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Yegor stood behind her. "It's only short program. Your long program is exceptional."
It wasn't like Yegor to pump up her ego like this.
She turned to face him. "Yes, it is. But Sasha is formidable."
She watched as his normally implacable expression turned to a frown.
"And I have never known you to doubt that there is anyone on the ice that you cannot defeat. So don't doubt it now. You are better than Petrova. She has weaknesses."
"Really. And what might those be?"
"Skating with confidence is always an asset. Too much confidence means you don't know how to correct if you miss something on the ice. If she bobbles even a little, she'll crumple."
Amber switched her attention to the scoreboard, where Sasha's scores had just gone up. Just as she'd expected, Sasha had scored very well. But not as high as Amber had thought. Their scores were close.
Amber was now in second place, but not so far behind she couldn't catch Sasha in the long program.
"She will have expected higher scores than that," Yegor said. "It will get into her head, allowing her to potentially make a mistake in her long program. You, on the other hand, are always realistic. You have the advantage in the long program."
She hadn't considered that. "Thank you, Yegor. I'll keep that in mind and adjust accordingly."
Yegor gave her a short nod and walked away. For him, that had been a massive pep talk.
He had no idea how much she'd needed to hear it.
TWENTY-THREE
LISA WAS WITH BLAKE AT HIS PLACE--OR AT A BAR somewhere. Amber didn't know. All she knew was that she was pumped and jazzed and loaded with adrenaline after tonight.
She'd ended up doing several more media interviews, and had a phone conversation with her mother, who'd actually told her she did well. She was pretty happy about that. Then she'd hung out a bit with Tia, who felt down after landing in sixth place after the short program. She'd reminded Tia that sixth place was damn good, and that she had a very strong long program. Amber was convinced Tia would move up in the standings because some of the other skaters weren't as strong in the long program. After they'd eaten and had a long chat, Tia felt better.
She'd also texted back and forth with Will, and they made plans to hang out later.
She really wanted to see Will.
She'd gone back to the apartment and showered, changed into shorts and a tank top and dried her hair. When she heard the knock at the door, she hurried to answer it. She peered through the peephole to see Will outside. She opened the door and he grinned at her.
"You're one hell of a figure skater."
"Thank you. And thanks for being there to watch." She stood aside so he could come in.
"Nowhere else I'd want to be."
She closed the door behind him. When she turned around, he pulled her into his arms. She went willingly, loving the feel of his well-muscled, hard body against hers.
He buried his face in her neck. "You smell good."
"Freshly showered. I work up a sweat on the ice."
He pulled back. "Huh. Me, too."
She laughed. "Your skating is a lot different than my skating. You're a madman on the ice."
"Excuse me, but that's 'Mad Dog.'"
"Yes, that, too." She wriggled against him.
He smoothed his hands down her body. "You're still fueled, aren't you?"
She stepped away. "Yes. I can't help it. It was a good night."
"I get it. You want to go out?"
"Honestly? No. I mean, I love all our friends. But tonight I just want to be with you. I just . . . I don't know. I have all this pent-up energy."
He looked at her for a few seconds, then nodded. "I've got an idea. Give me a few minutes. I need to make a phone call."
"Okay."
He pulled out his phone and walked into the bedroom. She had no idea what was going on. When he came back, he had a satisfied smile on his face. "Get dressed, we're going out."
"Will, I--"
"Not with other people. I have a surprise. Oh, and bring your skates."
She tilted her head, confused about what was going on. "My skates?"
"Yeah. I'll be right back."
Before she could question him any further, he'd left.
That was so weird. She needed to get dressed, and bring her skates?
Where were they going?
She pulled on leggings and a sweater, then her boots, and put her skates in her bag. Will returned with his own bag.
"Ready?"
She nodded, slid on her coat and followed him out the door.
When they got outside, he took her hand and they walked outside the village. And then kept walking.
"Care to tell me where we're going?" she asked.
He turned to her and smiled. "You'll see."
When they made their way toward the ice arena, she tugged on his hand. The arena was dark, the parking lot empty.
"You do realize it's closed."
He led her toward one of the back gates where he met up with an older guy in an official international games uniform.
The guy smiled at him. "Hey, Will."
"Hi, Emile. Thanks for doing this."
"No problem." The guy nodded to her in greeting before focusing his attention back to Will. "You got an hour at most, buddy. Then the cleanup crew will be here."
"Got it. Thanks a lot."
They went inside. The lights were already on, but just over the ice rink. Will took her down to the carpeted area.
"Ready to put your skates on?"
"So, we're skating?"
"Yeah. Thought maybe you could work off some of that adrenaline on the ice."
He shrugged out of his coat, sat next to her and laced up his skates, then went onto the ice, skating backward while she finished putting her skates on. She sailed out onto the ice and he skated toward her, pulling her into his arms.
"I'm used to being on the ice alone," she said.
His hands felt warm against her back. "Not tonight. Tonight, we're pairs skating."
He skated backward, taking her with him.
"I like this," she said. "Should we cue music and do a few double axels?"
"Sure. If you'd like to see me fall on my ass."
She pushed back and took his hands, leading him this time. "Oh, come on. You're a pro on ice."
"Skating? Yeah. That fancy shit you do? Not a chance."
"Come on. I'll teach you a few simple things."
He dug in his skates. "I don't think so."
She moved into him, rubbing her body against his. "Oh, come on, Will. You're tough. Give it a try."
He gave her a suspicious glare. "I think you just want to see me fall."
Her lips twitched. "I would never want to see that. Now where is my phone again?"
"Oh, I see how it is. It's on. Show me what you got."
Will knew he was being set up, but Amber had been so wound up he wanted to get her back out on the ice, so she could burn off some of that excess energy. He hadn't expected the skating challenge, but he was game.
She showed him some basic steps like the swizzle and the crossover, both front and back, along with the three-turn.
"You could do a lot of these since you're used to skating front and back."
"Yeah, but you do it a lot prettier than I do."
He could handle them, though he didn't have the finesse Amber did. All he could do was follow along. He felt clumsy performing some of the things that made her look graceful. A lot of what she did she made look easy.
It wasn't easy at all. It took a level of skill he didn't have.
"How do you jump?"
She crooked a smile. "First, you don't have the right skates to do jumps. You don't have the toe pick at the front of your skate to push off the ice, and without that, you could hurt yourself. But I can show you a few moves you can do without the jumps."
"Gotcha."
"How about a lunge?" she asked, then skated forward, held her arms out to her sides and leaned down with her thighs.
He skated forward and tried, already feeling his thighs burning. It was also hard to balance. He raised up and rubbed his legs. "How the hell do you do that?"
