A few hours later, both sated and exhausted, Harmony rose up on her elbow to peer down into Peter's angelic face. Despite the dark circles he carried under his eyes to match her own, he was still the most beautiful man she had ever seen. With his unruly blonde hair, curling against his forehead, and his piercingly blue eyes, those full lips half parted as he watched her through his impossibly dark lashes, and that subtle bit of scruff on his chin, surely she had died and gone to heaven.
“What is it Harmony?” Peter asked, made nervous by her intense examination of his face.
She shook her head. She wanted to stay this way forever. Forget about all the crazy thoughts in her head, forget about the problems they had faced in the past. Just lying there next to him, the heat of his naked body against hers, was enough happiness to last a lifetime.
But she knew that was the coward’s way out. Worrying her lip now, she turned away from him, not sure how to say what she had come to tell him. She just knew it needed to be said. Especially now when they were so close to really having a life together.
“I never read the results Peter.” she admitted, turning her face into his chest as he rolled towards her.
“I am sorry?”
“The paper I gave you earlier, the one Andre gave me, I never looked at it.”
“And yet you did still believe me?”
“Yes.”
He sighed, “then I am very sorry for how I have acted.” Peter sat up, pulling Harmony up against him and stroking her smooth silky locks. “You must say that you forgive me Harmony.”
“Of course. If you can forgive me.”
“For what?”
“For not telling you sooner how I felt. For not supporting you when you needed me most. And for staying away from you for so long.” Snuggling closer, Harmony could hear the strong beat of his heart against her ears, a heart that beat for her, and she smiled, knowing she hadn't missed her chance after all. “I'm so sorry Peter. So sorry.”
With his arms wrapped around her, Peter hugged her close, inhaled the scent of her, and sighed in such absolute contentment. One that did not last as he thought of his newest predicament. If he did not want to lose Harmony again, he'd have to tell her.
“There is something else.” he said quietly.
She pulled away, not far enough to break contact, but enough so that she could see his face, and the pain that crept into his forlorn expression. “What? What is it? You can tell me.”
With a last sigh of resignation, Peter told her about his conversation with Donovan just hours ago. He told her about the story that girl was going to write, and the emails he had already sent off to Jean and his lawyer when she had first come into his room. He didn't want to burden Harmony with these things, and he could only imagine what this article would do to him, and their new found relationship, but she deserved to know what she was getting into.
Perhaps if he had been honest in the first place they wouldn't have had to spend the last month without each other. But even though he loved her, he wondered if she would stand by him this time, or if he was destined to lose her forever.
“Oh Peter.” she had said when he finished.
“Will you leave me now?” he dared to ask, afraid of what the answer might be.
Harmony cocked her head to one side, studying him as he threw his legs over the side of the bed and reached for his discarded clothes. “Why would you think that?” she asked, pulling the sheet closer to her chest as he turned to look at her, her cheeks flushing with color when he noticed her misplaced modesty.
“Was not my problem the reason we have not talked? Would not this make it harder for you? For us?”
“Oh Peter.”
He flinched slightly as she reached out for him, running a hand down his backside, his skin smooth beneath her fingers, desire beginning to build within each of them.
“Peter,” she said again, her voice husky, yet dripping with confusion and concern as he looked at her over his shoulder. “I have some issues of my own, this wasn't all your fault, and I won't have you thinking that it was.”
“I am afraid I do not understand.”
“I have trust issues Peter,” she explained with a sigh, “I probably wouldn't have believed you at first even if you had come clean, and I'm sorry for that, I'm ashamed of myself for that. But it didn't help any that you couldn't trust me with your problems. I love you Peter, and I want to help you when you need it, you don't have to go through these things on your own.”
“You love me?” Peter asked tentatively, bypassing nearly everything else she had said and latching onto that one simple admission. Though there was surely nothing simple about it, and Peter knew he felt the same way, but to hear her say it!
Smiling now, she nodded, “of course, I think I have from the moment I met you.” Looking down, she continued. “I wasn't sure I believed in such things, love at first sight is for fairy tales you know. But then someone told me about their own forbidden love, and I knew that's what I felt for you.”
