Patches of Ice

Here's your sequel to "The Ice in Russia." Hopefully it meets all your expectations!

I want to send out enormous thanks to PennLady for her advice and help, especially with the title. Many hugs and well wishes to you, friend!

As always, thank you for all the kind comments.

Happy Reading!

M ;)

***

The time that Lena spent with Anatoli after her return to Washington was not what she'd expected. She understood that he had to travel most of the year for games, so she wasn't expecting to see him as often as she did. She'd returned home from Moscow just before New Year's and already Anatoli had spent more time at her place than at his own. They'd been unable to spend the New Year together, but he'd made up for it in other ways; ways that made Lena feel weak in the knees just thinking about them.

"Don't you think you should get a full night's sleep in your own place?" Lena asked when Anatoli showed up at her front door after a home game a few nights after the New Year.

He shrugged off her question and walked inside, closing the door behind him. "What good is that? I'm going to be on the road for three days starting tomorrow and all I do in my spare time is sleep."

Lena grinned and shook her head. "Aren't your teammates worried about you spending so much time with a strange woman?"

He laughed and reached for her, pulling her into the circle of his strong arms. "They're just jealous that they don't have a woman like mine."

Lena lifted her eyebrows, leaning back in his arms to look up into his face. He was just as handsome to her as when they'd first met in the airport, barely more than a week ago, and his crystal blue eyes were glinting at her. "I'm your woman, am I?"

"Don't you want to be?"

Lena shrugged, lowering her lashes and biting her lip when she felt his grip around her waist tighten. Barely more than a week and she already knew she'd never be the same again.

"Lena," he murmured her name close to her ear, his breath tickling the fine hairs that trailed loose from her messy ponytail. "Don't you want to be my woman?"

She sighed as she reached up with her hands to close her fingers behind his head. "I don't know if you want to be my man," she replied, trying to sound casual.

She liked him more than he knew and she didn't want to rush into this without being smart. He had a very intense job and lived a fast life for nearly seven months of the year, longer when the team did well. Lena wanted badly to find a place in that life but she wasn't about to force herself on him. So she decided to leave that up to him.

"Lena," he growled her name and pulled her closer.

Their bodies came together hard and Lena gasped, lifting up to her toes as she met his dark gaze. He grinned at her and she felt her knees give way.

Oh, lord help me, she thought as he scooped her up into his arms.

Without another word, he carried her to her bedroom and shut the door. She had the brief thought that she was glad her roommate was away for the holidays. Then Anatoli kissed her and she didn't think about her roommate anymore.

For now, Lena let him make her his. She would deal with her overwhelming feelings another time.

***

On his first road trip after the brief winter break, Anatoli found himself, for the first time ever, not wanting to leave Washington D.C. He loved his host city and loved living with his brother, Vlad - most of the time - but he found every opportunity to travel on this continent refreshing. This time, he had Lena. Or rather, she had him. Wrapped around her delicate fingers and clinging desperately to her body.

With a sigh, Anatoli pushed himself out of his airport seat and followed his teammates towards the boarding gate. Someone gave him a quick pat on the shoulder before moving on. Everyone was quiet; it was early in the morning. They had their first game that evening in Atlanta and then they were off to Raleigh. It would be another four days before he'd have the chance to see Lena again and only if the coach went easy on them in practice following the trip.

The first game that night against the Thrashers was tough; not just because of the traveling but because his mind wasn't on the game. Afterward, the coach pulled him aside and asked if he was still upset about Natasha.

Anatoli laughed out loud, drawing a few amused glances from his teammates and a jovial thumbs up from Drew Stamenski, another player.

"Coach, I haven't thought about her for while now," Anatoli replied honestly. And he hadn't, not until the coach had brought her up.

"Then why the hell wasn't your head in this game tonight?" Coach asked, abandoning any semblance of sympathy.

Anatoli shrugged, blowing out a deep breath at the same time. "I'm sorry. I don't know what happened. I'll do better in Raleigh, I promise."

"You'd better," Coach grumbled before walking away.

Left alone with his teammates, Anatoli grinned sheepishly at Drew who punched him on the shoulder as he walked back over.

"Your new woman's got your head spinning pretty good, huh?" Drew asked with a grin.

"My head is fine," Anatoli replied.

