Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Kardok
I was ready to rip my Kteer out of my chest, which would be difficult, considering I’d never heard it was a physical organ, and more like an instinct. Still, the fucking thing was driving me nuts, and I was more on edge than ever.
I’d agreed to do this exhibition in order to make up to the team for my lack of control…
but I was beginning to think it was making things even worse.
When I scrimmaged with the guys, I found myself taking more chances, acting even more aggressively on the ice than usual… and I figured Lila was to blame.
Lila, in those leggings she probably thought were just sportswear, but which made my mouth water each time she bent over to stretch. Lila, wearing my team’s colors. Lila, her little hand in mine so trustingly.
I told myself she was the daughter of a rich man, too prim and proper for the likes of me, but my Kteer wasn’t listening. Any time I had to touch her during our practices, the damned thing went on high alert, and I was impressed she couldn’t hear it rumbling in my chest.
We’d been working together for four afternoons now, and despite our unsuitability and my Kteer’s insistence on making itself an annoyance, I had to admit that Lila and I had settled into an easy sort of partnership.
It was like I could feel when she was getting ready to change positions, and by our second practice, I was already moving when she began to shift her weight. I might not know all the holds and turns and positions, but Joshua said I was a fast learner.
The youth coach had joined us starting the second afternoon, and while part of me resented having to share the rink time with another male, the rest of me was glad I wasn’t going to be tempted to touch Lila more than necessary.
That first practice, alone on the ice, her smiling up at me as I skated backward? I’d almost kissed her then and there.
Would she taste like expensive luxuries? Or like any other female I’d pleasured? I was a little alarmed to discover I was desperate to find out.
So it was probably a good thing Joshua McAllister was there, calling out positions and adjustments, and sometimes even physically manipulating my limbs. He was a slight man, even for a human, but he had no fear around orcs, apparently.
When I growled at him for pulling my hand away from Lila’s, he just snorted and rolled his eyes, then placed my hand on her hip instead.
“Feel the way she’s moving through the next turn.
She’s gathering power. We don’t have time to learn any throws—with your strength, it could be dangerous—but I don’t see any reason we can’t incorporate plenty of lifts. ”
I had no idea what he meant; I was just pleased to be touching her.
The rest of our week was spent with me learning—and learning, and learning—the basic pairs positions. By Friday, I could skate backward while holding her, or by her side with our hands interlocked, and we’d worked on synchronized footwork until I could match her without having to look down.
Lila had suggested a bunch of websites for me to watch figure skating videos, and I realized I was intrigued by the raw power those pairs displayed. There was grace and beauty there, of course, but now that I had a basic understanding of what went into that synchronization, I was impressed as hell.
“I think by next week, we’ll be ready to sketch out the choreography,” Lila was saying to me as we did our final lap on Friday. “I think I’ve figured out the shape of the routine, but not ready to commit to the details yet.”
I grunted, more focused on the feel of her hands in mine than her words. “What do you need to be able to commit?”
To my surprised, her cheeks heated, and she flashed a glance at me before focusing on the bench. I could smell her embarrassment.
“Um…I think you and I need to get together off the ice to work through some basic holds. If you’re okay with that?”
I don’t know what that meant, or why it would make her embarrassed, but it didn’t sound so bad.
“Sure. Now?”
Her little huff might have been an attempt at a laugh. “I’m sweaty and exhausted, and the peewee hockey team is about to show up for practice on this rink. We could…um.”
It was so rare to see her uncertain that I twisted my skates and stopped suddenly, pulling her to a halt as well. “Lila. Just say it.”
Her gaze was locked on my chest. “My apartment has a big living room, lots of open space. We could…hang out there. I could make dinner. Or lunch, if you wanted to do it tomorrow instead.”
She was inviting me to her apartment? For dinner? That sounded…dangerously tempting.
So my response was carefully worded. “Dinner. And we’d be there mainly to practice moves for the routine?”
Her deep blue gaze snapped to mine. “Oh, no, we’d be there only to try out the holds. I mean, and dinner,” she hastened to assure me. “It’s not like…like a date or anything.”
“Right.” Not a date, because she didn’t date guys like me. Hells, she probably didn’t know the meaning of the words casual fuck. “Well, sounds like a plan. Tonight?”
Her cheeks were still pink, but now she smiled softly. “How about six thirty?”
