Page 135 of Gloves Off

This kiss feels different. Everything goes quiet, stops, realigns, and points in a new direction, like my true north has shifted.This,my body seems to say,is exactly what we needed. Alexei can just keep kissing me like this, with these deep, searching kisses that are somehow still soft and careful, and everything will be okay in the world. My hands fist in his shirt, made of the softest cotton I’m already scheming to steal and wear to bed, and beneath the fabric, his heart slams against the front wall of his broad, firm chest. He smells fresh and clean, his damp hair brushes my cheekbone, and a low, rumbling noise of pleased surprise slips out of him, making goosebumps rise down my spine.

I like this too much, and it’s on that jarring thought that he pulls away, looking down at me with darkened eyes. “Hi.”

“Hi.” I sound a little breathless. My heart’s doing that frustrating fluttering thing again. Tomorrow, first thing at work, I’m going to hook myself up to the EKG.

“You okay?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m great.” I swallow, not even wanting to blink and miss a split second of what he looks like right now.

His tongue runs along the edge of his teeth, still smiling. Heknows what he’s doing to me, and I don’t even care. I’m vaguely aware our moms are blatantly staring with big grins, and clutching each other’s arms.

I rise up on my tiptoes. “We said no kissing,” I whisper in his ear.

“I don’t care,” he murmurs in my ear. “Do you?” His mouth is slanted in a cocky, pleased, arrogant way, like he knows the answer.

When I don’t answer, his gaze trails over me, eyes flaring with heat, and beneath my jersey, I’m suddenly too warm. “You look good with my name on your back, Hellfire.”

I can’t get a full breath. In another version of this reality, I’d make a sharp, biting remark that I’m not some piece of property, not his lunch that he’s putting his name on.

I don’t feel like his property, though. I’m proud of what he did tonight with the rookie, proud that the huge, brutal hockey player out there on the ice is my husband.

Concern prickles at the edges of my mind.

His eyes drop to my shoes, a navy blue velvet heel. With our rainy winters, velvet is deeply impractical, but the universe aligned and tonight is a cold, dry evening.

He raises an eyebrow at them, the corner of his mouth tugging up again. “New?”

I still feel dazed from that kiss, but I shake my head and find my voice. “I was saving them for a special occasion.”

His gaze lingers on them for a long moment, and flashing with that look he used to give my heels, disapproving and angry. Although he doesn’t seem so disapproving anymore.

He’s holding my eyes so intensely that another shiver runs down my spine.

“I like those, too.”

CHAPTER 63

GEORGIA

Jamie,Pippa, Hazel, Rory, and a few other teammates are already at the Filthy Flamingo when we arrive later that night. Jordan mixes drinks behind the bar. She looks up, sees us, and tips her chin in greeting before turning back to the drinks.

“Go sit.” Alexei takes my coat and hangs it up. “I’ll get our drinks.”

At the table, Rory whistles. “That was some kiss back in the box after the game.”

“Don’t tease her,” Hazel tells him. “You kiss me like that.”

“I know.” He grins at her. “Because I think you’re hot, I love you, and I score every goal for you.”

My face goes hot. It’s not the same with Alexei and me. He’s just getting good at this pretending thing.

Start over,he said.A new direction.

Even I’m having a hard time believing this is just pretend, but I don’t want to acknowledge the other option. Not yet.

He reaches the booth and slides in beside me, pushing my drink toward me. He rests his arm on the top of the booth, just above my shoulders. The smell of his body wash makes me feel the weirdest mix of woozy and horny.

“Nice bracelets,” Hayden says to Alexei.

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