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“I can help you, you know. I’m really good at helping people get in the zone.”
“In the zone? Oh, please. You’ll try anything.”
“When it comes to you, I will.” He smiles. “And I didn’t mean it that way. I meant that a lot of the time when one of the guys on the team is struggling, the coach gets me to have a talk with him. Usually helps.”
“Oh. Well, thanks. If I need help, I’ll come find you.”
“You do that. I’m in building two in the village, apartment thirty-six.” He opens the door, then turns and points back and forth between him and me. “This is going to happen, Dani.”
As soon as the door shuts, I melt into the bench and groan. What the hell just happened? He reads? And he’s some sort of hockey player whisperer. And he’s lickably hot. But he’s also a cheating bastard. Damn underwear models! Who invented them in the first place?
Six
Clint
After I shower, I decide to sit in the stands and watch Danika practice. She’s amazing. A tiny, little ball of strength and agility as she performs her routine over and over. Her coach is a typical dickhead. Never smiling, never satisfied with what she does, no matter how graceful or perfect it looks to me. He just glares, arms folded, shaking his head. Barking orders. Wanting more.
As the practice wears on, I can see she’s getting tired, even though she’s in incredible shape. The more exhausted she gets, the more trouble she has sticking her landing after her triple salchow. She falls again and again and I can tell by her face, she’s getting more discouraged by the second. I want to rush down and carry her off the ice, punch her coach in the face, and take her home with me. Rage courses through my veins as I watch but I know I can’t interfere. I don’t even know her, no matter how much I want her.
Finally, her practice ends and she hangs her head as she steps off the ice. I stand and make my way down to the hallway where the dressing rooms are and wait for her to come out. It takes her almost half an hour to shower and get dressed, but somehow, I know she’s worth the wait. When she comes out, she doesn’t notice me at first. She’s looking down at the floor as she walks.
“You all right?” I ask, keeping my voice gentle, even though I’d like to kick the shit out of her coach.
She looks up, surprise crossing her tear-stained face. “What are you doing here?”
“I watched your practice. Your coach is a real prick.”
Shaking her head, she says, “It’s not him. It’s me. I fell apart out there.”
“I thought you were doing fine until he just kept pushing you past your limits.”
Dani starts walking quickly, passing me as she pulls her wool hat over her wet hair. “He knows what he’s doing. He’s had two skaters medal at the last three Winter Games.”
I match her pace as she hurries to the exit. “If he’s so great, why have you been crying?”
Dani stops in her tracks and turns to me. “Can you just…not…” When she turns to keep walking, I grab her arm with my hand and stop her.
“Dani, you can talk to me.”
“I don’t even know you.”
“Let’s change that.” I reach up and touch her cheek with my fingers. Her skin is every bit as soft as I thought it would be.
She closes her eyes for a second, then opens them and says, “If I were your fiancée, I wouldn’t want you treating another woman like this.”
&nb
sp; Where did that come from? “If you were my fiancée, I wouldn’t treat another woman like this.”
“Clint, please. Just go back to your underwear model.”
“Are you talking about Ashley?”
“I don’t know her name. I just know you’re engaged.”
“No, I’m not.” I shake my head. “She wanted me to propose and I thought about it, but then her ex bought her a yacht and she went back to him. Where’d you hear that anyway?”
“One of the girls on the team knows someone who knows someone who knows Ashley.”
