It was best if I just started packing. Get the whole thing over with quickly, like ripping off a Band-Aid. I slipped out of Ty’s room and tiptoed across the hall to mine, stark naked. Changing into my typical tank top and leggings, I tied my wet hair into a bun and began to pick up my room, packing my things. As I did, hot tears began to spill down my face.
I didn’t want things to be over. Didn’t want this to be the last night with Ty.
Somewhere during this competition, I’d fallen for him hard.
And it hurt to realize that it was one sided. Ty had been tender in bed, but afterward he’d definitely said he wanted no-strings-attached sex. That was fine. I wasn’t going to do strings. I’d thank him for making my first sexual experience amazing by not making it messy.
I packed my things, cramming dirty laundry into my suitcase, and then lovingly packing my skates in next to them. I went to the dresser, where I’d pulled off one of the sequins from the bridal gown I’d worn in our last competition. I needed to fix it to my skate to increase my juju.
Then I sighed. I needed to be out of here by the time Ty woke up. I could fix up my skates later. There was no hurry, after all. I wouldn’t be skating in a competition again for quite some time…if ever.
I hauled my suitcase up and grabbed my cellphone. Melody had left me a text message. Whenever you’re ready to leave, let me know and I’ll have the car there.
You don’t need me for the post-show interview?
My boss says that as long as we have Ty, it’s fine.
Ouch. I’m ready, I texted back.
Great, she sent a moment later. Car will be there in five.
I hauled my suitcase to the front door as quietly as possible, not wanting to wake up Ty. I peeked out the window. No car yet, of course. I glanced back at Ty’s room. The door was shut. I…wanted to see him one last time. So I left my suitcase at the door, tiptoed back to his room, and cracked the door silently, peeking in.
He was so gorgeous. A morning scruff of beard covered his chin, and his long eyelashes were visible, little dark fans against his skin. His full mouth was slightly parted in sleep, and he had the pillow trapped in his arms, hunching carefully away from the sunlight spilling into the windows.
He’d been so tender with me last night, so utterly absorbed in making sure that my first time was amazing. And it had been. I felt ruined for every other guy out there. Who could possibly stand up to Ty Randall? I didn’t care if he had a reputation for being a bad boy or punching referees or biting noses. That was in the ring. With me, he’d been charming, patient, understanding, and oh-so-gentle.
I’d fallen hard. Like a stupid idiot, I’d gone and fallen in love with the guy that took my virginity and rocked my world. Damn it.
Tears pricking my eyes, I eased the door shut again, saying goodbye to Ty Randall forever.
~~ * ~~
Zara. Call me. Muy importanta, girlfriend.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket, looking over at my students tottering around the ice. The adults were pushing wheeled garbage cans back and forth to help them stay steady on the ice. “Let’s take a five-minute break, everyone,” I said. “Free skate if you want to.” I skated off the ice and headed to one of the benches.
Two messages and a text. The text was Naomi’s, the other two were a number I didn’t recognize. I answered the text. I’m here, Nay. What’s up?
Did you read the Sports section in Mediaweek today?
Uh, no. Should I have? I texted back, my heart fluttering.
Your boy’s back in the game. They put him on probation, but he’s got a fight coming up next month, it seems. You excited?
Oh. So the whole TV show thing had worked for Ty. Good for him. I glanced at my students at the mall skating rink. It hadn’t worked for me, sadly. I hadn’t heard a peep from the producers. I’m excited for him, I wrote back. And it was true, I was.
How could I not be excited for the guy I was still madly in love with? It had only been a few days since the competition. The only thing the show had done for me was cut me a paycheck, help me lose my V-card, and give me a lot more first-timer students back at the mall, because everyone thought I was a celebrity now that I had been on a stupid TV show instead of being merely an Olympian. Irony, thy name is Zara Pritchard.
You hanging in there? Naomi texted me back.
Boy, she sure knew how to interpret a silence. I’m fine, I wrote her. It’s just going to take me some time to get over him.
I understand. I won’t bring him up again. XOXO.
