Destiny's Whisper (18 page)

“He’ll have to catch me first!” Chloe tossed laughingly over her shoulder just before she reached the jeep and waited for Sergei to join her.

“You know, it’s people like you who keep sports doctors in business. You think you’re getting away with something when all along they automatically add two weeks to the actual recovery period,” Sergei offered casually, unlocking the door and holding it open for her.

“Tell me something I don’t already know,” Chloe countered as she slipped by him and slid into the seat, fastening the seat belt securely across her waist. “That’s why I’ve been sneaking ice time for the last ten days,” she offered with a wide, bright smile, her blue eyes glowing and filled with mischief.

Sergei closed the door and shook his head in disbelief. He’d known she was up to something, but he would never have believed she’d risk more off-ice time. Climbing in on the driver’s side, he fastened his seat belt, started the car and with a cautious glance around, pulled out of the parking spot and headed toward home.

After five minutes of strained silence, Sergei finally cast a glance at Chloe and frowned at her knowing look. She’d been sitting there quietly waiting for him to say something and knowing that she knew that he knew that she knew he was going to do it made it all that more aggravating. “That was a stupid thing to do. What if you’d re-injured your foot?” he finally growled.

“I didn’t–and wouldn’t–I have more sense than that.”

Sergei’s inelegant snort of disbelief stated otherwise. “At least tell me you weren’t out there alone.”

Chloe rolled her china blue eyes at his ridiculous comment, “Do you think I’m a complete idiot?”

Sergei’s look silently stated he was still debating his answer.

“Thanks for that vote of confidence! Of course I wasn’t alone,” Chloe stated firmly.

“Don’t tell me, Dani was with you?”

“Hardly. Dani’s busy with her own training schedule. She doesn’t have time to be fooling around getting me back on my feet.”

“Well it sure wasn’t Whittaker because he’s been dogging me like a shadow,” Sergei complained.

“I know,” she stated cryptically, casting him a sidelong glance that set his teeth to grinding.

“Chloe,” Sergei’s voice held a low, end-of-patience tone filled with warning.

“Your mother and father have been helping me,” she stated brightly.

His look was filled with disbelief. “They know better than to push an injured foot too hard.”

“That’s right, they know better, and they didn’t push me. Over the last ten days I’ve worked up to spending a whole hour a day on the ice. Ohhhhhh!” she teased, shivering dramatically.

“Sixty whole minutes, huh?” Sergei teased back, his mood lightning immensely as his common sense kicked in and he acknowledged she couldn’t have been in better hands. After the hell his parents had gone through after the accident and the months of rehabilitation his mother had tolerated, there wasn’t a physical therapist around who could do any better with a skater’s injured foot!

“Yeah, your father’s quite a partner. No wonder your parents won every competition they ever entered. I don’t think I’ve seen a more ‘in-tune’ pair than your parents,” Chloe complimented.

“They’ll disagree and heartily. Believe it or not, Dad always aspired to be as good a partner as Sergei Grinkov, and to this day, still feels he didn’t measure up.”

“Boy, hoping to be as good as Gordeeva and Grinkov? Talk about setting yourself up for a fall. There’s never been another team like them. I have to give your parents credit for even wanting to try such a thing.”

“My parent’s records speak for themselves, there’s no reason they should ever feel they failed in any way. I can only hope we achieve even a measure of their accomplishment.”

“Thinking of
jumping into the golden boot
?” Chloe asked.

“How would you know about such a thing? Since when are you into Russian sayings?”

“I read. I can’t imagine how hard it must be for you to have to deal with the fact that people may have the tendency to automatically think your father left you a golden path to follow and that they may not value your skating for what it is,” Chloe stated seriously.

“And exactly what would that be?”

“Some of the best singles skating I’ve ever seen,” Chloe stated simply, a gentle blush coloring her cheeks at his penetrating look.

“I’m no longer a single.”

