Page 46

We arrived in Missouri a couple days before the start of Nationals so we could take advantage of the practice sessions offered on the stadium ice.

The Nationals competition was usually a big deal in the figure skating community, but during an Olympic year, it was a spectacle for the entire country.

The competition was hosted in a massive stadium with seats going all the way up to the rafters.

Huge LED walls lined the hallway leading to the ice, lighting up with our pictures each time we walked out for a practice session.

Our walk-out was “dope” according to Kappy, because it included some of his best hockey clips and then transitioned to him skating with me.

The day before the week-long competition started, skaters were strongly encouraged to attend the media day.

Unfortunately, the morning of media day, I overslept my alarm.

“Kappy.” I patted his scruffy cheek to wake him.

“Huh? What?” He woke up with a start.

“It’s already eight.” My eyes widened with panic. “You have to go. We have to get ready.”

“Go? Huh?” He rubbed his sleepy eyes. “No.” He grabbed my hips and tried to cuddle me again.

“No!” I smacked his chest. “We have to get up! We’re gonna be late!

” I scrambled out of bed, then tried to pull the bed sheet to cover myself.

Unfortunately, Richard was wrapped up with the sheets and covers, so when I pulled, he unraveled and fell out of bed, hitting the wall on his way to the ground.

My mouth dropped open in shock.

“Ow,” he groaned from the floor. “Why would you do that?” he asked, sounding hurt and betrayed.

I rolled my lips together to keep from laughing. “Sorry, but we have to get ready. I need to shower.”

“I’ll shower with you,” he said, sounding still half-asleep. He slowly got to his feet, then almost toppled over again.

I grabbed up his pants from the floor and threw them at him. “Nope, go to your own room and get ready.”

“But why?” he asked glumly. His hair was cocked up in a bunch of different directions and his eyes were still bleary with sleep as he slowly pulled on his sweatpants. He looked so lost I almost laughed in his face again.

“You’ll just distract me.” I grabbed his big shoulders and guided him to the door. “So, you have to go.”

Right before I could open the door, he turned to face me and his large hand moved up my bare stomach, making me shiver. “But it’ll be fun, baby.”

Pursing my lips, I stood firm. “We don’t have time.”

Both of his hands were on me now. He pulled me against him, making me feel his hard length.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna shower together?

” he asked, making me pause. He kissed along my jaw, slowly making his way to my mouth, making my body go limp in his arms. I trailed my fingernails down his neck, making his whole body shudder.

“Fuck,” he rasped against my lips before deepening the kiss.

But then my phone went off with Patrick’s signature ring, bringing me back to reality. I quickly pushed him away, making him let out a groan and drop his head.

“Later,” I said, laughing. I gave him one more chaste kiss before fully shoving him out the door.

As soon as he was gone, I sped around my room like a mad woman, trying to locate all my stuff before jumping in the shower.

There’s no way I had enough time to straighten my hair, so I used a diffuser hair dryer to enhance my natural curls.

I drew sharp cat eyeliner, then threw on the black blazer dress I bought for the occasion.

Right before it was time to head down to the ballroom for the event, a knock sounded on my hotel door.

Seeing Kappy and Patrick through the peephole, I quickly propped the door open.

Kappy’s eyes heated as they trailed over my body, making a giddiness rise up in my chest. “Good morning, Piper. How’d you sleep?” He grinned.

Patrick rolled his eyes. “Don’t do this whole act for my benefit, I know you spent the night in here, Kap.”

Laughing, I spun around and went back to applying my red lipstick in the wall mirror.

“Wait,” Kappy said, making me pause and look up. He dropped a quick kiss on my lips, then settled behind me, hugging my waist and meeting my eyes in the mirror. “Okay, now fix it,” he said, making me giggle.

Patrick heaved a sigh and shook his head at us. “All right, let’s be on our best behavior today, yeah? No eyerolls, no sassy replies. We’re already on thin ice with the board after our last press conference.”

“I want to roll my eyes so bad at that,” I said in an even tone while perfecting my lipstick.

“God, you’re so beautiful,” Kappy said in a low voice, completely ignoring Patrick. He kissed my neck and ran his hand down to my butt, making me grin at him in the mirror. “Love your hair like this,” he whispered in my ear, making a shiver skate through me.

“Okay, enough of that,” Patrick gruffed, making us laugh. “Let’s get this show on the road,” he said, reaching for my red pumps to hand to me.

