Losing an Edge

by Catherine Gayle

  She grinned. “Sophie is far and away my favorite student. And it has nothing to do with the fact that she’s your best girlfriend.”

  “Mm hmm.”

  “Hey, Sophie,” she said, ignoring me. “You’re doing great with that spiral on your right leg. What about trying it while leading with your left. Think you can do that?”

  “I can do it,” Sophie insisted. And no one who had ever watched her try would ever doubt it. This little girl could do anything she set her mind to.

  Her first several efforts weren’t successful. Sophie ended up on her butt even more often than I did, but she never stayed down, and she never cried. She simply got back onto her skates and tried again.

  “Why don’t you try it, too, Levi?” Cadence suggested after helping Sophie to her feet. She winked at me, ignoring the evil eye I was sending her direction.

  I picked up some speed and then pushed off, and almost instantly tipped forward. I probably came close to breaking the fall with my nose.

  “Try it again, Levi,” Sophie shouted at me.

  “Yeah, try it again, 501.”

  I whipped my head around when I recognized Koz’s voice. “What are you doing here?” Fucking hell, none of the guys knew I was doing this. Bergy did, of course, since I was doing it for Sophie’s sake. We had an understanding, though. He wasn’t going to spill my secrets. I supposed Jonny might be aware, if Cadence had told him. But that was it. I hadn’t even told my brother about these lessons. The last thing I needed was for any of the guys to find out I was taking figure skating lessons. I especially didn’t need them to find out I was falling on my face constantly because of these stupid skates or my inability to use them properly.

  But now that Koz had seen me in these skates… I would never hear the end of it.

  “Bergy wanted me to meet some speed skating instructor here,” Koz said. “I wasn’t too happy about it. Not until I saw this.”

  The son of a bitch had a grin on his face that likely wouldn’t go away for months. This had just made his fucking day. Hell, maybe his whole year.

  I glanced at my watch. Our ice time should’ve been over about twenty minutes ago, but the guys up front hadn’t kicked us off yet. Old Gord had a thing for Cadence. I couldn’t blame the guy, since I definitely had a thing for her, too, but that didn’t mean he needed to let her go long with these sessions. Either Bergy or Paige would be here any minute to pick up Sophie, and she wasn’t anywhere near ready to go home.

  “Come on, Sophie Bug. Need to get you out of those skates so you can go home.”

  “Time’s already up?” she said, pouting.

  “Time’s up,” I replied.

  She skated over to the door I held open for her, and Cadence and I helped her get her skates off.

  “Are you coming to my next lesson?” she demanded. “You need to practice. You fall down too much.”

  “Wish I could,” I said, winking at Cadence. “But you know I’ve got to go with the team. We’re leaving tomorrow.”

  “Yeah.” She gave me another practiced pout. “I’m gonna skate better than you soon.”

  I slipped her skate off and put it in her gym bag. “I don’t doubt it. You’re improving fast.”

  “Score lots of goals, then,” she said. “And make sure Harry is a good boy.”

  I tried not to bust up laughing. What on earth did she know? Maybe more than I did. “Harry?” I asked innocently, ignoring the way Cadence was shaking her head at me.

  “Bergy said he was bad and went to jail. Tell him to be good, like you.”

  Cadence snickered, no doubt thinking of how very bad the two of us had been last night, but Sophie didn’t pay her any attention.

  The doors down at the other end of the ice opened, and both Bergy and Paige came through.

  “Will do, Sophie Bug” I said, tying her shoelace. Cadence had already finished the other shoe, so I picked up Sophie’s coat. “Now let’s get you all bundled up, okay?”

  “Okay.” She let me slip her arms into the sleeves, but then she turned and gave me her serious face.

  “What’s up?” I asked.

  “You should take your skates with you. You need to practice.”

  “Yeah, 501,” Koz called out from the ice, where he was already warming up. “Bring your figure skates so you can practice for The Nutcracker on Ice.”

  I was about ready to crack his nuts, but I bit my tongue to keep from saying anything I’d regret. No chance was I going to slip up and curse in front of my Sophie Bug.

