Fighting Their Attraction

by Nicole Flockton

  Anger at his father’s narrow-mindedness had lured him into making wrong decision after wrong decision. The answer hadn’t come to him at the bottom of a bottle. Nor with the endless girls he’d indulged his eighteen-year-old self with. In the end, he’d walked away from his family, Simon, Maybelle, and their partnership, and had found solace, and a new passion, on the slopes with a snowboard.

  “Hey, dude, you wanna go down to the lounge? I heard the Swedish girls are mighty fiiiiiine.” Nate lounged against the bedroom door.

  The last thing Brady wanted to do was go pick up girls. If he was going to flirt with anyone, it was going to be Arielle. Somehow, he didn’t think she’d be open to flirting back. He’d been an ass to her. He owed her an apology, if she’d give him the chance. And the best place to start looking for her would be the lounge where he’d seen her the day he arrived.

  “Sure, why not?” He grabbed his jacket. “Let’s fly.”

  Nate held up his hand, and Brady slapped it as he walked past. He’d be Nate’s wingman, all the while trying to spy Arielle.

  The noise level was triple what it had been when he’d walked into the lounge a couple of nights ago, understandably, seeing as they were four days away from opening ceremony. Nate waved to a group of guys clustered around a high-top table and headed in their direction. Brady followed. He recognized a couple of the guys from the circuit, so hanging with them wouldn’t be too much of a hardship.

  After saying hellos and exchanging a couple high fives, Brady scanned the room, hoping to catch a glimpse of sable-colored hair in a side ponytail. He shook his head. The chances of him picking her out in the crowded room were near on impossible.

  Yet, a movement over Nate’s shoulder caught his attention. It was Simon, standing with Maybelle and her new skating partner, Bohdan. Maybelle deserved another chance at claiming an Olympic medal, especially after Brady had blown their chances of winning in Vancouver.

  Maybelle moved to the side, and then he saw her. Arielle, her head thrown back as she laughed at whatever the person sitting next to her had said, her palm resting on his shoulder. Irrational jealousy spiked through Brady. It was an unfamiliar emotion, and one he had no right to feel.

  I’m losing my mind.

  “Hey, stranger, how are you?” a woman purred in his ear as fingers tiptoed up his arm. Brady grimaced.

  “Sharon, how are you?” he responded coolly. Please let her take the hint and walk away. As a fellow snowboarder and competitor at the X Games, he should’ve realized she’d be here representing the United States. They’d shared one drunken make-out session in Aspen two years ago. She’d been trying to initiate another one ever since. So far, he’d managed to avoid getting caught in a one-on-one situation with her. He had no plans to change that tonight.

  And now Arielle’s attention was locked on him. A play of emotions flitted across her face. The sparkle that had been present in her eyes when he’d first seen her faded. A look of resignation transformed her smile into a slight frown.

  “Brady, who has your attention?” Sharon asked, her nails digging into his arm.

  It wouldn’t do to have Arielle fall on Sharon’s radar. He quickly redirected his focus. He needed to get away from Sharon. “Just some people from Australia. I should go say hello to them. Good luck at the Games, Sharon.”

  He extricated himself from Sharon’s hold and wandered over to Arielle’s vicinity. He was from one lion’s den to another, considering the people she was hanging with.

  Maybe this was fate’s way of saying the time had come to face his past. Before he could move on to better things in his life, he had to end the chapter still holding him back. He’d been pretty sure he’d already done that by switching sports and spending half the year in the United States. But perhaps he hadn’t.

  A sudden wave of nervousness swept through him, his palms sweating and his heart rate kicking up a notch with every step he took. This had bad idea written all over it. And like in horror movies, when everyone keeps walking down the basement steps toward certain doom, he couldn’t stop his forward progress.

  Maybelle’s eyes widened at his approach, her hand going out to hit Simon in the arm while speaking feverishly to him. Brady had a fairly good idea what she was muttering. His former friend looked up, tension tightening his facial features before disappearing to be replaced by a look of indifference.

