Dean stretched his legs, his knee brushing mine. “I fell a lot at first. We’re talkingaggressively.”
I bit my lip. “You still fall.”
“Wow. Rude.”
I held my chin high. “It is an observable fact.”
Dean laughed under his breath. “Yeah, well. I got back up fast.” His expression grew more thoughtful. “I wasn’t the best kid in my group. There were always guys with bigger jumps or flashier skating. I was just…” He shrugged. “Reliable.”
There was an edge to his voice.
“You dislike that word.”
“I used to.” Dean looked down at our knees pressed together. “Reliable doesn’t get headlines. It doesn’t get people excited.”
“But it wins.” Dean glanced up, and I looked into his eyes. “You skate like someone people trust.”
He swallowed again. “You know, my coaches always said something similar.” He smiled. “Apparently when things go to hell, people look at me first.”
“And outside skating?”
He blinked. “What do you mean?”
“You take charge naturally.” I hesitated. “Even here.” I gestured to the bed.
“Oh.” A second later he rubbed a hand across his jaw. “I didn’t even realize I was doing that half the time.”
“I know.”
And that was the problem. Nothing in me resisted him.
It should have frightened me. Instead it felt natural.
Thatterrified me.
Dean huffed out a breath. “You know what’s weird?”
“What?”
“I think you and I learned opposite lessons from the same thing.”
I frowned. “Explain.”
Dean cocked his head to one side. “You learned hesitation was dangerous.”
The words hit with startling precision, and my throat tightened.
He saw it immediately. “There’s a reason that landed, huh?”
For a moment I considered avoiding it, then I remembered where I was.
Who I was with.
“At Junior Worlds,” I said slowly, “Mila and I were leading after the short program.”
Dean stayed quiet.
“In the free skate, I hesitated before a throw jump.” Another shrug. “Half a second. Nothing visible to most people.”
