Heat it Up: Off the Ice - Book One (27 page)

It’s Joni I’m more worried about. He’s taking advantage of the situation before she’s made her decision about whether or not she’ll stay in Finland. I wouldn’t be surprised if he spends the next four days trying to convince her that staying here would be the best for everyone concerned, including me.

I nip on her ear. “That was incredible.” Her panting is her only reply.

I kiss her neck and pull out of her. She watches me through hooded eyes as I dispose of the condom. The bedroom door clicks open behind me. Sofia shrieks and scrambles under the sheet, her gaze ever watchful on the door. I whip around. Nik leers at her from the doorway, ignoring me.

“What the hell are you doing?” I stalk over to him and shove his arm. That’s enough to pull his attention from Sofia.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he says without a hint of remorse. “Just wanted to let you know about the change of plans.”

“What change of plans?” I ask as a brunette Sofia’s age appears next to him. Her gaze wanders down my body, reminding me that I’m naked, then it darts to where Sofia is sitting. The girl licks her lower lip, her attention still on Sofia, and talks to Nik in Finnish.

Nik laughs. “My friend wants to know if you’re interested in a foursome.”

I don’t even have to look to know Sofia’s blushing. She might be learning to be adventurous, but even she has limits, and a foursome is definitely beyond both of our limits.

“We’ll pass. And FYI, dumbass, that’s my food in the kitchen. We’re about to make dinner.”

Still chuckling, Nik raises his hands. “Got it. We’re going to be busy anyway. She brought her camcorder with her.” Great, we’ll get to listen to them make porn.

Nik turns to leave and I begin to close the door. His friend waves bye to Sofia as I shut it.

“Is it just me or was she totally checking me out?” Sofia asks, eyes wide.

I join her on the bed and crawl under the covers with her. “What she was hoping for would’ve proven to be interesting. No way would anything have happened between me and Nik, and with the way she was eating you with her eyes, I have a feeling it would’ve been three-on-one action if we had agreed to it.” And hell if that would have happened. Joni is enough competition for me.

“I-is that what you want to do?” If I thought her eyes were wide before, that’s nothing compared to now. And her face is several shades lighter.

“No. God no! That’s definitely not my kind of thing.”

She lets out a long slow breath, blowing out the tension like it’s a candle flame.

The question is, what are we going to do now? Listening to Nik and the girl go at it for the benefit of her camera doesn’t make it to my list of fun-filled activities.

“Do you want to go out for pizza?” I ask.

Sofia looks at the door and nods. “Can we shower first?”

By shower, I’m guessing she doesn’t mean a repeat of the one we had last week, where the sex was hotter than the water. At least with the water running, we can’t hear the other two in Nik’s bedroom.

Silently cursing him for changing his plans and screwing up mine, I climb out of bed and grab my favorite physics t-shirt for her to wear to the bathroom. And yes, the sight of her in it, and the sight of her only in the t-shirt, will fuel my sexual fantasies for while she’s away.

After a quick shower, we escape the apartment, but not before we hear the girl scream out in ecstasy as I shut the door.

• • •

“I’m thinking of applying to the speech pathology graduate program for next fall,” Gabby says.

I take my eyes off the road and look at her for a brief second. “Are you sure?”

“This is the perfect time to do it. You’re away a lot for games. If I’m studying all the time, I won’t have time to miss you so much.”

We’ve had this discussion before. It was because of my traveling schedule that she hadn’t been excited to apply just yet.

The traffic light is green and I continue through the intersection. Gabby screams and before I can react, an SUV plows into her side of the car. We’re sent flying sideways, flying, flying, flying, until we smash into a lamppost. Glass showers my body and metal tears into my left leg.

And I momentarily black out.

When I regain consciousness, every part of me is screaming in pain. I hear yells from what sounds like miles away but can’t understand what they’re saying. My eyelids have been turned to lead, but somehow I manage to open my eyes a crack.

It takes me a few seconds to piece everything together. The darkness. The glow from streetlights. The caved in driver’s door. The people running toward the car. The sirens in the distance.

Gabby. I turn my head to see if she’s okay. But it’s not Gabby. It’s Sofia.

Fear floods my body. God, no! Please not Sofia. I reach out to her. She’s white in the pale light and covered in blood.

