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In an instant, I noted that she had a typical figure skater build: petite but muscular through her thighs and calves. Her dark ponytail streamed out behind her like a battle flag.
And man, could shemove.
She held her hands high above her head, then leaned back as she trailed them down across the swell of her chest and out again. They curved with the rest of her body when her feet spun up in a beautiful triple Salchow.
She whirled through the air as though that wasn’t one of the more difficult moves a skater could accomplish and landed it with a graceful sweep of her leg.
My mouth fell open. Her expression shifted in time with the music, the crescendo trilling higher until an entire storyline was playing through my head. The nocturne conveyed a sense of danger and romance intertwined, something so beautiful and touching that I couldn’t tear my eyes away.
A pang reverberated through my chest. This was it. This was how I wanted to skate. The power and artistry I craved every time I set my blades on the ice.
The vision that never looked quite right even after all these weeks of Niko’s guidance, no matter how much he praised my progress in the video recordings he took to show me after.
As I drifted down the steps to the boards, I searched my memory, trying to recall if I’d ever seen this woman before. But no: nothing from the town, nothing from any of my past competitions.
She’d definitely have stuck in my mind if I’d seen her before. So who the hell was she, and where had she come from?
I was about to ask Niko those questions as I came up beside him at the foot of the stands, but then I caught a glimpse of his face.
Of the awe etched in his avid expression.
His bright brown eyes followed along with every leap of her powerful legs and every subtle curl of her fingers. His lips had parted as if the imagery she was creating had struck him speechless.
Had he ever looked atmyskating like that?
Jealousy coupled with a hefty heaping of insecurity spiked between my ribs. If we compared who a panel of judges would be most impressed by, she would probably blow me out of the water, and Niko clearly knew that too.
“Wow,” he breathed, rubbing salt into the wound. “She’s really something.”
Yeah, she was—in more ways than one. She eased to a stop at the far end of the rink, and for the first time I could see her face clearly, if only in profile.
The exertion of the routine had brought a ruddy flush into the smooth brown skin of her cheeks. The perfectly chiseled bow of her lips curled up in a tiny smile. The graceful arc of her eyebrows matched the elegant slope of her nose.
She was fucking gorgeous.
My cock twitched involuntarily, and I set my duffel bag on the bench in front of me just in case I needed it to hide my reaction. At the same time, my jaw tightened.
A woman like that would be used to everyone falling all over her. The last thing I wanted was to come across like another lovestruck schoolboy tripping over himself to join her fan club.
Shoving down the flare of heat that’d stirred inside me, I raised my hands in a slow, pointed clap.
Yes, we see you. Yes, you’re oh so wonderful.
Now get over here and explain what the fuck you’re doing crashing my training time.
FOUR
Luciana
I soared through the air,as smooth and elegant as a swan on the water. The very soul of grace itself.
I was made for this.
Or at least, that’s what I told myself.
The words had become a mantra, a prayer on repeat, bouncing around inside my brain while I tried to summon all the dignified calm and effortless confidence of a professional figure skater. When nerves nibbled at the edges of my mind, I reminded myself why I’d risked sneaking into the rink in the first place.
There was no one here watching, no one judging. Only Rafael’s eyes would be on me right now, and he barely counted after all these years.
