Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 113072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Epilogue
One Year Later
Other way!” I yell toward Chase as he goofs up a turn. Again.
“Well, shit! Every time!”
I laugh as I hit the next three-turn combination. “Just keep going!”
But Chase stops, skating over to the wall and resetting the music. “Nope. I’m going to do it right this time.”
It’s weird that he’s screwing up so much in practice today. Choreographing our second annual jamboree number has been mostly easy this year. Chase suggested “Style” by Taylor Swift, and I agreed immediately. It’s a fun song with a great beat, and the fans will eat it up.
Then I asked Martina for some thoughts about the choreography, and she sent me a video of her skating to the song, which gave me tons of ideas. The whole thing has come together almost effortlessly.
Until this morning, that is, when Chase keeps forgetting the program. “Maybe this just isn’t your day,” I offer. “We could stop already. Tremaine is here early for his session with me.”
Chase shakes his head. “I’m making it all the way through this rehearsal. E-train can wait a minute. He doesn’t even have his skates on.”
“Let’s see this routine!” Tremaine calls from the bench. “I want a preview. Although I’m a little disappointed that Chase isn’t wearing sparkles.”
Chase shakes his head as he skates back to me at center ice. “You can’t please some people.” He takes my hand. “You’re gonna make me sparkle for the performance, right? I don’t want to disappoint my fan base.”
“You’re going to sparkle so brightly I’m wearing sunglasses during the performance.”
He gives me a big, sexy smile as the music starts.
This year’s program features a lot of ice dancing, with the two of us in various face-to-face holds. It’s unabashedly sexy.
A year ago, when I signed my full-time contract, I barged into Sharp’s office with a full head of steam. I slapped the contract onto his desk and also let him know that I was officially dating his star forward but that his own employee handbook did not forbid it, and we knew exactly how to be professional at work.
He looked up at me with a sour expression. “The whole internet knows you’re a couple, Zoe. And nobody in this building thinks you took this job to shop for a boyfriend. Buncha knuckleheads work here anyway. Now get out of my office and earn your pay. This conversation is a waste of time so long as Moreau still skates like a dump truck in first gear.”
From that moment on, Chase and I never bothered to hide our relationship. And when the jamboree came around again, Steve Sailor barely even pretended to consult us before putting us on the program. “Do it for the children,” he said, batting his eyes at us during a buffet lunch on a road trip to Buffalo. “And make it hot, ’cause I need the social media views.”
So here we are, flying around the rink in a tango hold while Taylor Swift sings her heart out. Tremaine is pointing his phone at us, taking pictures and singing along.
“Here we go!” I coach as the tricky turns begin. “Left side first.”
This time, he finally gets it right. “Yeah, baby!” he crows as we meet again in a tight hold. “Who’s the best skating partner you ever had?”
“You are, Hockey. You’re also the only skating partner I ever had.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll show you how much I appreciate that later.”
There’s no time for me to respond, because we break apart to spin on opposite sides of the blue line. And the rest of the piece goes pretty well, although I’m out of breath by the final bit, when Chase is supposed to glide toward me in a lunge and then dip me.
He doesn’t do it, though. Instead, he finishes with a knee slide, arriving at my feet.
“Chase!” I argue, glancing down at his smug smile. “Knee slides are trendy, sure, but I don’t know about finishing like this. You’ll leave me standing here like a doofus.”
“You’ve never been a doofus, Zoe. Not a single day in your life.”
“Liar.”
He takes one of my hands. “Do you know how much I love you?”
“I have some idea,” I say with a laugh. “But maybe we should get into that later?” My gaze flicks toward Tremaine, who’s still pointing his phone at us for some reason.
“Now is a perfect time.” Suddenly his expression is dead serious. “This past year has been the best of my life. Every day when I wake up, the first thing I want to do is talk to you, or skate with you, or even…” The corners of his mouth quirk up. “You get the idea. You’re my whole world. So will you make me the happiest man in hockey and wear this?” He pulls a little velvet box out of the pocket of his sweatpants.