Page 58 of When the Ice Melts
Addisyn rolled her eyes. What a lame excuse.
“Umm...okay.” Darius seemed to be grasping for another way to ask his questions. Chelsea had hedged him in well, though. His next words echoed with defeat. “Thanks anyway. See ya.”
“Good afternoon, Mr. Payne.” Chelsea’s tone would have brought a boiling espresso back to room temperature. In a moment, Addisyn heard the jangling of the bells on the glass door again.
He was gone.
Immediately Chelsea came bustling into the dark closet. “It’s safe. You can come out now.”
Addisyn sighed and pushed past Chelsea into the outer part of the shop. The sudden light made her blink. “I was not hiding, Chelsea. I just didn’t want to see him right then.”
“Well, and small wonder! You poor girl.” Chelsea was brimming over with righteous indignation. “Creeping around here like that, looking for you! The nerve of him!” She pursed her lips tartly.
“It’s fine, really.” Addisyn attacked a stain on the counter, rubbing it with a soapy paper towel a little harder than it required. But Chelsea wasn’t done.
“I mean, what kind of guydoesthat?” She lowered her voice to a husky hiss, as if discussing some heinous crime. “Leads a girl along,kisses her, and then tells her to get away from him?”
“That’s not what he said.” Addisyn was sick of reliving the whole incident. It already loomed over her mind like a constant specter, begging to be noticed. She even had nightmares about it. Could she not have just a little respite here at work?
Chelsea waved her hand impatiently. “Close enough! Well, I fooled him. I got rid of him in record time.”
Addisyn ducked her head to hide a cynical smile. If Darius had any sense at all, he had to have known she was in the building somewhere. Chelsea had been anything but discreet.Who made her my bodyguard, anyway?
“When you told me he did that, I just thought—”
Addisyn did not waste any more concentration on what Chelsea had thought. She bitterly regretted telling the girl any part of the story at all. She hadn’t planned to mention the incident to anyone, but when she arrived at work the next morning with eyes swollen from crying, Chelsea had insisted on hearing everything. It had taken her two hours of nagging, but Addisyn had finally given in. Chelsea had been so flabbergasted that she had rehashed the episode a thousand times.
Actually, Addisyn had to admit, it was more the presence of Chelsea than of Darius that had caused her to dart into the back room when she’d seen the car drive up and Darius leap out of the driver’s seat like a man charging into the ring. Whatever he had to say—apology, explanation, formal break-up line—she didn’t want to hear it with Chelsea standing right there gaping.
And part of her just didn’t want to take any more pain. Didn’t want to hear his false promises or—even worse—his polite apologies. Didn’t want to gaze into those dreamy eyes again and feel her heart break open just a little more irreparably with each word he said.
How could this have happened? How had her feelings wrapped around a guy so unlike everything she had always thought she wanted? Who knew now. The important thing was that they had. And he didn’t feel the same way. Had she scared him with her kiss? More than likely she’d scared him with her flaws. A former Olympian deserved better, any day.
“—never would have believed it!” Chelsea’s tirade hadn’t slowed down. “If I were you, I’d never talk to him again! Or—” she added after a moment’s thought—“I’d punish him a good while first.”
Fortunately, a customer came up just then, and Addisyn hurried past Chelsea with more urgency than was really required. “Yes sir, how may I help you today?” She beamed her biggest smile at the elderly man.
And tried to forget the image of Darius, dejected, leaving the coffee shop.
YES!ADRENALINE WASshooting through Brian’s veins. He couldn’t refrain from giving one small, celebratory fist pump as he strode purposefully from the terminal, dragging his luggage behind him.
He looked back with distaste into the bowl-shaped room, filled with so many people that just the noise of their movements made the place sound like a hive of bees. Was this the sixth or seventh terminal he’d visited on his quest for Addisyn? No matter. It was the last. He was sure of that. He had a strong supposition. He might even call it a hunch—something like those creepy sixth-sense feelings that Addisyn’s weird older sister often had.
Hunch, premonition, whatever—he knew he’d find Addisyn in Whistler. He remembered taking her there a couple of years earlier for training. Upon their arrival, she’d come out through these same glass doors, squealing like a sugar-fed toddler with excitement. Everything had been new and overwhelmingly exciting to her.
The last night of their stay, they’d been relaxing on the private balcony of their suite in the lodging for the athletes, enjoying Perrier and lime. She’d put her glass down and stared out over the mountains for a long moment. When she looked back at him, her eyes had that wide, soft look he found so enticing. “Oh, Brian,” she’d sighed, “I wish we could stay here forever, you and me.”
He’d leaned over to her, kissing her cheek. “One day,” he murmured soothingly, his mouth near her ear, “we will.” He had wrapped her in his arms. “After you go win all those gold medals.”
She’d laughed slightly and settled deeper into his embrace.
The memory reminded Brian exactly why he’d made this trip. Yes, he needed Addisyn for his career. Yes, he had to satisfy Ed’s overly curious mind. Yes, she could be just the star he was looking for.
But that by itself wouldn’t have sent him through the fifty states, and across international borders, to retrieve her. She had never been just a source of income to him.
She had been his girl. And everything in him craved her. Why couldn’t she see that she belonged with him? With her beauty and his charm, they made an ideal pair.
He’d never seen a prettier girl in his whole life. Features, voice, figure—everything about her was just what he wanted. Brian’s grip on his luggage tightened. Yeah, she was perfect, for sure. And she wouldn’t escape him. Not this time.