Page 72 of Perfect Playbook

Her cheeks round with that smile-no-smile thing she does. It’s more of a glow. “You would have looked better winning. Don’t forget why you’re there. You’re there to win. With Ashton. I believe in you.”

Damn does that make my heart thunder.

“Night, Logan.” And there it is, that Mona Lisa smile.

“Night.”

I throw my phone down on the bed beside and strip off. I already showered leaving the changing rooms at our away game but now I need a cold one. Every fucking time I talk to Shay, my dick thickens. She can give me shit. Shoot me down. Tease me… I gobble it all up.

The waterfall is cold on my back. I suck in a breath, and my abs flex. My skin tightens everywhere, and opposite to all my intentions, my dick is red-hot and standing tall with thoughts of those spaghetti straps. I imagine myself peeling them down off her shoulder, sucking her luscious tit into my mouth, as much of it as I could because that woman is blessed.

I swirl my tongue around her nipple. Suck it, and she groans for me… Now in my grip, my dick swells. I pump, wishing I could remember exactly how she feels inside. Her walls tensing around my cock. Her pussy wet and dripping down my balls.

I pump harder, grip myself tightly with the freezing shower almost painful on my back. I can still see her in college. The way her back would arch. The first time I made her come and she moaned.

Fuck… I want her. I want to be inside her… back in bed with her, legs splayed across my hips, tits bouncing, pussy lips spread around my…

The release is powerful, and I have to brace myself when I spill onto the glass of the shower. Spurt after spurt explodes out of me.

Fucking nobody makes me feel this way.

Nobody.

I wash off my dick, give the glass a spray with the hand shower, and towel off, cock still full and heavy with some sort of swagger as if it actually had her.

That was reckless.

I head to bed and loosen the stupid, Army-tucked bedspread and crawl inside the smooth, cool envelope of white sheets. Only then do I release a breath I’ve been holding since I first decided to text her tonight.

She’s at home right now, in bed. I want to be in bed with her, and that thought is more worrisome than the ones I had in the shower. The reason Shay broke up with me the first time hasn’t changed one bit. Here I am, away in my hotel room. There she is, the same woman as sixteen years ago. And now she seems to have an all-new reason to not pursue this chemistry we still so clearly have.

She’s never said it, but it doesn’t take a genius to read into her.

Shay hates my reputation.

The stories, the sold photos, the attention it drew to me is what made me more wealthy than hockey alone ever could have made me. People wanted to see my face on billboards for underwear and perfume because I was the George Clooney of hockey. There’s something intriguing about a forever bachelor. People imagine they know just who you are. To them, I could be a bad boy. I could be a risk-taker. I could be a challenge. Women love playboys because they’re adventurous, have great sex, they’re fun and will get you high.

These are all the reasons Reggie gave me after I was first papped near a famous model and associated with her in some junk magazines. The speculation over us having a relationship (I only just learned her name that night) got a huge amount of shares and buzz online, too. I was in a bad place then. More than a year on at least, and I was still convinced I’d never get over Shay. That was when Reggie said if I was going to be miserable I might as wellprofit from it. He said we could stage it all. He curated my new image and put a shiny veneer on my inner country boy.

At first, I was a fish out of water going on date after date, night after night with the new woman Reggie set me up with. It really wasn’t me at all. In high school and early college I was completely aloof with women; Shay was my only serious girlfriend.

Every night off and between seasons especially, I was a busy boy. Sometimes Reggie would manage to make it easier and set me up with a model I was already shooting with for a campaign. Eventually, I went out on the town with some and brought some home for the night. Others turned into friends. Some I never spoke to ever again.

One day, it all seemed normal to only have these lightning-strike moments with women. I tried dating one of them for a few months. Reggie arranged a date with a friend of Ashton’s ex-wife, so I tried harder that time to be into her. I thought it would have been nice to do couples things with Ashton, but seeing as his then wife was vile, and my then girlfriend cut from the same cloth, I’m impressed I lasted three months.

I might have gotten around a little but I never lied, never led anyone on, and therefore, never cheated. Still, and it pains me to admit it, maybe that’s why Shay is keeping her distance.

Fuck if that thought isn’t torture.

Chapter Twenty-Four

SIXTEEN YEARS AGO

I’ve beenon the road for the past couple of days with the team. Fuck do I miss Shay. As if the news of my signing didn’t make things bad enough for us, yesterday, I received her enigmatic text that cast an eerie veil over me I can’t break through.

Pastelito

My dad isn’t doing well. Is there any way you can give him a call? You always seem to make him smile. I’ll ping his detailsover.

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