“Sofia. It’s going to okay. Hold on for me, babe. Can you do that for me? I love you and you’re going to be okay. I promise.” But even as I say the words I know it’s not true. The part about loving her is. I’ve been falling in love with her from the first day we met; I just didn’t realize it until now. That part is true. The part about everything will be all right is a lie.

“Kyle, you’re having a nightmare,” Sofia says from the distance.

She strokes my cheek and the awareness of what happened creeps in. I slowly open my eyes, almost afraid to in case she’s another dream and I’m too late.

My eyes adjust to the dim light of the moon. Sofia’s leaning over me, her eyes bright with concern. Needing to prove to myself that she’s real, I thread my fingers through her hair and guide her mouth to mine.

I just want to hold and kiss her. I never want to let her go again. Except I don’t know how to do that. I don’t know how to keep her and how to have the new future I’ve been working hard for. I don’t know how to have them both.

I don’t say any of this to her. Instead, I relish the feel and taste of her mouth, of her skin. I relish each of her moans as my hands explore her body and her sounds as she comes.

I relish making love to her while I still can.

Sofia falls asleep in my arms soon after. I watch her sleep for a few minutes as the sky clears, and the moonlight pours into the room and glows around her. She’s an angel. An angel who has buried her way into my heart. But is it enough? She’s more than enough for me.

But am I enough for her?

My steamy dream starring Kyle fades and I open my eyes. It takes a few seconds to understand why I was dreaming about him, the arm around my waist and his chest against my back being my first hints.

We did go out for pizza, but returned to his apartment to find Nik and his female friend had left. Not wanting to go back to Muumu’s so soon, I’d stayed to watch a movie. The next thing we knew, it was too late to drive home.

I blink the sleep from my eyes and check the alarm clock. Then shoot upright, the sheet tumbling down and pooling around my waist. Crap. It’s already 9:07 a.m.

“Hey,” Kyle murmurs, and I’m not sure if he’s complaining about me moving or if he’s saying ‘hi’ in Finnish.

“I’ve gotta get going,” I tell him, the words rushing out in one long word. “Joni’s meeting me at my grandmother’s place, and I still have to shower and pack.”

“Or you can stay in bed with me and forget about the wedding.”

I can’t tell if he’s serious or kidding, although the temptation is there to do as he suggests.

I kiss Kyle’s shoulder. “As tempting as that sounds, I do need to go.” I grab my clothes and head for the bathroom to have a quick shower before Kyle decides to join me.

Which is exactly what he does, but this time he’s on his best behavior and doesn’t do anything other than gives me a quick kiss.

I leave him in the bathroom where he’s toweling off and return to his room. I straighten his bedding, and notice an envelope from the athletic department at a university in Seattle.

“You almost ready to go?” Kyle asks behind me.

I whip around, still holding his pillow in my hand. He looks from the pillow to the envelope on the table. There’s no missing that I’ve seen it.

“I’ve been offered a job there. An assistant coaching position.”

Everything inside of me crumbles, but I manage to pull off a grin. “Oh, wow, that’s awesome, Kyle. You’re perfect for the job.” I wrap my arms around his neck, give him a quick kiss, and rest my head on his shoulder so he can’t see the tears in my eyes. “I’m so proud of you. You deserve it.”

I don’t even know why I’m reacting this way. It’s not like we’ve made plans to be together after the summer is over.

He holds me close, and I can only hope he doesn’t notice I’m shaking. “When do you start?”

“They want me there in two weeks.”

“That’s good. You’ll be finished with your coaching job here by then.” I pull away. “We should go now.”

An odd tension lies heavy in the air as Kyle drives me home, neither of us saying anything. I try asking him a True or False question, but he doesn’t answer. The rest of the trip is spent in silence, other than the radio.

Joni is walking to the entrance of Muumu’s building when we pull up. Kyle honks his horn and pulls into a spot, then walks with me to where Joni is waiting.

“I just have to pack,” I say. Both guys follow me into the building and walk behind me on the stairs. I can feel them glare at each other as we climb the steps.

I unlock the apartment door and open it. Muumu is standing in the hallway and I hug her, needing her more than ever to keep me together. Even though she has no idea what’s wrong, she squeezes me tight.

