Whispers on the Ice by Elizabeth Moynihan Page B

possibly relinquish so much so soon to someone she barely knew. Despite her body’s sensual response to his own, she had to stop this head long rush into recklessness that threatened to pull her into its center that was the total, encompassing, pure heat of Aleksei. With a strength that surprised her, she managed to pull her mouth from Aleksei’s, whimpering at the loss of intimacy. Gulping in deep breaths of air, her breath caught again as Aleksei’s deeply voiced Russian words heated her ear, words she didn’t understand completely but were nevertheless crystal clear by their urgency and tone. Jordan’s legs threatened to fold beneath her slight weight as Aleksei continued his assault on her senses. His heated mouth, wickedly suggestive words and dark eyes overwhelmed her tenuous hold on the control she believed would save her.
    “Aleksei…” she gasped, her last thoughts of control drifting away like mist off a waterfall, her only worry touching that which Aleksei offered then teasingly held just beyond her reach. “Oh, God. Aleksei…” Lights shimmered around her, Aleksei’s hands grazing over her body, his touch sending jolts of electricity to her very core. Higher, she flew, her body weightless, her soul free, reaching for Aleksei…
    “Jordan? Jordan? Breath for me. Come on now, quit screwing around,” Whittaker’s voice reached her from what sounded like miles away.
    “Is she okay?” Why did Aleksei sound so far away, too? They’d been so close to reaching each other. Their souls had almost blended. What the hell was going on?
    “Dammm…” Jordan groaned softly, her chest rising as she took in a full breath of air, keeping her eyes closed as she focused on regaining her breath and trying to reach the shining star she’d been so close to touching. Consciously she knew she’d had the wind knocked out of her and the best thing she could do was relax and wait for her lungs to refill. However, her body still screamed for the impending physical release she’d been on the verge of experiencing and at the moment she’d have gladly given up breathing—hell living—to feel the shattering explosion of release that had been at her fingertips.
    “Jordan, do you hurt anywhere?” Whittaker asked, concern clear in his deep voice; the voice that pulled her back to earth and replaced the freedom she had felt as she flew toward the stars with Aleksei and exchanged it for lungs that burned for oxygen. Damn!
    “Should I?” she finally answered weakly, rolling to lay on her back, her knees pointing toward the ceiling as she covered her eyes with her arms. Relax, relax, relax she repeated to herself, feeling her lungs expand and contract with each slow breath.
    Whittaker’s voice held a smile. “Hopefully not, but considering you did your best to take off Aleksei’s shoulder I thought I should ask.”
    Jordan raised her arms enough to peek out from beneath them and watch as Whittaker carefully checked her ribs. “What are you talking about?”
    “My fucking leg didn’t hold!” Aleksei growled from across the room, where he scowled back and forth between Whittaker kneeling beside Jordan to Dee where she stood keeping him from her, frustration and anger coming through loud and clear.
    “It’s not the first time I’ve been dropped, I’m sure it won’t be the last,” Jordan stated matter-of-factly.
    “The hell it won’t!” Aleksei blasted back.
    Jordan allowed Whittaker to help her to a sitting position, breathing slow, deep breaths as her body got back into sync with itself. Allowing herself a slow perusal of Aleksei, she shook her head to clear the final remnants of her obvious hallucination. Aleksei continued to pace, his limp lessening as he moved restlessly. “Rocmanov, falling is part of skating. I would have thought you understood that. It’s not as if you haven’t taken a spill yourself,” Jordan suggested, rising slowly to her knees and finally to her feet, foregoing Whittaker’s