A few of the other guys chuckled. He looked up and around at their curious faces, wondering if they saw something that he didn't.

"You weren't this distracted when you first met Natasha," Mark Gaines commented as he pulled a fresh shirt on over his head.

"Yeah and we all thought you were over her already," Drew added.

Anatoli scowled. No mention of his ex-girlfriend from any of the guys for weeks, and now everyone wanted to talk about her. "This has nothing to do with Natasha."

"What's her name then?" someone else piped up.

So far, Anatoli had remained fairly close-lipped about Lena. Mostly because it was so new to him and he didn't want to add any unnecessary pressure to this budding relationship, if that's what he'd even call it. He loved his teammates but sometimes, they could be a bit overbearing. He didn't want to bring Lena into this circle of friends; not yet, anyway.

She hadn't even known I played hockey when we met, he thought, unable to stop the smile from spreading across his face as he recalled their time in Moscow. She has no idea what these guys can be like.

"Holy crap," Mark barked out a laugh and pointed at Anatoli. "Has he got it bad, or what?"

The others laughed at Mark's comment and Anatoli threw his dirty towel at Mark before tightening the laces on his sneakers. Soon they were all piled onto the bus and headed to their hotel for the night. Anatoli picked up the phone as soon as he settled into his room, ignoring the knowing look he got from his roommate, Drew. He turned his back towards his companion who laughed and headed for the washroom.

"Hello?" Lena's tired voice came over the line and Anatoli felt his body react instantly.

"Hi," he replied, shifting and pulling the covers over himself to hide his erection. "Did I wake you up?"

"No," Lena told him and then yawned. "Well, sort of. I was trying to stay awake for your call."

"I'm sorry," Anatoli said and smiled as she yawned again.

"It's all right. I wanted to talk to you. That was a good game."

He laughed and shook his head. She was sweet for trying but it was blatantly obvious at times that she knew nothing about hockey. "You're nice, but it was terrible."

"No! I thought it was very exciting. You play so well."

"Thank you," he said and ridiculously pleased by her praise. "But we didn't win."

"Is it always all about winning?" Lena asked with a short laugh. "Oh, well, I guess when it's your job to win, it kind of does, doesn't it?"

Anatoli laughed. "Kind of."

"You know, maybe you should be getting to sleep instead of talking to some hockey dummy."

"Are you trying to get me to hang up the phone?"

"Not at all, but I don't want to get you in trouble if you lose again next time."

"We won't lose," Anatoli said, already determined to make a better showing in Raleigh.

"Such confidence," Lena scoffed and laughed to take the edge off her words. "I don't know how I ever let you talk me into sleeping with you."

Anatoli laughed and shook his head. He fell silent when he heard the bathroom door open. Drew poked his head around the corner.

"I'm going to head down to the bar for a drink," he told Anatoli with a grin. "Let you and your lady have some privacy." He coupled his words with a suggestive gesture and Anatoli flung a pillow at him along with some choice Russian expletives.

"What was that all about?" Lena asked after Drew disappeared.

"My roommate just left," Anatoli said, settling under the covers.

"Did you have to swear at him before he went?"

"How do you know I was swearing?"

"Anatoli, learning curse words is the easiest part of any language. I spent some time with Vlad before I came home, remember?"

Anatoli started to laugh but stopped when he thought of Lena alone with his brother, Vlad. He didn't think his brother would ever stoop so low as to make a move on a woman Anatoli was seeing, but he felt inexplicably jealous. He was glad Vlad was staying in Moscow until after the Orthodox Christmas celebrations.

"Are you too tired to talk?" Anatoli asked, pushing his jealous thoughts aside for the moment.

"No, I'm wide awake now."

"Are you? How awake?" Anatoli asked and shifted under the covers again as he heard Lena's soft laugh.

"Awake enough to wish you were in bed with me," she told him. "Especially since I'm naked and kind of cold."

"Lena, you are torturing me," he replied with a groan. She laughed at him again and he heard a rustling sound. He pictured her rolling over in bed. That thought had him sliding a hand beneath the bed covers to put pressure on his erection before he got too excited.

"I don't want to torture you. Maybe I should hang up."

"No!" he growled and clenched his fingers around the telephone. "I don't want you to hang up."

