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He frowned. "Why not?"
"Too much risk."
He laughed. "I can't believe you of all people just said that."
"Why?"
"You take risks every time you skate out onto the ice. You're brave as hell, Amber."
"Thank you. But that's just skating. Win or lose, my heart will be intact."
"So you're saying your emotions aren't involved when you skate? That if you don't win a medal here, you won't be heartbroken?"
"No. Winning a medal is always a challenge. Since I was ten years old, skating was my business, not my heart, not my everlasting love."
Will found it fascinating hearing Amber's perspective, not only about love, but how she felt about figure skating. He had an entirely different feeling about being on the ice. "Huh. Okay."
"You feel differently."
"Hell, yeah. I love being on the ice. Winning is everything. And losing is awful."
She circled her finger around his nipple, making him suck in a breath. "When you lose, does it hurt your heart?"
"No, but it sucks."
"If you don't medal here, will your heart be broken?"
He had to think about that. "I guess not. But it'll suck."
"I think I've made my point."
He swept his hand upward, cupping her breast, teasing her nipple with his fingers until her breathing grew faster.
"And what was that point?"
She made a moaning sound. "I forget. I'm sure if you fuck me it'll jog my memory."
He rolled over to grab a condom. "My pleasure."
"Oh, no, Will. It'll definitely be my pleasure."
NINETEEN
AMBER BARELY MADE IT BACK TO THE VILLAGE THE next morning in time to change clothes and dash to the ice arena in time for practice.
"You are late," Yegor said, giving her his signature look of disapproval. Brows furrowed, arms crossed, head down. When she was twelve, it had been highly intimidating. Now, not so much.
"I know, I know, I'm sorry," she said, dashing to the bench to put on her skates.
"You need to stretch first," Valeria said. She also gave her a stern look.
"I don't have time. I'll go easy on the jumps."
"You'll get hurt without stretching."
"I won't, Valeria, I promise."
She started to move away, but Valeria grabbed her arm.
"Let me stretch you."
Amber shook her head. "There's no time. I have to be on the ice right now."
She heard Valeria's sigh as she made her way across the carpet to the ice.
It was much more important for her to get her practice time in rather than sacrifice that time to stretch. She took to the ice, did several laps around the rink, then went into a few easy jumps.
Her body felt good, and after a few more times around the arena she felt limber, so she signaled for her music for the short program so she could do a run-through. She got up to speed and did her first required element, a triple jump.
She felt the twinge in her hamstring almost immediately after coming out of the jump.
Shit. She continued on, hoping it was just a lack of warm-up that was causing her muscles to freeze up and nothing more. But as she went into the second jump, she felt that tightness again and, even worse, pain.
She didn't finish going through the rest of her program. Rather than risk an injury, she skated off the ice.
Valeria was right there, concern etched on her features. "I saw the way you came out of that triple axel. What's wrong?"
"I don't know. I felt a twinge in my right hamstring when I landed the jump."
"Come. Let's take a look at your leg."
She cast a look over at Yegor, who only shook his head and walked away.
A feeling of dread overcame her.
She unlaced her skates, casting them a look of longing, then followed Valeria into the locker room. She undressed, then hopped up on the table, wincing at the tightness in her hamstring.
She flipped over on her stomach and closed her eyes as Valeria put heat on her hamstring. She hoped she hadn't screwed this all up. Had she done something terrible? Had her refusal to adequately warm up done irreparable damage to her career? Had she thrown away her shot at winning gold?
"How does this feel?" Valeria asked as she removed the heating pad and began pressing in hard on the muscles of her hamstring.
It didn't hurt, so that might be positive. "It feels fine. Good, actually."
"No pain?"
"No pain."
"Good sign." Valeria worked her over for about half an hour, then told Amber to roll over. Valeria stretched her thoroughly. When she finished, Amber got dressed.
Yegor knocked on the door and ducked his head in.
"Got permission for you to skate again, if your leg is okay."
She did a few lunges, and felt no pain. "I can skate."
"Good. You will have time on the ice in fifteen minutes after Petrova has completed her skate. Stay warm."
She got dressed and grabbed her skates, then made her way out onto the carpet again, this time making sure she continued to stretch. When Petrova finished, she skated out there, feeling much more relaxed and limber than she had when she'd skated cold earlier.
The true test would be the jumps. She started her program, and when she did the triple axel, she held her breath, but landed the jump with no pain.
She exhaled a sigh of relief, went through the rest of her routine, feeling solid on all the required elements. When she finished, she skated off the ice toward a waiting Yegor and Valeria. Actually, she wanted to fling herself into Valeria's arms and sob with gratitude and relief, but she held it together.
"That looked much better," Valeria said.
Yegor nodded. "Stronger. You skated with confidence."
"I agree," Valeria said. "How was your pain level?"
She sat and unlaced her skates. "I felt much more relaxed. No tightness. No pain."
"Perfect," Valeria said. "No need to worry. You just had a twinge because you weren't warmed up."
"Which won't happen again, correct?" Yegor asked, slanting a stern look at her.
"It won't happen again."
She changed and left the arena, heading straight to her apartment.
"Lisa?"
Lisa didn't answer. She was either with Blake or out on the half-pipe doing her own practice.
She tossed her bag down inside the front door and went straight to the kitchen to grab a glass of juice. After she poured it, she sat at the counter.
How could she have been so careless, so stupid? She'd lost focus, had treated her skating career cavalierly, all in favor of some sexual fun and exploration. She'd even told Will last night that skating meant virtually nothing to her, that it was just a job.
It was so much more. When she'd felt that pull in her hamstring today, she'd panicked. It was only then she realized how much skating meant to her, what a blow it would be to not be able to compete.
Competition was everything to her. Nothing else mattered.
No one else mattered.
She had to get her focus back.
Her phone buzzed. She ignored it, figuring it was Will. She wasn't ready to talk to him. Not until she formulated a plan for their next conversation. Because things were going to change between them. They had to.
Her phone buzzed again.
"Dammit." She was just going to have to tell him that--
She looked at the phone. Oh, shit. Her mom. She'd forgotten all about her mom. She pressed the button. "Hi, Mom."
"Where have you been?"
"I'm at the apartment."
"I called you six times this morning between the hours of six and nine. You didn't answer."
She had her phone on silent in her bag, and because she'd been running late she hadn't bothered to look at it. "Sorry. I was running late this morning and I had short program practice. I just got back."
"Running late? You're never late. You're always early. What's going on, Amber?
"
"Nothing's going on, Mom. So, how about lunch? Would you like to meet outside the village? There's a great bistro that I think you'd really like."
