Page 115 of My Last Dance

Right before I could open the door, he turned to face me and his large hand moved up my bare stomach, making me shiver. “But it’ll be fun, baby.”

Pursing my lips, I stood firm. “We don’t have time.”

Both of his hands were on me now. He pulled me against him, making me feel his hard length. “Are you sure you don’t wanna shower together?” he asked, making me pause. He kissed along my jaw, slowly making his way to my mouth, making my body go limp in his arms. I trailed my fingernails down his neck, making his whole body shudder.

“Fuck,” he rasped against my lips before deepening the kiss.

But then my phone went off with Patrick’s signature ring, bringing me back to reality. I quickly pushed him away, making him let out a groan and drop his head.

“Later,” I said, laughing. I gave him one more chaste kiss before fully shoving him out the door.

As soon as he was gone, I sped around my room like a mad woman, trying to locate all my stuff before jumping in the shower. There’s no way I had enough time to straighten my hair, so I used a diffuser hair dryer to enhance my natural curls. I drew sharp cateyeliner, then threw on the black blazer dress I bought for the occasion.

Right before it was time to head down to the ballroom for the event, a knock sounded on my hotel door.

Seeing Kappy and Patrick through the peephole, I quickly propped the door open.

Kappy’s eyes heated as they trailed over my body, making a giddiness rise up in my chest. “Good morning, Piper. How’d you sleep?” He grinned.

Patrick rolled his eyes. “Don’t do this whole act for my benefit, I know you spent the night in here, Kap.”

Laughing, I spun around and went back to applying my red lipstick in the wall mirror.

“Wait,” Kappy said, making me pause and look up. He dropped a quick kiss on my lips, then settled behind me, hugging my waist and meeting my eyes in the mirror. “Okay, now fix it,” he said, making me giggle.

Patrick heaved a sigh and shook his head at us. “All right, let’s be on our best behavior today, yeah? No eyerolls, no sassy replies. We’re already on thin ice with the board after our last press conference.”

“I want to roll my eyes so bad at that,” I said in an even tone while perfecting my lipstick.

“God, you’re so beautiful,” Kappy said in a low voice, completely ignoring Patrick. He kissed my neck and ran his hand down to my butt, making me grin at him in the mirror. “Love your hair like this,” he whispered in my ear, making a shiver skate through me.

“Okay, enough of that,” Patrick gruffed, making us laugh. “Let’s get this show on the road,” he said, reaching for my red pumps to hand to me.

In the elevator, I cracked my neck and mentally went over some lines to say. Patrick busied himself reading interview notes on his phone. Kappy, who wore a short-sleeved Whalers polo that showed off his arm tattoos, lulu slacks, and his earring, leaned carelessly against the elevator railing.

As soon as the elevator dinged open, Patrick and I stepped off, but Kappy hung back and lit up all the buttons.

I blanched at him. “Did you just do that?”

He gave a sheepish shrug.

“You’re a child.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him along.

“It’s a hockey superstition. I had to,” he said, fighting off a grin.

I shook my head, trying my best to stifle a laugh. “You’re gonna make other skaters late.”

He shrugged. “Wouldn’t be mad if it were Annie and Freddie.”

“A child,” I admonished while we marched into the media circus.

As soon as we were seated, we had the largest press pool, and right off the bat, we were killing it. I handled all the technical ice dance questions while Kappy had members of the press blushing and laughing at his jokes.

Everything was going smoothly, until a reporter asked, “How do you feel about your fellow competitor, Anastasia Antonova, saying that you two don’t deserve to be here because Richard Kappers lacks experience? She’s saying it’s not fair for you two to potentially take a US spot to the Olympics that was earned by other champions.”

Hearing those words lit a match of anger inside of me.Annie. That bitch.

“Well, I’d say Patrick and I earned the US one of those spots by winning Worlds last year, so Annie really needs to learn to shut her—”

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