"Then what do you want me to do, Anatoli?" she asked, her voice husky.

Swallowing hard, Anatoli told her exactly what she should do and in great detail. She laughed and he heard the sound of more rustling bed covers.

"All right," she murmured. "I'm getting warmer."

"Why?" he asked, his voice hoarse. The hand under his bed covers was no longer pushing down on his erection. Instead he was cupping himself, aching to feel Lena beside him.

"I'm touching myself," she told him and then giggled, sending another jolt through Anatoli. "My fingers are cold."

"My hands are warm, Lena," he replied and pushed his hand beneath his boxers.

For a short time, neither of them said anything. Anatoli bit the inside of his cheek when he heard the soft catch in Lena's breathing, and asked her if she was all right.

"No," she replied. "I wish you were here. I wish I felt your hands between my legs instead of just my own."

"I wish that too," he said, wishing with all his heart for the next three days to pass quickly, so he could get back to Washington and back into her bed.

"What do you want to do to me when you see me again?" Lena asked him after another several seconds of heavy breathing.

"Oh, Lena," he said with a sharp exhalation. "What don't I want to do to you?"

She giggled again and he groaned, squeezing his fingers around his erection.

"Are you... are you hard, Anatoli?" Lena asked, her voice hesitant.

Smiling, Anatoli stroked himself from top to bottom. "What do you think?"

"I don't know what to think anymore, Anatoli. I feel like I'm inside-out right now."

"Is that because you're so wet for me?"

Lena gasped and he heard more rustling noises. "Yes," she breathed into the phone and Anatoli nearly came right then.

God, their first time together after he got back was going to be very fast, and very wild.

For now, her soft voice and rapid breathing was sending him rapidly to the edge. He spoke low words to her as he continued to touch himself and lost the phone under the covers in another few minutes.

"Lena?" he spoke into the phone when he found it. He was breathless and could feel the sweat on his brow.

"I'm still here," she whispered. "Barely," she added a moment later with a weak laugh.

"I can't wait to see you again."

"Me too."

They spoke quietly for another minute or two and then Anatoli knew he needed some sleep. So he said 'good-bye,' promising to call the next day. She agreed around another loud yawn and they hung up.

Anatoli dreamt of the ice that night and dreamt of showing Lena how good, a good game could be.

***

After speaking on the phone with Anatoli, Lena couldn't sleep. She was flushed and felt overheated.

And no wonder, she thought. She got up from her bed and wrapped a fluffy robe around herself. That man can make me crazy even at a distance.

The thought made her feel even hotter. She brushed a hand over her cheek and drew in a shaky breath as she walked out of her bedroom. Down the hall she saw a blue light in the front room and walked in to find her roommate, Hilary, watching television. Her roommate had arrived back home earlier in the day.

"Hey," Hilary said with a smile. "I didn't think you'd still be up."

"I was..." Lena started and then stopped herself. "I couldn't sleep," she finished lamely as she plopped down on the couch beside her friend.

Hilary laughed at her. "You're such a liar. I heard the phone ring half an hour ago. Was it that Russian guy you refuse to introduce me to? Or talk about?"

Lena shook her head mutely, blushing even more. Hilary, her dear, long-time friend and roommate, laughed at her and threw an arm around her shoulders.

"Now you have to tell me," Hilary told her.

After some more futile protesting, Lena relented and told her about meeting Anatoli in the airport and then spending time with his family in Moscow.

"It was so much fun," Lena gushed and smiled at her brief memories. She'd left Moscow earlier than she'd intended to, but in the end, it had been worth it. Before Anatoli had left on his road trip, they'd spent every spare moment together. Looking back, it felt like so much more than the few days it actually was. They'd talked, made love and just been quiet together sometimes.

"He's... great," she said and flushed crimson under her friend's wide-eyed gaze.

"Where is he now?" Hilary asked, smiling knowingly.

"In Atlanta. Then tomorrow he's in Raleigh," Lena said.

"Oh, he travels for work or something?" Hilary said and then blinked a few times. "Wait a second... what did you say his name was?"

"Anatoli."

"Not... Anatoli Oborotenski?"

"Yeah," Lena confirmed reluctantly. She hadn't wanted to tell anyone who exactly he was. She must be the only person in D.C. who hadn't recognized his name the first time she heard it.

