“Fair warning,” Sarah told Mia as they all cheered the girls. “Every woman here is jealous of every other woman’s jersey. You’re going to get hit with a dozen requests by the time you leave.”
Mia pulled her gaze off Rachel trying to perfect her waltz jump, deliberately kept her eyes off Rafe, and told Sarah, “By the sound of the conference call I just had, I’m not going to have time for anything but breathing in this new job. Everyone’s going to have to find another source for their cute jerseys.”
Rachel, Amy, and Lily had joined hands and were doing front crossover steps in a circle. Until one of them misstepped, and all of them ended up in a heap on the ice. Sarah moved in to untangle the laughing bundle, and Rafe came up beside Mia.
“Hey, beautiful.” His low voice sizzled over her skin. He skated a slow circle around her, those gray eyes smoldering with too many emotions for her to figure out.
“Hey, yourself.”
On the next pass, his hand closed gently on her bicep and pulled her along the ice away from the kids. “Skate with me? I’m pretty sure you’ve already skated with everyone else here.”
Which, evidently, somehow made it safe for him to skate with her now.
She let another pang of disappointment ebb, and when he slid his hand down her arm, Mia closed her fingers around his. She fought the curl of pleasure in her belly, the softening of her heart, but that was futile. He’d been able to turn her inside out since she’d been a teenager.
He sped up, turned, and skated backward in front of her, holding out his other hand for hers. When she laid it in his and met his eyes, his smile rewarded her.
“How was your call?” he asked.
“Fine.” When she heard her own melancholy, she added, “Good. Exciting. Terrifying. They sound great, even invited me to a work party they’re having this week to celebrate the completion of an episode. I thought that was nice, considering I don’t even work there yet. But I like the idea that they celebrate every episode, not waiting for an entire line to be produced to have a party, you know? I wish I could have gone to meet them in person for the interview, but…” She shrugged. “I’m sure it will work out fine.”
“I think that’s a good idea.”
Mia pulled herself into an easy forward skate. Rafe’s backward skate remained a fluid, graceful glide. God, she’d missed this. Missed just being with him. No pressure. No problems. At least none in the moment. “You think what’s a good idea?”
“Meeting them before you start working. I also think Sarah’s right about the jerseys. I’d like to see you pursue that.”
She laughed. “Then you must not have heard me say my job is going to be—”
“Demanding. I heard. Which makes me wonder when you’re going to stop working and start living. Your last three jobs were just as all-consuming.”
“Says the man drowning in hockey eight months out of the year,” she told him.
“We train hard, play hard, but it doesn’t take over our lives. We get breaks because the coaches know that working us too hard consistently leads to fatigue and burnout and injuries. There’s a difference between hard work and unhealthy work.”
“There’s also this thing called paying your dues. And I’m not a superstar like some people who get to call their own shots.”
“Maybe not, but you’ve come a hell of a long way. And I think you have the opportunity to do something special with your jersey designs. It couldn’t hurt to have a little extra money coming in, either. We both know LA will burn to the ground before you take a dime from Tate or me or even Joe.”
“You make that sound like a bad thing.”
“Only because it means you’ll be on the other side of the country without being able to come see us.”
That was a strange thing to hear coming from the man who’d ignored her for a year. But it was also a trap she didn’t want to step in here or now, so she changed the subject. “You always were better at figure skating than Tate. Don’t tell him I said that. He’s always thought he was better.”
Rafe’s laugh made Mia smile. “What else is new?”
He released one of her hands, and as he pulled her forward, he turned, sliding her beneath his arm until she was wedged beside him, holding her close. All her thoughts evaporated in the feel of Rafe next to her, their steps syncing in a smooth front crossover glide. He was warm and solid and strong. He felt so right. She didn’t know how she could have missed him so much in one day, but having him close again now felt so good, it was almost painful.