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I was coming over here to talk, not to ogle him.
Okay, maybe a little bit to ogle.
I tried to plan something clever and suave to say, but the words just tumbled out as I stopped next to him. “You looked amazing out there.”
Jasper raised a skeptical eyebrow at me. “It was just a random string of moves.”
“What, and I’m not allowed to appreciate the skill it took to pull them off?” I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at him, which would make himsomuch more impressed with my maturity. “If you’re fishing for compliments, sure, you’re even more amazing when you’re performing one of your routines. I always loved seeing you in the televised competitions—you manage to make even the most athletic moves flow together into such a gorgeous picture.”
Jasper lowered the water bottle. He stared at me with such a startled expression that I had to fight the urge to look down at myself and make sure my faded concert tee hadn’t caught fire.
“Really?” he said without a hint of his usual snark. Something in his gray-green eyes had shifted; the storm looked a little less tumultuous.
Did he really have to ask that?
I set my hands on my hips. “Yes, really. I wouldn’t go around giving you compliments I don’t mean just to thank you for being such a kind and considerate guy. Because you’re not particularly kind and considerate so far.”
Jasper let out a sudden sputtering sound as if he’d managed to choke on the air. “Got it. No false compliments around here.”
I couldn’t resist punching him—fairly lightly—in the shoulder. Or as close to his shoulder as I could easily reach when standing more than a foot shorter than him.
“The point is, I meant it. I always knew I’d get lost in the world you’d create on the ice. Never saw anyone else who could put on a show the same way.”
Jasper scratched the back of his head, appearing lost for words. His awkwardness melted a little of my irritation with him.
As unbelievable as it seemed that a guy who’d once been seen as such a prodigy that his avid fans had dubbed him “Saint Jasper” might lack in confidence, he was clearly affected by my words.
“Well… thank you,” he said finally, peering at the ice for a beat before meeting my eyes again. He hesitated and then offered a wary but genuine-looking smile. “That’s always been my goal. Bringing the vision in my head to life so I can take the audience there with me. I’m glad to know it’s worked.”
“Of course it’s worked. I bet it’d still work just fine if you let go of whatever’s eating at you like Niko keeps saying.”
I leaned back against the boards, thinking back over the routines of his I’d watched. A sigh twinged with longing slipped over my lips. “Like that Chopin piece you performed for your short program the first year you were at Nationals. I watched that so many times…”
Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. Jasper’s eyes narrowed—but then a flicker of wonder passed through it.
“That’s the music you were skating to when we caught you in here during our practice time that first day.”
I gave him a crooked smile. “Because I’ve been trying to recreate the same vibes.” A longing wiggled up inside me, and I decided to risk the question. “I’d love to see your routine live. If you wanted to get in a little more solo practice today.”
Jasper’s lips parted, his stance tensing. For a second, I was sure that he was going to say no, to tell me to piss off.
He closed his mouth again, and his jaw worked. “It wouldn’t be the same without the costume.”
His voice was softer than I’d ever heard it before. It woke up a hunger in me to see him even more unguarded.
“I can imagine that part,” I said coaxingly. “I’ve seen it enough times. But to have you right in front of me…”
He wet his lips, and I realized his face had flushed just a little. Had my interest affected him that much?
“All right,” he said abruptly. “Why not? It’d be good to run through that program again anyway.”
I managed not to clap my hands in joy like a total fangirl. “I’ll cue up the music for you!”
He looked a little tense as he swept off toward the center of the rink. How long had it been since he’d performed this routine from years back?
Well, he’d agreed. He could always change his mind if he was that worried about it.
But when the first strains of the song reached him in his opening position, all the tension fell away from his posture. I hooked my arms over the top of the boards and leaned back to enjoy the moment to its fullest.
