Page 34 of Hotter on Ice

He nodded.

“My turn,” she said. “Tell me about your last girlfriend.”

“Really?” He raised his eyebrows. “Because I don’t want to hear anything about other men you’ve had sex with.”

She rolled her eyes. “I just want a better picture of you.”

He shook his head. “I’ve never been good boyfriend material, not then and not now.”

“You sure? You’ve got that big, protective vibe written all over you,” she said, stroking his bicep with her hand. “But no diverting the conversation. Tell me.”

“Her name was Corinne, and, looking back, I can see I was a shit boyfriend to her. I worked all the time when I was on the AFP, always canceling dinners because something came up. Even when I wasn’t working, that’s what I thought about. After a while, the only place we got along was in the bedroom.” He glanced over at her, gauging her reaction. Her expression was solemn, like she knew what came next. She nodded for him to continue, but this part was the hardest. Henning took a deep breath. “Then, the explosion happened, and I was in the hospital for a bit. She broke up with me. It sounds harsh, but I can’t really blame her. The only thing we had at that point was sex, and that wasn’t happening while I was recovering. Plus, I looked like a monster with my stitched-up scars. Romantic, right?”

“Honest,” she said. Worry lines creased her forehead, and she opened her mouth like she wanted to say more, but she didn’t. Instead, she reached for his injured cheek to stroke it. Henning blew out a long breath, sinking into the comfort of her hand on his skin, just for a moment. But the room was so cold. He moved her hand to his shoulder, under the covers, as he thought through his next question.

“If you weren’t modeling, what would you do instead?”

“That’s easy. I’d finish my nursing degree.” She brushed her hair out of her face. “I’d like to work in the emergency room, I think. There’s a lot that happens there, a lot on the line at those moments.”

“Why didn’t you finish?”

“It cost a lot, and modeling paid instead of cost. And at the time, Natasha and I needed to support ourselves.”

She said all of this so matter-of-factly, without a trace of bitterness at being sidetracked from something she had wanted then and still wanted now.

“Do you have any plans to go back at this point?”

“Someday. Modeling isn’t really a forever career.” She sighed. “Plus I think nursing school will be better when I’m older. There were comments that made me think people didn’t take me seriously, just because of the way I looked. They didn’t trust me. And then there were doctors who...”

He must have reacted visibly because she narrowed her eyes at him. “Wait—you just asked more than one question, and now you’re scowling.” She smiled a little. “New subject. I want to know about five years with no kissing but not celibate.”

He frowned. “I’m pretty sure you can guess what that means. You sure you want to know more?”

“I do.”

He stroked her shoulder and then rested his hand on her neck, warming it from the cold.

“Fine. For a while I went to this...club. And I met some women there. It was just for sex, nothing more. No kissing, no touching.” Henning silently begged her not to ask for more details.

Alya’s cheeks were flushed, but she kept her gaze steady on him. “And that’s generally your preference? Sex with no kissing or touching?”

“That’s not my general preference. But under those circumstances, yes, it was.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “Those circumstances meaning at sex clubs?”

He hesitated. But he had promised the truth. “Those circumstances meaning after I left the AFP.”

“I see,” she said. “But you don’t go to that club anymore?”

He shook his head.

“Why not?”

“I realized I wanted something else.”

“Did you get it?” Her voice was quiet now.

He had promised her the truth, but every version of the truth left something out. Did she already know that she was what he wanted? Maybe it didn’t matter anymore.