Page 99 of On Thin Ice

Marjorie lifted her brows, clearly enjoying this. “There’s more?”

“There’s more,” Bell echoed, and this time, his grin was dazzling. “World of Sportswants me for the ‘Bodies in Motion’ special issue.”

I blinked. “You mean ‘The Naked Issue,’” I said, using the name everyone called it.

He winced. “It’s tasteful nudity.”

“Uh-huh.”

“It’s a huge honor,” he said quickly, looking at me now. “They only pick a handful of athletes each year, and usually it’s people who’ve had breakout seasons or done something bold. Jax says the two offers coming in back-to-back mean my name’s starting to mean something beyond who my dad is.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it again, unsure what the hell I even wanted to say.

Because part of me was proud. These were huge deals.

But that wasn’t the part of me currently in control.

The part that was taking up all the space in my head? That part was furious at the thought of strangers ogling Bell’s body. The one I’d kissed and touched and memorized. The one I’d held in the dark, curled against me like something sacred.

And now he was going to let the whole damn world look?

Fuck no.

Marjorie cleared her throat and stood slowly, brushing her hands down her sweater. “Well,” she said lightly, “that all sounds incredibly exciting. I’ll let you two celebrate.”

Bell looked like he might argue, but she was already rounding the table. As she passed behind me, she laid a hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently. “Think about what I said,” she murmured, then gave me a quiet smile and disappeared into the house.

The door clicked shut behind her, and the silence that followed stretched tight and tense.

Bell reached for his wine glass, staring down into the swirling ruby liquid as he spun the stem between his long, elegant fingers.

After several long seconds, he raised his eyes back up to meet mine, setting the glass down without having taken a drink. “So, umm …” He scratched his fingers through the golden stubble lining his jaw. “They want you, too. For the ‘Bodies in Motion’ spread, I mean.”

My chest constricted like all the air had been sucked from the atmosphere. The thought of anyone but Bell seeing me that exposed made my skin crawl.

I’d spent my whole career maintaining my privacy, keeping a steel wall between the public and my personal life so no one ever guessed what I was hiding.

And now he wanted me to tear it all down? To strip myself literally bare for the speculation of millions of strangers?

“Abso-fucking-lutely not.”

Bell flinched—barely, but enough that I saw it—and his gaze skittered away. He reached again for his wine glass, but didn’t lift it to his lips. Just spun it slowly over the table by the stem, the motion aimless.

“So they already approached you,” he said after a beat, his voice subdued. “And you what—turned it down? Without saying anything to me about it?”

He didn’t sound angry. Not even surprised, really.

Just … disappointed. Tired around the edges in a way I wasn’t used to seeing.

“I thought maybe—” He shook his head and gave a small, humorless laugh. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter what I thought.”

I stared at him, my throat tightening. Not just from what he said, but from how it sounded.

Like he was already halfway to giving up on me.

Like he didn’t want to be let down, but he’d braced for it anyway.

Because that’s what I did.

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