His teeth scraped over my pulse point as he mouthed at my overheated skin, his fingers circling my clit. “Fucking come for me.”
Ishattered. No one had ever— I’d never had an orgasm that wasn’t at my own hand. My brain went offline, and I forgot where I was and who was giving me pleasure for one blissful, intense moment.
“I hate you,” I whispered when I recovered my breath, burying my face in his shoulder.
“I know.” His arms tightened around me before he pulled away. I lifted my head, my heart pounding.
“Y-you invaded my private space. You did…this.”
“Yeah. I know.” He swallowed hard. “I need you to hate me.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
We stared at each other. I knew it was only my imagination, but it felt as if I could see the same uncertainty and hopelessness swirling inside me reflected in his gaze.
His lashes swept down, breaking our connection. “Fuck,” he ground out, slamming his palm against the wall. “Are you really going through with it?”
There was no need for him to define what “it” was. My frustration made me lash out, spitting the words at him. “I have no fucking choice.”
“There’s always a choice.”
I shook my head violently. “Maybe for you. But not in my world. You need to leave me alone, Jay. For both our sakes.”
“Is that what you want?”
“Yes.” It had to be. “Go.Please.”
He dipped his head to my ear, his hot breath skatingover my skin, making me shiver. “You don’t want me to leave.”
I shoved at his chest. “For fuck’s sake, Jay. What do you want from me? You said you needed me to hate you. Consider it done. I’m not yours, and I never will be. The sooner you get that through your head, the better.”
Dragging his fingers through his hair, he swore under his breath. His expression shuttered as he stepped back, holding up his hands with his palms facing me. “Okay. That’s it. I’m done. Goodbye, Nova.”
When he was gone, I slumped back against the wall, taking deep, shuddering breaths as I fought back the tears that were threatening to fall. Why did it feel like I’d lost something? Something that had never been mine to begin with?
14
JAY
“Is that all you’ve got? Try again.”
My jaw tightened at Volkov’s taunting look. The look that told me that no matter how hard I tried, I’d never get the better of him.
My fingers flexed around my stick as I pushed off the ice, skating down the rink, straight for the puck. When my stick connected with it, I thought I’d calculated the trajectory perfectly, but Volkov easily blocked it.
“Fuck!” I threw my stick down, sending it skidding across the ice.
“Again,” Volkov commanded. Ripping off my glove, I gave him the finger and then skated over to the bench. Slumping down, I stared at my skates, unseeing.
I’d never been so fucking frustrated in my life. Why was Volkov always shoving his superiority in my face?
“You want to play professionally, yes?”
“No,” I gritted out. Why did Volkov have to follow me over?
“No?”
My head flew up at the surprise in his voice. “Yeah. I don’t— No.” Why should I explain myself to him?
