Page 49 of The Rebound Plan

She glances sideways at me as Max turns and yells to our teammates, “Pay attention, titfuckers.”

Shannon laughs and winces. Her preppy-assed husband doesn’t sound right at all quoting Shoresy like that, and everyone in this room knows that.

But under the chorus of cheers and laughs, I can say, “It’s not being slutty, by the way.”

Shannon shifts closer. “What’s not?”

“The thing I need to give up.”

“You aren’t struggling to give up the idea ofhammering assall season long?” she asks lightly, quoting the show in a mocking way.

I didn’t say that, exactly. “Not with more than one person. Not with puck bunnies.”

She lifts her shoulder in a don’t care shrug. “Okay.”

From the back of the room, Malik bounds forward and slides onto the couch on the other side of Max, pushing him into Shannon…and Shannon into me.

Emery returns, handing out beers, and just takes Malik’s empty seat on the upper back right couch next to Roan.

The scene changes on screen, but I’ve stopped following. All I can feel is the press of Shannon’s thigh against mine, from our hips all the way to where her knee is, just short of my own.

Her arms are crossed in front of her body, and her husband is right on the other side of us.

I can’t move. I can’t touch her any more than I am.

This is exactly what you need to give up, I try to tell myself.

But it’s never going to happen.

As the hockey players on the screen have to grapple with the question of what they will do, and what they will give up, to be the best team in their league, I am forced to admit that I will not, cannot give up my one-sided affection for this off-limits woman.

CHAPTER 19

SHANNON

When Emery was between us, it felt safe to ignore the tingles racing along my skin because of his arm simply being stretched across the back of the couch, his fingers brushing against my shoulder.

But now that she’s gone and I’ve been pushed right up against him, I can’t deny that I’m painfully aware of his body.

And Russ… he’s barely breathing.

I shouldn’t be this aware of him. I shouldn’t be aware of him at all, I know that, but I can’t help it.

His thigh is rock solid against mine. Bigger, longer. He takes up a lot of space, all the time, but right here in this moment, he’s so big beside me it would be comical if it didn’t feel so dangerous.

I’ve never been with a man as big as Russ. The thing about billionaires is that they don’t work out four hours a day.

Don’t compare him to Max. Don’t?—

I close my eyes and exhale slowly, pushing all of that away.

“You okay?” Russ whispers.

No.

And then beside me on the other side, Max yawns.

And it’s a lifeline.

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