by Jaci Burton
"Like . . . ever?"
"Ever."
"Why not?"
She tapped her fingers on her water glass. "My mother said it wasn't in my best interests for me to get friendly with my competitors."
"Yeah, but shouldn't you be friendly with the ones on the US team when you're competing internationally?"
"No. We're all competing for one spot--first place. It doesn't matter what country we're from. At least that's what my mother thinks."
He studied her while he took a sip of his water, then asked, "You always do what your mother tells you?"
She arched a brow. "Is that an insult?"
"No, it was a legit question."
"It sounded like an insult. I'm not a child, you know."
"Obviously. So you agree with her assessment?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. Sometimes yes, sometimes no."
"What would happen if you disagreed with her?"
Amber had tried that before. It hadn't ended well. But she didn't want to have that discussion with Will. He would think she was a child. And maybe her mother treated her like one. But she also knew her mother wanted her to win, and winning sometimes meant you couldn't have what you wanted.
Like friends. Or a boyfriend.
Or fun.
That last one might have been an exaggeration.
She sipped her water and shrugged. "Sometimes sacrifices have to be made."
"Is that you talking, or your mother?"
She had been enjoying herself. Now she didn't like the direction this conversation was going. "You don't know her, so you're making judgements based on supposition instead of knowledge."
"That's true. I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, Amber. I'm just trying to understand how a grown woman doesn't act on her own best judgement."
"I--"
She was about to argue with him further, but their scallops arrived, so instead, she decided to table the argument for the time being. Which was probably a good idea, since they were miles from the village, and if she got angry with him, it wasn't like she could storm off. She was stuck with Will.
At least for now.
They dug into the scallops. Or rather, Will did. Amber slid one onto her plate and cut it in half, then tasted it. It was perfectly broiled and delicious.
"That's all you're having?" Will asked.
"I don't want to spoil my appetite for the main course."
"Fine with me. I'll eat the rest of them."
He did, too. Not that the appetizer portion was very large, but scallops were rich, and Amber knew her limits. She'd ordered salmon for dinner, and she intended to eat every bite of it, so the last thing she wanted was to stuff herself on appetizers.
Or the amazing-smelling bread the waiter had just laid on the table. Will, however, had no problem tearing into it.
"Would you like some?" he asked, offering the basket to her.
She'd like about ten slices of warm bread. With as much butter as it would hold. Instead, she shook her head.
Sometimes, staying in fighting shape for competition sucked. So instead, she watched Will eat bread and thought about how great it must taste.
As soon as she retired she was going to eat an entire loaf of French bread, with a whole stick of melty warm butter--and no guilt.
At fifty-one, her mother maintained her trim figure by dancing as much as she could and teaching dance. And by watching her calories.
Amber had no intention of doing that when she hung up her skates. She'd still skate, of course. She'd always skate. But as far as counting every calorie that went into her mouth? The hell with that.
"Hey."
She looked up at Will. "Yes?"
"You went quiet on me and that's my fault. I didn't bring you here to pick a fight with you and I'm sorry. You have a right to do whatever you damn well please, and that includes listening to your mother's advice. And I have no right to give you my opinion on anything, because what the hell do I know about you or your life?"
That was the exact speech she was going to give him when they returned to the village. But he beat her to it, and apologized. "I appreciate that. And it's okay. A lot of people don't understand the dynamic between my mother and me. She can be overbearing at times. I'm the first to admit that. But I'm no doormat, either. I understand what it takes to be a champion. So I mostly agree with her, even if she's often a pain in my ass."
He laughed. "So she's kind of like your coach?"
"No, I have a coach. And he's a pain in my ass sometimes, too. He pushes me hard on the ice. She pushes me hard off the ice."
"Jesus. That must be unbearable for you."
"It can be. But I have my escapes."
"Reading and movies?"
He'd remembered their conversation. "Yes. And music. I'll often plug in my earphones and just skate so I don't have to listen to either of them. What about you? Anything get on your nerves?"
"My coach. My teammates. My competitors." He popped the last scallop into his mouth, chewed, swallowed and took a sip of water. "Oh, and losing. That really pisses me off."
She laughed. "I agree."
Their dinner arrived. Her salmon looked and smelled amazing. She couldn't wait to dive into the risotto as well. She looked over at Will's plate. He'd ordered the salmon trio, with Chinook, sockeye and coho salmon. It looked incredible.
The first bite melted in her mouth. She closed her eyes and let the flavor consume her.
"Kind of like having an orgasm, huh?"
Her eyes flew open. "What?"
He motioned with his head toward her plate. "The salmon. It's that great."
"Oh. Right. Sure. Orgasmic." She'd given herself plenty of orgasms. But she wouldn't equate the flavor of this salmon to an orgasm.
Maybe she hadn't been doing it right.
Will studied her and she suddenly felt as if he knew everything about her. Including the fact that she'd never had sex. Which was utterly ridiculous. How could he know?
She decided to concentrate on the delicious food and not her own stupid thoughts.
"If you hadn't become a competitive skater, what would you have done with your life?"
She looked up from her plate. "I've never thought about it before."
"Really? I think about it all the time."
