Ryan Talonovich is the star of his college hockey team, until an accident during practice leaves him confined to a wheelchair. The doctors say he'll walk again but a new season is already underway and he's been replaced on the team, which leaves him feeling alone and betrayed. What's the use of fighting to get back on the ice now?<br><br>Then he meets Dante Espinosa, a short track skater on the city's speed skating club. Though he has to work overtime to afford his sport, Dante is hell on ice, and dreams of making the cut on the U.S. Olympic Speedskating Team.<br><br>Their love of the ice brings them together, but too many obstacles stand in their way: Ryan's struggle with therapy. The memory of Dante's first boyfriend. Lack of funding to the event, Dante's harassing boss, a skating friend in love with him, and Wil Dietrich, who will do anything to win.

Power Play

That touched a nerve. Dante senses Ryan’s sullen anger and tries to think of some way to take it back, start all over again. I don’t know why I like you,he thinks, studying Ryan’s bunched jaw, but I do. This close, his skin still looks flawless, and Dante fancies he can see faint blue lines just below the surface. He thinks maybe Ryan needs to get out more—he’s in a wheelchair, true, but he’s not dead.Looking over Ryan’s shoulder as if he’s interested in the notebook in his lap, Dante lowers his voice and whispers, “Can you still get it up?”


Ryan’s eyes go wide and then he starts to laugh, breathy giggles that make Dante grin. “No one’s asked me that yet,” Ryan admits. Now he’s looking at Dante, finally, really seeing him for the first time, and the ice, the skaters, the crowd, even the race below all dissolve in the boys’ breathless laughter.


Chapter 12