  I could take care of Koz later. Or maybe, if I was lucky, he’d forget all about it.

  Not likely, but a man could hope.

  SURELY ONE OF these days, Levi and I would get around to taking our time and enjoying sex with each other. That hadn’t happened yet, though. Every time we started off heading toward his bed, we somehow ended up getting all sorts of random bumps and bruises from various pieces of furniture, and we typically ended up on the floor in a sweaty tangle of limbs.

  I couldn’t say I minded in the least, and it didn’t seem like he did, either.

  That said, there was zero chance I’d ever look at the rounded corner of the kitchen counter the same way again. Even now, as I said as much in hushed tones to Katie and her sister, the small of my back ached something fierce. I rubbed it while they busted a gut laughing.

  “Keep it down or someone else will come over here,” I said, laughing just as hard as they were. I glanced around the owner’s box, where we were hanging out after the Storm’s game, waiting for the guys to finish cleaning up. No one seemed to be paying the three of us any attention, thank goodness, but that could change at any moment. Especially if we kept it up the way we were now. “If my brother gets word of this, I’m blaming both of you.”

  “Lips. Sealed.” Dani dramatically pretended to zip and lock her lips, then tossed away the imaginary key. It was a Thursday night, and she’d driven down from Seattle for a long weekend away from her fashion school, to coincide with the team heading out of town. The plan was for me to stay with the two of them for the weekend, since the guys would all be gone, and since Anthony and Jesse were still gone on their honeymoon, so I’d brought a duffel bag with me.

  “So how, exactly, do you get into the right position for that?” Katie asked. “I mean, you’re tiny.”

  “Not on my own,” I said, blushing. “He’s so much taller than me that we’re always having to make adjustments.”

  “Good thing you’re flexible,” Dani said. “I sincerely doubt I could last like that for longer than three seconds. He’d have to be strong enough to hold me up like that.”

  “Good thing you’re single and don’t have to worry about it,” Katie shot back at her.

  “Just because I’m single, that doesn’t mean I’m not—”

  “Doesn’t mean you’re not what?” her father asked ominously from behind us. We hadn’t been paying much attention, so none of us realized the guys were starting to make their way up to join us. If we had, no doubt we would have changed the subject well before now.

  “Nothing, Daddy,” she said, trying to pull off a sweet, angelic note.

  “Mm hmm. Let’s keep it that way, hmm?” He stalked off to collect his wife, and the three of us burst out laughing.

  We looked around to see which of the guys had made it upstairs so far. Nicky Ericsson and Keith Burns had already come up to give their families good-bye hugs, but Levi and Jamie still hadn’t joined us. I caught a glimpse of Harry, with his flaming-red hair and matching bowtie, hanging out in the corner and keeping a wary eye on Katie and Dani’s father.

  “Your dad still hasn’t said anything about what happened with Harry?” I asked them, dropping my voice.

  “Nope,” Katie said. “He’s not saying a word.”

  Dani rolled her eyes. “Other than to tell me that I’m to steer clear and not even think about it.”

  “But you don’t want to steer clear?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “I don’t
know. I mean, I’ve got to go back to school, and I’m not into the long distance thing. But there’s not any harm in some minor flirtation, right? And a quick fling never hurt anyone.”

  Katie chuckled and shook her head. “Be careful.”

  “Careful of what?”

  “I don’t know. I just don’t think Harry’s the kind of guy you have a quick fling with.”

  “Maybe so, maybe no,” Dani said, crossing her arms.

  I didn’t miss the fact that she kept making eyes at Harry. Or that he was returning them, when he wasn’t otherwise occupied with watching her father.

  Cam came through the doors and stalked straight over to the three of us. “You’re all set? Have everything you need?”

  “My bag is in the trunk. We’ll all leave together.”

  “Cadence is going to be perfectly fine,” Katie told him. “Dani and I are both going to be with her all weekend. Mom’s coming over some, too.”

  “Babs told me he made sure you two both have pepper spray.”