In the elevator, I cracked my neck and mentally went over some lines to say. Patrick busied himself reading interview notes on his phone. Kappy, who wore a short-sleeved Whalers polo that showed off his arm tattoos, lulu slacks, and his earring, leaned carelessly against the elevator railing.

As soon as the elevator dinged open, Patrick and I stepped off, but Kappy hung back and lit up all the buttons.

I blanched at him. “Did you just do that?”

He gave a sheepish shrug.

“You’re a child.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him along.

“It’s a hockey superstition. I had to,” he said, fighting off a grin.

I shook my head, trying my best to stifle a laugh. “You’re gonna make other skaters late.”

He shrugged. “Wouldn’t be mad if it were Annie and Freddie.”

“A child,” I admonished while we marched into the media circus.

As soon as we were seated, we had the largest press pool, and right off the bat, we were killing it. I handled all the technical ice dance questions while Kappy had members of the press blushing and laughing at his jokes.

Everything was going smoothly, until a reporter asked, “How do you feel about your fellow competitor, Anastasia Antonova, saying that you two don’t deserve to be here because Richard Kappers lacks experience?

She’s saying it’s not fair for you two to potentially take a US spot to the Olympics that was earned by other champions. ”

Hearing those words lit a match of anger inside of me. Annie. That bitch.

“Well, I’d say Patrick and I earned the US one of those spots by winning Worlds last year, so Annie really needs to learn to shut her—”

Kappy leaned over my mic and his deep chuckle filled the air. “And that’s it for today. Thanks, guys! To all my hockey fans out there, make sure you tune in to cheer us on.” He winked at the camera.

Grabbing my hand, he practically yanked me out of my chair before I could say another word.

He continued at a breakneck pace until we were out of the ballroom.

“Okay, slow down,” I said, struggling to keep up with him in my pumps.

“You really needed the NHL’s media training, you know that?” He blew out a sigh. “They scared us within an inch of our lives not to say anything too…” he trailed off.

My eyebrows drew down. “Anything too…?”

“Sassy,” Patrick finished for him. “Good save.” He clapped Kappy on the back, then pointed a finger at me. “You’re a liability.”

Rolling my eyes, I crossed my arms over my chest. Now that the shaky anger was leaving my body and I could actually think straight, I regretted my words.

“She was trying to rattle you,” Kappy said .

She did rattle me.

I let out a groan. “Was it bad?” I worried my bottom lip. Why couldn’t I control my stupid emotions? I was trying, damnit, I really was.

“Relax,” Kappy said with a laugh, breaking my mental spiral. “I stopped you before you got to the bad part.” He pulled me in front of him and massaged my shoulders. “You didn’t fling any drinks, so I’d say you’re improving, babe.”

“Ah, so she threw a drink at you, too,” Patrick muttered while typing away on his phone.

My shoulders fell. “That’s a pretty low bar.”

Kappy’s body rumbled with a chuckle. “What’s next?” he asked Patrick.

Patrick tucked his phone in his back pocket. “Let’s get the health check-in over with. C’mon.” He started walking down the hall, but Kappy’s body locked up.

Noticing that we hadn’t moved, Patrick turned back around. “They make all athletes complete a blood and pee test just in case they win and are chosen to represent the US in the Olympics. They want to avoid any potential snags. C’mon,” he said again.

Kappy pulled a face. “Do we have to?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” I said, looking up at him in question.

“I hate needles,” he whispered down to me. “This blows.”

My heart melted a bit. “It’ll be over quick. I’ll even hold your hand.”

He dropped a chaste kiss on my lips. “Okay, let’s get it over with, I guess.”

__________

The next afternoon, we clinched second place with our ‘70’s Mamma Mia themed Rhythm Dance.

The high from our amazing skate left me with too much energy, and I couldn’t sleep.

Kappy, who was again sleeping in my hotel room, was sprawled out on his side of the bed, lightly snoring.

I suspected his love language was physical touch, because even though he was a furnace in his sleep, he still had to be touching me in some small way.

Tonight, his feet were tangled with mine.

Each time I tried to detangle us, he woke back up, so I eventually left it alone.

Grabbing my phone from the nightstand, I pulled up our program from earlier so I could listen to the broadcasters and the crowd. I wanted to soak it all in one more time.

“I’ve never seen this kind of skating from Piper,” Sasha, the former figure skating champ turned broadcaster said into her mic.

“Who would’ve thought a hockey player would help her level up?

Who would’ve thought a hockey player would even be able to do a single twizzle, let alone nail a whole ice dance program? ” She let out an incredulous laugh.