Page 60 of My Pucking Crush

“I’m working.” I adjust my tie. “When I’m with the team, I’m on duty.”

He looks to make sure we’re alone in the hallway and leans into my ear. “Is kissing me and shoving your dick in my mouth part of your job?”

My cock twitches at what he’s implying. “If I’m not in a suit, I’m not working.”

“Pity, I like you in a suit.” He brushes a hand over mine, also tugging my tie.

Considering I could get fired and lose my bonus, I say, “And I like yououtof your suit. But we have to be careful.”

Pursing his lips, Max strides toward the elevator. “Maybe I’m tired of being careful.”

I step in his path. “That doesn’t mean you can go near anyone else.”

“Are you laying claim to me?” His eyes blaze with a hunger I wasn’t expecting, maybe it’s adrenaline from the win. “Are we in a relationship now?”

I’m not looking for one. I like to play at my club, and if I were to be in one, it wouldn’t be with a professional athlete whose first love and priority will always be to sport.

Max Ryan is my dream guy, but there’s a reason he’s a fantasy and not reality. Even if I’ve tasted drops of heaven when his mouth is on mine and he’s sucking my cock.

Maybe we can just relieve stress until I leave the team.

Max hasn’t given me any kind of clue that he’s fucked a guy recently. It’s not something I want to peelback the curtain to know. I don’t need those images in my head.

The elevator arrives at our floor, and I motion for him to step inside first.

“Well?” he asks, standing over me, challenging me to answer if we’re in a relationship.

“Usually, two people decide together if they’re in a relationship.” I don’t give him a chance to hurt me. “You’re not sure what you want, Max. Or who you really are.”

“Got it,” Max says and leans against the rear elevator panel.

I knowmyselfall too well. If my plan works out, I’ll be working for Sebastien Daria, a mob boss in Manhattan, and sworn to Queen Domenico’s house. If he needs me to kill people for him, I will.That’snot the kind of life to share with a hockey star who can’t exactly lay low when I’m trying to live back in the shadows.

I’ll find relief at Club Dare until something else changes. They were meaningless encounters anyway. That’s just a place to get off when I get bored with my hands.

The door to the casino floor opens, but Max doesn’t move.

“Max?”

His eyes flutter. “I get nuts when you say my name.”

With no one around, I steer him out of the car and toward a darkened corner where I kiss the shit out of him. His mouth opens for me and we go at it like our lives depend on it. My suit and his blazer have us both sweating.

I’m ready to suggest we go back to his suite when a voice behind Max has fear and loathing skittering down my spine.

“Daniil?”

Max whips around at the voice because of how I stilled. Danger is at our doorstep. All I can do is hope he didn’t quite hear my real name with the loud music and the blood pounding in our ears from our heated kiss.

“Go back to your games,” I say to him, brushing him off with a look of fury. “Forget you met me, pretty boy.”

Looking confused, Max wipes his mouth and storms away. I’m not sure if he’s playing a part like I am. Has what I’ve been telling him all this time finally gotten through?

With a clear view of Gideon and Dev, L.A. capos who work for Belova, I fold my arms. “What do you want?”

Dev glances in the direction Max left. “Who is that?”

I snap my fingers, relieved he didn’t recognize Max. Then again, Belova’s brotherhood is a large organization and rarely a target from the top gets broadcast to a wide net of people.

---