I’d nodded and helped her off the ice, then threw my skates into my bag and hurried home to shower, all the while completely distracted by the thought of holding her on our not a date.
My phone dinged as I was getting dressed. A text from Dakvaar.
You busy tonight?
Yeah. Figure skating practice.
The team had found out about the exhibition, and I’d endured much good-natured mockery about better Kardok than any of us. Dakvaar, who had never seen much need for expressing emotions in the best of times, had merely nodded when he’d heard.
Now, he didn’t tease me.
Good. I was going to suggest chilidogs at BadAxe, but practice makes perfect. You’ll be at the complex?
I’m not sure what made me type out, “No, her place. I should have asked if I should bring something.”
His reply was slow to come.
A hostess gift would be good. Bottle of wine?
As if I had any idea what kind of wine a princess drank. I shook my head and scoffed as I typed, “I was thinking flowers.”
Good luck, Kardok.
Luck? This was just part of rehearsal, wasn’t it?
But still, I hesitated outside her door at six thirty, my fist lifted to knock, my other hand gripping sunflowers. I’d debated what kind of flowers to bring, but ultimately decided roses would send the wrong message.
Just knock, idiot.
I took a deep breath and did, and the door was opened quickly enough I suspected she’d been waiting. I’d expected her smile, but when her gaze had landed on the sunflowers? Her face lit up.
“Sunflowers are my favorite!” she breathed, reaching for them.
“Really?” I would have expected something expensive and exotic, with words like Paradise or Flamingo in the name. Not the humble sunflower. “They were my mother’s favorite, that’s why I chose them.”
She was leading me through the apartment, which was twice the size of mine—and in the swanky part of town, too—to the kitchen, where something delicious and fancy-smelling roasted in the oven. Now, Lila smiled at me over her shoulder as she pulled down a crystal vase for the flowers.
“I think I would like your mother, then. Does she live in Bramblebluff, or back in your home?”
“She’s dead,” I announced flatly, pretending interest in studying the kitchen. “My brothers and I were the only ones in the family who crossed over to your world, and they moved out east last year.”
“I’m sorry,” Lila said softly, her attention on arranging the flowers. “It must have been hard to lose them.”
I shrugged, although it had been hard to say goodbye. I understood their reasoning, and we texted regularly…especially since Korrad’s latest fucked-up scheme.
To my surprise, I found myself telling her about them. “They’re twins, a few years older than me. Korrad is the responsible one—most of the time, at least—and he has a son, Jay. He was the safety inspector at the lithium mine before it closed. Brakkor is…” I shrugged. “He’s an asshole, really.”
Lila stifled a giggle. “And your asshole brother followed your non-asshole brother out east?”
I relaxed, telling her more. “Brak was the heavy equipment operator in the mine. When it closed, the owner moved a lot of the guys to the processing plant, but he opened up jobs on Eastshore Isle, the island he moved to. Kor and Brak got a good deal, so now they both work for a construction company on the island.”
She seemed genuinely interested, asking me questions about Eastshore—which Korrad described as a cozy little beach town full of Mated couples—as I helped her get dinner ready.
“It sounds lovely. You’ve never visited?”
“Nope, although I should have. Korrad got married last-minute on the beach a month ago, but I was still in postseason. Besides, I’m not a beach kind of guy.” The first time I’d even seen a beach had been traveling with the team that first year. “I prefer the mountains.”
“No ice on the beach,” she agreed with an easy smile, and we sat down to eat.
The food was good. I mean, really good, even if I wasn’t entirely sure what it was…something involving chicken and wine and approximately forty more steps than anything I’d ever cooked. I told her so, and she laughed.
“It’s coq au vin. My second stepmother’s recipe, actually.” A pause, then, quieter: “She was my favorite of the stepmothers thus far.”
“Ah.” I set down my fork. This felt…heavy. “So…your father has been married a few times?”
“Four, not counting my mother, who died in a car accident when I was too young to remember.” She said it easily, the way you say something you’ve made peace with. “I used to wonder if he was trying to find me a replacement mother, and he kept ending up with women he couldn’t live with.”
Used to, I noted. I wondered if he was still doing that.
Now Lila shrugged, not looking up from her cock vein, or whatever she’d called the meat. “It’s why he spoils me, although he claims he doesn’t.”