Page 26 of Gloves Off

My heart beats out of my chest. My nervous system is warning me of danger. Is his heart beating faster under my hand? It seems like it. Maybe his nervous system is warning him of danger, too.

“Sometimes you fall for the last person you expect.” I give him my prettiest smile, and his nostrils flare. “Right, handsome?”Fucking say something,my expression says.

“The doctor’s right,” he tells everyone. “She’s the last person I’d expect to fall for.”

Incompetent. I hear the word he said two years ago like it was this morning.

He yanks his hand away from my waist, and tucks it in his pocket. Embarrassment twinges behind my ribcage as I lift my head off his shoulder. Of course he doesn’t want to touch me. He hates me.

Good. Him finding me repulsive means nothing will get complicated between us. He’ll never hit on me, and even if he did, I’d laugh in his face.

I wonder what that would be like, Volkov hitting on someone. Probably him clubbing her on the back of the head and dragging her back to his cave. I haven’t heard of him dating anyone. Maybe he’s celibate. Maybe he’s one of those types who thinks sex or even jerking off is bad for his testosterone.

My gaze roams over his broad shoulders, the way his dark hair curls slightly at his nape. The brush of stubble over his sharp jaw. So he’s hot. So what. There are tons of good-looking hockey players here tonight. It doesn’t give him an excuse to act like an asshole and remind me how disgusted he is by me.

Competition fires through me, and I have the urge to get him back.

“You know what I’ve always loved about Volkov?” I ask Darcy. “He’s a beast in bed. The second we step in the door, he’s all over me. We don’t even have time to take my heels off.”

My gaze cuts to him, catching the flex of his jaw. Delight spreads through me. Pissing off Volkov is going to be my lifeline during this year.

He glowers. I smile wider.

“He has a lot more stamina than you’d think,” I continue. “Don’t be fooled by his age. He can goall night.”

I wonder how big his dick is—an unwelcome thought that I swat away fast.

A big, warm hand comes to the back of my neck, gripping firm but not tight, and a rush of heat moves through my body. The biting quip I’m about to say disintegrates. With his hand on my neck like this, I can’t think.

He brings his mouth to my ear. “Behave, Hellfire.”

A shiver runs down my back.

“All I need to do is flash a couple bills from my wallet and the doctor’s all over me,” he tells Darcy, still gripping the back of my neck. “She’s surprisingly good at begging.”

Low in my abdomen, fury clenches. I would never beg, and especially not with him.

I take a deep breath to clear my head, but instead get a deep inhale of his scent, clean and masculine.

“You’re so funny,” I manage, scrambling for control. With a sweet smile, I give his bad shoulder a playful slap, the one with a metal plate and a handful of pins. His jaw flexes again like he’s biting back a groan of pain. “You know what’s alsosofunny? How much you love being tied up and spanked.” I give Darcy a knowing look. “It’s always the big tough guys who like to be told what to do,if you know what I mean.”

His hand squeezes my neck and I get another rush of warmth low in my abdomen. I always choose guys who are laid back, affable, and easy to push around, especially in the bedroom. The last thing I want is someone telling me what to do with my own body.

Darcy looks concerned. “This is a lot of personal information.”

I get the feeling Volkov isn’t interested in being told what to do during sex, though. I don’t know why I’m thinking about this. It doesn’t matter.

Thankfully, his hand drops, and my brain works again.

“But you know what he’s best at?” I stare Volkov down, my mouth curling into a smug grin, thinking about that stiff, awful kiss at our wedding. “Kissing. He’s anincrediblekisser.”

I barely hold back the laugh as his eyes flare with irritation.

“Sorry, Darcy.” He turns to her. “My littlegniloy klubenloses her filter when she gets horny.”

My smile hardens. “Your what?”

His cold eyes flicker with challenge, fire, and something I’ve never seen before. “It’s Russian forsweetheart.” The corner of his mouth tightens. “It’s an endearment, saved for the ones you love the most.”

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