daily practice, she'd get into the groove again.
She went into the workroom with Valeria, who stretched her quads and hamstrings and gave her a back massage. After, she took a shower and dressed in black leggings and a long gray top. She laced up her boots, then decided to go in search of some food. Between this morning's run followed by a gym workout, and warm-ups followed by the skate, she'd worked up an appetite.
She grabbed her parka, about to head outside when she spotted Will leaning against a wall in the main lobby. She walked over to him.
"What are you doing here?"
"I watched you skate."
Her heart skipped a beat. "You did?"
"Yeah. So where are you off to now?"
"Cafeteria. I'm hungry. How about you?"
"I could eat. Mind if I go with you?"
"I don't mind that at all. I'd love your company."
He pushed off the wall and moved in closer. "You're very sexy when you skate."
No one had ever said that to her before. "It was my short program. All compulsories. Nothing sexy."
He picked up a lock of her hair and sifted it through his fingers. "That's where you're wrong. Every move you make is sexy, Amber. The way you glide along on skates, those jumps, even the way you extend your arms. All sexy."
She slanted a disbelieving look at him. "I think you want to get in my pants and your view of my skating is biased."
"Possibly."
"Besides, you haven't even seen my long program yet. Now that's packed with some sizzle."
He leveled her with the wicked desire in his gaze. "Babe, you haven't seen my long program yet, either. Trust me, I'm packing some heat, too."
She laughed. "I'm looking forward to that. All you have to do is say the word."
"I'm still pondering that."
He helped her on with her parka and they headed out the door. The sun was out, so she slid on her sunglasses. "I've never known a guy to play hard to get."
"I'm not hard to get at all. It's more like I want to make sure that you're sure about this."
"I haven't changed my mind. You're still my guy--at least as far as sex is concerned."
"Good to know."
They walked across the yard to the main building. When they went inside, they headed into the cafeteria. There were a lot more people here than there had been the past couple of days. With the opening ceremonies tonight, everyone who was competing was here now.
"I see Lisa over at that table," Amber said. "And isn't she with some of your hockey guys?"
"Yeah."
They made their way to the table where Lisa and a few other snowboarders had commandeered a large table. She also saw Drew Hogan, Ivan Petrov and Jimmie Oster, along with several of the other US hockey players she'd met the other night.
Lisa got up and put her arms around Amber. "Hey, sweetie. I feel like I haven't seen you in a day or more. How's it going?"
"Good," Amber said. "Missed seeing you this morning."
Lisa smiled. "I spent the night elsewhere last night."
"Of course you did. I hope that went well."
Lisa took a bite of her nectarine, then grinned. "It went extremely well, thanks. Hey, Will."
"Hey, Lisa."
Will moved over to talk to some of his friends, so Amber left her parka and bag with Lisa and went to get some food. She piled her bowl with greens and chicken breast, a side of raspberries and blueberries, then grabbed a drink and made her way back to the table and slid in beside Lisa.
"Did you eat?" she asked Lisa.
Lisa nodded. "As soon as I got here. I felt like I burned a million calories this morning."
"How was it?"
"Fantastic. The half-pipe was slick and sweet."
"I can't wait to watch you ride it."
"You know you could have watched me--or even snowboarded yourself, if you'd ever come up here and visit."
Amber started to eat her salad, her fork balancing on the bowl. "I feel such guilt about that, but at the same time I did what I had to do to work out this new program. My mom and dad went to Italy two summers ago. They invited me to go along and I said no to that, too."
Lisa's eyes widened. "Italy? Aww, honey, I'm sorry you missed that. Italy is amazing."
"I know. It's one of my favorite places. But in the end it was better that I didn't go. It made for a sweet second honeymoon for them, and since they rarely if ever take vacations, I wanted them to have that time alone."
"I'm sure they had a great time."
"Based on the photos they showed me, it looked like they had a great time. And they did not need their daughter coming along as a third wheel."
"I can see your point."
"Besides, I was busy working out my new routine."
Lisa smiled at Amber. "We haven't had any time to talk about that yet. Are you confident about it?"
She nodded. "I am. I think it's really good."
"I can't wait to see it. What's your music? Is it rock and roll?"
"There might be a little rock music. Then agai
n maybe the only rock in there is Rachmaninoff."
Lisa narrowed her gaze. "You're not going to tell me what music you chose, are you?"
She slanted a sweet smile at Lisa. "Nope."
"Bitch."
Amber laughed. "I can't wait to see you kick some ass on the half-pipe. You get so high and it always makes me hold my breath, but you're so damn good at it that I end up screaming until I'm hoarse."
Lisa's eyes always brightened when they talked snowboarding. "You're so awesome to say that. And I'm so stoked about competing."
"What I'm excited about is to get the games underway."
