Heathrow Airport, it was always the same and whenever Sasha entered it his stomach churned in a way that most men with his level of accomplishment and confidence never had to deal with. He was home, he supposed, but not really. England hadn't been home for a long time, not since that debacle of a relationship with M.J. that had caused his eighteen year old self so much heartache he actually fled the country to live and train with a father he could barely tolerate in order to get away from it all. London 2012 would have another meaning for him, beyond helping his gymnasts achieve their dreams or even the all important moment when the last obstacle between he and Payson was stripped away, it would be coming full circle, redemption in the same place where his world had come crashing down around his ears.
"Pick up the pace, Beloff," Ellen Beals's annoying voice broke through his reverie as the US gymnastics contingent made their way from the gate to baggage claim. He rolled his eyes, not even bothering to hide it from the rest of their group.
He no longer felt the need to hide the open animosity he felt for Ellen Beals. He was currently the personal coach of six gymnasts on the US National Team. Beals needed him and that wasn't about to change in the foreseeable future.
"Pick up the pace, Beloff," he heard another voice mutter from just behind him, sarcasm dripping from her voice.
Apparently he wasn't the only one who no longer had any time for Ellen Beals, "I didn't check any luggage," he said to Payson as she caught up and walked by his side, both pulling small suitcases behind them that they'd carried onto the plane.
She glanced up at him, "Neither did I and I think we're the only ones," she said looking at their empty handed traveling companions.
"I don't really feel like waiting around at baggage claim, do you?" he said, raising his voice just slightly so the rest of the party could hear them.
"No," she said, trying to sound as exhausted as possible. "Do you want to go straight to the hotel?" she asked, "I'm exhausted."
"Yeah," he said, "Beals, Payson's tired and neither of us have luggage to claim. We're going to head straight to the hotel so she can rest up," he said.
Beals pursed her lips, caught between wanting to disagree with him just to be contrary and wanting Payson to get the rest she needed to beat the rest of the world at the test event the next day. "Fine, we'll see you at the hotel," she said, but they were already walking away towards the street entrance and the line for taxis.
"Smooth, very smooth," Payson said, with a laugh as they stood in line.
He grinned down at her and was about to put his arm around her shoulders when a little girl approached Payson with a pen and paper. She couldn't have been more than ten, "Excuse me? Aren't you Payson Keeler?" she asked.
Payson nodded and smiled, "Yes, I am."
"Could I have your autograph? I'm going to the test event tomorrow. I can't wait to see you compete."
At this point Payson was practically glowing, "Thank you," she said, signing the scrap of paper. The girl scampered back towards what looked like her parents, waving back at them.
"So how does it feel," he asked leaning down to whisper in her ear.
"How does what feel?" she asked, turning around to face him, their faces now inches apart.
"To be back on top?" he said, his eyes flicking down towards her lips.
She smirked at him and took a step back, "That was just too easy," she said, "My mind went straight to the gutter."
He threw his head back and laughed, taking her bag from her as a taxi pulled up for them. "Well, we wouldn't want that, would we?" he asked, putting her bag in the boot of the taxi and then opening the door for her.
The ride to the hotel was a short one and it helped that Sasha's accent kept the cabbie from taking the conveniently long way to The Dorchester hotel.
"Looks like the National Committee spared no expense," she said as they approached the front desk.
"Checking in, Beloff," he said to the pretty young woman working behind the desk. The woman's eyes sparkled at him for a moment before looking down at her computer to find his reservation. Payson stifled the laugh bubbling up inside of her.
"Here you go, Mr. Beloff. A kind sized bed, mini bar and a lovely view," she said, handing him an envelope with his room key in it. "Room 525."
Payson rolled her eyes and impatiently cleared her throat, "Hi, checking in. Keeler, Payson," she said with a sickeningly sweet smile.
The young woman was back in professional mode, "Ah, yes, Miss Keeler, room 527, two keys, one of for you and the other for Miss Kmetko when she arrives."
Payson took one of the keys out, "I'll leave this key for Emily Kmetko at the desk. I may not be in my room and I wouldn't want her locked out," she said, pushing one of the keys back across the desk. "Thanks," she said with the smile she usually reserved for Ellen Beals.
They went quickly towards the elevators. As soon as the doors closed, Sasha started to chuckle. "And what's so funny?" Payson asked him, hands on her hips.
"You were jealous," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. Easy there, Beloff, don't get too puffed up about it. She looks pretty put out.
Payson pursed her lips and glared at him, "Oh was I?" she said, holding out her hand.
"What?" he asked, "What do you want?"
"The envelope with your room key," she said, wiggling her fingers.
