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

Before Bobby can refuse, Dante ducks through the doorway behind the counter into the back—a narrow storage room, lined with metal shelves of overstock. There’s a desk by the back door where Bobby sits to pay the bills and watch Dante at the register. Dante wonders if he thinks he’s being slick when he does that, leaning back in his chair, watching, probably touching himself, thinking thoughts Dante would rather not know about. He hears the creak of the chair when Bobby’s back there, a slight, steady sound that tells him more than he needs to know.


He heads for that desk now, pulls the chair out and winces as it creaks beneath his weight. But there’s a phone on the desk, and despite the open doorway, the storage room is a little more private than the front counter. He dials Ryan’s number from memory. Somewhere across town, a phone rings in his ear.


One ring, two—“Hello?” It’s Ryan’s voice, expectant and a little loud.


Chapter 25