On his way to realizing his Olympic dream, Tom Alan Baranowski finds himself in the midst of a dilemma. His traditional Japanese coach is insisting upon an arranged marriage between his biological daughter Erika and adopted son Tom Alan, who are partners on the ice. Tom Alan loves Erika, and his coach literally saved his life, rescuing him from an abusive home. How can he say no?<br><br>Somewhat resigned to his “not so bad” fate, everything changes when Tom Alan meets British ice dancer Milo Fisher. The spark between them is almost hot enough to melt the ice beneath their blades, and the two fall into an affair.<br><br>What about Erika? What about loyalty? What about gold? For Tom Alan, the impossible throw quadruple jump is suddenly the least difficult thing in his life.

Quadruple Flip

Just behind the crash site, Irina Mischen shook her head. “Shake it off and regroup. Try again. Try again!” No rest for the weary, certainly not the Olympic-bound. “Now!”


The boys obeyed at once. No one but a coach got so much action out of so few syllables. This time Milo closed his eyes, cracking the right one ever so slightly as he stroked his way toward the center of the rink. As Tom Alan looped around to him from behind, he let the music guide him into an improvised Ina Bauer-like position—leaning back, skates parallel to one another, one on a forward edge, the other on the backward one, just before Tom Alan made contact.


“Oh my God! Beautiful!” Irina Mischen exclaimed. “Extraordinary!”


Milo’s left arm fluttered like the wing of the balletic swan as he straightened himself and spread his legs, preparing for Tom Alan’s large hand to grab the balled-up fist he rested on his pubic bone.


Chapter 10