  “Got it,” Katie said. “We’re going to be fine. All of us will be.”

  He gave her a curt nod, and then he hauled me up into a bear hug. “You call me if you need anything. Doesn’t matter what time, day or night.”

  “I will,” I promised, mainly so he’d let me go. He was squeezing the air out of me.

  Once he put me down, I realized Dani had snuck off to go flirt with Harry up close. Apparently her father was distracted enough for her to take the chance. Either that or she honestly didn’t care if he saw. I had a feeling Harry cared a bit more than she did, based on the way he kept glancing over in the coach’s direction.

  Cam gave me a worried look. “No practice, since Anthony’s still gone, right?”

  “Right. I do have a couple of sessions with my students on Saturday, though. Gord and the guys will be on alert, and my kids almost always have a parent at the lessons with them. Especially on the weekends. It’ll be fine.”

  He scowled, but he nodded. Then he gave me a quick kiss on the forehead. “Text me every day.”

  I gave him an exaggerated salute. “Sir, yes sir.”

  Then he rolled his eyes and crossed the room to Sara and the kids.

  At about the same time, Levi came in and wrapped me up in his arms. Tension melted away as soon as he touched me. I couldn’t get over how easy it was to let myself fall further in love with him, without worrying about what might happen if I let down my guard. I didn’t need any sort of a protective wall with him. Only with Guy.

  Levi rested his chin on the top of my head. “I don’t want to go.”

  “I don’t want you to go.”

  For a long time, we stayed exactly as we were. There wasn’t a need to speak. Nothing between us was uncomfortable, and the simple act of touching each other was more soothing to my nerves than anything. But time was running short, and he had to head back down with the rest of the guys to fly up to Vancouver tonight for a game tomorrow. Eventually, he drew back enough to tip my chin up.

  “You’re going to be okay with Katie and Dani?”

  “Girls’ weekend,” I said to keep him from worrying. “We’re giving each other pedicures and all sorts of things like that. I’ve even got plans to finagle Dani into designing some skating costumes for me and Anthony. Don’t tell her that, though. She thinks the weekend is all going to be fun. She’s got no idea I intend to make her work.”

  Levi laughed and kissed me, still laughing. Everything around us melted away when our lips touched. I definitely hadn’t had my fill of him yet, and he was already leaving. At least this trip was short. They were due back in town on Tuesday, but that seemed like a very long time from now.

  “Don’t forget to pick a card every day,” he said softly.

  A wicked thought struck me, and I motioned for him to bend down so I could whisper in his ear. “If I pick the hour of uninterrupted Skype time, can you make sure you’re alone? Because I might want to manage some more mischief during that time.”

  He cracked a grin. “I’m sure I can come up with a way to get rid of Koz for an hour.”

  “Longer wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

  “Are you going to get away from Katie and Dani for that?” he asked.

  “I’m sure I can arrange that. I can have time alone, even if we’re doing a girls’ weekend.”

  “You have a wicked streak. Is your brother aware of that?”

  “Probably. Just wait till Connor hits puberty. Cam can think of me as training, to prepare him for dealing with that boy.”

  “I doubt anything could prepare someone for dealing with your nephew.”

  “Probably not. Still…” I gave him another quick peck on the chin. “I’ll pick my card in the morning and text you with what I want.”

  “I doubt I’ll sleep from the anticipation.”

  “Maybe we can both stay up…”

  “We’d have Koz for company,” he said.

  I pouted. “That doesn’t sound as good.”

  “Know what having to leave you now is making me realize?”

  “Not a clue. But I’m desperate to know.”

  His eyes roamed over every inch of my face, as if he were trying to memorize how I looked at exactly this moment. “It’s that I don’t ever want to be without you. We haven’t been together all that long, and it’s way too soon to be talking about getting married or anything. But when I’m with you, it’s easy to think about forever.”

  That wasn’t even remotely what I’d been expecting. My lips formed an O, but nothing came out, and this amazingly warm sensation spread from my belly all the way out to the tips of my fingers and toes.

