Page 68 of Playmaker

Goddammit. So much for finding my voice.

Lila’s eyebrows rose as she inclined her head. “Mmhmm?”

I swallowed. “Did you… Were you, like, just suggesting we go get something to eat? Or…”

The corner of her mouth twitched slightly, and I thought some color rose in her face. “Or was I asking you out on a date?”

Hoping a mute response would be less embarrassing or awkward, I nodded.

Lila held my gaze, pressing her lips together as the pink in her cheeks deepened. “I… I mean, I kind of thought…” She gulped. “That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?” She gestured around us.

“Um…” Oh. Fuck. This was what I’d wanted, yes, but now that it was happening—oh, God, I didn’t know what I was doing. My heart was pounding harder than it had in the last minutes of our Olympic gold medal game. Lila was chewing her lip, studying me as if she were trying to figure out what to say to salvage the moment.

She took a breath and pushed her shoulders back. “Maybe I should phrase it like this—if I said I was hoping itwasa date, and that that’s what I kind of thought this wholeweekendwas—would you still want to go?”

I blinked, caught off guard by the bluntness. And by how oblivious I’d been to, well, everything. “I…”

“It’s okay if you say no,” she said quickly. “If you’re not interested, and you don’t want—”

“I’m not really interested in going out.” I stepped closer and put a hand on her waist. “But I like the ‘date’ part of the equation.”

And then I kissed her, stifling a startled yelp with my lips a second before she relaxed against me. Her fingers slid up into my hair, and the barely audible moan almost melted my spine.

Lila’s lips had no business being that soft. Her touch had no business being that perfect, her fingertips leaving goose bumps in their wake as she ran them through my hair. She was such a badass on the ice, but like this… wow. She was just so gentle and perfect. The few times in my life that I’d kissed a woman, it had felt right and magic in ways it never did with a man.

Kissing Lila Hamilton? Oh my God.

I ran my hands up her back, and her barely audible sigh turned my knees to liquid. Was this real? Oh, fuck. This was real. This gorgeous, amazing woman really was kissing me, and somehow… Somehow I wasn’t fainting.

After an eternity, and still somehow too soon, she drew back. “So, um…” She sucked her lower lip into her mouth as she held my gaze with smoldering blue eyes. “Instead of going to dinner, you game to stay in and order room service?”

The shiver that ran through me had my toes curling in my shoes. “I like that idea.” I drew her back in for another long, mind-blowing kiss. How was this woman sohot?

She broke the kiss again, and her eyes were absolutely on fire now. She was a little out of breath as she said, “As long as we’re staying in, we don’t need to be dressed up, do we?”

I licked my lips. “We don’t need to be dressed at all.”

Lila’s eyebrows flicked up as if she hadn’t expected that.

But then she grinned and started unbuttoning her blouse.

Chapter 23

Lila

Sinking naked onto this hotel bed with Sabrina was incredible and surreal. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen her undressed—came with the territory in hockey—but I’d never had my hands on her before. I’d never run my fingers through her hair or slid my palms down her back and over her perfect butt.

And I haddefinitelynever felt her hungry,aggressivetouch. I didn’t think I’d ever felt sexier in my life than I did in that moment—on my back with Sabrina McAvoy on top of me, her strong hands pinning my wrists to the pillow as she kissed down the side of my neck.

“Oh my God,” I breathed. “I didn’t… I didn’t expect you to be a top.”

Her laugh was a hot breath across my skin. “Surprise?”

I was halfway to delirium already, and laughing just made me higher. Then she was kissing me again, and when I parted my legs, her hips settled between my thighs.

She released my wrists and slid one hand up into my hair while the other arm supported her weight. Now that my arms were no longer restrained, I wrapped them around her, tracing her perfect, powerful body and soft, warm skin. I hadn’t beenkissed or touched like this in ages. Had Ieverbeen kissed or touched like this? Because I swore being with Sabrina was a whole new experience. My nerve endings lit up as if they’d never been touched this way before, and I couldn’t help moaning into her kiss because oh my God, she was an incredible kisser.

Sabrina broke the kiss and pushed herself up. When she met my gaze, trembling and breathless, there was a hint of shyness in her eyes that caught me off-guard. She’d been so toppy from the moment we’d kissed, but now… this?

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