Going for Gold (An Olympic Medal Romance Book 1) (2 page)

Air filled his lungs as he took deep breaths and sprinted forward. The best part was the soaring. That peak was what they all went after, catapulting through the air and falling on the other side.

When he finally hit the mat, he stayed there for a moment, just enough time to enjoy it but not too much that people would think he was injured. He didn’t have to check the scoreboard to know he made it and beat his competition. The cheers told him more than enough.

Everyone went out to celebrate afterward, but Gunnar just wanted to go back to the hotel until it was time to fly back to Michigan. More intense training was in store for him there, but he didn’t care. He’d take that over the superficial celebration with a bunch of strangers. The last thing he needed was to be around more people who only showed up hoping to rub elbows with potential Olympic medal winners.

After greeting his family, he slipped away from the crowd. He already had to duck the local news stations there to interview the winners. He knew coach would be furious. More publicity meant more sponsors, but he was done. There was only one person in the world he wanted to talk to, and she wasn’t there.

Gunnar was obsessing over his replay videos for his last few vaults when he got the email from Mia. She was the first person he wanted to tell, the only one who he really wanted to be excited for him. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

She knew he was a pole-vaulting and track athlete, but she didn’t know he was vying for a coveted Olympic spot. People treated him differently when they found out who he was. Learning that he was a top contender for a gold medal made it easy for him to be a target. Everybody wanted something. They always did.

Not Mia. She was the only person in the world who made him feel normal, and all they had to go on was years of emails to each other and a few photos.

He hated keeping the news from her, but he couldn’t lose what they had. Not yet. She was the only one who knew things about him that he couldn’t share with his family or friends. So what did that make her?

She was gorgeous, with dark hair that flowed over bronze-kissed skin. His favorite likeness of her was a picture she’d sent him wearing a simple white shirt. It highlighted her brown eyes—knowing eyes that seemed to peer back at him on a level that was deep and real. Everything about Mia was the opposite of the girls he was used to being with, girls who wanted nothing but the fantasy of sleeping with a jock and riding the attention that came with it.

He read the email, and felt a smile fill his face when he saw that she wanted to meet him at the airport when he arrived in Rio. But the one sentence that stayed with him was her last one.

I can’t wait to finally meet you.

M
ia Orlán laid her fifth and final dress on her bed. She didn’t have many clothes to wear, so she was already going through much of her closet trying to find something suitable to meet Gunnar in. What if he didn’t like her? What if he thought she looked different from the pictures she’d sent him over the years?

She was thinking too hard. Gunnar wasn’t even really coming to see her. He was there for the Olympics, just like all the other athletes and tourists that had been filling the city over the past week. He hadn’t even told her he’d made the team. She had figured that out by putting his name in the search engine, hoping to get a few more pictures to add to her small collection, and there he was, smiling with two other men who had made the U. S. Olympic Team with him.

She was hurt that he didn’t tell her in his email. He only said he was coming to support his country and teammates. Maybe he didn’t think she wanted to know.

Besides, they were just pen pals. It wasn’t like they were dating. He’d never made her believe he wanted anything else besides friendship, but that hadn’t stopped her from dreaming otherwise.

He didn’t even have any reason to stay in Rio after the games. His life was back in the United States. Mia had to keep telling herself that or she was going to get hurt when he left. It took effort to push that painful thought away, but she did before turning back to the tiny closet.

She decided on jeans and a simple red blouse. Louisa, her best friend, would tell her to wear a sexy dress to show off her legs, but she wanted to be comfortable so Gunnar could find her easily. She had told him she’d meet him at the airport. Now, she wasn’t sure if that was a stupid idea or not. But seeing him as soon as he landed had been too good to pass up.

Mia looked around her door before turning her back to lock it. She only lived in a small apartment in the favelas with her family, but the slums residence was all they could afford. She helped with what she could from her job at the small gift shop in the city.

They had to be careful in the area they lived in. Crime wasn’t unusual in her neighborhood, and it had only gotten worse. Their area had undergone pacification and boasted more police units than some of the other favelas, but they still had to be cautious of their surroundings. That was why she never carried a bag or a purse with her. They only served as bait for the young thieves that roamed the streets and alleyways.

She didn’t even have a cell phone or a personal computer. Whenever she talked to Gunnar, it was through the computer at work or one in the library. It wasn’t safe to keep anything of value in the apartment, but she found that she didn’t need much else. Whenever she had free time, she would read her books or the emails from Gunnar that she printed out.

Her mother and father were at work, and she didn’t have to go into her job until later that afternoon. A few neighbors were out, and she greeted them as she passed. Some were friendly, while others just wanted to be left alone.

When she passed a group of kids, she smiled at them but kept them in her sights in case they tried to play a trick on her. Some of the worst robbers were children. A few of the criminals paid the younger ones to do their dirty work.

Mia thought it was pitiful to use children that way, but there wasn’t much for many of them to look forward to. School only met for half a day when it was in session, but now that school was out, children ran around the city doing whatever they wanted with no one to watch after them. Their parents were poor, which meant higher education wasn’t a reality for the majority of them. They came from poor parents and would probably grow up to be poor adults themselves.

She was grateful for the academic scholarship she’d earned, allowing her to attend a local college, but the jobs for educated women weren’t plentiful in Rio. She was thankful for even finding a job at the gift shop.