I wrote Xs and Os back to her and clicked off our chat, checking my voicemail instead.
“Zara?” Melody’s voice chimed in my ear. “This is Melody Zimmerman, with Ice Dancing with the Stars. Can you call me back?”
The next message was Melody, too. Same deal. I returned the call, curious.
“Melody Zimmerman,” she answered brightly.
“Hi, this is Zara. You called me?”
“Oh!” She sounded relieved. “Yes! I’m so glad I got ahold of you.”
“You are?” My heart gave an excited flutter. Maybe I’d have a job after all.
“Yes! Listen, ratings have been through the roof this year, and so the producers want to do a little something special with the finale.”
Uh oh. That didn’t sound good. “Something special like what?”
“They want to have everyone participate in a big skate number for the finale show. Bring back all the eliminated contestants and stuff. Isn’t that awesome?”
I glanced at my rink full of students, wobbling on the ice. “Um. So what does that mean for me?”
“We’ll fly you back out here to the cottages, and you can stay for the next few weeks on us while you practice your routine.”
My heart leapt. Outright leapt with joy. A few more weeks? That meant more Ty. More alone-time with Ty. More nights in his bed.
More heartache and pain as I fell more in love with the guy and then we walked away again. “I don’t think I can.”
There was a long pause. “What do you mean?”
“What does it pay?” Might as well be a little mercenary about things.
She got quiet. “Well…you already got paid by the show, I thought?”
“Yeah, but I just signed up a bunch of new students, and I can’t just leave. That’s my paycheck. If I cancel classes, I lose all those students for being a flake. I can’t survive off of what the show paid me.” Thirty grand was nice and all, but it wasn’t going to last forever.
“Oh. But you need to practice your routine. You’re contractually obligated to appear in the finale show.”
I gritted my teeth. “Is Ty Randall going to be there?”
“Yes, he is. He actually hasn’t left yet. The producers had him doing some press junkets, so it’s perfect that he’s still in town.” She sounded so bubbly and happy. “Everyone just loves him.”
Yeah, that was the problem I had. I loved him, too. Too much. “I can’t come back,” I told her again. “If you can fax me the routine and send me the music file, I’ll learn it on my own.”
“But…”
“Yes?” I tried to be patient with her. It wasn’t Melody’s fault I was an ice diva.
“You have to come back and practice,” she said in a small voice.
“I’m an Olympic-level ice skater,” I told her in a firm voice. “You think I can’t learn your TV show routine? I can learn it in a day. I could learn it blindfolded.”
“Well, I know, but—”
“Just fax me the information, and I’ll fly out in time for the show. Problem solved.”
I could practically hear her frowning into the phone. “But what about your partner?”
“Have him practice with Svetlana. She’s pregnant, not dead. She can still skate enough to train with him.” And she was keeping her job, and I had been the fill in. They didn’t need me. They hadn’t even invited me to the press junkets. As soon as our team was off the show, they were done with me. I hadn’
t forgotten about that.
Why do them a favor if they weren’t going to do me one?
“I guess we could get Svettie to train with him,” Melody said uncertainly. “I need to run this past my boss. Hang on.” I heard her cover up the phone, and a muffled conversation ensued. I even heard a few words about ‘she’s being difficult,’ which made me laugh quietly to myself. They hadn’t even seen difficult yet. After a long moment, Melody came back onto the phone. “Okay. I’ll email you instructions for the routine and a plane ticket. You have to be out here the night before for dress rehearsal and last-minute costume fittings, okay? Not negotiable.”
“Got it. I’ll have everything learned by then.”
“Okay,” Melody said, sounding relieved. “You have my number if you have any questions.”
“Will do,” I said, and I hung up.
Well, shit. I stared out at the ice, not really paying attention as one of my middle-aged students dropped to the ice, laughing, and his garbage can fell on top of him.
I had to go back to Hollywood because the show wanted to parade us out one last time. It just went to show how completely non-essential I was to them. They’d kept Ty there after he’d been voted off and sent him on a press tour. I was just the hired mannequin, so they’d sent me back to Ohio.
