Page 29 of Hearts on Ice
Like…now. And after he’d gone out of his way to pick her up, be nice to her.
“No.” Declan’s voice carried across the still, dark morning as he strode toward the door to unlock it. “We are not together.”
“You’re together pretty early.”
And now Declan hated himself. Had she planned all of this? Was her car really broken? Well, yes it was, because he’d looked at it himself, but had she done something to her car?
No, that was pushing it. She couldn’t have known he would be coming out of the rink, couldn’t have known he would find a soft spot that was currently deepening to a bruise.
As he fumbled with the key that he used every damn day, he glanced over at her. She had drawn her hoodie up over her hair and had her head bent so he couldn’t see her face, but she wasn’t embracing the attention like she used to. In fact, she seemed just as eager as him to get inside.
Still, he couldn’t help but wonder if she’d told them what time to get here. How else would they have known?
Finally, he managed to get the door open and ushered her inside before he turned to face the four reporters trying to follow them inside.
“If you harass any of my students, I will call the cops on you. You got what you came for, now beat it.”
He pulled the door closed and locked it behind them.
He wanted to ask Colby her role in that debacle, but wouldn’t in front of the doors where the photographers could still see them. He was agitated as he went about his morning routine, and the fact that Colby went to his office to put on her skates didn’t help.
“Make yourself at home,” he said wryly.
“I don’t want them to take my picture while I’m putting on my skates.”
“You used to like having your picture taken.”
She looked up at him as she toed off her sneakers. “Not so fun anymore. I kind of miss having a private life.”
He wasn’t sure she meant that, but he sure did. If they’d had a private life seven years ago, maybe they could have made it. “You didn’t have much of one.” They’d started skating in competitions when they were twelve, hadn’t had time for a private life. And then they’d been celebrities in the skating world, then in the world as they charmed the world at the Winter Games.
And she’d embraced that celebrity, had turned it into more celebrity. Maybe she was ready for a private life now, but the way she’d built her life, he didn’t know if it was possible.
And now he was pulled back into it also.
No good deed went unpunished.
CHAPTER11
While Declan finished opening up, Colby went down to the ice. He resisted the urge to watch her as she skated. He knew she liked to skate to reduce tension, and he was happy to let her do so while he waited to let Josh and Lexi in. He couldn’t trust the reporters not to hassle the kids and their moms on the way in.
Besides, he didn’t want the photographers taking his picture while he watched Colby, knowing they would misinterpret his motives.
But Josh and Lexi got in without incident, and Declan texted his manager, Julia, that he was leaving the doors locked until she got here, because he didn’t want the reporters inside. He was going to have to look into how to keep them out during business hours. He hadn’t had to worry about that before.
He headed down to the ice with the kids.
“We decided not to do the lift where Lexi is standing on you,” Declan said when he reached the entrance to the ice. “We decided it’s high risk for the score you’d get, so we’re going to look at a simpler lift.”
He could see Josh’s shoulders lower in relief. His own did, as well.
“Well. Not necessarily simpler,” Colby said.
Declan leveled his gaze at her. “We don’t want to risk injury for fractions of a point.”
“And we won’t. We’re going to have you lift by the waist as you’re both skating backwards, hold her over your head, and then give her a little toss. She’ll flip over and you’ll catch her.”
“That’s—no,” Declan said. “The first part, sure, but the flip. That’s far too advanced.”