“No, you’re not,” Chloe acknowledged and with a devilish glint lighting her blue eyes stated firmly, “And since you made me rash promises of glory, I expect you to keep your word and cover me with gold medals.”

“You don’t want much,” Sergei stated sardonically.

“Nothing more than what you promised me,” Chloe answered truthfully.

“What if I can’t deliver?” Sergei asked, his dark eyes filled with a nervousness that Chloe had never seen before.

“You haven’t broken any promises yet, Sergei. I’m not terribly worried about you starting a trend now,” she answered calmly.

“But what if I can’t make it as a pair?”

“Do you want to make it as a pair?”

“What kind of question is that?”

“A pretty straight forward one, I think,” Chloe stated with an easy shrug.

“I’m here aren’t I?”

“Yes, you’re
here
. But are you really here? Do you know why you want to make it as a pair?”

“I want to make it for you.”

Chloe slowly shook her head back and forth. “No, that’s not what I asked.
You
need to decide why you want to make it as a pair?” Chloe slowly stated, enunciating each word fully, her eyes holding his, blue and black melting together and realization suddenly dawned brightly as a glint of understanding lit an inner fire in the ebony depths of his eyes. “Do you understand?” She asked again.

“Yes, I want us to make it as a pair–together–you and I,” he answered softly, his tone filled with resolve.

A soft smile curved Chloe’s full lips, her china blue eyes glowed brilliantly and with a small nod, quietly stated, “Good answer. Now suppose you quit driving like an old woman and get us home so we can finally see if we can skate together?”

Sergei simply smiled smugly and stepped on the gas in answer.

Sergei watched silently as Chloe laced up her skates and cast ravenous glances toward the perfectly conditioned ice that lay only a few feet away. With a low chuckle, that caught her attention and landed him a pouty scowl from her, he set about the business of slipping into his own skates.

“You’re looking at that ice the way a chocoholic looks at a Snickers bar,” he teased.

“It’s been so long since I’ve felt the ice under me.”

“At least, legally,” he added cynically.

“Breaking doctors orders isn’t like breaking the law,” she countered.

“Didn’t you tell me, not an hour ago, that you’ve been on the ice an ‘hour a day’ for the last ten days?”

“But that wasn’t legal ice-time,” she explained with a sheepish grin and a quick shrug.

“God help me understand a woman’s mind,” Sergei grumbled and smiled at Whittaker’s booming comment, from the doorway, to give up any hope of ever accomplishing that fete.

“You’re late,” Sergei commented.

“No–you’re early,” Whittaker countered, walking over to Chloe and giving her an easy hug and welcoming kiss. “How’s the foot?”

“Dr. Reynolds gave me my walking papers,” she replied with a wide grin.

“She didn’t bother to fill him in on the fact she’s been skating on it for the last week and a half,” Sergei added with a scowl.

“Details,” Chloe mumbled.

“Jordan and Aleksei wouldn’t let her do anything more than skate big, slow circles,” Whittaker stated.

Sergei looked at Whittaker in disbelief, then shook his head in disgust. That Whittaker would have known what was going on shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Whittaker always seemed to know every little secret that went on in the ice world. “That was it, huh?” Sergei asked with a low chuckle. “Big, slow circles for an hour a day? That should have driven you crazy.”

“The last two days I got to do them backwards!” Chloe taunted, sticking her tongue out at him before walking carefully toward the ice.

“Boy, Mom and Dad had you living dangerously! Didn’t they? No wonder you didn’t want the doctor to know about your strenuous workouts!”

“Hey, I was on the ice and that was all that mattered,” Chloe fired over her shoulder as she stepped onto the shining surface and glided smoothly forward. The sensuous look on her face as her eyes fluttered closed and her full lips parted in a deep sigh as she exhaled might as well have been orgasmic.

