Whispers on the Ice by Elizabeth Moynihan Page A

wrists and suddenly she was airborne, water pouring from her sleek body. She tottered back and forth, certain she was going back into the water over his shoulders but he held her firm, adjusting her weight and balance and holding her steady.
    “Well?” Aleksei inquired loudly, shaking water from his face where it dripped from Jordan.
    Whittaker looked from the pair to Dee and back again.
    “Jordan, let go of his wrists,” Dee stated, content with the position her arms took and the steadiness of their lift. “That’s it,” Dee approved, then suggested, “Jordan, try a lay-back.”
    “A what?” Aleksei asked, adjusting Jordan’s weight forward as she straightened her legs forward and lay back as if on a bed.
    “A lay-back,” Jordan stated, groaning when her weight shifted farther back and Aleksei staggered a step backwards.
    “Sorry,” Aleksei mumbled, regaining control of her weight and holding the position.“We’re going to do this on the ice?”he asked in disbelief.
    “Hard to believe isn’t it?” Jordan answered, returning to a sitting position and looking toward their coaches. “Well, what dismount are you looking for?”
    “I know I’m not going to like the one he chooses,” Aleksei mumbled to no one in particular.
    “Aleksei, a little pop up, half twist and catch her against your chest, but not too soon or you’re going to have her knees in your chest.”
    Aleksei groaned, remembering the position Gordeeva and Grinkov had used and grimacing as he thought about her warm, silken skin sliding against his own, mere scraps of material separating their bodies from one another, their own will power barely keeping the firestorm that threatened to overthrow them at bay. Aleksei did as instructed, tossing her easily another foot into the air. Jordan lifted her arms, aiding his powerful lift and twisted, sliding down the front of his muscled torso before his arms came around her waist to catch her and hold her tightly against him, her feet a foot off the floor of the pool. Both their breaths caught, whether from the abrupt stop or the sudden flaming of passions as their near-naked bodies met. Their eyes locked; ebony and forest green, searching, questioning, wanting, retreating.
    Aleksei relaxed his hold and Jordan slid the remaining inches to the pool’s floor, her breath held as she nervously nibbled her lower lip with straight, white teeth. Slowly Aleksei’s arms released her waist and she stepped back, running her hands down her slim thighs and finally breaking the trance of Aleksei’s gaze.
    Tentatively she looked at Whittaker who looked from Jordan to Aleksei and back again.
    “It needs work. Again,” He boomed, turning to walk toward Dee, ignoring the groans of discontent drifting over the gently lapping water.
    “You’re wicked!” Dee stated, attempting to keep the smile at bay.
    “Yeah, well ain’t it a bitch?” Whittaker answered, a wicked smile lighting his eyes.
    “How long do you intend to torment them?”
    “As long as it takes.”
    Dee cast a glance at the pair in the pool; the intense vibrations of their ever-changing emotions toward one another filled the air with palpable electricity. “Shouldn’t be too much longer,” She decided.
    Whittaker snorted in amusement. “Not long at all,” he agreed. Casting his attention toward the athletes, his loud demand echoed off the high ceiling. “All right, children. Show me something beautiful!”
    Aleksei resumed his position beside Jordan, sliding silently into the water and placing his hands as platonically as he could manage on her shapely rear-end, a hiss escaping his lips as his palms made contact with her silken, wet skin. With an easy lift, she was up and over his head, finding her balance quickly as she followed Whittaker’s loudly bellowed instructions and slipped into the requested lay-back position. Aleksei cast a quick look upward, ignoring the drops of water that slipped from her shiny black swim suit on to his face