He gave it to her, "I don't know what you…"
"Elspeth, 020-5464-6942. Call me, xoxo," she read off the envelope and handed it back to him. "I was not jealous. I'm just observant," she said rolling her eyes. The elevator reached the fifth floor and they got off. "I'm going to take a shower and change my clothes. I smell like airplane." Wow, you're so far gone on this girl that you don't even notice when another woman is flirting with you.
"Yeah, I'll see you in a little bit then, okay?" he said as she stopped at her door.
"Sure," she said, trying her room key. It didn't work. "Damn it," she said, trying again. She sighed, "I really don't feel like going all the way down there for another key."
Sasha sighed, "Payson, just use my room. You can go down for another key later."
"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to intrude on any plans you might make with Elspeth," she said, looking up at him with a cheeky grin.
"Who?" he asked, smiling back at her. Now, that, that was smooth, Beloff.
"Good answer," she said, as he opened the door to his hotel room and held it for her.
Payson sighed as the hot jets of water pounded her body. She'd never been in a hotel with such amazing water pressure before. "Oh God, that feels good," she moaned, as the water hit one of the knots that had formed in her back during the plane trip.
"How're you doing in there?" Sasha called from the door.
"Good," she responded, deciding to torture him a bit. "Hmm, really good."
"You sound good," he said, his voice suddenly much closer. He was on the other side of the shower curtain.
Payson shook her head in disbelief and laughed. She stuck her head out from behind the curtain, covering the rest of her body with it. "Get out. I'll be done in a minute," she said.
Truth was it took her all willpower to send him away. They'd decided not to consummate their relationship, but Sasha was an extremely attractive man and most of the time his mere presence made her want to throw caution to the wind and simply do whatever came naturally.
She finished her shower and wrapped a towel around her body before walking into the hotel room to see him lounging on the bed, shirtless, flipping through the channels.
"Jesus, you send me out of there and then come out in that," Sasha said, swinging his legs off the bed and standing in one motion. She wound her arms around his neck as his snaked around her waist to pull her closer. "You smell good," he murmured against her neck, placing a hot open-mouthed kiss on the spot he'd found that made her legs to go jelly almost instantly. She loved it when he did that, not only because how it made her feel, but because she knew he did it purposefully, with the intent to give her as much pleasure at possible.
She ran a hand through his hair, loving the feeling of its feathery softness. So much about him was hard and rough, from his personality down to the calluses on his hands from the training she knew he still did, but his hair was so soft, she loved the contrast. He brought his lips to hers and they kissed softly at first and then with growing urgency, when she heard the click of the hotel room door and a feminine gasp.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry," Payson heard Emily Kmetko's voice say. She ducked her head down towards Sasha's chest, knowing his height was completely shielding her from Emily's view. "Sorry," she heard Emily say again and the door clicked closed.
"She didn't see me," Payson said, letting out a sigh of relief.
Sasha looked at her in disbelief, "What do you mean?"
"You were blocking me, she didn't see me," she said, and rested her head against his chest. She felt his lips press against the top of her head.
"I have a plan," he said, looking at her bag in the corner, which thankfully had also been out of Emily's view. "You brought pins, for your hair right?"
Payson looked at him like he had ten heads, "Yeah, for the competition."
"Give me three," he said, pointing to her bag. "Quickly, she probably went down to the front desk to get a key card and I haven't done this in a while."
Payson handed him three pins, "Done what?"
"You didn't notice that our rooms are adjoining? I'm going to pick the lock between the rooms."
"Sasha, that's impossible, adjoining doors don't have locks on the inside."
He was already opening the door that connected their rooms. "Not at the Dorchester," he mumbled as he had one of the pins in his mouth. He stuck the pin in the lock and bent the other one into the shape he needed. "This hotel is ridiculous expensive, but they haven't renovated the lower floors in decades."
"How do you know all this stuff?" Payson asked him. He's having a James Bond moment, let him have it.
"Some of us weren't nearly as well behaved as you are when we were seventeen," he said and smiled back at her over his shoulder.
She shrugged, "From where I'm standing right now, I'm about the least well behaved seventeen year old I've seen around lately. Carrying on with a man much older than me and my coach no less," she added with an ironic tone to her voice.
She heard a click and the door swung open, "That was amazing," she said, as he stood up. She grabbed her bag. "I'll see you later," she said, kissing him quickly.
"Dinner, remember, at seven with the team, at Alain Ducasse downstairs."
"Dinner at seven," she confirmed and shut the door behind her, dressing in shorts and a tank quickly and running the water in the shower until it looked like she had used it.
She lay down on the bed and turned on the television, when Emily burst into the room.
"You won't believe what just happened," Emily said, dropping her bag at her feet and staring at Payson.
"What?" she asked, not taking her eyes off the television.
Emily let out a heavy breath, "The hotel sent me to the wrong room. The room next door, actually. I take my key, open it up and there's Sasha with some woman who's only wrapped in a towel and he was kissing her. Ugh! That image is burned into my mind forever," she whined and threw herself down on the bed.
