Page 53 of Shining Through

He straddled her and entered, allowing her to adjust to the pressure and stretching. Her back arched and she felt the first glimmer of pleasure, but to be truly satisfied, she needed him to thrust deeper. When she was ready, she looked into his eyes, and nodded.

He did.

“Oh!” The sudden sharp pain made her cry out and dig her nails into his shoulders. But his movements were as smooth and in control as when he skated. She moved with him, their bodies joined in a dance that sent heat from her center, melting pain into bliss. He whispered next to her ear. “Good?”

“Yes,” she said, her voice raspy. “Feels so good.”

She wrapped her legs wrapped around his waist, bucking her hips as he pushed into her softness. Her body was alive in a way it had never been before, she buried her face against his sweat-slick shoulder. A final thrust, smooth and deep, launched them together. She released a lusty cry as he filled her. Her chest rose and fell, overwhelming sensation coursed through every nerve. He cradled her as she drifted down through a gossamer haze of pleasure.

Sated, they rested in each other’s arms, warm beneath the blankets. Her head lay against his shoulder, he stroked her breast. She snuggled closer and let go a throaty purr of pleasure. He grinned. “You are like a cat. Playful, but mysterious.”

She made a teasing scowl. “Mysterious? That sounds like a bad thing.”

“On no, not at all. It’s one thing I find fascinating about you. But it makes you hard to figure out sometimes.”

She couldn’t argue that. Just as she did with everyone else, she let him see only some of who she was. But the fact she was laying naked beside him, proved she was becoming braver.

“I’m not the one covered with art.” She lifted the blanket to study the Russian words marking his torso. “What’s this one say?”

“Dokazat’ chto on neprav,”he said.

She gave him a look. “English, please?”

“It means ‘prove him wrong.’“

“And you think I’m mysterious? That’s a very weird thing to have printed on your stomach. Who do you want to prove wrong?”

Daniil kept his gaze fixed the ceiling and took long enough to answer, she wondered if he would. When he spoke, his voice was hollow. “My father. He once said I would never amount to anything, so it became my mission in life to prove him wrong.”

She stared. Even Fiona, with all her crazy drama, was never cruel. It stunned her that a parent could say something like that to his own child. “That’s awful.”

“I’ve put it behind me,” he said, though she wondered if it was true. He held out his forearm, with the car on a road, driving toward the rising sun. “See, here’s one that reminds me to always move forward toward something better.”

“It takes a lot of courage to change your future,” she said, with a sigh as she settled back against him. “I wish we could speed up time. Then I’d know what my future held.”

“If we sped up time, we’d lose this moment. But I wouldn’t mind a shorter wait until we’re together in St. Petersburg.”

“You’ll be there?” With just a short time to prepare for the International Series Finals, and then Russian Nationals, she hadn’t expected him to be.

“If you can fly to Paris to see me, I can take a train to Petersburg to see you.” He pulled her close. “I have an apartment there, where you and I can be alone.”

She wondered why he had an apartment in a city where he didn’t live, but decided not to ruin the moment by asking. He’d changed a lot in his life. She hoped that soon, he would cut ties with the man who’d wounded him, yet still wielded so much power. She kissed him, long and deep. “I always skate better when I have a friend in the audience.”

The words he’d said to her on the first night brought a smile. “Though maybe now, I am more than a friend?”

He was, and he deserved to know. She’d taken one leap today, and it was time for an even bigger one—the emotional equivalent of launching herself off the Eiffel Tower.

But what she felt for Daniil gave her courage. If she wanted to learn to trust him, he needed to know what was in her heart.

“You are more than a friend. The truth is,” she swallowed her fear and stepped off into the unknown. “I love you.”

She heard and felt him breathe sharply. His dark eyes sought hers, and in his intense gaze she watched stunned disbelief melt into unabashed joy. A smile spread like sunrise over his face and when he spoke, his voice held quiet wonder. “How much I have longed to hear you say that. Because I love you too, Tabitha.”

He gathered her into his arms and reclaimed her mouth with a kiss that made her heart sing and her senses dance. This was what it meant to fly free.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

JEFF BECK’S GUITAR ECHOED THROUGHthe deserted Beverly Ice Center, transporting Tabitha four days and two continents away. By this time Saturday, the St. Petersburg competition would be over, and she would be with Daniil.

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