  Arielle was trying very hard not to look anywhere but at him. Only, she couldn’t hide the way her eyes darted in his direction. Brady smiled in what he hoped was a relaxed, open manner.

  “Brady, this is a surprise.” Maybelle’s greeting saved him having to break the ice. He didn’t deserve her kindness. Even their talk before he’d taken the ice this afternoon had almost felt like old times between them.

  “Hey, I saw you guys and thought I’d pop over.” God, could he sound any more pathetic? What was it about these Games that had him totally off-kilter? Hopefully, it wouldn’t translate to his events. He may be an X Games champ, but he couldn’t deny he wanted an Olympic gold hanging around his neck.

  “You’ve never bothered before. Why start now?”

  “Simon, stop it,” Maybelle admonished him.

  Brady held his hand up to stop her saying anything further. Bohdan moved a fraction closer to her, looking ready to protect her if she needed it. Interesting. Such a subtle move, and he doubted Maybelle even noticed. “No, it’s fine, Belle. Simon’s right.” He scratched his eyebrow then jammed his hands in his pockets—anything to deflect the quizzical looks around him. He avoided looking at Arielle even though he wanted to drink her in. “I’ve come to do what I wanted to do—say hello—so I’ll leave you. Enjoy the rest of the night.”

  Maybelle looked as if she wanted to argue his departure, but he gave a small shake of his head. Yes, he would have to talk to her and Simon. Sort out the mess he’d made. But tonight wasn’t the night. Hell, the Games weren’t the place to mend broken relationships, regardless of their unifying purpose. If he truly wanted to fix things, he would do it after everyone had competed. No way did he want to be responsible for messing up another chance for Maybelle.

  Maybe he should include Arielle in that bracket as well.

  Yes, he should stick to his guns. Keep his distance from all figure skaters, no matter how attracted he was to one in particular.

  “What was that all about?” Arielle asked as Brady disappeared into the crowd, her heartbeat finally slowing down. It had been beating out of her chest since he’d joined the little group.

  “Unfinished business,” Maybelle murmured under her breath, and Arielle wasn’t sure if she’d heard her correctly. The Australian skater had invited her to join them for hot chocolate when she’d run into her coming out of the practice arena. Arielle hadn’t had other plans, so she’d accepted the invite. She’d seen Maybelle around on the singles skating circuit for a few years, but they’d never really chatted. She’d only ever known Maybelle as a singles skater. How wrong she’d been. Maybelle’s original skating roots had been in pairs, and she’d returned to them. Now, her broody Russian partner never seemed to let Maybelle too far out of his sight. Did they share only a platonic skating partnership, or had it turned personal?

  “What do you mean by unfinished business?” She had no right to ask, but she hadn’t been able to pin Tina down to explain her cryptic comment the night they’d seen Brady and Simon talking.

  “If you want to know, you probably should ask Brady,” Simon snapped. “Not that he’ll talk about it. He’ll avoid it like he’s avoided us for the last eight years.”

  The bitterness in Simon’s voice was unmistakable. Did she really want to delve into their history? Not when she was about to embark on one of the biggest moments of her career. If she reached her goal of winning gold in the next couple of weeks, she was going to reexamine her priorities. She still had her whole life ahead of her. Although her parents had made her live and breathe skating since the second they’d put her in a pair of skates, recently,
she’d found she wanted more. She didn’t know what that more was, but she planned on trying to find it.

  “Simon, you don’t know everything,” Maybelle started softly. “There was way more going on than you knew about.”

  “I was his best friend, Belle. Why didn’t he tell me?”

  Maybelle shrugged. Boy, there were definitely a lot of hurt feelings swirling around the little group. Were Maybelle and Simon aware that Brady was hurting as much as them? That he was conflicted too? Who did he have to talk to? To lean on? It was clear Maybelle and Simon had each other. Even Bohdan, with his silent presence, would jump in and defend Maybelle. But who would do that for Brady?

  Me?

  Maybe.

  Possibly.

  Definitely.

  Yes, her, even if she had only known him for a few days. If he needed a support person, she could be that to him. All she needed to do was forget the way his lips had felt against hers. The beauty of him gliding over the ice. The way her pulse quickened and her breath shortened whenever he got near. If she could bury all of those reactions, being his friend would be easy.

