Pairing Off (Red Hot Russians #1) by Elizabeth Harmon

Author:Elizabeth Harmon [Harmon, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Carina Press
Published: 2015-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

At the boards, Carrie watched the teen pair from CSKA Moscow perform their closing night exhibition, then looked back over her shoulder for what seemed the hundredth time. Where was Anton?

Last night’s celebration had been hollow without him. Between thinking about the family celebration she was missing and worrying what she’d face back in Sweetspire, she wasn’t in a festive mood.

Not telling Dad about her plans to compete in Lake Placid with Anton had been a huge mistake. She’d never been the kind of person who could do as she pleased, consequences be damned. Pithy sayings about permission and apologies aside, asking Dad’s forgiveness didn’t sit well. At seventeen, she’d learned his forgiveness didn’t come easily, if at all.

She’d known that going in, of course, yet her desire to help Anton had outweighed everything else. Now, she’d done even more damage to her already-shaky relationship with her family, all to help a man she could never be with anyway. How could she have been so stupid?

The music droned on, an atrocious European pop song complete with yodeling, that set her teeth on edge. The pink-clad boy threw his tiny, pink partner to land a double axel. The poor kid looked like an alpine goat herder who’d gone swimming in Lake Pepto-Bismol. Was it tradition for every Russian pairs guy to wear at least one humiliating costume?

Again, she looked over her shoulder, then sighed and turned back to the ice.

She and Anton had arrived separately for rehearsal this afternoon. After stilted apologies, they’d gotten down to work. She’d gone to Vera for hair and makeup right afterward, and hadn’t seen him since. Their stylist never took this long. He must be with Olga, downstairs in the athlete’s lounge.

She jumped, startled by the light touch at her back. She turned, and her mouth went dry.

“Didn’t mean to run late,” Anton apologized. “Vera got distracted.”

Holy smokes, it was easy to see why.

Vera had transformed him into someone dark and even a little sinister, with mysterious eyes, and a deeper tone to his skin. The costumes Brigitte had finished at the last minute and brought from Moscow looked even better than Carrie expected. Especially Anton’s. Flame-shaped bands of shimmering white-yellow, gold and red wrapped every contour of his body-hugging black shirt and pants.

For a long moment, she stood still, as his gaze took in her fitted black dress, striped to match. Vera had also done her makeup in deep smoky hues. Her hair hung loose, held back with a simple gold headband, so it would move and flow as she skated.

Gazing intently, he lifted one lock and smoothed it between his fingertips.

She sucked in a breath, staring up as though hypnotized. She swallowed hard and her heart fluttered as he gently placed the stray tendril behind her shoulder, combing his fingers through her hair.

Then from somewhere far away, the audience applauded. The teens skated off, and Anton held out his hand. Without a word, she took it, and together they glided into the spotlight.

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