"You do? Why? Is it because you don't love playing hockey?"
He took a bite of his salmon, swallowed, then shook his head. "Nah. I love what I do. It's in my blood and has been from the time I was a kid."
"Then why ponder another career?"
He smiled at her. "Because it's fun to play 'what if.' What if I'd never played hockey. What would I have done? Become a plumber, maybe. I have friends who are plumbers."
"And you think being a plumber is exciting?"
"I like working with my hands. Plus, plumbers are always in demand. It's a good business."
"True."
"So, yeah, I could see myself going in that direction. Or maybe a firefighter."
She had been eating as she listened, but she paused. "Why a firefighter?"
"Because you save lives. Plus, it's hard work and dangerous. And exciting."
"In other words, you want to be a hero."
"I think if you go into that line of work wanting to be a hero, you're going into it for the wrong reasons."
"That's true."
"So what about you?"
She thought about it as she ate. "Maybe a teacher. I like kids."
"Little ones or big ones?"
Her lips curved. "It doesn't matter, but I always loved science. I could see myself teaching high school."
He arched a brow. "Think you could take on unruly high school kids?"
"Kids just need someone who understands them and respects them. And who won't take shit from them. It doesn't matter what age they are."
He looked at her. "You'd make a great teacher, Amber."
She laughed. "Yeah, in another life."
"You could do it now. Or, you know, after all
this."
"Maybe."
"Have you given any thought to what you might do after the skating thing is over?"
"No. All I've thought about is winning gold. I don't think past that, because winning is my focus. It has to be my focus."
"Good point."
"What about you? Any thoughts on what you might do once your hockey career is over?"
"I'll take over my parents' bar, probably. They'll want to retire at some point and they want someone in the family to take over, which means my brother and me. But I don't intend for my hockey career to be over anytime soon. I'm too good at this."
She laughed. "Spoken like a guy who has a healthy ego."
"Hey, neither of us would be here if we didn't think we were the best at what we do."
"You're right about that. We are the best." Sometimes she forgot how good she was. It was why she'd gotten on the US team. Not that she needed an ego stroke, because she didn't. But if she didn't believe in herself and in her talents, who would? Certainly not the judges.
She needed the judges to believe she was the best. She'd worked hard the past four years to make sure that happened.
They finished their dinner and both declined dessert. When the check came, Amber reached for it, but Will snatched it up.
"You do realize that I'm perfectly capable of paying for a meal."
"I'm sure you are," he said. "But I'm the one who invited you out, so, if you don't mind, I'd like to pay."
When she gave him a look, he said, "Next time we go out, you can pay."
She wouldn't argue with that. "All right. And thank you for dinner."
"You're welcome. Thanks for coming with me."
They headed out to the SUV. Amber paused. It was dark now, but the lights of Vancouver were a beautiful backdrop. Since she didn't know when they'd be able to leave the village again, she took a moment to breathe in the scenery.
Will moved in next to her, draping his arm over her shoulders. "Nice out here, isn't it?"
"Yes." The snow had stopped. It was cold, but she loved the cold. It always made her feel at home. And with Will's arm around her, she felt a warmth seeping into her body. She could stay like this for hours.
"So I guess we should get back," she said.
"You don't have a curfew yet. We can hang out here for a while if you want."
She turned her head to look up at him. "In the parking lot?"
"Why not? The view is good. Unless you're cold."
She shook her head. "I'm never cold."
"No, I'd say you're pretty hot."
She laughed. "Is that a line?"
"It's the truth. You're beautiful, and you have a sassy mouth." He had turned to face her, and he rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip. Her skin prickled with chill bumps, but it wasn't the cold causing her to shiver. Will's touch incited desire in her that she'd never felt before.
And when he cupped her neck and brought his lips to hers, for a few seconds she forgot to breathe. But when he fit his mouth to hers, she sighed in complete abandon.
She'd been kissed before. Lots of times. Some of those times had even been good kisses. But this kiss was the heaven of all kisses. Hot and delicious and with passionate intent. It was the kind of kiss a woman dreamed about her entire life, the way you wanted to be kissed, as if the man kissing you really meant it.
She leaned in and clutched his arms, taking in the strength of him through his parka, absorbing the softness of his lips as he moved them over hers. And when he slid his tongue in her mouth and swept it against hers, she unashamedly moaned her appreciation.
He moved his arm around her back and brought her close to his body, and all she could feel was rock-hard muscle.
She wanted more. A lot more. Without the impediment of thick down jackets in their way. She wanted to run her hands over warm, naked skin while their bodies writhed against each other. She wanted his mouth on other places of her body. She wanted an orgasm that she didn't have to give herself. She wanted the feel of a hot, hard cock moving inside of her. She wanted legs tangled together and his body moving over hers.
She wanted sex. Sweaty, hot, orgasm-inducing sex.
And she wanted it right now, because every sexual part of her throbbed. She pulled away and looked up at Will, at the desire in his eyes.
"Let's have sex," she said.
He looked taken aback. "In the parking lot?"
She laughed. "No, of course not. Back at the village. Your room or mine. I don't care."
"Okay, then." He took her hand. "Let's go."
