Page 31 of Power Play

“That dude at the bar was staring at you, Piper. The drink for Lexi was him being polite so he’d seem like a nice guy and get her support when he tried to ask you out. You didn’t recognize the game he was playing?”

“Gamehe was playing? Uh,no. There are so many attractive women in here. Why would he pay attention to me?”

Liam shakes his head. “Wow. Your ex did a real number on your confidence, which is a damn shame. He fucked you up, didn’t he?”

I take a step away from him, mortified and ignoring what might’ve been a compliment buried under his observation. “Will you excuse me?”

I move for the hallway to the right, wanting some space. Needing some air, even if it’s hovering around forty-five degrees outside.

“Piper.” Liam’s voice follows me as I head for the bar’s service door. “Hang on.”

Before I can tell him I need a minute, his palm lands on my waist, heavy and warm. Fingers curl in the belt loop of my jeans and he tugs me toward him. I spin, my chest colliding with his, and I let out a startled gasp.

“I don’t need your opinions about the poor decisions I’ve made in my love life,” I say. “Yes, he did take away my confidence. Many times, by cheating on me. By diminishing my self-worth. By making me feel small and unimportant. I’m working on getting that confidence back, which is why I’m going to march over to the bar, tell that guy I’m interested, and see if he wants to sleep with me.”

Liam’s eyes widen. His grip falters slightly, fingers drifting to the small of my back. If anyone walked back here, they’d think they were interrupting an intimate moment. Something sensual between two lovers, and I can’t help but drop my gaze to his mouth for the briefest of seconds.

“You want to sleep with Collar McCollarson? Khakis are that much of a turn on?” he asks.

“No. Yes. I don’t know.” I huff, irritated. Frustrated and confused. Humored by the nickname and obvious disdain for the guy he doesn’t know. “Yes because I’ve only slept with one manin my life and want to have some fun. No because I don’t know what I’m doing in the bedroom.”

“You don’t know what you’re doing in the bedroom? What the fuck does that mean?”

“What do you think it means? My ex and I were barely intimate with each other, and I’m so inexperienced. As much as I want to be the woman who can do a one-night stand with a guy I don’t know, I have no clue how to even approach the topic because I’m clueless about sex. I wish I could find someone who could… could teach me what to do without judging me. A no strings attached agreement that didn’t mean anything, because I’m tired of being the only one in my friend group who isn’t exploring her sexuality. I’m single, and I want to have fun. But I can’t have it because I’m scared of ending up on Reddit in aworst sex everthread.”

My raised tone surprises me.

I run my tongue over my lips and snap my mouth shut. I want to crawl in a hole after admitting all that to the man that probably sleeps with everything that moves. The man that could have anyone he wants. One look at a woman and she’s taking off her clothes.

Liam Sullivan doesn’t need a sex coach.

“Define barely intimate,” he says in a voice so low, I swear I might obliterate on the spot from the heat behind his words.

Each syllable is rough. Each vowel is sexy. It sounds like something he’d whisper in my ear when I’m on the precipice of an orgasm, and I’m not sure I can ever make eye contact with him again.

“Um.” I clear my throat. My head is swimming, and I know it’s not from the drink. “We rarely had sex. When we did, it was not good. Boring. I never—he didn’t—” I drop my head back and stare at the ceiling instead of him. “I don’t want to meet theman of my dreams and constantly wonder if we’re not sexually compatible and he’s too nice to say anything to me.”

“Maybe you can find someone. Someone who could help. But you said hockey guys aren’t your type, so it seems like everyone in the bar is out of the question.”

I swear the earth stops moving at his implication.

I swear he steps closer to me, until the tips of his shoes knock against mine.

I swear his touch moves an inch lower, to the top of my ass, and I shudder in anticipation of something that’ll never happen.

It feels like itcouldhappen though, and I like the thought more than I should.

Where else could he touch me? How good would it be? How would it feel to have those hands moving up my legs? Unzipping my jeans and pulling my underwear to the side?

I raise my chin a fraction of an inch and find him looking down at me. Impossibly close. Wickedly attractive. So goddamn good looking, my heart leaps to my throat and bangs like a drum.

I’ve always thought Liam was hot, but now I know he’s the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen. Chiseled jaw. Sharp features. Eyes that track my every movement. I have his unwavering attention, andholy hellis that a shock to my system.

No one haseverlooked at me like this.

“I could be into hockey players,” I blurt out, desperate to play whatever game this is. It’s mindless flirting, words that have no weight and meaning, but I want to keep it going. “If they knew what they were doing.”

A loud cheer from down the hall snaps us out of the trance we’ve fallen into. Liam drops me from his hold as if he was burned, stepping back until there is a few feet of distance between us. He runs his hand through his hair and shakes his head once, clearing the cobweb of thoughts I’m aching to be privy to.

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