  Whether because he was on her mind or because a tenuous thread connected them, Arielle looked up and found Brady watching her. His look was intense, but the loneliness she suspected he hid well from others was obvious to her. He broke the connection, and she breathed out.

  “Be careful, Arielle,” Maybelle commented.

  “What do you mean?” she asked, although she had a fair idea what Maybelle was hinting at. Maybelle confirmed it by tipping her head in Brady’s direction.

  “He has more layers than an onion. It would take a woman with a strong will and determination, not to mention patience, to begin to peel back those layers.”

  A low burn of indignation flared to life in Arielle. “Right. Of course. Well, you know, thanks for the warning. And thanks for the hot chocolate. I’ll see you around.”

  Arielle picked up her jacket and made her way through the mass of people in the direction of Brady’s table. Of course, she might have made the biggest mistake of her life; the blond woman was clinging to his arm again. Throwing caution to the wind, Arielle reached out and touched Brady on the cheek. If she weren’t quaking inside, she’d have laughed at the way the other woman’s eyes narrowed like the evil witch from a Disney movie.

  “Brady, you ready to get out of here?”

  “Yep.”

  One word. It was all that needed to be said, because his eyes communicated his gratitude. Before anyone could say anything, he’d extracted himself from Ms. Claws and slipped an arm around Arielle’s waist. Heat from the connection sizzled up her spine like it always did when Brady touched her. She would bet a hundred bucks their exchange was being watched by the crew she’d been sitting with.

  Enjoy the show.

  Neither of them said anything as they exited the lounge into the cool South Korean air. Dusk was settling over the village. Lights illuminated the square with the colors of the Olympic rings. A light dusting of snow fell.

  “I love the snow. It’s so pretty.” She sighed as she closed her eyes and tipped her head back to let the little flakes dust her face.

  “Beautiful.”

  The word whispered over her like a lover’s caress. Her eyes snapped open to find Brady studying her intently. Unlike moments before, she couldn’t read what he was thinking. She knew what she was thinking—correction: what she was wanting. His lips on hers.

  Crazy. She was crazy to be thinking this way. Letting herself fall even a little bit for the man in front of her was a bad idea. The timing was all wrong. Then again, if they weren’t here in South Korea, would they have ever met? She didn’t follow the X Games circuit, and she was pretty sure, regardless of what she’d seen that afternoon, Brady didn’t attend ice skating competitions on a regular basis.

  His gloved hands framed her face, his thumbs brushing her cheeks, wiping away the snow that splattered down on her. “Ari, what are we doing?”

  Ari.

  “I don’t know.” In the lounge, an all-encompassing need to show Brady, and everyone else, that she supported him had flowed through her. Now, in his arms, she wanted him to believe it hadn’t been an act of defiance to her doubters. To believe this was where she wanted to be at the moment more than anything else.

  “Kiss me, Brady.”

  Brady lowered his head toward hers, blocking the light, before he rested his cheek against hers. Her eyes fluttered shut again when a puff of warm air warmed her already hot flesh. “Okay.”

  His mouth moved the inches needed to meld their lips together. Explosions of need started in her lips before travelling through her body, burning her with a delicious fire. A fire she knew only she and Brady could generate together.

  Their bulky winter clothing hampered their movements. Arielle wanted nothing more than to push off his jacket and feel the strength of the body she knew existed beneath the layers. But she would have to be content with the touch of his mouth as it roved over hers. His tongue teased her bottom lip, encouraging her to open for him. Her response deepened the kiss, and she rose on her tiptoes in an attempt to get closer to him.

  A thud sounded a second before Brady ripped his mouth from hers. “Fuck. What the hell?” He took a step back from her.

  Laughter sounded a second before little particles of ice landed on her face from the spray of snow coming from Brady’s shoulder.

  Snowballs.

  Someone was throwing snowballs.

  “You looked like you needed to cool down!” someone hollered as they sprinted away.