Finally. She was finally going to have sex.
NINE
WILL HAD A HARD-ON THE SIZE OF CHICAGO, AND IF Amber kept rubbing her hand up and down his thigh like that, he was going to careen off the road and down the mountain and kill them both.
Not that he'd let her know that because damn if he didn't love the way she kept touching him.
But eventually he was going to have to tell her to stop because they were about to arrive at the village, and he wasn't going to walk up to the apartments with a raging erection.
Amber must have been aware of it as well, because she removed her hand when they were a few miles away, which gave him time to get himself under control.
When he pulled into the parking lot, he glanced over at her. "So . . . your place or mine?"
"Yours, if you don't mind. I gave Lisa a hard time four years ago about always kicking me out of the apartment whenever she had a guy in there. I'd hate to do the same to her."
"Not a problem. I'll just shoot a text to Elias and let him know he'll have to bunk somewhere else tonight."
"You sure he won't mind?"
"Nah. He'll be fine with it."
"Okay."
She waited until he parked the SUV.
"But before you text your roommate, I should tell you that I've never had sex before."
He blinked, then shifted in his seat to face her. "Really."
"Yes. I figured if that was going to be an issue for you, I should tell you ahead of time."
She was a virgin. Wow. That topic hadn't come up a lot with women he'd been with. Okay, or . . . ever. "That's kind of a big deal. Isn't it?"
"Not really. I mean, it's more terminology than reality. It's not like I haven't played down there before by myself. So I doubt I'm actually even a virgin anymore other than I haven't been with a guy before."
Oh, shit. Now his mind was filled with images of her masturbating, and his dick got hard again. "Amber."
"Yes?"
He inhaled, then blew it out, trying to think about anything other than Amber naked, her legs spread and her fingers working in and out of her pussy.
Fuck. That was not helping his hard-on go away.
"Okay, so this is a big deal. Your virginity is a big deal."
"It really isn't, Will. It's just a thing. It's a technical thing I'd like to dispense with. You know, get it over with. And you seem like a nice enough guy and I trust you."
He dragged his fingers through his hair. She trusted him? Why? Not that he wasn't trustworthy, because he sure as hell was. But shouldn't she want romance or something to coincide with the giving up of her virginity?
"Don't you want . . . more?"
She cocked her head to the side. "More what?"
"I dunno. Candlelit dinner and champagne and some romance."
She snorted out a laugh. "Uh, no. I'm not bartering my virginity for romance, Will. I don't need to be married to give it up, either. Or in a relationship. Or in love. I just want it out of the way, so I can stop thinking about it. It's a given I'm late to the sex game. I'm tired of it weighing on my mind. I need to be focused on winning gold, and there are a lot of hot men here."
He arched a brow. "Oh, so you want me to fuck you and take your virginity so you can get in the game?"
"It's not like that at all. We've already had this discussion. If I wanted to just fuck some random guy, I'd have done that years ago. That's not what I want at all."
&nb
sp; He leaned back in the seat. "Look, I feel special that you chose me, but I'm not sure I want the responsibility."
She laughed. "What responsibility? It's not a marriage proposal. Nor is there any type of commitment involved. But if you don't want to do it with me, I totally understand."
He dragged his fingers through his hair. "It's not that I don't want you. I don't know if you noticed or not, but I've had a raging boner the entire trip back up the mountain. And that was just from kissing you. I can already imagine what it'll be like to get you naked, to suck on your pussy and make you come, to feel my cock moving in and out of you."
He watched as she sucked her bottom lip between her teeth, then licked her lips. His words had turned her on. Hell, she turned him on. He'd been a walking erection around her ever since they locked lips. He wanted her, there was no doubt about it.
So what the hell was he waiting for? She'd already told him he was off the hook as far as any responsibility. The problem was, he felt responsible. Maybe her virginity didn't mean anything to her, but it sure as hell meant something to him.
"I need to think about this."
She nodded. "Okay, I understand."
He picked up her hand. "In the meantime, don't hop into the sack with the first asshole that offers, okay?"
She laughed. "That's not going to happen."
"Good." He kissed the back of her hand. "Ready to go inside?"
She nodded. They got out of the car and he walked beside her. When she started toward the door to her apartment building, he tugged on her hand and brought her close. He wrapped an arm around her and kissed her, this time not light and easy like he had at the restaurant, but deeper.
And yeah, his cock went hard again, and he'd regret this all night long, but he needed to taste her again, needed her to know how much he wanted her.
When he released her, she made a low humming sound in the back of her throat. Then she lifted up on her toes and brushed her lips across his. "It's really hard to leave you," she said.
He took her hand and pressed it up against his raging-hard cock. "Tell me about how hard it is."
Her lips curved, that sexy smile of hers not at all curbing his need for her.
"You don't have to leave at all."
Why did he want to think about this? Whose stupid idea was it to wait, anyway?
But he took a step back, determined to think this through before jumping into bed with Amber.
"I'll see you tomorrow."
"Think about me when you're in bed tonight."
"I'll be jacking off tonight thinking about you, Amber."
She smiled. "That's very good to know. 'Night, Will."