“With the two of us,” he said, shoving aside the cold truth breathing down the back of his neck, “it might end up a circus.”

Catie speared a snow pea pod. “You sure he wants that attention?”

“Oh yeah. Any mention of us will also mean a mention of his play.” He suddenly thought of something. “I brought my tux down from Auckland. Left it with the hotel laundry to get pressed—it’ll still be there.”

He made a mental note to pick it up when the snow stopped. “Will you have to buy a fancy outfit?” She’d only come down for a short break with her girlfriends—one of whom happened to be dating a member of the Southern Blizzard. That was how they’d ended up at the same club.

Catie frowned. “These days I’m usually sponsored by a label, but when I’m not, I try to give local designers the spotlight.” She glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall. “It’s last minute, but let me ring around and see if anyone can fit me into one of their samples. They usually have to do alterations—I’ve got too much muscle for most samples.”

What she also had were very sexy curves. As a sprinter, her body was built differently to the ethereal slenderness of a long-distance runner’s; she packed a ton of power into a taut, tight frame. And for all that was holy, Danny’s brain needed to shut the fuck up!

Grabbing his glass of water, he gulped it down.

And proceeded to talk about car stuff—his brother Jake’s passion—until Catie pretended to pass out from boredom. At least it got his mind back on the right track—which was not ogling Catie.

After dinner, Catie decided to call Ani to see if the publicist could hook her up with a local designer. “I know it’s short notice,” he heard her saying as she wandered into her bedroom, “but it’s for an event with Danny. Yes, I know I didn’t warn you about that photo post…”

Grabbing his own phone as her voice faded off, he called Viliame. “Hey man.”

“Yo, Dan. How you doing?” Genuine concern in his friend’s voice.

“Good. Back to normal.” Except for his alien obsession with Catie. “Thanks for having my back.”

“No thanks needed.” Viliame continued on. “Did you see that international between Argentina and South Africa?”

“No, I haven’t had a chance to catch up.”

“Fucking brutal, man. But the South Africans have some interesting new moves. You should watch it.”

When Danny checked the TV after he and Vili hung up, he found that Jacqueline had every channel known to man and then some. Easily locating the subscription service that held streaming rights for the rugby internationals, he settled in to watch the replay.

He was still good at this, at the technical analysis of a game.