Worst of all, they’d wanted me to spend two more weeks around Ty Randall, so by the time I went home for good, I’d be a complete and total mess, instead of just mostly a mess like I was right now. I reached down and touched the bottom of my skate, feeling the sequin from my bridal costume.
I’d worn this the last time I’d been in Ty’s arms. Well, sort of. I’d actually been in a t-shirt and panties, but I judged my life by skating costumes, and this one would always make me think of Ty. Me and him. Bride and groom.
Tears pricked my eyes as I tossed my phone back into my bag and headed back out to the ice. I skated over to my fallen student, offering him a hand and swiveling to the side to keep my balance when he accidentally tried to pull me down with him.
The last thing my heart could take was two more weeks around Ty Randall. One night with him had fucked me up good.
The ache in my chest, though? It told me that I wanted those two weeks more than anything. But I knew it wasn’t smart.
This was safest. This was the quickest path to recovery. This was the way to forget sexy, irresistible Ty Randall and the fact that he’d wanted nothing but no-strings sex.
“Let’s try to go around the ice again, shall we?” I asked my students and straightened the garbage can.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Where the hell is Zara? She’s the only reason I agreed to stay on for this dog and pony show they want to do for the finale. — Ty Randall, to his manager
~~ * ~~
Two weeks later
My stomach was fluttering with nervous dread as the car pulled up to the Ice Skating with the Stars studio-slash-ice-rink. The parking lot was empty—the big show wasn’t until tonight, and the finale show wasn’t until tomorrow. The only ones here would be the skaters and choreographers practicing for the show.
I thanked the driver and hefted my bag over my shoulder. In it were my skates, a change of clothing, and my makeup bag. I hadn’t packed more for LA since I wouldn’t be staying long. Get in, get out, try not to let my heart get more wounded in the process.
The auditorium was nearly deserted, just as I’d suspected. Five people were on the ice, dressed in their costumes for the finale. It wasn’t hard to pick out Ty amongst the others. He wasn’t the tallest, but when it came to builds, he was impossible to miss. I’d recognize that brawny pair of shoulders anywhere. A faint smile touched my mouth as I looked at his costume. Black pants, tight black t-shirt. I knew what mine would be—a sleeveless peachy pink dress with a full skirt.
Perhaps the producers could see into my heart and sense how much I was aching. That was the only reason I could see that they’d gone with ‘romance’ as a routine, picking more movie soundtracks. The skate from the eliminated contestants was a montage of famous films that involved dancing, and Ty and I had been stuck with Dirty Dancing. I was dressed as Baby, and from his outfit, he was clearly Johnny. We’d be doing a truncated version of the final routine from the movie to the song “Time of My Life.”
It was wildly romantic. It made me ache like mad every time the music keyed up. He had given me the time of my life. To make matters worse, in that movie? Baby and Johnny went their separate ways. No happy ending for them. I thought of that every time the music keyed up. They’d parted at the end of summer and went their separate ways.
Just like me and Ty.
My gaze lingered on Ty as he skated a circle, still practicing his outside edge. His moves were as clean and crisp as when I’d left, which meant he’d been practicing with someone. Annemarie skated up to his side, dressed in a spangly flapper costume from the movie Chicago, and put a hand on his shoulder, saying something to him. I stiffened, and my back went up when he replied and Annemarie tossed her head back, laughing as if he were the funniest thing on Earth.
Well. I could guess who he’d partnered with. Ignoring the sour pit of my stomach, I headed to the back and the costume-fitting area.
“Good, you’re here,” said the wardrobe assistant. “Come try on your costume, and let’s get you out there so you can practice with the others.”
“Sounds good,” I said automatically, even though it didn’t. I was fighting the very real, very strong urge to run away. So Ty had been paired up with Annemarie? I knew she’d been voted off after us. The finale was Emma and Louie Earl versus young starlet Victoria Kiss and her partner, Toby. The two most likable teams left. It made sense, of course. Still, for a flashing moment, I’d have rather had Annemarie in the finale instead of Victoria Kiss, just so she wouldn’t have been hanging on Ty.