  “Asshole,” Brady muttered as he brushed the snow from his shoulders. “Are you okay?”

  She wiped a bit of moisture from her face. “Yeah. Do you know who that was?”

  “Nate, my roommate.”

  “Oh.” She hadn’t felt this embarrassed since the time she’d landed on her back during her closing spin at her first-ever competition. It sure snuffed out that desire inflaming her. Who else had seen them kissing? She moaned in dismay. “This is bad.”

  Brady took two quick steps away from her, as if she’d thrown a snowball in his face. “I was only doing what you asked, remember?”

  “I know. I’m sorry, Brady. I didn’t mean that. Well, not in the way you think.”

  Still looking unconvinced, he crossed his arms over his chest, an impressive endeavor considering the thick jacket he wore. “What way did you mean it then?”

  “Well…” Words escaped her. Anything she said would tarnish the beautiful kiss they’d shared. She wanted to repeat the experience over and over. She wanted to kiss every inch of Brady’s body. She wanted him to learn every inch of hers. “This is crazy. It’s all wrong.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. It’s all wrong. What the hell am I thinking?”

  Before she could even attempt to correct him, Brady turned his back on her and strode away, leaving her standing under the light, wishing they were still wrapped in each other’s arms.

  Chapter 5

  The opening ceremony was hours away. He should’ve been practicing at the venue where his slopestyle event would take place tomorrow. Yet, here he was, hiding in the shadows, watching Maybelle and Bohdan compete in the pairs short program team event. While snowboarding had given him a good career and had allowed him a certain amount of financial freedom, he couldn’t deny that some days he missed ice skating. Belle and Bohdan looked good on the ice. The Russian lifted her effortlessly, as if he were holding a bag of potato chips instead of a grown woman. The chemistry between the two of them showed in the synchronicity of their movements.

  If the two of them skated like this in the main pairs program, he believed they had a good chance of medalling.

  “Why are you here?”

  He counted to five before turning to face Simon. “Watching the competition, obviously.” He nodded to the couple still on the ice. “They look very polished.”

  “They do. But why are you skulking here and not sitting in the stands?
” Simon’s aggressiveness was becoming tiring. Sure, Brady had been a prick to him all those years ago, but if he could be civil now, couldn’t Simon?

  Maybe an apology would smooth things over. You know, the one you haven’t given him.

  Fuck that annoying voice in his head. Even when it was right. Ever since he’d run into Maybelle on his flight from Japan, the universe had been directing him to correct the sins of his past before he could move on to the future. He wasn’t a superstitious guy—well, not really—but he couldn’t ignore the instinct that was telling him to man up and bury his past once and for all.

  If this were a Hollywood movie, he would’ve died at the start and been sent back from heaven to correct his wrongs and be granted a second chance at life.

  Applause echoed around the area, signaling Belle and Bohdan had completed their routine. He would hear the scores and then leave, but not before he slayed his first demon.

  “I’m sorry I was a shitty friend, Simon. I shouldn’t have said the things I did or treated you the way I did.”

  If his words surprised Simon, he didn’t show it. In fact, his face remained a portrait of impassiveness. “You think that wipes the slate clean? A couple of sentences erases eight years of no contact?”

  Brady sighed. Why did he bother at all? “No, I know there’s a lot more I need to say to you. And to Belle. But this isn’t the time or the place. But it’s a start, isn’t it?”

  Tension seeped from Simon’s shoulders. “Yeah, I suppose it is a start. But you need to know, you hurt me, Brady. For fuck’s sake, we’d been friends since we were four. You may have wanted to erase all contact with me, but you can’t. Not after everything we went through together.”

  Everything Simon said was the truth. It killed Brady to admit this, but he’d known at eighteen about Simon’s crush on him and it had made him uncomfortable. Add that to the way his father had been acting, and Brady had lashed out; Simon and Belle had taken the brunt of it. He wasn’t proud of the way he’d behaved back then. Simon’s life was his own and it didn’t make a lick of difference to him now. The years were changing all of them; the scuttlebutt had it that Simon had found someone he loved and who loved him in return. That put him one up on Brady. Good for him.