Payson let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. "Oh my God, did you see who it was?" she asked, hoping her interest didn't come off as too fake.
Emily shook her head, "Probably someone he knows in London. I mean how else would he have hooked up that fast?" Emily guessed. "She was blonde though and short."
Payson shrugged, "You're probably right. It was some old girlfriend or something. Come on, it wasn't that bad. At least Sasha's good looking, you could have walked in on Ellen Beals," Payson offered and Emily's face scrunched up into a look of absolute revulsion.
They looked at each other and quickly burst into hysterical laughter. "He does have a nice back, very muscular," Emily said, smiling. They started laughing again. Payson, more from relief than anything else.
They were sitting at dinner, at the "kid's table" as Austin had dubbed it while the coaches and trainers sat across the restaurant. The Rock gymnasts took up an entire table just by themselves, while the rest of the mens and womens national team members filled another.
"So I walk in and there's Sasha, shirtless, just standing in the middle of his hotel room and he's kissing some blonde girl wrapped in a towel. I got out of there as fast as possible," Emily said, taking a sip of her water quickly.
"Did you get a good look at her?" Emily shook her head, no. "You might have some competition, Keeler," Austin said, drawing a glare from Payson, who was sitting to his right. "At least she was blonde, so maybe you're his type after all."
"Austin thinks I'm a Sasha Beloff groupie," she said, rolling her eyes at him. "You're hilarious."
Lauren piped up, "Pay, I always thought you were into dark haired guys," she said, shooting a meaningful look at Nicky, who promptly choked on the bite of steak he'd taken.
Austin smirked, "Oh, so that's how it is," he said, looking between Payson and Nicky.
"You don't know what you're talking about, man," Nicky said.
Payson smiled at him, "No clue at all," she said and shot Austin a smug smile.
"Oh yeah," he said leaning down to whisper in her ear as the conversation went on around them, "then why does he keep looking over here?"
"Who?" she asked, annoyed, but knowing exactly who he was talking about.
"Sasha," he said, "He keeps looking over here."
"Maybe he's embarrassed. He knows Emily is going to tell the story. His ears are probably ringing, knowing we're talking about him."
"Or maybe he's looking at you," Austin said.
Payson looked up at him sharply, "You don't know what you're talking about, Austin. Sasha is my coach. We've been through a lot together, but it's nothing more than that and implying it could get him in a lot of trouble. So just stop," she said. She was deadly serious and he knew it.
He raised his hands in supplication, "Alright, alright, no need to get so defensive. I was just playing around, Keeler."
"You weren't," she accused, her blue eyes flashing at him.
"No, I wasn't" he conceded, "but I'll stop. I promise, but only if you talk to me."
She looked him in the eye and he nodded, silently agreeing in a way that frightened her. In that moment, she knew that he knew something. He wasn't sure and he didn't have proof, but he knew something and that was enough to send her into an internal panic.
"Fine. The lobby for five minutes or not at all," she said.
"Perfect," he said. He stood, throwing his napkin on the table and buttoning his suit jacket. "Ladies and er – Nicky, please excuse us. We're going for a walk," he said, standing behind her chair and pulling it back for her to stand.
The entire table went silent and stared at them and Payson just huffed and walked away, not worried about if Austin was with her or not.
"So are you nuts or just plain stupid?" he asked her as they entered the lobby and found two chairs in a corner where no one was sitting.
"What are you talking about?" she asked.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. You and Coach Dreamy making the beast with two backs, you must be insane. I thought you wanted to be an Olympic champion? If so, the last thing you should be doing is sleeping with your coach."
Payson shook her head, "I am not sleeping with Sasha," she said, keeping her voice down.
Austin pursed his lips, "So this afternoon, when Emily walked into his hotel room and he was kissing some girl in a bath towel, that wasn't you?"
She flashed her eyes up to his and held his gaze, "Enough, I've had enough. I am not sleeping with him. I am a virgin and I plan on remaining that way until after the Olympic games. I have no intention of taking a risk like that. Is that enough for you? Now will you stop playing big brother and leave me alone?" she asked, standing and taking a step away.
"Just one last thing," he said, grabbing her hand as she tried to step past him, "when a man looks at a woman, the way he's been looking at you, its real Payson. Don't ever doubt that."
She stopped and looked down at him. His eyes were softer now, almost apologetic. "Thank you," she said, squeezing his hand and then releasing it.
"No problem," he said, standing up and putting his hands in his pockets, "Oh and Keeler?" he called, "I can't stop with the big brother thing. I've taken it on as a side job. So if he hurts you, or you know whatever…" he trailed off.
"Good night, Austin," she said, shaking her head.
"Good night, Keeler."