“My Harmony.” he gasped, pulling her against him and smothering her in a kiss like none before. “I have waited for an eternity to hear you say those words.” Peter groaned between kisses, “I have such love for you, it hurts. I was so scared you did not love me too.” His lips pressed gently to virtually every part of her face before he finally finished and let her go, looking down into those deep blue eyes, his smile so sincere.
“About that story.” Harmony managed, lying in his lap, feeling the hardness of his growing desire beneath her, and knowing if they didn't talk about this now, they probably never would. “I think I can help.”
“And how is this?”
“Well, with freedom of the press what it is, there's not much we can do legally, but perhaps that friend of Donovan's would be interested in a story of her own.”
The Cheshire cat like grin that spread the width of her face, both stunned and amused him, and brushing the hair away that had fallen in her face, Peter's love and blossoming desire for this woman continued to grow as he listened carefully to her plan. His Harmony was truly a remarkable woman, and when she was finished talking, which really could be several hours yet, he was going to show her how much he thoroughly appreciated her.
Amanda couldn't believe it! Sitting on her crappy couch, in her shitty little apartment as Cassie flipped through channels next to her, she fumed. Slamming her cell phone on the floor and watching in disgust as the battery popped out of it.
Everything had gone to hell! Not only had she gotten fired from work once her boss, who happened to be a man had heard the rumors, but now the reporter she had been working with had called to tell her the deal was off! What else could possibly go wrong?
At this rate, she'd probably end up flipping burgers at a fast food joint! Which was probably no less than she deserved at this point. She should have listened to Cassie. Of course, she'd never admit that now. For Cassie, who still had a job, and a sterling reputation, not that any hot guy would think of sleeping with her lard ass anyways, sat smugly on the couch next to her, having overheard the conversation she'd just had with the slimeball reporter.
At least she still had her looks! Not that it mattered now, she snorted to herself. She'd have to consider moving away from Savannah if she ever wanted another guy to look at her without seeing a money grubbing whore! Damn it! She was smarter than this, how had she let this happen? Why hadn't she thought this through a little better before putting the plan into action? Because you saw an opportunity and you took it dumb ass! She scolded herself. Well, she'd be smarter next time.
Right, like there would be a next time. She'd just stick to seducing men for fun. Get a new job, maybe move back to Atlanta with her folks and get as far away from all the no good son of a bitch hockey players as she could! It just wasn't worth it. Her job, her friends, her reputation, and all for what? She wasn't getting anything out of it! Peter had won. Somehow he'd been smarter than her!
And now she had nothing. Peter wasn't going to pay her, the magazine wasn't going to pay her, and Peter's bitch of a lawyer had threatened her with a harassment suit if she ever dared contact Peter or her office again. Great.
Well, she thought to herself again, at least I still have my looks.
In the week that followed the Chatham County DA announced that the claim against Mr. Petrovsky Petrovic, one that was rife with reasonable doubt, would be dismissed, and the case closed.
Reporters stopped hounding Peter, staking the outside of his home, and publishing unwanted articles about him once the statement was made, and the NHL concluded their own investigation, one in which they declared that Peter had done nothing wrong.
The magazine article Donovan had warned him about was never published. Nor was the one that Harmony had so brilliantly suggested. Star magazine chomped at the bit to publish one or both of them. But when Donovan's reporter friend threatened to discredit the other reporter's article with one of her own, one that would garner far more attention for that matter, the cowardly reporter had backed down immediately, and that was the end of that.
Peter allowed for a brief interview the day before the opening game, in which he made no comments about the girl or her accusations, saying he only wanted to move forward with his life, and refusing to answer any more questions unless they directly related to the Slashers upcoming season.
The preseason had ended with no drastic roster changes, but left the Slashers in a prime position to repeat for the Stanley Cup. Unless of course the Chicago Blackhawks, who were looking for their fifth cup in nine seasons, had anything to say about that.
Which they did.
Both teams were eager for the season to get underway, especially since the Slashers would open their cup defending season against the Blackhawks, who were more than willing to put a damper on their banner raising ceremony and celebration.
