White Satin Book

Ice skating! Alas, not a toe pick to be found.

Hero is a gold medalist figure skater who met the heroine when she was six and he was twenty. He knew then that she was the one for him. (Got some Twilight imprinting happening here)

Fast forward 14 years (?) heroine is on her way to the Olympics. Her parents died when she was 8 and the hero petitioned to be her guardian. Until she was 14, she lived with him at the family mansion and he was her skating coach. Hero realized heroine was interested in him romantically , and he immediately got her a different coach and sent her away to train. So for the past six years he has been loving her from afar.

He tells her all of this by page 38. The heroine is ready to take their relationship to the next level - so what's the problem that will keeps us reading?

Hero has intimacy issues. Heroine has to find her joy in skating again.

There are some hot sex scenes for a 1985 category and lots of psychoanalyzing and lots of skating descriptions. I like all three of those things, but if a moody hero bothers you, you might not like this one. (Really the guy is no ray of sunshine) Same with the skating. I enjoyed it - but it is a big part of the story outside of the romance.

Some standout details:
OW wears a raccoon poncho (LOL)

Hero was an Olympic gold medalist, headlined the Ice Capades, and then became a titan of industry.

Hero is the only ice skater I've ever heard of who has a malaria relapse. Yes, malaria and ice skating. He was touring South America with the Ice Capades and contracted it.

Heroine was a virgin. Hero was not celibate while he was waiting for the heroine to grow up.