Page 75 of Heart on Ice

“Am I wrong?” she argues. No, she’s not, but she doesn’t need to know that.

“We both agreed there is something physical there between us, but I told him that’s all it can be.”

“Friends with benefits?” Eve asks.

“Yeah, like that, but only until he moves out. After that we are just friends,” I explain to her.

“Why?”

“Because it’s a proximity thing.”

“You think you’re only sleeping together because you’re living together?” she asks.

“Well, yeah. I mean, if he was living at Harper’s or at a hotel, I wouldn’t have given him a chance.”

Eve mulls this over. “That is true. Was the sex bad? Is that why you don’t want to continue? Nothing worse when the chemistry is fire, but the sex isn’t.”

“The sex was amazing,” I whisper to her, worried someone will hear me.Not like you haven’t been touching yourself in your office for the past week but you’re worried someone might hear you say sex.True.

“Then don’t you want to keep having great sex?” she asks.

“Yes. But he’s going to be heading into training camp soon, then the season starts. He’s not going to have time.”

“So, you’re stopping it before he does,” Eve states.

“No. Not really. Okay. Yes. I have to keep up boundaries, Eve, for my own sanity. The man has been cooking me dinner every single night. He gives me foot massages. Does my washing and cleans the house,” I confess to her.

“I’m sorry. What did you say? That six-foot-five gorgeous man is wining and dining you as well as kept the home going. That’s hot, Issy.”

“It is. Especially when he cooks shirtless. He packed me breakfast this morning because he knows I never have time. He says breakfast is the most important meal of the day and doesn’t want me skipping it.”

“That is so cute, Issy,” Eve gushes. “Orgasms and food, that would be a direct path to my heart.”

“Your heart is more open than mine. Which is closed,” I remind her.

She waves my comment away. “You’re being stubborn, but I appreciate the resistance. Now that you’ve banged, do you feel better over the Pierre situation?”

“I don’t know. It’s still early days. Harper and Felix are together so I’m going to be around him whether I like it or not.”

“Are you going to be okay seeing him with someone else once you stop sleeping with him?” she asks.

“Of course,” I tell her, but Eve doesn’t look convinced. “My heart is guarded, don’t you worry.”

“Okay,” she says, before changing the subject and launching into work.

23

PIERRE

Honestly didn’t think my life could get any better than it is right now. I’ve spent the past week in Issy’s bed. We have our own routine which is me eating her off the kitchen countertop as soon as she gets home from work, then I serve her dinner where we talk about our day, and then dessert is usually taken in the living room and ends up with lots of orgasms, then we go to bed together. Frankston on the floor beside us. I wake her up in the mornings with more orgasms before sending her to work with her breakfast pack. Perfection.

The cherry on top is The Mavericks offered me a contract. They offered me a two-year deal, which would then turn into a yearly contract until I retire. It’s not quite as lucrative as the one I had at the Devils, but I don’t care as I get to play with my brother. But they did offer me the chance of joining the coaching team when I was ready to retire, which is a good deal.

“Are you ready?” Marcus, my agent, asks as I stand behind the curtain.

I’m in the green room freaking out about walking out in front of the packed media scrum for the first time since Kitty and I broke up. Guess my new life in New York starts now. The mediathink they are here to welcome Felix to The Mavericks, they have no idea they are getting me, too. This has been a tightly kept secret by everyone, they wanted it to be a huge surprise. After the announcement, Felix and I have a heap of publicity shoots to do to celebrate our addition to the team.

After today, the world will know I am in New York, and the quiet bubble I have been living in will end. Felix and I have appointments to look at apartments next week, now that I am out of confinement. Which I’m not looking forward to because as soon as we find somewhere, what’s happening between Issy and me is going to end. And I don’t want it to end. I just need a little more time to convince her that we should keep doing what we’re doing once I leave. It will be good to finally be able to get out and about again. As much as I like living in Issy’s home, I’m going stir crazy. My brother has asked me to join him and Sam on their daily runs around Central Park. The summer is slipping away quickly, and before I know it, we are going to be back into training camp, then it’s some exhibition games, and then the season starts again.

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