Not that I had any reason to be possessive. We’d had nothing but no-strings-attached sex, right?
A half hour later, I was fitted into my costume and all the adjustments had been quickly made by the seamstresses, and I re-approached the ice, where the others were still practicing. I knelt and kissed it as tradition, thinking of the handshake I’d done with Ty in the past. That was over.
Then, I skated in.
The others didn’t greet me with enthusiasm. Instead, they cast a few sullen looks my way. That was fine. I wasn’t here for them. I was here because I had to be. I skated over to Ty and gave him my most cheerful smile. “Long time no see, stranger.”
He gave me a narrow-eyed look. “You’re finally here.”
That… wasn’t a friendly tone. “Yeah. I am. Shall we go over the routine?”
“Why not,” he said in a brusque voice, gesturing for me to move into position.
I did so, fighting an uncomfortable mixture of irritation and guilt. Ty was mad at me. I wanted to say something, but the lights went down and the others skated off so we could practice our routine. So I swallowed my words and got ready for the music.
Our routine started out the same as the routine in the movie. In the classic scene, Baby puts her arm on Johnny’s neck and he runs his hand down her arm. It’s an incredibly tender, touching scene in the movie.
It was nothing like doing it in person. Shockwaves skittered through my body as I felt Ty’s bigger form press against me, and I put my hand to his neck. His fingers trailed down my arm, and my nipples got hard, my panties getting wet as I thought about the last time we’d been together.
You have such soft, sweet little ears that it makes me want to suck on them.
I guarantee you won’t be thinking about much when my mouth is on your pussy and you’re coming.
I shivered, full of wild, wanton thoughts, remembering when we’d been together in bed.
Then his hand took mine and the music started, a quick-stepping routine that involved lots of footwork and turns. To my surprise, Ty executed it flawlessly, his movements sharp and on the beat.
We quickly paced through the routine, doing
a dual spin in the chorus. The ending was a lift similar to the one in the movie, except I didn’t have to get a running start. This had been the part that I knew we’d need the most practice on as a couple, but I’d been stubborn and insisted on staying out in Ohio until dress rehearsals.
When I launched into the air, Ty grabbed me, planting his hand at my waist and lifting me overhead. But as soon as I felt his hands on me, I lost my concentration. My form got loose, and it caused his hold to break. I crashed into him, knocking us both to the ground.
So embarrassing. I landed, sprawled, atop of Ty. Once I caught my breath, I gave him an apologetic look. “Sorry about that. I just got…startled.”
He gave me another slit-eyed look. “Whatever. We can take the lift out, if it bugs you.”
I blinked at him, wide-eyed, and got to my feet. “We don’t have to take it out. I just need to practice it again. I’m sure I can get it.”
He gave me a wintry look. “So now you’re ready to practice? What about for the last two weeks when I was here busting my ass and you ran home?”
He was really mad at me. “I told them to have you practice with Svetlana. She’s the real ice skater on the show, remember? I’m just the seat filler.”
“Svetlana’s not my partner,” he hissed at me. “Mine fucking ran away.” He started to skate away.
I skated after him, ignoring the others that were staring at us. “Why are you mad at me?”
“Why shouldn’t I be mad at you? You ditched our team. At least if I had to be stuck here, I was here with you. I’ve been alone for the last two weeks.”
“Really?” I snapped back at him. “Because Annamarie sure looks like she was getting cozy with you.”
“She was my practice partner this last week. You know, that thing we’ve been contracted to do? That thing you were supposed to do with me but ran away from instead? But I guess I wasn’t important enough for a piece of Zara Pritchard’s time. I’m just a big, dumb fighter, right? Not important enough to keep in the loop for this piss-ant shit.”
Wow. He was really mad. “What the hell, Ty?” I followed him off the ice, snapping on my blade guards. He didn’t even bother; he just sat down and started unlacing his skates. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be here, but I had important stuff to take care of.”