Harmony and Peter had spent every night of the last week together. Either at her place or his, it didn't seem to matter, though they did rotate to appease their dogs, as long as they were together they were content no matter the location. Of course, they were already looking at a place of their own, and Harmony's father, along with his new live-in girlfriend, Chelsea, had agreed to watch the dogs whenever she went out of town for games with Peter.
And of course, with Harmony's job being as flexible as it was, she had figured she'd be able to make it work around Peter's, joining Abby as often as she could in the family club section at the games. Abby, who sported the smallest of baby bumps and had, at sixteen weeks found out they were having a little boy.
As for Lacy, she took to her new job as part of the Slashers medical team, and was going to relish the time she spent both home and away with Donovan, even if they did fight like cats and dogs! The preseason had already prepared her for what life with the Slashers organization was going to be like, and with Donovan to keep her on her toes, she was looking forward to the season ahead!
After a quick prayer, in which they asked God to give them the ability to kick the ever loving crap out of the Blackhawks, without getting injured in the process of course, the players went about their pre-game routines.
Some of the guys played soccer out in the hall, others stretched and taped up their sticks, and still more of them did various cardio and other exercises. Wives wished their men well, as if they were truly going out to the battlefields, and the coaches went over plays and rotations with each other.
All of it, the players, the atmosphere, it simply fascinated Harmony, who sat on a bench in the middle of the locker room across from Peter in his stall, where he wolfed down a power bar and set to taping up a couple of sticks in the event that one broke.
He looked stunning in his uniform, his hair mussed and already damp from his warm up earlier. His eyes peered up at her through his long lashes several times as he split his attention between her and the task at hand. She was so lucky to have such a man. A handsome man like Peter. A man that loved her the way he did.
Someone dressed in formal wear came into the room then, a hushed silence falling throughout the room. “Alright guys, it's time.” The big man said with a nod and a smile.
Then one by one, the coaches, the staff and the players began to line up, ready to take the ice for the raising of the banner and the final presentation of the Stanley Cup before it went to where ever it was kept during the season.
Harmony watched as Abby gave Dean a loud smacking kiss and a tap on the butt before sending him out of the locker room, then she turned to Harmony and Peter, and with a wink, strode out to the area outside the ice, a special section that had been set up for family and friends to watch the ceremony.
Smiling as they faced each other, Peter towering over her as he looked into her violet-tinged eyes, Harmony reached up and stroked a finger down the side of his cheek. “I love you,” she said.
Then Peter kissed her, hard. His lips smothering hers, his tongue taking control of her mouth with a sinful pleasure, one they would never take for granted again. “Ja tebja ljublju!” he whispered in Russian, and then again in English as he nipped at her earlobe. “I love you too.”
Harmony laughed, watching afterward as Peter re-adjusted the pads around his groin. Someone just outside the locker room said his name then, catching their attention. They could hear the announcers just outside the hall, one by one the Slashers team members of this year’s roster were announced, and Peter needed to get out on the ice.
“Peter you're up.” Someone in the distance said again.
“Da, yeah. I am coming.” He shouted back over his shoulder.
His eyes met hers, the coldness of his gaze replaced with a warmth that Harmony could feel clear to her toes. She smiled, flicked her finger down his nose.
“Go get 'em tiger.” she said.
Peter grabbed her, and squeezing her as though he never meant to let her go again, he gave her one more smacking kiss, and made haste for the door.
Harmony went to the edge of the hall, family and friends were gathered just outside the glass, watching excitedly as this year’s roster proudly skated around the rink.
Peter slid out onto the ice, throngs of adoring fans cheering as his name was called over the sound system.
Gliding around the rink in circles, he waved to them, his homecoming more than welcoming, as if the events of the summer had never come to pass. Then catching Harmony's smiling face as he passed by where she stood off to the side, he winked at her.
Harmony's heart squeezed at the sight of him, there was such happiness on his face. This beautiful Russian Adonis of hers. Together they had faced down the unimaginable, and together they would face the rest.
A new season.
A new start.
A new life....together.
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