Sergei’s heart skipped a beat at her reaction and he drew a shaky breath as he followed her toward the ice. Stepping on to the gleaming surface, the realization that this was the true beginning of their partnership came to him and he smiled as he watched her–his partner– accustom herself to the ice. Steadily, slowly she skated toward him, a beaming smile on her face, her feet sure beneath her.

“I could die and go to heaven right this instant and have absolutely no regrets,” Chloe sighed, a contented smile on her face. “It feels so good to be back on the ice. Absolutely nothing in the world could feel better than this!” she exclaimed excitedly.

“I don’t know about that. I can think of a couple of things that might feel better,” Sergei suggested in a deep voice.

Chloe’s brows lifted elegantly and she cast him a derisive glance, “Don’t be crass.”

“What? I didn’t say a word,” Sergei argued.

“The insinuation was clear.”

“I was
insinuating
absolutely nothing!”

“It didn’t sound that way to me,” Chloe disagreed.

“Then you’re hearing things!”

“I hear just fine, thank you.”

“Not necessarily, you hear what you want to hear,” Sergei countered.

Chloe’s eyes widened in surprise. “I do no such thing! If you weren’t continually turning simple comments into sexual insinuations we wouldn’t even be having this conversation!” She hissed, picking up the pace and skating away from Sergei.

Seconds later he resumed his position beside her. “You made a comment, I responded to it and your imagination turned it into something it wasn’t. Or maybe, you’re wishing it was.” Sergei suggested lowly, his eyes filling with devilish delight as he watched understanding dawn in her eyes and a low flush cover her cheeks in pink.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” Chloe gasped, shaking her head to dispel the image of Sergei as he’d looked the night he’d held her during the storm; wearing nothing but cut-off sweat pants turned-shorts, warm muscles and a smile.

“Do you two plan on skating today or do you just plan to skate around in circles and argue with each other?” Whittaker’s voice boomed across the ice.

Chloe cast a fiery glance at Sergei and picked up the pace. “I’m skating. I don’t know about my
partner
,” she yelled back.

Sergei closed the distance without effort and Chloe felt him sliding into position slightly behind her and to her left. His right hand slid sensuously into place across her back and settled on her right hip, the heat of his hand caused her blood to warm at his touch and, his left hand wrapped around hers, causing still more tingles. “Her
partner’s
skating too!” he growled, shortening his long strokes to match her shorter ones.

“Chloe, how’s the foot?” Whittaker called.

“Why does everyone keep asking about my foot? My foot is fine!” She yelled heatedly, her voice echoing through the large building.

“Yeah, her foot’s fine!” Sergei added mockingly.

“Oh, shut up,” she ground out between clenched teeth, her eyes burned a bright blue and as she looked at his arrogant expression, she wished–oh hell-she either wanted to kill him or kiss him, she couldn’t decide which!

“Well then, why don’t you two quit screwing around and show me some speed. I’m not getting any younger you know!” Whittaker demanded loudly, his booming voice cutting through her confusion and giving her something to focus on; something other than Sergei’s spellbinding eyes.

As requested, the two picked up their pace, legs pumping together in a seemingly effortless show of synchronization and they sped around the perimeter of the rink, barely making a sound as their sharp blades sliced tiny spider webs in the gleaming surface.

“Not bad for a couple of amateurs out for the first time,” Whit-taker offered, the compliment backhanded. “Now, I want to see a simple spiral glide, but keep your legs way down. I don’t want Chloe’s foot falling apart first time out. I’m just looking at supporting legs this time, keep that free leg down; no more than a foot off the ice.”

The two listened to his instructions and skated to the end of the ice, built up speed as they came out of the far corner and glided together, on one foot, steadily down the ice. Sergei’s hands held Chloe at her waist, keeping her firmly in front of his body; her bottom pressed against his hip, her back nearly against his chest. Heat radiated between the two and they both swallowed low groans as her weak foot wobbled a little, throwing her balance off and Sergei pulled her tightly against him to keep her steady and on her feet.