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He really was being awfully nice to someone who’d snuck in during their ice time. I obviously wasn’t going to give him my full name, but I had to answer him somehow.
“My name’s Luciana,” I said. “But I prefer Lou. Competing, well, I just always seem to get little injuries at the worst times.”
Timing that would have prevented me from competing for years on end would have been incredibly bad luck, but Niko didn’t question it. He probably didn’t really think I was good enough to make it even to Regionals anyway.
My gaze slid from him to Jasper—who was studiously ignoring me while he laced up his skates—and back again. “Why are you two training here?”
I mean, the rink had been highly praised by the few people who knew about it online, but it was hardly world-championship-skater prominent. And Jasper had always competed for the US, as far as I knew, while Niko was obviously Team Japan.
I half-expected to get another brush-off, but Niko leaned his tan arms against the top of the boards with no sign of concern about my nosiness.
He tipped his head toward Jasper with another flash of his impressive grin. “It’s all this guy’s fault, really. If he hadn't gone and tried to disappear, neither one of us would be here bothering you right now.”
“Botheringher?” Jasper muttered without looking up.
Niko ignored him. “If you recognize him, you obviously know how fantastichisskills are. I expected to see him sweep through the last circuit, but he never showed. So I decided to make it my mission to drag him back into the spotlight. I tracked him down to his grandparents’ place in Ottawa—”
Jasper interrupted with a cough. “Stalkedme.” But he didn’t sound quite as irritated about it as he did when he was talking about me.
“—and found him lazing around in a slump. Since that was obviously not okay, I offered to give coaching him a try.”
“More like he demanded I let him have a go at it and refused to leave until I said yes,” Jasper put in, and met my gaze for the first time since I’d come closer. “But I didn’t want it to be a big deal, so I asked around to find a place that would be very low key but still a good rink.”
Huh. Their reasoning had been awfully similar to my own. I guessed that meant I’d made a good choice.
Jasper shot me a more pointed look and added, “So I’d better not see our faces plastered all over your Instagram or whatever.”
I held up my hands in a gesture of innocence. Now that the initial shock of meeting two of my idols in the flesh was starting to wear off, my own prickliness was rearing its head in reaction to his.
“I came here to skate, not to take selfies. Or anyone else-ies.”
He only scowled back at me. “And you just happened to turn up here?”
“I picked Hobb Creek for the same reason you did—seemed like a low-key place with a good arena,” I said. “I needed a change of pace from the big city.” That was a reasonable if vague explanation for my popping up out of nowhere, right? “Believe me, it would never have occurred to me that I’d run into you two here. I definitely won’t spread the news.”
“Good.” Jasper turned to Niko. “Well, let’s get on with it.”
“Such a positive attitude, hmm?” Niko shot me a wry glance. I couldn’t stop my lips from twitching with amusement, which from the glower Jasper shot me, hadn’t gone unnoticed.
I snatched up my skate guards to pull them on and slipped past the boards to my own bag, even though a longing tugged at my gut to stay and watch. “I’ll get out of your hair. Sorry again. If you let me know what slots you have booked, I’ll make sure to work around them.”
Niko’s face brightened. “You shouldn’t have to worry about that. There’s lots of room on the rink, and we are here an awful lot. You should come train at the same time.”
Jasper let out a sound that might have been a growl, but the offer made me too delirious with excitement for me to care.
“Are you serious? I really don’t want to interrupt—”
“It’s no trouble at all,” Niko insisted. “I’d love to see what else you can do.”
His gaze skimmed over my body, and warmth licked over my skin in its wake. Nothing he’d said had been overtly flirty, but all at once I had the impression that the appreciation in his gaze wasn’t just for my skating.
Holy hell. WastheNiko Okabe attracted to me? I mean, I couldn’t say the feeling wouldn’t be mutual.
If he was… could anything actually happen between us? Had I fallen asleep on the ice and this was a crazy dream?
Just to make sure, I pinched myself where the men couldn’t see. Nope, definitely awake.
Regardless of any other considerations, how could I possibly pass up the chance to train alongside two of the great skaters whose careers I’d been following?