A taxi took her to the international airport. Since it wasn’t too far away, she didn’t have to pay much. She’d saved up her money so she could use it to show Gunnar around Rio, but if he was in the games, he wouldn’t have time for her. Disappointment consumed her, but she shook the depressing feeling off. At least she could see him for some of the time he was there. She could be grateful for that.

She kept using her hand to push her hair back, hoping that nothing was out of place.

The airport was predictably packed, and she found herself pushed and shoved a few times by both locals and tourists.

She got there two hours early just because she was too anxious to wait at home any longer.

Mia stared at the flight arrival schedule for the hundredth time. Nothing had changed, but she couldn’t help the nerves that filled her, causing her to look again and again.

She’d made a sign with Gunnar’s name on it, but she was wondering if the colored drawings around his name were too much. She watched as families and lovers met the new arrivals.

A couple next to her kissed so long that she had to look away. She wondered if Gunnar was a good kisser. Flickers of excitement filled her as she thought of kissing him.

She had printed out the pictures he’d sent her, and she saw how handsome he was. He didn’t have the glamorous appearance of a movie star, but he had a rugged handsomeness that made it hard to turn away from his pictures.

He had never mentioned anything about having a girlfriend back home, and now Mia was sorry she’d never asked him. What if he was seeing someone? There was no way she could compete with someone who got to spend precious moments with him every day when she was just meeting him for the first time.

Pacing made her more anxious, but she couldn’t stand still. The boy...man she had talked to for years was finally coming to see her. She tried to remind herself that he was coming to experience the games and nothing else. That was the only thing that kept her from getting her hopes up too high.

“Mia?”

She stared up into the face she’d stared at for hours before going to bed, one that was so familiar it was hard to not recognize him.

He was taller than she imagined, towering over her and making her feel even shorter than her five feet two inches.

She nodded her head. “Gunnar.”

He had a crooked smile that fit him perfectly and made him more real than the pictures she’d memorized.

Gunnar held his hand out just as she was going in to hug him. Her cheeks warmed at presuming he’d want to hug her.

Instead of making her feel worse, he set his big duffle bag down by his side, held open his arms, and said, “Come here.”

The command was kind and demanding at the same time, and she found that she immediately obeyed.

His long arms welcomed her and held her close to his warmth. Beneath the clothes he wore, she could sense his muscles and athletic frame that was prominent but well hidden under his polo shirt and blue jeans. A rich woody floral fragrance with undertones of mysore sandalwood surrounded him, he smelled so good it made her mouth water. She felt so safe in his arms, as if he were made to keep her next to him like this all the time.

She could stay there forever in his embrace and never move anywhere else. It didn’t matter who was around them or who stared at them, as long as he never let her go.

“It’s so good to see you, Mia.” He pulled away briefly to look down into her face, his eyes scanning her lips, then held her close again. Mia could feel his heart beating as hard in his chest as hers was.

His voice rumbled through her body and made her tremble. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought her pulse calmed to the sound of his words.

“I’m happy to see you, too.” She could barely hear the words leave her lips, and he released her suddenly.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Did I hug you too tight?”

Not tight enough
, she thought. “No, I’m fine.”

“Good. I was worried for a second, since I couldn’t hear you.”

A playful smirk filled her face. “It’ll take more than a hug to break me.”

“That’s good to know.”

Was that a challenge in his tone? It didn’t take much to know that Gunnar was a competitive man. Even when he wrote her, it was like he challenged her in the information they shared with each other. If she wrote a long email, he would match it or exceed it in length. She found that was something she liked about him the most.

She would hate to be any of the people going up against him in track and field. Then she remembered what he kept from her. Maybe he had a good reason for it, but it still bothered her that he hadn’t said anything about it yet.

“So where’s a good place to eat around here?” he asked.

“You don’t want to go drop your bags off where you’re staying first?” she asked. She left out the Olympic Village, hoping he would offer up the real reason he was there.

“Not yet. I was hoping to try some of the local dishes you have to offer, and I’d rather spend some time with you.”

Hope filled her again without warning, and she could tell she was blushing again. “Okay. There’s a good place not far from here if it’s Brazilian food you want.”

“Oh, I definitely want it. I’m starving.”

Mia couldn’t stop her mind from thinking of things other than food as he spoke—his sexy lips, much like the American actor Tom Hardy’s on hers, his hands taking a leisurely stroll over her body...

She willed herself out of a mini-fantasy as he continued, “Airplane nuts and soda will only get a guy so far.”

Mia laughed nervously with him as they made their way to the taxi and bus area. Even carrying his bag, his long legs ate up the sidewalk with very little effort and she was forced to pick up her pace and take two steps to his one. As they walked, she realized how aware she was of him above and beyond her acute attraction to him. Yet her body seemed to relax in his presence.

Every reaction she had to him was a contradiction. On the ride over they chatted about the weather and the inane things people converse about when meeting up for the first time. Polite though they were, their eyes clashed with electricity each time they made contact.

The restaurant wasn’t too far from the Olympic area and on the same street as her workplace. The small building was owned by the Bellos, a sweet married couple she’d befriended. They had been in business for years, and they saw Mia as a daughter since they never had children of their own.

“Olá, filha,” Mr. Bellos said when they walked in.