Page 37 of One Pucking Destiny

The hallway ends, leaving just the two of us, our bedrooms, and a mountain of emotions.

“Ari,” he says my name, a loaded whisper.

I lean against the door to my room, gripping mymoney container and water against my chest like a shield. “Don’t, Bash,” I plead.

He moves toward me, resting his arm on the door molding beside my head. His tongue peeks out to wet his lips. “Why’d you say what you did in the pool?”

I internally chastise myself for those words. It was a moment of weakness. One that I knew would give him false hope. Yet, for some reason, it felt important for him to know. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry.”

“So it wasn’t true?” He holds me in his stare, his blues begging for honesty.

“No, it was true, but it was cruel. I shouldn’t have said it knowing that you still have feelings or whatever.”

He inches his body closer. I can feel the heat from his chest against mine. His arms, against the sides of the door, cage me in. “So you think about that night every day?”

My chin betrays me as it dips in affirmation.

“And here we are. Alone. Together.”

I swallow the lump in my throat. “I can’t.”

“Is there someone else?”

“No. No one since you.” I regret the words the second they leave my lips. Bash has this way of tearing down all my walls, making it impossible for me to tell him anything but the truth.

There’s an audible hitch in his throat. “You haven’tslept with anyone since me?” His words are veiled in a cloak of hunger.

“I’m not dating anyone, and as I told you, despite my night with you, I really don’t just hook up with random people all that often. I’m not some hot-ass hockey player sleeping my way through America with a different puck bunny each night.” My words are unfair. I don’t have the right to make Bash feel bad for who he sleeps with. He doesn’t owe me anything.

“I don’t do that.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“I haven’t slept with anyone since that night either.”

My chest aches, and I long to reach out for him. I pull the items in my hand closer to my chest. “I find that hard to believe.”

“Whether you believe me or not doesn’t change the fact that it’s true. You’re all I’ve thought about since that night. I wasn’t lying about that. I couldn’t sleep with someone else when you’re the only woman taking up space in my mind.”

“I told you, I can’t do this with you.”

“Why?”

“Just because.”

His face lowers to mine. His lips are a heated breath away from kissing me. “Tell me you don’t want to feel my lips on you. Tell me you haven’t felt the insanechemistry we share all day. Tell me that your body isn’t an inferno pulsing with the desire to feel me again. Tell me you don’t want me as much as I want you right now, and I’ll walk away. But be honest, Ari. I can make you feel so good. All I need is a simple yes. Drop your walls. Let yourself have what I know you want. I just need one little word. Say yes.”

My skin tingles, and my core burns with desire. My heart is beating so hard it echoes in my ears. “No.” The word is quiet and raspy. I clear my throat, and much louder this time, I say, “No.”

His arms drop, and he takes a step back from me. A war of words, things he wants to say weigh on his features. But he doesn’t utter a single word. A single emotion burns through his stare, causing my heart to ache. It isn’t hurt or even anger. It’s disappointment, and for some reason, that seems worse than all the rest.

Without another word, he enters his room and closes the door behind him, leaving me alone in the hallway. The items in my grasp weigh a hundred pounds, and my arms shake as I hold them to me.

The final sound of the lock turning on his side of the door crushes my soul in an excruciating wave of remorse.

But it still doesn’t change a thing. For now, my answer will always be no. It has to be.

CHAPTER

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