Page 71 of Playmaker

I raised an eyebrow. “So, you helping yourself along meant he couldn’t get you there or something?”

“Basically.”

I snorted. “Wow. Fragile much?”

“Right? Anyway,besidesthat part, Ty was good in bed, so our sex life was… Itwaspretty satisfying. It just took me way too long to realize that what I felt when I looked at a woman”—she looked right in my eyes—“thatwas attraction.”

“Huh.” I thought about it. “I never had any illusions about being into guys, so I wouldn’t know what that’s like. But that must’ve been eye-opening when you figured it out.”

“Like you wouldn’t believe.”

“How was being married, then? Wasn’t he, um…”

“Kind of a dick?”

I laughed. “Well, you said it, not me.” Turning serious, I asked, “Was he that much of an asshole? I mean, you married the guy. Did you two even like each other?”

“At first. But I think we both went into it with ulterior motives.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Yeah?”

“Mmhmm. He wanted the prestige of being Doran McAvoy’s son-in-law, and… I don’t know, I think he had some weird thing about wanting to make a woman like me into his submissive housewife.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” I huffed and rolled my eyes. “Seriously?”

“Yep. The girlfriend he had before me was absolutely his type—very submissive and meek. She was perfectly happy to just be a hockey wife and a mom. Which is fine, you know? If that’s what makes someone happy, more power to them. But I think for Ty, he liked the challenge. He liked taking someone who had ambition and drive, and making her into what the woman before me would’ve willingly been.”

“So he kind of screwed over both of you.”

“Oh, big time. She was his girlfriend since major juniors, and everyone was sure they’d get married. Then he suddenly dumps her, and two months later, he’s hitting me up.”

“Sounds like a big red flag.”

“In hindsight? Absolutely. But he fed me a bunch of bullshit that she’d cheated on him, and he was laying on the charm with me.”

I tilted my head. “You said you had an agenda, too.”

Avoiding my gaze, Sabrina nodded. “Yeah. I wanted out of Buffalo, and I wanted to put some distance between me and the family. Then here comes this good-looking hockey player who’s as passionate about the sport as I am, and he’s playing in Texas.” She grimaced. “I don’t think he ever loved me—just my name. But I’d be a hypocrite to criticize him for that, because I think the only thing I really loved was the chance to go someplace else and start a new life.” Sabrina looked in my eyes. “We both made a lot of mistakes. And we weren’t goodforeach other ortoeach other. I can blame him for some things, but definitely not all of it.”

“Sounds like it’s good you got out when you did,” I said. “For both of your sakes.”

“Definitely.”

I studied her for a moment. “At the risk of being way too personal…”

Sabrina ran her fingertips over my breast. “Pretty sure we’re long past that.”

I bit my lip as goose bumps rose all over my body from her touch. “Okay. Okay, fair point. But still, I’m just curious—if you weren’t into men, how did that work with Ty? Like…” I gestured at her and myself.

“In bed?”

“Yeah.”

She shifted onto her back, resting her hand behind her head on the pillow. As I settled on my elbow beside her, draping an arm across her flat stomach, she gazed up at the ceiling. “It wasn’t as bad as you might think. Honestly, Ty was pretty good in bed. The sex was one of the few things I couldn’t really complain about.” She shook her head. “But that was just because it felt good. Physically. I… I mean, I made sure he was satisfied, but I was really never asintohim as I am with women.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “Like, the way I felt about him when he was making me come didn’t hold a candle to the way I’d feel when I saw a woman I thought was hot. I don’t know how I didn’t make that connection for so long, but…” She chewed her lip. “This is going to sound bad, and it is bad, but Ty is part of the reason I figured out I wasn’t bi or straight after all.”

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