Page 14 of Fire and Ice
Grady ordered an iced tea and asked her what she wanted. She rarely drank, so she told the server she would stick with water. Grady checked with Chelsea and then ordered caprese for an appetizer.
When the server left, Grady took a slice of bread and turned back to Chelsea. “How often have you been to Giovanni’s?”
Chelsea found herself mesmerized again by the blue of his eyes. She selected a slice of warm bread and placed it on her plate. “I’ve been here many times since my siblings and I moved to King Creek from Appleton, Wisconsin.”
He tore off a piece of bread and dragged it through the balsamic vinegar and oil. “What do you recommend?”
“I’ve never had a bad meal here.” She heard the smoky warmth in her voice when she responded. She slid a piece of bread through the mixture on the plate. “I would have to say that my favorite meal is the tortellini conpazze. I also love the gnocchi pistachio. Tonight, I think I’ll go for the gnocchi.”
“I’ll try the other one. The tortellini.” He set his menu aside without looking at it, and she put hers on top of his.
The server returned with the iced tea and water, then took their dinner order and retreated.
Once they were alone again, Grady ate a bite of bread. “Tell me about your years as a figure skater. I want to know everything.”
She swallowed her own bite. His sexy smile did funny things to her insides. “I want to say there’s not much to tell, but there’s actually a lot to it. Still, I don’t want to bore you.”
The corner of his mouth lifted. “I don’t care what we are talking about, you could never bore me. Hell, tell me about when you took the garbage out this week, and I’ll be hanging onto every word.”
She burst into laughter. “It was quite the adventure. There was this rabbit with a timepiece, and he seemed to be in a huge hurry.”
“You had me at first giggle.” Grady laughed, too. “Now, why don’t you tell me your ice-skating story? How did you get started?”
“My parents took me out onto the ice as soon as I could walk.” She tilted her head to the side. “Mom had always dreamed of being a figure skater, but it didn’t work out for her. So as long as I had the same desire, she wanted me to be the best.”
Grady shifted her hand so that he was now stroking her fingers. “I take it you loved it from the beginning.”
“Did I ever.” Chelsea felt almost like she slipped into another world as she thought back to those early days. “For as long as I can remember, I’ve been on the ice almost daily. Even after my ‘retirement’, I continued to skate and teach in my spare time. It wasn’t easy once I was raising my siblings, but it turned out fine.”
Money had been tight, and Chelsea had worked two jobs. She had also traded a few hours of her time each week, helping the owners of the ice rink in exchange for free ice time. When her sisters were old enough, they had taken on cleaning houses together for an income, which had helped their little family tremendously.
Grady tore off another chunk of bread. “Tell me how you came to be a champion.”
She tipped her head, thinking back to those days. “Coach Markus, my trainer, knew one of the best figure skating coaches in the world, Vlad Ivanov. As a favor to my trainer, Coach Ivanov came to watch me skate in a local competition for my age group. I was thirteen. After I was off the ice, he took me aside and told me he’d like to train me for world competition with the Olympics in mind for the future. He said it would be a lot of work, and I would have to move away from my home in Appleton and go to Colorado Springs if I were to train with him.”
“Did that scare you?” Grady bit into the bread and chewed.
“A little.” Chelsea smiled. “Let’s just say I was lucky to have that opportunity and so very happy it happened.”
“Opportunities don’t just happen.” He studied her intently. “You made the opportunity by all the work you did by practicing over and over.”
She considered what he had to say. “That’s true. Coach Ivanov never would have made the trip from Colorado Springs if my first coach hadn’t seen what I could do, and that came from practice.”
“Exactly.” Grady smiled. “What competitions have you been in and won?”
“Pretty much every level you can participate in, I won at one time or another.” Chelsea wasn’t bragging, and she knew he understood that. She stated facts from her past. “There was a time I was almost unbeatable.”
“The Olympics?” Grady asked. “I’m pretty sure I would have recognized you.”
“My grandmother passed away from a heart attack six months before the start of the upcoming Olympic Games. I had no choice but to come back and raise my siblings. I am the only surviving relative, and they would have been put into foster homes.”
“How old were you?” he asked.
“Not much older than eighteen.” She felt almost defiant as she added, “I would never let them be put into the foster care system.”
Time to talk about something else. Besides, she wanted to know more about him.
“Tell me about you and that enormous Irish family you grew up in,” she said just as the Caprese arrived.