  “I only want you to know I’m thinking about it. With you.” Then he kissed me again, a long and lingering one, before being dragged out of the owner’s box with the rest of the team.

  I headed back over to see if Katie and Dani were ready to go, surprised to find Dani grinning like a loon—much the way I suspected I might be, after what Levi had just said to me.

  “What?” I asked, dropping down into my seat to gather up my purse and coat.

  Katie shook her head, laughing. “Dad’s going to murder you. Not to mention Harry.”

  “Seriously,” I said. “What happened? You’re killing me.”

  “I kissed him.” Dani beamed. “He’s a very good kisser. And his hands! Oh my God, his hands are huge. And so strong. And he understands how to use them. The thought of what he could do with those hands if we were alone… But Dad came up before I was done, and I think Katie’s probably right. It looked like he was going to murder the poor guy. And Harry looked like he wanted to murder me. I probably shouldn’t have done that with Dad around…”

  “It was way worse than the way Dad ever reacted with me and Jamie. Ever. Even when I was still only seventeen.”

  “Now I really want to find out what Harry did to end up in jail,” I said.

  “I couldn’t care less,” Dani said. “I just want him to kiss me again. And maybe try that move you were talking about. The one on the kitchen counter? Yeah. I think if I was with Harry, I could totally manage that one. He’s more than strong enough.”

  “You’re a mess!” I said.

  Katie rolled her eyes. “And you’re going to get him killed before you ever get to try it.”

  “Maybe not,” Dani said. “They kind of need him on D right now. I doubt Bergy’ll let Daddy kill him.”

  “And you’re heading back to Seattle before they come home again.” Katie gathered up all her things and waved to her mother and a few of the other wives as we headed out the door.

  “Yeah.” Dani sighed. “But I’ll be back for spring break. Not to mention all summer long.”

  “Good thing for Harry he doesn’t stay in Portland for the summer,” Katie said.

  “True.” Dani turned to me with a wicked grin. “But my semester ends mid-May. With any luck, they’ll still be in the playoffs at that point.”

  I didn’t even try to stop myself fro
m laughing. There wasn’t a chance I could succeed.

  FRIDAY PASSED WITH a lot of laughter and no cause for concern. Dani and Katie’s mom, Laura, came over for dinner and brought wine and Riley Jezek’s fiancée, Amanda Morris, along with her. Dani technically wasn’t old enough to legally drink, but since we were sticking around the house and her mother was the one giving it to her, I figured it wasn’t the end of the world.

  Since it was a full house and we were busy giving each other makeovers, I chose a card for Levi to order delivery for our dinner. We sat around eating Chinese food, drinking wine, and watching the guys crush the Canucks.

  The next morning over a late breakfast, Katie brought up the idea of her and Dani coming with me to the rink while I taught my students.

  “I’ve got three hour-long sessions. You’ll both be freezing and bored out of your minds.”

  “But you wouldn’t be alone,” Dani said.

  I rolled my eyes. “I won’t be alone. Gord will be working up front. I’ll have my students, and I should have at least one parent sitting in the stands and observing. Besides, Guy hasn’t tried anything in weeks. I think he’s forgotten all about me, or maybe he’s gone back home.” Although, if he’d gone home, the police would have informed me about that. I decided not to mention that part to these two sisters, because they appeared to be giving in. No reason to alter circumstances against myself.

  After a couple more minutes of debate, they gave in and agreed to let me teach my students without the two of them tagging along.

  Running later than I’d intended, I headed out to my car and froze. There was a large envelope stuck under the wiper blade. Running my fingers over the pepper spray on my keys, I glanced up and down the street. No sign of Guy’s car, or anything that seemed out of the ordinary. So maybe he knew I was here, and just wanted to remind me that he hadn’t forgotten about me.

  I took the envelope and got into the car. The whole way to the rink, I debated whether I should cancel my classes for the day and go straight to the police with this or not. But I didn’t want to let the girls down. And besides, Guy hadn’t done anything but try to scare me. There was no reason to think he’d do otherwise now.