“Sorry,” he repeated. Ben adjusted his grip and I could’ve sworn his thumbs slipped down a little lower than required, to graze the top of my ass.
No, that was just him making sure that he had a good hold. It wasn’t like he could risk dropping me given my Fabergé egg status until after the Games.
I felt him dip slightly, to ready his quads.
“Split legs, not stag,” he coached. “Move with me.”
I nodded and tried to focus on the mechanics of skating backward with Ben holding me, and not the feverish heat spreading through my body.
“And up she...goes.”
His hands went tighter as he raised me into the air, pausing when my skates were about a foot off the ice. I felt like a toddler being helped up to a water fountain.
“Higher,” I demanded over my shoulder. “This doesn’t look cute at all.”
“Well okay, then. Going up,” Ben said as he lifted me so my head was just above his.
I leaned back and extended my hands gracefully. Ben wobbled from the fulcrum shift.
“Why are you doing stag legs? I said split,” Ben huffed from behind me.
“Because it’sprettier,” I snapped back at him, defiantly raising my knee even more, so that I was fully inhabiting the deer-jumping-a-fence pose.
Celine warbled on as we found a position that was comfortable enough for Ben and elegant enough for me.
I think we both felt the moment when we dissolved into a single unit. Instead of fighting against gravity and each other we became helium, trying to stay tethered to the ice so we didn’t float up to the rafters.
We were effortlessly perfect.
Ben raised me higher still, and I took advantage of the extra airspace by arching my back even more. I could’ve kept improvising with him forever, but when he gave me an extra squeeze I knew he was about to lower me. I did Vaganova arms one last time as he brought me down, until my skates connected to the ice, so gently that I could’ve been landing on a pillow.
“Big finish,” Ben said softly, still holding me by the waist. “Now turn to me.”
I did an abrupt spin and wound up crushed against his body. He placed one hand against my head and gently drew it to his shoulder then circled the other around my waist, clutching me tightly. Our chests rose and fell in tandem, partly from the exertion but mainly because being pressed together felt like a terrible idea.
Terrible or not, there was no way I was moving out of his embrace. The only time I’d ever felt as safe was four years ago, in the exact same position. It was almost like Ben’s strong armsbelongedaround me, and we both knew it.
“I can smell you,” Ben murmured against my hair.
I wasn’t even sweaty yet!
“Excuseme?” I put my hands on his chest to push him away but he tightened his grip.
“It’s a sense memory. It reminds me of that night in Switzerland,” he continued. He inhaled deeply. “I’ve caught traces of you in a springtime breeze, and now I’m finally getting a full hit. It’s you, but mixed with blossoms and fresh air. Let me enjoy it for a second, please.”
His confession left me breathless. Ben had cataloged myscent? The thought of him tilting his head back and trying to catch whispers of me in the wind made me cling to him a little tighter.
The finale of a performance was supposed to be the period at the end of a sentence. An obvious stopping point. But our embrace with our hearts pounding in rhythm felt like a line on the first page of a very long story.
Despite that, or probably because of it, we silently agreed to remain pressed together, clinging to each other until the overhead lights flipped on again.
Chapter Thirteen
Of all the places for me to get a flat tire, my trusty Volvo had done me a solid and crapped out near a scenic overlook pull-off. Much of the drive to Thornville was on a road that was cut into the side of a mountain above the Clear Creek River, with about six inches of shoulder on either side. Changing my tire in any other spot would’ve been a death wish.
Although if Ben had his way, I wouldn’t even be getting out of the driver’s seat.
I hadn’t wanted to carpool the hourlong drive with him to my costume designer, Greta’s, showroom, but there wasn’t enough room for him in the equipment Subaru with Neil and Hailey, and everyone agreed that it was a waste for us all to go in separate cars. It was bad enough that Mel was meeting us there a little late thanks to an unexpected trip to the pediatrician first thing in the morning.
