“I thought I was getting the male version of Lauren. I had dreams of a gold medal–winning figure skater, who already knew how to dance and had a built-in fan base. A sure shot at winningThe Dance Off’s trophy.”
“Instead you got a wild man with no dance training and terrible social skills.”
She frowned at him. “There’s nothing wrong with your social skills.”
He rolled his eyes. “Gina, I barely spoke at the beginning.” He was still afraid to say something that would betray his family, but he wasn’t afraid to speak anymore. Gina, with her easygoing sweetness, had opened him up. He didn’t have to be “the quiet one” around her. He could be himself.
It was the only thing she expected of him, and it was a gift he could never repay.
“I can’t believe I dropped you,” he said in a hushed voice.
She rubbed her palm in circles over his belly. “I’ve been dropped before. It happens.”
“ButI’venever done it. I was preoccupied.”
Her hand stilled. “What were you thinking about?”
Truth,she’d said in the dance studio. She’d been talking about his knee then, but didn’t she deserve more truth from him than an injury report?
“I was thinking about what happens when I go back to Alaska.”
Close as they were, it was impossible to miss the way her body tensed.
“Oh.”
He rubbed her back. “I have to finish my contract withLiving Wild.”
She turned her face away. “I know.” Her voice sounded small.
“You work here in LA.” Who the hell was he trying to convince?
“I know.”
He held her and she held him, touching in gestures meant to soothe rather than ignite.
“Tell me what you’re thinking, Gina.” She’d asked him, and he’d answered. It was only fair she return the favor.
She released a hefty sigh. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“Your rule.”
“Not just the rule.” She picked at a loose thread in the hem of his T-shirt. “The rule is to protect my career. I don’t need a rule to protect my… feelings, because I don’t usually let them get involved.”
His heart thumped again. If he interrupted her now, she might change tracks. But if he didn’t acknowledge that he was listening, she might stop. He settled on, “Mm-hmm.”
“I… I have some feelings, Stone. For you.”
He needed to see it. Needed to know the truth. He shifted her so she was sitting across his lap and looked right into her eyes. She caught on quick, knowing what he was after.
They gazed into each other’s eyes. This time, there was no giggling. Just raw, naked emotion.
A pit opened in his stomach, a great yawning chasm of longing. He saw it mirrored in her, but there was a flicker of fear, enough that he needed to do something scary himself before he could kiss her again.
“Me, too.” His voice was gruff, gravelly with emotion. “For you.”
She let out a shaky laugh and pressed her forehead to his. “What the fuck do we do with this, Stone? We won’t work out. I can’t—I won’t—Stone, my mom gave up all her dreams for a man who left her with three kids to raise on her own. And the one time I let myself get involved with someone close to my job, it cost me. I can’t repeat these mistakes.”
It wouldn’t help to point out that one of those mistakes was her mother’s, not hers. Either way, he didn’t have a good counterargument. Her career was important to her and they’d known eachother a few months. He wouldn’t ask her to change her life for him.