I leave everyone in the hallway and begin packing my bag. The front door buzzer intrudes on my thoughts, which is followed by the familiar voice of Joni’s grandmother. I rejoin them, and both guys move to grab the bag from my hands. Kyle is standing next to me so he wins this round of Testosterone Wars. I roll my eyes at the smirk he levels in Joni’s direction. Kyle follows us downstairs to Joni’s car. Before I can offer to sit in the back, Aino dives into the backseat, forcing me to sit up front with Joni. Kyle loads my bag into the trunk and walks me to the passenger side.

I kiss him, the moment too brief. “See you Tuesday.”

Kyle knots his fingers in my hair, keeping me close, and his tongue darts along my lips. Without meaning to, I open my mouth and let him in. My arms wrap around his neck and I get lost in the kiss. Time loses all meaning. Everything I’m supposed to be doing is no longer important. All I can think about is the taste of him, the warmth of his soft lips against mine, and the strength of his arms around me.

It’s not until someone politely coughs that I snap back to the moment and remember we’re standing next to Joni’s car, with everyone watching us. Kyle’s wearing a smug look aimed at Joni. This time when I kiss him, it’s a quick peck on his cheek. I wave goodbye to Muumu and climb in.

The journey isn’t too bad. Aino talks the entire trip, and Joni is forced to translate, but she’s funny and has lots to say. I spend a lot of the journey laughing, despite the battle of emotions inside me. The last thing I want is to ruin the trip for everyone. I push past my pain, remembering the reason why I’m going to Jyväskylä with Joni.

Joni and I don’t have a chance to say much to each other. A few times I get the feeling he wishes he could zip his grandmother’s mouth shut since she loves sharing embarrassing tales about his childhood, which he translates even though it’s obvious he would prefer changing topics.

After we drop her off at a family member’s house, and tell her we’ll see her in two hours, we drive to the hotel where Muumu, instead of Joni, booked our reservations. Or rather, the small inn where she booked our reservations. It’s quaint, with flower boxes bursting with bright blossoms under all the windows. It’s the kind of place you would bring your loved one for a romantic hideaway. I mute the alarm in my head. Just because it looks like that kind of place doesn’t mean Joni expects this to be a romantic weekend between the two of us. As weekends go, this will be the opposite to when Kyle and I were stranded on the island during the storm.

Joni opens the trunk and I grab my backpack before he has a chance. He removes his bag and follows me into the building. The only person in the lobby is the girl behind the desk, tapping keys on her computer. We walk over to her.

“
Hei
, we have two rooms booked,” I tell her, temporarily forgetting Joni could have told her this in her native language. “One for Sofia Philips and the other for Joni Kurri.”

She punches on a few keys, frowns, and taps on a few more. “We only have a reservation for a Mr. Joni Kurri and guest. With a king-sized bed.”

“There must be some kind of mistake. My grandmother booked us two rooms not one.” At least I’m pretty sure she would have booked two.

The girl shakes her head. “Sorry. This is all I have booked under those names.”

I give her Muumu’s name, but the result is the same. She either booked the one room or they made a mistake with the reservation. “Can I book a room then?”

She shakes her head, again. “We’re all booked up. You could try elsewhere but there’s a convention in town. Everywhere has been booked for months. You were lucky to get this room.” Which explains why Muumu ended up booking only the one room. She trusts Joni isn’t going to try anything or hurt me—otherwise she never would’ve let me go with him.

“Okay, we’ll take the room,” I say.

Once we’re checked in, we climb the stairs to the first floor. It doesn’t take long to track down the room, and I stand by my original belief. This room is a perfect getaway, with the fireplace, two armchairs in front of it, and the roomy bed.

“I can sleep on the floor,” Joni says, frowning and looking around the room.

“Don’t worry about it. There’s plenty of room on the bed.” And plenty of pillows to build a barricade between us, in case he forgets it’s me in the bed and tries to cuddle—like Kyle has a habit of doing. “I’m going to have a shower.”

I have a quick shower and re-apply my makeup. As I step out of the bathroom, I catch Joni sneaking glances at me in my pale yellow sundress while he pretends to read a brochure. My face heats and I rush over to my bag to find my sandals.