I locked the door behind him and followed him to the main part of the room. I perched on the end of the bed. “What’s on your mind?” I asked gently. Whatever the problem was, I would try to find a way to fix it. I just needed to know what specifically was bothering him.
“Do you remember how you said that you feel like you can just reach out and grab everything you want tomorrow?” he asked. He was pacing back and forth in the narrow gap between the end of the bed and the small chest of drawers that held everything I’d brought with me.
It wasn’t the start that I had been expecting, but I nodded. “That was only a couple of hours ago. I can remember what happened tonight,” I teased. He usually cracked a smile or shot me a snarky retort of his own, but he just kept pacing. “Do you want to sit down?” I asked, patting the spot next to me on the bed.
He didn’t show any signs of having heard my last question. “We are so close. We need to take a couple of risks to win, like the twist, but it’s possible. And it isso close.”
I nodded. He was rambling and I was struggling to figure out exactly what the problem was, but I got the gist of it. “It is. But we have worked towards this for a long time. We have done everything we could to weigh whether it was worth it. We all agreed that this program was our best chance at winning. Mark and Olga, too.”
“I know,” he said. “Professionally, we are at a high point. We got gold with the team already. We might get gold again on our own tomorrow.”
I could feel the “but” hanging in the air. When it didn't come, I prompted, “But...”
“You said everything was within reach,” he said, stopping in front of me. Now that he had finally stopped pacing, I reached out for him, giving him a gentle tug to encourage him to sit down. His gaze drifted to where my hand was around his, looking surprised.
“Dom?” I said, looking up at him with concern. “Is there a problem with that?”
“No,” he sounded frustrated. “It’s just…” He ran his free hand through his hair. When his hand dropped to his side, his eyes locked on mine. “With a little risk, we can get everything we want professionally, right?”
“Yes,” I said cautiously. That was the hope, at least.
He sat down beside me without warning, making the bed bounce. “I think that there’s something else within reach for me. I’ve done the risk assessment and I’m almost positive it is the right call. I just… I just need to be willing to put it on the line.”
He rested his hand on my knee and kept his eyes facing down. I swallowed hard. My chest felt tight. I thought I knew where this conversation was going, but I couldn’t risk voicing my guessand be wrong. “Dom…” I said, placing my hand on top of his and giving it a gentle squeeze.
That seemed to be what he needed. He turned back towards me, eyes roaming my face before settling on mine. “I’m in love with you, Hazel. I am madly, crazily in love with you. I have been for a long time. I just have been so afraid that I would screw everything up by telling you.”
I opened and closed my mouth before finding the words. “I…” Even with the suspicion that he was going to confess that he wanted something romantic to happen between us, I had not been expecting that.
“You are the one I always look for when I need to talk about something, good or bad. When we were struggling, it was agony. And then when you started joking around with me again, giving me that smile with your eyes sparkling, I knew it had been a mistake to pretend it hadn’t happened. I haven’t been able to think of anything other than how you make me happier than anything else. You’re the one I want to spend all my time with. You are the most beautiful woman in any room, and my fears of screwing up our partnership made me blow my chance with you.”
“Dom…” I began.
“I’m almost done,” he said. “I promise. I know tonight might not be the right time to tell you. But I had to. Every time I see you, it is eating me up inside. And I think… I think you feel the same.”
I leaned toward him. He mirrored my position, so our foreheads were touching. “I love you, too.” Of course I did. I’d had a crush on him when I met him, which I’d gotten a handle on. I’d grown to love him over the years platonically. I didn’t know when I had fallen in love with him, but of course I had. The words felt so natural.
His fingers made their way to the nape of my neck and tangled in my hair. Our noses brushed against each other as he closed the inches between us. The kiss was tender and slow. The first night we had kissed, it had been urgent. It was years of lust and sexual tension that had built up between us. Finally allowing it to happen had been explosive. There was no sense of urgency now. Then, I had been worried that he was going to change his mind and tell me it was a bad idea. Now, that fear had vanished.
In one fluid motion, Dom placed a hand on each side of my hips and lifted me into his lap. It was the carefully practiced move of somebody who had lifted me countless times before. Although most of my weight was hanging over the edge of the bed in that position, I was unconcerned. This was nothing.
His teeth grazed my lower lip and I rocked against his growing erection. I didn’t want to stop kissing him, but I had to ask something. “What about tomorrow?” I slipped my cardigan off of my arms.
“What about tomorrow?” he asked. His words were muffled because his lips had barely left mine.
“The free skate,” I said. It was such an obvious potential problem. I had no idea how it wasn’t a flashing neon light in his mind. “What if this screws us up again?”
He didn’t hesitate. “It won’t,” he promised. His hands dug into my hip bones. “This feels right. Thisisright. Last time, I couldn’t stop catastrophizing. I was so sure you would tell me you regretted fucking me, or our spark would be gone without the tension, or you wouldn’t want it to become a thing. I tried to put up walls to get ahead of it. Fuck that.” He kissed me again, lips crashing against mine hard. “I hated every day of trying to pretend nothing happened. I thought I was being responsible, but I was just afraid.”
I rested my hands against the back of his neck. “Lose the spark? It was impossible not to think about you after that.” Ifanything, it had made it easier to act like I wanted him to fuck me. After we’d torn down those walls, I hadn’t been able to build them again.
Dom reached around my back and pulled at the hem of my shirt. I raised my arms so he could pull it off me. His lips parted as he stared at my breasts, only half-hidden by a lace bralette. He moved to kiss me again, but I shook my head. “You too,” I said.
He moved his legs, signaling for me to stand up. I did obediently and he stood, pulling his shirt over his head in one smooth motion. I actually licked my lips as I stared at him. Where should I focus? I wanted to take it all in… his arms, his pecs, his abs, and everything else.
“I could stare at you all night,” he murmured, eyes roaming my body.
I shimmied out of my sweatpants. If he liked me in them, he had to appreciate me without them more. “How about now?” I asked.
