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parking lot of the coffee shop. It was around three in the af-
ternoon on a Saturday, and plenty of people were there, but
they were mostly take-out customers, which meant a number
of empty seats were left to choose from.
Breaking the uncomfortable silence to ask Christy what
she wanted, Jason said he d get it, suggesting she grab a seat
for them by the windows.
After placing her decaf tea on the table in front of her, he
sat down across from her with his coffee and took a deep breath.
Christy nervously waited for him to open the conversa-
tion, but it seemed to require a great deal of effort on his part.
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Heart of a Champion
Several deep breaths later, he still hadn t spoken, so she took
the bull by the horns and said,  I m sorry I was careless and
left the curtain open at the store. I know you saw me naked,
and I hope you re not too embarrassed.
Clearing his throat, Jason continued looking out the win-
dow.  I wouldn t say embarrassed is the right word for how I
felt. Something along the lines of shocked might describe it
better.
Feeling a bit impatient with him, she answered this with
some attitude in her voice.  Well then, I m sorry you were
shocked! My God, I m sure I m not the first naked woman
you ve ever seen, so why does this have be such a big deal?
Looking in her eyes for the first time in over an hour, he
stated,  You re absolutely right. I ve seen plenty of naked
women. I ve even slept with some of them. But I didn t coach
any of them. Christy, I think you re beautiful, and I m sure
you can tell I m attracted to you, even though nothing could
ever come of it.
 Well, I guess I should thank you for the compliment, if
that s what it was. It s nice to know you think I m beautiful at
least. And just for the record, I m attracted to you too. I
know that doesn t make any difference to you, but I thought
I d put it out there, seeing as we re being so honest.
 Let me ask you a question. Have you changed your mind
about wanting to achieve your goals?
 What a ridiculous question. Of course I haven t. I
wouldn t be killing myself training everyday if I had.
 Then work with me here. I saw you naked and it turned
me on when it shouldn t have, and I need to move on from
this. I m sorry I couldn t hide my reaction, but what s done is
done. You ve got nothing to worry about. It s not like I ll
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Heart of a Champion
start ravishing you during our practices.
 Jason, you are so old fashioned. Ravish me? The last time
I heard that expression was from my grandmother! she said
with an exasperated smile.
 Well, I may be old-fashioned, but at least I care about
you. I care about you enough that I refuse to compromise on
this issue. His tone told her clearly he would brook no argu-
ment on the subject.
 Now I think we need to come up with some new ground
rules between us. I was hoping maybe we could work on be-
coming friends outside of skating. I think it would really help
us to establish open communication between us. Maybe if we
could spend some time together getting to know each other
outside of the rink, you know, just hanging out, this whole at-
traction thing would just fade away on its own. How does that
sound to you?
 It sounds just fine. I ll even promise not to dance naked
in front of you, she said with a cheeky grin.
 That s a relief. I don t think I d be able to resist a second
time. When I saw you standing there today, it took everything
in me not to push my way into that room with you, whether
poor Mrs. Lumsden was there or not. It would be dangerous
for me to tempt fate.
 When you said we should become friends, did you mean
you want us to be honest with each other about how we re
feeling? she asked.
 Absolutely. I want you to be able to talk to me about an-
ything.
She just couldn t resist pulling his chain. He looked so se-
rious, and she wanted to lighten up the situation. With an im-
pish grin, she said,  Well then, the first thing I want to tell
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Heart of a Champion
you is that I think you have the sexiest head of hair I ve ever
seen. I ve even dreamt about running my fingers through it.
The second thing you should know is that I think you have the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]