He grabs my face, turns me toward him, and gives me a hot kiss that makes my head swim and my heart sing.
But it only lasts five seconds. When he breaks the kiss, he says, like it pains him, “I have to go.”
He needs to get ready for the game, and I need to go home and change. “You probably need to shower too,” I deadpan.
That earns me a smack on the ass.
28
THE EXES IN THE BUILDING
REMY
Technically I don’t have to be here for the game, but when Mabel texts me that she’s got her Knight jersey on and is bringing the “family”—Clementine, Skylar, and Trevyn—that’s reason enough to stick around. I’ve finished the VIP tour and some prep for the week, so I put my work aside now that it’s time for warmups.
Speaking of, I’mstillwarm from the sixth rule of napping. I haven’t stopped thinking about what happened under the sage green blanket.
As I head down the corridor toward the rink, I replay those moments again. Who even was that woman grabbing his hand and shoving it between my thighs?
Let me hear you.
Other things repeat too.
I’m this close.
All those ragged words of his echo in my mind, and I swear I can feel his beard whisking against my shoulder, his firm lips pressing open-mouthed caresses to my neck, his magic fingers finding that spot inside me.
I make a tiny noise in the back of my throat that I shouldnotmake in public. A quick glance around confirms I’m alone. Butstill. I need to get my thoughts together. I clench my thighs as I walk—which, for the record, is kind of hard to do. I try though, like I can squeeze out the desire. News flash—I can’t.
Best to avoid all the player haunts then, so I dart around a corner, ducking into another hallway that doesn’t pass the workout room, the locker room, or the tunnel. I circle all the way around the arena, avoiding any possibility of bumping into a growly hockey star who made me come hard and also admitted he wouldn’t date his college crush today.
I stop for a second by the escalators, letting that confession hit me again. And it hits me even harder than his moans, than his dirty commands. Lake Axelrod doesn’t want to hurt the people he cares about.
Like me?
Yeah, I think he meant me.
My head spins from all this new information. I’ve got to get a handle on my thoughts, so I try to sort them into neat boxes as I resume my pace up to the ticketing level. I don’t know if there will be an extra seat near my friends right now. But as I weave past the early crowds on the counter, a text lands from Clementine that she’s running late.
I should be able to steal her seat for a bit. This’ll be good. Time with my friends will reset me. Settle my overactive mind. I dart past a gourmet sandwich stand, then a thirty-flavors-of-pretzels vendor, before saying hi to the ushers at the top of the bowl.
As I head down toward the ice, I’m strangely glad Clem isn’t here yet. I’m not sure how to face her after what happened earlier today with her brother. From the truths we shared with words and hearts at the table, to the ones we shared with lips and hands in his bedroom.
I don’t know how to organize any of this.
How to sort it.
Understandit.
Lake’s both my fake wedding dateandmy partner in trying to complete a bride’s unfinished bucket list. He’s also the guy who wants to show me how a good boyfriend treats a woman, with honesty, with passion.
Passion like Lake’s grunts. Like the sounds he made when he lost control once I came—once he tasted me. Heat climbs up my neck from the memory of his fingers in me, then in his mouth, right as I reach my friends. Trevyn, Mabel, and Skylar are huddled together in a row, talking and laughing, Skylar’s freckles dancing across her pale complexion, Mabel’s brown eyes sparkling with laughter, Trevyn’s witty smile coasting across his warm brown skin. When he spots me standing in the aisle, he snaps his gaze my way, and arches a knowing brow. “Why do you look like you just got some?”
Are you kidding me? It can’t be that obvious, can it?
I sink down next to him, acting all cool. “What are you talking about?”
He pats my hand placatingly, then swings his gaze to our friends. “Have you ever seen our girl’s cheeks so flush before?”