"Are you telling me that you met and are now seeing Anatoli Oborotenski? The hockey player? The superstar of Washington hockey?"

Lena sighed and nodded.

"Oh. My. God." Hilary said, sitting back on the couch with a gobsmacked expression on her face. Then she broke into helpless giggles, falling against her roommate in her mirth.

"What's so funny?" Lena asked, grinning at her hysterical friend.

"You're dating Anatoli Oborotenski!"

"So?"

"It's just... he's a hockey player!"

"So?" Lena repeated, beginning to feel frustrated.

"Lena, you broke up with Eddy because he couldn't stop sleep - uh, seeing other women," Hilary explained, stumbling over her words for a moment. "And now you're seeing a hockey player?"

"What's the big deal?" Lena demanded. She hated being ignorant of this culture she'd stumbled into. It seemed like everyone but her knew something about Anatoli that she didn't and, even though she'd only known him for a couple weeks, she already felt that she knew who he was inside.

"I'm sorry, Lena. I shouldn't have said anything," Hilary said, looking away.

"Well, you can't just leave it like that, Hil. Tell me what you meant."

Hilary sighed and shook her head. Lena groaned and jerked the remote control out of her friend's hand, holding it out of her reach until she explained her words to Lena.

"Fine," Hilary snapped but she was smiling so Lena knew she wasn't upset. "He's a hockey player, Lena. They sort of have a reputation as... players. I mean, with women. They travel all over the country, and into Canada, for hockey games and there are women that just throw themselves at them."

Lena flushed. She'd never thought about Anatoli meeting women on his road trips. Even if she had, she'd never have suspected that he'd sleep with any of them. He didn't seem like the type. "He's not like that," she said quietly, after a few moments of silence.

Hilary just gave her a long look and took the remote control back. "Well, you'd know him better than me. I've never met him."

They sat quietly for a few seconds before Hilary glanced her way again. "I'm sorry if I upset you, Lena. If he's interested in you, he's already showing good judgment."

Lena smiled weakly at her friend but didn't say anything after that. She stared numbly at the television screen for a while before getting up and wandering down the hallway to the washroom. Inside with the door closed, she looked at herself in the mirror.

He's not like that, she told herself. He wouldn't sleep around on road trips. Anyway, we're not dating exclusively. We never decided anything before he left.

She blew out a noisy and frustrated breath as images of Anatoli chatting up other women bombarded her mind. Shaking her head, she turned on the taps and splashed cold water on her face.

It didn't help.

She went to bed that night thinking about Anatoli on the road and wondering if he had a woman in his bed by now.

***

Anatoli was nearly beside himself with excitement as the plane landed back in Washington. The coach had told everyone to go home for a good night's sleep and then come back to the arena for practice at ten the following morning. That gave Anatoli more time than he'd hoped for with Lena.

As soon as he was free of the plane and the team, he pulled his phone out and dialed Lena's number. It rang several times before the machine picked up. He listened to Lena's voice mixed with that of her roommate and smiled. Just the sound of her voice over the machine was enough for the moment. He listened for the few seconds as it played and then hung up the phone.

I'll call her when I get home, he thought as he hurried outside and jumped into a cab. See if she wants to come over.

Vlad still wasn't home for another week and he had the house to himself until then. He grinned to himself as the cab pulled away from the curb and thought about what he could put together in the time it would take Lena to come over.

Once inside his empty house, he called Lena and got the machine again. He frowned as he hung up, again not leaving a message. Then he shrugged it off and went to change his clothes. After another two attempts calling her, he decided to leave a message. Then he sat up on the couch and watched some late night television, waiting for her to call back. By two in the morning, he was getting worried.

"Where is she?" he wondered out loud and began to wander aimlessly through the house.

He had a sudden flashback to the later days of his relationship with Natasha. She'd stopped taking his calls almost altogether and it would be days in between their conversations. Shaking those thoughts free, he wandered up to his bedroom and told himself that Lena wasn't like that.

She's probably just out with friends, he thought and climbed into bed. I'll call her in the morning and see if she wants to do something tomorrow night.

With that, he tried to get some sleep.

***

"Lena, you can't call him back now," Hilary scolded her as they listened to the message on the machine again.