Page 31 of Chasing Gold, Catching Her

Chapter 7

November 2024, On Edge championship, Prague, Czech Republic

Tora was waiting for Alisa in her hotel room. The windows overlooked the embankment of the long river Vltava that cut through the center of the entire city; a wide promenade stretched along the water, and people wandered there slowly in the evening, some in pairs, some alone, running their own small marathons through the damp streets.

Tora wanted to go outside too, to run along the embankment with everyone else, but she was waiting for someone.

For her rival on the ice.

Almost a month had passed since the competition in Norway, and now they were meeting again. Tora had wanted this far more than she cared to admit. Alisa had somehow gotten under her skin even though they talked rarely due to their high maintenance schedules, and the way she blushed and became shy whenever it came to her feelings for women was unbearably cute, at least that was what Tora thought.

She smiled, remembering Alisa’s flushed cheeks in the shower and later at her house. She had not wanted Alisa to run back to Russia the next morning, but that had been fate, and now fate had brought them together again.

Although, honestly, it had not been so unlikely. They competed in the same category, in the adult division, and it was obvious they would see each other again at the next world championship.

Tora pressed her lips together and looked at her phone screen, waiting for a notification, for some message from Alisa saying that she was not coming.

Today Tora and Loke had taken gold again, while Alisa and Lev had finished fifth and had been upset because of it.

So, as they said, Alisa probably needed consolation. And perhaps Tora wanted to become that consolation. Though maybe Alisa would not come after all. Maybe she was too upset. But all Tora could think about was Alisa’s rosy cheeks, and how she had trembled beneath her hands the last time, back in Norway.

Tora closed her eyes for only a second, and immediately there was a knock at the door.

A smile lit up her face.

She quickly ran to the door, undoing a few more buttons on the white shirt she wore to sleep on trips. Sometimes she slept in an oversized T-shirt, depending on her mood, but tonight the shirt had seemed like the better choice, more seductive.

Tora unbuttoned the top of it just enough that the line between her breasts would be impossible not to notice. Then she laughed softly to herself and opened the door, leaning one shoulder lazily against the frame.

The moment Alisa saw that Tora was wearing nothing but the shirt, one that barely covered her thighs, she immediately blushed.

“Well… congratulations,” Alisa muttered. “Uh… top ten in the world?”

“What a vicious little thing you are,” Tora laughed.

Alisa squeezed past her into the room.

“I didn’t invite you in,” Tora said, closing the door behind her, still smiling at her rival.

Alisa immediately pulled out her phone and showed her the message with the room number that Tora had sent a few hours earlier, right before the competition.

“Why are you doing this to me… you…” Alisa puffed out her cheeks, her nostrils flaring with indignation.

“And how does it feel to be in the top ten, Tora?” she shot back almost hissing the words.

Tora only smiled wider.

Alisa was trying so hard to get under her skin, to make her snap back, but instead she looked like an angry kitten, absolutely harmless, all tiny claws and adorable offended noises.

“Well, you know, not bad,” Tora said with a shrug. “We’re already in the top five, actually, if you hadn’t noticed.”

She winked and walked over to the minibar beneath the television.

“Did you come here just to ask me what it’s like to be in the top league of figure skaters? In the top ten?”

“No, of course not.” Alisa snorted and added. “Get undressed, babe.”

Tora burst out laughing.