Page 86 of The VIP Doubles Down
“I played on the hockey team in high school,” he said, lacing his skates with swift efficiency. “It was one of the few frivolities my father allowed. Hockey practice meant I didn’t have to work in his store.”
So he had built this to remind himself of the happy times when he had escaped his father’s grim control.
He secured the laces with a couple of abrupt movements before he straightened. “Skating means freedom to me. Now let’s get your laces tightened.”
Her heart twisted at her imagined picture of a younger Gavin shedding the misery of his loveless home life as he skimmed across the ice, tossing wisecracks at his teammates. Maybe that’s where he’d begun to hone his cutting wit.
She felt his strength when he snugged her skates around her feet and ankles and tied the laces tight. As he leaned forward, she rested her hand on his broad back, savoring the flex of muscles under his jacket and offering comfort to the boy curled inside the man.
He kept a firm grip on her hand as they waddled along the rubber-surfaced walkway to the rink. Once they stepped on the ice, Gavin put his arm around her waist and swept her along beside him over the glassy surface, the powerful strokes of his legs propelling them faster and faster as they circled, their skate blades hissing beneath them. The cold rush of air whipped through her hair while the length of Gavin’s lean, muscled body against her side kept her secure.
It reminded her of the Bellwether Club, where she had been the one supporting him. Here, though, he was letting her lean on his strength.
“Hold on!” he said, speeding around a corner, his thighs pumping as he fought the centrifugal force.
As they hit the straightaway, she threw back her head and laughed, letting all her barriers down.
“You love it, too!” he said.
The boyishness of his excitement made her heart contract before it flooded with warmth. This was the sweetness, the joy, she sensed in him beneath the sarcasm and pain.
As they sped around the next corner, he said, “You move with me perfectly.”
She turned a sly smile up at him. “I’ve had some practice moving with you.”
“You’re playing with fire, my sweet.” He slowed them to a stop and sandwiched her between his body and the side of the rink.
“Two-minute penalty for boarding,” she said just before his mouth came down on hers.
He cradled her head in his hands while he used his weight to keep her body pressed against his. The kiss began as a tease of his lips against hers, a flicker of a touch, but the exhilaration of the skating turned to desire sizzling through her veins, and she pushed into him to feel the heat of his mouth.
“Minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct,” he murmured against her lips before driving his tongue in to meet hers.
Liquid flame licked through her, so she grabbed his arms to bring him even closer. He groaned into her mouth and pushed his thigh between hers, lifting her onto her toe picks, the solid bulge of his rectus femoris muscle hitting exactly where she yearned for it.
“We can’t make love on an ice rink,” she said, even as she panted with the longing to do just that. She wanted to give him everything she was feeling.
“It’smyrink, so we can do anything we want to.” He wedged his thigh farther between her legs, making her gasp outright when the added friction sent a shock of electric delight surging through her.
She giggled. “It’s a medical fact that cold makes it more difficult for certain parts of the male anatomy to function effectively.”
“When you’re around, my anatomy is quite capable of functioning at subzero temperatures,” he said. “However, I’d prefer not to suffer from frostbite, so we’re going where the water is in a softer state.”
Chapter 21
“I’m not going in the ocean!” Allie protested. “Those Polar Bear Club people are crazy.”
“Ah, but I’ll be doing things to keep you warm.”
“Not even what you do could keep me warm at this time of year.”
Gavin laughed and steered her back to the skate house, where they stripped off their skates, leaving them lying willy-nilly on the floor.
Retracing their steps through the garden, Gavin took them around a different corner of his mansion. A wing constructed of glass and white columns jutted out in front of her. “Is that an indoor pool?” she asked.
“No self-respecting billionaire would be without one,” he said, pressing his thumb against a panel beside one of the glass doors. It slid open, and she stepped into a light-filled space that smelled of water and warm soil. The soil scent came from the pots of huge ficus trees dotted around the stone patio that edged the pool.
“And now ...” He reached for her jacket’s zipper.
