Mahiro became a professional figure skater for one reason -- the object of his lust from the time he was a teenager, Alex Breschi. But he never advanced far enough for Alex to notice him. Now Alex is retired from skating and working as a thriller author, while Mahiro gracefully bowed out of competition to become a successful app developer and professional Dom in New York City.<br><br>Reality and fantasy collide at a penthouse play party when Mahiro meets his idol. Alex is researching a book, and he wants to learn more about the lifestyle. In fact, he wants to be trained as a submissive. By Mahiro.<br><br>Mahiro knows it's a terrible idea. He's hardly objective, and Alex is a novice. Still, all those years of longing shatter his reserve, and he cannot refuse to have the man of his dreams in his hands.  He's going to make sure Alex notices him now. It's only a business arrangement, and since Alex is returning to Russia in a few months, Mahiro can have some fun without divulging his past ... or his obsession. What does he have to lose?

Florentine

He knows Alex wanted it as much as he did. He knows that whatever else passed between them, that whatever else Mahiro did or didn’t say, Alex’s body never lied, and that body wanted him.


Even from across the empty ice, practically abandoned in the summer, he can hear the quiet click of a skate meeting surface, and when he looks up to see what other poor soul had to spend their Friday night alone skating, he almost trips on his toe pick.


Mahiro stops dead on the far side of the rink. He can’t move, can’t breathe. It’s Alex, and he pushes off to glide along the edge, toward Mahiro. But he doesn’t call out. Doesn’t greet him. Only stares, intent, as Mahiro pushes off as well, keeping a rink’s worth of distance between them as they circle. Mahiro isn’t sure of his reasons for being here, but given the utter silence on the phone this week, it might be best to let him come to Mahiro in his own time.


Chapter 68