The Job Offer - By Eleanor Webb Page 0,82

stopping when he stood right in front of her. Mere inches separated them and she had to crane her neck up to look him in the eye. She could feel the heat from his body reach her and could smell his spicy cologne. Her heart began to beat wildly in nervousness and she wanted to flee. But she did not move and held his gaze unflinchingly. She tried hard not to reveal just what he was doing to her by standing so close. She could see why he had become so successful both in and outside of the sport. Jake did not say anything as he watched her, but she could feel the power and charisma oozing from him.

"I told you to stay away from him." He finally said again.

He spoke English with very little of a Japanese accent, but the little that was there gave his voice a quality that made the hairs on her arms stand up. His voice was like smooth dark velvet.

"I don't think what I do is any of your business." Her voice came out strong. She grew up with four brothers and knew how to hold her own.

"Maybe not, but Rathbourne is only interested in one thing from you, Shoujo."

"What does that mean?"

"Shoujo?"

"Yes."

"It means 'little girl' or 'virgin', both of which describe you. You are Kerri Sullivan, correct?"

His explanation of what he called her caused Kerri to blush angrily. This man was as arrogant as he was handsome. She ignored his question about who she was.

"You can't be serious? David is seeing Shannon Ellison."

"That hasn't stopped him, yet. Stay away from him, Kerri. You'll only get hurt." He looked deeply into her eyes for a moment as if he was looking into her very soul, but she would not look away. Her body became warm, and her nerve endings prickled. His nostrils flared with each of his deep breaths, and she saw his pupils dilate. The spell he cast her in was broken when Kerri heard a woman speaking Japanese softly and Jake answer with a quick reply that sounded almost like a bark. He did not look away from Kerri, though, when he spoke. After giving Kerri one last look where he raised his eyebrow in a sort of command, he turned to walk up the corridor with his female teammate, Izumi Sasaki, who stood by watching them closely.

Kerri shivered but did not stay to watch him leave even though she wanted to do so. Coach Baranski would be waiting for her, and she did not like to be kept waiting. Hurrying into the ladies' locker room, Kerri quickly removed her skates and stuffed them into her duffle bag. She would not have time for a shower now, so she just put her team sweats on over her practice clothing and slipped on a pair of athletic shoes. Then she hurried up to the main entrance just as Coach Baranski walked out the door.

Kerri climbed onto the team bus and made her way to the back row dropping her duffle bag on the seat next to her. Coach Taylor stood at the front of the bus, said something about the ice dancing teams needing to be ready and back at the bus at noon, so they needed to eat as soon as they arrived back at the dorms and everyone else could wait until they had gone through the line. As they rode away on the team bus, Kerri did not look over at David sitting a few rows up from her talking to another teammate. Instead she sat in silence looking out the window, still seeing the intense look from Jake Takeda, and tried to shake off the feeling of being burned.

Chapter 1

Kerri gritted her teeth and concentrated on bending her right knee and climbing the stair step. The pain was intense but not as bad as it was three months before when she felt her ACL tear loose in her knee after trying to land a jump at the Skate America competition. Eight weeks ago she had a full ACL reconstruction and was now starting her third week of more intense physical therapy that included climbing steps and lifting her leg with small ankle weights. Soon she would be working in the swimming pool. Her recovery was not going fast enough for Kerri's taste. She was tired of doing nothing but keeping her leg elevated for months on end interspersed with the few stretching exercises so that her knee joint did