Anna’s eyes widened. “As if we’d miss your first Games!”
“You did brilliantly,” Robert enthused. “That’s your final race for the day, isn’t it?”
“Until tomorrow,” I answered.
“Time for dinner with the family?” Anna chivvied, making me smile again, even as she reached out and lifted the gold medal I was wearing and eyed it like she was estimating a price.
Of course, if she wanted, she could buy any of these made from solid platinum, but the family around me appreciated hard work. There was no denying that.
“I’d love to. I’m starving.” I wrinkled my nose. “Just don’t tell Coach what I eat.”
“What happens at the restaurant, stays at the restaurant,” Robert stated solemnly as he hooked an arm over his wife’s shoulders and pushed her along toward the atrium, leaving Adam and me alone together for a handful of seconds.
“Hey,” he said gruffly, like he hadn’t greeted me just a few moments earlier.
I was surprised by the lack of shyness on my part as I repeated, “Hey.” I lifted my chin. “You going to say ‘hello’ properly?”
He sighed, which I took as a rejection, then he muttered, “Probably not.”
My mouth tightened, even as I dipped my chin in understanding, but we stood there. Staring at one another. Unbeknownst to us, a crowd gathered around us, a few pictures were taken, but neither of us saw. How could we?
The only thing we noticed was each other. That was all we ever noticed when we were together.
He broke the moment, that fiery link that bridged us together, and reached forward to take my bag, hauling it onto his shoulder as he grabbed my elbow and started to walk me in the same direction as his parents were heading. I resented my jacket for acting as a buffer to his touch, even as I was grateful for it. Skin to skin contact would feel like a brand, and he’d already branded me one too many times since we’d known each other.
The place was manic. In the background, there was the noise from the aquatic complex, and the cheers and hollers fired my blood up as much as they would if I was about to dive into the pool myself.
Only as he led me into the crowd did my heart stop racing as the thrill of being here, with this man, overtook any adrenaline that I might have felt in the water.
The gold medal around my neck was something to be proud of, my name going in the record books was something I’d hold dear, but what surpassed it? The feeling that I was finally good enough to walk at this man’s side.
God, that felt like a dream.
I’d been the charity case for so damn long. The kid who’d been selected as pretty much the poster brat for a PR drive in the run-up to Anna Ramsden’s reelection campaign, but I was standing here as a Champion.
Capital C required.
It made me feel shaky and big-headed all at the same time, but then I felt like a pretentious fool, because whatever I was, I couldn’t forget my roots.
Couldn’t forget what had brought me here.
To this moment.
Not Anna and Robert Ramsden, but Adam.
And death.
Couldn’t forget that.
“How’s the jet lag?” I inquired softly, peering at him as we maneuvered through the crowd.
I wasn’t sure how he did it, but the sea of people seemed to part for him like he was King Cnut. I almost wanted to hate him for that ability, when most of the time I was swallowed up in the ocean of humanity, but damn, what could I say? If I saw him coming toward me, I’d move out of his way too.
Not because he was an asshole, although he could definitely be that, but because he just looked like he wasn’t someone to mess with.
He wasn’t a bruiser, but on his face? There was impatience and dislike and just...well, fine, he looked like an asshole. A cute one.
“It’s okay. I’m getting used to it.”
“I suppose that makes sense with how much time you’re spending in London at the moment.”
His lips curved as he shot me a look. “You’ve been talking to Dad.”
“Sometimes.” I shrugged. “He checks in with me.”
“Of course. He’s proud of you too.” Another smile, but this time it was fainter. “Funny how things work out.”
“Funny? For me, it’s nice,” I retorted, a little hurt by that comment. Robert was the only parental influence I’d had since I was a young girl, and his interest in me was