Page 102 of My Pucked Up Enemy

We lie tangled together in the silence, hearts thudding, bodies slick with sweat.

His fingers trace the scar on my shoulder.

“I didn’t know I needed this until I had it,” he murmurs.

I close my eyes, trying to steady my thoughts. “Me neither.”

He doesn’t ask me to stay. He doesn’t say a word. But I feel it in his touch.

He’s hoping.

But he’s also bracing.

Because we both know this moment doesn’t fix the future.

At some point, I must’ve drifted off. We both did.

The room is warm and quiet, afternoon sunlight cutting across the bed in long golden rays. My head rests against his chest and his arm is slung loosely over my waist. I can feel the rise and fall of his breath against my back.

It’s peaceful. Disarmingly so.

But when I shift, my eyes land on the clock on the dresser.

Shit.

I sit up gently, trying not to wake him as the weight of reality returns. Work. The team. The offer.

Everything is still waiting for me outside this room.

I sit up, pressing a kiss to his temple. “I should go. I need to get to the office.”

He nods without argument, watching me dress like he wants to memorize every movement.

I reach the door when my phone buzzes.

League Office – Follow-up: Pending Decision

My stomach twists.

I gave him my body.

I gave him my truth.

But I still haven’t given him my choice.

Chapter twenty-eight

Alex

Iwakeuptothequietest kind of ache. Not physical. Not something I can stretch out or ice. Just absence.

Nina’s side of the bed is cold—the pillow slightly indented, the sheets faintly carrying her scent, like a ghost of yesterday clinging to the space where she was.

I sit up slowly, rubbing a hand down my face. My phone’s on the nightstand. I check it. No message.

Not even a dot.

I shouldn’t want one. We didn’t make promises. But damn, it would’ve been nice to know I’m not the only one stuck thinking about what happened yesterday. About what it meant.

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