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“You finished before me, don’t act like you didn’t watch.” She held her breath, hoping he had watched, hoping he stalked her just as much as she watched him. He laughed.

“I may have caught the end.”

“Were you impressed? Scared? Turned on?”

“Would you believe all three?” He looked at her then with such affection that Min didn’t know what to do, what to feel. When Hayden looked at her, like he was trying to commit everything about her to memory to play over in his head later, she could feel herself melting.

“Yeah, DeathsHead!”

Min jumped, turning to see the group of guys that were walking past them, heading toward the bar they had just left. They all cheered when they saw her shirt, a few showing off their own DeathsHead shirts. Min gave them a weak thumbs up, which made the guys cheer.

“He’s gonna kick FlameThrower’s ass tomorrow! She doesn’t stand a chance!”

They all cheered, and Min’s smile froze on her face. She felt colder than she had the entire weekend. She could feel Hayden’s eyes on hers, studying her. She started to pull away, but his grip tightened on her shoulder.

“Don’t.”

Still, Min stepped back, wrapping her arms around herself. She found herself staring at the wall behind her, the street, anything but him.

“Don’t what?” she asked, knowing she was being a brat.

“Don’t pull away. Tell me what’s going through your head.”

She shook her head, her emotions zigging and zagging all over the place, leaving her unable to pinpoint them enough for her to explain.

But she tried. “Hayden, we’re competitors.”

“So?”

She gave a sad laugh at that. “So, what’s going to happen tomorrow? I don’t know how I’ll feel if I lose, Hayden. I know that sucks. I know it’s immature of me, but I need this money. I need the sponsorship. If you beat me… I know it’s unfair to say this, but I don’t know how I’ll feel.”

“Are you saying you want me to throw the tournament?”

She immediately shook her head. “Hell, no.”

“Then you want me to withdraw?”

“No, you should be there. You’re one of the best players, probablythebest player, you can’t not be there. It won’t feel like winning without you.”

She still wasn’t looking at him, but she felt him move closer, his hand going to her neck, wrapping around her and tipping up her chin, forcing her to meet his sharp gaze.

“Min, the money from the tournament would bring me that much closer to making my game a reality. Making mydreama reality. I’ve been working on this for years. I can’t just walk away from this opportunity.”

She closed her eyes, unable to take his intensity. “I know.”

“Look at me.” Her eyes flew open, once again caught in his as his thumb stroked her jaw. “You are the best player I’ve ever competed against. I won’t go easy on you. I won’t let you win. I’m going to make you earn it. You better come ready to give your all, because that’s what I want. That’s what I’ve always wanted.”

She gulped, hearing the honesty in his voice. “That’s what I want, too.”

“And when it’s over, no matter who wins, you and I are going to talk and figure this out. Because if you think you’re walking away from me after this weekend, then baby, you haven’t been paying attention.”

He kissed her then, hard, anger and desperation mixing as he tried to convince her with his kiss to keep fighting with him, but also to keep fighting for them. Min did her best to try and answer his kiss with her own, letting her tongue slip into his mouth, wanting to claim whatever she could for as long as she was able.

He was the one to pull away first.

“Min, the things I want to do to your body are not for a public street.”

“Then why are we still here?” He smiled at that, kissing her one more time before grabbing her hand and tugging her after him, urgent to get back to the hotel. And she couldn’t blame him, doing her best to keep up because she was on fire and if she didn’t have him soon she was going to destroy everything.

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