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

Nobuo Tsuchino cringed. Tom Alan caught sight of it out of the corner of his eye as he picked himself up. He got right back into the routine, though, ignoring the wet spot he could feel against the skin on his right buttock, through his thin, clingy pants.


Their spins felt right on—artistic, good positions and stretch. At least he hadn’t forgotten everything he had learned with Mrs. Mischen. But their next set of jumps, a double axel, double toe combination, was weighing on Tom Alan’s mind as they flew through their circular footwork


The pair separated. They flourished. Dang, did they flourish! Mrs. Mischen would be proud as all get-out! They came close, stepped onto the forward edge, the trickiest edge to jump off of in skating, both went up, both came down.


Chapter 72