Page 11 of Pivot Point

He did already have his own suitcase packed—just the one, as well as a backpack and his equipment bag. Of course, he hadn’t come from anywhere near as far away as I had.

I cocked my head as I considered the space. “Do you want to stop at your grandparents’ house before we head down south so you can pick up more things?”

Jasper shook his head. “Nah, I have everything I need.” He shot me a sideways glance. “You just want to let my Grandma ply you with her butter tarts again.”

I held up my hands. “I was only looking out for you. Although if there were certain delicious tarts involved in the visit, I wouldn’t complain.”

Jasper let out a rough chuckle that did something funny to my stomach. Of its own accord, my gaze lingered on the firm line of his jaw. Then it dropped to the sculpted brawn of his chest under his fitted T-shirt.

Those muscles flexed as he hefted his bags and stepped close to me where I was waiting by the doorway. “If you’re satisfied, let’s get going.”

His scent filled my nose, warm and musky—perfect. It would have been easy to nod and put off the conversation again, but I knew once we were stuck in the confines of the car, I’d feel even more awkward.

I cleared my throat, and Jasper paused, probably sensing the shift in mood.

“I actually—there was something I wanted to talk to you about first.”

Jasper knit his brow. He set down his suitcase and studied me. “Sure. What’s up?”

I opened my mouth, closed it again, and forced out the words. “We kissed the other day at the arena—that is, of course you know that—and before, after the competition in Munich— Is that something you want? For our relationship to shift in that direction? If you’d rather keep it totally professional, I can. I never expected, just because I came out here…”

As I trailed off, Jasper smiled crookedly. “That’s pretty obvious from the fact that you’ve never brought it up or made a move the entire time you’ve been here.”

I grimaced. “I did try to lead up to the subject a couple of times, but you’d get tense. I didn’t want to push.”

Jasper ducked his head for a moment. “I don’t know. I— You know my head hasn’t been in the best place. Maybe I was a little scared if you kept talking about it you’d end up telling me it’d been a mistake. Because I do. Want something like that. With you. Um.”

He glanced up at me, his face flushing adorably. I wanted to kiss him again right then.

“I never thought it was a mistake,” I said quickly. “Unless it really had thrown off your skating career—but it never was for me.”

“Yeah, I guess that should have been obvious from the fact that you traveled halfway around the world to help ‘fix’ my skating. And just to be clear, that first kiss had nothing to do with my slump. I promise.” Jasper’s smile grew, smoothing out my jangling nerves. “I don’t want to rush into anything. I’ve never done anything with another guy before. I didn’t even know I could be attracted to guys until that night in Munich. But I definitely am—to you. I’d like to see where that could go. If you would too.”

I beamed back at him. “Yes. Absolutely. There’s no rush.”

Seeing his stance relax at those words sent a rush of pure joy through my body. He looked so pleased that I couldn’t resist the urge that gripped me next.

I crossed the small space between us and touched his jaw to bring his mouth to mine. Jasper hummed low in his throat, the reverberation passing through the kiss.

So what could I do but kiss him a little harder? I held myself back from jumping into everything I’d imagined doing with this man but reveling in the feel of his lips as they parted against mine. Celebrated the flick of his tongue as he gained enough confidence to flick it briefly into my mouth.

Slow. I could do that. I could move at a snail’s pace if it meant Jasper was right here with me like this, figuring things out as we went.

He drew back gently, shooting me an even brighter smile than before. “I guess we’d better swing by Lou’s place before she starts thinking we must have gotten lost on the way.”

I grabbed one of his bags to help him carry them out. “Can’t leave our woman waiting.”

The bubble of warmth that seemed to surround us as we tramped over to the car left my heart singing. But at the same time, a darker thread wound through my chest.

I needed to defend this relationship with all I had too. It was on me to make sure I didn’t screw things up.

FIVE

Luciana

The chilledair rushed through my ponytail, my skates gave a soft click as they met the ice, and a song swelled around me. Pure bliss.

The feeling was no different here in Boston than it’d been in Austin or Hobb Creek, even if the arena was a little bigger and fancier. And more crowded.

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